Happy Hallowgiving!

I thought I'd take a second and wish you Happy Thanksgiving from the Thanksgiving....dinosaur??

Around here, we combine our holidays. It's much easier on the calender and it keeps the kids nice and confused. This Hallowgiving Joseph wore his costume for about 4.75 minutes and this was one of three pictures I got, one of which was his back as he ran away. Josh says I should have taken his clothes off from underneath suggesting that maybe he was hot or just didn't get it, but I figured it was just a two year old's prerogative. Hmmm....next year we'll try no clothes underneath.


Hey hey the gang's all here! Except for Joseph and Blake...apparently too cool for group pictures.


We had the cutest party at Summer and Ada-Grace's, complete with Thanksgiving ghost tattoos and jack-o-lantern stickers for getting crafty.


And I baked cup cakes that, darn it, no one ate...so I HAD to take them all back home to eat all by myself. If you were there and didn't get one, it might of been b/c I had them strategically placed in that dark back closet in the laundry room. You didn't know to look there?! Sorry about that. The dense, moist, pumpkin spice cake mix with cream cheese icing wasn't that tasty anyway.


Joseph took a second out to say hello to one of his pals. He's probably telling her how yucky those cupcakes are so he can take more home for himself. Stinker. Actually, I think they are plotting the demise of the Hallowgiving pinata.


Shoo-wee. If getting stung by that little bee is wrong, I don't want to be right. But hopefully it includes a big ol slobbery kiss on my check too! Her mama said she is a worker bee, but I think Abby decided she wanted to be a little stripped angel instead!


This was the whole gang's first pinata! I was so surprised at how these kids got the hang of it. What can I say? Swinging a crude wooden stick full force at a brightly colored fancy object is in their nature I suppose. (Oh yeah, except we substituted the wooden stick for a foam t-ball bat! We may ask for it sometimes, but not this time folks.)


My sweet boys and I really enjoyed our Thanksaween party this year! Next year we'll have to fry a turkey and make some dressing too! Or I could just post all my Halloween fun pictures in a timely manner and not have a Thankshallowgivingween blog post....

Smile of the Day...

What a fun, spiky haired, squeaky clean little sweetie we have!

An Excerpt...

"Ah the power of mother love. How it stretches and swells across generations, uniting mother and child, fleshing out the expectant mother's identity and femininity, shaping the personality and life of her child, and changing society in ways our culture has chosen to ignore. Mother love is ultimately a love song, a siren's call, luring women to new ways of being...to sacrifice and being turned inside out....to fulfillment.

For mother love to be a positive force in a child's life, a woman must move beyond her need for control and her fears of vulnerability. She must grow, as it were, a new heart."

The Power of Mother Love
Dr. Brenda Hunter

Fall Fun at Calloways Fall Festival!

This was moments before the brace gave in and this huge piece of plywood tumbled over into my arms!

Found the perfect one! (It didn't involve as much time consuming decision making as I thought it would. After all, he is a fast paced two year old...no time for all that choosy choosy stuff!)

Love these guys!

To Surprise or Not to Surprise...

The Carousel at Stonebriar, Sept. 2010
My Sweet Surprise!

Sorry to leave you hanging this whole time! I know you were dying to find out if we decided to know the sex of our new baby.

I went to bed thinking about it, woke up thinking about it, Josh emailed me before the appointment wondering if I had decided...

We arrived at the Dr's office and settled right in. Josh asked if I knew what I wanted to do, and I shook my head. I got blood taken, got my flu shot, got an *ahem* exam, and then Dr. Ryder asked the magic question. The sono was next and she wondered if we wanted to know the sex. I told her in an unsure, squeaky voice that I wasn't sure. At this point Josh is shaking his head, thinking we should just wait until we're sure. That is what any normal person who hadn't made their mind up would do.

Now we're staring in awe at our baby up on the flatscreen on the wall. It's kicking, turning, and being generally cute. Our sono tech measures everything and asks if we want to know the sex. I told her I wasn't sure. Then after a minute I blurt out "ok, tell us!"

"Do you still want to know if I'm not 100%?" she says.

"Oh, well. What percentage sure are you?" I ask her.

She laughs. "I won't go down there until you decide"...I guess she's afraid I'd not want to know then see a big you know what that gives it all away.

"If you're not 100% then don't guess" Josh pipes in.

Now I'm about to throw up from the anxiety. I don't know why putting a sex to this sweet baby is such a big deal to me. I just don't understand it!

