Do Over

Um, can I take that last post back? 

Can I get a do over? 

I don't think I'm quite ready to be found, if you know what I mean.  

Perhaps I've been listening to too much Dixie Chicks and Edie Brickell...

in the car...

with the kids...

REALLY loud. 

I suppose time will only tell what effect that will have on my two young boys. 

And "grow a pair"?  Really?  On my family blog? 

I think I'll crawl back in my hole now and just post some shots from October.  After all, I do have nine eight more years (I can't believe it's almost December -- WOW!) before I hit the big 4-0.  What's the rush?!  ***Clearly I wrote this weeks ago. ***
And yes, it's nearly Christmas and I'm still working on October. 
Sue me.

But back to October...

We made our annual trip to Sweet Berry Farms for pumpkins, hay rides, flower picking, and a good ol' fashioned temper tantrum (no photos of said tantrum are included due to the simple fact that my head was about to spin off my body with the amount of anger I was experiencing).

Remember last year when I went on about our "Good Day"?  Well, this was not one of those. 

I felt it in the morning. 

The kids woke up freakishly early and were already yawning and stumbling around before we even left at 9am.  They both fell asleep in the car, but not for long enough to keep them from being monsters.

We did all the usual Sweet Berry Farm things, like picking out pumpkins, cutting flowers, feeding the goats, riding on hay, crouching behind the aforementioned flowers to take a poop (Zach, not I), eating lunch, etc.

And then something happened...

Not even sure what it was because hello?! it's now practically January and I'm writing about early October and it was so painful I think my mind is probably trying to erase it.

Anyway, Kid #1, not #2 as one might expect, threw a miserable, horrible, no-good, very-bad fit.  Right in the middle of picnic area.  It started out just verbal until I reached for his hand and told him we were leaving.  With a mischievous smile on his face, he darted off.  It then became a bad episode of the Three Stooges.  Luke ran.  I chased after.  We dodged around trees.  Everyone stared.  It was absurd. 

Then Zach cried because we had to leave.  I ended up dragging two screaming kids to the car.  Fun stuff. 

These are some of the shots I took pre-tantrum.  As I mentioned before, I had a bad feeling about the day so I didn't even bother trying to get great pumpkin patch shots.  Plus, this is what tends to happen when I ask the kids to smile for the camera...

Or this one...

"Boys, BOYS, look over here!"

Nope.

This one's not bad...

Until you look closely and see the dead tooth. 
(This was only days before he had his two front teeth extracted.)

Eh.

This is the fourth year in a row that I've taken this shot...

I wonder how many more years he'll let me.

This is about thirty seconds after Zach hid in the flowers to take a dump...

That's probably why he's grabbing at his diaper and probably why Luke looks like he just smelled something foul.

Look at those curls!!!

A random shot that shows some of the pumpkins and gourds.  I tend to like the funkier ones...

This was a day when the boys had to wear jammies to school.  Sounds easy and fun, right? 

Wrong.

Kid #1 does not like wearing clothes to bed.  He prefers to sleep in the buff.  Therefore we own no pajamas in his size.  Luckily I found some in a hand-me-down pile from a friend.  Sure they were a size 8 and had an opening in the front (I don't know why, but that creeps me out), but at least I didn't have to buy pajamas that he would never wear again.  It does make me wonder what we'll do when he starts having sleepovers.  Yikes.

Anyway, back to the pumpkins...

What else?

Oh, Luke played t-ball again this fall.  I think it was his third season.  Nope, fourth.  Pretty much after four seasons of t-ball and two of soccer, you (meaning I, slacker mom) no longer take the camera or buy the fancy team photos.  However I did make myself bring the point-and-shoot to his last game...

No more curls.

Imagine if they're playing sports still in high school.  It will be amazing if I even make it to their games. :)

Ok, gotta run.

Perhaps I'll be back in February with a wrap up of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

No promises.

xo,

Jess

Halloween Recap

So it's the week after Halloween and I suppose it's time to write a blog post. 

My mom wants to see pictures, my grandparents want to see pictures, my loyal reader (this is sarcasm) in Dusseldorf, Germany probably wants to see pictures (who are you anyway?). 

I hate when I'm supposed to write a blog post. 

I've got nothing. 

I like to think that I'm talking to myself and that no one actually reads my gibberish.  Sure I say that, but I also seem to type as if I have some huge audience.  Strange, no?  And I do post them to Facebook (otherwise known as the entire world a lot of people I know), so what is my problem?  I think I like to pretend that I'm someone important; like I'm someone who people are really interested in.  But really I know I'm just me, with my silly old stay-at-home-mom ramblings.  Take it or leave it, I suppose.  I think it started when I realized how uncomfortable it sometimes felt to be me.  I became a wife and mom and started to lose myself.  Life became more about what I was supposed to be and less about what I wanted to be. 

