That darn tooth fairy...

So without any warning, Ty suddenly loses another tooth last night. Of course, I have yet to stock up on singles and immediately as he called down from the shower right before bedtime alerting me of the exciting news I knew I would be in the same predicament as last time (but without the panic as I knew my own personal ATM existed on the top shelf of Sagie's room closet). So this morning Sage does her normal morning yell to me to come get her and at that time I remembered that I had yet to fulfill my duties as "fairy" so I quickly jumped out of bed, rushed to the piggy bank, stuffed the money in an envelope and rushed into the boys' bedroom hoping they hadn't woken up yet. Of course this would be the night that the two of them would be crammed together on the bottom bunk making it a bit more difficult to be sneaky. It didn't help that as I entered the room the darn squeaky door caused Ty to wrestle around. I carefully was able to grab the Ziploc bag from under his pillow which included his note and tooth but knew that I'd be asking for trouble trying to put the envelope under his pillow so I placed it on his top bunk. So an hour or so later we hear this blood curdling screaming coming from the bedroom and then the fast paced run that accompanies that towards our bedroom. Connor yells in his angry voice, "The tooth fairy is a criminal. She took Ty's tooth without leaving anything for him". (It is clear that Connor was as devastated over the incident as Ty.) We mention that perhaps the tooth fairy left the delivery on Ty's bed rather than where Ty was actually sleeping to prevent Ty from being woken up. They both run back to the room and see that that is the case. I knew I was in trouble when Ty then says, "I can't wait to read the letter she wrote", knowing in my desire to be swift this morning I neglected to write a note. Then I hear, "I'm going to have to write the tooth fairy a letter telling her I don't want any more money". WHAT? Is he kidding? What does he want? I never received a clear answer but realized that my sweet Ty actually was more excited about the note that I neglected to write than anything else. Or is he perhaps on to my tricks...Connor did mention the tooth fairy was a "criminal".

It's pumpkin time...

and my second attempt at growing pumpkins in the backyard backfired again this year. You might need a magnifying glass to see it but the result of my gardening are not the mums but the little green golf ball sized thing next to them:



Until I can get this figured out we'll stick to the annual visit to Remlinger Farms for a fun filled afternoon of food, rides, and of course pumpkins. Here are a few photos from the day. By the end of the day the patch felt as if it had made it's way to our home with my porch covered with 10 pumpkins and the backseat of my car covered in mud.

Don't know what the draw is to jumping around in hay but it had to be the highlight of the day!





Playing in piles of pumpkins:





Fun times (notice Jack screaming like a baby on the pumpkin ride with Sage and Connor, drawing all sorts of attention to himself):





And thanks to Ty Bailey for capturing this picture (without us even knowing at the time) of us on the roller coaster as a family. As you can see Sage continues to copy everything her brothers do...




The pumpkin patch:

Sweet Tyler!

Poor Ty has been awaiting the loss of one of his teeth since this summer when Connor lost his first one. His wait ended yesterday and what a joyful moment it was for him!!! He was so excited that the first thing he did was run across the street (without me even knowing) to tell his buddy Joseph that "something special" had happened. Within a few minutes he had written a letter to the tooth fairy and his teacher sharing the news. So fast forward a few hours, it's bedtime and Ty is putting his letter and tooth neatly under his pillow. At that moment I started to panic knowing that I had just spent my last few dollars at the McDonald's drive-thru earlier in the day. I quickly realized that I had no other choice but to raid Ty's piggy bank (which thankfully is loaded with singles) in order to deliver the money that he had been anxiously awaiting for for so long. Had he not waited soooo long to have his first tooth fall out I probably could have pushed the fairy's visit back a day or two and used the "weather must have been a problem for the fairy" excuse.

I had to laugh inside when this morning as he's walking out the door to school he says "mom, can you make sure this money gets into my piggy bank while I'm at school?" Yes, I thought, right back where it came from...



So tonight I have a get together happening at my house to celebrate the birth of a friend's sweet baby girl. Shar knows how jealous I am of her as she was blessed with four daughters and one son (a far different scenario than the four brothers I grew up with). So last night I decided to attempt another diaper cake to use as a centerpiece. The funny part was when I came back downstairs to finish working on it, I returned to find Ty had made his own version of a diaper cake, set it next to mine, and even included a sign taped to the table that said "Ty's".

Conversations of the week:

So as we were driving past all the campaign signs in peoples yards and discussing the presidential race Ty mentions he hopes Obama wins. (He's wanted Obama to win from the very beginning and yes, we all vote differently in our home.) I say, "is it because he has hair like yours Ty?" Ty says, "yes, except his is black" and then Connor adds, "yes, like short cotton candy." Hmm, that's a new way to describe Ty's hair...

This morning Jack decided to catch a later flight back to California so his car service was in the driveway as the kids were getting ready to go to school. As Jack is saying goodbye to the boys and they peek out the window you hear Connor say "Whoooaaaaaaa, that is a way nice car." Then a few minutes later at the bus stop me and my friends are commenting that this will be Jack's last flight back to California and Connor interrupts and proudly says, "if you saw that short, long limo driving away that was my dad". It's clear that as long as our next car has dark tinted windows, Connor will be very happy.


Cotton candy anyone?

Phone calls of the day...

