Halloween Parties

Today was a busy day of 2 Halloween Parties! The first one was at a friend of ours house, there were friends, food, piñata and an art project. We all had a great time and Ryan didn't see to notice he had a costume on which is a plus with a picky toddler. Then after going home and taking a nap Ryan had a party at his school. Grandma and dad were able to come to this one which made it even better!

Ryan with his pumpkin hood up

After pulling the bottom out of the piñata

Audrey in her pumpkin Tutu!

Ryan and his teacher doing an art project

Grandma helping paint a pumpkin

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to a farm with some friends of ours. It was awesome! There were hayrides pulled by a tractor, train rides, pumpkin picking, sandboxes, goats and so much more. What a great way to spend a fall day!

Playing in the hay

Train ride

Pumping Water

Picking a pumpkin

More Mountain Pictures

Here are some pictures from our outdoor adventures in the mountains this weekend.

Weekend at the Mountains

My mom took us to the mountains this weekend to check out the changing leaves. The weather was amazing with clear blue skies and crispy air. Everyone had a great time, I took a million pictures so I will break them into two blog entries, this one will be from pictures at the house and the other will be pictures from our treks outside. Enjoy! The house we stayed at

Classic.

The shirt was very fitting... grandma gave him chocolate cake for breakfast, most of which he ended up wearing.

Pictures

Because I have been busy lately and don't have a lot of time to write blog entries I thought I would post some pictures instead... enjoy!

Trip to the ER

I feel like as a parent there is a huge checklist of things you will experience. Every weird/ scary/ amazing thing that happens earns you a little check mark. Well I am now able to check off the "Bring your child to the ER in the middle of the night" box.

The reason I have been bad about blogging lately is that my son has been sick. It started off with an infection, he was prescribed antibiotics and at the end of the round it still wasn't better. So they prescribed another one. I warned them that I was allergic to this particular antibiotic but they did it anyway... you can probably tell where this story is going. At first there were just a few small red dots, it's a pretty common side effect so we didn't think much of it. About a day later he started complaining that his knee hurt. I didn't see any connection to the rash, he is a 2 year old boy I just assumed he fell down or something, but it was bad enough that he refused to walk on it and wouldn't straighten it. Later we found out it was edema caused by the allergic reaction. Then his ears started swelling, if you have ever seen the movie Hitch... yeah it was like that. So now I have a kid who can't walk, cries when he has to straighten his legs, has what have now turned into red welts all over his body and his ears are super puffy. At this point I was still willing to wait it out... but the next night.... His feet and hands swell up to the point he can't put his feet on the floor, he stoped eating and he couldn't sleep more then 10 minutes at a time. I was willing to wait out most things but as the rash started spreading up his neck all I could imagine was his airway closing up so at 12:45pm we packed up both kids and headed to the ER.

Ryan was a champ and answered all of the doctors questions. He didn't cry the whole time, he was convinced the doctor could make him better so he cooperated very well. Audrey thought we were on an adventure and smiled at everyone. We went to a brand new ER that is small but super nice and we were the only patients there so we got all the attention. They sent us home with a diagnosis of serum sickness and an epi-pen prescription. Ryan fell right asleep at 2:00am and is still sleeping , hopefully today will be the turning point. at least we know about the local ERs now, hopefully we won't have to use them again.

Toddler Conversation of the Day

Conversations with Ryan this morning....

Don: Who are your teachers at school?
Ryan: Audrey!
Me: What is your other teachers name?
Ryan: King Kong!

... Later....

Ryan: Juice Please
Me: What type of juice do you want?
Ryan: Black Bug Juice!

Bad Day

Everyday is an adventure when you are a parent. Sometimes you look at your kids and you have so much love for them you can physically feel it, other times not so much. Yesterday was one of those not so much days. Let me start off by saying that Ryan is usually a great kid: helpful, super sweet, and all around wonderful. Yesterday he was none of those things. He was tired from refusing to sleep in the big boy bed. He threw things, he screamed, he was angry, he would try and wake up the baby when he saw her fall asleep, he did everything he knew makes me angry. The final straw was when he grabbed my library book and threw it in a sink full of water. Yeah he did that. When Don got home I had to physically leave the house so calm myself down.
I'm hoping it was just a fluke of a day and that he can pull it together. Man, you realize how good you have it when you are faced with a really terrible day.

Big Boy Bed

I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging... but I swear I have been busy!

