Trick-0r-Treat

For as long as I can remember I have loved Halloween...in it's simplest and most traditional of ways. I love the pumpkins-the picking and most of all the carving. I love the costumes and the trick-or-treating...or in more modern term, "Trunk-o-Treat".

This year I lived vicariously through Tyler and McKenna dressing them up as princesses. McKenna was thrilled by the idea but I know Tyler didn't care. I was very pleased with the outcome and thought they were every bit as cute as I'd hoped. (Said like a true Mom don't you think?) What's funny about McKenna is she was dressed by 8:30 this morning and acted the role of a true princess: Soft-spoken, kind, and even potty trained. (Didn't have an accident all day.) There were a couple of non-princess like behavior but who wants to remember those? Tyler on the other hand put her costume on for about 10 minutes this morning and then didn't want anything to do with it until I shoved it on her right before the festivities began at the church. I think it grew on her as she didn't want to get out of it at the end of the night.

Ok so maybe she doesn't look thrilled, but this is her the camera is in my face look/pose.

Trick or Trunk w/cookies for those who didn't get candy.

...and even some who did

Not even Dad could escape the fun of playing Dress up and practicing for Halloween!

Actually he designed all of McKenna's outfits this night.

So much fun!

A-OK

It's been a little over a week since I've seen my Dr. I did have an ultrasound last Thursday but we kind of skipped seeing the Dr. Anyway today I had another ultrasound and then chatted with my Dr. The good news is that my fluid increased to a level 14 (10 or above is optimal) and so I was given the clear all and the "A-Ok" to get off my lazy bum. I was so excited I went out and bought me a Shark Steam Cleaner for my hard floors. Here's to being able to clean instead of watching the dust and dirt settle...at least this week.

The Ultrasound Tech gave me a little souvenir, here is the latest and pry last profile picture of Lil John. It was a little hard for me to distinguish, so good luck!

Nesting Takes a Stand

I'm mentally done with this bedrestedness-Ok, not that I've really spent all that time laying down but last night I'd finally had it. Can't take the mess anymore. The piles of paper, mail and books on the island and table, the messy floor, the bathroom...do I dare even go there? So last night I started cleaning-with the worst of it all, not the basement although I hope to clean that up someday soon, but the bathroom. It's a small room, I don't move around much so I think it qualifies for taking it easy.

The weather the past couple of days has been beautiful the sun being out and it's actually warm-if I was a really good mom we'd actually get outside to enjoy it before the sun is starting to set. In an effort to clean out the carport a little, I brought in a couple of empty boxes that contained chairs and made a couple of tunnels for the girls. They had fun going through them and then we decided to decorate them. Good thing we played in them first, after decorating they will no longer stay up by themselves.

Last but certainly not least, McKenna's teacher Ms Robinson came over for a quick parent-teacher conference today. It was fabulous to hear that McKenna is doing so well. She will sit for the full 15 minute circle time, she's engaging with her classmates, whom are all boys. Not so much the rowdy boys, but she's really taken to the quiet boys, especially Owen. Ms Robinson did say they are working on just hi-5's and short, "1,2,3 stop" hugs. Something we are also working on at home with her hugging Tyler. McKenna is such a girl. She also said that we need to re-evaluate her goals as she is doing so well they need to set them a little higher. After last Spring's evaluation and my frustration it's a breath of fresh air to hear that she's grown up so much. They said she even uses the potty at school...for M&M's but still any progress is still progress. Keep it up McKenna!

Macro Monday

I have a few friends who are very good photographers and they always post a Macro Monday of beautiful and awesome photos they've taken. I am by no means a photographer, but it's something that I hope one day I can do well. I've signed up for an online class that starts Nov 1st and I'm very excited for it. It's pretty basic but is going to teach me to use my standard digital camera so that I can take the best possible pictures.

In my excitement, and with the beautiful weather & the autumn leaves I decided to play around with the macro feature of my camera and so in the spirit of Macro Monday here are the results.

House Update

John's been really great with the girls over the last week, (more so than usual )taking over each evening as he gets home from work. This morning he took McKenna to her 1st primary practice for our program in a couple of weeks. He said she was great walked right in, found her seat and plopped right down...although the seat kind of folded up on her she's such a light weight. After she got home I was watching her and she suddenly seems to have grown up a little bit more. John surprised me with a couple of rust colored Mums for just outside our door. They are beautiful and perfect for fall, it was such a wonderful surprise!

John's also been working so hard on the house trying to get things done and in order before Jr comes. This evening Mike Fernandez came over and finished putting the hard wood down in the entry ways.

front entry

Carport Entry

John also built the "boxes" which will be the drawers and cupboards for my island and placed our old table top on it as a temp countertop. Hopefully there will be new countertops by the end of the month.

