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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Halloween 2013

The Squirt has only been up for an hour and has already asked me to explain the timeline for tonight's events three times.

E: Mom when do we get to go to the party? (Our neighborhood pre-trick or treat block party)
Me: After nap time kiddo. You'll get up, get your costume on and we'll find your treat buckets and go.

E: Ok, so how many minutes are we gonna stay at the party?
Me: I don't know kiddo. Probably an hour. When it gets dark you can start trick or treating.

E: How are you and dad gonna trick or treat with us and give candy to kids too?
Me: Good question monster. We need to work that out.

E: We should probably take flashlights with us so we can find the houses in the dark.
Me: Yea that's a good idea. You can help me find some later.

E: Mom when do we get to go to the party?
Me: -sigh-


Here's a sneak peek of Squirt's costume -


If you've seen this Flash mask lying around somewhere let me know. We lost it about .07 seconds after we bought it. (Shocker!)


I finished up the wings for Brit's Tinkerbell costume yesterday and I really hope she wears them tonight. Just in case she doesn't, I took a video for proof they existed. It's sideways because it's 8:45am and I'm too lazy to figure out how to change it. Just tilt your head to the right as you watch it. See? Much better.

Happy Halloween!

Friday, October 25, 2013

The Future's So Bright...

It's FRIDAY! Whoop whoop. I hope you have some particularly spectacular plans made for the next 72 hours. Sweet B and I have been discussing our weekend plans over some milk this AM. Sparkly pink star sunglasses help us up the awesomeness ante.

B Daddy is doing this ridiculous thing called GoRuck Heavy for 24 hours from 8pm tonight until 8pm Saturday night. Go him. There is nothing about this endeavor that sounds remotely appealing to me. The overnight low is going to be 25 degrees tonight y'all. 25 degrees. In Georgia. Poor man. He and an also-super-hardcore buddy are doing this thing, so pray for the two of them when you snuggle down in your warm bed this evening if you will. (Go ahead and file that under #firstworldprayerrequests)

I'll be man-less all day Saturday, and in the depth of my sorrow, the good Lord sent me no less than 2 party invitations for Saturday. That means I just have to pour cereal in the morning and then hopefully food + entertainment are taken care of for the rest of the day.

In light of the great sacrifice I have made so B Daddy can go out and prove his manhood, I told him I would take the kids to church Sunday by myself (so he can make up for a bit of sleep loss) and then I would be leaving for the afternoon. By myself.

Note to fellow wives: I did not choose the best time or manner in which to deliver this bit of information. Working on it.

I'm thinking there's going to be a pedicure in there somewhere and a lunch that does not consist of a PB&J eaten standing up.

What are your weekend plans? Last minute Halloween costume creation anyone? Anyone else rocking sparkly pink sunglasses at 7am? Happy Friday!



**Oh and that post where I actually tell you how our camping trip went? It's coming. Sometime. I promise. Technical difficulties with my camera. Boo hiss.**

Monday, October 21, 2013

The Fall Fun Continues: Part 2


When we left off, B Daddy and I had just herded the children back into the minivan after enduring the longest trip to buy apples we have ever undertaken.

By this time (1pm for those of you following along) the munchkins were complaining of hunger and I had abandoned my vision of a simple country picnic at the pumpkin patch down the road. As I unwrapped turkey sandwiches and handed sippy cups back from the front seat, B Daddy navigated the long dusty road out of the orchard.

The trip to Burt's Pumpkin Patch was a short drive down the road (going in the opposite direction of apple traffic) and we were there in the amount of time it took Mizzou to score again. Yes, again. As we approached Burt's I saw a little creek gurgling along the edge of the property and families spread out in the sunshine, their picnic lunches sprawled on blankets before them.  My expectations were creeping steadily upward as we pulled into the overflow parking lot and unloaded our crew. For this leg of the journey I thought we would bring Dakota with us to add to the perfectly happy family vibe we were going for. She'd been so good in the car until then and I hated to tie her to a tree while we went on our adventure.

It took about 15 minutes of weaving and maneuvering and one more trip to a porta-potty before we came upon the official entrance to Burt's. Pumpkin paradise lay just beyond us. Pumpkins of all colors, shapes and sizes. Pumpkins bigger than Blue Eyes were EVERYWHERE. The day had cooled off a bit and we were no longer cranky, hungry or tired. The Fall Fun Extravaganza was back on track.

We were barely through the gates of the patch (where admission was FREE! thank heaven) when I was stopped and told that no dogs were allowed inside with the pumpkins. Mr. Security Man was very nice about it, but my expectations for this leg of the extravaganza immediately plummeted.

Side note: I can get very irrational when my expectations are not met. 

Instead of returning to the car and staking Dakota to a tree for a bit (the day had cooled off, we had her long lead with us and we parked right next to a huge tree) an irritated me decided that B Daddy and the kids should go on in and do the pumpkin patch without me.  Dakota and I would wait for them among the picnickers by the creek. B Daddy didn't look all together thrilled with my plan, but I was insistent (and had that crazed irrational look about me) so he headed in while I turned around with Dakota in tow.

