First Day of School!

In my futile attempt at 'catching up' I'm going to post some pictures of my boys' first day of preschool. It happened exactly 2 weeks ago, September 8th. Gabe was not so enthused about going to preschool, despite many failed attempts at sneaking into Julian's class last year. To say that I was nervous for my baby would be an understatement.

Gabe was really excited to wear his backpack, like J.


Julian goes to class 15 whole minutes before Gabe does. So we had some time to kill. Before class started, we ran into one of Julian's best friends, Mya!


J is obviously thrilled for mamarazzi to be in full force.

I think in this picture, he was trying to tell me that his class is this way...


Julian, as expected, adores preschool. Loves his teachers and is generally excited to go. The one drawback for him? The clothing requirement. I think he'd like school much better if he were free to wear his undies.

Gabe on the other hand, he's taken some convincing. Today was the first day he didn't cry. The first day he played with his teachers, and the first day he didn't look at me like, "OH MY GOSH MOM YOU SAVED ME" when I picked him up. So we're gonna take that as a good sign.

Gabe's first day of school stamp. (I totally remember Julian LOVING the stamps in the 2 year old class! Gabe's following suit)



I just love his profile.


And Here Ma hold my backpack

Labor Day, already?

Another 3 day weekend has come, and passed. I can't believe the unofficial end of summer has already graced us with its presence.

Typically, labor day is spent out in nature, or camping, or something adventurous like that. Not for the Palizzis. We prefer a different sort of adventure. The Mall of America.

Now for those of you that have never been before, let me just say it's massive. Like whoa, overwhelming, and CRAZY! Luckily we got there shortly after opening, so we were able to find a parking spot relatively easily. We got to park and enter at my favorite, favorite store, one that I miss so much. Nordstrom. I didn't get to shop much though, 2 kids, and an impatient husband will do that. But just being there, made me feel good. We also got something special outside of Nordstrom, See's Candy. Now I've heard rumblings that there is a store in Des Moines, I just haven't had the luck to find it. But after purchasing a pound of dark chocolates, we were good to go.

I have some friends, that I met online, FIVE years ago! On a parenting forum, for people due in March 2006. They live in the Mall of America's general vicinity, and I was lucky enough to meet up with them back in October of 2008! We were lucky enough to meet up with Ginger and her two girls at the Rain Forest Cafe! Which was super fun for the kids, and had delicious food! I got the nachos, which is an appetizer, but is huge! And Barry had fish tacos (No idea where that one came from, straight outta left field!) And the boys had good ol' Mac and Cheese and Chicken Nuggets. But they were good eaters, and ate quite a bit of their food.

Oh! Something I forgot to mention, Mall of America has an amusement park, INSIDE of the mall. Like a full fledged amusement park. And it's Nickelodeon themed! Which means all of the boys' favorites, Spongebob, Wonderpets, and Dora and her cousin Diego! They were stoked to see all of the decorations, and were able to ride 2 rides really quickly with absolutely no line! After lunch, it was a different story. We had 6 points (I guess it's like tickets)and waited FOREVER for the carousel. The boys were satisfied with their 3 rides, though Diego's rescue ride scared Gabe. Barry said he was shaking :( Poor baby.

They also have a LEGOS store. And I don't know what magically happened, but Legos? They're the shiz around here. The only thing Julian wants to play with, the only thing he wants to look at, when we go to Target. So a whole Legos store? Heaven for the kid. Apparently there's usually a HUGE store, with huge Lego figures and crazy things, but this store chocked full of Legos was enough to satisfy my little block head :)

Here are some pictures from our little trip-
The kids outside of Rainforest Cafe


Waiting in line for the aquarium


In the Aquarium, my little fish


At the touch tank




In Sharky's Treasure Chest

To Fringe...or Not To Fringe

So I have a hair appointment tomorrow! Yay me, yay for time away from kids, and time for just me. So excited.

But I have a problem. My bangs/fringe. Do I recut it? Do I let it grow? Do I keep it somewhere in the middle?

For the record, this is what we're dealing with currently:


Me with fringe


Without-(For the record, this picture is almost 2 years old! eep!)



So vote, if you will. Yes to fringe. No to fringe. I need help.

Take a walk with me...

...down memory lane.

In preparation for Owen's arrival, and in my quest to delay packing until the minute before we actually depart Iowa, for Texas, I am looking at old pictures.

Two years ago, I had a 2 year old and a baby.

2 year old




Baby





Now, almost exactly 2 years later (Can you believe we've been in Iowa for literally 2 years? We were getting ready to leave Puyallup 2 years ago this week!) I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old.

4 year old





2 year old





Best of friends






Totally trouble

Happy 11th of July!!!

