Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else has not been doing this week.

I did NOT bribe my very picky eater to eat his potatoes once with pieces of a dinner roll and once with goldfish crackers. Nope, not me!

I did NOT bribe my other child who's been having a rough time at school with the opportunity to shop for our pumpkin if he had two smiley days at school. We also did NOT choose to go to Cici's instead of going home for dinner, even though we've been spending too much money lately. Nope, not me (us)!

I did NOT disagree with my husband about whether our 5-year-old could see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I think no way, but he thinks he can just skip the really bad parts. This movie has robots stabbing through each other and ripping each other's faces apart. I bit much?? Nope, not me!

I did NOT get all stressed out when a 20-year-old at work was giving me the cold shoulder all night simply because I called her out on something she was doing wrong. I also did NOT call her flippant on Facebook. Nope, not me!

I did NOT run into a friend at the grocery store, find out that he needed Harry Potter movies (which we have), tell him he could stop by and borrow them, then quickly drive home and "tidy up" a bit before he got here. Nope, not me!

Now it's time for you to join in the fun!! You can post your own Not Me! Monday and add the URL to MckMama's blog, or you can use my new MckLinky!!

New Family Pictures

We went to Picture People last week, because I got an email coupon for buy 1 portrait, get 2 free. So we go the three pictures below for all of $18 plus tax!! I wish we could have more made, but we might do a family picture for Christmas cards, too. Enjoy!

The Family (in our third family picture with Mark laying down)

Handsome!
Cute and Mischievous!

A Whole Lot of Happy

After the Spivey Family Reunion in Sanford, Mark, his mom, the boys and I went to the NC State Fair. It was overcast and so cold!!! I had to put gloves on just to push the stroller. Xander enjoyed it a little more this year, since he was more aware of things going one, and Zack, well, we just had to tell Zack that he shouldn't ask for everything in sight. The boys had lots of fun, and we enjoyed watching them play and have a good time, too! Thanks to Gramma for buying tickets for us again!!

Mommy, yook, Big Bird!

Meeting Curious George

Playing in the PBS Kids tent

Trying out the hula hoops...

...and not getting too far.

First ride of the day: the fire truck!

Daddy said that Zack tried this "ride" last year and had a lot of trouble with the rope ladder. This year he climbed it like a champ!

The Wiggly Worm roller coaster
Another worm ride for all three boys

I was going to take Xander on the wiggly worm with Zack, but he was too small. We tried the circus train that was next to the roller coaster, but it wasn't working at that time. So Xander and I walked down the "midway" a bit and found a smaller kiddie coaster. He climbed the steps, handed the man his tickets and let the man help him in, but then, "Mommy ride dragon. Mommy ride dragon." Well, the dragon was too small for Mommy, so we had to wait for Zack. So the two of them rode it together.

I know it's fuzzy, but I love the glow of the swords!

The Longest Day

I call this the longest day because it started with grocery shopping, followed by a soccer game, working outside with Danny and dinner with Eileen, Mo and Caroline. Eileen knew that I was taking her to dinner for her birthday, but she didn't know that Maureen and Caroline were going to be there, too, until, that it, she saw Caroline's car parked right out in front of the restaurant! We enjoyed a nice dinner, four sisters together, celebrating another year for Eileen. Danny came over to help out mostly with landscaping. In addition to trimming the trees and plants in the front yard and helping out with the gutters, he also helped us move three small pine trees, a maple tree and a holly tree out of the garden bed to the backyard. (Thanks, Danny, we couldn't have done all of that without you!)

Anyway, it was a long day! Here's the pictures to prove it:

Here's the before picture (except for that little piece on the left).

Mark and Danny working on putting up the gutters.

The rain prevented more work on the gutters, so we gave the crab apple tree a hair cut. Now we can sit on the front porch and see the road!

Zack decided, all on his own, to help clean up the branches. It was so cute watching him load them up in the wheelbarrow and bring them to the backyard to dump them.

I guess the ladder wasn't working at this point?

Check it out--a man who knows how to read directions!

Playing Wii bowling after dinner...

Me and Mama's Boy

Xander getting a taste of Eileen's birthday cake

Five goofy McFadden's: Maureen, Caroline, Danny, Eileen and me

Hallelujah!!!

Finally figured out a way to download pictures!!!!! So here's a slideshow link for you.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What you are about to see is a sleeping toddler, fun with cooking, fun with legos, tossing a teddy graham, a star soccer player, my star triathlete, a homework doer and chicken & ramen stir fry. Enjoy! (There will be more posted soon! Yeah!)

One more

I'm hoping that I just have to do one more of these posts without pictures. I'm working on backing up all of the pictures on the computer, then I need to reinstall my camera software. So soon, hopefully soon.

Our week...Monday was a workday last week, and I discovered just how much quieter it has become since Zack started school. Having him home was a challenge! Monday was soccer practice again. Can't really remember much from the rest of the week, just trying to stick my new schedule better, getting the house cleaner and keeping it that way, staying caught up on stuff. Zack deciding he wants to be a gorilla for Halloween so he can scare people, wondering how to make a gorilla costume. Still working, staying open late because of our anniversary sale and wondering why someone would have to come to Kohl's at 10:45pm. Working late on Friday, having to be up and out the door around 6/6:15 on Saturday morning, driving to Lake Royale in Bunn for Mark's race, watching the sun rise (the best part of early morning races), seeing Mark (or Mark's wave) up close as they started their swim, watching people struggle with the bike start and even fall down as they tried to pedal up the hill, waiting and watching for that yellow helmet to return, after the race driving to Wendell for another soccer game (also having a rushed fast-food lunch in the car), watching Zack and Andrew step up since the coach's son wasn't there, trying to get Anna to get back on the field, Xander falling asleep on the way home, Zack fighting sleep for FOUR HOURS, me taking a 1-1/2 hour nap, waking up at 5, thinking I worked at 7, realizing I worked at 6, going to get subway and returning to find out I worked at 5, rushing to work, Sunday school and making mobiles, another nap for me and Xander, Zack fighting it again, two sick little boys, trying new dinners (my Chicken & Ramen stir-fry turned out really good!!).

I don't really like doing these longer posts with no pictures, but I have been taking some pictures along the way, so you will be updated son. Hope you all have a great week!