Things are coming along so nicely and I'm feeling better all the time about getting things done before this little boy comes. Can you tell I'm nesting? I do have a hard time calling him by a name until he is born, but he reminds me quite frequently with strong kicks that he is doing well. Sometimes I think he might have a similar temperment to McKenna. When I was pregnant with Tyler she would kick in the evenings but it was more like she was dancing and having a party. When the kid kicks it feels like he's trying to break free, but that could be flashbacks from reading "Breaking Dawn."

Drama Update

This afternoon John and I made the much anticipated trip to the Dr's office to see how things were going. I have to admit I didn't sleep much last night and the morning seemed to drag on and on. I've had a lot of anxiety over the situation with this little boy and if he should arrive early.

Much to John's surprise we were able to get right in for our ultrasound and the tech made no bones about getting the measurements needed to find out the fluid levels. Much to our relief things have improved, my fluid levels went from a 7.8 up to a 9, 10 is ideal but we'll take a 9. It's always been a lucky number for me. Anyway it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off our shoulders and we went back to the Lobby to wait out turn to talk to the on-call Dr. 10 minutes later we found out that our Dr was running extremely late and knowing the results of the ultrasound and talking with the receptionist-who spoke quickly with the dr-we were given permission to leave. (Traffic at 4 in the afternoon is horrendous as it is.) I have an appointment with my Dr next week as well as another ultrasound to make sure that things are still well-in the meantime I am to continue Drinking and taking it easy and staying with the not so strict bedrest.

I can't end without telling Leslie thank you for watching the girls. It was one of the few times I have returned home and found smiles and laughter instead of tears of anger for my absence. Leaves my heart feeling happy!

Pajama Party Explored

I had my 6 week appointment with the Dr on Tuesday afternoon. It was fairly routine until the end which gave me a not so ideal ending. I was able to have an ultrasound and see the baby and he's head down and kickin. He's a healthy kid with long legs and they guess he's weighing in around 4 lbs 2 oz. A little bit smaller than McKenna was at this point. The reason for the ultrasound was due to my measuring "small" (which is all relative right?) and so they wanted to check to make sure all was well. With the baby it is but like my pregnancy with McKenna my fluid is a little lower than they would like. I've been put on "bedrestishness" for a few days. This means I am not allowed to dance around, go to the grocery story or the park and to play it low and drink ALOT. It's a great excuse to be lazy so the girls and I have decided to make the most of it and so today we had a Pajama party. We sat on the floor and played dolls, had a puppy party, watched all sorts of shows and played dress up.

Then the girls got creative and turned the mirror into a slide...well until it started to come out of the frame and then that game was over.

I will be going back to the Dr's Thursday afternoon to see if there is any change. There are 3 possibilities here for the outcome. I will post Thursday afternoon and let you know the results, until then we are staying positive. John gave me a blessing tonight and besides my own personal efforts it is in the Lord's hands. I'd really like to keep this baby in me (despite the discomforts) another 3 weeks at least...until then...

Scholtz Farm-Pumpkin Patch Adventures

Yesterday we met my friend Ady and we headed to Scholtz Farm for a lil pumpkin fun. It was a lil cold but it all just added to the atmostphere. Over the last 4 years we've visited quite a few different pumpkin patches and I think Scholtz and Maris are pry my 2 favorite with lots of animals and fun stuff for the kids to do.

Fall is in the Air

Home Improvement continues as we just about have all the light fixtures bought and installed. There are a few I'm having a hard time finding but that's to be expected. John has been very patient through the process and has been putting up moulding when he can. It's looking great and I hope to have pictures soon. I am however still living out of boxes and pry will be for the next month or so. I can't complain as progress is being made, however this afternoon as I went down to what is known as my "scary basement" to find some food provisions I found something rather unsightly. I have mostly canned goods down there as I knew there was a mouse or 2 living down there and didn't really want to feed them. You know where this is going... I had hoped that through all the construction and such that the mouse/mice had fled for safety from the noise but today I found evidence of it's existence of it snooping around my food. I'm thinking this mouse must be a female because she found McKenna's Carnation instant breakfast and opened a few packets and helped herself. It's always the chocolate... Makes me mad and a little embarrassed to even be telling about it, but hopefully now that I know it's weekness I'll be able to "catch" per say this lil thief.

On a brighter note the sun has been shining the last few days and since McKenna doesn't have school on Wednesdays we took a trip to the Edgemont Park in Edgewood for a lil picnic yesterday. We were at this same park about 2 years ago (Same time of year) with John's sister Audrey and her family and I realized how much McKenna has grown up. I was pregnant then too... Ivan, John's nephew sent us a paper doll he drew named Stanley to take on a few adventures so he too went to the park.

Being adventurous going down backwards?
He also helped us make cupcakes this evening.

He didn't do a very good job at keeping Tyler out of the batter when I wasn't looking.

She did a great fake, "Oh no" but was all too proud