So I'm from Washington. Y'all already know that. But did you know that I don't remember a single 4th of July without rain? Seriously, honestly and truly. Well last year, it didn't rain here. But that really doesn't count. This year, it rained on 4th of July (here in Iowa) and apparently, they can and do cancel the 4th of July, postpone it until the weather cooperates! This all happened without my knowledge. I sure did drive around at 9 pm on the 4th of July hoping to see some fireworks. If Washington postponed the fireworks for a better day, there would never be fireworks! As it turns out, though, postponing was a fabulous idea! Yesterday the weather was amazing, after some downpour in the morning.

So the boys and I decided to pack into the car, and drive the 3 blocks to the middle school. I put them in their (matching because I'm THAT kind of mom) pajamas and we drove to the middle school. We sat on a blanket and waited 20 minutes for the fireworks to start. After the first firework, Gabe was ready to go. He was crying and shaking and his heart was beating so fast. After the 2nd boom, Julian was ready to go too. Once we got back into the car, the boys were a lot more brave and pointed out the many fireworks that were 'broke into pieces' according to Gabe. Turns out? We had a PERFECT view of the fireworks from our DRIVEWAY! Too bad the boys were still too traumatized to watch them. Nothing like an emotionally disturbing night to help you sleep well. Gabe slept in until 9 am! And Julian until 8:30. I'd be lying if I said I didn't also sleep until 8:30. Sleep, glorious sleep.

Julian waiting for the fireworks to start


Gabe, doing the same!


The crazy sky before sunset

One of those days

Yesterday, and the previous few days have been on the rough side. I think the boys are acting out? And realizing that Barry's not here, and having some trouble processing that. Well Gabe especially. He's been a bit of a handful as of late, throwing things, hitting, just not being nice. I know that it's gotta be confusing to a little 2 year old, so I try to give him the benefit of the doubt. But, yesterday, after the 1 millionth time out, I'd just about lost it. So I called up my friend Jackie and we decided to go play. Best.Idea.Ever. So I have no idea where this park is. I know it's NEAR Saylorville Lake. That's pretty much all I know. If I ever want to go again, I'll have to follow Jackie, because without her, I'd still be driving around.

The first picture of the day. Ok so Julian? He's FOUR. FOUR. Not Fourteen! He already poses, dresses and acts like a broody teenager. What am I going to do when he's *actually* a brooding teenager?


Here he is again,testing me.


Gabe, not quite sure.


Jackie's oldest cutie, B!


Barry saw this picture on facebook and said, "Oh I love it when they play nicely together." If you'll notice, that's not at all what is happening. Julian is gleefully splashing the unsuspecting Gabe.






I LOVE this 2 shot series




I LOVE this boy! Jackie's son, B.


**Actually** Playing nicely


Julian's been super into building lately. Yesterday he built a house, complete with a Styrofoam chimney out of my steam cleaner's box! It was impressive.


My baby!


All in all, a super successful outing. Julian passed out in the car. Gabe stayed awake but passed out upon arriving home. That's the measure of a good play date! How long did the kids nap?

Le Slacker

So Barry's been in the field. In the field means he can't check my blog. So I thought to myself, if my reason for updating the blog can't read it, then what's the point of staying up late to blog?

This past week has been a little more chill than last. On Monday we had our good friend Laura over for dinner (yay for a reason to 'cook'! It's amazing how much I don't like cooking just for me to eat. My kids are what we call, picky. Which means they don't like to eat a lot of food. Well, Julian anyway. Gabe? He's an eater.)

It was also Laura's birthday this week, so the boys and I baked cupcakes! I LOVE yellow cupcakes with chocolate fudge icing! And sprinkles are a definite!


The boys also proceeded to be crazy while she was here, but thankfully slept well. I think they were trying to impress her.

Later during the week, they put on a play for me. Did you know? Superman and Buzz Lightyear are BFF? Well it's true, and I have proof!

Check out these abs!


Crazy Posers!


Cheeseballs


Gabe just adores his big brother


Laura came over again yesterday, to watch the boys while I cleaned a little. My mom is coming on Wednesday! (HOLLLLLLLLER!) and I needed to do some deep cleaning. I'm so thankful for good friends, and for her spending one of her last nights in DSM before she goes home for the rest of summer, to play with my kids and help me out! I love you Laura!



The boys do too!

Barry's home at the hotel for a little while, on base, and then will be back out in the field all week next week. He's having fun though, I think. They saw some cactus, got to play with compasses, and guns. And they had a frequent visitor in their tent, a dirty mouse that wanted to steal snacks, and a one time visitor, who met its untimely death, a scorpion! Julian's loving hearing about daddy's adventures in Texas, and asks me daiiiiiily when we're going to Texas. I am so excited to GET to Texas, not so much for the drive there.