Halloween Fun

Another Halloween has just zipped right on past. I can hardly believe it. Bear really got into this year and had so much fun knocking on doors and getting candy. That boy has a real sweet tooth. Isabelle was a little laid back but enjoyed herself a lot, especially since she was a mermaid. They both looked so cute if I do say so myself. The head scarf on Bear’s costume really made him look the part of a pirate. It was too cute! Yes for those of you who are wondering I did make their costumes, with a little bit of help on Isabelle’s. She is already talking about what she might want to be next year. I figure we have some time to figure that one out so we can wait just a little longer.

Our Halloween started out with a MOM’s Club party at the house and then we jetted off to Grandma Susie’s and Grandpa Bernie’s for trick or treating. Once we were cleared for trick or treating, we did the drive by houses first, for those we could not walk too, and then made our way around the neighborhood. You know how grandparents like to show off their grandkids. Anyway, the kids had lots of fun and collected tons of candy. We’re going to have to go through it all but I think they will survive.

Soccer Tots

I finally remembered to bring my camera for Soccer Tots. Although my pictures are not that great, you kind of get the idea. Both of the kids have so much fun playing and running around, even though it is a class just for Barrett. Coach Dawn is really nice and lets Isabelle play along. After all it’s pretty hard to make a 3 ½ year old sit and wait while her brother is having so much fun. What I really enjoy and like about this program is that they do use a soccer ball but a lot of the skill building is leading up to the fundamentals of the game. For example: heading the ball using balloons or really soft balls, or running after your “teammates” to pull their tails or even chasing down a rolling hoola-hoop. Plus the best part is the kids have so much fun. One hour of constant movement and skill building, what parent would not want that? I think that a couple more sessions of Soccer Tots and Bear will be ready to possibly play with a team or program similar to what Isabelle did.

Get out and VOTE

Ah, the democratic process. I feel as though this election has been going on for years. Now I know that is not the case but hey as much as Ben watches the various news channels, besides Fox, I’m sure I could report on the status of the election almost as good as Wolf. I am happy to report that we have completed out civic duty and voted early. I think that all of Texas has finally come into the 21st century with electronic voting machines even with their good and bad qualities. We use to have to draw a line to the candidate we were voting for. I did not think that was the best option but who knows. Ben’s comment was there really should be a paper trail, that way no one can come back and show “. . . that the all black district voted for the white supremacist.” And of course we hope that no little computer nerd could hack into the system and vote for Mickey Mouse. Either way, I will always vote and try to show my support for the candidates that I’m voting for. With that said be sure to get out and vote, early or on Election Day. The news media talks that this is going to be one of the largest election turn outs in history. Hopefully the weather will remain pleasant across the country, but if not never fear, for if you live in Virginia you could do a drive up to vote. That’s right apparently the state of Virginia wants to really make sure you do not have an excuse for not voting, and has set up at least one polling station where you can drive up to place your vote. I would possibly use that, since I have two small children I would be taking with me but really get out of your car and walk. Well as the saying goes Vote early and vote often. At least as often as legally allowed.

Country Critters

Down here in Texas country you get back yard petting zoos. I actually think it is pretty cute and the way they set it up makes pretty good business sense. (I thought my SIL and her husband could do it on their farm, but who knows.) No fancy concert walkways or milk production introduction here, just a good old Texas farm with a few added bonuses. After all it’s all about the kids enjoying themselves and getting to see farm animals away from the city. Which I still have a hard time with since I mostly grew up in the country and had some sort of livestock or other animal around all the time. The things we take for granted, when our jobs keep us city bound. Anyway back to the story. The kids and I went with a few moms from our new MOM’s club, to a place called Country Critters. They had a blast, so much to do and so many kids there. A really big school group was there, which was lucky for us we were able to piggy back on their day; usually you have to have reservations.
They had lots of fun activities for the kids to do, a bean bag toss, bounce houses, petting area, wooden maze, pumpkin decorating and so much more. I actually planned ahead and brought a sack lunch as well, which was a good thing because I always get hungry and so do the kids. Must be the fresh air and running around. Since there was a pretty big school group there, Isabelle tried to join at least two classes, by standing in line and being all ready to go. It was pretty cute! Bear is just excited to have fun and run around; it’s hard to say what he liked the best. I think had they been running the pony rides that would have been his top pick. I think it might be interesting to see what type of programs they do for the spring, but for right now we’ll just have to wait. Obviously for the fall they focused on the pumpkins and fall or Halloween stories. I would think that in the spring they might have lots to do with new animal babies and what not but who knows. Plus they have three of these great, big, beautiful dogs, Great Pyrenees, wonderful dogs, probablly not so good for the city, we had one when we were raising Emu's.

