If I eat all this candy, I'll get diabetes

That's what one of the trick-or-treaters said to me tonight when I was handing out candy. I asked him what he was going to do with all of his candy, assuming he had some type of insulin issue or something. He said he was going to give it to his sister so she would get a big butt. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Halloween tonight was great. The kids had a good time. It was the culmination of a week's worth of Halloween activities. Last Thursday, Abby had a Girl Scouts Halloween Party at school and she received her first badge.

This is the friendship circle that the Girl Scouts do at the end of every meeting. Abby is in gold on the far side of the circle under the basketball hoop.

These are some of Abby's fellow Girl Scouts. Sarah, Abby, Ella and Genna. Ella and Genna are also in her class.

The next day, Abby had her Halloween party at school. I was able to work from home that day so I could go to the party.

Abby, the nurse mummy. She had to be a community helper at school so I had to buy two Halloween costumes because I am NOT crafty.

Abby the nurse.

Earlier this week, Abby, Adam and I met her best friend from pre-school, Patrick, and his mom and sister at Monkey Joe's, one of those places with a bunch of inflatable bounce houses and slides. This is the first time they have seen each other since pre-school ended at the end of June. They had a lot of fun.

Abby and Patrick.

Adam and Patrick's little sister, Jillian.

Adam at Monkey Joe's.

And now to Halloween. Last year, it was super cold and I pushed Adam in a stroller because he wasn't walking yet. This year, it was in the high 60s, we didn't even have to wear coats and Adam could walk everywhere. He was totally into it, too. He would even help himself to multiple handfuls of candy and walk right into people's houses. I had to go pull him out of three people's houses. It was funny. He did trip once, though, and we just said, "oh, you're fine," to get him to shake it off. When we got home we realized he had scraped up his shins and knees and they were all bloody. Oops. All in all, they both got loads of candy and had a blast. Even Grandma came over and went with us.

Adam as a boxer showing his muscles. Barack Obama (NBC Nightly News) looks on.

Rocky!

Hannah Montana and Rocky Balboa.

Abby as Hannah Montana.

Abby and our neighbor, Ashlyn.

Adam and Daddy trick-or-treating. Too cute.

Adam crashed out at the end of the night. He only wanted his daddy. He didn't even want candy anymore.

And that's it. Halloween 08 has come to an end. For the kids anyway. Seth and I have a Halloween party tomorrow night. I'm sure some good pictures will come out of that. And then Sunday, we drive to Indianapolis for the Colts-Pats game that was my early birthday present to Seth. Should be fun!

More from Detroit

I have to confess that I did not run in the 5K this past weekend as I had planned. I said it was because Adam was sick, which he was (is), but truthfully, I hadn't ran in over a week and chickened out. I am still planning for the Nov. 23 Jingle Bell run. I hope it's not too cold. I ran today after our sessions ended and struggled a bit. I'll keep working on it.

Seth and the kids seem to be holding up just fine. I talked to him at 6:30 tonight and they had already eaten dinner and he was getting Abby in the shower. Good dad. Good husband. I miss them and am ready to go home!

On another note, I got a 100% on my paper and on my final for my Organizational Behavior class and ended up with an A in the class. I am so glad I am done with school for now. I am not missing it at all. I feel huge relief. My rationale for now is that I don't absolutely have to have the degree if I'm progressing as I have been in my career. I don't think I mentioned that on here...I actually just got promoted to Director of Public Relations. It was exciting and made it easier to take a break from school.

And I also wanted to say that I hung out with my friend Amy from college for the first time in years. She moved to North Carolina after college and we only kept in touch over the years through Christmas cards. She moved back to St. Louis earlier this year and we've seen each other a couple times and talked through e-mail, but Saturday at the wineries was the first time we really hung out. It was so fun! It felt just like old times and made me realize how much I loved Amy in college and how much I love her now. I know she's going to read this, but she is so great and I can't wait to hang out more and get our kids together. How fun!

My flight tomorrow is at 3:30 Eastern time and it's an hour flight to St. Louis, which is on central time, and we land at 3:30 p.m. Isn't that weird? It's like I'm going to travel in time!

