not to brag, but...

I really do have the cutest kids ever. 

Sorry, everyone else - I am sure your kids are cute.

But look at these faces.

Yup, cutest kids ever.  :-)

Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween from Rapunzel and Baby Bones!

(Kisses from "'Pun-hul" can be pretty scary for a tiny skeleton)

My little Princess had fun in her costume and trick or treating. I love when she calls out, "'Pun-hul! Your hair! I have a 'prize fuh yoooooooooooooooooooouuuu!!" a la the mother (aka the kidnapper LOL) on Tangled.

I love how the hair turned out - we used all  of the flower clips we had in our extensive clip stash and Daddy and I found this awesome hair extension at WalMart with a flower and fiber optic lights in it.  It HAS to light up, you know- that way it is like the REAL Rapunzel, you know. 

"Flower, gleam and glow; Let your power shine; Make the clock reverse......" How many times have I seen Tangled you might ask - the answer is too many to count. LOL

 I am not sure how Hayden is going to cope with "HalloWEEN!" being over (she screams"HalloWEEN!!!" at the sight of anything even slightly "SPOO-QUEE!" these days.  I love it.  LOL)  because she is in love with it.  Poor Hayden - but we are on to the rest of the holiday season now - I  will have to teach her what a turkey says! LOL

I hope that you and your little goblins have a spooky time and enjoy Halloween as much as we did! 

Pumpkins for our Pun'kins

"You mean I have to put my hand inside of it?"

"Can't I just pat it gently? On the OUTSIDE?"

"Okay - I'll do ONE seed...."

"Great. Now it's stuck on my hand....  Are you guys sure this is FUN?"

"Yup, just as I suspected - carving pumpkins is gross."

"?Better you than me, Sister..."

A skeleton and Rapunzel - Mom and Dad are GOOD.  :-)

All lit up.

I will be accepting my Mother Of The Year Award today... or NOT.

I had big plans for today. 

Grocery shopping with both girls (an epic task in and of itself), come home, tacos for lunch, nap time, making a truckload of pickles with the last cucumbers from the garden (I have a five gallon bucket full!) while the girls napped, cleaning up our house after the weekend and having it all done in time to watch Monday Night Football with my husband.

But as we all know, especially in the world of moms, the best laid plans often go array.

The morning started out a lot slower than I originally intended. Two kids = twice as many variables to prevent us from leaving.  I dress Carly, she poops on her clothes.  Then Hayden and I get in a argument over shoes. she ends up wearing a pair that I don't think go with what she's wearing, but at least they match each other and fit her feet.  This goes on and on until some how, by some act of God, we make it out of the house.

Of course once we do make it out of the house, Carly is on her third set of clothes and Hayden is wearing some funky cowboy boots and sporting a totally half-assed hair style (and you don't even want to know what I look like, but it surely involves yoga pants....)

By the time we have gotten to this point, I don't even care anymore - we are in the car, we are victorious. LOL

Unfortunately, today our journey out of the house was the least exciting and least stressful part of the trip.

After our stop at Walgreens, as I was loading my cereal and diapers and paper towel from the cart to the Suburban, Hoot was in the cart, chattering away as she handed me the bags.  I turned my back for one second to place a bag in the car, when I heard the sickening crack that only a toddler's head hitting the ground can make.

In that split second, Hootie had decided to stand up and somehow fell out of the cart, head first into the asphalt. My mind automatically jumped to the worst thing (concussion, cracked skull - you know) and I began freaking out right along with Hayden, who proceeded to scream bloody murder for a half hour as we sat in the car in the Walgreens parking lot.  Carly, who was hungry, joined in the screaming fest - so I figured what the hell?  I cried too.

I wasn't really sure if once she calmed down if I should just carry on with my day or take her to the ER just in case.  My phone for one reason or another chose this as the time to totally malfunction.  I couldn't even get a call to go through, and I was trying to call Garrett and see what he thought I should do with no success, so I put Hayden (who wasn't crying anymore) in her car seat and hauled her straight to the ER.

Here she is "reading" her bracelet to the nurses:

She read her bracelet ("Look, Mama!  P! A! H!" and so on), told them her ABCs and colors, what she is going to be for Halloween, all about her sister and how Piper pooped on the carpet.  (That last one is currently her favorite story to tell in public.  Lovely.  LOL)

She did cry a little bit, but only because her request for a Happy Meal was falling on deaf ears.

