As promised I have an update on my Oil-Cleansing Method post I did a while back.

So, my skin was going crazy, and all dried-out. Horribly dried out! We’re talking chunks of skin randomly peeling away.

I did a few days of the oil-cleansing method and immediately after doing it my skin looked really soft and had a nice glow about it, but after a while it would start to go back to the desert landscape I was trying to abolish.

So I started to do a little thinking, and realized that just over a month ago I had started to use a new product on my face because the one that I usually use was not in stock so I thought maybe it would be a good idea to try something new.

As much as I’m opposed to change, I generally enjoy trying new products for my hair, or new makeup but I have stuck to the same routine with my skincare for a few years now and it has served me well so I should have known better than to go messing with it. It took me a whole month to figure out what was causing my skin to break out and drying my face out so badly, though!

I went out and bought the old product and noticed a change within a couple of days. My skin is almost back to it’s old self, which isn’t saying a ton because I was not genetically blessed with good skin. I’m sad for my kids and the faulty skin genetics they are doomed to inherit from me.

I hadn’t done the oil-cleansing method for a while, and since my skin was starting to get back to normal I decided to try it again last night before bed. I have to admit that I really do enjoy the process of massaging the oil into my skin. It’s really relaxing! After I was done doing it my skin looked nice immediately following it, but after a while I noticed it felt a little dry. I’m sure that means I need to adjust the ratio of oils I’m using, but in all honesty I’m not sure I feel very motivated to mess with it. The only reason I decided to try it was because my skin was going crazy on me, but since I’ve figured out what the problem is I think I might want to just stick with the old way. It was working for me, so there’s no need to give my skin any more reason to act up again.

So, I’ve decided to share with you what products I use on my skin. Prepare to be underwhelmed, because I can’t afford any high-end beauty treatments so it will be entirely comprised with things that you can buy at Wal-Mart, or Target if you want to feel a little extra fancy.

For cleansing my skin I use Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser. I heard about it a long time ago and was told that it was a really gentle, non-irritating cleanser. I used to use the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser but it didn’t do a very good job at getting my makeup off. I think the Daily Facial Cleanser is new within the past couple of years. It does a much better job at removing makeup.

After I cleanse, I tone. I use Clean and Clear Deep Cleaning Astringent for Sensitive Skin. I really can’t give you a good reason for why I use it, but it does remove any extra makeup that I miss when cleansing. I might be able to skip this step, but since the whole package seems to be working I just keep it in the routine.

After I’m done toning I brush my teeth. I can’t really tell you what brand of toothpaste I use because I don’t pay attention. I can tell you that I tried the cheap, generic brand of toothpaste that was a dollar and I hated it. I am generally a fan of buying generics, but I could tell a big difference in how clean my teeth felt with the cheap brand. I can tell you that I use a Sonicare toothbrush. I love it! It’s pricey, but David and I have had ours for a long time. I’m pretty sure that I got it in my Easter Basket the year before David and I were married. Yes, folks, when your dad is a dentist you get toothbrushes in your Easter Basket along with your candy!

I brush my teeth in the middle of my whole skin care routine so that the astringent has time to dry before my last step. My last step is to use Neutrogena On the Spot Cream. It’s a cream that has 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide in it. I put a generous amount on my whole face. This was the step that I had messed with, and that caused me so many problems. They were out of it when I went to buy it, so I tried something different that had Salicylic Acid in it. After using the other product I realized that the Neutrogena cream was helping keep my skin clear without drying it out.

So, that’s my bedtime routine. In the morning when I wake up I sometimes wash my face, but if it doesn’t seem overly oily I just leave it. Most of the time I don’t have to bother washing it. I just move straight on to moisturizing. I’m a huge fan of moisturizing. Even if my skin doesn’t look dry or feel tight I always do it. It’s got SPF in it so I figure that’s always a good thing. I don’t use any fancy moisturizer. I just use Wal-Mart’s generic Equate brand. I’m not really sure what the official name of it is since I can’t find it online, but it’s just the generic brand of Oil of Olay. It’s cheap, and does the trick for me.

