Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween!!!!  I am not a big Halloween fan for myself.  As in, I hate coming up with adult costumes for Nick and I but I do love Halloween for the kids.  I love all of the fall activities throughout the month and then all of the festivals and parties around it.  And then I absolutely love dressing up the kids and showing them off! : )  It is so cute to watch Caden be such a big boy and walk up to the door and knock and say "Trick or Treat, Happy Halloween, Thank You."  It makes me proud.  Today,  Nick's parents left and we decided we had just enough time to go over to our friend's house and walk around with them.  I am so glad we did because we had so much fun.  Their neighborhood is much bigger than ours but I don't even think

we really put a dent in it since we all were tired pretty fast.  But we all started out walking together letting the big boys and dads go door to door while the moms and babies stayed in the street.  I loved watching my two favorite fireman holding hands so Caden wouldn't trip in his boots and to stay away from all the cars in the street.  He still tripped several 

times until he was over walking.  So then from house to house, poor Sarah had to push around the kids in her double stroller, since I stupidly brought my single stroller.  I should have known Caden would have tired fast, he never wants to walk!  Ashton was the cutest little firehouse puppy and went to one house, purely for picture purposes.  After awhile it became cold so the dads and babies went home to pass out candy.  Sarah, Baylor, Caden and I continued on to more houses.  We probably should have gone back at that time because the boys went down hill fast.  They immediately started fighting over who got to knock on the doors first.  This turned into one child crying, at every house.  It was hysterical watching the 

people answer the doors with one kid crying, and each house the kid that was crying changed.  We decided after a few houses that we should head back too.  We didn't really need the candy we just wanted the experience.  We hung out at their house for awhile before going back home.  Last minute we decided to go over to the Loud's, and I am glad we did.  Walking the neighborhood together was really fun and it was nice having someone to talk to.  I cannot believe how much we have in common and everyday we learn something else that we share.  We hoped that the car ride would put both boys to sleep but no such luck.  When we got home, Caden checked out all of his candy and the only thing he said he wanted to eat 

from it was his bag of pretzels!  I was shocked, but then again he is my weird food child.  This by far was my best Halloween ever.  Really the whole month of October was the best October of my life.  We met a couple friend that all four of us get along with, went to some awesome fall activity places, Caden is doing awesome in school, Nick had almost the whole month off, Ashton had many firsts this month, we went to a Halloween party, there was just so much great stuff that happened.  I am so happy just thinking about how great this month was and am so happy to see what November brings.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.   

Gumby No More!

Today, at the old age of 7 months, my baby got his first tooth!!  The in-laws are still in town and wanted to treat the kids to the toy store and another round of seafood on the beach.  The only problem was, Ashton and I have been battling allergies/colds/sinus junk for days.  Neither of us felt good and I decided that we would be better off isolated instead of among too many people.  So Nick, Caden and the parents took off for the day while I had a nice break.  The only problem is Ashton didn't get my nice long break memo.  He refused to take a nap and was so fussy.  He would sleep for a few minutes and wake up gripey and then start the process over.  After I realized my nice break was not that enjoyable, I got him out of bed.  We hung out on our normal spot on the floor and he chewed on my fingers, something he always does.  Only this time I felt something and then could see something.  His perfect little bottom tooth was all the way cut through!  I was so proud!!  I immediately gave him some Tylenol, baby Origel, and a cold teething ring!  I couldn't stop feeling it and rubbing his gums!  I was so happy for his milestone but then sad too.  I realized that he would no longer ever have the cute gumby smile and he would start to look different.  If we don't have another kid then this was my last time to ever have a first tooth. . . and then I got sad about a whole lot of last first!  I guess being alone and emotional is not a good thing.  When everyone came back home, I showed off my new big boy.  Everyone was happy and Ashy loved the attention!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

Party Time!

So it is official my three year old has more of a social life than I do.  I am not sure if I should be sad about this or happy.  Caden got invited to a Halloween Party by his princess, Kacie.  We were not going to go since my in-laws are in town, but after learning that Kacie was sad Caden wouldn't be there, I decided that the two of us would go.  Caden had so much fun and it is so cute to watch him interact with other kids.  There is no doubt about it, I have quite the ladies man.  All of the little girls wanted to play with him and I heard him call many of them his princess. . . I told him that Kacie may be upset if she hears there is more than one princess. : )  Kacie's mom, Ramona, had many games for the kids to play and had such cute Halloween decorations and food set out.  The first game that they played were apples on string that the kids had to try and bite without using their hands.  It turned out to be quite difficult but Caden still managed to eat his apple first.  He loved it so much that he ended up going back for another apple later on!  I thought that maybe I should hang up all of his food by a string and then maybe he would eat.  There was also a bean bag toss and a kid-friendly version of beer pong.  All of the kids had a blast and the parents did too.  Kacie is in another class now so most of these kids were new to me and I got to meet some new parents.  It is always nice to meet new people.  The night ended with smores but of course my child wouldn't touch the smores or anything else there, he just played the whole time.  The big difference between tonight and last night was the weather, it was so much colder. . . I was not prepared to be that cold!  We left the party like we leave most things; Caden kicking and screaming to stay longer.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.           

