Same Old Same Old!

Cute Baby with that look on his face:  You are my parents?!?!?!?!

Ok.

Oh the hair, the hair!!

Yes, more Arboretum.  And yes again, more hugging pumpkins.  The tiger costume is new though.  I'll get a better picture at the Halloween party tomorrow (hopefully).

This is a friend of ours, not some random boy that the girls picked up.

And lots of fun faces.

 

 Hey, we're a good looking family!!

And Megan's new favorite activity at the Arboretum -- throwing straw all over herself and anyone within 5 feet of her.

The preparation: 

The launch:

The retaliation:

The fun!

Happy 19th of October!!

It's Coming . . .

I have NOT been in a Halloween mood.  We're all decorated, our ward party is this weekend (yikes!) and I just haven't been motivated on costumes.  Abby either changes her mind every 2 minutes or she says "I just want to be Abigail" and I haven't had the heart to create a costume for her.  I even bought -- BOUGHT -- a TinkerBell costume for Megan!  I don't love it, but she does and that's what counts.  And she'll be cute in it anyway.

But that all changed over the weekend.  On Friday night, even though I had a cold (which I still have but it wasn't too bad that night) we went over to my friend's house for dinner and a movie since both our husbands were out of town (and she's awesome and didn't care that I was disgusting and perhaps carrying the plague).  I was lamenting my costume woes and she says to me -- well, why don't you make Abby Abigail Adams?  Then she'll be Abby!  

Hello!  Brilliant!

And it just so happens I have a pattern for a colonial costume and some material  that needs to be used.  Because I collect things like that . . . 

So now I'm getting excited.

Then her 4 year old kept going on and on about how "super cute" William was.  He even prayed that they would get to keep that cute cute baby forever and ever (sorry Grant, he's mine ALL MINE bwahahaha --evil laugh) and another idea popped in my head.

So here's the lineup (with pictures on Friday because of the early ward party -- aren't YOU lucky!):

Megan -- TinkerBell

Abby -- Abigail Adams

William -- SuperCute

Kristy and Chopper -- still working on that one . . . although I wouldn't mind being a colonial girl myself. 

Some updates

Well, whatever issues we had with our computer, they've been fixed.  So here's a few things:

The growth chart.  It's actually really cool in person and Chopper's planning on mounting it at the end of the hallway where we can see it all the time but take it down and take it with us when we move.

Megan wanted to play TinkerBell with an old costume and let me put her hair in a bun.  She looks like the real thing!  Now she wants to be TinkerBell for Halloween.  Sadly, I do not feel like making costumes this year and am really tempted to just go buy her one.  They just always seem so flimsy to me and I know that both girls will wear that thing out.  At least if I make it, it will hold up a little longer.  What to do, what to do . . . 

Just some fun pictures.  I'm been slacking on the photos.

Generally speaking Megan still enjoys preschool.  But.  Her teachers have been telling me that her anger issues are coming out (surprise surprise) and I've started to see an interesting thing in her work that she brings home.  She started off the year doing her handwriting and you could see where she drifted off and decided not to do it.  Now she's just not doing it at all. 

But she did bring home this paper with her name written partially at the top!!  Chopper and I made a big deal out of this to help keep her motivated and it IS a big deal that she's starting to write her name.  She is making some great progress.

Month 3 and Chunky as Can Be

I've decided on a new tactic for keeping up with my baby books -- because as consistent as I am at blogging, I am terrible at baby books!  So I'm using this to my advantage.  The plan?  To record stuff as it happens in one post and then publish it on William's month birthday.  Then copy and paste into his baby book.  Sorry kiddo but I'm hoping it works!

No laughter yet but some definite tickles spots that earn us a wide open mouth (of joy) and lots of squirming.  Under the arms when you change his clothes is the best one.  Neck kisses are a close second.

William has found his thumb (ah, that's my boy!) but doesn't seem to know what to do with it!  He sticks it in his mouth but doesn't suck or anything.  I'm not sure what this means . . . 

He LOVES his play gym.  He has apparently made very good friends with the bees that hang from the center.

Tummy time is STILL a bust!  He loves to be held upright and so is developing good neck and head control that way but you put him face down on the floor and he just lays there.  Lazy boy.

Right now he's taking naps about every 2 hours and gets fussy before sleeping but generally speaking he sleeps so well through the night!!  He's up usually once and lately it's been around 4 or 5 am and then back to sleep for a few more hours.  I love it!!
He's talkative, smiley, and a super sweet boy.  I haven't weighed him yet on our scale.  I probably should just to get a general idea -- but he's a chunky one for sure!

So these 2 pictures look totally different to me!  Which is funny because the skeleton one happened maybe a week ago and then the smiley one was yesterday.  I guess it just goes to show how much a smile can change your face!

Reflections

So conference went pretty well this time around!  The bags went over great, the girls were excited, Chopper and I listened to quite a bit actually.  I always feel after conference like I've been given a shot of adrenaline at getting things right.  And then the next day comes.  And all my struggles are back.

I'm thinking now with William it's dairy AND gluten.  He's got eczema on his arms and his bowels have slowed down majorly.  But the spit up and the congestion is definitely dairy!  Ugh.  I just want him to be happy and healthy.  And I want to eat!!!

Megan and Abby are both giving me fits about different things but I don't think I want to share it right now because I realize that if I do, it paints a really negative picture of my family.  I think sometimes that it's important to acknowledge and talk about the struggles but do I want to preserve them in writing?  Or do I want to look back in 10 or 20 years and just remember the positive things?  Maybe if I recognized more positive things on a daily basis the struggles wouldn't seem so bad.  