That’s what I’ve been doing for the past few years. It’s nothing special, but it’s been working for me so I think I’ll stick with it. I have been toying with the idea of giving Retin-A a try. I know a few people who are using it, and have been told that long-term use helps protect against fine-lines and wrinkles. I’m fairly pleased with how my skin has been aging so far, but I figure there’s nothing wrong with a little prevention.

I’m always experimenting with makeup and hair products, so I’m not going to overwhelm you with any of that information. Maybe at some point I’ll share some of my favorites, but for now I will cut this off before it gets too boring!

Yesterday was Madeline’s last day of preschool at her current preschool. You may remember my post a while back about some of my concerns about Madeline and preschool. I had gotten to a point where I was just letting things be since Madeline didn’t seem affected by any of it in the least.

2 weeks ago I just had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to call a different preschool that had been in the back of my mind for a while. I had heard great things about it, but didn’t see the point in switching to a whole new preschool. If anything I figured I would maybe look into moving Madeline into a morning class at her current preschool, but I had this nagging feeling that I needed to call the other one.

So, I made the call and we went in for a tour last Monday. We loved it! The only problem was that the class was full and there was a waiting list, and we weren’t at the top of it. The director told us that usually around the holidays/end of the year there is a little shifting and a spot might open up in the next couple of months.

I was somewhat disappointed since we had found a school we loved, but we couldn’t make the switch. Well, turns out 2 days later a spot opened up for Madeline and we quickly ran into the school to drop off her registration fee to hold her spot. She starts on Monday.

The new preschool will have a completely different schedule. She’ll go Monday, Wednesday, Friday mornings. Originally I had thought that wouldn’t work out, but I’ve come to realize mornings really do work best with Anthony’s nap schedule, and 3 days a week is even better than 2!

Even though I’m really excited about Madeline’s new preschool and I think it was a great decision, I was so sad yesterday picking her up from her last day at her current preschool. It would have been easier if I was taking her out because I didn’t like the preschool, but the thing is I really do like her current preschool.

I loved her teachers, and I know Madeline did too. I thought the way they ran the school was great, and the price was awesome. The big problem was that I was not happy about the kids in her class, or their parents for that matter. When I put Madeline into preschool I wanted her to get a little “school” experience, meet some new friends, and socialize. The fact that there were only 4 other kids in her class made the whole idea of socializing and making new friends much more difficult than anticipated especially because 2 of the girls were already friends and were not too nice to Madeline.

So, when I picked her up yesterday I watched the end of circle time when they all said goodbye to Madeline and I got all choked up. Her teachers were so sweet to her giving her hugs goodbye, and were so gracious to me.

For those of you who may not know me well, I don’t necessarily enjoy change. Even really good, positive change makes me feel a little sentimental and sad. I know once Madeline gets in her new school I’ll be fine, but the whole idea of Madeline leaving her very first preschool makes me tear up a little.

Madeline has done well with the idea of moving to a different preschool, so I’m hoping she’ll enjoy her new preschool and we won’t have any difficulty with the transition. I’ll keep you posted!

Neither of my kids are big cuddlers. For a while I felt bad about it, because I had this image in my mind about babies being these sweet, cuddly creatures and my kids would sit with me for all of 5 seconds before wiggling their way out of my arms back to the floor. Then I realized that my kids are just not happy unless they are on the move. If they are awake, then they need to be exploring, getting into mischief, climbing, jumping, and tearing apart my house. This past Sunday David and I worked in the nursery at church and spent some time with a few babies. We marveled at how happy they were to just sit in one place and play with toys, or just lounge in our arms happy to be held. Basically the complete opposite of our kids!

I had thought Anthony might be different from Madeline and maybe be a little more calm, and not quite so rambunctious but he has been proving that he can outdo Madeline in the craziness department. Changing his diaper is a daily battle. He squirms, tries to sit up, and crawl away. We dread changing his diaper! We can not leave chairs out at the kitchen table because he will climb up onto the table. He tries to climb out of his highchair even with the lap belt on. If we take him out of his highchair and put him on the floor while we finish dinner he tries to climb up onto our chairs. He unrolls the toilet paper, tries to play in the toilet, and eats dog food whenever we forget to put Lucy’s bowl up.