Now I can cross Michigan off my list

I am in Detroit today through Tuesday at the national Public Relations Society of America conference. I am on the board of the PRSA's St. Louis Chapter and this is a good chance to keep up with industry changes and trends. My flight was at 6:30 a.m. and I was in my hotel room by 9:45 Eastern time. The event started at 12:30 with a keynote address by Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. I have heard him speak before, but his persona and philosophy really is interesting. Although he is the founder, he does not run Craigslist. He work as a media spokesperson and a customer service rep. Not many founders of companies take a step backwards like that to work in customer service. One of the things that makes Craigslist work I guess.

The next two sessions I attended were on buzz marketing and working with ethnic media and my ass already hurts from sitting all day. Even though it's interesting and worthwhile, two more days of this...sheesh. There is an evening networking and cocktail reception in 45 minutes. I'm going to check it out, but I'd like to get a run in tonight still, so no cocktailing for me.

So Seth is at home with the kids for three days. He's a trooper. He had to get Abby in her Hannah Montana Halloween costume this morning for Sunday School. What a good daddy. Tomorrow he has to get Abby ready for school by himself, but the real challenge will be Tuesday morning when he has to get both kids ready and take them to daycare. I'm lucky Seth is so great!

Yesterday Seth and I went to the wineries in Augusta, Mo., about 30 minutes from our house. Our friend, Brian, had some friends in town from Milwaukee so a bunch of us went to the wineries. It was sunny and about 60 degrees out. Perfect fall weather. It was a nice time except for the fact that I had to come home at 7 because of my flight this morning. Also, I brought my camera thinking I was going to take a lot of pictures for my blog and realized I didn't have my memory card in it - dang it. That made me mad.

That's all I got for now. I'll be glad to get home Tuesday to see the kids and get ready for Halloween. I'm glad it's on a Friday this year. I'm looking forward to it.

Bye from Detroit.

Rip my heart out why don't you?

So everything was going fine with Adam's new day care until last week when he decided he would start crying every time I dropped him off. He also cries at the end of the day when parents start picking up their kids and he realizes they are not there to pick up him. This morning, he started crying when I pulled into the parking lot and he was crying again when I picked him up. It's horrible. I know he's having fun when he's there because I can go online and watch him thanks to the day care's video monitoring service. This was a genius idea. I keep the video of him and Abby up on my screen at work all day and just periodically check in to see what they're doing. And I know he's having fun because I see him playing all day. It's probably just separation anxiety or the fact that he had been at the old babysitter since he was 12 weeks old and this is all new to him. But it sucks knowing that you're leaving your child somewhere he doesn't want to be. I'm making Seth drop him off tomorrow.

I took Abby to a Girl Scouts Halloween party tonight at her elementary school. It was cute. She was Hannah Montana and looked the part. She especially liked these tall black boots that we got as a hand-me-down from Kaylei. I'll post some pictures soon. I think the kids are excited for Halloween. Abby will dress up as a nurse for school tomorrow and for Sunday School on Sunday. Then Hannah Montana again for Halloween.

Sunday I head to Detroit for work for three days for a PR conference. I hope I come back. Detroit doesn't have the best reputation for safety. I think the conference will be good, but I dread leaving the fam for three days. That's a long time. Plus, my flight is at 6:30 Sunday morning. That is so going to suck!

$5 pony rides

We had a very busy weekend this weekend! I'll start from the beginning. Friday after work, I met Sydney at the Galleria and we did some shopping. Then we went to dinner over by her house in South City at a place called Three Monkeys. It was a pub atmosphere and we stayed for a while enjoying some good conversation. This is Sydney below. She will be pleased I posted this on here.

After dinner we went to the Famous Bar and had some drinks before leaving to go to another bar that I don't even remember the name of. We had a good time. I had planned to stay at Sydney's house that night and it was nice to sleep in in the morning and not have to get up right away. Sydney and I have been friends since freshman year of college - she is one of my closest and dearest friends. I truly treasure when we get to hang out like old times. It doesn't happen all that often anymore.