I keep reading that women tend to not "find" themselves until their forties. 

Umm, hello?! 

Who's got that kind of time?  Let's get this done now, I say!   

I decided to get my rear end in gear and find myself before I hit forty...something about how life is too precious to waste...blah blah blah.  The blog has helped.  I write (fairly) honestly and I'm coming to terms with people seeing my true self, my poor sentence structure, and the fact that I'm not perfect and sometimes want to strangle my children.  Did I just say that? 

And I get to put it all out there in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion.  If this is a side of me you'd rather not know about, then don't read it (no offense).  See, perfect example.  I would never say that to your face, but I can say it on here.  Clearly I'm not perfect and I like not being perfect, although I often find myself striving for perfection.  Clearly I'm a contradiction in terms. 

Whoa! 

I did it again. 

Where did that come from?

 95% of me wants to highlight all of that and click delete, but the other 5% says grow a pair and leave it.  I guess we'll see which side wins by the time this post is done.

Okay, so all I need to do is put up some pictures of my silly kids in their Halloween costumes and be on my way.

Here it goes...

Yes, I made these costumes (with help).  And yes, I am an idiot.  I honestly don't even want to look at them anymore.  You know that feeling when you've spent hours following a really detailed recipe, and there was so much love and time and effort put into all, that by the time you sit down to enjoy it you just want to throw up at the mere sight of it?  Well, these costumes (particularly the owl) make me want to hurl.  The lion was made two years ago (thanks again for your help, Gram!!!), so that one nauseates me a little less.

I should be on here thanking my dear friend Amy for helping me through it all.  For giving me words of encouragement even after I cut out 160 of the WRONG size feathers.  For giving up four nights to pin and sew and gather, all while I complained about the creepiness of the faux owl fur (which by the way felt like and resembled something that you might find on one of those curly-haired guinea pigs at the pet store -- Gaaa!). 

Yes, I should be thanking her for all of that, but in truth I sort of have other feelings towards her.  You see, Amy is my enabler.  She gets me into trouble.  Sort of like if sewing projects and cute cupcakes were my drug, she'd be my dealer.  Know what I mean?  Probably not -- that was weird.  She's the friend you show a cute picture from a cupcake book, and she says. "We can do that.  No problem!".  Then two weeks later we're still hunting down the right colored sprinkles and the perfect size ginger snap that also resembles the backside of a turkey.  She's the friend when you show her a cute idea of a bunting flag for hanging your kids' art -- even though you have a billion other projects you need to complete first -- she says, "You can do it.  You have until next week." (because she knows you work best under a deadline).  And she's the friend that when you're working on the aforementioned cupcakes and sewing projects together, you can go on and on about how cute they're turning out because she knows you're not being egotistical, but rather amazed at the creations you can tackle. 

So Amy, thanks so much...and cut it out, would ya?! 

I'm busy enough as it is. :)

But back to Halloween.  It was fun.  It was FOUR days long and included FIVE parties.  Geesh, these kids have busy calendars.  It started with a party at the library...

Then there was the Noah's Ark parade at their preschool...

Zach's class

Luke's class.

Funny how the two-year-olds are more cooperative than the four-year-olds.

Story of my life.

Then there was our playgroup's party...

Whoops, no pictures.

Then we went to a party at Arleen and Juan's house...

Pictures stolen from Arleen's blog...

Dora (Arleen) and Diego (Juan)
Love them!

There were more, but they didn't load correctly. :(

Man, did these people go all out!  If I was ever going to attempt a fun theme-y party, I am not now.  It was that good!

And last but not least, the Urbans took pity and invited me and the boys for trick-or-treating. 

Why pity? 

Why just the boys and not my husband? 

I'm glad you asked. :) 

Because Steve was sitting in a suite at Game 5 of the World Series.  What is up with these sports people scheduling important games that my husband just happens to have tickets to...all on Halloween night?!  Recall my rant last year?  It must be a conspiracy.  Or these men don't have trick-or-treating age children.  Or they're divorced and the kids will be with their mom anyway, so why not stay up late drinking beer and watching sports.  Whatever it is, it's annoying.

But the kids had a blast riding on a trailer around the neighborhood and knocking on doors...

Fast owl.

Sleepy owl.

I felt a little guilty leaving our trick-or-treaters at home empty handed, so I left out this bucket on the front porch...

All 300 piece were gone when we got home.  Brats!

And in an effort to speed up the whole finding myself before forty, I'll leave you with this...

