Pumpkin Patch 2012

Real quickly, before I dive into the Pumpkin Patch Experience 2012, I wanted to post a couple of other pictures I found on the camera.  Here's a better picture of the painting I did:

 

 

I wish that I had faded the blue into the black a little better, and next time I might use white paint for the letters, and probably not add the glitter paint on top because omg that's a lot of glitter.  Typical for my projects though. Live and learn.

 

I also found a picture of the kids from before church on Sunday wearing their matching outfits.  Does a tie count as an outfit?  Either way, he didn't want to wear it.  As I put it on him, he goes "I don't wanna wear this tie.  It's girl's stuff."  Not sure if he meant by that, whether it was the color or the fact that he recognized the fabric as something his sister was wearing.  He got distracted before I could find out what he meant.

 



 

As is our ways, I couldn't get a picture of both of them looking at the camera with a smile.  This one was as good as it got.  Unless you count the ones of Evan biting Luke.

 

Aww.  That's fun. 

 

Most of them looked something like this:

 

 

I can't get her to be still enough for any length of time, and Luke is informing me that she's running away.  As I watch. With my camera.  At least they look adorable and I was so proud of my craftiness!

 

Now- Pumpkin Patch 2012 Extravaganza!

 

Have I ever told you how much I actually dislike the pumpkin patch?  It's crowded (although we went 30 minutes before sundown on a Monday night that was threatening rain, so the crowd was pleasantly thin), the pumpkins range from $22-$50 (we got ours at Aldi for $2.50), and trying to get pictures of my children stresses me out to the max.  MAX. They are two VERY VERY VE. RY. busy bodies that don't want to be still.  Or sit with me.  Or look at the camera.

 

Look! Eyes!

 

Okay. If you're not going to look at the camera, at least you look positively angelic.

 

Between the look on his face and the position of her body, Imma go ahead and let you guess what was going through every body's head for the BEST FAMILY PHOTO OF THE BUNCH.

 

Good night she is pretty.

 

At this point I let Luke go off and play and tried to at least get a girl's picture with my Evy-girl.

 

I still couldn't get her to smile. It was dinner time apparently.

 

Converse!

 

"Please son.  Please just look at the camera. Please. For Mom."

*HUFF* "OKAY!!"

 

After the pumpkin patch we ate dinner at Schlotzsky's. Then Mom came home with me to help get them in bed since it was almost 8 and I hadn't been home yet. This meant no regular chores had gotten taken care of- make lunches, take out the trash, have Luke do his homework for the next day, gather necessities for his backpack and her diaper bag- plus I had to make 5 bags of rolls for the Ladies Fellowship I helped host last night. 

Crafts and boots

This past weekend I got BUSY with the crafts.  A few days ago I was rocking Evan before bed, and Luke hadn't gotten in the bath yet (can I tell you how fabulous 4 is? I can tell him to go get in the bath, AND HE DOES.  Undresses, goes potty, turns on the water, turns it off when he feels like it's enough.  It's a lifesaver.)  He knows that he isn't really supposed to come in there when I'm rocking her, since I have a hard enough time keeping her contained as it is.  She doesn't really like to rock but I make her do it anyway, because I wanna, and he is such a distraction.

ANYWAY. He came in while I was rocking her in the dark, kissed her on the forehead, and said "Now don't be scared of the dark. God will take care of you."  I died.  Just died.  Later that night I put it on facebook, and a couple of people said I should make a picture with that on it.  So I did.

Eh?  I've never tried actual painting before, nor have I ever tried stamping.  I thought about doing a painting like the ones I made for the kitchen but I thought the background would get too busy and the words would be lost.  I also thought about making one of these, but I didn't want to take that kind of time.  Plus I like the idea of the darkness fading into light, given what the quote was. 

I then went on to make a $5 Target shirt just a little bit cuter for my girl....

And finally made a tie to match the dress I made Evan a couple of weeks ago.

I actually just washed that dress, so fingers crossed that it still fits and didn't shrink too much!

As if all those projects weren't enough, I even cleaned my laundry room.

Manfriend was thrilled when I told him.  Apparently it was worse than I thought.  All I know is now I can open the dryer all the way without having to move the vacuum cleaner.  Also, I know in the next house I live in, there will be at least one closet in it that is not located in a bedroom.  This house had NO spare closets.

So that was Saturday.  Sunday was church and small group, with a 2 hour nap in between.  Don't be jealous.  Luke's black truck stays in the garage most of the time, and Evan always makes a bee line for it when I'm trying to load up the car.  Sunday evening was no exception.

