Take a look

I love reading Wikipedia. I can sift through one page, click on another link on that page, and then another, and learn in about 30 minutes how Frida Kahlo became such a popular artist and had many affairs . True story. I did that Sunday night. Carl has had to drag me away from the computer or take my phone away from me before when I get too caught up reading. Especially the tragic stuff. Oh the tragic stuff. I can get caught up reading about little obscure wars I never heard of growing up for 1-2 hours. However, most of the time, I only spend 10 minutes or so "educating" myself. Yesterday, Google highlighted Shakuntala Devi, who was also known as the "human calculator." She was quite a phenomenal human and I cannot believe I never heard of her! I highly recommend this quick Wiki-read if you are interested in learning about a fascinating woman.

- One more Halloween recap: healthy candy. "I threw up" "You threw up, ok." SO FUNNY!

- I love this photo-illustration series

- Easy DIY polka-dot tights. Seriously, too easy- why have I never thought of this??

- a chart on winter. Ha! This is for Toronto, but for me, it applies to Milwaukee and Rexburg :)

- Heard of the facial growing frenzy this month, but don't know the difference between Movember and No-Shave November (there is a difference!)? Well this post clarifies fairly well! Carl is getting a little furry this month :)

- mystery flavored dum-dums REVEALED!!!

The awful cold seems to be finally leaving the Leder home. It just makes me want to stay indoors and ward off any visitors with garlic and crosses. Just kidding. We love company and the poor kids have been dying to interact with their friends. Here's to hoping for a healthy winter!

Belated Halloween Recap

I love how Vivienne is covered in chocolate. We weren't even at the party for more than 10 minutes yet.

That's right, we all had mullets. Awesome.

Thanks Robbins family for the great family picture!

Our family costume for our ward "carnival" came to me earlier in October as I was scouring Amazon for random things (I love amazon, ok?). Mullet wigs popped up on one of my "You may like these also:" links and I thought to myself, why yes, yes I do like that mullet. So I worked on getting mullets for all of us. Vivienne actually has a clip on hair piece in the back though you can't see it. So fun.

my little lion and bunny

As seen on Instagram, I did take the kids trick or treating. I didn't really want to explain mullets to strangers or perhaps they would assume my children just have crazy hair.. but either way, I threw together a quick simple costume with stuff we already had. Since it is so cold already (ok, 45 degrees is cold enough for kids at least), I only had to make sure they had something on their heads. We had to go to a neighboring city to trick or treat on the 31st, but it was fun and worth it to me. They loved saying trick or treat and ringing doorbells. I was impressed with the amount of candy they scored in just the 6-7 houses I took them to! We don't really keep candy in the house, so they basically inhaled as many suckers, kit kats, and crunch bars as they could. It was a holiday, right?! I personally scrubbed their teeth before bedtime :)

Is it ok that I'm too lazy to upload any more pictures off my camera? Ok thanks.

Halloween aside, Carl, Vivi, and I all have gross chest colds with accompanying hacking coughs. Yeah, gross. I am so ready to be done with this cold and it has only been a day! 

Take a look

anyone else dreaming of warm weather with the dropping temperatures? moab 10/2010

Working night shift was really rough when I worked 3-4 days a week. I could never really get out of my zombie mode when it was my day off and as soon as I caught up on half of my sleep, I was right back at it again. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have right now to be in a pool position where I only work two days a month on the weekend. It has been great. I miss the excitement and adrenaline rush of working in the ER regularly, but I feel like I have gotten to know my children more than I have before. For instance, I can now predict responses from both children, especially Ezra, about 99% of the time.

me "Do you want the rest of your cereal or keep playing with your toys?"

ezra "Keep playing."

me "ok."

-- wait for it... ("No! I want the rest of my cereal!") --

ezra "No! I want the rest of my cereal!"

me "it's still there."

every time.

I worked this past weekend and missed my mother-less family very much. Granted, Carl didn't really do anything exciting without me, but I still feel like I missed out. I also felt a little gypped while at work because I didn't get to do a single IV. Silly or disturbing? I do enjoy putting a sharp needle and sliding a catheter into someone's vein (mwahahaha). There just really wasn't any sick patients this weekend. Which is a good thing for the patients. Bonus: I am no longer a zombie regularly.

As usual, I came across many interesting things over the past week, here are some highlights:

- Not new for me, but probably my favorite DIY blog. John and Sherry are full-time DIYers/bloggers/parents. And they're funny! My creepy personality states that Sherry and I could be friends.

- #batdad!!! Ok, Bat Dad is actually on Vine, but here is his youtube page. He is hilarious. Carl and I get a good laugh at all of his little 8 second videos. Where was Vine when I lived near Kim and Steph?!