Twilight

I was too excited last night while Ben was flipping through the channels; I saw my first televised Twilight trailer. I can hardly wait to go see the movie. I think I’m going to make Ben go with me, since I don’t know of anybody here who would want to go see it. It’s getting so close to when the movie comes out I can hardly believe it. I hope they do a good job and keep pretty close to the story line. I hope all you Twilight fans out there enjoy the flick as well, we’ll have to give feedback once we all go and check it out.

A lot of Running

This morning before soccer we walked in a one mile family fun walk for cancer. Ben’s sister Penny works for a local hospital and they along with the Four Seasons put this walk together to help raise money for the fight against cancer. The kids just loved it. Isabelle ran pretty much the whole mile with Dad, she got a little distracted by some pine cones and walking on the “balance beam” but other wise she was off. I was pretty excited and wished that I could have run with her, but you know the belly makes that a little hard. Ben was very impressed with her and she had so much fun. Then after running her mile, she came back to the start area and proceeded to bounce for half an hour on one of the two bounce houses they had set up. Wouldn’t that be nice to have so much energy?

Bear of course was fascinated with everything. He started out running which is ok for me to keep up with since he has short legs and I can just walk a little bit faster, but then he lost interest in that and started to walk. Then jump over the road markers that help drivers know they are changing lanes. He also found some acorns to play with, but once he saw Isabelle he wanted to be with her but again lost interest in running and did the roadside “balance beam” just like Isa. It was pretty cute, until the end of the race started to catch up with us and we needed to move along before the 5K run started to pass us as well. He was too funny!


Plus today was Isabelle’s last soccer “game” and she had so much fun. They did the regular skill building before hand and then played against the other team for a while. She did a great job of helping her team out and she even scored a goal. She was very excited about that, especially since she really likes to have the ball in her possession. I think she will be a little bit competitive as she gets older. Hopeful will be put to good use and she won’t be overly crazy about winning, I guess we’ll have to teach her the right way to be competitive. I’m sad to see her first soccer season end, we’ll just have to pick it up in the spring again.

Less than 100

I can hardly believe that in less that 100 days we should have a healthy, happy, baby to bring home. Not that I actually think we will have a baby on my due date but I figure close enough. After all Isabelle came two weeks early and Bear was a week late. There is no telling when this one will come, unless I get very, very uncomfortable. Keep reading for a poll on date, size and sex to come soon. I just have to figure out how to put that all together and we'll be on a roll. I will of course post a recent picture before starting the poll since some people think they can tell by the way you are carrying the baby. Who knows, but I did have a woman accost me in Lowe's who thought I was going to have a girl. Crazy! Less than 100 days does not seem like a lot when you think about it that way, but other days it still seems a long time. Just my thoughts I hope all is well.

Pumpkin Pancakes, want one?

For breakfast this morning I did what some moms dread, I put food coloring in our food. Now you might be wondering why, since I try so hard to avoid coloring in all of the food I give my children. Well yesterday we were at JoAnn’s and Isabelle picked up one of their circulars to read as her “magazine.” In the circular was an ad for a Halloween cookie decorating kit. The cookies featured were pumpkins and she thought they were pancakes and not cookies. Straight away her request was to have pumpkin pancakes for breakfast the next day. Posed with the question this morning, the only thing I could come up with on short notice was to dye the mixture for our breakfast.



I’m sure had I more time and a few more resources on hand, sweet potatoes, or pumpkin puree I could have made a healthier option than dyed pancakes. Here's a like that looks pretty good and makes more than 8 pancakes. I'm sure you could use fresh pumpkin instead of canned.

Needless to say they were gone pretty quick. Ben did not even get to try one, I think I made my mix wrong, usually we have a few left over but there were no leftovers today and they were a little flat. Oh well, the kids still ate them and loved every bite. I think the most important part to them was to have the color. Isabelle even asked for green stems. That was not going to happen, I'm not that cool.

Pumpkins Everywhere

I just love going to the pumpkin patch. I’m not sure why, but I do. I think it might be the ushering in of fall, the colors, and the appeal of a warm drink afterwards, so long as the temperature is cooler. I think the kids had lots of fun. The pumpkin patch we went to this year was a little different than ones we have been to in the past. The field where the pumpkins were laid out was not where they were grown. So everything was nice and neat, in pretty rows that were very well organized. That makes it easy to find the pumpkin you want. Bear had lots of fun trying to pick up the pumpkins, some were a little big but other he could do pretty well. Isabelle just wanted to pick them up by their handles, which is never a good idea. And to top off our pumpkin visit, it rained. Fortunately we made it out before the big rain hit. The rain did not seem to damper the kids’ spirit at all, they were ready. And probably would have looked for a pumpkin in the rain had I not suggested we wait it out.