My kinda girl.  She she needs is her truck and her baby and she's ready to go. Speaking of that baby girl, I took a really cute picture with her the other morning, but I don't have any make up on in it and I'm not brave enough to post something like that.  Boo me.

Yesterday was supposed to be the Star's opening home game of the season, but since the lockout is still on, my face looked like this.

So sad.  No game.  But my new boots in from Zullily came in, so yay! I finally have some brown boots!

 

And when I was going through old posts to find a link for some of my hoop art, I realized I never posted the last one I made.  This was the favorite quote of a friend who's reception we went to a couple of months ago.  It was my wedding present for them. 

 

 

We weren't sick sick day

Last Wednesday when I dropped the kids off, Cindy told me she was feeling slightly under the weather.  Okay enough to keep the kids, whatever she had they had been exposed to the day before, but not enough to teach 12 other children at CBS that morning, so they weren't going to go.  I was at work for an hour when I got the call that things had taken a turn for the worse and I was on my way to pick up my children.

Sick day, but none of us were sick! 

It was a perfect day outside, only 10:00 in the morning, so we found a park on our way home.  We had a great time until Luke fell off a ladder.  He wasn't really hurt, but I found it to be a good excuse to be done with the park and head home for lunch. 

I didn't take the kids to church that night in case they came down with the stomach bug in the next few hours...I didn't want to expose anyone else.  Thursday Cindy was still down and out so Dad took off and stayed with the kids.  Luke was thrilled with a Papa day!  It's been a very long time since he's taken care of two small children by himself, but he did a great job.  Got Luke to and from school successfully, got Evan to nap twice, and even took care of the dreaded dirty diaper. 

Friday I took my lunch break to do a little early Christmas shopping.  Yes, you read that right.  I've had this long time desire to have matching Vera Bradley purses with my daughter, but the style that I wanted to get her is being discontinued and I didn't know it.  They sold out of the pattern I wanted for myself in a purse in the little style, so I got her a little purse that will match a whole bunch of my items, including my messenger bag that I take to work every day.

Ta da!  Evan's very first Vera.  I can't wait to give it to her for Christmas! Aren't you proud of me, letting go of my dream of matching items just so she can have the perfect purse?  ;)

Saturday Luke was invited to a big air show with a friend, so while he was gone Evan and I went over to the manfriend's house and hung out for awhile. A cold front rolled in, and it was shockingly cold for the next couple of days.  I layered Luke to the nines so he would be comfortable no matter what, but it made me realize that sister friend was seriously lacking in the way of winter clothes.  90% of her summer wardrobe doesn't have sleeves, so even the temps are back in the 80's it just doesn't seem appropriate for her to wear tank tops.  I've been trying to pick up a long sleeve shirt or two ever time I go on errands over the last week.  Maybe we'll be ready when it gets cold for good?

Another thing I've realized is that Evan has learned how to climb the stool in the bathroom and turn on the water.

Yay.

But look how proud of herself she was when she "showed" me what she could now do.  Even clapped for herself.  Oi.  I think those top molars are in, but I haven't seen the bottom ones yet.  While we STILL don't have any words besides "MUM!  MUM!"  (she's a loud British child) she has learned to nod for 'yes' and shake her head for 'no'.  Gotta be the cutest thing ever. 

This weekend is LHS's homecoming, my alma mater, so we went to the parade last night.

 

Evan was so so on the whole thing, but Luke loved it.  He scored a giant bag of candy by the end of the night, but this morning he got stubborn and ended up throwing the whole thing away because I didn't put a treat in his lunch.  I tried to tell him that he didn't have a lunch pack because he was getting to take a special trip (the fair).  Didn't matter.  He went into the diaper bag and threw the whole thing away while I dressed the baby. Sometimes I don't know what to do with him.  He get stubborn and frustrated and makes drastic, irrational choices.  I tried to talk him through it, reminding him that he will be sad tomorrow about what he's done, but it doesn't matter.  It breaks my momma heart that he has to learn the hard way about EVERYTHING, but I refuse to allow him to grow up with the entitled feeling that is the black plague of our current society, so I just accepted his choice and move on.  I didn't really want him to eat all that candy anyway.

I'm currently working on a painting for her room incorporating the most sweetest thing Luke has ever told her, an appliqued shirt for her, and that tie for Luke to match her dress.  Maybe this weekend I'll finish them all?  Luke is currently at the state fair with Mom and Dad, no idea when they will get home, so maybe tonight I'll have a little time.  Pictures soon?

