Puppies, Skeletons and Monkeys, OH MY!

Lessons learned: Always try hand-me-down Halloween costumes on weeks before Halloween!

Apparently, Travis was a little shorter when he wore the puppy costume.

Luckily we had a Plan B.

Back in the car, our little skeleton was very proud of his night's earnings.
Half a pumpkin of candy and only two houses.

And just for fun, remember the cute little monkey from last Halloween?
Can you believe how much they change in a year?

Toddlers do not belong in the kitchen.

I'm nursing a sore throat and decided to treat myself to a cup of hot chocolate. Nevermind it is 75 degrees and I'm running all the fans in the house.

I heat the milk, stir in the packet of chocolate and go look for marshmallows in the pantry. Of course, Tyler climbed up on a chair and stuck his finger in the hot drink. At least he's learning about "hot" without actually hurting himself, right?

I got sidetracked and let the drink cool down more than I intended. I finished it off rather quickly since it wasn't very hot. It wasn't until the last couple of swallows that I noticed a definite peppermint flavor. Now, this is a ceramic coffee mug, not plastic, but I still began to wonder if the mug had absorbed some of the flavor from my mom's peppermint tea or something.

It wasn't until I rinsed the cup out that I realized the glob of chocolate at the bottom was NOT undissolved hot chocolate mix but a Junior Mint that Tyler had tossed into the cup.

Cursing you hippie moms!

Yes, Melissa, I mean you.

We have the house to ourselves, Tyler and I. So he's been naked for about 2 hours. It really does help with the potty-training.

But no one has ever told me what to do when the naked 2-year-old falls asleep on the sofa immediately after drinking a cup of apple juice!!!

Want to place bets on whether he wakes up when I get the diaper? How long to you think I have until he's good and asleep?

Tyler's 2nd Birthday

Marshmallow Elephants!
(If you've seen Tyler make an elephant noise, you know why. Precious!)

They don't always like each other, but they love each other!

10 p.m. on a Monday night

Jennifer goes upstairs to get ready for bed.

Over the baby monitor, Brian and I hear Jennifer dropping something or throwing something.

I am thinking awful thoughts about my sister being so loud when she knows Tyler is not sound asleep yet.

Then we hear Jennifer: "Jaime, you have a naked little boy up here."

Apparently all that crashing around was Tyler opening his bedroom door... After he'd stripped off his pajamas and left his diaper laying in the middle of the floor. Luckily Jennifer was concerned about all the noise and went to check on Tyler, whom she found walking down the hall. Naked. With two stuffed puppies.

Help 100 Children with Your Mouse

Reece's Rainbow, a ministry that assists with adoptions for children with Down Syndrome, is in the running for an American Express grant. (I read about it on 5 Minutes for Special Needs.)

Click here to nominate the ministry to receive a grant that would help 100 children. No catches. Just nominate before Sept. 1.

'67 Shelby Raffle

My good friend Jodi and her husband are raffling off their '67 Shelby to benefit The Wooden Cross Ministries.

Jodi's church is "drawing up plans to build a Ministry Village. The first structure going up is the Hope House where the main focus will be families: counseling, budgeting, foster care, as well as a child advocacy center, of which there is none on the east side of Atlanta."

Visit www.youcouldhelp.com to purchase your $25 raffle ticket.