Today is a completely different day than yesterday. Yesterday between Jack and Eric I only got about 4 hours of sleep the night before. I struggled the entire day, I was grouchy, exhausted, impatient and just plain wore out. We did not go anywhere and I can't really recall brushing my teeth!
But today has been great. I was in bed at 9:08 pm and while Eric was up a few times I did get to sleep until 6:15. Wow, nine hours of sleep, even interrupted and the last two on the couch, is sooooo much better than 4. We were out the door by eight forty-five to go grocery shopping. I wanted to hit Wal-Mart before it got to busy. The Alberta labour shortage is completely evident in retail stores and restaurants -the line ups are long and painful. But not when you go through at 9:30, hooray!! We managed to get most of the things on our list before Eric started fussing. Then off to Superstore for groceries. Had to maneuver the cart while carrying Eric (forgot the snuggli, doh!) but still had a fun time by getting Jack to repeat items on the grocery list. He is learning new words every day now and loves to parrot back new words. Today's best was CHICKEN, (as a side note, yesterday's best new word was CRAZY, as in "You are driving me crazy!".) You know, I have a love hate relationship with the Superstore free cookie for kids. I love it because Jack is entertained with it for a good half hour. Hate it because he is a mess by the time he's done. There's cookie and chocolate on his winter jacket, face, hands, all over the car seat, on the floor of the car etc. Sigh, what's a Mom to do -but no crying so there's something. So, home we came, groceries and kids in the house, lunch, play time and now it's naps. Although Eric has woken up and is gurgling in the swing. And I am getting a few things done...laundry, dishes, email, blog, bills. Hmmm, dishes and laundry still aren't done and I've skipped to blog and making my Christmas wish list for Darrel -a girl must have priorities you know!
Today is also our anniversary, yay us, wow four years and a lot of changes. Four vehicles, three apartments, two houses, two provinces, two kids, and four jobs later we are still going strong. We are going out on Saturday night but to celebrate tonight we are getting Chinese food. It's the first time we've tried the 'Double Dragon' here in town (one of our two restaurants), hopefully it's yummy or we'll be having canned soup for our anniversary. I've been thinking today that while life is often crazy, I am happy and glad for what is mine, and am very grateful to making this journey with Darrel. He really is the love of my life.
We were hanging out in the boys' room on Sunday night prior to bedtime, and just having some fun. Jack really likes to climb the headboard and footboard for his bed, and Eric's circus training has begun as you can see! It is true that Dads play with their children in an entirely different way than Moms. I can see our boys having a lot of fun with ring master/remote control driver/builder Darrel in the future.
Poor little Eric was getting tired. He's very easy to read when he's tired, he starts rubbing his face and nose and if that doesn't grab our attention he starts squawking. I am really hoping that we have a much easier time transitioning him to sleeping through the night than we did with Jack. Keep your fingers crossed! 
We've been super lucky lately with getting things for free or good deals. The same people who gave us all their old kitchen cabinets had washer and dryer and some beds for sale. The washer and dryer are FABULOUS! They are the nicest pair of laundry machines I've ever had that's for sure. I could go on an on about them. Which is ridiculous, it's only a washer and dryer, but they really are so wonderful. I will say that what used to be 5 loads of laundry is now only three because they have such a huge capacity. That is a life saver! 
I tried out Eric in the exersaucer, he tolerates it for short periods of time but you can see the wheels turning, where am I, why am I here, how can I get out? I'm sure he'll end up loving it but it must be a little alarming the first few times. A pretty quiet weekend for us -a Home Dept trip on Saturday. Church today, hang out with the boys. Our big accomplishment was discovering that you can make pudding with soy milk. We tried before with rice milk and no go -it doesn't set, but soy milk works, hooray! Lucky Darrel and Jack! Tomorrow we're back at the organizing and cleaning routine, but Darrel will be home too. I love long weekends. Isn't it nice to think Sunday night, oh Darrel (insert other spouse name), is home tomorrow, another whole day of family togetherness (and not being outnumbered by children). Ahhhhh!
The elusive smile caught on camera.
Yup, this would be my favourite reading pose too.
Well, this was likely the last year we get away with not taking the kids out trick or treating. Jack was a fireman but stayed home to hand out candy, (and eat from our bowl), rather than brave the cold. Lucky us, the other parents who came by said they were freezing. I think the kids are warm and toasty from candy adrenaline and it's really the parents who suffer! The candy eating at our house actually started much earlier in the day, come about 3 o'clock I just gave up and thought, go for it, eat all the licorice you want. Why try to stop the inevitable really? 
As you can see, fireman Jack didn't quite trust our pumpkin with it's open flame. I thought I'd have to keep him out of it but he usually maintained quite a distance between himself and the pumpkin, when we were taking pictures with he and Darrel by the pumpkin he cried when Darrel tried to put him too close. I had great fun carving this ghosty pumpkin, I love those pumpkin templates you can find online. Next year we may have to do more than one! For someone who HATED Halloween as a child I have become a fairly good supporter of this holiday I have to say. (Probably because I'm not the one feeling the pressure to dress up.) 