But I love him just the way he is. I love his personality and spunk. Even though he makes me a crazy person almost daily I wouldn’t change a thing. When he does choose to slow down and give me some cuddles they are even more special.

That’s why today when I was holding a sleeping Anthony in my arms I decided I’d better take a picture of the two of us to document it, since it’s not all that common!

I know in a couple of years I might be able to convince him to cuddle with me on the couch while watching a cartoon…kind of like I do with his sister!

The weather has finally decided to start acting like it’s fall. These past few days have been beautiful! Friday we were able to spend some time at the park with friends. It was great to see Anthony finally able to play on the playground. Now that he’s walking he was able to toddle around the playground, and climb on the play structures. Just in time for it to get cold outside. By the time we’re able to go back to the park regularly he should be very capable of playing on everything!

Today was another beautiful day and I wanted to spend it outside since it seemed like such a waste to sit on the couch all afternoon when it might be one of the last nice days we have. So I decided to do some raking. Not our yard! We live in a neighborhood that is less than a decade old so all of our trees are still small and require very little raking. For the most part the wind blows the leaves away and you’re able to avoid the task completely.

I was raking at my parents’ house. I had been over there yesterday to water some plants while they are on vacation and noticed that leaves were overtaking their entire yard. They live in a neighborhood with lots of very mature trees. It’s beautiful when the leaves are on the trees, but when they start falling to the ground it’s a nightmare. The leaves were literally starting to engulf every inch of their yard. Even their front porch and driveway were covered. Just going over there to water the plants was stressing me out, so I figured maybe they could use a little help. By the time they get home the weather will probably not be so nice, and let’s face it I could use the exercise. I can’t quite recall the last time I exercised so I think I was due.

I brought Madeline with me so she could enjoy some time outdoors and so David could watch the football game in peace while Anthony napped. In the beginning she was happy to pretend to rake with her little rake, collect leaves for art projects, and ride her bike but eventually she started to get a little crazy and impeded my raking abilities. So I had to drive her home and drop her off so I could finish up.

I only got the backyard raked, so tomorrow I’m hoping to get back to finish up the front yard. Steven said he’d come help me so we should be able to finish it up pretty quickly.

Before Madeline went crazy she took a few pictures of me in all of my leaf-raking glory.

Shortly after this I had to drive her home. Then I had to take over the picture taking responsibilities. Here I am reclining in my hard work. I’m fairly certain the last time I was in a pile of leaves I was in grade school. I was overdue!

Raking leaves makes me so happy.

Here you can see my finished project, and the huge pile of leaves in the back.

Here’s another view of the huge leaf pile.

Don’t you all wish you had a neighbor with a bright, purple garage door that you could see out your back window every day? It really adds to the rustic appeal of the neighborhood, don’t you think?

This is what I have to look forward to tomorrow.

That’s our new van parked in the driveway. Here is a better picture of it.

I love my new van, almost as much as raking leaves!

We may have a small backyard with puny little trees that give us very little shade, but I am thankful for our tiny trees this time of year. There is nothing quite as disheartening as raking leaves while new ones keep falling from the trees right behind what you just raked. It’s kind of like shoveling during a snowstorm, which I happen to know a little bit about too. I always thank God for our small driveway during the winter, but that’s a story for a different day. Hopefully a day very far away!

The weather lately has been all over the place! When we went to Mexico, just over a month ago, the weather here in WI was sunny and warm. When we got home it was cold and rainy. Talk about a shock to your system! Since we’ve been home the weather has been unseasonably cold, with a few random warm, sunny days thrown in. What does all of this mean?

Totally bad news for my skin! Prior to going on our trip my skin had a nice, healthy glow. These days it’s akin to a sheet of sandpaper. It’s irritated, and flaking off. No amount of moisturizer is even touching this situation, and trust me I have been loading up on the moisturizer with no luck whatsoever!

I’ve been thinking that eventually my skin will stop rebelling against this weather and go back to it’s normal self, but I am starting to get tired of battling it. So I am trying a new approach. I’ve read about it online for the past year and have finally decided that it is time to give it a try.

