Fall Festival!

Keeping with the I don't have time for anything theme that I keep somehow falling into, going to the farm this year was another one of those things. Luckily this week Jaiden was off of school both Monday and Tuesday so we seized the moment & took advantage of the great weather Tuesday and went. My sister used to work at the farm we visit every year and we luckily get by without having to pay. It ain't about where ya go, it's about who ya know! Truer words have never been spoken. I always use the farm as an excuse to get Jaiden dressed in a nice button down and try to get him to cooperatively take some pictures for me. 

By this time Jaiden was over pictures, and judging by John Henry's face, so was he. 

John Henry's newest thing is sticking his little tongue out every chance he gets. And he always make the cutest freaking faces! And Emma, well little miss has 5 teeth now and you can clearly see them all when she cheeses! 

The farm is always such fun! They have so many cool things that we always have fun doing. Our favorites have to be the pumpkin shooter. They load mini pumpkins into the cannon and they have old beat up cars with targets spray painted on the side that you try to hit. Jaiden is a pretty good shot, he managed to hit the cars both times! Along with the pumpkins are corn shooters. Yup exactly as it sounds! You load corn cobs into another shooter and try to hit the targets. Either one, it's always fun and exciting watching the pumpkins explode and seeing all the corn kernels flying everywhere on impact.  I think Jaiden's other favorite is the paintball guns. They have a tent set up with all sorts of different targets you can hit. It's apparent that him and Aunt Kelli enjoy shooting paintball guns. It is pretty fun! 

And I strategically placed this picture with the pure intention of misleading you to believe that the funnel cake and soda were consumed after the fun and games took place, in fact this is not true. They were consumed before noon and could technically be considered lunch? You only live once and what kid(and adult) wouldn't want a funnel cake for lunch? Hello? (Me)

All Hallows Eve 2014

So my favorite holiday is Halloween. When I was younger it was always Christmas, but for job related reasons as an adult, Halloween has taken the top spot as my favorite. John Henry wore a Halloween themed outfit almost every.single.day during the entire month of October and I loved every single minute of it!

John Henry on his very 1st Halloween!

My boys on Halloween morning! 

This year John and I I decided that we were going to actually "dress up." We decided I decided that going as a hunter and his doe would be the perfect couples costume. This mainly stemming from my want to do something where I didn't have to go HAM on an expensive costume and something where John didn't have to actually dress up. With him it was more of a business as usual type dress. Which worked. I got a decent picture of him and I. And I just loved my makeup. 

How great is it, that the very 1st picture that we took as a family of 4 was on Halloween. I loved it. 

John Henry as Emma looked so cute in their little baby costumes. I love baby costumes. They are awesome! Although next year I will probably make John Henry's costume. But now the real challenge is decided between now and then what he is going to be. 

And Halloween would not be Halloween without some comic relief. And yes even I the baking wonder still has epic food fails. I can make great cookies, awesome cakes.. I can bake like Betty Crocker and cook like Paula Deen but when it comes to crafty foods, my "mummy dogs" looked more like "mummy dongs." And it was the funniest thing of the entire night. And of course all at my expense. But it's okay next time these witches will just starve! 

Happy Halloween Eve!

Halloween Eve started off like any other day off! With a nice iced coffee! My days would be in utter chaos unless this chilly beverage has been sipped on. Me and the bestie met early morning on Thursday for breakfast at our favorite spot. Panera! We try to go as often as possible, which lately has not been often at all! After that we headed over to Target to buy things, the many things that we would need to cater to the millions of different Halloween parties and events, that our kids were going to take part of. I love love love going to Target! Except that I spend way more money than is absolutely necessary. We also had a nice trip to Babies r' Us. Our friend is having a baby, and her shower was the Saturday after Halloween!

Because I have been so stupid busy with everything at work lately, and football, and no weekends off, I completely goofed on all the plans that I had for me and the boys. Believe me there were many a plans, to spend hours and hours at the pumpkin patch, pumpkin carving, taking fantastic pictures of the boys and Emma under some pretty fall colored trees, baking tons of pumpkin flavored goodies, apple picking, and many more..But again like the tulip and sunflower fields this summer, I totally bit the bullet on that one. So, I took my one day off and jam packed it with everything that we could possibly fit into one day! 

So I pulled Jaiden out of school early for a fun filled day at the pumpkin patch  an "appointment"... Yeah, an appointment with fun! There is this little pumpkin play place that is not too far from where we live, so we took our boys there. It was great, they had tons of bounce houses, haystacks, a giant teepee, and a cornhole game( which Jaiden happened to love, and now wants one for Christmas..SCORE!)

