The Great Pumpkin Farm!

As we do every year... we headed to the Great Pumpkin Farm!

There are rides, animals, haunted houses, carnival food, all sorts of activities, fall shopping, a bakery and candy shop, slides, hay mazes, hay rides, pie eating contests... so so much more, and of course PUMPKINS!

 

It was 65 and sunny .. perfect day.

 

Samantha loved feeding the sheep

 

And our new little pumpkin making his first appearance at the GPF!

 

The first ride she chose was the giant ferris wheel.

 

And giant slide!

We probably went on this ride the most

over and over...

 

I love my girl

We headed over to see all the pumpkins on display and snap a few pics!



 

Little Mister didnt know what to think of all the Pumpkins

He was so well behaved the whole time.



 

Our little "cookie" as Daddy calls her..

 

I love the way they love each other

 

Best attempt at a family photo

Daddy is snapping his fingers trying to get Andrew's attention.. (not giving the finger.. ha!)

 

Before we left we took one more Ferris Wheel ride with Mommy...

I took a few from the top..

 

Daddy and Andrew 

 

And he was out

It was such a nice time!

We have leftover tickets, so we'll be going back soon!

 

here are some pics from past years at the GPF

Here's her first year ...15 months

 and last year..

 

A Better Day...

Today was a better day.

Well how could it have been worse than yesterday, right? just kidding.

I tend to stress about my kids when there is drama, but what Mama doesnt? I think it comes with the territory of Motherhood.

 

I got a comment that menitoned someone else was going through the same school ordeal as we are.

Thank goodness! Any tips/advice..? Im all ears.

Im feeling better about things today and know that like all things it is just a phase and we'll get through it... but I cant help in the moment of these times to fester and think and over-think it way too much ...and it makes me crazy!

 

We had a pretty good day though.

Andrew took a morning nap and SJ and I ran to Target while Daddy worked, and he slept.

He was in SUCH a better mood today after "unloading" all day yesterday and into today.

He's totally a monster. We lowered his crib mattress AGAIN today.

 But he is totally sweet just the same.

Today I was laying on the couch and he was standing/holding the back cushions and I kept saying "come to mama," and he would fall into me and just hug me and stay still for about 10 seconds and not move a muscle.. I totally needed that today...

 

We had a little pizza party tonight

I always make homemade pizza dough in my breadmaker

I used Whole Wheat White Flour, and the crust came out very very tasty.

 Getting mail helps make any day better as well.

I ordered this bib for Andrew and it came today.

I realized I have SO many monogrammed and embroidered shirts/bibs/dresses for SJ, and hardly anything for my little man.. time to dress him up a bit.

 My new thing lately is making my own favorite non-coffee drink from Starbucks.

I cant always jump in the car with two kiddos, so I bought a box of Passion Tea and the directions for how to make a Passion Tea Lemonade are right on the back

It tastes EXACTLY like Starbucks..

You brew the tea and then combine the tea with regular lemonade.. you can add sugar/sweet syrup to make it a little more tasty

 To end the evening we took a little stroll around our neigborhood.

And now we're all heading for bed..

So glad tomorrow is Friday!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Sucked

I usually do a link up for What Im Loving Wednesday...

But today took an ugly turn for the worse...

 

Ready for a real life mom to vent .. here goes..

Im sure i will remember this day.. but i dont want to forget what we went through today.

Im keeping it real in this blog post, because.. why not? I blog for myself and my family. To preserve memories and moments good and bad.

 

In short... I had to give my 8 month old an enema, and my 3 year old worked herself into hysterics at preschool and I had to go and pick her up...

 

Andrew was up every hour last night.

He hasnt pooped in more than a week...

We've tried prune juice, pear juice, karo syrup...everything

It was getting really bad though..

Long story short... I was planning on getting him an enema after dropping SJ off at school.

 

I get a call from her school about 10 minutes into my ride to Walmart.