It’s called the Oil Cleansing Method. It’s pretty popular in the blogosphere, so some of you may have heard of it. Basically the premise is that your face has natural oils that it produces, and when you wash it with soap it’s basically like putting detergent on it, and it’s very irritating for it and causes it to dry out and then produce more oil. Currently my face seems to be in a drying out mode, because I’m afraid if I smile too big my face might crack.

Anyway, different oils serve different purposes. Some are good for cleansing, others are good for moisturizing, and some are even good for clearing up acne. By putting the oil on your face you are able to cleanse, moisturize, and tone all at once without having to use soap, thus no irritation or drying are supposed to occur. Instead you are just putting beneficial oils on your face, which should hopefully remove the desert landscape I have going on.

You have to experiment with different combinations until you find what works for you. The 2 basic oils you use are Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) which is great for moisturizing and Castor Oil which is known for cleansing. The drier your skin the more EVOO you want to use.

Okay, so after you rub the oil all over your face (you’re supposed to gently rub it in for up to 2 minutes) then you take a hot washcloth and put it over your oily face and let it sit there for a while until it cools. The steam from the towel opens your pores and encourages the impurities to come out. You can do the washcloth a few times in a row if you feel like it, and once you’ve steamed yourself sufficiently you gently wipe the oil off with the washcloth. You need to be sure to rinse it out a few times to be sure you get all of the dirty oil off your face. If you leave it on, it will not be a good situation. We’re talking breakouts people, and that’s not the effect we’re going for!

I’ve only done it twice, and my face feels slightly more moisturized although I can still peel little chunks of skin off my nose. I know it will probably take some time, because my skin has never been so dry in my life.

I have to admit that it goes against every fiber of my being to rub excessive amounts of oil on my face. I’ve always been of the mindset that oil=grease=bad idea for your face. As a teenager you’re told not to eat greasy food because it will make you breakout, and there are numerous oil-free beauty products out there to prevent breakouts so it just doesn’t seem right to put oil on your face on purpose.

But it’s more than just rubbing some oil on your face. You want to be sure to use the right kind, the right combination, and you also want to remove the excess (a little gets left behind, and that’s a good thing because it helps moisturize). If it turns out to be a good thing I will be able to save lots of money on beauty products and just head to my kitchen for a refill whenever I start to run low on it.

I will keep you posted about how it goes. Hopefully it does the trick in getting rid of my dry skin!

If you’re interested in a better explanation of the method you can go here.

With as much as I talk about Starbucks most people think I must be some crazy coffee drinking fool, however that could not be further from the truth! Even though I tend to go to Starbucks almost daily, I don’t order coffee. I drink a Chai Tea Latte. It’s got a little caffeine in it to get me going, and it’s nice and sweet and goes down easily…too easily sometimes!

For whatever reason I just never got into coffee. I know a lot of people really start hitting coffee heavily in college, but my college experience didn’t drive me to drink coffee. I don’t recall a lot of late-night cramming sessions where I needed to drink copious amounts of caffeine in order to cram as much material into my head as I could. I’ve always been the type of person who had a love-affair with sleep, so I tried to get all of my studying and homework done earlier, and at an even pace so I wouldn’t have to pull all-nighters.

My best friend was a total coffee lover. I even recall her having a coffee-flavored gum at one point that I tried, and thought was disgusting. She on the other hand loved it. She loved coffee so much she even loved coffee breath. Whenever friends would want to study at a coffee shop I would usually end up with hot chocolate, although I do recall having my first Chai at the school coffee shop. So, I guess in college I learned to love Chai, as opposed to coffee.

Well, I hate to say it, but I feel like I am being drawn towards coffee. I have Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte to thank for that. The other day as I was going through the drive-thru the girl working there convinced me to just give it a try and made me a sample. It was love at first sip! Since then I find myself ordering Pumpkin Spice Latte’s as opposed to my regular Chai. I find myself enjoying the flavor of the coffee, not disgusted by it like I used to be.

