jsl | The Angel Forever

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Trick-or-Treat success

Posted on November 1, 2008 9:07 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear Kid Saturdays at Cutest Kid Ever

Dear Dr. NHL,

It was so much fun watching you this Halloween. I loved seeing you at school during your party. You really enjoyed wearing your costume all day and your teachers thought it was funny that you picked your own costume.

This year you really understood the fun of trick-or-treating. Thank you so much for being such a fabulous big brother and telling everyone that your little brother, who was tagging along and collecting leaves in his pumpkin, was coming as well. I love you so much and am so glad that we had a special day together with Nana and Papa.

Love,

Mommy

Dear JSL,

My little penguin from last year has grown up so much. You were such a cute liitle Mickey Mouse. Everyone in the kindergarten loved seeing you and you loved visiting them. You were not too sure about trick-or-treating at first. You really thought the pumpkin was for collecting leaves. Thanks to your big brother you soon realized there was more to it. By the end of the time out you were saying "Tri Tret" and "Than U" at most of the houses along with waving and chanting "bye-bye" to everyone. Thank goodness you still do not completely realize what it was you had in your pumpkin and did not ask for candy when we went back to Nana and Papa.

Love,

Mommy

PS – More photos coming soon!

Categories:
brothers Dear Kid Saturday fun holidays jsl NaBloPoMo nhl photos

Fright Fest 2008

Posted on October 30, 2008 12:05 am by TheAngelForever

Several weeks ago we went back to Six Flags to get our photos taken for our new 2009 season passes. This time we decided to take the little guy with us and thought the big kid would love to go on some rides while there. JSL was mesmerized with watching the rides as he waited in line.

Thanks to a short rain storm, the lines were not too long. The boys were able to get some rides in before the rain started back up.

In addition to just taking in the rides, we were able to enjoy the Halloween atmosphere within the park. Starting in October the parks all participate in Fright Fest. If you have never been before it is absolutely amazing. They go all out. Every inch of the park has something Halloween-ish going on. Whether it is cobwebs, skeletons, or wandering characters you definitely get the feel for the holiday. Now if only they realized the Chain-Saw guy running around with the horribly loud noise was NOT very friendly in the afternoon for families with young children.

Even the park entrance was decorated going out to the parking lot.

Here are some of the decorations from throughout the park to get you in the mood for Halloween on Friday.

This was likely our last trip to the park this year (they close this coming weekend), but we look forward to many more memories with our season passes in 2009!

Categories:
fun holidays jl jsl looking back my boys nhl photos weekend

Tiny toe trouble (WW)

Posted on October 29, 2008 12:05 am by TheAngelForever

Categories:
jsl weather winter Wordless Wednesday

A first in my marriage

Posted on October 28, 2008 9:16 am by TheAngelForever

I have been married for seven years and four months now. In that span the only nights I have been away from my husband are when our boys were born. Of course during those instances JL was hardly gone for long and I had so many other things on my mind.

Fast forward to tomorrow morning when he leaves for a wedding of a friend. The boys and I will be without Daddy for the first time. I have put on a brave face up to this point to try to make it seem like a fun things for the boys. Special time with Mommy, Nana and Papa, but the truth is I am sitting here crying over it.

I know that is silly, but it is the truth. What is worse is I am still angry over this entire wedding fiasco. My emotions keep flip-flopping between sad and angry. Not exactly a great combination, especially to hide from your five year old and 17 month old.

A little history about the wedding. At the end of last December, all four of us were invited to week long wedding destination wedding, all expenses paid. Our family and friends immediately thought it was a wonderful idea for us to take JL’s friend up on this opportunity and make it into a vacation. Before long things went down hill. When the flights were booked for us by the bride I lost it. They were horrid times for traveling with children. In addition to that, more of the week activities were announced and they were far from child friendly. Thankfully we were able to back out of taking the boys and little or no money was lost by JL’s friends.

My anger stems from my husband simply deciding he would go to the wedding alone. Why? Do not get me wrong I know that JL’s friendship means a lot to him. However, I also know the handful of times that he has seen his friend since we have been married. I also know that when I even suggested taking myself and the little guy to my cousin M’s wedding in the spring it was shot down, no questions asked. I know I should move on, but it still bothers me that I was not at M’s wedding and she is a very special part of my life, and family no less.

Ok, vent over. . . . see much better than therapy!

I can get past this, but my real fear is the boys. They are so attached to their Daddy. I worry that NHL will have behavior issues at school the rest of the week and that JSL will not sleep at night. Of course the boys could completely surprise me and be perfectly fine, that would not upset me at all.

JL please know that the boys and I love you so very much and will miss you lots.

Categories:
jl jsl looking back me moments my boys nhl vent

Thanks to Joe the Photographer

Posted on October 26, 2008 10:11 pm by TheAngelForever

Sunday afternoon we went on an adventure. It was finally time to do NHL’s five year portraits. For those counting, that would make it over two months since his fifth birthday. We decided to head back to the popular portrait studio that we used in the past. JL and I just were not impressed with the other place that we had his four year portraits done at and JSL’s first birthday.

When we arrived we were all dressed in red with our jeans on. Talk about getting looks from people later on in the day – LOL!

We were told to head into the first studio as soon as we arrived. When we went in a very friendly photographer came into the room. We learned his name thanks to NHL. He asked and Joe told him. NHL quickly told him that he knew another Joe, you know, the one in Blues Clues. Of course all that went through my mind . . . . Joe the Plumber!

We decided to start with family photos since JSL had not napped earlier in the day (our session time was 2:00). Needless to say, it is quite tricky to get a decent shot with all four family members looking at the camera at the same time. I kept blinking, NHL kept talking/smiling funny, and JSL wanted to walk away. If you have done family portraits you know exactly what happened. We managed to get one that was not too bad.

Then it was time to get the much anticipated photos of NHL with the giant number five, dinosaurs and his camera. Joe did a great job working with NHL. NHL definitely played it up. As you can see we switched his red shirt and I really like the ones with the short sleeved blue on more.

October '08 Portraits - 16 October '08 Portraits - 14

Once NHL was done Joe asked to try some with both of the boys alone. That did not work out too well. The overtired 17 month old kept walking out of the frame. We did manage to get one cute one before we switched gears.

Before calling it quits I asked Joe to try one of all of my boys. This time both of the little guys were getting tired.

We bought a package that included the portraid CD so we own the photos and can print them whenever we want. JL was quite happy about this. That would be why I was able to post this so quickly.

The rest of the photos from the photo shoot by Joe can be seen on my Flickr photostream.