Happy Eve of Saint's Day!

Hope you all are having a fantastic Halloween! We are having a splendid time with our little Woody and Buzz. How cute are these two? Because I am super cheap we try to find costumes that can be used for more than just halloween. Their outfits are actually pajamas and they are super excited that they get to wear them to bed! Emma's boots are from Gymboree and look adorable with skirts :) and her handkerchief we already had...her hat's from the Dollar Store. I made Cal's wings and he loves them which makes me so happy to have kids who are happy with simple things. I know they will probably say "I wanted ones from the store!" when they are older but for now they are happy with the simple things.

Anyway tonight we are going to go trick or treating on one street in our neighborhood and then we are going to my Grandma's...hope you all have a wonderful night! BOO!

on and on and on

So sorry I haven't been on here recently. I'll try to write soon, I promise. Things here have been a little nutty around here. Em wrapped up hockey, we had a field trip this last week, before that the two kids have been sick. We are looking at getting Cal tested for PDD-NOS which is on the Autism Spectrum (which even typing just makes me refuse to think about...lalalala), I've recently spoken out about Cal's problems with my work blog and it is kind of overwhelming with being so out there and open and also the response. We also have been remodeling in our living room, we are leaving for vacation in 10 days, I had to donate silent auction items, plan a fall party, and make the kids halloween costumes. To say we've been busy feels a bit like an understatement. Also Emma had her tongue clipped which seems like no big deal but it's gotten incredibly infected to the point she couldn't eat or drink. So we're now on round 2 of antibiotics and she says her tongue still hurts. On top of all of that, after a 4 hour appointment with an allergist we found out that Cal is allergic to so many things, it kind of baffled the doctor. So far he's allergic to grass, ragweed, two types of mold, peanuts, soy, and eggs. The tests were so long that he didn't want to test him for more but he said since he's allergic to ragweed he'll need to be tested with other things they only test adults for. Weird fact I learned was that most little kids don't even have the capacity to be allergic to ragweed. Yep, that's my kid! And did you know that soy is in practically everything. So making homemade bread, crackers, anything basically has been added to my list of things to do. We're hoping once all of these things which are toxic to his little body are out that he'll be sweet and kind and won't have raging eczema and he won't make his momma's heart stop when we have an asthma attack.

So that's what's been going on with us. There are some days I just feel consumed by all of this. It feels like we can never catch a break. Even when I do get a break I am so stressed and worried. But I know God is with me because when I look in the rearview mirror and see two little kids...that's what makes me smile. How blessed am I that I get to be their mommy? I love it. I love our life. This weekend Cal kept asking me "make Mommy happy?" and my eyes just fill with tears as I answer him over and over and over and over "yes bud you make Mommy very, very happy." All of this...I love and it makes me very happy. :)

Fall Loveliness

I thought I would share with your some of my favorite Fall decorations...you know, since we don't have people over much. Here we go...
Love the silliness of this...gotta have sideway candy corn with googly eyes, right?

Everyone's favorite mums!!! They are my Birthday flower so of course I have 5 pots of them right now :)

Let your freak flag fly...

This wreath was a gift to me by my Grandma...love.her. For those of you who don't know the woman makes a wreath for everyone for every door, for every occasion. Ha, and you think I am exagerating! When we moved back home she wanted to make me a wreath and I suggested something a little more, um, not purple rose-ish. So I showed her what I wanted and this is what she made me....love.it :)

Apothecary jars are my game :)

For some stupid reason I forget about this plaque until I pull it out of storage and every year I am so happy about it...I think I got it from Hallmark one year for about $.75 and that included the stand

Here's our foyer

Why hello foyer door...

Alright this is super boring but I changed our GREEN candles for PURPLE candles...see how daring I am?

Pumpkin Em made in school...love her homemade decorations

Here's our centerpiece.

Here's my very large candle that get's filled with randomness for every holiday...last Christmas it was green split peas with a red candle...oh yes and a foam deer adorns the bottom

Well that concludes our tour...any questions?