I suppose it was only a matter of time. I went through the same process when I first started drinking wine. I started out with White Zinfandel way back in the day, moved onto various white wines, and now find myself preferring Merlot or Cabernet. The thought of White Zinfandel grosses me out because it is so sweet and fruity. I’m thinking over time your palate just develops and starts craving stronger, more robust flavors.

Unfortunately the Pumpkin Spice Latte is a seasonal beverage, and soon it will be gone and I will be left to find a new coffee-flavored beverage. I’m thinking maybe at that point I should go back to Chai. My Latte’s are costing me 50 cents more per cup than my Chai did, plus I do recall when I had my allergy testing done almost a year ago coffee was the highest allergen I tested for. Nothing even came close to being as highly allergenic for me as coffee. I thought it was strange, since I never really drank it and had just figured it was a fluke since my doctor told me sometimes that happens. However, there is a little voice in my head telling me not to get addicted to it, because odds are my body does not share my same affection for coffee.

I did notice today that Starbucks has started serving their Christmas beverages, and the Gingerbread Latte seems to be calling my name. This is probably not going to end well!

For the past 10 years I have always leased my cars. It started when I was in college, and I always just continued with the leasing because it just made sense. I liked having brand new cars every few years, and because I was leasing, my payments were lower. That’s really the beauty of leasing a car…lower payments, brand new car every few years. Obviously there are some drawbacks, and one of the big ones is the number of miles that you are limited to, but it’s always worked out for me.

Lately, though, I have been reconsidering this whole car-leasing business. The more I thought about it, the more I realized what a waste of money it was. True, my payments were lower, but I was never making any progress financially. Don’t get me wrong, I know cars are not an investment, and that they depreciate substantially the moment you drive them off the lot, but if you can hold onto them for a while after they’re paid off you can eliminate your car payment which in our case would save us a substantial amount of money. With the kids getting older we are realizing just how much money they suck out of the budget, and it has only increased the older they get, so the idea of not having a car payment is sounding really enticing.

All of this sounded good in theory, but the only problem was that we were locked into a lease through February of 2011. We did have the option to buy my car at the end of the lease, but in all honesty, it wasn’t what I saw as a good long-term family vehicle. Don’t get my wrong, I really did like my Toyota Highlander. Even though it was the absolute base model, it still felt very luxurious. However, it was starting to feel cramped with 2 kids in the backseat. When we had originally leased it, I had been thinking I wanted a minivan, but after going to the dealership we realized we could afford a Highlander (which we didn’t think would be in our budget), and since it was 4-wheel drive it just made sense.

So, after all of that thinking David and I started to research what our options were. Could we get out of the lease? What type of car made sense for us long-term? and Could we find a good deal? Thankfully the lease we had didn’t have any early-termination penalties, and basically they just wanted you to pay off your remaining payments, as well as the purchase price at the end of the lease. When we added those 2 things together they equaled about what the car was worth. So, it looked like maybe we could make it work, and I began researching vans.

I found a van that looked promising, and after talking on the phone to the salesman about it he said he thought it would work to trade in the Highlander, and buy the van. On Saturday we drove into Oconomowoc to take a look at it. We had decided that buying a used van made sense for our budget, and to be honest when I hopped into the van to take it for a drive I was pretty underwhelmed. I know owning brand new vehicles for the past 10 years might have made me a car-buying snob, so I tried to have an open mind, but I just wasn’t feeling it. The whole idea was to hold onto this van for a decent amount of time, and I knew that if I was already feeling very underwhelmed by it, over time those feelings would probably grow.

After the test drive was done we were walking back into the dealership, and I spotted a few more vans similar to the one we had just looked at. 1 van caught my eye and I told the salesman we wanted to look at it. From the moment I looked in the window I loved it. It was very similar to the van we had just looked at, but the color and interior were so much nicer, and it looked better taken care of as well. This was a van I could see myself driving for a long time!

Thus began the long, arduous process of buying the car. Thankfully our salesman wasn’t too “used car salesman” in his behavior, although we did have to play the game to a certain extent. I completely deferred to David at that point, because I loathe the going back and forth on price, payments, and interest rates. I just wanted the whole process to be over, but it honestly took a solid 3 hours of negotiating after we had decided to purchase it. David spent his time checking in on the college football scores with the salesman while we waited for the sales manager to run numbers, so he was mildly entertained and I spent my time obsessively checking Facebook and every blog I could think of on my phone wishing someone would update so I would have something to entertain me!