Let the Festivities Begin!

 

Today was a very busy day.  Nick's mom and stepdad were coming into town for the weekend, so the morning was spent cleaning the house and getting ready for their visit.  They arrived in the afternoon and then we quickly left for our first Halloween event of the weekend.  Every year

that I have been here, we have gone downtown to the business area and went trick or treating.  This is a really fun time and a really busy place.  There again were so many people but I am glad we went.  It is nice because the businesses are all on top of each other so it is not a lot of walking and it starts at four so it is not too dark or cold.  It actually turned out to be pretty warm and the boys both ended up shedding many layers of costume by the end of it.  They got lots of candy and I had a really good time.  Our friends, The Loud's, met us downtown and we walked the streets together with my in-laws.  Baylor (Spiderman) and Caden (Fireman) really got into saying "Trick or Treat" and ended up dragging us place to 

place, instead of the other way around.  The little brothers didn't really partake in the festivities but they still looked cute as a Dalmatian Puppy (Ashton) and a Carrot (Neyland).  Both of their costumes were handmade, and if I might say they were the cutest little guys there.  After we were done we said goodbye to the Loud's and then went on to have dinner at the Crab Trap in downtown.  It is a good place to get seafood here that isn't too expensive but still good. . . not the best but definitely not the worst.  That was a pretty good review. . .  They may want to use that for their ads. : )  Anyways, we discovered that Ashton loves lemons!  He generally eats anything you put in front of him but this was the first for lemons.  He 

ate on that for half of the night and would cry if you took it away.  We ate outside and enjoyed the sunset on the water while we waited for our food.  Caden looked for birds and did an awesome job.  He really isn't a problem to go out with anymore, but now Ashton is another story.  Now that he can crawl he hates to be held which means restaurants are really no fun and tonight was no exception.  We did our normal eat really fast routine while someone else entertains the baby and then switch.  Someday we will enjoy restaurants and things again, but then I won't have my babies anymore and that just makes me sad!  It was again a really awesome day!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

A Fall Party

There are many things that are different between Florida and Texas, and if you do not know I am a huge Texas (the state) fan!  I have worked in daycares, as a nanny, as a babysitter, and in a church nursery pretty much my whole life.  The parents were all very involved in everything and anything in TX.  But here in Florida it is just not the case.  I do not know if it is really the state, or just the area is much poorer here than what I grew up in.  But I am just shocked at the lack of participation.  I know back home parents would come to Halloween parties at daycares, full-time working parents.  Here at a Mother's Day Out, where I don't think anyone works, there is no involvement or option to have that really.  Last year Caden was in a daycare, the best in the area, sup-par for Texas.  Anyways, even their parties there would be a sign up sheet for every student in the class.  The other day I go to Caden's MDO and there is three slots for their party.  Thats right, three.  I was so confused.  And it took DAYS to fill it up.  I was even more confused.  I immediately signed up for candy (one individually wrapped candy).  There are nine students in his class, I couldn't believe that was it.  The other two options were juice boxes and cookies.  I was so excited for his party because I tend to make big deals out of anything in his class because I want him to be excited too.  One bag of candy didn't sit well with me.  So I decided to make treat bags.  I already had the bags because my mom saves everything and gave me a whole stack of old party stuff from when I was younger.  I already had the candy because we stocked up on candy. . . well let me clarify, the candy was going fast thanks to Nick and I.  So all I needed was Party City for some non-candy items, because they will get enough candy this weekend.  I went with stickers, tattoos, two different rings, and a little pop-up toy.  I spent $15 on all of this, which I feel is a nothing on a party.  So I spent all last night filling the bags with five (because I am an over achiever) pieces of candy and the toys.  I was so proud of them and so glad I did them.  I think I need to be room mom when the boys start school. . . I obviously have way too much time on my hands.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.    

The Bird Whisperer

My parents recently celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary (congrats guys!) and celebrated with a mini-vaca weekend at Margaritaville on Pensacola Beach.  A few days ago my mom got a random call saying she left some stuff there and that she could come pick it up.  Well my ancy little family doesn't like to sit still for long so we were up for a tag along trip to the beach.  We decided to go right after we picked Caden up from school so the drive could be a nice nap.  Nick and I had never seen

the hotel so we were excited to walk around it.  Once we got there and walked around for a bit, we decided to go stroll the beach.  When my mom was there, they had giant manta ray (HUGE stingray) and we were hoping to get a glimpse.  No such luck.

But there was a couple that was bored in the off season of the hotel and was excited to see company.  They were the friendliest people and immediately took to Caden's charm.  They offered him all sorts of food to feed the birds.  This is something we normally don't allow because of how annoying they are but being the only ones on the beach, we decided to let him.  He was in pure bird heaven.  He has never laughed so hard.  He loved feeding the birds and chasing them.  I was scared a few times they were going to get him, but there were no causalities on either end. 

 It was so good to just watch him run around and have fun...it made me forget about everything and just enjoy the moment.  Ashton loved walking in the sand and laughed so hard, however he was not a big fan of the birds.  It was an awesome day and definitely good to do something out of the ordinary, I think more impromptu trips to the beach should be in order.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

Three of a Kind!

