Halloween Weekend

We started our Halloween festivities on Friday night at our playgroup. Blythe was dressed up as a cowgirl and just as we were walking out the door she started to shuck her cowgirl clothes. She pulled on the shirt and said “I don’t like this shirt, I don’t want to be a cowgirl.” If Blythe wasn’t able to undress herself I would have tried to convince her to be a cowgirl, but before I got more than a few words out the outfit had hit the floor and it wasn’t moving unless it was to the dirty clothes or back on the hanger. I quickly glanced up and saw the Ballerina clothing hanging in the closet and said “do you want to be a ballerina?” I breathed a sigh of relief (seeing as we had no other options) and a little bit of a ‘really? Really? My daughter is going to dress up like a ballerina?’ Once Blythe had transformed from a Cowgirl to a Ballerina we loaded up and headed to the Lowe’s house. We were greeted by Robyn and Mike who had brought the rest of our cowgirl costume (the stick horse and the hat) and Blythe still claimed she didn’t want to be a ballerina, but she did want to wear the cowgirl hat. About 15 minutes into our Halloween activities Blythe decided to expand her character a little more, into a Mad Ballerina Cowgirl, seeing as she stole Peter Pan’s sword and dissected a pumpkin.....









That evening Jericho got to enjoy some reading with big sis.



Saturday

After we finished getting the house ready for all of our guest to arrive it was time for pumpkin carving and pumpkin painting. Of course the pumpkin carving contest went to Jason, do you recognize this picture?







Saturday evening we went to mass and the Wilkes’ treated us to a wonderful dinner at Madden’s, thank you! The food was delicious, as always.

Sunday

Sunday morning Blythe débuted her new jammies (courtesy of Ladi) and just happened to match Mamo. Ladi got some big early morning grins from Jericho. Is there anything homier than everyone in their jammies?





Festivity #1: Jericho’s Baptism

On Sunday at 1pm Jericho was joined by parents, sibling, grandparents, great grandparents, and god parents for her baptism.









Some might claim that Jericho's cake was not very appropriate for the occasion, but come on she was baptized on Halloween so I went with a spooky cake. Of course it didn't quite all work out like the directions said it would, but Ladi has some extra patience and helped my spider web peel off the parchment paper.





Festivity #2: Trick-or-Treating

Remember how Blythe was having a hard time deciding what she wanted to be? Well the ballerina part stuck, but this time we added a leopard head.







It only took Blythe about 3 doors to figure out this trick-or treating business. She would walk right up to the door, knock, and if they answered she would say "Trick-or-Treat" and if they didn't answer she would say "no one home, time to go to another house." She got enough candy that she was having a hard time holding her trick-or-treat bag (otherwise known as a pillowcase).

Great Grandma Behrens made the girls some tutu's which are TUTU cute!

Rough Afternoon

I always hope that everyday can be filled with smiles and rainbows and sunshine and all the things that make everyone happy, but I suppose some days just have to let in a little gray to remind us to be thankful for all those sunny days. This afternoon Blythe had some gray moments and I wish that I could say that I responded each time very calm and collected, but I have to admit that she started to wear on me and I let a little gray seep out of me too and I hate that feeling. I rarely feel completely done at the end of the day and ready to pull my hair out and I feel bad for those stay at home moms who count down the minutes till their husband walks in the door, but today I sympathize with them. So this evening I decided a beer was in order, but about half way through the beer I realized that a beer is not really my 'I've had a hard day and need a little TLC for the soul'...no a warm fudge brownie with vanilla ice cream on top would have gone a lot further.

It's a good thing she is so darn cute. I will give you one guess as to how she got on top of the trash can...



And then there is this precious little one who had only sunshine to give today:





On Sunday as we were walking out the door I grabbed the diaper bag like I always do and Blythe ran back inside for Nilla's diaper bag

Pumpkin Picking

Have you ever been to a pumpkin patch with a 2 year old? It is a super exciting place to be. If you think pumpkins are mundane or just not as much fun as they used to be you need to go with a 2 year old.

"Blythe how many pumpkins are you getting?" .



"TWO"

Most of the non baby pumpkins were too heavy for Blythe, but when she came to one that she could pick up all by herself her face lit up like the star on the top of the Christmas tree.





Of course we had to try and get a picture of Jericho in the mist off all the pumpkins as well.



Apparently this is the largest pumpkin in Texas. How often do you think they fed this one steroids?



Then it came time for the photo shoot and someone had a case of the silly's





To get one great picture that you just cant wait to order in an 11x14 and put in a frame and hang it on the wall for all to see can be a challenge, but to get two in one photo shoot is well...possible and amazing. I LOVE these two.