We rode a hayride, the kids bounced on the numerous bounce houses that were available, took pictures by the character cutouts and got lost in the hay bale maze. Bear was not so keen on the maze, Isabelle left him behind and he got lost. When I sent her back in to find him, she comes back out. . . “Oh he’s crying!” The next thing I know he is climbing on the hay bales and finds his way back out by going over the maze. Which of course is not recommended but hey what are you going to do when they don’t let adults enter the maze. At least he was resourceful enough to climb his way out. Over all it was pretty fun, even with the little bit of rain that got us. Of course my kids want to climb on the one bounce house that does not have a cover and proceed to get all wet. Bear was already wet on his knees and below from climbing in and out of the wagon as well as trying to pick up pumpkins but hey what’s a little more moisture.

I really wanted to get some good pictures of the kids at the pumpkin patch so that I could frame them and put them in the powder room, for our fall decorations every year, but they were not as cooperative as I would have liked. I’m sure some will work or I can pick from other years, after all I’ll have them for a while so I’m sure we can get a good picture sometime. They did have fun sitting in the pumpkins and trying to look cute. Bear liked to push the pumpkins off the hay bale they were sitting on so we moved away from there. I would have hated for him to bust a pumpkin and they we would have to take it home. I will encourage everyone to take their kids to the pumpkin patch even just for pictures, they always have fun, especially when they are young.

I've Been Tagged

I made the tag list, yes! Or maybe no.

This Picture Tag involves taking the 4th file of photos on your computer and posting the 4th picture from that file. Now my forth picture file only had three pictures so I will post the third and the forth from the proceeding file. I hope you all enjoy!

I tag Vicki!



So this first picture is on Isabelle while we lived in California. Yes I let her feed herself yogurt. She is about 15 months old. (I had to actually count that out.)



I have the best car sleepers ever. It took Bear a little longer to sleep well in the car but not Isabelle. She takes after her Mommy there.

Color is so amazing! You never realize it until you have it up on a wall and see the difference from the start to the end. This leads me to tell you guys that we have painted the baby’s room. With help from my Mom we put up the squares, and painted the room. It is mostly ready for baby, I just have to wash some clothes and blankets and put them away and we will be ready. Isabelle is a little jealous that the baby’s room was painted before hers, but she is next on the list. I hope you all enjoy our room from afar or come by to see it in person. We are very please with how well it turned out. I’m really glad that I was able to reuse Isabelle’s decorations for this baby as well. After all my Mom did a great job of sewing everything and making it look great.

Breastfeeding

As many of you probably know I have breastfed both of my children and plan to continue with any other children we have. Obviously we have one on the way so you can guess how baby will be nourished upon arrival. I am always please to see celebrities sporting their babies in slings or carriers that are not mainstream, but I am really please to see celbs who breastfed in public. Angelina Jolie has recently had some pictures taken of her nursing her newest arrival. And I was happy to see that she was not completely covered. Not that I have anything wrong with a mom covering her and baby while nursing, I just feel a little more free to not feel pressured to cover. I think that it is important for mom's to nurse in public and not hide the fact that they are providing nourishment for their infant or toddler.

Yes that's right I said toddler. I know that many people feel it becomes inappropriate to nurse their child once they reach a certain age but I do not. I wanted to nurse Isabelle longer but we only made it to 13 months. Bear and I had a little longer run to 18 months. I really hope to make it to at least two with the new baby. And I will not be pushed away in public nursing my child at any age. I hope that all women feel comfortable enough with themselves and their ability to feed their baby whenever possible. For those people in the world who happen to disagree with me that nursing in public is wrong, I feel bad for you, you must not have been nursed as a child.

I hope that more celebrities will feel the need to show off their nursing skills on the front of a magazine or while they are out and about. It can only help to increase public awareness that breastfeeding is natural and convenient.

Colorful Ponies

These are the most colorful ponies I have ever seen. Each pony on this pony ride was all ready “dressed” up for the Halloween month. Pretty crazy! The kids had fun picking out the color of their pony though. You can’t really tell but Bear’s pony has gold glitter everywhere. Where do you think I could get one? I’m sure I would rather have a pony over a dog any day.

The growing belly

Ok so I think I’m a little late on getting this picture out but here it is my five month belly. Or at least as close to in the five month mark as possible. I wore this shirt when I was prego with Bear and of course that was more at the end of my time than the middle and so my belly really pushed the shirt out, not so much this time. Give me a couple more months and you might wonder where I went, because it will be just belly.

Soccer

Everyone is playing soccer but me! That’s right both kids and Ben. Isabelle finally got to start in her soccer league last weekend and had so much fun. I really like it because it is not all about playing the game but also learning skills to help the kids down the road. The first half of the program is working the ball or skill work, while the second half is a short 3 on 3 scrimmage. Each team is made up of five players and one coach. The field also includes a special staff coach on site to help with any issues that might come up. Isabelle did really great for her first week. She seemed a little confused at first then got the hang of things and was on her way. She just went out on the field and did her thing. The same can not be said for all the kids.