Tomorrow is a big day for our family.  Tomorrow is Nick's last day of working at NAS Whiting Field.  It is three years to the day of us moving to Florida.  And Ashton is the exact age Caden was when Nick was done being deployed and we were a family again. 
As I look back over the past three years, so much has changed in our life.  We moved to Florida with a 7 month old baby, now we have a 7 month old baby but also a three and half year old!  When I first got here, I was not very happy.  This place was so country and foreign to me.  Now it is home and I am sad to go.  We had so many firsts here, that I could not possibly name them all.  Our first base house, our first rental house, a new car, new furniture, finished college, start of college, first daycare, first mother's day out, civilian doctors, many new friends. . . the list just goes on and on.  I will always look back of Florida as the start of our family.  Even though Virginia is where we met, married, and had Caden.  It was not until we moved to Florida that our family was together.  Having three years of uninterrupted time together was the best thing for us.  I am so glad that I did not have to deal with deployments and so not looking forward to those again.  Florida holds such a big place in our hearts that the next shore duty (if it happens) will be back here if there are no openings in Texas.  Now do not think for a second that I still won't complain about how country it is here, but know that I do love it.   Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

Snot Happy!

My house is overtaken with snot!!  We are going through tissues like they are going out of style!  I am so tired of runny noses!  Okay, enough exclamation marks...you get my frustration! : )  Caden generally has a runny nose around change of weather times because he has horrible allergies.  As much as I hate it, I have still gotten used to it.  Ashton though is starting to follow in his brother's footsteps, and could even be worse.  For 17 days he has had a runny nose that has now turned into a nasty cough.  We suction him all of the time, do Vick's, cool mist humidifier. . . you name it, we probably have tried it.  During this time he has gotten his flu shot and the nurse told me after 10 days and no change to come in.  The nurse on call at ten days (because my Doctor only takes appointments after talking to the nurse first) decided that there was nothing a good bulb syringe wouldn't solve.  I was furious, the first time I didn't like my pediatrician, but decided to give it a few days and just hate the nurse instead.  After the weekend, Ashton seemed to be getting worse with a cough and snot color changes.  For you kid-less folk, I bet you had no idea how important the color of snot was, huh?  Finally I was able to be seen today.  Everything I had been doing was all that I could do and I pretty much knew that.  But all of the snot and drainage turned into a double ear infection.  He was on the beginning days of getting one, so luckily staying on top of everything, we caught it early.  Ashton is now on his first prescription ever and I hope that this helps.  Caden didn't have many ear infections before ear tubes but had a million afterwards.  I felt like he was always on an antibiotic and then would have a yeast infection from the meds. . . it was an endless cycle.  I really hope this isn't Ashton too!  Just another side story about today.  Right when Nick went to CVS to pick up the medicine, their computer networks went down.  So even though they were filled they could not sale them to us since they could not check it out of the computer.  They said to comeback, and we did, THREE times.  Finally on the third time, I was not the nicest person.  They quickly decided since ours was filled (where others didn't even have the option of getting filled) that as long as I used cash or check that it would be fine to go.  I mean seriously, nothing goes easy with us.  I feel sometimes that everything we do is a story or situation, I cannot even make up half this stuff because it is just too strange.  I just wonder if mean Lindsey would have gone the first time instead of "no-question asking" Nick, if we would have had our medicine sooner.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.      

 

Pumpkin Treats!

I really like to be crafty, but I do not feel that I take advantage of it enough.   I usually have high hopes of doing something cute with the boys but I generally get tired of fighting with them to cooperate that I do it or just give up.  I really like to bake and be creative with food too.  I saw a picture/recipe for Rice Krispie Treat Pumpkins.  They ended up not being the cutest things but I still like them.  If you have ever made Rice Krispie treats before, then you should know how not fun this was.  The marshmallows make everything so sticky and very hard to manipulate.  I eventually got the hang of it but it took several tries.  After I finished the pumpkins, the first thing Nick said to me was “Those are some very misshapen pumpkins!”  He could not even lie about them and say they were cute.  I like that he was honest but I think too honest can be discouraging.  He tried to dig himself out after he saw he hurt my feelings, but it’s whatever!  This was one of those things that I thought would be cute to make with Caden, but it turned out to be way too messy to let him even near.  He could have cared less, but I would loved to have pictures and memories of doing things together.  I guess I will have to wait till he is older.  I would like to be more proactive in being crafty and especially with the kids. After they were all complete, Mr. Picky Caden refused to even try them!  He eats Rice Krispies and was snacking on the marshmallows but refused to try them together!!  I don’t know what I am going to do with him.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.      

Pumpkin Patch!