After we had finished up the price negoations, we had to wait for the finace guy to secure a rate for us. That whole process drove my nuts as well. I’m fairly certain he did a great job at getting us a good rate, though, so I can’t complain too much. (We did manage to lower our monthly payments, so we considered it a success). I just knew that it was Halloween, and we needed to get home to take our kids trick-or treating, so I really wanted to cut the fluff and just get it done.

We finally did drive away in our new van after spending 5 hours at the dealership. We were exhausted, but got home just in time to take the kids trick-or-treating. Thankfully Steven and Jessica had spent the date with them, so we didn’t have to drag them with us. They even braved the mall with them for some early trick-or-treating!

I know minivans have a certain reputation and a lot of people would rather die than be seen driving one, but I just have to say all of those people have never had the pleasure of driving one, or else they probably don’t have kids. I’m fairly certain having kids is what drives people to set aside all of the negative connotations associated with driving a minivan and embrace it. With a push of a button I can open both sliding doors that they sit next to, and another button will open and close the trunk area. Those little buttons make getting the stroller out of the car, and my kids in and out of it SO much easier! Especially with cold weather upon us, every moment counts in getting us in and out of the car quickly.

Of course Madline thinks it’s pretty cool too. She loves pushing the button to open and close her door, and Anthony is excited about how easy it is to see out of the windows. Madeline had told me to buy a pink car, and was only slightly disappointed when she realized it was blue. I keep trying to tell her that she will need to sell Mary Kay one day if she ever wants to drive a pink car, but she has convinced herself that pink cars are easy to come by. Thankfully, for now, the cool buttons have satisfied her and she just thinks the van is really cool. So do I!

Today was a very busy, tiring day. At 10:45 this morning David and I headed to a car dealership to look at a car while Steven and Jessica watched the kids for us. At 6:00 we finally got home, with a new car (more on that later), just in time to run out the door to trick-or-treat.

Jessica stayed home to hand out candy to all of the costumed kids, while David, Papa, Steven, me, and the kids made the rounds.

We hit all of the homes close to us, and then Tom took Anthony home because it was stinkin’ cold out tonight! Madeline had a lot of trick-or-treating left in her, so we stayed behind with her to see how much loot she could collect.

She ended up with quite the haul, and I’m fairly certain some of it is going to have to vanish mysteriously. Since I’m exhausted and don’t have much blogging energy left, here are some pictures.

Since we were running late, Madeline decided to do her own makeup.

Not quite the look we were going for, so Steven helped her.

Again, not quite the look!

Oh well, that’s what you get when you don’t pay your babysitters!

She still looks cute, right?

Getting ready to head out.

Free candy makes her happy!

Looking mischievous at the take-your-own candy houses.

It was really cold outside, so we had the idea to make use of our new minivan. I drove between the bigger gaps in the houses and everyone warmed up in the car.

By the end she was getting cold and tired, but wanted to persevere.

She finally decided she was done for the night when she discovered a gummy eyeball in her pumpkin. She was eager for me to open it for her.

She quickly decided she didn’t want to eat it, but Steven was willing to give it a try.

Once we got home the guys thought it would be a good idea to dump everything on the floor to get a good look at it.

Even Lucy got in on the action.

Madeline finished up the night whining for more treats, while watching a cartoon with Steven and Jessica.

It’s only 10:15, but I am exhausted! I really wish my children got as fired up about setting the clocks back tonight and gaining an hour of sleep as they do about running around collecting free candy. Tomorrow is my morning to get up with the kids, so I will not be gaining an hour of sleep. Time for bed!

I was so happy when Madeline decided to be a clown for Halloween this year. I was almost certain she was going to choose to be a princess, or a fairy. Not that those aren’t wonderfully cute and adorable costumes for little girls, but we happen to have a dress-up area stocked full of princess and fairy paraphernalia and I wasn’t very excited about adding to the stash with a new costume. Plus, I like it when Madeline decides to go against her girly tendencies.

