Target

I love Target. For those of us that are high-class, we call it Tar-ja'. I find some reason to go to Tar-ja' at least once a week. Out of mascara? Off to Tar-ja'. Soleil blasted through the last box of diapers? I shall dash to Tar-ja'! In need of a cheap popcorn fix? Tar-ja', here I come! So I was at Target (I have tired of typing Tar-ja'. too much work, so it's back to Target) a couple of days ago. Soleil and I were weaving our way round the store, her sitting in the bottom of the cart eating the cheap popcorn while somehow pulling everything within arm's reach off the shelves, when a stranger asked me where the laundry detergent is. Now, I am a friendly person, and I know Target well, so I explained where the detergent was located and sent the stranger on their happy way. A few minutes later, another customer asked me where the garden hoses were. Having just perused Target's gardening section myself, again I explained the general location to the stranger, and off she went. For the third time in about 10 minutes, another person asked me the location of a product. I couldn't figure it out! Maybe I am spending too much time in Target...Do I really look like I know the entire store that well? I'm sure Scott would not be happy to hear that!
Until it hit me. I was wearing a red shirt and khakis, the uniform of Target employees. I grabbed Soleil out of the cart and ran home to change.

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!