Today was really a great day.  It had some really great highs and some pretty low lows, but all in all it was great.  We started out the day running late, which I hate.  Getting a family of four ready and packed up for the day is a lot more work and stress than it should be.  I will just leave it at that.  Someday we will casually come and go as we please with no preparation, I am sure it will be the same day that I am having to wake the boys up instead of them being my alarm clock.  We met our friends', the Loud's, for a fun day out at Holland Farms.  It is one of the only pumpkin patches in the area.  This was the first time that we all got to hang out as a group, and I think we all had a great time.  I know as soon as we left the first thing Nick said, was he hated that he was leaving so soon.  I am going to pretend it is because he is going to miss us, but I think he was talking about his new friend. . .

Caden and his friend Baylor spent the whole day chasing after one another.  They picked pumpkins, slid down slides, played in a corn kernel box, bounced in a jump house, and we all rode on a hay ride.  It turned into a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun.  It was a ways out in the middle of nowhere, FL (even more so than where I live) but it wasn't that bad.  My boys were not feeling pictures and that was not a good thing for me.  I had visions of many pumpkin pictures but the boys won this battle.  After spending several hours at the farm and getting as dusty and dirty as the boys could get, we decided to meet for lunch at Chic-Fil-A.  We ended up spending another few hours here all deep in conversation.  We learned a lot about one another, including that me and Sarah are strangely almost the same person.  I am talking from experiences to even having the exact same wedding ring.  It was so weird!!  I am really glad our families found each other and cannot wait to see what else we find in common.

We hoped that the boys were ready for naps. . .  but not so much.  On the way home we passed a church pumpkin patch that I made us stop at for pictures.  The boys were a lot more cooperative and I got some really good pictures.  Once at home, Ashton finally took a nap while we worked on the pumpkins.  We had sticker faces for two tiny pumpkins.  We made one big pumpkin look like a Cowboy Mr. Potato Head.  The last two big pumpkins, Nick and I carved, which came out pretty good.  I spent too long of a time collecting pumpkin seeds, which is so the opposite of fun!  The last medium pumpkin we put the boys initials and footprints on because I did not know what else to do.  The footprints were very hard and are more about the size of their foot.  They are more my thumbprint manipulated into looking like a more pretty version of their footprint. : )  After all of this was done it was dinner time.  I was not feeling cooking and Ashton needed formula.  We decided to go get formula and pizza.  This was the wrong idea.  Ashton and Caden both screamed and cried pretty much the entire time we were gone.  I so wish I would have gone by myself because that car-trip brought down the whole day a few notches.  I guess they had to make sure we didn't have too much fun for the day.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

        

Bad Sleeper!

I have been really lucky with both of my boys and their sleeping habits.  They both started sleeping through the night at weeks old and went to bed awake.  However, lately it has not been the blissful mommy time that I once looked forward to at night.  Caden goes to bed but then ventures into our bed between 3 and 5.  Sometimes he goes back to sleep, other times he is up for the morning.  He is rather mean getting into bed.  He normally kicks and yells at us till we scoot over for him and he is comfortably taking up the majority of the bed.  I once was not a fan of this, but I now must admit I sleep through it.  He is not the one I am having trouble with...it is the little one.  He has been sick with allergies or who knows what for the past two weeks.  He cannot breath very well and has his father wrapped around his little finger.  Nick has proceeded to rock him to sleep every night and for every nap!!  He is killing all of my hard work!!  I do feel sorry for the little guy and know he feels bad so I am letting it slide.  But I do hope that when he gets better he knows that it will be back to normal.  The past few nights he has gotten up around 430 to 530, as in his morning wake up.  This is still the middle of the night for me, but Nick again spoils him.   I know Nick doesn't have much longer with the boys so I am letting him do whatever he wants, but I may be killing him soon if he leaves me with Spoiled One and Spoiled Two!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

I Wish!

Do you ever wish you could just actually say what is on your mind?  I can be a little quick witted to certain people, mainly my hubby and mom, but I still can have some pretty good comebacks.  But in the big scheme of things, I mainly just bite my tongue so I do not hurt anyone's feelings.  When in reality it is just hurting my feelings because I am not saying what I wish I could.  Sometimes I have a comeback after the fact but other times I just plain ignore the situation.  I then let it build up inside me and just want to explode with so much.  I really wish I could tell several people how they have hurt my feelings lately but instead I will continue to stay quiet, but maybe at least now you could be thinking if it is you. . . Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

Stop, Drop, and Pull Up!

Today at Caden's school the Fire Department came to show off their truck and teach the kids fire safety.  Being that Nick is basically a fireman in the navy and Caden is going to be a fireman for Halloween, I was extra excited for this day to get Caden excited.  I kept telling him he is going to see fireman like daddy and a truck that is bigger than daddy's.  He was really excited and of course I dressed him in one of his many fireman related shirts.  He came talking all things fireman, success.  His teachers even said that he talked about his daddy and had him show me songs and things he learned.  I was proud.  : )  His new favorite thing to do is act like we have fire on us and we have to Stop, Drop, and Roll.  I remember this from school and it is funny how he now does it.  I don't know if playing like there is fire is so smart but he is having fun. 