Weekend wedding

Saturday was another cloudy, rainy day.  My friend had planned on taking Luke on a canoe fishing trip, but due to the drizzle he couldn't.  Then Cody called and asked if he could have Luke for the day, so away they went.  Having all that time with a little girl who still takes good naps was unheard of! I used my nap time wisely.....

sorry for the phone picture.  not sure why I didn't pull out the real camera

and made my girl a new dress.  I let her wear it to church on Sunday with cream tights and brown boots. 

The cute.  It killed me.

My plan is to make Luke a tie out of the leftover material from the sleeves fabric, and then I'll get a picture of the two of them in coordinating outfits.  Which will kill me again.

Sunday afternoon my cousin John got married.  The wedding was at 5:30.  I put the kids down to nap at 1:30ish, and at 4 I had to wake them both up to toss their clothes on them and put them in the car.  Mom, Dad, Ashley, Patrick, and Grandmother all came for us right at about that time.

You can tell it took Evan awhile to wake up.  And do you know how she got in that chair?  I was sitting there, letting her run around the foyer before the ceremony started, when she comes up to me and wraps her arms around my knees, tugging.  So I stood up.  She gently pushed me out of the way, then climbed up in MY chair.  Well then.  I told you girlfriend had some jazz to her.

We took some family pictures outside after the ceremony, waiting for the reception. The location was the cutest place, with the chapel and reception hall together- just a little courtyard separating the two.  Loved it. 

ashley, grandmother, and i

And then the best thing ever happened.  You know those pictures that are so perfect, unplanned, and just the right amount of cute that makes your heart explode?  Well get ready......

I die.  Just die.  For highly obvious reasons, I think these will go down as my favorite photos of all time.  EVER.

The ceremony was beautiful.  Small and perfect.  I've been dating a boy for awhile and I hated that he couldn't be there.  The reception was so fun. 

The food was actually amazing and they even had separate kids plates for the littles.  Wanna know the difference between my two children?

Yeah.  Girlfriend loved it.  Luke?  I guess he's just being 4? He ate 3 bites and declared himself SO. FULL. She managed to finish off that entire bowl of mac n cheese.  Even if that meant she had to lick the bottom just to make sure.

Evan made a bee line for the dance floor every time her feet hit the ground, and my boy has some moves on him!  This was the first time either of them have been to an event like this, and I'm so glad they rolled with it all.  Behaved perfectly the whole time, even at 9:45 when we were gearing up to leave. 

My feet were dead by the end of the night.  My legs are still a little sore today.  I think that means it was a great evening.

The last couple of weeks

Hello, hello.  Taking the time to drop in a few pictures from the last couple of weeks and some funny things my boy has said.  And he says the funniest things.  He responds in conversations in a very grown up manner, but his logic is still very obviously from the brain of a 4 year old.  He's beginning to pull away from his lovies- "snuggle buddies" as Cindy calls them- but he's not ready to give them up yet.  He frequently will put all of his stuffed animals on my bed in the morning (no, he doesn't actually sleep with all of those), declaring that he doesn't need them anymore so I can have them. 

Then at bed time he'll decide that one or two are lonely and might need to come to bed with him.  Mostly it's Puppy that he wants, the lovie he's had since he was a babe.  While I'm glad that I probably won't have one of those kids that still takes stuffed animals with them to kindergarten, I am sad that he is growing up so much. 

Thursday the 13th we all (Mom, Dad, Ashley, Patrick, and I) (Patrick is Ashley's boyfriend) took the kids to Grapefest.  It was fun! I hadn't gone since Luke was Evan's age, and it was perfect weather.

I took Evan on her first merry-go-round ride, and Luke insisted that he ride the ferris wheel.  Ashley volunteered to be the adult chaperon on that one.  We ate, we shopped, we laughed, we had a good time.

So two Saturdays ago, we were having a quiet morning at home.  It was cloudy and misty outside, but apparently too bright inside.

I almost laughed and asked him if he had too much to drink last night, but I knew that would bring on an onslaught of questions I wasn't prepared to answer, so I didn't.  Mom called mid morning and asked us to go shopping with her.  So an hour later or so, we loaded up and hit the stores.  First location?  Once Upon A Child.  Y'all have these places right?  Nice children's consignment shop?  If not, bummer.  I got BOTH of the kids their Halloween costumes for less than what Evan's was brand new at Old Navy.  We are only going to talk about how she will be the cutest little cupcake in the history of baked goods costumes, and not about the fact that it is a size 2T/3T and it FITS. 