As I write Nick has dismantled our fireplace...gee I don't think it can look any worse than it does right now :/ I don't mind the project as long as its done by the holiday! I think it will be...he's drywalled the sides of the fireplace to make little cubbies for our electronics and for media storage...we are glass tileing the mantle and fancying up above...I'll post pictures when its done

Hope ya'll had a great weekend :)

Things That I am Excited About

As summer slowly starts rolling towards culminating into my favorite season (AUTUMN, FALL, HARVEST TIME!!!) A lot of these have already happened which makes me one happy girl, and a lot of them I still have to look forward to which makes me a VERY happy girl:


Emma starting school! This will be her last year of preschool which is very odd. Her teachers asked me at orientation to be the room parent for her class and I am so very honored and excited! Cutting squares of tissue paper and planning parties here I come. I guess being a professional event planner is really paying off, ha!





Balcony nights! Balcony nights are cold nights that Nick and I sit out on the balcony drinking wine. I love these nights. He usually makes me laugh so hard I snort which is embarassing and makes me laugh even more.





Apple picking and Pumpkin picking! The kids love it, I love getting their pictures and we just all around love spending time as a family!





Decorating! I love decorating for Fall with all of the brilliant jeweled colors coming to life! There is nothing better!





Scentsy smells! Yes I know I am a nerd but I love breaking out all of those Autumny smells!!! MMMMM!





Thanksgiving! All of us girls spend the night at my Grandma's and make the food! So much fun!





My birthday! I am so, so , so excited for my birthday! This year we will be in our cabin over my birthday! And usually the Wit concocts something extra special because he is the greatest man ever :) Last year he was unemployed (read flat broke) and he surprised me with some of our fave italian foods on this tucked away island in town. I remember tears streaming down my face as I sat there amazed God let me be with this man...





Christmas Tree trimming. Every year we have cut down our own tree and then decorated it in the same day...yep, kind of a nut like that. This year I don't know if we will cut down our tree but I can't wait to decorate it with the kiddos.





Christmas in general! We have Christmas big time at the our home, including a cookie decorating party, an ugly Christmas Sweater party, Christmas breakfast here on Christmas morning, and this year we are having Nick's family's Christmas here! I don't think they've ever even seen our home decorated for Christmas! Super excited! Also my favorite people in the world come...Aunt Jan, Uncle Bill, my cousin Andy and if we are really, super, duper blessed, my cousin's Chris and Liz and their family.



The Black Sweater! This past spring I bought this black sweater with a shawl neck that I heart and gives me warm fuzzies inside! It was too warm to wear it for very long so I am so, so looking forward to pulling it out this fall!



My Mom Look: the fall I think is when I especially look like I am a true soccer mom, or hockey mom rather. I wear cute boutique jeans, paired with a sweater or cardigan, and then throw on a pair of flats. My go-to accessories are a Vera Bradley bag and my pearls from Nick and I am usually done!



The Old Farmhouse! There is this restaurant in an old (I mean OLD) farmhouse in the middle of nowhere that Nick and I like to frequent when we go to my family reunion thing. They have an amazing chef and I always leave there with at least one recipe that I spend weeks trying to duplicate. So. stinking. excited.

Pumpkin Carving Night. Okay so here's what we do for Pumpkin Carving...first we take a walk around our neighborhood and creepily take pictures of other people's pumpkins...that's right we're gourd stalkers :) . Then I usually make SOMETHING special. Last year I made a "Happy Pumpkin Decorating Night" cake which Nick said was kind of over the top. I agree but a cake is one of the speediest things a girl can make. THEN we decorate our pumpkin. Every year I always want to do one of those elaborate pumpkins where we slowly fleck off the outer skin so it illuminates but we always end up making triangle eyes and a toothy grin. Nick is our carver because I look like a mass murderer with a knife and the children...well, seriously who's handing a knife over to their preschoolers? So every year he carves and every year I love our creation that sits outside for approximately 18 hours before the squirrels have their way with it. Darn stupid squirrels. Last year the squirrels and I had it out over their stealing of my bulbs and their eating the face off of our pumpkin like a bad case of leprosy. Not cool little squirrels. Not cool.

So those are the things I am excited about this year. Yeper doodles :)

Our Sweet Angel

Tonight Emma prayed during bedtime prayers and I found tears coming to my eyes as I listened to her tender prayer. She thanked God for her furniture, for friends, for family, for kissing the grass with dew every night, for teaching people how to make toys, and on and on. She told God she loves him so, so, so, so much! We've called her our angel ever since she graced us with her presence and had a very large Angel Kiss on her forehead...and she really is an angel.