The other big accomplishment in our house today is Ashton is pulling up all of the time.  He has occasionally pulled up on things and it took him awhile.  But now he is doing it all of the time and it is scary.  As you can see we have giant tile floor and I am scared to death he is going to fall and hurt himself.  Within a week of moving here Caden was running and slipped and chipped his front tooth.  I hate these floors!!  I thought I would love not having carpet, but they are so scary and so dangerous!!  Ashton loves all of the cords and the blue flashy lights from our directv box, so we cannot keep him away from right here.  I am pretty sure my tv or son is going to have to go . . . still deciding on which one! : )  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

Playdates and Dr. Mario

I had yet another wonderful playdate with our new friends.  I am not really sure who in my family is having the most fun.  Ashton has his first little friend, although two months makes a big difference right now.  Ashton is crawling everywhere where his friend is rolling everywhere.  They still love to laugh, drool, and spit up with each other.  Ashton did pull his new friend's hair...so I am afraid I have a little bully on my hands.  : )  Caden and his friend are in class together.  I am so glad that they have each other and they seem to play very good with one another.  Caden has been lost since his princess left his class and wasn't really excited about school, so I hope this re-energizes him.  Nick has not had much of an opportunity to meet their dad, but I hope that we all can hang out together soon.  As far as me, I think I am having the most fun.  We have a lot in common and I feel that we about at the same level on most things.  It is never fun to hang out with someone who judges your parenting style or thinks they are better than you, and I definitely do not feel that way with her.  We were over at their house for two hours and they went by in a blink because we never stopped talking.  It is so funny how much we have in common!  I am talking clothes, stories, pictures...it is almost weird.  I wish we would have met each other three years ago...  I can only imagine how different things would have been for me.
As I mentioned before my husband has become obsessed with finding vintage game systems.  He recently found the original Nintendo (the only one I had as a child).  As much as I would never tell him, I was secretly happy about this find.  I was excited to play some of my old favorites.  Dr. Mario was on the top of my list because I am just awesome at it.  Nick, the ultimate gamer, didn't believe my dominance in the game....he was quickly shown the queen!  I had to go up several levels to play on an even playing field and still won every time!  I then had to play by myself and see how far I could make it.  My first attempt I made it to level 17 of 20!!  I was pretty proud of myself but now my eyes hurt, so I think I am done playing.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

Frozen Yogurt for Dinner!

Today we went on our more than weekly trip to Target.  I am a bit obsessed with everything Target.  I actually love my Super Targets back home, they don't even compare to the small little wannabe Targets that Florida has.  But none the less, we go all of the time because there is really nothing better to do.  During high school I worked at Target and absolutely hated it but now I cannot get enough of it.  We just picked up a few random things as we usually do.  But afterwards we stopped at TCBY to get the best froyo (possibly ever!).  It was my mom's first time to go and I forgot to explain to her the workings.  She first was very concerned how big the cup was... I just told her you put as little or as much as you want and continued on down the assembly line with Caden.  As I turn around to pay for our treats I look back at my mom.  She is still at the lever and froyo is pouring out of the machine everywhere with her cup above her head!  I quickly had to laugh at her because what else could you do.  Nick helped her with her cup and we went to our seats.  I later figured out that my mom thought when you pulled the lever it came from above not from below.  I inspected the machine and realized she was putting her cup to the light.... if you don't know my mom, this is totally something she does all of the time.  The thing is, I notice I do stupid things like this all of the time too.  I guess I am getting pay back for making fun of her too much.  : )
Later in the evening it was dinner time.  We made baked pineapple chicken with green beans and glazed carrots.  Caden also got a banana and go-gurt.  He ate all of his go-gurt and banana but refused to touch anything else.  We did our normal bargaining for dessert and usual warnings but he wouldn't bite.  I got fed up and said that he had to go to bed.  I am so tired of my picky, would rather starve than eat child!  Anyways, I figured after a few minutes he would come back out and ask for something to eat.  Nope, not this stubborn child!  He instead fell straight to sleep in just a few minutes time.  He didn't get his nightly meds, no potty time, no bath, nothing!  I hope there are no accidents and I guess we will do a morning bath before school!  I do not know what to do with this child.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

Watch Your Mouth!

Today was a pretty uneventful day.  The past few days have been go, go, go.  So we decided to stay in our pj's for awhile, read the paper, clean the horribly messy playroom, watch some football, and go to the grocery store with the boys (yuck!).  So I thought I would share a funny little story that happened.  Sometimes I believe Nick's feet are still growing and he doesn't realize it.  He literally stubs his toes at least five times a day.  I really am not joking.  I do not understand how he does it, but he does.  Well today he was walking through the living room and tripped over one of the millions of baby toys on the ground.  As he did it, he of course acted like his toe was ripped off and screamed "Mother Father."  Now to go back and explain.  A few days ago we were watching the new Tim Allen show and instead of cussing they screamed "Mother Father."  We took note of this and thought it was pretty clever.  Depending on who Nick works with for the day, his language ranges from great to horrible as well as what accent he has.  Anyways, we decided that would be a clever alternative if the need be. We know that Caden is getting to the repetition stage and with school now, we worry.  So just as Nick screamed this, Caden walked in the room.  He looked at him and laughed.  Then our little drama king decided to act out the exact same scene, because usually he does act out movies and such perfectly.  Well "Mother Father" came out in his stuffy little nose way, in that it appeared he was saying a something bad.  :)  We decided that that was probably not any better and should just really work on what we do and say.  We quickly said we don't say Mother Father here, we say mommy daddy!  He laughed and did the same scene with "Mommy Daddy!"  That was a close one.   Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.            

