First blog of the year

 

It's been a while.  New Years resolution is to write in the blog once a month.  And it is now January 30th so I'm doing so well!

This is behind other important and specific goals like "Play less Candy Crush" and "Workout more" and "Eat less crap", so I don't know how well we're going to do.

 

Bear with me as we are gonna take it back to October 2013!  Way back to the archives when we could venture outside and do activities.  Please excuse the winter bitterness.  I have already told Marc that he needs to bring me home one of those special lamps I saw in Sky Mall for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).  Because when I don't get sunshine, I get a little loco. 

I'm afraid that just this morning I was outside screaming at my garage door for not closing as I'm trying to leave my house for the first time in three days.  "There's nothing in the way!  Oh my God, CLOSE!!!"  Why I am I screaming at an inanimate object?  This is what 7 degrees does to people.  It makes them angry.  Sorry to all my neighbors that witnessed the berating of the garage door.  But, I mean, seriously, he is just the worst.

 

And if I'm honest about it, I feel a little guilty at my poor job on documenting all of their milestones, especially Lily's.  The blog went from like 28 posts a year when Henry was her age to my big 2013 tally of 2 posts.  But I also need to realize when Henry was her age, FB was not as big of a deal and Instagram did not exist.  So, I'm using other avenues to document.  Getting up in all kinds of social medias y'all!  And when Henry was a baby, I worked so that gave me some time everyday in front of my computer. 

That never happens anymore. 

NEVER.

And I'm in a new phase of life where if I'm holding anything electronic in my hands, a small child will come somewhere from behind the shadows and try to take it from me.  It's come to the point where I hide my phone behind a pillow while I'm sitting on the couch in my vain attempts to disguise myself, but she knows!  How does she know at 18 months old?  She'll come over to me, paw my jeans, and say "Kee kee".  Like any red blooded American, she's obsessed with cat and baby videos on You Tube.  I mean, like how is this starting so early?  Damn you Steve Jobs.

 

Here's some pictures from our adventures this past fall.

 

Our annual trip to Hodges Farm!

Lily playing in her brother's construction site

They're not related at all are they?! 

I decided spur of the moment to take both of them to a place called Patterson Farms.  Consistent with most of my stay at home mom endeavors, I didn't plan this visit at all and just thought we would drop by.  I had already rebuffed a friend's invitation to visit a different farm since the hayride alone would have cost $30 for all of us and we would have to make an appointment and join a school group. 

For some reason, I turned into my dad (sorry dad!) and immediately got irate that a simple hayride would cost that much.  Rip off!  Have I mentioned that I'm cheap too?  Can't really blame it all on the dad.  And I also think I have an issue with rules.  Maybe just a little one.

 

So, I decided to go it alone and visit this different one.  We walk in, minding our own biz, looking at the pumpkins and such and we're told we have to go back to the visitors desk.  Here we go!  Suddenly, I was paying $25 for a hayride and being forced to join a group. 

Thwarted again! 

That's my story of that day.  Just realized it's not interesting at all.

You're welcome.



 Little missy up to no good.  She loves playing CD's and dancing.

 

 And this.  Both of my kids love taking all the clothes out of dressers.

 

Playing with our buddy Cooper at our hangout, the Sandbox Park.

 

 By the hammer of Thor!

I bought this outfit on a whim off Amazon to see if he would like it.  He is only interested in working man costumes (construction worker, fireman, etc) but thought he would be adorable in a superhero get up.  He loved it!  Doesn't even know who Thor was but anything with a cape works.
I couldn't decide on Lily's costume.  I would spend hours looking online on Etsy looking at all the adorable girls costumes.  I ended up dressing her as a little German "Heidi" girl/beer waitress, using some suede lederhosen that Marc wore when he was a baby.  My father-in-law came over from Germany when he was eight years old, so I believe these are genuinely authentic German garb.  Henry was too fat to wear them when he was a baby at Halloween so I definitely wanted Lily to give them a try.

 

We joined our buddies from preschool for trick or treating this year.   

 

Geemaw and Aunt Ashie came up to visit and trick or treat with us!

 

First pair of pigtails....that my mom fixed.  I swear I need to go to little girl hair fixing school.  I'm hopeless!  Can somebody teach me how to braid?  Anyone?

Henry and our little buddy James.  Isn't he cute??  I'm trying to set up an arranged marriage between him and Lily.  

Henry and his buddy Will at Touch A Truck.  Lily photo bomb!  Touch a Truck is this awesome event for charity where they fill a parking lot with all kinds of trucks (fire trucks, police car, monster truck, ambulance, old-timey cars, tractors, bulldozers..etc).  Basically, a little boy's dream.  They can not only touch them, but also climb in them and explore.  I considered telling him that it was his birthday party since it really can never be topped by anything I could do, but I decided to put in some effort and give him an actual party.  Because that's the kind of mom I am.

 

Some beautiful pictures that Ash took with her PHONE.  She's amazing.

 

Since we were at the beach for his 3rd birthday, I felt the need to give him a birthday party for the big 4.  We chose to have it at our neighborhood park and do a costume/Halloween theme, since Marc was going to be in China for work for Halloween and would miss all the trick or treating festivities. 

I try to please all people at all times, my friend.

I had flashbacks of our wedding morning rain storm, as I woke up that day to a chilly and rainy weather.  But after considering having 10-15 little people running loose in my house and having no kinds of games planned, I decided to press on!  Everybody still had a great time and the kids didn't mind getting a little wet. 

