Reigniting the forgotten blog

I seem to have forgotten this blog.  It's hard to chase a toddler around and find time to write.  But I read some posts this morning about Why I Blog, and realized that I can do this too.  I initially started blogging to keep a record of family life and to keep up with writing.  Last night I read some old posts about toddler's baby days, and I had forgotten much of those days.  So maybe, just maybe, I'll get better about blogging these days.  Here is a start.

Morning in Seattle

Vacation, day 2: I'm sitting in Seattle waiting for Starbucks to open, so I can get a cup of coffee.  I can't believe Seattle doesn't have 24-hour gourmet coffee shops; what were they thinking?  Isn't this supposed to be the caffeinated city?  I suppose this is the problem of a 2-hour time shift right after we switch to Daylight Savings Time: 4:30 a.m. just doesn't feel that early. (n.b. I collapsed into bed at 7.)

Day 1 was the longest day of my life.  DS had a GREAT time on the airplane (ear tubes rock!); we landed and he said MORE! lol. After that 4 hour flight, he was still great on the 45-minute train to the hotel.  We had lunch (finally, fresh fish!) and then walked to/around Pike's Place for a while. I just wish he would wear a hat; his ears got cold!  Grabbed dinner on the way back to the hotel: the 3 of us split a plate of Tikki Marsala. DS's first try of Indian food, his choice (we were in the food court, I said we'd get him some black beans and he walked over to the curry), and he loved it.  Even though the lady at the counter was pushing me to get him something less spicy.  Guess I'll have to learn to make curry now.  After a dip in the hotel pool, we both collapsed.  (I think 2 double beds in a hotel is the way to go with a toddler!)

Looking forward to a train ride today, and to seeing Grandpa and Oma this afternoon! (and maybe, just maybe, he'll nap today. Here's hoping.)

Dapper

And you should see him with the new haircut! (no pics yet, but will come ...)

Halloween

So I have abandoned this blog for a while, but I have some Halloween Party pics to share!  We went to the KKids Halloween Party last week.  This party started a few years ago, when the big kids (now about 3) were babies, and has grown exponentially. And it follows the same basic pattern.

Starting with the sugar:

 W. wasn't the only lion of the bunch -- but he and S. sure had fun eating!

Then we move on to the pictures:

 This is where the babies sit, right?

Gotta get dressed!

cuz, that's what it's all about!

Crisis Cleaning Sunday

My house has finally gotten to the point where I can no longer bear to look at it.  I must clean. MUST clean. NOW!!!!

Just a preview of my messes

 Actually, I look at this picture, and it doesn't look so bad ... it FEELS like everything is so much WORSE! At any rate, I need to clean today.

I'm not on here to goof off, but to plan -- what am I going to do today?  Here's a starter list:

• pick up -- in just about every room. (Tom is helping with this. W is helping mess this up.)
• vacuum
• cat litter
• trash
• laundry, so we have clothes to wear this week
• dusting
• sweeping and mopping
• pick up in the basement
• decluttering
• some office work to do today
• dishes and kitchen clean up
• decluttering
• START working on Hotspots

Wow, when I write down my list, it doesn't sound so bad. It feels so overwhelming though!  I'm going to make a plan and start with that.

This morning before lunch I'm going to:

• clean up the kitchen
• spend 5 minutes picking up in each of 3 rooms
• take out all the trash
• dust
• declutter for 15 minutes in the dining room

After that, I'm going to take a little break, plan the next round of tasks, and have lunch.  It's a start ...