After the pumpkin patch, we went back home where I slaved and made over 100 cookies for our Halloween party at Mirtha's house that was later that afternoon, and for Jaiden's Halloween party that was going to be at his daycare on Friday. I made these amazing cake batter cookies that I found here. I subbed out the rainbow sprinkles for some sprinkles that were orange, black and purple, and had some ghost and bat shapes in them. They worked out just fine and looked really festive!

Jaiden and John Henry had fun at the Halloween party at Mirtha's house. There were about 15 little kids running around and screaming. I was dying slowly losing my mind. Jaiden's costume this year was a skull commander and his mask scared all the little kids, so inevitably he had to take it off. The kids just couldn't deal. And I just couldn't deal with the crying.

Back to trying to squeeze every. last. thing. into one day, when we got home from the party we carved our pumpkins that we had picked earlier that day. Jaiden still hates cleaning out his pumpkins. He thinks it's gross! But I told him, that it comes with pumpkin carving. Gotta do what ya gotta do!

Too many fun and festive things going on in one day this year. Next year I will make a better attempt to be proactive at getting things done in a more timely fashion..It'll make for a much less tired mama, and staying up until 10:30 on a school night..Shhhh..Let's keep that a secret!

Our weekend and more!

What a somewhat enjoyable weekend it was..Minus the aching husband, and sick children it turned out to be alright! John got all 4 of his wisdom teeth pulled on Friday and like the man that he is, chose steak as his last meal that he would fully be able to enjoy until he fully heals. Duh. Steak. Who couldn't see that one coming from a mile away.

The before picture. After the operation John was woozy. It was quite entertaining actually. I was really nervous while he was waking up from anesthesia. He can say some pretty funny inappropriate things, but thank god he was well behaved. Of course though coming out of the surgery his 1st comment to the doctor was "You mean I can't have a bacon cheeseburger. You're the one who is right on top of a bar." Ha! The office is right on top of a bar. And it was lunch time. No food since the night before. Needless to say John was hungry hangry. And it smelled freaking wonderful!

After Jaiden's football game on Saturday we went to brunch with my mom. I decided to take 6 days off of work, so I would have some time to spend with my babies before the holiday madness. I will undoubtedly lose my noodle when holiday season starts. Lets just say wine is always the very 1st thing on the weekly grocery list.. Anyways, I was able to take a mini vacation over the weekend and through the course of the week. I absolutely hate working weekends or days in general, so weekends off for me are always a win! I get to hang with my mom, and hang with my babies, and almost always my niece. We encountered an odd character who was our server at the diner.. She asked if John Henry and Emma were twins and when we said "no, cousins." Her response was "1st Cousins?" and when my mom nodded her head yes, she said "Well then I guess they can't get married.." And then she proceeded to tell us a funny joke about dating cousins. It was actually very funny. But weird in the situation. Now we live pretty close to West Virginia where there are jokes that commonly go around about people marrying cousins, and all that, which I'm 100% sure happens. Side note: Watch the 1st season of My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding on Netflix. It'll answer all your questions about the aforementioned topic. 

Saturday night Jaiden spent the night at my moms and went to dinner with my step dad before the FSU game came on. And on the incredibly rare occasion Jaiden will transform into a human garbage disposal. And when I say it's rare, like spotting a bald eagle rare. He consumed 6 slices of pizza, 2 bowls of pasta and 2 cinnamon rolls. The only things that Jaiden ever eats in mass amounts are rice, beans and fried eggs(all together) spaghetti, and green pasta(pesto spaghetti). So naturally when my step dad asked why he was so hungry..He tells him that I only fed him half a cookie that day. Which is only half true. Jaiden ate pizza, and 2 bags of snacks in between the alleged half cookie and Cici's. Little liar.  

The next day was probably the best thing that Jaiden has ever done. I love to say that the events Jaiden, John and I have done have been this exciting, but I doubt it. Pops got 2 tickets to the Redskins game vs. the Titans. And let me tell you when I say Jaiden. Was. Elated. He has never been so excited about something before ever! And ever since then it is all he talks about. It was great! The seats they had were in the box suites, so it was all warm and cozy, all catered with food and drinks up the wazoo. They had the best time! I'm so glad that Jaiden has such great grandparents who are just as excited to share these moments with him as I am! But now going forward it's going to be rather difficult to beat those expectations... Pops took Jaiden to his very 1st football game and THEY WON! John told Jaiden that he was their lucky charm and he was over the moon that they won when he was there! I normally am not a Redskins fan, but seeing him so excited over their win just puts a huge smile on my face! 

John, Baby John, me and Berkley spent Sunday relaxing, doing nothing. The family squirrel  John was still not feeling 100% so he stayed home. I ventured to my friends house to hang out with her and check out her new place. Which is so great...And I had a good time. Except Baby John Cried. and cried. and cried some more. He has not been feeling great this weekend. So that on top of gas. I think pissed is a very accurate description of his mood. 

