And to think....I only "work" 3 days a week!

So, my day off yesterday went a little something like this....

6:30 am--My alarm goes off. Are you kidding me? 5 more minutes please! Reset my alarm for 6:35am.
6:35am--My alarm goes off again. Don't want to get up! 5 more minutes please! Reset my alarm for 6:40am.
6:40 am--My alarm goes off for the third time. Okay! Better get up. Go upstairs to wake the girls up. They don't want to get up. So, I have to think of an angle. Something I can say to get them to consciousness so they can start getting dressed. Chloe, don't you want to go to school and show all your friends your new haircut? Taya, don't you have to pass out your invitations to your Halloween party today? Struggle, struggle. After 15 minutes the girls finally get up amidst many complaints.
6:55 am--while the girls are getting dressed, I realized I needed to put more money in their lunch accounts so they won't be eating peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Run down to the computer and add some more money on-line.
7:00 am--back upstairs. Girls? Are you getting ready? Did you brush your hair and your teeth? What do you want for breakfast? Make the girls breakfast. Ask them 10 more questions to make sure they have everything they need for school. Brush my teeth really well because I have a dentist appointment. Feed the dog and give the dog fresh water. Make sure the TV is off and away we go.
7:30 am--leave for school. Drop Chloe off and then go to the middle school to drop Taya off.
8:00 am--Dentist appointment. Just the way you want to start a Monday morning; at the dentist? As I'm just sitting down in the dentist chair. Get a text from Nay. Want to go to the gym? Sure, be there as soon as I'm done.
9:00 am--get to the gym. Some time on the treadmill. Lift some weights. Wow! I'm tired!
11:00 am--head over to Crafts Direct. Taya has a huge science project due Wednesday. She has to make a model of a Magnesium atom. Corey told Taya to show her empty hand to her teacher and tell him that she built her atomic model to scale! Well, I don't think that will work, so searching for styrofoam balls, paints, wires and fishing lines to make this model. Oh no! I have to make the girls a dance poster for their dance competitions coming up. Look in the scrapbooking sections for some dance stickers and other cool stuff for a poster.
12:15 pm--Meet my dad for lunch at Wendy's.
12:50 pm--On my way to Target because I need to get groceries for the week. Brought my camera so I could develop some dance pictures of the girls to use for their poster.
2:10 pm--Drive over to Chloe's school to pick her up.
2:30 pm--get home. Unload groceries and all my goodies from Crafts Direct. Wash dishes. Start the dishwasher. Sort and start some laundry so the girls have jeans to wear to school tomorrow. Chloe wants to make Halloween cookies so start preheating the oven.
3:34 pm--Taya gets dropped off by the bus. Corey gets home from work. The oven is finally preheated so we have just enough time to bake the cookies.
4:10 pm--have to run around the neighborhood locating Chloe so we can leave for piano lessons.
4:30 pm--Chloe has piano lessons and then Taya.
5:45 pm--Stop at Coborn's quick on the way home to pick up our special low-carb pasta that only Coborn's sells so we can make sphagetti tonight. Taya decides to stay in the van so I lock it and leave it running. As Chloe and I are walking into Coborn's, Taya comes running up behind up because she decided to join us in the store. Except!!! She got out of the van, locked all the doors, and left it running. Try to call Corey. He's not answering. Call my dad who calls a locksmith. 35 dollars please! Oh crap! Then some nice guy in the parking lot comes up to me and says he can open my door for me. He owns a cab and they open cars for people that are locked out. Thank you so much kind stranger! All I have on me is my debit card! Oh don't worry! I'm not going to charge you! Seriously, the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time!!!
6:30 pm--With sphagetti in hand, arrive home. Start making dinner. Switch the laundry.
6:45 pm--eat dinner. Start working on Taya's science project. Shoving floral wire through styrofoam balls to connect protons and neutrons into the nucleous of the atom. Wire rings for the electron shells. Work on Taya's project for about 2 hours.
8:00 pm--Okay Chloe. Do you have homework? Girls get your pajamas on. Brush your teeth. Twenty reminders later the girls are finally in jammies. Wait! I have to finish decorating my Halloween invitations before school tomorrow Taya says! Chloe is mad because Taya won't let her help decorate. Find a compromise. Teeth brushed. Read books.
9:15 pm--Girls are finally in bed. Settle in to watch a few episodes of True Blood with the hubby.
11:00 pm--Switch a load of laundry and finally, finally bed! 