The fireman and his little Dalmation dog!  I'll have you know, that I created Lily's costume myself.  You would be amazed what can be accomplished with a hot glue gun and a bought tutu from Old Navy.  And a bought turtleneck from Walmart.  And a bought pair of Mickey ears. 

So, when I said I made it, I meant that I glued on felt circles on the turtleneck and white tulle on the ears. 

OMG, so homemade.



 

Talk about Thanksgiving & Christmas in the next blog.  I have a child grabbing this keyboard out of my hand.

 

Love, Lyndsey

ESFP fun

Hi all!  It's finally starting to feel like fall around here and this is when I get stir crazy every year.  After the last couple weeks of August being so hot (I realize I have lost my Texas card.  We're talking mid 90's.)  and being cooped up, I just had to get out of town!  I don't know if other stay at home moms are with me on this, but since I'm home so much, I just seem to crave new experiences, new surroundings, new places.  Anything new and different, I am in.  Plus, I'm an ESFP I've recently found out.

 

On the Meyers-Briggs personality summary page, it sums me up with "You like to have fun.  You are a people person.  You love parties.  You like to perform."
The celebrities with my type were basically old actors like Goldie Hawn, Bob Hope, & Marilyn Monroe.  These were the most notable ones.

I can't remember which type Marc was, but I think it was this.

His summary was basically "You are the smartest man in the world."
Famous celebrities were the likes of George Washington, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton.
You know, like presidents.

So I would say, he married up right??

Please do the test.  It's so interesting to see what your type is.  Make your spouse do it even if he protests.  He'll find out he's a genius and you like parties.  Everybody wins.

Here's some pics from our last couple weeks around here.

 

1st dentist appointment.  Looking good, although we have to try and stop thumb sucking.  Good luck with that!  It is attached to him.

 

Look at that belly!  

 All dressed up for church

 

A little sprinkler play during the last days of summer



 

4 Generations!  We had such a great visit with my mom, dad, and gram a couple weeks ago.

 

1st day of preschool.  Cutie!



 

Found this on my iphone.  Guess Lily decided it was time for her first selfie!



 

Funny faces



 

 

I am enjoying these rare moments of sibling love. 

She loves all of his trucks, sigh.  No dolls for this girl.

 

 Bebopping around the Bradford Store.  This country store is about five minutes from our house.  All kids get a free sucker and they have old timey toys for them to play with while I shop.  Sure, everything is organic and an avocado costs $3, but it's worth it, right?  For the experience?   Right? 
I am such a yuppie.  Oh, and they have a beautiful butterfly garden and chickens running around.  And a small antique store with blue mason jars and rusty construction toys.  So pretty much the best place ever.

 

We have been wanting to go to Greenville, SC all summer after my friend Jennifer told us what a fun place it was to take the fam.  Our first weekend with highs in the 70's, we decided to hit the open road and drive the 1 hour and 45 minutes to check it out.  I am so glad we did!  I cannot even tell you how beautiful this place is.  The park in the middle of their downtown reminded me of parks in Europe.  Flowers everywhere you turn, waterfalls, bridges, people making out, artists painting, kids playing...like this is in South Carolina???  I'm sorry I judged you so harshly SC. 
Everywhere we turned there was something amazing.  Oh, look here's a splash pad!  Oh, look a children's garden!   Even the underpasses were landscaped.  If I was homeless, I would want to live here.  We saw probably about 6 sets of brides and grooms taking photographs around the city and 2 weddings.  It's that type of picturesque place.  I mean, there are twinkly lights in all the trees lining the main street.  I actually even teared up a little bit.  It was that pretty.  And I guess I like twinkly lights.  A LOT. 
Obviously, my pics don't do it justice.
Go ahead and check out Falls Park on the Reedy on Trip Advisor in the Parks section.  Ranked #6 in the US.  Like not far behind Central Park.  Hidden gem.  Went home and had to check out houses in Zillow in case we need to move there immediately or something.
When I get inspired, I am all in.  For a whole ten minutes.
 

This is my favorite part of being a stay at home mom.  When the kids can be outside almost the whole day playing and I can sit and read a book/magazine/kindle while watching them.  Ahhh....almost feels like a vacation.  And they would both be outside all day if I let them.  I think that's a good thing.  Maybe I'm doing something right?

 



On the other end of the spectrum....the days that are not that awesome make me want to do this.



And then go on a girl's weekend!  I just got back from a trip to Blowing Rock with my preschool mom buddies.  We had so much fun!!!  My favorite part was just sitting around laughing & drinking on the deck with these beautiful surroundings.  Again, this is the most boring mountain landscape photo of all time and does not at all do justice to the scene.  The only thing we had to watch out for were bears!  Literally.  They had numerous bear sightings at night and in the day (omg) so that cut short our plans for hiking.  Darn.  We did see some wild turkeys and deer, but thanks be to the Lawd, no bears.  

 

This is me crouching down since all my friends are 5'2" and therefore making my booty seem gigantic when in fact it is becoming quite tight and shapely due to my regular workouts.  Rationalizing.

Not that big!  Promise.

This is Jackie and Misty.  Love them.  So thankful for all my friends I've met through Henry's preschool.  We have so much fun together.



 

And when I got home, Lily was wearing Henry's shirt and Henry promptly ate a four course meal of cheese stick, crackers, an apple, and a banana.  And Lily had decided to take a nap on the floor right before I arrived.

But they were alive! 

I didn't say a word. 

Until now...ha!  Love you honey.  Thanks for letting me go!



Love,

Lyndsey