She goes in for the money shot....and those little legs were closed so tightly I couldn't believe it. I was so relieved! I laughed and the whole picture on the screen jiggled as my belly wiggled around. She tried a few more times and found nothing definitive! Talk about a sign. Now I'll just have to decide if I want to know in another 4 weeks or if we want to be surprised....

That little Joseph was one special surprise. And since we only had a boy name picked out it worked out perfectly.

Someone Turned Another Year Older...

And it wasn't Joseph...yet. This ol' mama is 31! My friends took me to the Arboretum for some fall birthday fun. The weekend before we celebrated with Edie and she brought over One Serious Chocolate Cake. It had a mousse-like icing and crumbled chocolate cookies on top and in the middle layer. Dang it was good!


Getting the kids together for a fall picture was ridiculous. Absolutely wore me out. I love 'em to death, but forget about it! Coincidentally, we all dressed our kids in green and brown! How perfect was that!?


And....this was as good as it got. But that's ok...because it was time to head off to the pumpkin patch and pumpkin house village. Everything was spectacular!


Always a hit, the petting zoo was a favorite. I was pretty freaked out though with all the goat poop everywhere. Next time I'm bringing a second pair of shoes!




Amidst the running and screaming, I lunched on a super yummy portabella panini, a chai tea latte and a birthday strawberry cupcake. Life doesn't get any better than this!

Things have been so fast paced this month. I remember October always being busy, but not this busy. I prefer things slow...but I have this problem where I don't want to miss out on anything, so it kinda makes for a difficult situation.

I've joined a MOPS group. It's great!! MOPS (Mother's Of Preschoolers) is a world wide organization dedicated to keeping moms sane and in touch with other like-minded mamas. I decided to join with Kristen and it's been really fun so far. We have meetings twice a month which include potluck brunch, a speaker or craft, focus and discussion on a particular topic (such as teaching our children philanthropy), and we talk about our book we're reading. But the groups are encouraged to get together outside of our meetings and my group has really been getting out there! A number of play dates and moms night outs have happened and although I've had a great time, it's more to juggle on the calender. Joseph really seems to enjoy being busy though, and running around in this incredible weather can REALLY do a body good!

I also started Stroller Strides to get in SHAPE for this bun in the oven. I had a lot of anxiety concerning labor and not having enough "umph" to push with Joseph, and it's still on my mind with my second baby. I finally decided to start a prenatal fitness regimen instead of dwelling on being out of shape! I can tell you right now that I need to tone it down until I get more in shape or get more used to working out while pregnant....cause these workouts are wiping me OUT, sister. I've been giving it my all thinking...hoping....that I'll start to see some toned arms, less flab, more endurance, but I think the little parasite in my belly might think differently. It says moderation is the key to this mama's fitness program. So the deal with Stroller Strides is that it's designed around having your children with you. It's absolutely fabulous. We meet outside somewhere scenic and Joseph gets pushed along in the stroller while we walk, do our resistance band stations, and stretch. Our first time, at the end of class I took off his seat belt for him to get out while we warmed down and he told me he wanted to keep exercising! He loved it! Now that is some sweet motivation right there!

Off to the Dr. tomorrow. Should be getting blood work done, family history taken, and meet with the insurance specialist. We'll get a sono too....and after months of wanting to know the sex, I'm double guessing myself!! I don't know for sure if they'll even be willing to guess at this appt (almost 16 weeks) but I think if the baby is turned right they will be able to tell. I don't know what to do!! It was SO fun and gave me a feeling that words can't describe when Dr. Ryder delivered Joseph and held him up to Josh and said "What is it, Dad?!?!" It goes beyond just wanting to know so I can decorate and shop. I almost feel like I am cheating nature or something and am not supposed to know yet. Who knows?! I'm sure I'll change my mind a million times before my sono. I'll certainly keep everyone posted! ;)

Been feeling so much better than the first trimester but have been pretty tired more and more lately. I read that the baby will grow more and faster in the next month than any other time in it's development. This totally corresponds with me being way more hungry and tired than normal. I need a darn sandwich as we speak. Food and sleep...the life of a pregnant woman. Ha.

Shout out to Alicia welcoming baby Jenna Reese yesterday!
Shout out to Peter and Kacey who are due any day now!! (Anything yet??)
Shout out to Casey who is 4 weeks behind me...BFFs having babies together!!

Love you all! Signing off to go raid the fridge.

so hungry...

This Mommy is Taking It Back!

We all know as moms we make many sacrifices for our children. Some very noble and necessary and some petty and rather unimportant, but we do it anyway.