It was determined that she was fine and we were sent home.  I over-reacted, go figure.  It was so scary for both of us, and I think better safe than sorry, but I do wonder if the nurses in the ER thought I was a nut as we came tearing up to their window with Carly fast asleep in her car seat, Hoot happily pointing out the Halloween decor and their hysterical mother insisting that they check out her daughter's fractured skull.....

This whole day wasn't exactly my finest parenting moment...  Like the title of this post says, I will not be accepting my Mother of the Year award anytime soon. LOL 

What was supposed to be a regular old trip to the store turned out to be our first trip to the emergency room.  I supplied the requested Happy Meal (as any guilt ridden mom who let her kid fall out of the grocery cart into a parking lot) and we cuddled and watched Snow White and drank chocolate milk all afternoon.

Hoot is asleep upstairs and I am headed for bed myself - and we only completed part of the shopping, the house is a hot mess, and we have no pickles, and I totally forgot about football.  EPIC FAIL on the goals being reached, but thankfully, everyone is safe and happy... And thank goodness that everyday is a new beginning, because tomorrow will be busy - but hopefully a lot less exciting!!

Six weeks old and the early arrival of The Terrible Twos

Carly Kate is six weeks old today.  And she is gorgeous.  She is chubby and sweet, has the best little fat cheekies for kissing, and the fuzziest baby-bird hair.

Best of all, about a week ago, she started to smile. REAL smiles.  At us.  Not just gas or whatever people say.  This little girl looks us in the eyes and grins.  Capturing that little grin on film isn't easy. She is a tricky one. 

LOL I'll keep trying. 

And then there is this one.

Isn't she adorable??  She is growing so big.  She speaks in full sentences, loves princesses and Elmo and pickles, likes teasing everyone and doesn't miss a thing - or forget a thing either.  And she loves her baby sister  - sometimes a little much.  (In Hootie's world, laying on your sister is how you show affection.  And every time Carly makes a peep, Hoot yells - like really YELLS, "CARLY KATE CRYING! CARLY KATE CRYING!" The poor little girl - not a moment of peace since the day she was born.)

She is adorable and funny and sweet and smart as a whip - and ornery and bossy and stubborn and loud.

She is getting to be like a two-year old now.  "NO" is her standard answer for just about everything. It is exhausting.  If you want to get over a fear of rejection, spend the day with my 21-month old daughter.  You will hear "no" so many times, it will mean nothing to you by noon! LOL

She has started to refuse a nap.  But she NEEDS a nap still. Desperately.  And truthfully, I still need her to take one so I can regroup and have a moment to myself - because somedays the early arrival of The Terrible Twos is cause for the early departure of my patience and sanity.

I am going to be so honest right here - please don't judge me or think that it means I don't love my kid.  I love my kid more than anything, no doubt about that.  And she is ADORABLE.  And smart and funny and everything that I can think of that this wonderful.

But at this age, she is challenging.  More challenging than ever.  I feel like everyone gets nervous about newborns - the up in the night, the nursing, the crying, the diapers.  But honestly, newborns are EASY.

Toddlerhood = not so much.  This is hard. 

I feel like a shitty mom saying that.  I know that someday I will look back and miss Little Miss Challenging.  And I look at her and my heart fills up with love and I want to keep her this little forever.  But sometimes, it is hard keeping my motherly head above water.  Sometimes it is hard to be here in a heap of toys and cracker crumbs, being screamed at and told "NO!" all day, listening to my own voice droning on and on about how dangerous that is or how this is not for kids, blah blah blah.  Oh God, the sound of my own voice - even I am sick of it. LOL

She is at the age now where I am feeling like what I do (and allow her to do) has real impact on her.  She remembers EVERYTHING.  It feels like I can't let her get away with anything anymore because I am going to have to "undo" that later - she is too small to understand "just this once" and too big to be allowed to misbehave.   I want her to be nice and kind and friendly.  And honestly, there are times when I look at her and see tears and temper tantrums and screaming, and I wonder if I am doing it right.  I wonder if I will end up with the female version of Dexter or something. LOL Okay, I know that that is ridiculous, but my mind always jumps to the worst case scenario.

Challenging as it is, I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I love my girls, I love this life.  And I understand that this is just one of many shapes our family will take on over the years.  Like I have said before, life here with a newborn and a toddler is often a complete matter of survival.  And on the days that I am lucky enough to be able to put her down for a long nap and put the baby down at the same time (like today - this is only like the third time this has ever happened! LOL), survival means a deep breath, some chocolate, and a moment of quiet - all to gear up for whatever my girls have in store for me after nap. :-)

Halloween is not for Moms...