What a relaxing day off!

Ready to do it all again tomrrow....

The Zombie Crawl

Which one of us was rocking the wedding dress more?

Even Jay & Silent Bob were zombies



Thousands of zombies crawling the streets of Minneapolis & St. Paul



Moses

Woody Allen

The Macho Man Randy Savage

Even zombies can dance..after all it was my wedding night!

So...a few weeks ago, Corey called me from work and asked me if I wanted to go to the Zombie Crawl with some friends of his from work. He went on to explain that you purchase a wristband, dress up like a zombie and walk around the streets of either Minneapolis or St. Paul from bar to bar with everyone else dressed up like zombies. Apparently the organizers of the event were trying to set a Guiness Book of World Records for the most zombies in one place. As Corey kept explaining what this event was, I interrupted and said "Stop honey, you had me at Zombie Crawl!"

As those of you who know me know, I have a thing for horror movies. Don't know why. I just enjoy being really scared. And, in particular, I love Zombie movies. What could be more fun than dressing up like a zombie and partying with a bunch of other people dressed like zombies? Not much!! I wasn't sure exactly how to dress up like a zombie, but a zombie bride sounded like a pretty good idea. So, I went to GoodWill and found a wedding dress. We immediately started trashing it and that was the fun part. Right after buying it, I had Corey run it over with his car in the parking lot. (You should have seen the looks we got! Priceless!) I cut it, ripped it, smeared it in the dirt and rolled around in the leaves. Oh it was so fun! Then we put on some zombie make-up from the halloween store and...Voila..a zombie bride and groom!

After getting ready at Lisa and Jay's house in our full costumes and make-up, we decided we should stop somewhere to eat because none of us had eaten dinner yet. "Hey, how about McDonald's?", I said. So the four of us walked into a McDonald's to grab a quick bite to eat. In hindsight, the McDonald's idea probably wasn't my best idea ever. We scared the begeezus out of several small children that were trying to eat there. Woops! Our bad! Most of them got over it when we smiled and explained that we were going to a halloween party. The funniest moment came when one little girl who had screamed coming into McDonald's when she saw us standing in line to get our food later came out of the bathroom, saw me sitting at a table waiting for my food and said "Oh no! Not again!"

It was so fun people watching (or should I say zombie watching). Some people were more creative than others, but it honestly felt like you were walking around in a horror movie. Zombies would approach you on the street and come up to you saying "Brains! Brains!" because as we all know, zombies like to eat brains. We had a really fun night and I hope this becomes an annual Halloween tradition! I'm not sure if we set a new world record, but I did hear that they sold 100,000 wrist bands. Enjoy the pics if you dare!

Step Up For Down Syndrome

Molly's family & friends who walked for her

We're ready mom!



Our family



Happy Birthday Maggie & Molly!



Maggie enjoying her birthday cake

The girls monkeying around at Como Zoo



The last weekend in September, we took part in the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk at the Como Park in St. Paul. The walk has become a much anticipated tradition in our family! We walk for my friend Tracy and her little girl Molly who has Down Syndrome. It is such an honor for me to participate in this walk. I have loved watching Molly grow up and watch the special relationship my friend Tracy has with her Miss Molly. This year, it just so happened, that the walk landed on Molly and her twin sister Maggie's birthday. So, after the walk, we enjoyed birthday cake and got to celebrate these two little sweethearts' birthdays!

Before the walk, the girls enjoyed getting their faces painted and jumping on giant inflatables. Then, during the walk, the girls do surprisingly well even though Chloe asked me about 10 times "How much further mom?" After the walk and birthday festivities we took all the kids to the Como Zoo! What an awesome day!

Taya's 11th Birthday Parties!





Taya had a very fun birthday weekend back in September! Saturday, she had a friend birthday party at the YMCA. Just a few friends, pizza, cake, swimming, rock climbing and no clean up for mom and dad. Perfect!! Then on Sunday, we had Taya's family birthday. She picked out a very cute polka dot cake. The kids feel so special when everyone sings "Happy Birthday" to them. It was so much fun seeing and visiting with my family. Taya got some wonderful gifts and had a great day. Happy birthday sweetheart! You are loved!!

Taya's Birthday Pics

To say I'm pleased with the way Taya's pictures turned out this year would be an understatement. Gorgeous. Enough said!!