- who knew popcorn was not a popular idea when movie theaters started rising?!

- DIY cement candle holders! Not as challenging as it sounds.

- SO interesting to watch! Strangers posed and photographed together

- some day, I will have a bright, airy nursery. or just rooms.

- ahhh I remember wanting a Che Guevara shirt so bad in high school! Halloween inspiration?

- janae from Bring Joy imparts her wisdom from the 5th pregnancy. Seriously what I needed to read when I felt whelmed with the thought of ever having more than two kids. Guys, I'm a weenie when it comes to motherhood.

Have a wonderful rest of your week! Personally, I'm excited for you to learn about my next item on the bucket list :)

Take a look

I don't know about you, but we have been increasing our consumption of cinnamon, apples, and pumpkin lately. It's awesome. I love this time of year for many reasons, but the treats are at the top of the list. Hope you all had a great weekend and start to your week!

- just in time for halloween, how to draw the best monsters!

- I love poetry slams. This one was particularly impressive because it is by a jewish teenager standing up against the world!

- speaking of poetry, this video came across my facebook newsfeed a few months ago and I LOVED it. Go breastfeeding support!

- I know I am overloading you with videos, but if you can only choose one right now, choose this one about breast cancer awareness. So beautiful, brave, and frightening all at once. FYI, October is breast cancer awareness month!

- There is science behind why Doritos Nacho Cheese chips are so addicting! And now I want some.

- Motivation to include yourself more often in your everyday photographs and family pictures!

- one more video. flash mobs that do beautiful musical performances always choke me up for some reason!

- You're a good mom. Do you tell other mom's that? I feel like I do, but obviously since I'm not confident in my answer, this post motivates me more to compliment other parents.


I have plans! plans! plans! (said very fast in a excited-Tracey manner) for upcoming blog posts! I love sharing little bits of our life with you all. Have good rest of your day!

Hello Fall!

Oh the weather has been lovely with the leaves changing and falling off the trees. The air is cooler now and it feels fairly chilly in the evenings. Today it even rained most of the day! I have a vanilla/cinnamon/amazing holiday scent wax scent filling up our home and it is truly delightful. Not to mention that walmart sells those Scentsy knock-offs for only $2 a tray. Sweet!

Halloween was so fun this year. We went to our ward Fall party/chili cook off, which included trick or treating through the hallways. I made Carl and my costume the day of the party (more like two hours beforehand...) and Ezra's came from toys r us.

On Monday, the day of Halloween, Ezra and I took pictures in the morning, went trick or treating with some lovely friends at the Medical College, and then concluded the evening with tasty spooky ( mostly just tasty :) treats at the Harkers. I'm so glad Carl got out of class early and was able to join us for the evening festivities.

We didn't carve pumpkins this year just because we didn't have anywhere to put them. Nor did we have much family time to set aside for just pumpkins, but oddly enough, it wasn't a big deal. It will be I'm sure when Ezra is older and wants a pumpkin to carve :) We did however buy a baby pumpkin at Trader Joe's for Ezra to play with, which he just adores.

Enjoy these pics!

phone pic

phone pic- lions and tigers and bears. oh my! love Ez's face in this. Carl and I are roaring. It's a must for a mama bear and lion king.

These are from Halloween morning:

he turned away from the camera to have more alone time with the pumpkin

see, he just loves that pumpkin!

 My mama came to visit us two weeks ago and it was so nice. Ezra loved having his "pua pua" here and playing all day long. It was nice and relaxing to visit and see my mom for several days in a row. Carl and I even went out on a date! It was a glorious 5 days and we all miss my mother dearly.  Visitors are always welcome here!

we went to Apple Holler down past Milwaukee and enjoyed some fall activites. My aunt carol also came, but I didn't get any pictures of all of us. It was a fun fall activity though!

he screamed, not cried, when he first encountered the goats, but then he couldn't get enough of them afterwards and even wanted to feed them, though he didn't quite build up the courage to get his hand close enough.

stuffing his face full of good stuff

Happy fall to all of you bloggerees! Also, I just started a crafting blog for fun. It's in effort to document my crafty side and also to encourage me to keep my creative juices flowing. Feel free to visit: harmonizedlaughter.blogspot.com!

Rockstars and Gypsies and Monkeys, Oh My!

Ezra's baby pumpkin makes me smile :) It's turning white now that it's getting cold... a Christmas pumpkin!

Carl was super creative and did the scary tree pumpkin. I was lazy and carved BOO.

I'm getting close to being caught up with pictures and posts!