When they did their scrimmage game, she was the first one to score a goal.(sorry no picture, the computer, pictures and I are not having a good day, plus you can't really tell because there is a person standing in the way). She was so excited, especially when everyone cheered for her. I did not get a very good picture of it because there were too many people on the field, but you should have seen her face after her goal. I think she is really going to like her soccer team.

Garden Box

The continuing saga of the winter garden is slowly coming to a close. We finally have the structure built and filled in with soil. Now we just need to plant our seeds. Yes that’s right seeds! One day while Ben and the kids were playing outside Bear decided that it would be a good idea to destroy all the hard work we had done on getting ready for our garden and empty out our starter kits. Now we have to start from scratch. Hopefully everything will grow and produce some good stuff but there is no guarantee. The kids did have lots of fun helping Dad get everything ready. They were great little helpers in building the forms and using the drill. We have a slight slope in the back yard as well so we had to dig out our plot a little before filling it in. Bear and Isabelle really enjoyed playing in the dirt. Now the trick will be keep them out of the soil once we get everything planted.

Computer Challenged

Normally I am not computer challenged, but for whatever reason I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to change my background to ones offered from the cutest blog. Today I finally figured it out. I felt pretty dumb afterwards but I guess that is what happens sometimes. I really like their pages, since they remind me of scrapbook pages. I have been trying for months to change to one of their designs and just now figured it all out. So I hope you like it and since I figured it out I might just change it often depending on my mood.

Glass Bottom Boat

The real reason for our visit down to San Antonio was originally to go to the coast but Hurricane Ike put an end to that dream. And of course we would not want to forget about Oma and Grandpa, they are after all reason enough. Since we could not make it down to the coast we thought about going to Sea World and I was having a cheap moment and we decided not to do that. Instead we took a glass bottom boat tour. We checked out the small native Texas fish aquarium first and then got on the boat. Both of the kids were fascinated that they could see under the boat at the turtles, fish and plant life. The area we visited was a fresh water lake, fed by a fresh water spring that travels hundreds of miles across Texas to reach San Marcos. Many of those miles are actually underground. Pretty cool when you think about it, we could even see the spring water bubbling up from the bottom of the lake. Both kids really wanted to take pictures of what they saw, so with a little help from Mom and Oma they did get some good shots off. (I really liked the part when Bear was licking Grandpa’s head and Grandpa did not even notice. I tried so hard to get a picture but was too slow.)

Anyway, the fish were pretty cool and were all different sizes, and so were the turtles. Our guide informed us that the little white flowers on the vegetation growing under that water meant that the water was very healthy. Over all the water was pretty clear and the depth varied from I would say 2 feet to about 27 feet. While not the ocean, it was still pretty fun for the kids, to check out water life in a natural habitat.

Grape Stomp

How would you like to put your feet into a vat of purple grapes and stomp up and down to produce the largest amount of grape juice for a competition? Sounds like fun huh. Well we did not do exactly that but the kids did get to step into some grape juice and make their feet prints on a t-shirt, and then try their “feet” out at stomping a few grapes. I would think it might hurt your feet with the stems still in there but who knows. Not having tried I could not say. For those of you who would like to try, you can go to a grape stomp and see how good you are at making juice. No I don’t think they will make you drink it but who knows. This was the first annual grape stomp at a new housing development down in San Antonio; I can only hope that it will get better with time. The one good thing was that your taste of wine was like a whole glass. That’s right no little bit, that you are swishing around and possibly swallowing, but a whole glass. Pretty cool; except for the prego woman who wanted to try as many as possible but could not because of the size of the “samples.” What I did try was very yummy. Now normally I would not want to ruin a good wine by adding things to it, but the Sangria they had was nice. You could drink a lot of that and not really know that you would be messed up later. I had to pass my cup away after one sip, bummer. I think the kids had the most fun, running around in the pool “trying” not to get too wet. Isabelle really likes her t-shirt and wears it to bed every night she can.

Jumping Off . . .

While we were down at Oma’s and Grandpa’s house, we took the kids for the train ride and to feed the ducks. Now the one set of ducks were not very smart and did not come down to get any food, so we had to a wait a little while for another set. That was hard for the kids, but they got a chance to feed some fish. Anyway, while we were waiting on the ducks I went to take a picture of Bear sitting down looking at all the fish, then he got up. Never one to hold still in a spot for long, I just happened to click the button right as he was getting up and it looks like he is about ready to jump in. The water was not very deep but he did not go swimming in the little river.