I got home around 11 on Saturday and ate lunch with Seth and the kids and then we went to the pumpkin patch - Rombach's in Chesterfield. This has become a family tradition so even though Abby and I went with her class (and she's going again this week for a field trip with her day care), we wanted to go to Rombach's and give Adam the chance to go. It was really fun, but expensive. We blew $40 in a little over an hour. $6 for a train ride. $15 for a wagon ride. $10 for pony rides. $4 for a haunted house. $5 lemonade. We didn't even have enough cash left for pumpkins or funnel cakes. We told Abby we would get pumpkins at the grocery store so they would last longer. Truthfully, they will be much cheaper there. Here are some pictures:

After the pumpkin patch, Abby had a soccer game. By far, this was the best she had played all season. She was really getting in there to get the ball and at one point had a breakaway where she ran all the way down the field with the ball and almost scored. It was great. I almost had tears in my eyes. After that, she might like soccer after all. She said it was fun to run when you're kicking the ball.

After soccer, we went to the Kambak house and went to dinner at Vista Grande with our good friends Kevin, Abby, Kaylei and Cooper. Adam and Cooper are not the best when they have to sit still and they were difficult. After a rushed dinner, we went back to their house and watched the Mizzou game and the Red Sox game. We left around 11 when Adam started crying inconsolably for no apparent reason. He has a runny nose and I think was having trouble breathing.

Sunday, Abby had Sunday School. Then the kids and I went to brunch with my mom and grandma at Yia Yia's in Chesterfield. (Seth got to go watch football with the guys.) Brunch was really nice. Good food. After that, me and the kids went to Jennifer's house so that Abby and Jennifer's daughter, Sarah, could play. This is what Adam did nearly the entire time we were there:
This is Jenna, Abby and Sarah reading. They had fun together. Abby cried when it was time to leave. Jennifer and I have been friends since first grade so it was nice to catch up with her, too.

And that was pretty much it. The kids and I came home around 5 and it was homework, dinner, showers and bed. This week, my mission is to prepare for my next 5K, which is next Saturday morning. Jennifer and her husband, Chuck, are running the 10K so at least I'll have some satisfaction knowing I will be waiting at the finish line for someone this time, even if it's only because they are running double the race I will be. My goal is to run under 34 minutes. I ran 35:17 last time so we'll see. I ran 3.1 in 33:44 last Wednesday on the treadmill. I was running on an incline so hopefully that was fairly representative of what next Saturday will be like. I hope!

Say Hi To Your Mother

Seth and I still watch Saturday Night Live every week - we Tivo it if we aren't around to watch it when it airs. For some reason, this clip of "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" totally makes me laugh.

My baby's 2!

Adam turned two today! I can't believe he's two already - how time flies.

This is Adam in the bath a few days ago. He actually looks like he has hair here. He does, but barely.

This is Adam enjoying his Mickey Mouse cake with orange icing today. He had it everywhere. We celebrated pretty low key today. My grandma and Adam have the same birthday and she turned 90 today! Amazing! We celebrated yesterday at my mom's house with the whole family and it was a lot of fun. Today, we slept in a bit (until 8) and then Adam opened his presents. He really liked what we got him - some books, a basketball hoop, a lawn mower that blows bubbles, a train set, a soccer goal and a puzzle. Grandma Raia (Seth's mom) sent him some nice gifts, too, and my mom came by in the afternoon after Abby's soccer game to give him her gifts. He got to have his favorite breakfast of eggs and cinnamon toast, lunch of McDonald's and for dinner he had corn. That might sound strange for a birthday dinner, but the boy loves his vegetables. He couldn't have been happier and none of us were that hungry because we had just had cake not that long before. It was a fun day and I think he really enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures of my family at my mom's house yesterday.

This is my grandma with her great-grandkids. Top row is Sophia, Brandon and Abby. Bottom row is Jakob, Jesse, Adam and Brayden.

The Dorias. I think it's really cute, but I wish we were all looking at the camera. There were like four cameras to look at.
And this is the whole clan. From the top row: Seth, me, Uncle Don, Craig, Laura, Debbie. On bench: Aunt Janet, Grandma, my mom. Sitting: David, Brayden, Adam, Abby, Jakob, Sophia. Bottom row: Brandon and Jesse.

My grandma is so awesome and we are so blessed to have her in our lives. She's absolutely amazing - full of grace and beauty. Love her.

****

So, I mentioned the field trip last week. It was actually fun. It was nice to meet the other parents and Abby liked having me there.

