Halloween Week and Pumpkin Poop!

Halloween week is such a blur!  I don't think I made it home before 7 o'clock one night that week. 

Here's "our week in pictures"...kind of. It's missing A LOT of fun things, but those will be revealed later on...lots of good things!

Autumn got to carve her pumpkin - she LOVES doing this. 

This girl is not afraid to get in and get dirty.

Brooklynn on the other hand?? She's a little less inclined to play with the goop.  Actually, I was trying get all "teacher" on them and tell them the name of al the parts of the pumpkin, and when I told them about the "pulp," Brooklynn goes, "Pumpkin POOP? Ew! Thas disgustin'!"  Which you can see by the expression on her face. haha!

Then Daddy got in there and taught her how to use "tools." Every daddy's dream is that their little girl will want to play with tools, right!? haha... Autumn is right on track with that.

Her pumpkin masterpiece!

Also last week, we had a Halloween Party with our friends.

When you can choose to be anyone else other than yourself, always choose a mermaid! Right?  What makes this picture even more perfect is B in the background... haha! I love it.

Then, I made Frankenpudding - for both my classroom and my girls... everything is a 2 for 1 in teacher and mommy world these days. 

Then it was Trick or Treat time!  Pete did NOT want to go inside, and wouldn't even budge when Ron was calling him in. He decided that hiding under my legs was going to save him. lol Ron had to pick him up and carry him inside. An 80/90 pound dog. Such a baby. 

My feet were hurting SO bad that day that I had Ron take the girls around the neighborhood.

And I stayed back on Candy Duty...except, the candy was extremely close...arms length. Not a safe distance. lol.

And one more picture for the week. Autumn's school was having spirit week where the kids got to dress up each day for something. Monday was western day. Both girls are just so stinkin' cute in their boots. 

Autumn Rose's Birth Story

Going back in time and writing about my 2 girls' birth stories is probably not what I should be doing right now in the midst of all the chaos that IS my life right now.

But to me?

It's top priority. I don't want to ever forget. So I want to write it down to have it forever.



So, here is her story.

I woke up that morning to go to work.  Autumn wasn't due for a few more days.

I was having some cramping, but didn't know if it was THE cramping.  So I called my friend, Kristi (T.) and she told me to stay home from work. She has 3 kids, so I figured she knew what she was talking about..ha!

They continued to get worse and around 9 or 10 that morning, my doctor told me to head to the hospital. Later that day, I was having full-blown contractions, but I was barely dilated. So they eventually broke my water for me... AND gave me the epidural. That was pure heaven.

I was feeling fine and dandy, and then around 9:00 Ron got restless... and hungry. So he headed to the "cafe" to get some dinner for us. Welllll.... he almost missed the birth of his first-born! I was sitting there thinking "hmm... it feels like one of the cords is being tugged on, so I called the nurse in to check my cords to make sure they were all where they needed to be. At this time, Ron came back with food and I told him that I just sent for the nurse. The nurse came, looked, and said...
"Oh, that's because I can see the head!"

Um... excuse me?!

Here we go!!

5 minutes of pushing and Autumn Rose was born: 

September 3, 2009

7 pounds, 12 ounces

9:42 p.m.

20 1/4 inches long

My little girl has since given us so many joys, and so much love and laughter...along with frustrations.  She is such a great big sister (most of the time) and still loves to be my little cuddlebug.

35 weeks...cursing the scale!

As someone who has worked so hard for so many years to lose the weight, keep it off, and get toned, the hardest thing to do is to see the scale go up every week. 

Yes... I realize it's for a good reason... 

yes, I realize I'm being silly. 

Yes, I realize it's not as bad as it could be. 

Yes, I realize I'm still under my weight at the point I was the highest I've weighed NOT pregnant. 

You heard that right. At one point, I was heavier than I am at 9 months pregnant, but it was just extra weight. Weight that I had to work HARD at getting off...and keeping off.

I don't have the body that bounces back...like how some people walk out of the hospital in their PRE-maternity clothes???  I curse at you under my breath!

I realize that it's silly to feel this way. BUT, sometimes, it's still hard. 

This was me, a week ago, at 35 weeks. That day, I was feeling pretty good. lol.

Today was another visit to the doctor...and another look at the scale. Seriously? Do we NEED to do this every time?

Pumpkin Patch Pickin'

We may not have the beautiful fall foliage that the north has, but man, do I love fall in Florida. It's cool, sunny and breezy. It's probably one of my favorite seasons here.

Today, we finally went to the pumpkin patch. Of course, we don't have actual pumpkin patches, but I sure do love the sea of pumpkins on "flats." In the morning, we went with our friends that we go with every year. 

The girls always love being with their friends, and today it was a little fall festival.

Our friends (minus Hailey-boo!)

Then, later that afternoon, we went to the pumpkin patch as a family, to actually pick out our pumpkins.

Hahaha! Brooklynn sure does know how to pick 'em. 

I just can't handle her smile sometimes. 

Happy fall, y'all...from my cute little scarecrows!

Life is a Circus

Yesterday marked 6 years that Ron and I have been married. 

Last year, we went to Island of Adventures, which was a great symbol of the rollercoaster we had been on that year.  This year, we went to the "circus." haha. Still... so appropriate for our lives. 

We had been to Cirque Du Soleil before, MANY moons ago, even before we were married.It was nice to see it again, almost 10 years later.

As with any day in our life, the day was chaotic, trying to do too much in one day. Thankfully we had a little help. It really does take a village to raise kids. Yesterday, some of Autumn's favorite friends (Nate and Sloan) were having a birthday party (they're twins), but because we had so much to do before we left for Orlando, they were going to have to miss it. Then, Mimi came to the rescue! Their babysitter (during the day) was going to the party too and told us we could drop off the girls and she would watch them at the party for us. What would we do without Mimi?  So we ran to do a few things we had to do while they were at the party and then came back to get them. 

We were, of course, running late, and didn't get to leave for Orlando by the time we wanted. So we didn't have time to eat dinner before the show. So, we opted for pretzels.

Ha!

Anniversary dinner at it's finest.

Then we got to see the show. It was so great. Even seeing it again. It really does amaze me at the athleticism that some people can have. It really kind of motivates me to get back into shape that much quicker after this baby.

Well, since dinner was a bust, I decided I was going to going to redeem it by getting myself a fun dessert! I have actually never had a caramel apple. 

I know.

But now I can cross that off my list! It wasn't just a caramel apple. It was a Minnie Mouse Halloween Chocolate Caramel covered Apple.

Yes. It happened.

I ate it. It was SO good. Then my body had issues because I'm NOT used to eating like that. But it was worth it. I can say I've had one and they are SO good. But I don't think I need another one. lol

While we were gone, the babysitter (night time) sent us a picture of the girls. They seriously melt my heart sometimes. And other times, they make me question ever having kids - ha!  

Happy anniversary to the man who is my best friend.  

He drives me crazy. I drive him crazy. We don't always agree. He makes me laugh. He keeps me grounded. He helps calm me when I'm high-strung (wait... me? high strung - ha!)  There are many ways we work, and some ways we don't, but find a way.

Life is a circus. Crazy. Fun. Funny. Hectic. A lot of work. But when you work at it, you can see just how totally worth it, it is!  Can't wait to see what the next year of marriage brings!