Falltime Fun

Today we went on our second annual trip to Seward Farms.  It is a farm that has all sorts of fall activities at the border of Alabama and Mississippi.  When we went last year we had so much fun and it was the closest place I have ever been to the best ever Pumpkin Patch in Fredericksburg, VA.  Ironically this place has no pumpkins but still a lot of fun things.  We will probably visit a really cool pumpkin only place
next weekend.  Seward Farms is only open on Saturdays and with my in-laws coming into town Halloween weekend, we were fastly running out of options.  We probably picked the hottest weekend ever to go, so it made it not as fun as it could be.  We still had a lot of fun, but we were VERY tired and hot afterwards.  Caden got to feed some animals, which he loved.  But he made it look like we were the poor family.  They had a feeder for $0.25 a handful.  Instead of asking us for money he decided to pick up all the dropped food and feed the animals with that.  Everyone was laughing at him so I decided to quickly find a quarter.  We

also rode a very dusty cow train pulled behind a tractor.  It was very bumpy and tight quarters for the two of us to share, but I wasn't about to let him ride through the corn fields by himself.  Last year he cried through it, this year he smiled; so that was a big improvement for us.  They had a giant pillow that you could jump on, like the size of a football field... I may exagerate on the size.  Caden refused that.  He liked the free park the best.  We had to pay for three attractions and he didn't want to do any of them... just the free park.  He did finally shoot corn off in the cannon but that took much convincing.  The last part of our day included the very long corn field maze.  It was so huge and took so long

to get through.  We started off in good spirits but by the end we were just hoping to make it out alive.  It probably didn't help that Caden refused to walk so we were having to pass off from the stroller and holding Ashton.  All in all we had a very good day and I am so glad we were able to do this.  I still am trying to get in as much family fun as possible before Nick leaves.  I know that the boys will never remember this, but I want them to look back on pictures and see the fun we had.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.       

It's All Greek to Me!

Today started out fun and then went a little south.  We decided today to go to the local Greek Festival.  It is actually a pretty big deal here and has been one of our must go-to's every year (except when we were home last year for my Nanny's funeral).  It mainly just focuses on food, and I really do love Greek Food.  We went around lunch time, and I skipped breakfast just to make sure I could eat all I could.  My only complaint about the festival is everything they serve is a full meal.  I much rather would have a sampling so I could eat more new things instead of sticking with my favorites.  I stuffed myself way too fast and then had to go through the dessert line for to go.  It was a really great time and I am really starting to cherish these moments.  Nick is going to be gone before I know it, and I do not know how much of me can go to these festivals one against two.  I shall see...
On our way back to the car, I received a call from one of the specialist Caden is to see for an appointment.  I can not get in till January 3rd!!!!!  I was shocked it would take that long and cannot believe I have to sit in agony for that long.  He is supposed to see another doctor to and I can only hope he can give me some answers much sooner.  After we got home and the boys got long naps, I was ready to leave the house again.   We decided to make the trip to our old area, Milton.  If you have never heard of it, you aren't missing anything.  I wanted to check out Bealls, Target, and K-Mart to get some Christmas ideas.  We started off at Bealls and I found some clothes for the boys that I just couldn't live without.  It started to get near dinner-ish time, so I should have stopped then.  But I just wanted to check out K-Mart because we are never in the area.  I regret that decision now.  The boys both melted down in the store.  They were hungry and tired, which in return made Nick and I melt down and just not enjoy the trip at all.  I have decided that every time Caden sees something he wants, we say we will put that on our Christmas list and then I take a picture of him with it.  I hope to collect all of the pictures and make a scrapbook for Santa each year.  In my head it will be so cute and I am sad that I didn't think of this before.  K-Mart did give us a lot of ideas for both of the boys and with their layaway plan, I think we will be going back soon to start shopping.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.       

Pill Popper

I am afraid my little Ashton is following in the footsteps of his big brother, in that he has very bad allergies.  Caden has been on Zyrtec forever.  Change of weather/seasons are the worst.  He constantly has a runny nose.  Last Friday we had a park playdate and since we have been home, Ashton has been snotty.  I do not know what is in the air right now, but I am convinced that Ashton is probably allergic or sensitive to it.  I had been putting saline and bulb syringing his nose.  He never had a fever but was just not himself and had a hard time breathing and eating at the same time.  Ashton also had his second dose of his flu vaccine this morning, after I made sure his symptoms weren't contraindicated.  The nurse told me to use a different kind of nose drops with a decongestant in them and to not worry about it unless it persisted into an infection of some sort.  The past few days I have been trying different medicines.  Ashton has gotten Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Benadryl.  I have noticed Tylenol helps and Ibuprofen makes him wired.  Benadryl makes him even more spit-upy (yes that is my word) than normal, so it probably won't be tried again.  What I have noticed about all three medicines is that Ashton loves medicine.  He sees the syringe and goes crazy!  He holds it in his mouth afterwards and cries for more!  I think I may have the starts of an addict on my hands! :)  It is so funny to watch him.  This blog really sounds like I drug my child.  However, I don't normally give him any medicine and this has all been over the past week.  I am just hoping the nose drops help loosen everything and he can get better, he sounds so pitiful sleeping right now.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.    

