Child-less shopping

Lately I have neglected my blog, just barely journaling our activities but not much else. So right now I'm going to put my Christmas post on hold for a little day-in-the-life-of-Sunshine story.
Disclaimer* If you are male or under 18, read at your own risk.
Wednesday mornings both kids are in school for a blessed 3 hours. I save up non-kid-friendly errands for Wednesdays and go crazy for those 3 hours. It's a good time. I was in Nordie's yesterday with a gift card burning a hole in my pocket and found myself in the "sleepwear" department. A good non-kid-friendly errand, buying bras, plus who wants to try on bras with a kid screaming at you trying to escape the dressing room while you are half nekkid? It was time for a new one. Now I've had a "fitting" before that consisted of the tape measure going over the shirt, but before I knew it, Carrie* (whose name has been changed to protect the innocent), had me down to my bra and undergarment. For you Mo's reading, you know what undergarment I'm talking about. Unfortunately I had on a well-loved undergarment, complete with yucky pits and a bit of leftover lint that wouldn't come out despite my repeated washings. I was in a hurry when I got dressed in the semi-darkness yesterday morning, so I didn't even realize what a yucky (though clean!) undergarment I had chosen until I was under the harsh lights of Nordie's. Now if I lived in Utah, the sales girl probably wouldn't have thought twice about the yucky undergarment, but I'm in Cali, so Carrie did a double take before she composed herself. "Ha, ha", you are thinking to yourself. "Good story, Sunshine." No wait...it gets better. After nursing both my babies, my girls aren't what they used to be. A fact of life I'm sure will naturally rectify itself once I'm done having kids, but in the meantime I just have to deal with the droopiness. (seriously, if you are a male reading this, please stop!) Last year to fill out the Jewish wedding dress (if you are new to my blog, go back to March of '08 for the Jewish wedding dress) I had to get a pair of falsies. I don't ever wear them - they are uncomfortable and sweaty (there's a nice pix for you!), but for some reason, yesterday I stuck them in the bra. It helped the cute shirt hang better....anyways, I find myself in this dressing room with Carrie already wondering about the nasty undergarment when I have to pull these puppies out of my bra so she can get a correct measurement. I turned away from her to plop them into my purse as discreetly as I can, but at this point I'm sure Carrie is really wishing she would have ignored me on the sales floor. After she took my measurement (I'm still the same pre-baby size, how did that happen??) she ran off to find some bras for me to try on. I took this time to take off the yucky undergarment and stuff that into my purse with the falsies, thinking Carrie probably didn't want to look at my lovely yellow armpits any more. I sure didn't. Quick thinking on my part, because she ended up putting every bra on me!! I've never had a fitting like this, where she stood behind me, I put the bra on, and she fastened and adjusted each bra. Thankfully her hands were warm. Must be an employment requirement. But thanks to Carrie, I rediscovered the joys of the push-up! Why, oh why did I abandon you, push-up? You bring me confidence and happiness! To help make Carrie feel better after the weird, yucky undergarment and pair of falsies, and to replenish my push-up-less wardrobe, I bought 4 bras. The girls are back where nature intended, and now I'm off to get new undergarments. Apparently they have a shorter life than bras.

November in a Nutshell

We went to Maryland for Thanksgiving week to celebrate with Scott's family. For the first time since before I have joined the family, we had everyone there for a holiday! It was so much fun! My mother-in-law outdid herself, and we all had a blast. Talk about good food...I haven't dared weigh myself since we got home...since the eating hasn't slowed since. ;-> Caden and Soleil had so much fun with their cousins! And I have almost thawed out. Brr!!


Playing in the leaves. The kids LOVED those leaves!


Seriously, they loved those leaves. 3 acres of leaves!!


What's a Thanksgiving without a little touch football?
That's Caden in the blue sweater with the ball...already a quarterback!


Well, it was supposed to be touch football until the uncles started tackling each other.
I think that's Scott getting tackled by his older bro Brent. Tackled or wrestled....just like old times.


The 3 boy cousins, or should I say the 3 boy superheroes?


Soleil loved playing with Grandma.


Grandpa and Caden's birthdays are a day apart, so they had a joint family birthday party.
Happy Birthday boys!

