all things Autumnal

Autumn is my favorite season. I am one of those weird people that actually love Winter, so the onset of fall is the prelude that energizes me with its crisp air and subdued hues.

I have tried to incorporate that feeling into my bedroom over the years. It is still a work in progress (all the white walls left just crying out to be painted!) but here is the masterful master thus far:



my Mom got us this bedding set from Eddie Bauer as a wedding gift and it is so worn and soft. I love it and since Eddie Bauer no longer has home stores, all the holes and stains from the kids are here to stay!

The sitting area with the dark brown wall (Bison from Dutch Boy). I have been known to sit here and fold laundry or snuggle the boys right when we all get home each day. These chairs used to be in the creepy formal living room at the old house so they are practically brand new still :)



Our dresser - and yes the top of it does always look like this since neither of us like clutter. Bryan actually put together the vases all by himself a long time ago on a very, very rare decorating moment of his (sorry ,babe, for outing you, but I love you for it!) I don't usually like fake flowers but this is the only practical way to have color year round without spending a fortune.

a true bro-mance...

Thank you, Warren, for feeding baby Jack his bottle when he was brand new and you weren't even quite two!


And for dumping a box of Cheerios on the floor to share just a few months later (Reagan liked that trick too!)


We are even more grateful that you taught him to love books at a very young age


But mostly, you have just quietly led by example and taught your little brother what it is to be a cool kid!

that's ONE way of singing it

Hush little baby lyrics:

Hush, little baby, don't say a word.
Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird
And if that mockingbird won't sing,
Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring

And if that diamond ring turns brass,
Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass

And if that looking glass gets broke,
Mama's gonna buy you a billy goat

And if that billy goat won't pull,
Mama's gonna buy you a cart and bull

And if that cart and bull turn over,
Mama's going to buy you a dog named Rover.

And if that dog named Rover won't bark,
Mama's going to buy you a horse and cart.

And if that horse and cart fall down,
You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town.

Holy crap...I finally had the gumption to google the real lyrics to this little ditty I have been singing to the boys for years now and...WOW, let's just say I have been improvising my own words - kind of ad-lib style, depending on mood and current events ;)

Hard at Play

It is always good to be back home with my boys, although Bryan is away for work tonight so hopefully sometime this week the family will be united.

The Force is strong in the "toy pantry"


Best Buddies -- most of the time:


This is the happy face I get to come home to at the end of a long day:

random thoughts from the Western Slope

View from the facility I am working at:

I am away for work tonight, on business, or as I like to call it - having a mini-vacation where hot showers are encouraged, inside voices rule, and undisturbed sleep is a given. Never mind that I am in some 5th tier hotel in a town I'm not sure even classifies as small (more like miniscule wide spot in the road), no that is not the point...the point is I can hear myself think and can actually take the time to articulate my thoughts at my leisure. So, here is what I am thinking about tonight in the quitness of my -- wait this might even actually be a motel-room:

*If I ever have a daughter I will name her Ruby Claire and keep her baby toe-nails painted always. If you ever read this, Ruby, I think about you every time I paint my own toe nails and I'm sure you are way cooler in real life

*I have been thinking about and wanting to start recycling since we moved and then yesterday we got an email from the HOA folk asking if we want to participate in the neighborhood recycling pick-up...uh, yeah! Too weird ;) I love Jefferson County!

*I hope I can sleep tonight and can put the insomnia away for a little while...but hope only goes so far and I am a pragmatist, so the beer should help too! Hope and beer...a winning combination I think!

the Profound Cliche

It was one of those profound moments in life when you hear or see or experience something that just really makes an impression and tickles your heart...we are grocery shopping - Warren and I - and I put a few cans of Italian Wedding Soup into the cart and quickly kiss him on the forehead. Before I can even straighten back up to resume he puts his arms around my neck and says into my ear "you are the best mom, EVER!"

If you think I got teary at that moment, or that I am even teary now typing it...nope...I actually smiled from ear to ear and laughed out loud. How many times did we all tell that to our moms in every corny home-made mother's day card, right? It is so cliche and yet that was the first time I had ever been on the RECEIVING end of this little remark that little kids so innocently and yet so knowingly bestow upon the next generation of "best mom EVERs"...okay now I am getting teary ;)

Well, I bet he wasn't thinking I am the best mom ever when he was a newborn strapped to the UV light for his case of Jaundice ;)

Vintage Posts -- Installment #1

As my wedding anniversary gets closer, it has me all mushy, thinking about my relationship with the hubby (albeit brief!!) before our little boys arrived.

Rewind just shy of five years ago and we were SO young and adventurous -- I can't help but laugh when I think of our big plans for traveling through Europe that first year of marriage...yeah Warren wasn't on board with that! I am glad it turned out this way though...Europe isn't going anywhere, right?!