So, she and I scoured the Internet looking for the perfect clown costume. I don’t know if you agree with me or not, but I think clowns can be very creepy looking, so we were trying to find something that was cute and fun, not creepy and menacing. We happened to find an adorable costume on clearance and we decided it would be perfect.

Anthony, as you may remember from previous pictures, is a giraffe. He did not have any input into his costume, and I chose it based upon the fact that it was only $7 at Wal-Mart. At 1 year old I could dress him up in a paper sack and he wouldn’t know any different, so I figured going cheap was a good idea. I have to admit, though, that I felt kind of strange carrying him in his giraffe costume while I carried my very own giraffe-print purse. Something about that situation just seemed wrong!

All week long we’ve been preparing for Halloween. It started on Tuesday when Madeline got to wear her Halloween costume to preschool. All of the kids dressed up and they had a special day where they made their own snacks, and partook in other Halloween festivities. Madeline’s costume does not lend itself to long-term wear, so by the time we picked her up she had shed the clown get-up for more comfortable clothes, and most of her clown makeup had been rubbed off.

Madeline has been continually asking if it is trick-or-treat time yet, and I have had to keep telling her that it wasn’t quite time yet. Thankfully, today she had the opportunity for a little trick-or-treat warm up.

Today I ran to Wal-Mart with the kids to make a quick stop and pick a couple of things up, and when we walked into the store the greeters were there with a huge cart full of trick-or-treat pumpkins with maps of the store where the kids could go trick-or-treating. So, our quick stop turned into a longer venture as we followed the map around the store while Madeline picked up candy to fill her new pumpkin.

After we were done at Wal-Mart we headed to David’s office where they had planned a little Halloween time for their employee’s families to come in. It was the first year they had done it, and it was a lot of fun!

Quite a few of the employees had dressed up for the occasion, and they had candy at their desks to pass out to the kids. Madeline and Anthony had a great time trick-or-treating around the office and it was fun to see the other kids too.

Here is Madeline modeling her clown get-up.

David holding the kids, with crazy hair, and he is growing something on his face.

And a very rare picture that actually includes me!

My little giraffe

Madeline making the rounds

Anthony posing with Papa

Anthony has officially decided to walk. He had been preferring to crawl while only occasionally walking, but now he walks everywhere.

Eventually Madeline’s friends joined her. Ethan is a Transformer, Adie is a Peep, and Izzy is a cowgirl. It was very difficult to pose all 5 kids together. I think you can tell from the looks on their faces that they were all kind of bewildered and didn’t know which adult to look at since there was a group of people all trying to get a picture of them.

Here they are running up the steps to get to the next candy station

Descending upon Papa for some treats

Taking a break to enjoy their loot

At this point they were all starting to go deep into a candy coma. You have to enjoy this brief moment before the sugar hits their bloodstream and sends them up the walls.

After the sugar started to kick in the kids decided to go for a drive in the antique truck in the showroom at the office.

After their “drive” it was time to head home since the daddies all needed to get back to work, and the mommies needed to go home and try to salvage some type of nap time.

When we got home the little giraffe decided to raid the fridge.

Somebody needs to teach this boy that if you’re going to go to the trouble of raiding the fridge you should at least pick something a little more exciting than salad!

Madeline didn’t nap, but that is to be expected these days, but I did get Anthony down for a nice long nap. The kids are all practiced up for the big day tomorrow!

It’s no secret that I kind of have a thing for Starbucks. It all started just over 3 years ago after Madeline was born. It started out innocently enough. I’d drive over to a local coffee shop, carry Madeline in in her car seat, order my chai, go back to my car, drive home, and drink it while Madeline laid on the floor staring into space in the wonderful way that newborns do. That local coffee shop started to bug me, though, because sometimes the drinks were great, and sometimes they were horrible so I decided it was time to find a new spot. The weather was starting to turn cold, and the thought of carrying Madeline back and forth to get a drink didn’t seem very enjoyable so I decided to find a coffee shop with a drive-thru. I found another locally owned coffee shop with a little drive-thru and I started going there.