This is Abby's class. Abby is in the front row, second from the left in the pink sweater.
Abby after she picked out her pumpkin.
Abby with Hannah and Genevieve, two of her friends at school.

****

One last thing. I got the kids' Halloween costumes. Abby is going to be "Hannah Montana with the Gold Jacket," which is exactly what it sounds like. Adam is going to be a boxer. Please see below. Funny.

"I don't like sweating."

Abby had a soccer game on Sunday and this is the conversation we had afterward:

Me: Did you have fun at soccer today?

Abby: No.

Me: No? Why not?

Abby: I don't like running.

Me. Oh. What do you like about soccer?

Abby: I like 3 things about soccer and I will tell you what they are. 1) I like halftime. 2) I like coming out of the game to go get a drink. And 3) I like getting a snack at the end of the game. (Notice, there's nothing on this list about actually playing soccer.) There's also one more thing I don't like about soccer. I don't like sweating.

Hmmm. I guess soccer isn't going to be her forte. But, she said she still likes dance, T-ball and swimming. Between all of that and Girl Scouts, she will still have plenty to do.

****

Adam's first day at his new day care was today. He's going to the same day care that Abby goes to in the afternoons. It is a pre-school setting so I think he will learn a lot. He was fine when I dropped him off this morning and they said the only time he fussed was when it was time for nap. They are even starting to potty train him by having him sit on the potty seat every time they change him. I'm excited because I think he's really going to like it and it will be nice to take them to the same place now.

He's so cute. When I got home tonight, he was on my bed watching "Backyardigans." He heard me come in and started yelling, "Mommy! 'Yardigans! Mommy! 'Yardigans!" When I went in there, he said, "'Yardigans over. Scooby?" He is just like Abby - he loves his tv. He's so cute!

****

Tomorrow, I am going on my first field trip with Abby's class. They are going to the pumpkin patch. Abby and her class will ride the bus and I will drive and serve as a chaperone. I hope it's fun. It will be nice to see her interact with the kids and meet some of the other parents. I'll give you a full report in my next post!

3.1 in 35:17

Yesterday I ran my first 5K race, which is 3.1 miles. I ran it with my friend Amber, who works in my department. She is a former soccer player and used to run cross country. Needless to say, she ran ahead of me and finished in 28:22 and was waiting for me at the finish line. But that's ok. I'm an amateur runner and had never run more than two miles outside before so the fact that I finished is an accomplishment in itself. I ran it in 35:17, which is an average of 11:23 a mile, which isn't great. Normally, I run a mile in 10:30 so I was even slower than my usual pace, which is already pretty slow. When I was running I was thinking, "What have I done? Why am I doing this?" It was not easy. But when it was over, I felt great and I was thinking, "When can I do this again so I can do it better next time?"

I've already been looking at the St. Louis Track Club's Web site to see when the next race is. I'm looking at Oct. 18 or 19 and then there's another one Nov. 23. It's going to start getting cold though and I'm not willing to run in the freezing cold, so that might limit the number of races I can run until spring. But I can still run at the gym and if I run at an incline, it mimics running in a road race. So, fun! See, I am a runner!

****

This weekend I had to spend hours working on a paper for my Organizational Behavior class that I have been procrastinating on for weeks. It's due Wednesday so now it's panic time. I did make a decision this weekend about school, though. I dropped my class I was going to take in Fall 2 (late October through late December). I just can't do it during the holidays and with everything I have coming up the next couple months. I'm not saying I'm quitting forever - I might very well go back in January. But honestly, it's a huge relief to know I am two weeks away from not having to worry about school.

Did Sarah Palin just wink at me?

I'm watching the vice presidential debate right now. So far, it's not the complete train wreck everyone predicted, but Palin did wink into the camera. Biden can't pull that off. She's the "aw, shucks" candidate.

Abby was just babbling in bed and Seth went in there to tell her it was time to quiet down and go to sleep.

Abby: "But I can't stop talking, there's just so much I want to say."

Ha ha. She makes me laugh.

And Adam starts his new day care on Tuesday. I told him he was starting school soon and he said, "Backpack?" I guess he sees Abby go off to school with her backpack and wanted to be a big kid, too. So cute.