It is going to be Halloween before I know it. 

I of course had grand visions of my two daughters in matching costumes.  Two little pumpkins; two little fairies; BoPeep and a little sheep. 

I finally decided on a witch and a little black cat.  I was so proud of my idea and I began planning how I was going to put together the World's Cutest Halloween Costumes - tutus and leggings, little black ears and a tail. I had it all dreamed up.  It would be epic.

There was one little thing I forgot to factor into my plans... 

Hayden is old enough to have an opinion about everything, and this time, our opinions don't match up.

You see, my sweet daughter is nearly two and has recently developed a love of Princesses.  Mostly Rapunzel.  She is so cute as she calls out, "'Punzel! Let down hair!" and when I comb her hair in the morning she almost always mentions that she would like "Princess Hair"....

So a few days ago, we were moseying through WalMart when she spotted it.  In the center aisle was a display of princess dresses, the nice $20 dress-up kind, not the cheesy little $9 Halloween numbers.  She melted when on the front she spotted the trademark purple dress of Rapunzel, her idol. "OH, MAMA!! PUNZEL! DRESS! OH!"

I managed to wheel her out of there, practically in tears, no 'Punzel dress in hand. 

I told my mom and my husband this story later and they were like, "Why can't she be Rapunzel?"

Um, because I didn't pick Rapunzel - I picked a witch. 

What I was not considering in my answer is this - she  isn't a baby. She is a kid now. SHE picked Rapunzel.  SHE wanted that costume.  This wasn't about her mom - this was about the little girl who is growing up before my eyes.  The little girl who is old enough to choose her Halloween costume.

So look what we bought tonight:

 And I had to wrestle it off of her tonight at bedtime.

It dawned on me today in the midst of this Halloween costume purchase that this was only the beginning.  My daughters will not always wear what I want them to do. But I am raising two little girls to grow up and be women who do things their way, who are confident enough in their decisions and their taste to do it their way.  Not making her be a witch was the right thing to do.

As for her sister, who is still way too small to care, I still get to pick her costume - but this time, I let her Daddy have the honor of making the pick of her first Halloween costume:

That is right - Rapunzel and a skeleton...  a far cry from the picture perfect matchy-match costumes I wanted.

But like I realized today, it isn't about me.  It is about them having fun.

I am not gonna lie to you though - Baby Bones' is getting a Halloween hair bow or something - because Mommy wants her to. :-)

Welcome, October!

Well, Fall is here.  And as usual, our local weather didn't get the message.  LOL But what else is new?

While the weather may not know it is Fall, this family sure does.

And we happen to live down the street from the Pumpkin Patch - where you can not only pick your pumpkin,but you can see  goats and pick raspberries and a hand full of other fun Fall things.  Garrett and i decided that we would take Hoots and Carly Kate on Saturday morning, and we invited Sammie and Jordan, the kids of our good friends.

As we were getting ready to go, Sammie and Jord's mom called and said that they had to take Jordan to the ER because he had cut his leg playing on the bed and needed stitches.  He ended up with four stitches in his leg, and he missed out on the pumpkin patch, poor guy.  His sister was super worried about him the whole time and was excited to take a little pumpkin home for him.

Hayden was excited to have Sammie (or "Hammie" as she calls her) with us, though and that helped take Sam's mind off of her brother.  The goats also helped  - Hayden thought they were dogs.

The big girls had so much fun picking raspberries.  The charge you by the pound, but it is next to nothing if you head out and pick them yourself.  I had a dream of picking enough for a few jars of red raspberry jam, around six cups....  we did end up with enough, but it was hard earned. LOL I now know why raspberries cost so much at the store - picking them is a long and time consuming project!  Thankfully, Sammie was really determined and loved picking them.

As for Hayden, we are just lucky they didn't weigh her before and  after because i am pretty sure she ate as many as the other three of us picked. LOL

Carly slept the whole time in the Ergo carrier. Seriously, I love this thing - if you are into baby-wearing or you have never heard of the Ergo, click here. I love mine, and so does my sleepy little girl. And it allows me to wrangle Hayden, pick raspberries, and snuggle CarlyBug at the same time. Score.  :-)

All in all, we had so much fun.



It was the perfect way to welcome Fall - now bring on the Halloween costumes, the fresh baked pumpkin muffins, the falling leaves.  We got a taste of it - and now we are ready!!