Then one day that all changed. I discovered that Starbucks had a drive-thru on the other side of town. It’s a good 15 minute drive in one direction to get there, and I pass a Starbucks on my way but it had a drive-thru! So, I started to go there. I believe it only took 1 cup of Chai and I was hooked. I have always assumed Starbucks must put something in their drinks because their drinks kind of make people crazy. I have a very hard time driving past a Starbucks and not stopping for a drink.

Anyway, back to my story. Eventually Madeline got older and was no longer a sweet, little newborn who laid on the floor like a sack of potatoes. Eventually she learned how to roll, which led to crawling, which eventually led to her developing this little thing we like to call a “will”, and she developed a very strong will.

No longer was I able to drive home from Starbucks and drink my Chai at home in peace. Now, Madeline wanted to climb all over me while trying to steal my Starbucks, which led to me being incapable of fully enjoying my Starbucks because I spent my time dashing from room to room trying to avoid her and finish my drink.

At this point I had to change my plan of attack. No longer could I order my Chai’s “extra hot” and slowly sip them over the course of an hour. Now, I needed to order them the “regular” way and chug them in the course of 15 minutes while I drove home so that I could avoid all of that drama with Madeline.

That was just not working for me, so I decided that if I took the scenic route home I could enjoy my Chai for a longer period of time while also enjoying a little “me” time. Madeline was buckled into her car seat, she could not climb all over me and try to steal my drink, and I could turn on the radio and enjoy some music, or make a phone call. That time in my day became part of my daily routine and I did it every morning.

Unfortunately as Madeline has gotten older my “me” time has kind of gone away. Now she likes to demand that she be able to watch a movie, and when I won’t let her watch a movie we compromise on one of her CD’s. She also likes to whine a lot in the back seat, ask a ton of questions, and harass her brother. So, I don’t have quite the same opportunity to zone out and have that peaceful time I used to enjoy, but I still do love my daily Chai.

Speaking of my daily Chai, do you know that Starbucks drive-thru’s all have video cameras attached to the speaker where you order your drink? I can’t say with certainty that they all do, but every single one I’ve been to (and I’ve been to quite a few. Like I said, I have a strange way of finding them no matter where I am) has had a camera. I didn’t know this for quite a while, but over the course of this past year I have figured it out. So, just a warning to you if you ever want to order a drink at Starbucks. They are watching you!

The other day when I pulled up I heard a familiar voice come through the speaker say, “do you want your usual Chai?” I knew that camera served a purpose! I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered that they all know me, or if I should be embarrassed that my Starbucks addiction has made me known to all of the Starbucks employees within a 15 mile radius of my house. From what I hear I am one of many people with similar Starbucks addictions so I am fairly certain that nobody thinks anything of it.

That story kind of reminds me of a similar situation I had right after Madeline was born. Back in the day when I was pregnant with her, I was working a full-time job and over my lunch hour spent a great deal of time supporting the local fast food economy. I felt it was my right as a pregnant woman to indulge in all of my greasy, fast food cravings. So, almost every lunch I went out to eat, and I had the extra 40 pounds at the end of that pregnancy to prove it!

Anyway, shortly after Madeline was born I was no longer working, but was coming off of my fast food addiction so I went to one of the local fast food joints. When I pulled up to the window to pay the girl working there said to me, “oh, you had your baby! What did you end up having?” It was at that point I realized I had been going out to eat way too much over the course of my pregnancy. I think I had convinced myself that no one would remember me, but all of those frequent visits made an impression after all!  I also know for a fact that all of the employees at the local Dairy Queen were intimately aware of all of my 3rd trimester highlights because I believe David and I went there almost every night of my 3rd trimester, and I believe those Blizzards were a great contributor in that excess 40 pounds mentioned earlier.

All that to say that I am somewhat crazy, but more than willing to admit it. I have definitely fallen into a routine over the past 3 years. Heck, I even know how all of the stoplights are timed during my morning Chai run, and can easily predict when a light will change to red, or stay green. We’ll get into some of my other neurotic tendencies a different day, though!