Trick or Treat!

My favorite clown!

The clown and his cookie

Sitting with Daddy

Innocent (??)

Why does this picture make me think of The Fonz?

Coen and Noah

Trick or treating like a big kid

Holding on to Mommy's hand because there were so many people!

Coen liked to Trick or Treat, too

He was so happy when people put stuff in the pumpkin

What big kids!

Waiting their turn

My boys

What a pair!

Crazy Tuesday

Another day, another non-stop day here at the Gatchel's. All I've got to say right now is thank goodness for my crock pot so we're able to eat :-p

After work this morning I hurried to get Noah dressed and his stuff ready to go to the mall to meet up with Miesje and Coen for a bit. Considering the heat index is still over 100 here it is just too hot to take the kiddos to the playground so the indoor playground at the mall will just have to do :) The boys had a blast playing and getting into some harmless mischief. Noah and I are working hard on learning that despite what the other kids do (rotten kids who have parents that pay no attention... grrrrr...) the slide only goes in one direction. By the time we left I think he'd gotten the message, but I'm sure we'll have to have that conversation again the next time we go... I think that Coen even found a little girl that was crushing on him :)

After letting the kiddos get their share of playing in, Miesje and browsed the mall and spent some coupons we had. I love free stuff. More companies should give me free stuff :) Bath and Body works sent me a coupon for free stuff and 20% off my purchase so I went ahead and got my Christmas scented anti-bacterial soaps while I was there. See stores, send me coupons for free stuff and I'll probably come in and buy something else :)

I brought Noah home and put him down for a nap (which he refused to take just like he did this morning. He's in just a lovely mood right now, let me tell you) and then I set off to tackle cleaning the master bedroom. Grant says we should have company more often if the house is going to be super sparkly clean all the time. I gave him "the look" and he then quickly tried to back track and said for the most part the house was almost always clean he just meant all the extra stuff. I continued "the look" until he decided Noah needed to be entertained for awhile and he retreated. Silly boy...

Alright, off to finish cleaning up the kitchen and maybe tackling some other project this evening. More tomorrow :) Until then...

Non-Stop Momma

Whew, I feel like I've been going non-stop for a couple of days now! The weekend ended in a blur and the continuous motion carried into today. What a crazy couple of days!

I've been spending a lot of time doing housework/cleaning that you put off and put off until it finally just needs to get done. Especially if like me you're having company next week :) You know those things I mean, cleaning out the closet, and straightening the pantry and washing the windows inside and out and dusting every square inch of everything down to the baseboards. That pretty much was my yesterday and today. I've got a list on my fridge reminding me of all the things I need to get accomplished. Nothing that is super pressing, but all those little things it would be nice if they were done. Fall cleaning if you will...

Noah has been a lot of fun today. This morning I got off the phone with the office and he was very insistent that he wanted the phone. So I gave it to him, and off he walks with the phone, walking all over the house and having quite the conversation. All of a sudden I hear "yeah.... Cookie.... ummmm... Yeah..." I have no idea who he was 'talking' to but boy were they have the conversation this morning! It was the cutest thing.

Grant got some good video of Noah 'singing' at the Hals' the other night while everyone was playing Rock Band. He said he's going to try to clean it up and post it. No promises, though...

Alright, still have a photo album to put together and a kiddo to get in bed. More tomorrow :) Until then...

The donut monster

mmmmm, powdered sugar!

Noah and Uncle Thomas

He was having such a good time :)

Chasin' Daddy

There are no pictures tonight, but I've got something even better - a giggly Noah video! He and Grant were playing chase prior to his bath tonight and I decided to pull out the camera and take some video. I know it's not the greatest footage ever, but there is no doubt in my mind that there are very few sounds quite as delightful as Noah giggling and shrieking.

Don't have anything too exciting to report from here today. It's still super hot (105 with the heat index) so we've been doing our best to stay inside and out of the heat. Neither Noah or I really need to be out in it, in all honesty. So we've been hanging close to home and enjoying our time together here.

Grey's is on in a little bit and to celebrate I felt like making some cookies. New recipe (something I pulled off the bag of chocolate chips) so I'll have to let you know tomorrow if they are any good. Grant says anything that makes the house smell like chocolate and peanut butter must be good. I'm just glad that we can all have dinner together, play for a little bit and then I have time to make cookies, clean-up the kitchen and blog while Grant throws Noah in the tub. In case I don't say it enough - I don't know what I'd do without Grant.

Alright, enough of my rambling. Have to go pull the second batch of cookies of the oven in a minute here anyway. Enjoy the video :) Until tomorrow...

Happy 21st Birthday Aunt Shellie!!!!!

Under Pressure

Grant gets really worried about me watching sports lately. Especially college football. He told me I'm not allowed to watch the Michigan v. Ohio State game unless Brie is around to medicate me if necessary. No faith, I'm telling you...

Anyway, he's worrying again tonight as we're sitting watching the AL Central Tiebreaker with the Tigers and the Twins. It is currently the top of the ninth, all tied up at four. I have to say, I've been relatively more chill about this then the football games ;-)

I understand that my blood pressure might be a concern, but it has been well control lately and a sports game here or there is only good for me. You know all of my favorite sports teams, you could make this much easier on me if you actually started playing well and stopped scaring the heck out of me!

