so my husband had the day off today. i decided to take it off too, and had planned a lunch with some girlfriends and was going to work some retail therapy into the mix. then the husband says maybe he'll come along cuz he could sure use some new work clothes.

so much for retail therapy.

shopping with the man of the house is nowhere near therapy. it's more like a race. a battle. a mission. the ritual is this: we go to his favorite store. we head for the rack of pleated trousers--no wandering off course, no looking at those cute jeans--and grab his size in all his three favorite colors and then circle the perimeter as fast as possible to locate any long-sleeved, button-collar, not-too-scratchy work shirts to match. most of the ones we find usually look a lot like the ones he already has. in fact, by the time we are done, we have successfully duplicated his wardrobe in all shades of gray, black and blue. this trip was a surprise--he threw in a pink! shirt that looks really good on him and even broke out with some pattern. so things could be looking up. however, i still envy those women who have husbands that love to wander slowly through the stores with an eye on fashion instead of the nearest exit. i am happy to say that i think i am at least raising one. the little j boy is a BIG fan of shopping. he always has been. he gets excited over a pair of socks, and always wants the latest brands or labels. today he was dead set on some sketcher shoes even though we didn't find any. i wonder where a 3-year-old even learns that there ARE sketcher shoes, but whatever. he did score himself a batman frisbee, a pair of clearance spiderman swim trunks and some pads for hockey next year. he will be wearing the ensemble for the next week, guaranteed.

at any rate, i ended up with one shirt and a new rug for the bathroom. not exactly retail therapy. i'll save that for girls' weekend in april.

ladies, start the mini-van, momma needs a new pair of shoes.

after showing the little guy some of the posts on other blogs today, i promised he could have his own page on mine.
he wanted to write it himself. but first, he'd like you to know a few things about him:

1. you spell his name J O S H. like that. if you want you can add a U A on the end. but that usually means he's in trouble, so just J O S H is fine.

2. his favorite thing to do is play with his buddy dad. that's what he calls him. it's like one word. buddydad.

3. he wants you to know he's a good skiier. and that he likes his buddydad.

4. when he grows up he's going to work and play well with his peers. yes, he actually said that.

5. he has a few words of his own: hhhhnhphmvvvvcdsq1 mn vkkkjkj kl l bkgh b8, jm hlj nnjm .nmbmnmjbmhj

that's about all from him. from me, i will say i promise to get on this thing a little more often. did i mention something about vacation withdrawal? my brain still thinks it's in montana...

hello from the land of vacation recovery! seven days in montana were absolute bliss, but coming off the mountain high is always hard for me. we had an incredible time...the kids were the highlight for me. the top shot is a picture of little j on the left, cousin s in the middle and big j on the right. as you can see, they are on the expert side of the mountain, no green slopes in sight. the kids started skiing lazy m (blue) on day 2 and were hitting the blacks by our last few days. it was a blast to watch them.

the next shot is big j taking on a steep black called face of m. by the final day, he was learning to turn by lifting his ski and was quite the speed demon on the long stretches.


there were 16 of us total, including four kids. a few of us gathered for a picture up at the midway lodge. the days were sunny and warm, with 4 inches of new powder on day 3 which made life just about perfect. we ended each day on the sun deck with a cool montana beer. honestly, life doesn't get any better than this. i'm already dreaming about next year...

the next picture is little j...age 3...skiing black diamond moguls on our final day there. he was getting cheers from the chairlifts and grown men were daring each other to "keep up with the three-year-old..."

i couldn't have been smiling any bigger.

WHEEEEE! We're on a ski vacation. Talk to you all in a week. That's the big kid skiing with his hands in the air...just how I feel on a sunny slope :)

happy birthday to my amazing 6-year-old. he got some pretty cool loot, thanks to all the grandparents who spoil my kids rotten. this is his new avalanche jersey and his favorite gift...a REAL golf club bag with a whole set of REAL left-handed clubs. he was impressed that the clubs had covers and that the bag could be carried like a backpack.

i said "hey, we know someone who happens to be a pretty good golfer to give you some tips..."

he says nonchalantly, "i know. tiger woods?"

uncle mike, tiger woods. yeah, they're pretty much the same guy.

alright. this is what i'm talking about. before you even insult me...YES. i DID make these. spongebob and patrick birthday cupcakes, 14 for school, 2 for our neighbors faith and gracie and 4 for us to eat on the birthday night.

and check this out, all you marthas. a cupcake CARRIER. on sale now at walmart (sorry mom) for just $9.00.

my j boys each have a best friend. they happen to be cousins. all four boys were working off some cabin fever at our house on saturday morning. this is them pretending i'm a monster and that the top of the air hockey table is their ship.
during the course of the day, they were house-builders, hunters, alien killers, bodybuilders, car racers and (this one is for jace)
my accountant who was supervising the house-buildes to make sure they didn't go over my $20,000 budget.
tomorrow we take this same crew to chuck e. cheese for big j's birthday. we have coupons for 100 tokens. each. if that doesn't take care of the cabin fever, nothing will.

my mom says that when she's doing a project, like painting a house or hauling rocks, she sometimes has to pretend she's in a nazi training camp just to get through it. she figures if those people could survive, she has no right to quit in the middle of anything.
so, i asked my husband how he got through shoveling our monster drift with one little tiny snow shovel. he said he pretended he was an ant, and that he had to just take it one piece at a time. personally, i would have foregone nazi training camp and the ant hill and asked the neighbor next door to bring his bobcat over. but that's just me.