Pumpkin Farm

My beautiful sister, Jess, came to visit at the beginning of October (I have been a major slacker blogger lately, but in my defense I have been B-U-S-Y). While she was here we had our annual trip to the pumpkin farm. The day we went was hot, and extremely crowded, but we had a fun time. Audrey had her outfit planned out for over a week...at least her accessories. Pumpkin earrings made by yours truly, and a pumpkin hat that goes with an infant pumpkin costume. I didn't have the heart to tell her no, so the hat stayed on. I love this pictures because everyone is so happy in it!

The pumpkin farm that we go to offers pony rides on the weekends, this was the first year that we went on a Saturday so Audrey got to go on her first pony. Travis was kind enough to wait 20-30 minutes in line for her (we were waiting in line to get him a funnel cake and the pony line went faster so we had to get out of line right before we were about to order!!)

Blue sky, green trees and grass, bright orange pumpkins...love the colors!!

Me and Jessie joked all day about how nice it was that Audrey was wearing her pumpkin hat because she was very easy to pick out in crowds. Then we got to the pumpkin part and the hat acted as camouflage here.

Our loot. I already used one of the pumpkins to make this amazing dish that my beautiful and talented sister-in-law Janae made for us last year. I should have taken a picture of it but we ate it too fast! We will carve the rest this week (but I might make the pumpkin dish again with one of them...).

Vocabulary Words

Last week I learned two new words to add into my every day vocabulary. Since I am in the know, I will share my findings with you...

"Monkids"- Pet monkeys that people treat like their own children

"Polig-kids"- Kids that are born into a polygamous family (I learned this one from the reality TLC show Sister-wives...interesting but strange)

Class is dismissed.

Halloween

We love Halloween here in the Andrew home (who doesn't love it?), and October 1st marked the official Halloween season, the temperature has been consistently under 90 degrees, so even Mother Nature has been agreeable.

Last year I got really excited about setting up the Halloween decorations, I talked it up to Audrey to get her all excited and when October 1st rolled around I opened the box marked "Halloween Decorations" and...there were 5 foam orange pumpkins (flat and for crafty projects) and one plastic pumpkin for Audrey's trick-or-treating. Talk about a let down! I try to collect a bunch of decorations at the end of each holiday on 75% + clearance in preparation for the next year (because I am cool like that), but apparently I missed the Halloween clearance the previous year. So I made up my mind to not let that happen again.

1 year later, and October 1st came. Once again, I got Audrey all excited about setting the decorations up (I was at least as excited as her). I was so anxious that I got the box down from our attic all by myself and some how managed to get it down with both me and the box in one piece. I brought the box downstairs and set in on the kitchen table and I called Audrey over so that she could see me open the box. Well, I opened the box and talk about lame dash O! I had like 5 more decorations than I did last year(unfortunately tacky ones I must admit) and of those 5, 2 of them can not be set up this year because we have a certain little guy running around the house that would love to destroy them. How did I let this happen again? Luckily Audrey was still excited. That night in her prayer before she went to bed she thanked Heavenly Father for blessing us with the Halloween decorations ( I would not have thought of that) and right before she said "amen" she said "Happy Halloween!" I am sure that Heavenly Father appreciated that.

So my goal for next week: BUY SOME HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS!!!!

too old?

When I was in high school I was a cheerleader. Me and two of my sisters took a tumbling class so that we could...tumble (go figure). I have a mean roundoff (ask Travis), but I could never mentally get over my fear of doing a back-hand spring without a spotter. Both of my sisters were able to do multiple back-hand springs. I think I was always scared that my tooth pick arms would give out on me and I would land on my head. Instead of getting over my fear I just started doing roundoffs with a high rebound to make it look like I could do a back hand spring if I wanted...but last minute I decided not to (both Travis and Leah basically told me I looked like a fool when I did that, because I would do it at games and performances), I would also try doing a series of roundoffs (I am sure it looked cooler than it sounds...NOT!!!).

Fast forward a few years (more than I would like to think), and I still regret not being able to get over my fear. I brought Audrey and Phoenix to a gymnastics gym last Friday to play around and basically the whole time I was THIS close to asking one of the girl employees if I was too old to learn how to do a successful back-hand spring. But I didn't because I was too embarressed. I don't think I am too old, especially since I have slight experience. I am thinking I might have Travis spot me until I can do it on my own. If/when I can do a legit roundoff back-hand spring I will let you know.

waiting...

I am waiting for Travis to get home from work....counting down each excruciating minute. Do you ever have days where you cannot wait for them to be over? Today has been one of those days (well, not the whole day...usually the countdown begins when Phoenix wakes up grumpy from his afternoon nap), in fact I have been having a string of those days (kind of the whole summer). It is still too hot to play for any length of time outside (umm...hello mother nature! it is almost the end of September!!!), we are more or less confined to the house because Trav takes our beloved Camry most days, and after a few too many creepy encounters in our neighborhood I have decided to eliminate walks (as if it is cool enough to walk outside anyway). Sometimes I hide from Phoenix because for some reason if he is grumpy he will just follow me around and whine and cry...but if I leave the room he is totally cool playing with his kitchen. He is on to a lot of my hiding places.

Needless to say, me and the kids jump up with excitement when Travis comes through the door. Relief for all of us. For me the relief comes in the form of another adult to help with the kids many (MANY) needs...whether it be fixing Audrey her 7th meal of the day, or changing Phoenix's 12th poopy diaper. For the kids, they get relief from their boring (worn out) Mom.

Yay! He just came home!! Excuse me while I pretend that our outing to the mall and to get pizza with the kids is a romantic date with my hunny!

Premier Week!!

Finally the fall premiers are upon us. Here is my schedule for the week...