Every night we pray and every night she says she's not ready to pray. Last night Nick read to her "Berenstein Bears Say Their Prayers" and I think it must have really spoken to her because she was ready to pray tonight.

I love seeing the fruits of our labor growing. We pray and have family devotions. We talk about God and Jesus and the Ultimate Sacrifice Jesus was just to save the lowliest people. But we never know if it sticks or not. It's so wonderful as a parent to know that we are starting to get through.

We had both of our children dedicated at church and made a commitment to raise them up in the Lord. At Cal's dedication they gave me a bookmark and it has this poem on it:

"I have formed this little child

you hold within your heart.

My mercy and my goodness have been there

from the start.

The face, the hands, the smile

I shaped all that you see.

Take this gift I've given you

and raise this child for me."

My prayer is that my thoughts, and actions, and words, every day will draw my precious Gifts from God closer to Him.

They're Everywhere!

It never fails. Every morning I come down stairs to this...

The majority of Imaginext toys all put together in a little city of fun in the blue room...

With a random smattering of helmets, shields, and firemen scattered around the house for good measure.

Do you want to know a secret?

Huh?

Do ya?

I don't mind.

Nope.

Really. I don't.

I know that one day I will miss this. I will miss these toys and the endless need there is to pick them up. Because I find them everywhere.

I've been getting up very early in the mornings to get things done around the house. I am prompted by Proverbs 31:15 which starts with "she gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family..." And boy howdy is it still dark. On days when Nick goes to work I am up at 4. I know it sounds insane but really its good for me. I have quiet time and devotions with God, I get showered without feeling like I have to be done before Thomas is over, and I clean. I'm a cleaning machine! It really is nice to be able to get a large bulk of the chores done before the day is even started. That way I can devote more time to the children and less time trying to get things done AROUND the children. It also lets me get a bearing on the day...I can get Emma's forms into her backpack, pay bills, blog, the list goes on and on.

Sorry I haven't been writing as often as I was before. Can I just say that we've been busy???? SUPER, DUPER busy!!! This past week, because I am insane, I had three articles due. Yike-o! I still have one due that's deadline is hanging out in the far distance (read two weeks) but that's plenty of time, right?

I also took on this Room parent thing at Emma's school. Sure I can do that I thought! Well October is here which means the room parent responsibility has kicked into high gear. So this month I am planning a silent auction, an Icecream social, a bake sale, a Fall Party, and am attending a fieldtrip. Eek. Then yesterday we were at a playdate with a girlfriend down the street who asked me to help with the neighborhood Fall party. My head is swooning from everything going on. But it keeps me going and with grown up people, plus God tells us to be hospitable and welcoming so that is what I am doing...welcoming more tasks apparently :)

I should update you on Emma: she had her tongue clipped last week. No big deal, we found someone who could do it with a laser so it wasn't a surgery persay. It was supposed to be tender for a day and then she would be fine. Well she couldn't eat, or drink, or brush her teeth without pain. And her breath smelled like something crawled in her mouth and died (as Nick reports!) I took her back to the doctor and sure enough she's developed an infection. So now she's on some strong antibiotics and pain relievers (they prescribed my little baby with Codine! ha!) She's on the mend but it milking it for all its worth. Every task kind of goes like this:

me: hey em, time to get shoes on.

em: uuuuhhhhhh, mommmmm, I caaaaaaannnnn'tt, my tongue hurts a little.

Which leaves me a little puzzled, sometimes giggling at her, sometimes throwing shoes at her saying, that's nice put your shoes on (just teasing about the throwing shoes!)

Happy Wednesday!

Exploring

Well this week we have been to three parks, whew! The kids have loved it and Nick and I are enjoying this beautiful Fall weather. Here are some pictures from our adventures

Emma on the see-saw...so cute!

"Look Mommy, me monkey!" he was yelling

These are all in succession, he was having so much fun.

Wheeee!

He's getting to be such a big boy :)

This week Emma spent the night at her Grandma Peg's and she had a great time. Cal also had a great time at home with just Nick and I. Nick and I took Cal to see the hospital being demoed in our area and he LOVED it. Its nice to do boy things with him.

We are enjoying our week. Nick works this weekend which I am dreading but we will muddle through. We have so, so much to do this week, probably not too much by anyone else's standards but with two kids by myself and Cal still acting up, its going to be interesting! Praise God for His Grace...I sure need it! Have a fantastic weekend!