Pricey Pumpkins

So I am running out of clever titles, and this is all I could come up with today.  It is really two separate stories combined into one title.  We bit the bullet today and dropped off the bad luck Santa Fe at the dealership.  My check engine light came on (which nothing was wrong when it came on, so we were hoping for a fluke), the lock in the hatch was broken by the shattered window, and we thought we could use two new tires (the other two were replaced at the 60,000 mile check up).  We knew the tires would be expensive but were hoping that the rest would be reasonable.  We just aren't that lucky!  We spent nearly $870 to replace the tires, lock and a "faulty" O2 sensor!  There goes some extra Christmas presents and plane tickets back and forth from WA and FL!  We also went to the NEX while Caden was in school.  Every once in awhile we get scratch offs of how much % off your bill will be.  We got three of them, so we make three separate purchases, since only the cashier can scratch them off.  We got medicine, laundry detergent, a can operner, just random stuff that my normal Target trip would buy.  We could have 5%, 10%, 20%, or even a $50 gift card to the NEX!!!  Guess what we got??  That's right three 5% off's!!  Oh well, no tax and 5% off equals their high prices vs Target.

Caden had his Pumpkin Party today.  They decorated pumpkin cookies, took their pictures amongst pumpkins, and even took a pumpkin home.  I think he had a blast!  I love special days like these.  I really think when the boys start school, I am going to be the annoying mom that is always up there trying to help out with something.  He was one of the only ones dressed in proper festive attire, I may go overboard sometimes!  This picture is him showing how heavy his pumpkin is!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day. 

One Year and Seven Months

One year ago today, my Nanny (my mom's mom) passed away.  When I think back on the year, so much has changed.  At the time I was finishing up school and about halfway through my pregnancy.  It saddens me that my Nanny never had the chance to meet Ashton in person.  I know she is here watching down on us, I can sense her so much.  The nanny that I knew cooked all of the time; baked banana nut bread, fried okra, chicken salad, cinnamon toast... these were a few of my favorites.  Of course I have attempted all of these with her handwritten recipes, but they just aren't the same.  I spent summers at her house as a kid.  I was so close to my nanny and papa, and miss them so much.  I loved playing skipbo and train with them.  I loved all of her cute little "nannism" sayings.  This nanny that I miss though has been gone for awhile.  Once my papa had a stroke, she got sick with cancer.  A big part of her left with him and she was never quite the same.  As sad as I am she is gone, I am just as happy that she is without pain and back in my papa's arms.  I do hope that I have the love and relationship that my grandparents had.  A lot of times Nick reminds me of my papa, and I love that.  Papa thought it was hilarious to smack my nanny's butt everytime she bent over, and she would always yell "GERALD!"  Nick too thinks it is absolutely hilarious to smack my butt, and as mad as it makes me, I love it and hope he never stops.  Nanny, I am thinking about you today and every day, I love everything you taught me and hope to be everything you were.  Now it would behoove me to stop this sappy post, or my tears will make it too hard to write more! :)

Also today, Ashton Kole Evans is 7 months old!  I cannot believe how fast time is going by with him.  I feel like I should be starting on his first birthday planning and I just finished helping my sister with nephew!  Ashy (as we say a lot here) loves everything Caden.  I know he started crawling just to keep up with him.  He searches the room not for mommy but for his big brother.  He laughs at everything Caden does and says.  He does not like any baby toy but instead any toy of Caden's.  It is so cute how close the two of them already are.  I know this will change into fighting, but I hope that they can always remain best buds.  Ashton also loves food.  Not baby food, but real people food.  He will try anything we are eating and generally loves it.  He will eat baby food, but does not tolerate anything with corn in it.  We are working on bye bye, which is really anything that resembles an arm or hand movement.  He loves to explore and find any tight space to crawl into and get stuck in.  Baby proofing was done with Caden to be a good first time mom, it has become an absolute necessity with Ashton.  I love what Ashton has brought to our family and cannot remember how easy life must have been as a family of three. :)  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day. 

My Little Cowboys

Today was a very lazy day.  My car window got fixed all morning long, so we were stuck at home until after naps.  I don't mind just sitting at home every now and then but generally I like to be up and going.  I think we spent too many days in a row relaxing, so I was not feeling it today.  I was itching to leave.  Well the window people ended up taking forever and getting out of the house meant just driving around for a just a little bit between naps and dinner.  We love to drive around, so it was not that bad. 
Side Note:  When the window shattered in my car, pieces fell between the interior and exterior wall of my car.  They managed to fall just in a way that it broke the spring of my locking mechanism on the back hatch.  Now the back end won't lock and we get to put it in the shop yet again to try and fix it.  This time it is on our dime because we don't know who to blame (window people or yard people) and frankly we just aren't those type of people who are always looking to get all we can from somebody.  Anyways, such is life I suppose.  As my dad used to sing to us as kids "...If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all...."