This was the night before the Big Day...yeah we were excited alright:



And here we are the next day:

"Low key"...

...that is the phrase of the weekend. We were supposed to go to a wedding and a birthday party but Jack has a cold so we are just staying home - keeping it on the DL.

About the only exciting thing to report is -- Reagan is back home! We have the backyard landscaping lined up so it won't be long that he is roaming in the dirt lot out back ;) Thanks to grandma and grandpa Lawson for dog-sitting him!!



Oh, and one kind of fun project underway at the house -- we are putting hinges and storage bins on all the annoying "fake drawers" in the house! I hate those drawer fronts that don't do anything...so they are all getting transformed.



It is kind of a bummer when your weekend plans get sidetracked but at the same time it is nice to just stay home...I even caught Jerome relaxing!

Oh my darlings

**Warning**This post contains panderings of cuteness from an otherwise rational woman


So, for those of you who have chosen to continue reading, I couldn't resist sharing the latest morsel of pure adorable-ness to come from baby Jack. He loves fruit, he is a lover-of-all-things-fruit, if you will. I got this fruit basket for the table with him in mind, thinking how I would keep it stocked with fresh fruit just for baby Jack, since I am just that kind of a mommy ;) Most recently, I got clementine oranges and loaded them into the basket. Sure enough, moments later I hear Jack in the dining room belting out "oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling, Clementine!"

And now he is requesting that we all sing this song any time he wants an orange. It is just impossible not to indulge him and he knows it! He's such a clementine-cutie!

Teri Hatcher Hates Going to the Gym

Well, a couple weeks ago a mysterious new addition showed up on my key chain, see evidentiary photo #1:


Accompanied by my husband not so casually mentioning that perhaps going to the gym could help with my persistent insomnia and all the great exercise to be had at the gym could help with my rhymes with mosquito too! (the exclamation point is referring to his enthusiasm, not mine) I supplant that "my rhymes with mosquito is just fine, thank you, I am just TRYING to get some much needed sleep and your mosquito keeps buzzing around waking me up" ;) Okay, this is a family blog...work with me, people!

Then I proceed to use my googling prowess to find out who else hates going to the gym that I can align myself with for world gym-hater domination...oh maybe I DO like the gym...see evidentiary photo #2 from my first google hit for gym haters

Yeah, sorry, Teri, your way-too-broad smile freaks me out and is it just me or does her right eye seem to know something that the left eye doesn't?

I am more likely to align myself with Richard Simmons, from team gym lover - he seems much more welcoming and understanding, anyhow.

So, here I go, going to give it a go-go (as Richard would say) at the gym today. Hey, if this doesn't pan out I will just keep a can of OFF! on my nightstand and continue to beg my physician to refill my Ambien perscription...

new and exciting things...

This is Warren's new class. They do lots of big kid activities and have more choices presented to them so he is loving it!


AND...over in grown up land...Bryan and I secured our tickets to see the Beatles LOVE show in Vegas next month!! We are going there to celebrate our five year anniversary (we were married in Vegas on August 16th 2003) and couldn't resist the opportunity. We both love the Beatles ;)

One baby = easy!

Jack is visiting Bryan's parents so far this week (we haven't decided when we are going to pick him up yet) and so we just have one child. Let me tell you, it is SO easy, AND relaxing, AND calm. Not that Jack is difficult by any means, just the atmosphere minus the interactions of the two boys is so different. Here he is kicking it on Grandma's porch in his skivvies ;)



Warren started into pre-K at his school yesterday! He was very excited for his new classroom and we are excited for him to get to do and learn all the great things with his new teacher. I will post a picture of his new class later ;)

Check it out!

We made the list!! Number 44 is Westminster ;) From the anual top 100 "Best Places to Live" from CNNMoney's list of America's best small cities

26 Lakeville, MN 53,000
27 Ann Arbor, MI 113,200
28 Gilbert, AZ 191,500
29 Gaithersburg, MD 57,900
30 Chandler, AZ 240,500
31 Burke, VA 58,200
32 Bolingbrook, IL 69,800
33 Loveland, CO 61,100
34 Euless, TX 52,000
35 Edison, NJ 101,400
36 West Bloomfield Township, MI 65,900
37 Reston, VA 63,600
38 Frisco, TX 80,400
39 Shawnee, KS 59,200
40 Eden Prairie, MN 60,900
41 Maple Grove, MN 60,500
42 Bellevue, WA 118,100
43 Burnsville, MN 59,300
44 Westminster, CO 105,700
45 Franklin, TN 55,800
46 North Hempstead, NY 222,600
47 Scottsdale, AZ 231,100
48 Novi, MI 54,100
49 Newton, MA 82,800
50 Longmont, CO 82,600

child labor laws

Here is Dubbs at the house warming party yesterday -- I don't think it counts as child labor since he volunteered...something about a hose that just really speaks to the four year old spirit.