I was going to tell you about my biggest sacrifice but I don't think biggest is the right word. Maybe most prominent is better. Then I pulled up the thesaurus and entered 'petty' and 'prominent' because I didn't think those quite fit this particular sacrifice either. So I came up with my own definition.

We'll call it the train sacrifice.

The train sacrifice: The most in my face, everyday, in the way, constantly reminding me my living room is three minutes from full service day care forfeiture of space. I can barely clean the crumbs and sticky juice/fruit cup spillage/cereal gunk from underneath. It's getting bigger all the time b/c we're getting so good at track engineering. It's played with four minutes a day but I have to leave it up to prevent a meltdown because I'm weak and would rather cave than make a stand.

As you can tell I feel pretty passionately about this. The thing is...it's on my coffee table right smack in the middle of the living room. When we got the train from our cousins who out grew it, I was pretty excited because "Hey, lots of people have those big train tables made for these wooden tracks, and while that's great because they have the space in their house, and they are really super cute, I've got this perfect coffee table that's is just the same size and will work great!"



Famous last words. That was about a year or so ago and the other day it occurred to me that I want my coffee table back. Empty, clean and taking up perfectly good train space. I know I should share my coffee table with my sweet, poor, train loving little baby boy...but maybe another time.

Is it fair? Probably not. I get a whole craft room devoted to my hobbies and Joseph doesn't even get a small spot to run his trains? Well, I'm the mommy and resident home manager and he is two and I say it is fair. And because I say so! (Can't wait until he's older so I can say that and he stomps off pouting knowing I won.)

Maybe it's the crisp fall air and change of seasons that has me inspired. Maybe it's the new baby causing me to clean and nest. Either way it feels good! And looks fantastic! And I love our compromise - his new train spot worked out great. (On the floor tucked in a corner.)

This mama is taking back her coffee table!

Everyone Smile!

Welcoming Jenna Reese!

A few friends and I had a super get together for Alicia's baby who is due in October! I just love a get together that involve good food, laughs, and presents! Sky did a ridiculously cute job of hosting and we had a wonderful time. Plus with a soon to be mama that beams like that, who wouldn't want to celebrate?



Sky's super delish homemade strawberry cake and strawberry icing won my heart and my taste buds. We're doing ice cream cup cakes for Joseph next birthday!


We've all been friends since middle school and have grown up sharing our love of pickles (and Ramen Noodles). So Sky found pickle flavored popcorn for each of us to take home. The verdict: the first bite kinda gets ya, but the after taste is rather nice and the following bites are surprisingly pleasant! Two thumbs up!


Carmen is ready to welcome baby sister Jenna to the household!


I have to brag on the munchkins. They were so well behaved and played together SO nicely that I almost couldn't believe it. Is this what it's like with a girl? I think we need to find MORE girlfriends to play with!


And how's this for a super dork...I decided to make this onesie dress. I've been dying to make one for a year now but it was pretty intimidating. I hit the craft room and got after it one afternoon. I was pretty darn proud of it...so here's the dork part. When Alicia open the present from me and pulled it out, I actually "awwwwwed" like it was the first time I was seeing it. Yeah, it was pretty darn cute apparently. (And clipped on the neck is my attempt at a sweet little pink hair bow to match!)


Not sure when I'll have the stomach to tackle another dress like this. I keep telling myself practice makes perfect, but maybe I'll stick to appliques and hair bows for now.

Welcome Baby Girl Jenna! Hurry so I can meet you and see that pretty little dress on you!

I Guess It's For Real...

...no turning back now. Although I may have thought about for a few seconds in the beginning. Or maybe a few minutes. Like, yesterday. And the verdict is in...we'll keep it!

Look at the camera, please Sweetie!

As you might know, the first trimester of a pregnancy is the most hormonally hormone laden months of a woman's life. The raging hormones in combination with almost-three-year-old children cause both interesting and horrifying actions, thoughts, moods and verbal (and/or written) diarrhea. The following excerpt is an example of what one might see written on a hormonally hormonal pregnant woman's blogs after days of irritability and self loathing...mind you, she will undoubtedly be rainbows-and-butterflies-wonderful tomorrow as the cycle of hormonal abuse of pregnancy wanes.

We're having Baby Blachly #2! But in a way YOU'RE having a baby too; because it takes a village. And I am going to need a little more help than normal. I can feel it. That line about "God never gives you more than you can handle", not buying it sister. I'm a little scared...a lot anxious...a good amount excited...but mostly I'm already tired. I'm too much of a sissy for this parenting business. Someone just give me the manual already!