She was crying hysterically, and the teachers asked if I would come back and sit in the room since she was that upset. My heart just crumbled. My baby.. upset and scared.. but WHY? everything was going so smoothly... all of the sudden she doesnt like school? what was it?

I dropped Andrew off at home with Daddy (thank god he was working from home today)

I comforted her and sat in her classroom... but I had to leave after a while. Daddy called and A was screaming in pain.. I needed to get his medicine.

 

When it rains it pours.

 

I ran home.. fed him and he fell asleep.

I took SJ and went to get the medicine.

 

Came home.. told her to go play.. I gave her the ipad and turned on some Taylor Swift.. (she loves the song "Mean"...) and she was playing content on the 3rd floor.

 

Daddy and I gave A the enema.

Now if you've ever given one.. holy lord it is awful.. awful for EVERYONE INVOLVED.

He was screaming, I was tearing up, and feeling so badly that I was inflicting pain on my infant.

After I held him, he cried and cried and pushed and pushed..

Finally he is now sleeping sound at 10pm.. hopefully for the night.

 

So one baby was taken care of...for the moment.

 

Back to my SJ.

I spoke with her teacher and we devised a plan.

My Motherly instinct is telling me that she is just getting used to the classroom setting.

She's had encounters where kids have maybe been a little harsh about sharing, or taking turns, and listening to the teacher, and not wanting to do something, seeing other kids crying, fighting, not knowing how  to share yet. She told me the other day that someone pushed her away and said "NO".. and then she said "I was nervous Mama, I missed you"...
BREAK. MY. HEART.....

 

These are all reasons why she is there.

But I think she's nervous (as she openly told me today)

She's nervous about confrontation with other kids.. and interaction.

Because up to  this point she's never had to defend herself or really work out a problem with another kid in a classroom setting.

 

I feel so open and I know Im putting myself out there.

This post is half venting and half worrying.

Motherhood is the hardest job around.

And its hard after a day like today not to feel lost and like you are failing.

I am praying on it for a better day I suppose, and hoping that this too shall pass.

Its just a phase.

 

With Andrew:

More Prunes, Plums, Peaches, Greens..

With Samantha:

It wont be that easy.. I think its gonna take some time and patience.

Today was not such a good day.

Im trying to keep my head up.

I love my babies so much and it pains my heart to see them hurt in any way.

 

Tomorrow is another day... but im SOO glad today is OVER!!!

This Mama is headed for B.E.D!

Weekend in The Buckeye State

This past weekend we spent at my in-laws in Ohio.

We havent been back since 4th of July.. it was a rough visit back then.

Neither child slept well, or behaved well at all.. But not this time.

They were BOTH amazing.

Then we found ourselves saying "gee, we should have stayed 4-5 days.." But how could we have known!

 We left early Friday morning.

I got a venti starbucks the day before to ensure I'd have what it took to manage both kids on the way...

I was scared! ha!

 

Andrew took two naps thank goodness

 

Samantha slept too for about an hour.

It was hard keeping her quiet for 3.5 hours..

The ipad is my saviour.

 

We finally made it to Baka's and Samantha found a furry friend.

Usually Baka's wild kitties arent too friendly.. but this batch is!

 

Friday we just hung around... ate a fabulous homemade roast beef dinner with mashed potatoes and garden tomato salad, homemade chocolate pecan and vanilla ice cream for dessert.. OMG.. I love eating so good when we visit.

 

Saturday we took amazing naps..
While Momma finally got rid of my awful migraine headache... went to run a few errands by myself.
I was only gone an hour.. but i LOVED that hour!
We headed over to Uncle Mark and Aunt Meghan's house for dinner.
And a lot of FUN!

 It was nice for about 1 hour.. then nasty thunderstorms rolled in.

Andrew and Samantha were both in such good moods and had so much fun!

 Dance party after dinner..
The girls love just running around together and screaming... Samantha loves visiting her cousins!

