ode to Sondra

This is one of my very best friends, Sondra!

Today is her birthday so I thought I would do a little blog about her.

Sondra and I met almost 5 years ago. I started babysitting for her. What started as a six week babysitting job has turned into many years of babysitting and a lifelong friendship!

We are more than friends with the Choules, we are like family!

Sondra is the type of friend that you can really depend on and trust. She is always there and I could not tell you what I would do without her love and support.

I totally look up to her and enjoy her sense of humor, wisdom and sensibility. We have laughed...and cried...and laughed some more! You know those type of friends that just "get it" and you get them...that is what it is like with her. We don't need to say the words...we just know what each other is thinking:) Sondra is so talented and smart...definitely someone that I look up to and admire. She is a great mom to three amazing kids that I simply adore!
I don't know what I would do without Sondra in my life...it's been a crazy year not being able to just call anytime or go out to lunch or stop by for a visit. I have missed her but she has helped make it a little easier by the emails and the wonderful visit in September:) It was awesome seeing her!!! She always thinks to send me scrapbook stuff and collect things that she knows that I just NEED to have! Thank you for the box of stuff...page kits, new adhesive gun, ideas, paper, etc.

YOU ROCK! YOU ARE THE BEST! I LOVE YA!!!
I hope that you had an absolutely wonderful bIrtHdaY!!

hAppY haLLoWeEn

Okay what a difference tRicK or TreAtiNg in Canada instead of Arizona!
After about 15 houses (a full bag of candy too) we heading home.
It was POURING RAIN! I am still soaking wet!
Caleb had a great time! He tried to go into everyone's house.
He loved all the new friends he made:)
He was laughing hysterically and he says "trick or treat" so darn cute!
Here are some pics of our hAlloWeeN festivities.

The pic of Caleb and I is so blurry but I promised Gene that I would get a pic of the two of us together...this is the best I can do:)
Well hope you all had a great hAlloWeEn and don't forget to brush your teeth!!!

carving pumpkins

All I can say is...What was I thinking? I thought that it would be so fun to have a little FHE with Caleb and carve some pumpkins...

that was my first mistake...hehe

He cried most of the time!!! He is obsessed with pumpkins, (and Santa) right now and he doesn't have the patience to let me touch or even look at his pumpkins. He just wanted to hold and play with the pumpkins and when I took the little one to cut the circle on top, he got pretty hysterical! I gave it to him and showed him how to scoop the stuff out but he just kept putting it back in. He loved it once it was done...now it's a kitty pumpkin!

Well here are the pics, ENJOY!

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

EIEIO

I took a special request and uploaded another video of Caleb.

This was done today after dinner.

It's so hard to get Caleb to sit still long enough to make the videos...

he just wants to sit still and watch them over and over.

He loves watching videos of himself:)

Last night after dinner we went outside to play...

I raked up a big pile of leaves...

and Caleb kept running through them. It was so fun!!!

I kept trying to get him to lay down in the leaves but he wouldn't.

Here are a couple more pics from last night.

Potty Training-Day One

Mommy bought me some new underwear that are

so fun to play with and put on my head!

Today I decided I wanted to wear my Cars big boy underwear and play with the

Curious George ones. I love my new underwear. I even tried to put them on my

mommy's head but she said she didn't need a hat.



I went on the potty and so far, after one hour....no accidents!!!

Mommy has brought me to the potty about 7 times in the last hour:)

I think it's a game and love to run back and forth to the potty.

It's been a busy morning and mommy and I have had lots of exercise

running up and down the hallway to the bathroom.

Now it's lunch time and then naptime...

mommy's favorite time of the day:)

Wish me luck!

Caleb

ROARRrrr!!!!

These are the copies of the pictures I picked up today from Sears.

The quality isn't the best but I just needed to show them off.

Caleb is so in love with his lion costume.

Today was such a long day. We went to town and met my grandmother for lunch.

We then went shopping where I bought Caleb his first big boy underwear...

and the potty training begins.

Afterwards we met my cousin, Amanda and shopped a bit more and

then went to her mom's to pick up her son, Morgan. I locked her keys in the car.

Two hours and a tow truck later, we were headed to the park.

It was freezing outside so we didn't stay long.

We then went to dinner and came home just in time for Caleb to go to bed.

It was such a long but fun day!

A few things that I am missing about Arizona

Today is a gloomy day. It's not too cold but it's just dark and gloomy. I was sitting here thinking about what I would be doing if I was in Arizona right now...Where would I go? Then I really started missing some of my favorite places.

Here are some of my all time favorite things...in no particular order because I would take any of them right now:)

*Pizzeria Bianco

They have the best pizza here and the tomato mozzarella salad....mmm mmm, so delicious. It's worth the 2 hour or more wait to get in. I always get the Rosa pizza with salami, pistachios and parmesan cheese, no sauce. It's so yummy!!!

*Jamba Juice

Original peach pleasure with mango instead of banana. Oh, it's so addicting!!! I used to drink these ALL the time!

*Target

I do shop online but it's not the same.

*Costa Vida
Right now I am totally craving the sweet pork salad but I would settle for the burrito or the quesadilla. I love the tortilla strips and the ranch dressing...mmm mmm

*Tia Rosa's

Love the chips and salsa!

Need I say more?

Why are there no Joann's stores here? We have Michaels but not the same as back home. There just isn't much selection. I hear there is a new Joann's even closer to my house:)

The chef salad is amazing!

*Scrapbooks Etc.

Okay this is my weakness! There is nothing that compares to my favorite local scrapbooking store! I miss it sooo much and will definitely be making up for lost time.

I would love to go to a late nighter or take a class with some friends.

*Krispy Kreme

Okay, I could live without Krispy Kreme but I am so missing 3 of my favorite people.

Isn't this just the cutest picture???

Cody, Jessica and Riley I miss you soooo much and can't wait to get back home and see how much you have all grown up! Caleb is going to just love spending time with you guys!

Well since it took me all day to write this post I should post it and get ready for bed.

Goodnight all!