So if anyone wants to throw me a shower, can you make it a Pity Party instead? That's more my speed these days.

Joseph won't quit acting like a wild child and we have ANOTHER one of these on the way?

...bedtime is a nightmare, had to leave the room to breathe before something or someone went out the window...
...he wants daddy to change his diaper but daddy is mowing the lawn right now, can't mommy just do it already?! omg he is writhing on the floor naked screaming...
...he wanted me to kick that ball not this ball, ok let me kick that ball then, that's not right either, omg he is writhing on the lawn screaming...
...he wanted to put the ice in Daddy's travel mug of coffee, oops sorry, maybe next time, Daddy really needs to go, please stop crying, ok then let's walk Daddy out, omg he is writhing on the driveway screaming, at 7:00 in the morning, good morning neighborhood...
...shall I go on?!

Stop that! Just look at me and smile!

Like I said before, these are all things that could possibly be happening to a hormonally hormonal pregnant lady. These could be the things that an already irritable mom has to deal with and at the same time try to be happy and positive about the new little bundle of joy that is coming to join the family. She might make mental list like the one below:

• buck up and suck it up already! aren't moms supposed to be really good at that?
  
• finish chapter in Momology on "turning the frown upside down"
• learn from your very own flesh and blood first child on the amazing personality trait of resiliency
• leave the guilt behind...you can't take back that you just yelled at him but you can NOT yell at him tomorrow
• I thought "laid back" and "go with the flow" best described me about two years ago. Goal: let that describe me again!
  
• My favorite: keep your expectations low in the first place and you won't be disappointed, right?
• would you rather go back to working the reception desk downtown?! That'll shut you up.

Aghh! Joseph! Hold the sonogram picture AND smile. Please!

So maybe the first trimester was a little hard on me. I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though. And a beautiful rainbow. With a little baby bundled in a sweet soft little blanket cooing up at me. I think the problem is that I'm not used to being in such a learning state of life. So I need to readjust to that and get ready for round two at the same time!

JOSEPH! If you hold it up, look at the CAMERA and smile at the same time I'll give you some m&ms!!!

Now if one were a wonderfully balanced, loving, and non-hormonal type of gal (and I AM feeling the love, light and happiness as we speak) then I think the following would be what you might possibly see on her blog, for instance.

Josh, Joseph and I are so excited to be having another baby!! I wanted a baby so badly that only getting pregnant yesterday would do. When the pregnancy test stripe popped up my head kinda spun for a moment! It was very surreal. I sent Joseph in to tell Josh he was a big brother and we all smiled and hugged and it was wonderful!

Unlike with Joseph, we decided to wait until after our first doctor's appointment to tell close friend's and family we were pregnant. I didn't announce it to the general public (i.e. FaceBook/Blog) until now...the end of my first trimester. On Friday I'll be 13 weeks. The appt was long but easy and went fine. I got my first sono which showed the yoke sack and not much else but it was still so sweet!

Yes! Geez, thank you, son!

So I got out my pregnancy journal from Joseph and have been reading/writing along with the info and entries from last time. I've been SO sick and tired and it's been really trying but it's getting better with each week. The other day I caught myself doing a whole mess of laundry and cleaning and it clicked that I wasn't exhausted and laid up on the couch!

I have found myself to be a little more neurotic this time around. Like over thinking things, over analyzing, making a lot of drama, creating crazy blog posts...that sort of thing. Hopefully it won't last much longer and the 2nd and 3rd trimesters will be a little better!

Now off to pick out some names! For me, that's almost as hard as the child rearing.

Bouncin' the Day Away...

We bounced the morning away, anyway. But darn it, until that pesky nap time got in the way Joseph played as hard as any other kid in that bounce house place! I can't even say for sure what his favorite part was because he enjoyed it all so much.


He loved the slide!


He loved playing basketball!


He loved the air hockey!


He loved his playmates! (Con and Cayden were there too, but every picture I have of them is a bluuurrrr...)


And did I mention, he LOVED the slide!

Now the only thing about this place is (unlike some of the other bounce house chains) is that they allow big people on the slides and houses. All this means for me is that my nice relaxing morning letting Joseph run around with his friends and cousins went down the drain since Mommy had to play too.

There were a few tight squeezes that aren't necessarily meant for a big person, but I do generally have a darn good time on those slides. ;)

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Thirsty fun in the summertime...


Sprayed in the face fun in the summertime...


Squeals of fun in the summertime...


Wet kickball fun in the summertime...


Sweet baby fun in the summertime!