We are so thankful to have had some great friends, family and neighbors stop by our new pad and help us create some fun first memories here!

my hair

Wow! It has been QUITE the hair color journey since I first altered it probably around the age of 13 with the infamous "sun-in" spray. My friends and I would unload an entire bottle onto our heads after school and then sit outside on the deck in the Alaskan sunshine. Oh yeah! It was a brassy mess in 30 short minutes but we thought it was fabulous. All we needed was a little self-tanner and we were set!

Fast forward 15 years later and I am FINALLY off the sauce! Being back in touch with what I belive is my god-given hue feels pretty good. Especially because for a minute there I think my hair was more likely to be I.D.'d under a microscope as some sort of a synthetic fiber than human hair.

the Joys of a 4 year old...

Here is the lovely "art work" that Warren got to make yesterday at school. He is a very head strong, independent little boy, that's for sure...

I can relate...

We were watching the movie "Over the Hedge" recently and this song came on at the end and the lyrics are just hilarious - anyone in the burbs, this will tickle your funny bone ;)

Rockin’ The Suburbs (feat. William Shatner)

Let me tell y'all what it's like
Watching idol on a friday night
In a house built safe and sound
On indian burial ground
Sham On

We drive our cars everyday
To and from work both ways
So we make just enough to pay
To drive our cars to work each day

We're rocking the suburbs
Around the block just one more time
We're rocking the suburbs
Cause I can't tell which house is mine
We're rocking the suburbs
We part the shades and face facts
They got better looking Fescue
Right across the cul de sac

Hotwheels take rising stars
Get rich quick seminars
Soap opera magazines
40,000 watt nativity scenes
Don't freak about the smoke alarm
Mom left the TV dinner on

Yet we're rocking the suburbs
From family feud to Chevy Chase
We're rocking the suburbs
We numb the muscles in our face
We're rocking the suburbs
Feed the dog and mow the lawn
Watching mommy balance the checks
While daddy juggles credit cards

Hi, sorry to bother you
The name's Bill
I live just across the street
Yeah that's right over there
No, no not that house, the one next to it with the extra flower bed
Oh, and here's all your papers from the last few days, they were just piling up on the driveway where the...whole neighborhood could see them
Not that that's a problem of course
But that and the grass being a little overgrown
Might give someone the impression that you Were out of town
And you wouldn't want that
I've got to be going shortly to a little
class I've been attending I just...
No, no, no, no not pottery or anything like that it's uh...
An ANGER MANAGEMENT class
Actually,
and speaking of that very class
They've been emphasising finding some common ground
With people before you confront them
to avoid becoming violent, you know?
Well actually we do have a few things in common
Here could you take these papers
They're getting my suit wet
and as I was saying
we do live on the same cul-de-sac
That's common ground
and I believe we actually have the same house plan, except the reverse, your garage is on the left and mine's on the...
No, it wasn't me that dialled 911 at 6:31pm Wednesday about your son's noisy rock band
anyway it's about your dog
And of course about our garbage
And the neighbor's garbage can
No, I'm sorry it is your dog
Who's been strewing garbage around the block
And I have digital evidence
Complete with red eye reduction
which I will e-mail to you
to prove that it is in fact your dog
Now, I should warn you that I have a black belt in in karate too
and I'm certainly don't mind using it if necessary
No, not on you man
ON...YOUR...STINKING...DOG

We're rocking the suburbs
Everything we need is here
We're rocking the suburbs
But it wasn't here last year
We're rocking the suburbs
You'll never know when we are gone
Because the timer lights come on
And turn the cricket noises on each night
Yeah, yeah, we're rocking the suburbs
Yeah, yeah, we're rocking the suburbs

#@&*!!!!

"When angry count to four; when very angry, swear" - Mark Twain

Just found out yesterday that our flight to Alaska in September has been cancelled by the airline company and we cannot get on an earlier flight prior to their discontinuing service to Anchorage indefinitely. So, our trip is most likely cancelled since we were using free tickets that I dilligently worked towards by using my airlines credit card for every purchase possible, finally earning us 4"free" tickets...bummer, huh? Apparently the profit margin for flying up there with fuel costs what they are is not enough to keep them doing it.

I am trying to be positive and think of any way to salvage the trip without spending over $2,000 for new tickets, which is just too frustrating to consider.

Another one bites the dust!