O_O

She was right under 27 lbs at her well check on the 20ths.  That's still in the 95% for weight.  I don't remember length exactly, but it was only 50%.

Anyway, after OUAC we headed over to the shops of Highland Village.  But like any smart mother would do, I fed the childrens first on a bench outside of Charming Charlie's.

I knew we would last longer if we had sustenance.  Turns out we didn't last as long as I thought.  Two stores later, I round the corner to see this.

Yep. Sister friend was so tired that she layed down in the middle of the store's cold tile floor.  We went home for naps shortly there after.

What were some of the fruits of this shopping endeavor?  New black-with-white-stars Converse for m'lady.....

and a vacuum that Luke just had to have.  Yes, it's pink.  And yes, Evan is playing with it in this picture.  But he HAD to have it.  He loves to push my big vacuum around when I'm cleaning, and now he gets to "vacuum" with his while I use the big one.  He even takes the little suction tube out and "vacuums" the corners of my walls.  It's the cutest thing ever.  Best $6.50 ever.

The next night was life group at the Raymond's and the boys decided to dress up.

They kill me.

With no real way to segway into Luke's funny conversations, here's one I put on facebook last week:

Me: Luke, did you eat your spaghetti?
Luke: I ate about half.
M: What? Do you even know what half is?
L: Uh, yes.
Me: So what is half?
L: I dunno. Maybe a lot? Or medium? You know, medium size?

He has really gotten into picking out my jewelry for me in the mornings.  Is that weird?  And unfortunately he has become the favorite chew toy of a certain little girl who is cutting her molars.  Like, for real.  She just walks up to him with an open mouth and chews on him.  Which leads me to say things like "Well if you see her coming at you, then WALK AWAY SON.  Don't just stand there and let her bite you." He starts yelling before she even gets to him, so I know he has time to react in such a manor.  He loves her though.  Thursday I found a bracelet in his backpack after school.  I asked him what it was, and he said it was from the treasure box.  I asked him if it was for him or for Evan, and he said it was for Evan.  I hope that precious heart of his stays good.  That it doesn't let the world stamp out all the beauty in it.  I couldn't love him more.

 

And that Evan.  Poor girl.  She's currently cutting both top molars.  She finally cut a third bottom tooth, hoping a fourth makes an appearance soon.  That little things is mischievous!!  Not in a devious kind of way, but highly curious.  Highly.  And with Luke, I was always able to tell him no and trust that he would stop.  Her? Nope.  She just looks at you like "No? What does that mean?  Are you speaking English?" and just carries on.  But oh how I love her.  I squeeze her into hugs until she whines to get away from me.  Like her bubba, she isn't a hugger or a cuddler, but she is liberal with her kisses and friendly as all get out.  Loves to wave and flirt with people who pass us by at the store, or the man sitting next to us at a restaurant.

It's over

So.  I've put this off for a few days.  Notice I said DAYS and not MONTHS like I did last time I had some unfortunate news. Friday I took the day off and met Cody at the courthouse.  I got there at 8, and by 8:45 the divorce was finalized and the marriage was officially over.  We all know that it's really been over for a very long time, but there was something so......I don't even know what......about standing in front of that judge. 

I didn't cry.

I've cried all my tears. 

I didn't smile. 

It's not what was supposed to happen.

But it's done. And there really isn't too much more to say on the topic. I've written how I feel in various posts along the way.  Now I've just got closure. 

The tricky part from here on out is when the questions start coming in from the kids.  Just two days ago Luke asked for the first time why Daddy and Daisy don't live with us.  I didn't know what to say.  I don't know how to answer that.  And I have the feeling it's not really going to get easier. 

So.  There's that.

Now I've just got a whole slew of pictures from the last few weeks.  Most of them don't need explaining.  Some of them do.  That boy of mine is coming up with some pretty hilarious ideas in his head. 

See?  I had no clue he even knew what ghosts were.  The way that he "argues" with you and tries to convince you of his way cracks me up.  Take last night.  He really wanted Smarties with his dinner.  I told him if he ate his dinner THEN he could have them.  "Ooooor, maybe I'll just have them with my dinner." (said with the cutest grin ever) I echoed him with AFTER dinner.  His response was the same.  Guess who eventually won?