Sadly as of today my vacation was cut short so I go back to work tomorrow..Wait,, Just wait for it...Well I guess no confetti and balloons will be falling from the skies today. But hopefully there will be one more weekend I can take before Black Friday...Keyword; Hopefully.

John Henry's 5 months and more!

5 months down... Time is flying by so fast with little man and all I want is for him to stay a chunky baby FOREVER! I know that can't happen, however he is just the happiest baby and I just love this stage in babyhood. 

We don't have an exact weight for JH but my niece Emma weighs about 17lbs and I'm pretty sure that he weighs more than her! And since it's October and Halloween month it's only appropriate that I have a festive outfit for his 5 month pictures! 

I used to work for Gymboree and they ALWAYS have the cutest jammies for the holidays! Can you believe chunker is wear 6-12 months already. His thighs just eat the pants up! 

He is sleeping much better this month, we have began to put rice cereal in his bottle which he seems to like in his bottle... but he does not like to eat rice cereal on it's own. Nope not at all. 

He still loves when Jaiden plays with him! And takes pictures and reads him books. When he starts to cry, Jaiden always says "come on Baby John, don't you know I have a headache!" These kids crack me up! 

John Henry still hates being on him tummy but is actually very sturdy sitting upright without support. He plants his hands down and can make sudden movements without falling backwards. 

This week was also my youngest sisters 17th birthday. It's too funny that my youngest sister is also the tallest sister. She stands about 8 inches taller than I. Womp. Womp. Womp. But her being 17 makes me feel old. Hell me being 26 makes me feel old but I see no sign of old age stopping any time soon, so I say bring it! We were able to go over to my parents house for dinner and birthday cake.. Cause ya know I love me some birthday cake! 

Happy 5 months to John Henry and Happy 17th Birthday to Julia! May the young ones keep getting older! 

Our weekend!

AAhhhhh this weekend... Glad that it happened and glad that it's over! I had inventory at work this Sunday but I'm getting too far ahead of myself.. Saturday was an absolute nightmare! I woke up super early Saturday to make some of my favorite double layer pumpkin cheesecake pie! Jaiden was supposed to have a football game Saturday morning at 10am which until about 8:45 was still on even though it had been downpouring since Friday morning/afternoon. So we finally got the cancellation text which I had secretly hoped for.. It's no fun sitting outside in the rain with a 4 month old. It was Johns Saturday to work, so that would have been all me and I was not having that! Instead we went to hang out with my mom and go to attempt to go to IHOP before I had to go to work.  

I love this picture of the 3 of them. I think it's funny that Jaiden looks so much younger in this picture. He's got such a baby face! 

One of John Henry's many Halloween outfits! 

We eventually made it to IHOP only to find a line out the door and decided on another yummy NASTY choice.. Anita's. Bad service, even worse food....Some of their locations are on point others, not so much! 

I managed to plan my day out accordingly, get all my errands done and still make it to work on time. Well then things change and I misread emails and texts from Jaidens coach and think that the cancelled game has only been postponed until later that afternoon. Well to my surprise after I drop John Henry off at my dads 15 minutes away from Jaidens game, get Jaiden to the ball field by 1:30... NO. ONE. AROUND. NO FOOTBALL. NO REFS. NO KIDS. NADA. 

It is now 1:35pm(& keep in mind I have to be at work 30 minutes away at 2pm) and now I have to drive Jaiden to my dads, 15 minutes in the opposite direction. Plus traffic going towards my job sucks, so needless to say I was 30 minutes late to work.  Which threw my whole day off and sent me into a tailspin. But I made plenty of pie which helped me make it through my work shift.

My brother was home from college for the weekend and Jaiden absolutely loves to hang out and play football with Uncle Josh and Aunt Julia.. They always have so much fun! So since my brother doesn't come home that often Jaiden spent the night at my dad's house. My sisters birthday is this Wednesday so they went to dinner to celebrate since Josh was home. 

We hung out there for a while, Jaiden and my dad threw the football around outside while I stayed inside and visited with my sister and stepmom. 

Sunday afternoon was the rescheduled football game... Or at least it better have been or I would have been pissed. Again, Jaiden has been dying for Josh to watch him play football! My brother played high school football and his team won states 2 years in a row. There are video montages of both seasons and Jaiden has watched them about a million times. Uncle Josh is Jaidens football idol. So he was able to come and see a game and Jaiden was elated. And a bit of a show off. Always show-boating. ALWAYS. 

After the game I went to work and endured 9 grueling hours of inventory. Reason # 1,456,299 why I hate retail! I did luck out and get Columbus Day off which was cool. I got caught up on my shows and even started on my 8 mile long craft list.. Maybe I'll have some new things to show next time!