Can I get a Hooo Hoooo?! 

Sorry, I couldn't wrap up this post without a little good old fashion owl humor.

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

xo,

Jess

Randomness

Looking for a cure for insomnia?  Look no longer.  This one is long and random...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I've been a total slacker on this blog.  Whatcha gonna do about it?  I think about it almost every day.  Just like I think about how I should probably clean my ceiling fans and baseboards more often (okay...ever); about how I should work out more and yell less; about how I should figure out when the heck to use "whom" instead of "who" (FYI, I think I might know); about how I should probably do something about my garage which is slowly looking like an uncomfortable episode of "Hoarders"; about how I am a complete and total idiot (please don't tell me otherwise or give me words of praise) for deciding that I could make my son's owl costume from a Simplicity ("simple", my @ss) pattern...I could go on and on, but I'll spare us all.

And if you've been to my house, you know what all this thinkin' leads to...not much.  (Please don't inspect my ceiling fans or look in my garage.)

Bottom line is I'm busy, like any mother of two, and as much as I want to chronicle it all (or at least some of it), I struggle.  I have a friend with three children who manages to do it regularly, and I am impressed!  I can hardly crank out one a month.  Wait, I just realized it sounds like I'm hosting a pity party.  I am not.  I am extremely fortunate for all that I have.  I only wish there were more than 24 hours in the day.  And that my children would sleep deeply in those extra hours. :)

Where am I going with this?  Not entirely sure.  But here is a look is a little of what we've been up to.  If nothing else, just to ease my mind.

Luke's graduation (Yes, this was in May.)...

Luke with his teacher, Ms. Kendall.  We miss her!

What he's graduating from, I'm still trying to figure out.  I guess his three-year-old class.

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A photo of items we placed on the table for the Teacher Appreciation Brunch at Luke's school...

Luke, if you're reading this years from now, please remember that I was the Event Coordinator at your preschool for two years, which involved lots of time, e-mails, organizing fundraisers and brunches, serving on the school's board, yada, yada, yada. 

Just want to make sure you remember.

*******************

Photos from a night this summer when we played in the rain...

I was testing out (unsuccessfully, I might add) functions on my fancy schmancy new Canon, so they're all blurry. 

I kind of like how these turned out...

They should probably be wearing helmets, eh?

And I'll give you one guess what this kid is doing...

We are really classy around here, peeing in the front yard and all.

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First day of school...

Bad picture.

So I gave up on the kids and photographed their lunches instead...

Yes, I am odd.

We also buttered up welcomed our new teachers with these...

And I just found this pic of the token gift we have to the boys' Summer MDO teachers...

Both of these ideas I stole borrowed from somewhere in Blogland. 

*********************

 

Picture Day at school...

Had to bribe Luke with a piece of candy just to wear this shirt. 

Got a call from the director that he had a freakout after not finding a piece of candy in his pocket (I told him he could have it when he got home, but I guess he forgot the details of when and where). 

Busted for bribing my kid -- rats!!! 

Have I mentioned on this blog that Luke has an extreme aversion to buttons?  Anything with buttons...pillows, toys, tufted furniture, people wearing button-down shirts. 

It's weird.

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Then there was Mud Day at school...

This is a day where the kids get to play in mud, paint, shaving cream, etc. 

The parents are encouraged to participate. 

I dread this day. 

It makes me twitchy just thinking about it. 

But I love my kids, so I joined in.  

(Shudder.)

This was Luke's first year to even get this close to any of the activities. 

He's not a big fan of getting messy. 

It's one of my favorite qualities of his.

********************************

We also had this cutie patootie neighbor girl stayed with us for three days while her parents went out of town...

It was fun. 

It was exhausting. 

If we were ever thinking about having a third child, we aren't now. 

Not that we're not fond of the girl (because we are), but rather we're not fond of being out numbered.

******************

 

Now, I better get off the computer and get back to this...

Because, although I have finished cutting out 160 feathers (twice, due to my stupidity) and sewing them together to make 80 complete feathers, that only brings me to step 3 of this 43-step costume. 

(Sobbing.) 

I think I need to be saved from myself.

*************************

Oh, and here's the biggest news from our world...

WARNING:  The following picture is naaaaasty!



Luke took a tumble.

Later the same night...

Recuperating in the guest room with a milkshake. 

Zach always makes out when Luke is sick or injured.

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After a trip to the dentist, this is what Luke looks like now...

He handled it like a champ. 

Better than I could have asked. 

I was the mess, actually.

Now if we could just get him to stop carrying his teeth around.

Phhhhew, I feel better now. 

If you made it this far, thanks for tuning into my randomness.

xo,

Jess