ME!  One day he'll learn that I always win.  ;)

They had a big bulletin up at church with lots of kid's artwork explaining what they were thankful for.  Luke's?

The sticker says "I am thankful for..." Train Tracks.  No surprise there.

 

Cody brought over some superhero costumes the other day that a friend of his had passed on from his kid.  After a few days of sitting there, Luke finally took an interest.  This was a first.

 

 

And I don't think he knew what to do about it. Sure he has his ornery moments.  He gets stubborn and frustrated and impossible when he doesn't know how to handle all of his feelings. But this face?

 

 

I could cuddle for a million years. 

 

Her face too.

 

 

Girlfriend has been BUSY.  She explores and tastes and plays and wants to be just like Bubba in all the worst ways.  His cup is the best.  His toys are the best.  When the big kids play she tries so hard to keep up.  She gets frustrated when she can't.  She still doesn't have any words except for Mom, which makes her frustrations even harder to handle.  She's taken up biting.  :(  Not hard, not ever broken skin, but she does put her teeth on you and squeezes ever so slightly.  Luke didn't bite at all, so I have no idea what to do about it. 

 

Evan has also started to have a little bit of separations anxiety.  Breaks my momma heart.  During bath time she can't bear for me to even step out of the room for a second.  Luke takes 10 years to eat dinner and wants me to sit at the table with him.  Obviously I can't do both at the same time.  Which makes for evenings like this.

 

 

One kid in the bath happily drawing on my back with an old soap dispenser, while the other one dines on the potty telling me about his day.  It's parenting at it's finest.

 

And finally, just a few more of the shenanigans of the Little.

 

 

Feed me? Put me in here and give me food?

 

I was tossing out the very end of an old box of Cheerios that had gone way stale.  She found them.  She opened them. She didn't care.

 

This is what happens when you FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT the mid-church nap.  You don't even make it out of the parking lot.

Sprinklers.  Need I say more?

 

 

 

 

First day of PreK

'ello.  I'm breaking my silence.  I didn't mean to fall silent.  A lot of things have been going on, most of which I can't really talk about yet, and the idea of sitting down to peck something out actually made my skin crawl a little.  Just couldn't do it.  But....I think I may be better now.  Besides, the picture are piling up and I need to do something about it.

 

Yesterday was Luke's first day of Pre-K.  Not nursery school.  Not preschool.  Pre. KINDERGARTEN.  Holy moly sakes alive.  His teacher has sent home laminated papers to practice handwriting.

 

HANDWRITING.

 

My child can't even trace a shape, but by the end of the year he's going to be writing?

 

No.  No, I refuse to believe he's growing up. 

 

Cindy's house is waaaaaaaaaaaaay out of the way from school and work, so I had Mom come a grab Evan on her way to school yesterday morning and drop her off (which happens to be on the way for her).  This left me and the boy at home alone for about an hour before I got to take him.  What a sweet treat for me.  We ate breakfast.  We made the beds together.  I took his picture.  He insisted on taking mine.  I was a little sad that Evan couldn't be in the pictures too, but I'll survive.

 

When I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up, he said "I wanna grow up like you do Mom." Cue the tears.  I asked him a couple of more times to make sure that's what he wanted, and I was always met with the same response.  Oh, my heart.

 

 

Some of his pictures were actually fairly steady, not the usual blurs of motion.

 

 

Single parenting 101: learn to take self portraits.

 

 

Walking in.  I wanted to make him an awesome messenger style bag, but people made fun of me, telling me I couldn't send him to school with a messenger bag.  :(  So, I hadn't gotten him a new one yet.

 

 

His sweet sweet teacher.  I think she is going to be EXCELLENT for my boy.

 

One thing I don't think his teacher planned on was that Luke and his three best friends are all in the same class together.  He he he.  Good luck with that!  Dakota and Zane both were in preschool last year too, but this is Jadyn's (pictured above) first year.  Tamara handled it like a champ.  I got teary eyed in the car right before we walked in, telling Luke how much I loved him and how proud I was of him, but then I chided myself to get it together.  We weren't even in the building yet.  As I was about to walk out the door, leaving my baby, Shae walked in.  She squeezed my arm, told me it was okay, and reminded me that we've done this before and it wasn't kindergarten.  She had a point.  I held it together and was grateful that my baby was about to have a great day.

And a great day he did.  Mrs. Stuart has TRAINS and CARS to play with.  So, life is perfection in his eyes.

Goal for tomorrow: catch up on the last two (three?) weeks.