Mommy! Stuck!

The adventure continues with Brady. Usually when I get ready in the mornings, Brady watches PBS and has a snack. Today, while I was in the shower, he decided that he would rather have raisins instead of pretzels. I'm not sure how long he was "hanging" out because I was in the shower!! All I heard when I turned off the water was, "Mommy! Stuck!" Also, you can see that his pants were falling down! Never a dull moment!

Paycheck

Today I got my first paycheck in three years. I didn't think I would be emotional about a piece of paper. After talking to some of my stay at home mommy friends about the monotony of our daily lives, I decided to do something about it. I have been volunteering at Jacob's school once a week. This is very rewarding. I get to participate in his education. It may be as simple as making copies, but I feel like I am being useful. Well, Brady's school called me to be a substitute for his class. I have to admit subbing for a 2 year old preschool class isn't my cup of tea. Lots of runny noses, whining, and a strange sense of organized chaos. After school I took an hour nap! I did feel useful and loved seeing Brady with all of his classmates. They were all so adorable. Today I received my paycheck. My paycheck. That sounds nice.

Beard?

I keep learning the same lesson. When the kids are quiet, they are most likely up to something! Brady was up in the playroom as quiet as a mouse. Jacob went up there and quickly came back down and said, "I think you need to see this!" Brady went wild with a purple marker. When I saw Brady's face i was shocked!! Jacob wasn't sure if it was OK to laugh. I made sure there wasn't any marker on the carpet, walls, or furniture. Nope it was all over his face! I busted out laughing. Then Jacob started to laugh too. Brady didn't get the joke. He just kept saying, "Beard! Beard!" Tod was sitting in his office reading the paper. I showed him his son and he almost spit out his coffee all over the paper! I stripped Brady down and realized that his face was not the only area he marked on. His legs were completely covered in purple marker. I could barely get him in the tub because I was laughing so hard. Thank goodness for washable markers!!

And......ACTION!

The other day I asked Jacob what he wanted to do now that his golf lessons were over. He said that he will have to think about it. A few days later he said he knew what he wanted to do. He said, "Mommy, I want to be on commercials and then have my own show." Thanks Nickelodeon!

Ok...where do I begin with this adventure? I spent an afternoon researching acting/modeling sites, contacting the Better Business Bureau and looking at talent agencies in the area. I found one that seemed to be the best in the area and they had an open casting call the next Saturday!! I had no idea what to expect. We only needed to show up with a photo (didn't need to be professional) and clean hair! We can do that! After signing in, we waited for all the other hopefuls to show up. There were about 100 people there and only a couple of kids. The agent spoke to us for about 15 minutes and told us about the company and what to expect. She hinted that they were not looking for kids at that moment but wanted to see everyone anyway. Jacob was part of the first group. They had to walk the length of the room and then say a few words in front of the judges. The judges gave you a card that said to come back tomorrow or a card that said No Thank you. Jacob didn't seem nervous at all. I was a wreck! There is no way that I could have gotten in front of 100 people like that! He walked then gave the judges his picture and his information sheet. The agent fed him some lines. He said them kind of monotone and not loud enough for anyone to hear. We got the No Thank You card. When we were leaving Jacob said, "That was fun! Can we do it again?" Sure!

I emailed the agent for some feedback. I told her that this was our first time and I hadn't prepared Jacob for the casting call. She said that he did fine. They just were not looking for kids and she didn't have the heart to turn us away. She wants us to come back in January or February! Well, I think we will need to work on some of our "acting" skills!

I'm so proud of Jacob for getting up in front of all of those people. Even though we didn't get picked, he did a great job. We will go back and try this again at the beginning of the year!! Nickelodeon here we come!!!

Halloween

We had such a great Halloween. Tod's parents always come to our house to pass out the candy while we take the boys Trick or Treating. This year our friends, the Ellis', came to Trick or Treat with us. Jacob, Christopher, Brady, and Andrew ran from house to house full of excitement. Brady gave out first. We put him in the wagon while the others kept going. Finally we had to tell the boys that it was time to go back. "Aw Man!" was their response. After unloading their candy they ran around for about another hour then the sugar high wore off.

Tom and Connie brought their new puppy, Bentley, to visit us. The boys were overwhelmed with excitement. Bentley was so good with the kids. Whenever the puppy was in his cage he had lots of company! Jacob tried to figure out how to get Bentley in the top bunk to sleep with him. He was sad to find out that he sleeps in a kennel (which Brady unsuccessfully tried to get into). It was nice to have a puppy around for the weekend.

Fall Frolics

We have had such a fun Fall! While Tod and I took a trip to Arizona for our 11th anniversary, the boys went to my parents house in Morganton. I've taken both boys to the Rural Hills Farm Corn Maze - separately!! Now we are preparing for Halloween. I love Fall!

Arizona was incredible! We flew to Phoenix and and stayed there one night. We hung out mostly in Tempe. Very cool city. The next day we drove to Sedona. On the way we stopped at Tonto Natural Bridge. We hiked to the bottom of the bridge and then tried to hike through to the other side. There was a small waterfall falling over the bridge. The water was from a natural cold spring. The plants and rocks at the bottom were frozen from the waterfall. It was strange to see ice in the desert!! We couldn't make it through because of the ice.

The next day we drove up to the Grand Canyon. Amazing! After going to the visitors center we decided to take the Ooh Aah trail. We hiked down into the canyon and oohed and aahed all the way! We found a little perch and ate our lunch then began our hike back to the top of the canyon. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home so I have no pictures of this trip. I'll never forget how beautiful everything was.

Jacob and Brady enjoyed a long weekend with my parents and my grandmother. They went apple picking. I think Brady ate apples the whole time he was there. The trees were full of apples in the mountains.

I took Brady to Rural Hills Farm Corn Maze last week. We met my friend Danelle and her son Jacob. Each "team" had a large flag so the maze guides could find you if you needed help out. Danelle made ours into a train. All of us held on tight. It kept us all together. We were given a blank map and had to find 12 mailboxes that had pieces of the maze map. Once you got all of the pieces you were able to find your way out. We were "lost" in the maze for about an hour. Brady was getting tired so we ducked out before finishing. (We weren't even close) They had some hay bales set up in a mini-maze. The boys liked this much better. I took Jacob there yesterday. He LOVED it! We got through the maze in about 1.5 hours. Jacob was in charge of the map and I had the flag. Jacob did very well following the map and found all of the mailboxes himself. At one area of the maze it was a tight squeeze through the corn. Jacob said to me..."Good thing you are with me 'cause I know Karate!" Yes, good thing!

Jacob has had his Halloween costume on everyday for the past week. He is ready to go trick-or-treating. Brady is clueless. Last night Jacob, dressed as Batman, flew all over our front yard saving us from bad guys. I'm glad our house is safe.

We're Back!

We are back from Arizona!! I'll post later about our Grand adventure!