Boo!

Friday we took a mini-vacation to Galena, IL, about 3 hours from home. Which, as Frank put it, is the perfect driving distance for us, mainly because I get very, very antsy after too much longer in the car. Driving home today, instead of letting my antsy-ness get to me......I drew a kitty face on myself. With my eyeliner. (don't worry, I washed my face when we got home and my sanity kicked in). Thank GOD it was Halloween, because otherwise I really would have looked quite dumb. Cute, but dumb. Or crazy, which I kinda was at that point.

And yes, I put my hair into two buns on the top of my head for ears. Mmmmhmm. Bored SHITLESS. Frank, in between driving like an ass to make me mess up my face and shaking his head all 'why did I marry this woman?!' would just laugh at me and my crazy. See?

Eddie missed his parents being silly and possibly scarring him for life, as slept through the whole drive home. Phew. Why phew? Well, he may or may not have gotten the nickname Tiny Terror Turza this weekend.....must be some of my crazy rubbing off. I'll write more about our trip later, but I know why you're here and you want pictures of Eddie, not us :) Enjoy!

Eddie says RAWR!!!!!!!!!

Eddie and his best buddy Ethan went Trick or Treating together, which was adorable. Not only did they get to suffer through the wind together (must...get....candy!!!) they also did a great job of trading their goods. We had them in the wagon to cart them around and every time we would put them in they would attack eachother's baskets. What are friends for?

They take Trick or Treating very seriously. Now, my original plan was to give the dollar store books, toys and crayons that I bought previously to the house that we were ToTing at, and they would put them in the bucket. Unfortunately, people totally did not get the concept that I didn't want to give Eddie candy and would rather give him something that he would enjoy. They mainly looked at me like I was crazy. Imagine what would have happened if I still had the kitty face. FOR REAL. So we just let the boys collect candy and well, let's be honest.....we threw it all on the table and divided it between the adults. Because we could. BWAHAHA! The joy of being an adult!!!!

((hugs))

sorry blog. I've deprived you lately. Really, I do have some fun pictures to post and some cute stories to tell, but I've lost motivation for a bit. Eddie is now 10 times as messy with his toys, requiring twice as much clean up. He's also still loving the couch pretty hard, which results in a lot of holding onto a leg, arm or torso so he doesn't fling himself off (which seems to be the main goal). So, I'm sorry blog about our life, but life has gotten in the way. OH THE IRONY! I'll come back to you soon, I promise. Until then, ((hugs))! Forgive me.

-maggie

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Repetition is my world right now. Apparently, when Eddie loves something, he really loves it. He wants it over and over and over again. He will bring over a book, sign read and I'll read it and put it down. And then he'll hand it back to me, sign read and we start all over again. Lather, rinse, repeat. I've read the same 3 books about 200 times in the past 2 or 3 days, when this phase began.

Does it apply just to books? Nope!

Eddie loves to 'burp' into buckets and cups to hear the echo, so I mimicked him today. BIG MISTAKE. He came back and held the bucket to my mouth. Once…twice…five hundred effing times later my voice was actually hoarse. But it is hilarious! It is so great! Mommy I love when you make that noise!! Again and again and again and OH MY GOD MOMMY THINKS IT IS NAP TIME. There are cute times, when the repetition applies to kisses…I give him kisses, he gives me kisses and we until we both a giggly mess…his cheeks red and me covered in slobber. And tickling! When the repetition applies to tickling, it is the best. He'll lift his feet up for me to tickle over and over. That one doesn't get old.

The worst one of all? Hands down, the new obsession of climbing on the couch. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Wait! This could be more fun! Let's jump off!!! Up. Jump. Up. Jump. Mommy has heart attack. Up. Jump. Up. Jump. Mommy, will you burp into the cup? Read? Read? Read?

 

 

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

 

Small (people) Talk

Have you ever just wanted to pull up a chair with one of your friends and chat for hours on end? Tell stories, giggle and enjoy the day.

I'll bet you don't look this cute doing it........

I'll also bet that about half of you just died from the cuteness. Right?! For real...this was a cute freaking moment. Shelby pushed a chair into the kitchen and she and Eddie proceeded to play peek-a-boo and giggle at each other from across the chair. The memory alone puts a huge smile on my face, the pictures send me over the edge. Turza's make cute kids!!

-maggie

More Fall Fun!

Alright, why are there so many fall events out there? Being a sucker for fall, we go to every fall fest I can find, which means lots of pictures similar to above. Hopefully one of these times I can get Eddie to look at me and smile while he sits in front of the picturesque fall set up. Ha! Now I have an excuse to keep going :))) The scene above is from the Morton Arboretum this past weekend, when we went with my parents in tow. Lots of picture taking ensued, of course.

{grandpa was in charge of the stroller all day. hehe}

{peek-a-boo, I see you!}

{a break with Grandpa Rick}

Part of the fall fun at the arboretum was that they had pumpkin painting, a taffy apple station, gourd making displays, etc....so we decided to let Eddie paint a pumpkin. First, if you remember from the pumpkin patch, all Eddie wanted to do was throw the pumpkins, so when you put him in a large area with hundreds of toddler sized pumpkins, perfect for throwing...there is a little trouble. After containing our laughter enough to get Eddie out of there, we sat down to paint. Stupidly, I handed Eddie a paint brush and held onto the end. I mean, he colors with crayons, so he would get this, right?! NOPE. The paint brush goes for his mouth, I pull it back with the end that I'm still holding at I pull the paint brush through his closed fist, thus covering his hand in paint. JOY!!! So, I guess we're finger painting....no biggie!