Monday - DWTS (Dancing With the Stars)

Tuesday - Glee, then DWTS results

Wednesday - The Middle, and Modern Family

Thursday - The Office, and 30 Rock

Friday - Nothing (no good shows are ever on Friday because I think the TV networks assume that most people do things on Friday nights...I am thinking about starting a petition to bring back TGIF)

What shows are you watching this week?

Lake Benson

We discovered an awesome lake a few weeks ago when our ward was having a Pig Pickin in this location. There is a pretty cool playground, a huge field where you can literally let your kids run wild, and then of course a beautiful lake. The bathrooms smell like the latrines from Girls Camp, but that is pretty much my only complaint.

With cooler weather on the horizon, I am thinking it is the perfect time to start weekly outings here.

new shoes = big boy

Phoenix has been walking for a few weeks now. I was just thinking the other day how even though he is walking like a big boy, he still looks like a little baby to me. We went shoe shopping for the little man today, and suddenly he seems so much older with his new shoes on.

(sorry about the mess behind him, I am currently reorganizing his closet..a little bit at a time)

Potty Mouth

I am talking about Phoenix. No, he is not saying bad words, he is quite literally a potty mouth.
He loves playing in the toilet water, and he LOVES unrolling the toilet paper. I have caught him with the toilet brush in his mouth (GAG!) and on another occasion the toilet bowl cleaner bottle was in his mouth. Now, my main concern about this was the germs, but luckily he also likes taking a healthy bite out of soap (Irish Springs is his favorite) to sanitize his mouth, stomach...etc.

The first time that he bit off a chunk of soap (of course he swallowed it one second later) I rushed to the computer to see if I should be concerned. I found this site where people would post a question and other people would respond. A concerned mother (much like myself) expressed concern about her baby eating soap (just a bite). Most of the answers assured her that everything would be OK, but to expect some diarrhea. Then I saw this comment from a lady who said that when she was pregnant she ate Irish Springs soap all the time because she craved it . I am still having difficulty processing that.

JoNaS bRoThErS Concert

Yes, you read that correctly. Jonas Brothers Concert. I love them! Now, I am not about to start wearing a T-shirt with their faces on it, and I do not have any posters decorating my bedroom, but I do consider myself a fan. My sister, Joanna is also a fan, more hardcore than myself. Michelle was in town and she obviously likes the Jo Bro's enough to go see them in concert. I totally thought I would be the oldest one there, but I wasn't (I might have been the oldest one there with out a little girl at my side though). It was at Hershey Park, PA so we had a few hours before the concert to catch...3 rides. Lines are so annoying!

I had this plan of looking amazing for the concert (I do not get many legit occasions to actually dress up anymore), but I looked totally horrid for the concert. That may or may not be related to the whole showering the night before, waking up at 5 am, driving 6+ hours in the car....with kids, waiting in long lines at Hershey Park, riding the rides, sweating...for some reason I was planning to take a shower before the concert started, but since 3 extra hours in the day did NOT magically appear I had to go to the concert in the state I was.

(sorry Jo, I couldn't resist)

The concert was so fun!

There are a few cool things about the Jonas Brothers...

1) They are brothers

2) They write pretty much all of their own stuff

3) Most of their songs are catchy (imho) and fun to sing along to (most of the video I got of the concert has me and Jo singing in it...it ain't pretty)

4) They wear purity rings (except for Kevin who is married, but he wears his wedding ring so...)

Anyway, I will definitely plan on going to a concert next year, or next time they go on tour. Maybe Travis will come with me (and maybe even Audrey), and we can pay the extra $ for the closer seats.

Audrey's First Day of School (and the yellow ticket)

Yesterday was Audrey's first day of preschool. She isn't really a skirt wearing type of girl, but she really wanted to wear a skirt to school for her first day. She picked out a black Tinkerbell lunch box at Target, and we had a whole bunch of snacks for her to take (I wanted to make sure that she was happy with the contents). I also included a jelly sandwich (she doesn't like peanut butter, crazy right?). She told me she didn't need the jelly sandwich, but after school I found out that the sandwich was pretty much the only thing she did eat. She said that all of the kids had sandwiches.

Before I took her to school I read through the information packet for the parents. She goes to preschool 3 days a week, and at the beginning of the week the kids all start off with 3 green tickets. If they are naughty then the green ticket for that day will be exchanged for a yellow ticket. And if they are really naughty then the yellow ticket will be exchanged for a red ticket (this is my wording, it is nicer in the packet). If the kids survive the week with 3 green tickets they get a reward. One of the first things Audrey said to me when I picked her up was "I got a yellow ticket today". Luckily I had read the packet so I actually knew what that meant. I asked her why she got it and she said it was because she was tickling someone. That is so like Audrey! She also told me that she likes the boys better than the girls.

The car ride after I dropped her off was very quiet with just me and Phoenix. That girl is usually talking non stop. It was also much quieter at home for the 4 hours she was gone. I can't say that I missed her just because I knew that she was having so much fun at school, but both me and Phoenix were very excited to pick her up.

I am looking forward to the many stories that Audrey will come home with.

Recovering

Yes, I know it has been a little while since I last posted anything on the blog. My excuse? Recovering. From vacation. I did not have enough time to fully recover after my SLC trip (pretty sure that might take a few years) before I left to NY. Phoenix was pretty good there, he didn't sleep totally great during the night, but no major complaints. The ride home...I cannot imagine how such a generally sweet little fella could cry for hours at a time, but he did. And it was torture. If they could have a minivan with a sound proof window separating the parents from the kids I would buy one tomorrow. As a result of the ride home, me and Trav have promised each other that we will definitely not travel any great distance for a long time.