We went to the Baltimore and Ohio Train Museum on our last day there. ( The B&O Railroad has a square on the Monopoly board if it sounds familiar to you) Caden still loves all things trains, and we all had fun.










Well, we all had fun until it was nap time, right Soleil?

Thanks for a wonderful trip, Barry and Linda! We can't wait for the next family reunion!

My good friend Maree was kind enough to have her birthday in November as well, so we rounded up the gang and went to lunch. It was perfect, crazy chaos with as many kids as adults, but it was so fun being with good friends, eating good food, and only having 1 kid to wrestle myself. Happy Birthday Maree! And sorry I didn't get these pictures to you any sooner!

My mom was able to spend some time with us in November. She timed her trip with Caden's party, so we had an extra set of hands to help and she got to help us celebrate his birthday. It was fun to have her!

Grannie with her favorite grandkids.

My dad was also here for a couple of days, but for some reason I CANNOT remember to take a picture when he is with my kids. I kept him busy with house projects - thanks Dad for being my Mr Fix It!

This is from his July visit. At least we have good tans!

Love you both!

Caden turned four in November. It's been a fast four years! He is such a sweet kid - so funny and kind. He is a great helper, which I love, and is becoming quite the sports fanatic, which Scott loves. Caden loves playing with his friends and being outside, so this year we did a Batman birthday party in the park. We played lots of games, ate pizza and cake, and hit the Batman pinata. It was a super hot day (because what else would you expect at the end of November?) but we stayed cool in the shade. Happy Birthday, Caden! I love you!!


Duck Duck Goose...but where did the Goose go?


The boys waiting their turn for the pinata.


You are going down, Batman!


Showing off some of his Batman spoils.

Soleil got her first haircut at the beginning of November. It was time to clean it up and make it less mullet-ish. She's watched Caden get his haircut for a year now, and has wanted her turn for a long time. She loved every minute of it. This girl is all girl!

The end result. She even got bedazzled!

Note to self: even though it sounds cute, do not get the glitter again. It just makes a mess and gets all over everything!

Let's Review

Now that it's practically Thanksgiving, let's review October. We went to Austin to visit my dad and clan and got to see my little sister dance with her high school drill team at the football game halftime. I was on my high school's drill team back in the day, and out of all of my 7 siblings, Melissa is the only one to follow in my footsteps. (7 siblings from 2 families. Let's not forget that vital fact!) My other sister and brother (plus girlfriend) who are currently edumacating themselves in Provo flew in for the festivities, so it turned into a big family reunion. Party!!

Soleil thinks she can swim by herself, which is scary, but at least she's got the posing down!

At the morning pep rally at school. From L-R: girlfriend Carrie, bro David,

sis Michelle, stepmom Jill, sis Melissa, dad John, Caden, Scott, me and Soleil.

All the Osborne kids together for the first time in over 3 years.

Making sushi, yum yum! Caden was off chasing the dogs, but the rest of us huddled around the food.

We swam and ate and swam and ate and had lots of fun in Texas. Thanks for a great time, Papa and Grandma!

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Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

It seemed wrong to be picking pumpkins at the end of October in almost 100 degree weather. We had fun, but didn't stay long. Phew!!

And the end result of the jack-o-lantern carving:

Soleil was sad because...I don't know. But I think it's a hilarious picture. Does that make me a mean mom?

It was so hot here that these pumpkins rotted in 5 days. So 30 minutes before we went trick-or-treating, we quickly carved out 2 more pumpkins.

Caden wanted to be a bat for Halloween. Since his preschool only allowed animal costumes, the bat idea was great! I figured we have years of princess costumes ahead of us, so this year Soleil got to be a bat too. Although I will give her this, she accessorized the bat costume all by herself! Those shoes kill me! And yes, Caden picked his shoes too...just didn't have the same effect.

Yeah for bats!!

Getting ready to get some candy!!

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Caden's Sports

Caden has been taking a sports class once a week. They rotate through the different sports, giving the kids a chance to figure out what they really like to play. Caden is a natural athlete, like his dad, and loved every sport, like his dad. And for once, he was the biggest kid in the class! Coach Steve was great with the kids. There is a 2 month break until the next session starts up, and I don't know what do to with Caden in the meantime....he's been asking for his sports class all week.

Budding Beckhams and Kobes.