Dumbest Holiday EVER

Okay, I know I am totally going to offend people for stating this opinion, but it's my blog.

I'm just going to come out and say it. Halloween is SUPER dumb.

Reason 1: I can buy my own dang candy. And if I do, I don't have to take those crappy DOTS that NOBODY wants. I can go straight to the chocolate.

Reason 2: I HATE paying for costumes that my kids don't want to wear and taking them to things they don't want to go to and eating things I don't want to eat and I definitely don't want my kids to eat.

Reason 3: Any idea about what we're actually celebrating? Paganism, anyone?

That said, I'm a mom, and I have the social obligation to be SO excited to dress up my kids and parade them around and take pictures of them trying to rip parts of their costumes off.

Family Halloween 5K...Yeah, we made it up.

Pumpkin painting...too bad you can't see the reindeer drawn on the pumpkin. Festive.HEB pumpkin cake...Thanks grocery store for providing entertainment for my kid

So, I did and it's done. Praise the good day. Let's get on with the Thanksgiving festivities (which, by the way, is like the BEST HOLIDAY EVER.)

What's it been? Months?

I just need to say that I can't take the harassment anymore. (Katie. Justin. You know what you've done.)

So, I took the boys to Utah during Justin's finals. It was fun to have a vacation while he was putting in 100-hour weeks at school. Seriously haven't ever known anyone who works as hard as Justin. But I digress.

The weather was GORGEOUS the first week. I forgot what cool weather felt like and totally didn't bring appropriate clothing choices, but WOW. The leaves were fabulous.

In front of my brother's house. Andrew loved the leaves. His "monk" loves them too.
So cute.The frenemies. Lucy and Andrew had an epic battle the whole time we were there. It was fun. (PS. Does anyone else feel like the word "frenemy" is the best thing that has come from the 21st century so far?)
Henry was there in Utah too. He's nice. Even nicer since we took him to a "natural healer" and he has SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT FOR TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW.
(Did you catch that? The first two consecutive nights of sleep since LAST YEAR.)

Grandma at Wheeler Farm with the boys. This little trip to "the farm" is filled with funny stories, but I'll spare you. Let's just say that Andrew's fears are many when it comes to the animal kingdom.

The one animal he did like was the roosters. Hmm.Could this be, perhaps, a glimpse into the future?
Henry was totally diggin' this tractor.

There were lots of things we did that I didn't document. I mean, I can't do everything, right? But we loved going to church in our old ward and seeing all our Utah bests. I love that my girlfriends threw a "Megan's in town" party. Made me feel lucky to know so many cool folks. I did all our Christmas shopping and left the goods with my in-laws so I don't have to transport stuff. I saw my two brothers and hung out with my in-laws. It was a great trip and I was feeling homesick to be back in Utah the first week. Then...

I saw this.

And I got happily on the airplane and came home to my husband and 85 degree weather. Lots of Texas love. :)

EFC

This post is Especially For Cassie. I can't imagine that many people really care how we've decorated our teeny, tiny matchbox house, but since Cass requested, here you go. And you are also responsible for leaving the first ever Cassie comment on my blog, since the entire post is dedicated to YOU!

Everyone else, feel free to skip the post...There are no kid pictures to make this interesting. You can read it if you want to get to know my true, boring self.



I take it back. There are kids. SLEEPING KIDS! I know, they both went down for a nap at the same time, and slept for 2 hours. And I cried tears of happiness.


Does the bathroom color scheme surprise you? I can't get away from the green.


And I get lots of comments on the table. Not compliments, just comments. I can't tell if people like it or think it's way weird, but I.LOVE.IT.


And my half planted garden. The other spots are for lettuce, which I can't plant yet (still a titch too hot). I'm in love with the garden, and Andrew seriously wakes up every morning asking to water his plants.
Last of all, nothing to do with anything, is this not the CUTEST thing you've ever seen? I bought it for Molly's babe (she's having a girl!!) and I want to keep it for myself. You know, just in case I EVER get a girl.

Henry J's new 'do + Andrew the Grouch

Justin and I took the boys to get their hairs cut. And guess what? Underneath that rug formed on his head, we found a baby. But we think it's a different baby than we used to have. Weird.At least the forehead hair didn't stick around. That was kind of gross.

And we also found a mean, grumpy almost-3-year-old who does NOT like being interrupted during Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

And I know I mentioned that Henry was sleeping through the night. False alarm. He's not. But he did FINALLY catch on to the bottle holding thing.

And you might be wondering...

Why Justin is absent in all of these events? Well, he's at school.

Here's a fun tidbit:

Justin has this "conquer the world" walk (anyone who served a mission with him is laughing right now) that has only gotten worse since school started. He just kind of dashes around everywhere he goes. That said, he sometimes forgets to pay attention to small details.

Like which carton is milk and which is buttermilk.

Did I know he put buttermilk in his Raisin Bran? Yes I did.
Did I warn him? No. No, I did not.

(If he was paying attention, he probably would have thought it was a mite strange that I was taking a picture of him eating cereal.)

More Best Days

As if Katie wasn't enough, the day after she left, Rick and Doris rolled into town for the weekend. Andrew literally could NOT believe that his Grandma and Grandpa came to HIS HOUSE! In Texas!

We didn't do much sightseeing (I don't know why...College Station is SUPER exciting), but we had SO much fun. The boys were spoiled with attention, and I was spoiled to have visitors and a free arm at church on Sunday. My in-laws make the list of top 10 most influential people in my life, and I LOVE being with them. They are fabulous grandparents and in-laws!

And thank you Rick for helping me "make my dirt" while the lovely Doris helped with the boys. One more project that I don't have to do on my own. Three cheers for you.

Best Days Ever

If anyone knows me well, they probably know much about my sister. I talk about her a lot.

Eek...I know. It was really hot and my makeup kept melting off my face. But, we didn't take many pics together.

She's my favorite sister ever (lucky dog, she is...I only have one sister) and spending time with her makes me feel like a million bucks. So you can imagine my sheer joy at the thought of having her all to myself (well, sharing with my kids) for 10 days. And I've got the pictures to prove it.

Okay, so this isn't a picture proving anything about Katie, but Andrew takes his writing very seriously...Moving on...

We went to the children's museum in Waco. Super awesome. And the dress-ups fit perfectly! Could not have been more pleased.

I'm ashamed to admit I actually considered walking out of the museum with this beauty. The wooden shoes would have totally given me away, though. Like, hey, who let the Dutch girl in?

I could have stayed at this model train thing ALL day. Andrew liked it too.

Katie, however, needed to get somewhere quick. As you can see.

We built Legos in the Lego Castle exhibit. Andrew thinks that knights are "good nights." Cute.

Of course I always have to try a few new recipes when we have guests. So, crisp ravioli with fresh tomato sauce? Yeah. I know.

We also went to the Blue Bell (Ice Cream...redundant reference for Texans) Factory. Come to mama. Also got this bonus free paper hat.

Best part of the Blue Bell Factory: Andrew took so long to eat his ice cream that some dripped on his hand. He looked at it with disgust and said, "What is happening...(dramatic pause)...to my hand?"


Henry did most of his sightseeing from the stroller.

We let the boys swim a lot. It was really hot for Katie. She found out I have not been exaggerating how hot it is here.

While the boys swam or jumped, Kates helped me build my garden boxes. She is just so handy with the drill! (giggles ensue)

Thanks to Katie for giving me great joy in being able to share the lovely land of Texas with you.