The Things You Don't See

I am not the mom who checks in on her kiddos before going to bed or through the night. I say goodnight we close the door and we see them the next morning. This weekend we have been converting Blythe's room into Blythe and Jericho's room. Moving Blythe into the closet, yes you read that right Blythe now sleeps in the closet. But it's not just a closet, its a nook, and its neat, and it has a new bed, just ask Blythe. Which means that Jericho can now sleep in a full crib and she no longer has to sleep in the main room with all the racket and commotion. So now that the changing supplies are in the girls room I had to sneak in to get the wetbag to wash diapers. Prior to this I had heard Blythe talking in her sleep and heard her say 'no,no," but I didn't think anything of it. I slowly turned the handle (you know the way you all do when you are trying to open the door without making a sound) and opened the door to find Blythe laying right beside her bed with her head straight down on the metal transition strip (remember she sleeps in the closet)..Ouch. Being the super laid back mom that I am I went and got Jason to come have a look and then he went for the camera. Well that was a kodak moment missed because by the time he got back with the camera she had already moved herself back into her bed. So now I am wondering what all does this chick do in the middle of he night? Does she do this routinely? Is she going to be a sleepwalker? or is this just the adjustment of sleeping in a new area?? I guess now I might be a peeping Tom to settle my curiosity.

I did it. I cut it.

Blythe has been sporting a mess of troll hair from the front and a nice rat tail/mullet in the back for some time now. I just couldn't bring myself to cut the rat tail off because that was the only hair she had, but now that it has come in a little thicker at the front and I can get it into 3 pony tails I figured it was time for the tail to go. So, I did it, it's gone and I have to admit that I kinda miss it. Every time she turns around it just doesn't seem right to not see that one long strand of hair, but I guess 25 months is long enough to wait for a first haircut. And yes we did the cut in true home style fashion using an apron as a barbers smock and a bib for Blythe.

A Crap Thursday

Thursday mornings are one of Blythe's favorite mornings because of story time at the library and she loves to sing the songs she hears at story time. Jericho woke up a little late on Thursday so we were a little behind. I had Jericho in the car seat and was finishing buckling her up when 'plop,' [followed by a quick look up in the tree] and a "seriously, is it going to be one of these kind of days?" Jason was still home so I quickly called him from his slumber so he wouldn't miss out on this rare occasion (or so we hope). As I was carefully threading Jericho into her car seat, not once thinking about what could happen when standing under a tree, a squirrel decided it was time for him to do his business. Yes, Jericho, at just 3 months old, was pooped on by a squirrel. We lucked out and it landed on her jacket and the car seat strap. My initial instinct was to stop and take a picture, but we were already pushing our limit on time and one of Blythe's favorite songs is sung at the beginning of story time so it was a quick wipe down with a paper towel, and the decision to leave her strapped in and shuck the jacket upon arrival. I guess this is a lesson about putting babies in car seats, or really doing anything for that matter, under a tree.

Girls trip to the Ranch

This past weekend the girls and I saddled up and made our first girls trip. I had everything timed out and ready to go to make for an excellent road trip..well as excellent as it could be with one mommy and 2 kiddos. I had a bag of tricks and snacks to entertain Blythe with and my fingers crossed that Jericho would sleep the entire ride. We had a play date Friday morning at Crissy's house so the game plan was to leave after Jericho ate because she usually eats every 3 hours which would give us just enough time to get door to door. Jericho was supposed to eat at 12:15pm, but that came and went and she was not at all interested. By 12:45pm we needed to get out of Crissy's hair so she could do her lunch and nap routine and I had given up on Jericho. So far the plan was in the tank. I just laughed and thought well Jericho will wake up in 45 minutes to an hour, just as Blythe is falling asleep, and decide she is desperate to eat. Either God had sympathy for me or luck was on my side because Jericho slept for an hour and a half and Blythe slept the last hour of her nap. Just as Blythe was waking up and ready for lunch I heard the rustlings of Jericho and saw a playground! WOW could I have gotten any luckier? Both kids waking up at the same time and not be 20+ minutes from the next town, let alone a town big enough for a restaurant with a playground. It worked out perfectly because Blythe got to take a break from the car and play on the playground while I nursed Jericho then Blythe and I ate lunch and packed back into the car. Jericho went right back to sleep and Blythe did a pretty good job of entertaining herself for the rest of the trip. We arrived to San Saba disaster free!





Blythe and Jericho's great Aunt Jan is visiting from Australia along with 2 other couples so we took them to the San Saba dance on the square (not to be confused with square dancing).



Blythe could not dance enough, the only problem was that she didn't want her feet to hit the ground so Mamo and Aunt Jalyn took turns toning their arm muscles with a 22 pound weight while I had the 15 pound sack of potatoes to dance with.









And second, only to endless hours of dancing, is watching your mom read a book to your little one.





Does this make me a Redneck?



Look Who's 3 Months old!





I thought Jericho was only rolling front to back.....





I left Jericho on her back on the couch and made sure she was blocked in, just in case, but after leaving the room for maybe 2 minutes that is what I came back to. And being a second time mom I didn't scoop her right up, instead I grabbed the camera!