Things must have been awfully boring without me (either that or the pumpkin police kept telling the kids not to sit on the pumpkins, which was the only interesting thing a 2 and 4 year old could find to do in the pumpkin patch) because within 10 minutes B Daddy and the kids had joined Dakota and I down by the creek.

That Creek. It was glorious. Crisp, clear, cold water bubbling over smooth rocks and tripping down from under the bridge. The Squirt tore off his shoes and waded in before I could contain him. Sweet B and Blue Eyes went running after. It took half a minute before the Squirt slipped and fell, thoroughly soaking his only pair of shorts and probably initiating the cold he has this week. I had the forethought to take off Blue Eyes' blue jeans but it didn't take long before he squatted down in the water and filled his diaper to sagging with creek water. B Daddy and I exchanged a momentary glance of irritation and then - we let go. We let go of the plans we had made for this Fall Fun Extravaganza. We exchanged the perfect plan for the magic of the moment and enjoyed our kids as they giggled and splashed. We spent half an hour playing in that creek, letting Dakota wander along the bank scavenging the picnickers' leftovers, skipping stones and finally eating our prized fried apple pie.

It wasn't what we came for, but it was starting to look like a Fall Fun Extravaganza after all.









Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Our Fall Fun Extravaganza: Part 1


If you follow me on instagram, then you saw this picture on Saturday morning right before we headed out of town. So. Much. Stuff.  B Daddy and I wanted to go camping and we thought the family was up for the challenge. I had the brilliant idea that as long as we were heading north for the day/night we might as well hit up an apple orchard and a pumpkin patch and make one big Fall Fun Extravaganza of the trip.

We were only going for one night, but the amount of gear we packed into that minivan was ridiculous. One huge tent, four camping chairs, a high chair, a queen-size Aero bed (yes that's how we roll) with sheets and blankets, a pack n play, two sleeping bags, two sleeping pads, a camping stove and camp kitchen paraphernalia, firewood, a hammock, two overnight bags, a hiking pack, a cooler full of food, two adults, three kids and one big brown dog. Thank heaven for the minivan, we actually had room to spare inside.

First up on the Fall Fun Extravaganza agenda: Apple Picking. We drove about an hour north to Ellijay (the Apple Capital of Georgia) to fill our larder so I could make homemade applesauce and Pioneer Woman's flat apple pies until Christmas.

In Ellijay, there are a dozen apple orchards strung along a picturesque two lane country "highway" that runs east-west between actual highways. Each of these orchards offers fun family activities along with apple picking each weekend during apple season. Translation: Hwy 52 on a Saturday morning in the month of October is chock full of bumper-to-bumper apple traffic. There is no way out of it and no way around it. The first two orchards you come to are insanely commercialized ($8 admission for a child to pick their own apples and participate in the "festivities") but by the time you come to them you have been sitting in slow moving traffic for 20 minutes and your choices are to remain in apple traffic and hope for a quieter setting down the lane or pull off and deal with the masses of city folks who have come up to apple country to give their children the same idyllic experience you were hoping for.


We pulled off. We followed the not-so-picturesque hired hands directing traffic and parked about a mile uphill from the entrance. We made the snap decision to buy apples from the cute orchard store and save the fun family festivities for the pumpkin patch. We unloaded the kids and strapped Blue Eyes into the hiking pack. As we bypassed the lengthy stroller-laden line for admission into the orchard I informed the children that we were not actually going to pick apples off the trees this year. We were going to go to the store where we could pick apples out of produce boxes! and it would be just as fun. This change of plan was (shockingly) not met with meek-mannered acceptance. We bribed promised them a fried apple pie to soothe their tiny little disappointed hearts.

45 minutes and two trips to the porta-potty later we were leaving the store with a 20lb bag of apples and one fried apple pie in hand. We trekked back up the hill to the van, (sweating now...why on earth was it 85 degrees this weekend in North Georgia? Where were the Fall Fun temperatures?) unloaded the kids and turned on the radio to hear that our beloved Dawgs were already down 14-0 to the mighty Mizzou. Oh my. The Fall Fun Extravaganza was not going precisely as planned.


Thursday, October 3, 2013

Inquiring Minds


The Squirt is 4 1/2 and at the age now where the questions he asks get better and better by the day. This kid is a QUESTIONER

I (as most of you well know) love anytime I get to play the role of ANSWERER. There are few things I enjoy more in life than providing answers for people. I feel needed and smart at once - two of my favorite things.

Yesterday the Squirt was full of awesome questions in the car and I needed to record them somewhere before I forgot.

Mom, do you drive to heaven or does Jesus come and get you?

When we die will we go under the ground or up in the sky?

Where does the sun go to sleep?

Where does your mind go to sleep?

Where does the sun go when the moon comes out at night?

Mom, why is the sky blue sometimes and white sometimes?

Are clouds fluffy or hard?

Is the sun hard or fluffy?

What happens if you stick your hand in a tornado?

I LOVE this age. 





 
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