Ryan has moved into his toddler bed (or as he calls it "big boy bed"). I had thought about this transition for months... okay probably a year. I fretted about how he would walk around his whole nap time, how he would freak out, how he would take out all his clothes and books, how it would be weeks or months before we got back into a routine. You want to know what happened? NOTHING. In fact if anything he is more excited about going to sleep. Today I was letting him stay up a little longer before his nap because we had a guest... and he ASKED to go take a nap in his big boy bed!!! I walked him to his room, asked him to get in bed which he did and then I left. He didn't cry, he walked around the room collecting what he wanted to be in bed with him (all the extra sheets and blankets) and then he laid down and fell asleep. I have always been impressed and in awe of Ryan (come on he's my kid) but sometimes even he can surprise me!

Haircut

Before

During

After

I don't know why this haircut is such a hot topic for judgment... but I like it and happen to think he looks handsome with it short so whatever. People apparently really liked the floppy hair, I had to insist to the hairdresser to cut it this short- she rolled her eyes at me and I really thought she might refuse.

There are a few reasons for the haircut 1) when he sweats the floppy hair sticks to him 2) I have to take him to get a haircut all the time when it's longer 3) He HATES getting his hair washed 4) It was time for a change, it's better to test these things before he is old enough to fight it.. and before he is trying to impress the ladies :). If you hate it... well it's hair it grows back, but I hope you like it because Don and I do- we will likely cut it like this again when summer rolls back around next year.

Early to Rise

Before kids I used to plan my schedule so that I could get places before they closed at night. This morning I got to the bank so early that I had to go grocery shopping next door to pass the time until it opened. This is not the first time it has happened.. Probably once a month I have to go online and look up when something opens because our household seems to function best at the crack of dawn... my how things change in such a short amount of time.

Hostess with the Mostess

Yesterday we hosted our first social gathering since Audrey was born. It went fabulously and made me realize how far we have come as parents/adults and hosts.

When Don and I first started hosting things a few years back we would fight every time. I am big on being hostess and he is well… not. He would forget to offer people drinks, put out food etc. It wasn’t that he did it on purpose it just didn’t occur to him that someone who didn’t come over very often wouldn’t feel comfortable rummaging around in our cupboards looking for a cup. I on the other hand would circulate all the time making sure everyone had everything they needed, that everyone was engaged in conversation and making sure that things were being picked up so there was enough room for people to put their cup down etc. Looking back I probably wasn’t making anyone feel welcome and/or relaxed which had been my goal. Don and I have learned to meet in the middle when it comes to hosting, I have stopped being so crazy (yeah I admit it) and he has started taking over some of the responsibilities. We also put our foot down and only invite people we like, for example no more obligatory invites to ALL of Don’s co-workers. They people we like don’t care if we aren’t perfect hosts, and there is much less stress on us to please everyone. Now at the end of a cookout we sit and talk about how great our friends are instead of what we could have/ should have done.

On top of our drastically different styles of hosting we also tried to offer too much food, we wanted to make sure that everyone had exactly what they wanted and in doing so ended up with lots of leftover food and we ended up cooking/ serving almost the whole party. We have now simplified, this time we offered only hamburgers and hotdogs… and you know what happened? Everyone ate, and no one complained. We also got sides from the store, I didn’t make anything… I figured my time was better spent cleaning the house before people got there. Finally invited people to bring something if they wanted to and we discovered people bring really great things: cupcakes, brownies, pie, deviled eggs etc. So now instead of cooking the whole time, we get to enjoy our friends, and really people aren’t coming over here for the food they are coming over to see us!

A lot of years and two kids later we have learned a lot, not just about hosting but about how to be happy in situations that could be stressful. It’s about the people and the experience not the small details. You would think that with two small children it would be more stressful but we have managed to enjoy ourselves more. I’m glad we are able to show our kids how much fun you can have when surrounded by good friends.

2 Months Old

Audrey had her 2 month appointment today, here are her stats:

Weight: 10 Pounds, 3 Ounces which is 50th Percentile
Length: 22 1/4 Inches which is 50th percentile
Head: 15 Inches which is also 50th percentile

They said she looks great! The doctor did mention that she thought Audrey might end up with Reddish hair!

Today I'm Making...

I've started a new blog. This one is a pet project for me. I have been trying to be more creative in my cooking and this blog is going to be chronicling my adventures in the kitchen through recipes with my commentary and pictures.
So far I only have one entry but you have to start somewhere right? Take a look if it's your cup of tea... if not... well then just stick to this one!

Today I'm Making...