Nothing too exciting to report around here today. Noah and I had a pretty quiet afternoon as there was nothing that we had to do or nowhere we had to go. Since Daddy came home we've mostly been hanging out and watching the game and taking it easy. I like days like today :)

Alright, I have to admit that I'm fairly distracted right now, and I should probably just call it a night and wrap this up. Until tomorrow...

Grant and Bella

Noah Joe

Kisses!

Some days you feel like...

An Exhausted Mama! That's what I feel like... I am dragging big time right now. Not really sure what my deal is, but it's quarter 'til seven here, and I feel like grabbing a book, curling up in bed with it for a bit and falling asleep shortly thereafter most likely. My legs especially are awfully achy, so my apologies in advance if the blog is short or has negative undertones tonight. I don't mean to be all cranky :-p

Work was kind of crazy this morning. Seems like things were relatively quiet for awhile, and now all of a sudden we've got tons of people coming in and wanting to sign new documents ASAP. I know it's good for business and I can only imagine how crazy it is actually being there, but even here I'm having a hard time keeping up with what needs to get finished next. Hopefully I'll catch up in the next few days and then take on just one project at a time instead of three!

After I got off work, Noah and I headed to the park for lunch and a play date with the Mom's group. Even though only one other Mom and little boy showed up we still had a good time chatting and chasing the kiddos all over. I was really hoping that the cooler weather from last week was going to stick around, but no such luck unfortunately. Poor Noah was sweating like a fool after only ten minutes. I swear that child sweats in the air conditioned car sometimes, though.

After we played I ran to the library for a few minutes. I have been devouring books lately and have really been looking forward to the chance to go to the library. Next time I need to remind myself to wait until Grant gets home and I can leave Noah with him, though. He was good, don't get me wrong, but I always feel like I'm in a hurry when he's with me since I'm not sure how long 'good' is going to last.

We had a bit of a battle of wills at dinner again, but as soon as Noah discovered that yes, he could have some applesauce as soon as he ate some of his ravioli, life was good again. Right now he and Daddy are off at the store making sure we have milk and bananas.... I need to figure out what Noah's going to be for Halloween. The party for the Florida fam is here on the 22nd, so I need to figure it out before then. When I asked Noah today, he said he wanted to be a puppy. So much better than a hot dog, but still... What do you think? Opinions welcome...

Alright, I'm off to draw the kiddo's bath water, finish a load of laundry, clean up the kitchen and probably a dozen other things that need my attention. Sorry there's no pictures (there was some on Saturday, though, so patience, people!) but I forgot to pull out the camera at the park today or at any other spare moment. I'll try better tomorrow. Until then...

Noah and Mr. Chin

I don't have time for a very long post, but figured a quick few pictures was better than nothing :) Kristina and Arthur have a chinchilla named Mr. Chin. Every time we go over to their place Noah is obsessed with 'visiting' Mr. Chin. Last weekend Kristina took some pictures of my animal loving little boy and I just had to share. Off to the Hals' for the evening, hopefully lots of pictures tomorrow. Until then...

Noah sitting next to Mr. Chin's cage

Noah giving Mr. Chin a piece of hay

Noah and 'the Godfather' :)

Noah and Uncle Arthur visit Mr. Chin

Little Drummer Boy

This morning Noah was literally trying to climb up my leg to get onto my lap while I was trying to work. I can only take about 45 seconds of him being on my lap while I'm working before he's playing with the mouse, typing on the keyboard, reaching for things he's not supposed to have, etc. So then I'll put him back down, he'll throw a fit and climbing up my leg starts again.

This morning, I got smart. I always try to distract him with another toy or book or something, but very rarely does it keep his attention for more than a few minutes. So this morning, because I was desperate, I pulled out some pots and pans, a couple of spoons and let him go to town. He was the happiest kid EVER! And honestly, I could work through the racket a lot easier than him trying to climb up me. He banged away on the pots and pans for nearly half an hour. He figured out that if he turned them different directions they made different sounds or if they were touching each other they both rang. I know he loves to drum, he's obsessed with the drum kits for Rock Band whenever we go to a house that has some. Maybe a mini drum kit for Christmas...

I had my appointment with the nephro today. As expected, my potassium levels are still low and my magnesium levels are slowly trending that way as well. Nothing to do right now but increase the meds and keep an eye on it. We're just hoping it won't get any worse :) But I've said it once and I'll say it many times again I'd much rather be dealing with this problem than my blood pressure being ridiculously high, too. I know most likely that's coming, but one thing at a time.

Grant's decided that it's much better given traffic and construction around his office to go in early and then come home early. Wow was it wonderful to have him home just after 5 o'clock today. So after dinner, since it's still cooling down a bit here, we went for a walk up to the gas station and the boys got a treat. Noah had a push-up and you'll just have to take my word for it that he enjoyed it immensely. If you're in Ohio, you can ask one of my sisters to see the pic I sent them on my phone. I unfortunately didn't have the other camera with me at the time. He was a very happy little boy.

Alright, off to watch Grey's Anatomy here in a little bit. I'll try to keep up over the weekend but we all know that's not my strong suit ;-) Until then...

Noah drumming away

He was totally rocking out

Noah post-snoozie