I thought this blog I would show you a picture from the past and present to show off my little cuties!  We got this rocking horse and cowboy hat for Caden (on the top) as a baby and he is about 5 months old in this picture.  He smiled that big in every picture and still does.  Ashton (on the bottom) smiles but I can't seem to catch them as often on camera.  He is about 7 months old in this picture and I came across the cowboy hat in my organization of my storage closet (see yesterday's blog.)  I love them both so much.  I know these pictures don't show it but they look so similar to me.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.  

Let's Get Organized

Generally I am pretty OCD when it comes to organization and the cleanliness of my house.  I like things in  a certain order, and of course I am the only one who can make that order perfect.  I knew how many blocks Caden had and would count them as I put them in their designated toy bin, and would search everywhere if my count was off.  I always went to bed with clean dishes and a cat hair free couch (quite the battle with a chocolate brown couch and two cats.)  Now since Ashton has been born, I have been very relaxed on my cleaning neurosis.  If Caden's toys all end up in his playroom, I can just shut the door at night.  My couch now has a designated cat cushion that they know to lay on, and it gets cleaned when company comes.  Nick has pretty much taken over the dishes, and when they get done that is fine by me.  Now I am by no means a dirty person, I am still a huge germ-a-phobe.  We have a storage closet in our house that has been neglected post-Ashton.  Every time he outgrows a stage of clothes they get tossed in the closet instead of placed in their proper storage bin.  I have gotten to the point that the room makes me anxious, so it needs to be organized!  This is

the madness of my storage room.  As you can notice there are things everywhere.  The giant tv in the center is the old tv from our bedroom that has now been replaced by a flat screen one.  Nick was supposed to have taken this to the goodwill the day of, instead it has hung out in here for 6 months.  It is heavier than anything and now we have to fit it in one of the cars since his truck has since been sold.  I thought the easiest thing to do would be take everything out of here and start fresh.  The cleanest room to do this was Ashton's.  As you can see the two boys thought this was a great place to play!  After I went through every bin and organized them and updated and dated them, I was feeling much better.  I found it very easy to write on the tops what was in each of them, just generally (2T summer) so I didn't have to dig through everything, when I was looking for something specific.  It may be a duh moment for everyone else, but I was pretty proud of myself!  Half way through organization came Ashton's bedtime, not a smart move on my part.  So I had to move everything in the living room and finish.  I am officially done and so glad I could accomplish one of my many projects I have for myself.  My next step is putting all of my millions of pictures in photo books!  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.

    

A Hoarder and A Birthday

So I have decided that my husband is trying to become a hoarder.  I think he needs help.  I am half joking and half being serious.  Each week he has a new obsession and since I have started my blog, his obsession for the week has been a new blog.  He has started and stopped a sports blog, a football blog, a UT blog, and now the latest one is a Videogame blog.  I am trying to play the role of supportive wife, but I want to slap some sense into him to.  It is not that what he is doing is stupid, because it is a cool concept.  But he just doesn't realize when he becomes passionate about something that he only can focus on that and tends to forget everything else, me included.  Not like he is a horrible husband but I would love to see him show the devotion to me that he does to his current obsession.  I am not meaning to sound as negative as I do right now but it is getting ridiculous.  The premise of his blog is to go to yard sales and find all of the old game systems of his past and start playing them again.  He found the original Nintendo today, a great find.  I can now play my old school favorite games, so I am happy.  But he had himself and Caden out of the house before 7 to go garage selling!  I mean seriously!!  All he can talk about is his next great find instead of stopping with what he has.  I am scared my house is going to be over run with garage sale items.  I do not know what I am going to do with this boy.  I am ready for this week's obsession to be done with! :)  If you want to check out his latest blog: http://videogamevoyager.blogspot.com/

Today Caden's new friend from school, Baylor, had his birthday party.  I have recently befriended his mom and she invited us to the party.  I really like their family because we have so much in common.  We both have hubby's in the navy, 2 sons the exact same age, and we both stay at home.  The party was at a bounce house place and we were skeptical.  Caden can sometimes be finicky around jump houses so I was scared he would have nothing to do with it.  As soon we got there the music was loud and Caden is ultra sensitive with sound, so he started out with his hands on his ears.  But after a few minutes he saw his princess and then was off not to be seen standing still again.  There were so many little kids there, it was a great time.  Caden behaved beautifully and was pretty funny with his princess.  The first picture is the whole birthday party and 

the three kids in the chair are in the same class, Baylor in orange, and the princess in pink.  The other two pictures are Caden's smooth moves on his little princess.  I think I am going to be in for some trouble when he is older.  I kept telling him to take his hands off of her for the picture and he told me no!  The last two pictures are just silly pictures of the boys in the car after the party and the silly faces that came in the goodie bags.  We all had a great time and am so happy in our decision to put Caden in school this year, it has led to so many great opportunities for us.  Post and Carry on with the rest of your day.