Ok ok.  So Chopper had Columbus Day off and we spent the day getting the house a little more cleaned up.  Things have just been piling up lately and it's nice to see surfaces again.  Chopper also did the first measurement for the girls on the growth chart.  From here on out, we'll only measure them on the chart on their birthdays --but you have to start somewhere!  He made an awesome chart that will go with us whenever we move.  I love it -- but I love trees.  I did point out though that our boy(s) may not be so excited to get measured on a tree with pink flowers!

So I just tried to post the pictures and the web crashed twice.  So I'll post this and then investigate . . .

Too much information?

But I HAVE to post this.  Megan will not thank me later but I think the approximately 4 people who read this blog won't mind.  Maybe Grandpa.  Sorry, don't keep reading.

So a few weeks back when I was making lunch, Megan asked me for a tortilla.  Since I had the corn tortillas out I gave her one of those and she had a fit asking me for one that had nipples on it.  I don't know how long it took me to realize she wanted a flour tortilla and when I gave it to her she pointed at the brown spots and said "see, a tortilla with nipples!"  I was a little horrified about this and we had a long conversation about how that is NOT what those brown spots are called.  They're just brown spots.

Well it wasn't too long ago that Megan saw a girl in a store or somewhere and told me that she had nipples all over her face.  And when I looked at the girl, I realized what was going on.  The girl had FRECKLES all over her face and Megan thought the BROWN SPOTS ON A TORTILLA were freckles too.  Except she got her words mixed up.

So we had another conversation just to straighten her out a little bit and moved on with life.

I'm sorry but I still laugh thinking about it.

Fantastic Friday!

I know it's not over yet, but today's chalking up to be a pretty darn good day.  We went with some friends this morning to a new park up in Prosper that was a lot of fun.  Then after lunch, I decided to put the decorating bug to rest and finish getting the Halloween things out!  This, of course, is a double-edged sword. I love decorating the house but then Megan asks me CONSTANTLY if today is Halloween day.  I think next on our list will be a paper chain or something to count down the days.  

Anyway, I decided to clear out some of my stash of Halloween fabrics and so after making Adrienne her "Wonky Jacks" quilt (see last post), I decided to make some more quilted decor for myself!  But I already have a Wonky Jacks hanging on the wall and a throw quilt with Halloween fabrics on the couch for those chilly nights -- you know, the ones where it gets below 80 degrees.  So what's next?  Table runner!

Yes, I know -- there are no Halloween fabrics in it!  But the backing is!  And it did decrease my stash of odd black squares . . . 

 I've discovered that I love a seasonal runner that A) doesn't hang off the table to be pulled off by little hands and B) has a clear center for bowls and salt and pepper shakers, etc.  So I quilted it all over in the ditch and then used silver thread to quilt spider webs in the corners.

It's pretty subtle but I love it.

And it looks great with pops of orange in the dishes!

The napkins are the ones that I made for our Stake Women's Conference and the lanterns came from the Dollar Tree -- love that place!  Although I just realized that my plates are disposable but my napkins are not . . . interesting.

I cannot for the life of me find my Halloween plates for my cake stand so I decided to try a Pinterest idea -- write on a plate with a Sharpie and bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  I had grand plans to do some awesome spooky plates but Megan wanted to draw on them and how could I resist? 

The top one is her pumpkin and the bottom one is a ghost.  And it will be so much more fun to pull these out year after year and have something she drew when she was four.

Add my Halloween mugs, our spider and witch shoes salt and pepper shakers, and I do believe we could have a party! 

It won't last beyond dinner but it's fun and festive and I'll set it all up again for our Halloween dinner and maybe a few times in between for special guests.  Like Grandma and Grandpa (hint hint).

Anyway, after that -- MY FABRIC CAME!!  I actually won a giveaway by a quilt shop a while ago but my email with address got lost so I contacted them again and had these 24 FANTASTIC fat quarters in the mail today!  They are the Cameo Collection by Amy Butler.  There's a lot of large prints in here that I'm going to have a hard time cutting into for a quilt.  I'm seeing perhaps some fun bags to send to my sister-in-laws for Christmas.  I think they would love them!  And who doesn't need another bag? 

And now it's time for all my children to take a nap -- this is a great Friday!!  :)

We love Pumpkins Yes We Do!!

See, here's the thing.  In a couple of years our children won't be interested in going to a place where all you do is look at flowers and pumpkins, get your faces painted, and have a picnic.  No, they'll want roller coasters and water parks.  Well Abby will anyway.  So we're taking advantage of the fact that we say "who wants to go to the Arborteum?" and they immediately start jumping up and down and screaming.  I love it.

Oh, I finished another Wonky Jacks quilt for my sister-in-law Adrienne.  I had to take a picture of them together before I send it though.

 Love this boy.  He's like this more off of dairy though definitely.  Which is very sad for me.  I'm already planning my feast for when he's weaned in a year.

Ok, Arboretum and pumpkins.   

 That's a lot of love.

 Yay!  They brought the Cinderella pumpkin carriage back!

 

 Yes, I am a horrible, cruel mother and made him sit in the pumpkins for 30 seconds to take a picture.  And that's the best I got.  Actually it's the only one I got!!  Poor boy -- so uncomfortable!

 I love how these are not only painted, but painted as "reacting" to each other.  Hilarious.

And it's not even October yet . . .