 We had a little mustache fun too..

And Samantha tried PopRocks for the first time!

ha!

 

The sweet girls!



 

Uncle Mark had fun tickling Andrew 

 

We headed home around 7 ish..

For baths, jammies and a little drinking.. haha..

 

Sunday morning Andrew slept for 3 hours ..

we were waiting around to leave... thinking he would wake up any minute!



 

We walked around Baka's yard

Picked Pears and Figs (below)

I'd never tried a fig before, but Baka loves them and has 2 fig trees in her yard.. so I picked a few for the road!

 

Saying goodbye...

We had SUCH a great weekend!!!

 

Oh yea.. and on the way home..

We stopped for a little treat.

Krispy Kreme!

I had not had them since my pregnant days with Samantha in 2009.

I got their coffee to try and it was so good this morning!

 So a fast whirwind trip to Ohio was great in all ways.

Now back to the grind!

 



WILW!!

WILW

1) My mornings with only this lil guy

Its weird just to have one when SJ is in school.

We usually go shopping, or for walks, and he's been so well behaved.

Yes he fits into a cart now at the grocery store.

Unless I bring a stroller, where else would I put him?

 2) Take and Bake Bread

Genious

They sold this in NC where we used to live, and I would buy and freeze
They come out so crusty and wonderful.. mmmm

 

3) Giada DeLaurentiis' new recipe try

Orrichette Pasta with Chicken Meatballs..

Excellente!

Short but sweet

Happy Wednesday!

Around Here ...

Around here this is what has been happening lately.

Im a SAHM with one in school and one on the hip.. its weird, but very good.

Samantha finished her first week successfully...

We got her a Hello Kitty backpack for the 2nd day... because after the first day she showed me all the other kids backpacks on their hooks.. she said "Momma.. look at THIS!!!" as she pointed to all of them... poor bubba.. she needed one of her own.

 I almost cried when I got her little book order in her folder.

This sure brings back memories for me.. I used to love circling everything I wanted and bringing it home.

After all the transition with school, we moved SJ into her big girl bed the weekend before school started. I know she's 3.. some people I know have had their kids in big beds for a while now..

Please dont judge!

SJ was a bit of a challenge to put to bed.. even up until when I was preggo with Andrew..

And when he was born, he was colic.. screamed and cried ALL DAY LONG .. for about 4 months.Im not lying.. see my archives from Jan-April of this year...

So I didnt want to change anything in her routine since after he was born she somehow slept through all the screaming every single night.. dont ask me how!

 She transitioned amazingly.

She slept in her bed ALL NIGHT the first night.. and never called for us since.

Im so glad ... she just loves her bed.. and Im kind of jealous!! Its super comfy... I'd like to catch about 12 hours in there..

 

Andrew has been a little fuss ball this week... I simply dont know what to do to make him happy sometimes.. But Samantha does.

He'll ALWAYS laugh, giggle, observe and smile at her... ALWAYS.

I love that she's my little babysitter.

 Since he's been so fussy.. I've tried some new equipment.

SJ got this car when she turned 1

He's 7 months..

And he's already in it..

 Oh but he isnt stopping there..

He also is pulling up and standing up on toys, his crib, anything he can pull up on.

 He is also falling a lot because he has little balance yet.

So today he fell on a few toys and he has some cuts on his face.. Ahh boys..

 

This weekend I got to cookin' thank goodness.

I made cupcakes for my brother's birthday on Sunday, and made and froze PW Pie Crust

 My little Cinderella.

We got this costume for her to play in..

But I have no idea what she's gonna be for Halloween!

 Yummy Sunday dinner

Fresh ColeSlaw with Cabbage and Carrots from the garden

Panko Fish Nuggets

Oven Fries...

One of our all time fav meals around here..

And thats what's been going on!

Just life with the kids

More news to come.. but I have to wait till the weekend!