So today Jack calls me to say he's read my most recent blog entry and is a bit disappointed with the way he was portrayed. I ask him what exactly did I write that upset him because I felt he had done a wonderful job and was so thankful he was willing to stay behind and watch the kids while I had fun. He reminded me that "there would have never been 6 missed calls from home if you had answered the first time" and that "they were all related to the same subject"...bus arrival times. He was also insulted by the note to self to include the step by step instructions in the future as that was the only question he had the whole time. He didn't like being portrayed as some incompetent dad trying to keep the peace by spending money which he insisted wasn't the case since all they purchased were costumes and food. I certainly wasn't trying to insult him. Jack did a fabulous job. He got our big bouncer all blown up for the kids and situated in the garage, made yummy homemade banana pancake breakfasts, quesadilas, and great bowls of cereal. He had them all showered and in PJ's when I arrived and the house was tidy. He also clarified to me that in those three days they only went out to eat twice. Jack did an awesome job so much so that I think these mommy weekend getaways should be a monthly event since it's clear he's got it all mastered! Thanks hon! You are fab!!!!

Onto other calls of the day: Today the boys each came home with their own class directories (the ones that include all their classmates contact info). I didn't think much of them until a few moments later when Connor is asking me to double check that Ryan's number is indeed his phone number. I ask why he wants to call this boy from his class and he states that he was sick from school today and wants to make sure he is ok. I mention that it probably isn't a good idea to call when he's sick but Connor is determined to make sure he is ok and I didn't want to sound totally uncompassionate. Within a couple minutes I overhear Connor saying "this is Connor R from Ryan's class and I'm calling to make sure Ryan is ok because he was sick and missed school today" the conversation continues and after Connor hangs up you can tell how happy he is that he made the call. After hearing his sweet conversation I was glad I hadn't prevented him from doing it. So next it's Ty's turn and he wants to call someone from his class. I hear bits and pieces of him chatting with one of his friends and don't think much about it. A half hour later I receive two calls from parents. It became clear real fast that Ty must have been going down the list leaving messages or calling kids from his class as the parents were calling to make sure everything was ok. All I hope is that when the boys hung up after making the calls that they indeed hit "end" or who knows what these poor people heard in the background...

A weekend of fun for all!

I have to admit I was very apprehensive about leaving Jack home alone with the kids for three nights. This was a first for him. Aside from the time this summer when I went to San Fran and left him and the kids at my parents house (where he was surrounded by help), he has never been home alone with the troops overnight. At first I thought it was going to be a LONG weekend for everyone when I saw that I had 6 missed phone calls from "home" within the first 24 hours of being gone. Lesson learned: Leave step by step instructions for each day. Thankfully, the rest of the weekend went smooth for everyone. The "adventure" never happened (see post below) but I think the boys were quite content with how the time was spent. How could they not be happy spending the majority of the weekend at McDonald's, Target, Costco, and Toysrus looking only at the things that interested them? At least I can check Halloween costumes off my list. No wonder daddy is the favorite as he's the one always spending money on them. I owe it to my sweet husband for holding down the fort and letting me go off and have a fun weekend. I am lucky!

Highlights of the weekend:

Rain: After arriving into Sacramento, I learn that the last time they have seen heavy rain was sometime in March. Interestingly enough it returned the day after I did... Apparently, it was very much needed and thankfully didn't last long.

Being able to see Paige and Genni: I was able to kill two birds with one stone and while attending my reunion, was able to meet up with a couple other friends. Paige and I hadn't seen each other in almost 15 years. She was a room mate of mine in College. It was so great to finally see her again and meet her sweet family. I was also able to catch up with Genni and Matt, some friends who used to live in Snoqualmie and have since returned back to their roots in Folsom. Paige is actually the one that connected me with Genni. If you're reading, you both have beautiful families and homes and I appreciated you sharing them with me for the weekend. It was so fun and I'll look forward to returning the favor in the near future! :)



Nagivator Heather: So Heather had printed out for us directions that were supposed to get us from the shopping mall where we would get our pedicures done to our hotel where we'd be staying. After driving around for way beyond the 2 miles noted and following every last turn that was given, she finally realizes that when she did the directions she somehow forgot to list the whole address for the hotel so the directions ended in "Roseville"....literally from the looks of where we ended it must have been the very spot where Roseville began.

Our "view": Upon arriving at our hotel (which is where the reunion is being held) I immediately ask what type of view we have. Under normal circumstances we would have preferred the "garden" view if such a view existed. The Hotel lady must have been shocked by our excitement when she not so eagerly said it was a view of the parking lot... Of course Heather's response was "perfect". Just like a couple of high schoolers we peeked out our hotel window trying to catch glimpses of what people were wearing as they arrived, making certain we wouldn't be too over or under dressed.

Reconnecting with people I hadn't seen in decades: I was very lucky to have such great friends growing up. They all now lead successful lives in one way or another and I feel lucky to know them. Heather and Michele were two of my closest friends in High School and thankfully are still like sisters to me. Missy, like many of my friends was one I had lost contact with after high school but whose family still kept in touch with mine. How great it was to reconnect with her and restart our friendship where it left off years ago.

Our sleepover: We stayed up into the early morning hours laughing and talking about our observations from the reunion! It was just like old times!

Driving around what used to be "home": Sadly, Roseville didn't feel like home now. It was strange driving around the old neighborhood, school, and streets of where I grew up. I guess I shouldn't be shocked that I felt lost, granted it had been almost 20 years since I'd been there.

I'm such a loser and didn't take one photo at the reunion. Thankfully Bev's husband captured this one of me, Heather, and Bev and then there are a couple that were taken the next day.





Heather and Nicole



Kristen, Missy, Michele, and Me