{my best 'yay!' when I'm thinking 'oh shit!'}

Can you guess what happens next? You know that throwing thing? Yeah, apparently still fun, even with your hands covered in paint! Slippery paint hands + throwing = oh no.

{while it looks like this is another yay picture, I'm actually saying 'nooooooo!!!' as the mini pumpkin comes flying at Eddie and I, cover in black paint, of course!}

{clean up crew!}

{guys, this isn't fun. can we go now?}

{bad picture, but I had to include it because my brother called right as this was going on. I had to pick up, because Mac calls are rare. It was just like he was there with us :) haha}

Are you ready for some serious cuteness? The Arboretum made a new exibit of various 'Animal Houses' which were human sized versions of an animal habitat. They were creative and cute and helped us get some of the best pictures of the day. The houses are set throughout the expansive acerage of the Arboretum, which not only let us a tour the beautiful trees, but Eddie had lots of fun exploring the houses.

{sitting in the 'Trickster' spot at the coyote den}

{gorgeous}

{Eddie's new friend}

{Eddie says, 'hmmm, what do I do with you?'}

{Ride you like a pony, of course! "Riding" the racoon was by far Eddie's favorite part of the day. He kept running back to the racoon to jump on. It was so cute!}

{so freaking cute}

{nanna and grandpa walking away from the racoon's house}

{but Eddie had to run back for one more ride on the racoon}

{and give a kiss goodbye to his buddy}

I love fall :)

-maggie

Caller ID - your friend.

We have a house phone, which I hate. I use my cell phone 100% of the time. The only time the house phone really rings is when it is a telemarketer, so we let Eddie play with the house phone. Because, lets admit it...there is nothing more satisfying than having a toddler scream into the ear of someone trying to sell you a newspaper. This morning, when the house phone rang once during Eddie's nap, I picked up polietly and no one was there. Good thing they didn't wake up the baby. Then, another one. Lots of cursing, but still no baby waking up, thank God! Did I mention that the screen on this phone no longer works? I suppose that will happen when you have someone banging it against the wall multiple times a day. So, I never know who is calling. I got a little caught up in the telemarketer hate, and when the phone rang the third time during Eddie's nap, I went a little crazy. I picked up all "HELLOOOOOOO?!?!" with the bitchiest voice I could come up with. And then.....a meek little voice says "maggie?" {{{{oh fuck.}}}}.

So, moral of the story is don't being a raging bitch when you pick up the phone, because it could be your sweet little cousin-in-law asking for some help. And then you feel like an ass. Sorry Colleen!!

-maggie

Pumpkins, Playing and Petting Zoo...in Pictures!

One part I love about living in the country.....we can see a pumpkin patch from our backyard! Last year we had so much fun imagining what we would do with Eddie when he could walk and participate. Of course, we talked about going all week and we so very excited. Too bad Eddie woke up on the wrong side of the crib and going to a large field full of things that were too heavy for Eddie to pick up did not sit well with him. And while I didn't get very many pictures of him smiling, I seemed to have taken tons of pictures that I love. Prepare for lots of pictures!

{flash back!! oh my..so cute!}

{big boy!}

{small pumpkins are perfect for throwing!}

{muscle man}

{horse drawn hayride to the pumpkin patch!}

{my boys}

{love}

{someone is NOT happy about sharing his wagon}

Along with pumpkins, there was also a large play area wtih bounce houses, trains, tunnels, slides and a petting zoo! Eddie had sooo much fun there....Frank and I did, too!

{Daddy? What are you doing in my tunnel?!}

{well, come on then!}

{hands down, the most fun we've had in a while!}

{mr. man loves his slides!}

{pictures like this make me wish my good camera wasn't broken! it would have been sooo good with my good camera!}

{choo choo!}

{frankie and the posing animals}

{Eddie loved the goats}

{Eddie says "Hi guys!!"}

Phew! Tiring day, huh?! If only we had video of the sounds Eddie was making all day....the would growl and grunt when he didn't get his way, which was a lot considering that he wanted to pick up ever pumpkin he saw. He also didn't want to stop sliding, didn't want to leave the animals, didn't want to get out of the train...etc, etc. We heard lots of Eddie tantrums this weekend! I wonder what next year will be like...

-maggie

Remember....

Gotta make sure someone's watchin!

Worth Every Penny

Penny wine night at Carlucci's = neighborhood dinner out. Fun! The normal gang was there....

{Phil and Shauna, who are having a baby on Monday!!!}

{Jim and Michelle, with Keith being a creeper and jumping in}

{an awesome picture of Mariana and Doug}

{Happy belated birthday, Shauna!}

{home, with some funky thing going on with my hair. Lets just say I drank lots of pennies...hehe}

The only person missing is Nicole, who we took a picture of, but she wanted a redo, but then the food came and we forgot. Drat! It was a good night, with lots to celebrate. Keith finished the Chicago Marathon (with no training, what so ever) and could still walk. Shauna had a birthday earlier in the week and will be induced on Monday, bringing Eddie's new girlfriend into the world. Doug and Mariana like wine. We got a babysitter. Nicole needed one last hoorah before leaving for Germany. Jim and Michelle like wine, too. See? Lots to celebrate! We got many a stares from other patrons, whether we were laughing too loud, singing too loud or playing musical chairs to eventually have a girl side and a boy side, it was worth every dirty look. I figured most were just jealous that they didn't have a group of 10 friends to go to dinner with. We know we're lucky!

-maggie