Yippee! The living room is done - all the walls are painted, pictures and art are neatly hung up and furniture is placed. This is huge as this is the room you enter from the front door and I wanted it to be cozy and inviting. I am not about to quit my day job by any means but I am discovering that I love decorating! I have been getting lots of things at thrift/antique stores and picking up things on our travels and it is so fun to see them all come together -- I never knew I had it in me! ;)

Jerome the Gnome

Anyone that recently got the "little santa invitation" from me for our house warming party...this clarification is for you. It is NOT Santa - it IS a garden gnome, whom you will be seeing more of at our house on Saturday. We are having fun with him at our house in the mean time, putting him in all kinds of predicaments.


"Oh my, Oh dear, not feeling so well here..."

Much better, I feel much more spontaneous and couragous now..."

"To be hanging out with the likes of these blokes..."

"See you Saturday and hey, maybe Saint Nick will be here too!" So sorry if you thought I was hosting a Christmas in July type thing, nope it was just my sometimes quirky taste for what I thought was an obvious garden gnome ;)

Popeye the Sailor Man

Warren LOVES spinach! I originally thought to try it because he loves Italian Wedding soup so much, which has I believe some sort of endive cooked in it. And it turns out it was a good move. I put a little grape seed oil in a pan and wilt down the baby spinach leaves and then add some chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste. I kid you not, he always ask for seconds. Makes all the "chicken" nuggets he eats a little less worrisome for me.

Let's go racin' boys (part II)!

Well, the guys are having a grand time at NASCAR, taking in the sites and sounds of race cars.

They get back today and we are all happy to have Daddy and Papa back. We missed them both!

My Favorite kind of Babies...

...are peacefully dreaming ones.

Let's go racin' boys!

Bryan took his dad to NASCAR in Chicago for his birthday. I hope they have a good time! Happy birthday papa John!

They have been sending me pics from their trip, so here are a couple images from Wrigley Field yesterday:

Bryan and his dad have such a great relationship that I really hope to see with my boys and their dad as they get older. They chat on the phone about current events, computers, and cars just like a couple of old pals and it always makes me feel good to hear him mention when he is going to give his dad a call. So sweet!...I mean...masculine and cool ;)

Home Sweet Home

Top ten things I am loving about the new house:

10. No ugly garage doors taking up the front of the house
9. Great neighbors - lots of young kids and working moms
8. No formal dining or living rooms taking up precious square footage
7. LOTS of windows!
6. The boys have their own bathroom to destroy, I mean use ;)
5. His and her closets in the master
4. Sink in the UPSTAIRS laundry room - how novel!
3. Living room upstairs to spread all the toys out and not feel compelled to clean up each day
2. Park right outside the front door for the boys to play at
1. A blank canvas to decorate and make special for my family

DVR-ing dilemna

Upon returning to the world of getting up every morning and blow-drying my hair, required adult conversation, and soothing white noise overhead (a.k.a. work) after both of my maternity leaves, one of the things I really missed was watching Oprah in the afternoon.

The only times I get to watch now are the very rare sick days or in the equally rare off-chance that I am working from home at that precious 4pm time slot.

*ahem*...moving right along.

But now I can officially have my cake and eat it too thanks to the newest addition to our gadget collection - the DVR(digital video recorder).

BUT WAIT!! If I have 14 episodes of my fav gal backlogged in this little black box available at my beck and call will it loose its mystical appeal? Is there such thing as too much day time talk show?

I don't want to risk loosing one of my very few guilty pleasures so I think I will steer clear of this DVR for now and continue to gaze upon the cake that is maternity leave for a bit longer. Just know though, Barney and Thomas the Train, that your disk space IS in jeopardy.

a Snack from the Dark Side

Just a quick little snack and then off to bed...



He is getting SO big it takes my breath away! I see little bits of "man" emerge from my little boy every day. What an awesome journey it is.

a Sign of Progress

You know when you are making progress on settling into a new house when your closet actually gets unpacked and put together. What a treat!


I am sure this is a universal "momism" but sometimes it just amazes me that the house gets cleaned, the kids are very well cared for, another day of "enginerding" is done, and...I am peacefully contemplating the priorities for the next day...like how I might fill up the empty shoe real estate I see in this picture!

Makin' bacon

If you can guess what these two pictures are then we need to talk because I have got some venting to do (pun intended!!)

Oh joy, our microwave is now vented to the great outdoors rather than circulating the bacon aroma in the house. This is great and all, just not sure I would have prioritized a Saturday for this particular project, plus now how will we know if the smoke detectors are in working order? I guess I can't complain too much though since so much of what we have done to the new house is pretty cosmetic and probably doesn't rank too high on hubby's list either.

So, he has his vented hood and I have my hot orange wall in the upstairs living room! It is called Cinamon Cake by Valpar - definately a bold choice for me but it turned out really cool.