And it begins.

So last night we started off the Halloween weekend with some trick or treating and a carnival that one of the colleges on the island (Texas A&M- Galveston) hosted. It started at 7, so Bo was a little hesitant to take the kiddos, seeing as it was their bedtimes, I convinced him we should go, so away we went!!

It started off with trick or treating in the dorms, and then we moved on to the Gym to where the carnival was, complete with a bouncy house, which Carter bounced in for like a half hour. It was a ton of fun. I was way shocked. I thought the kids would come away with a little candy, but MAN, they came away with each of their buckets FULL. W.O.W. And it's only Thursday night. Now if I run out of treats for the trick or treaters on Saturday, I know where to get my spare. . . haha.

Megan stole the show. She was D.A.R.L.I.N.G. in her penguin costume. People kept taking her picture. Carter? Well he wanted to be Superman for Halloween, but last night? Noooooo. He had to be a pirate. So a pirate he was, matey, and a whole lot of treasure he found. Arrr.

When we got home that night I did what I always did growing up, I spread out all of Carter's candy and organized it, to show him what he got. Bo was so confused. He was wondering what I was doing and making fun of me. Seriously? Is my family the only family that came home and spread out the candy on the floor, organized it, and then bartered it?? That's what we did. I loved Milky Ways, but not Snickers. Golden was opposite. So we traded. 3 for 3. Sometimes we'd get good and barter 3 Nerds for one Reese's, or in Libby's case, we'd get 3 Reese's for one Nerds. hahahaa. Such fun. Nobody else did this? Bo's family apparently did not. huh. Sad. That is not going to be a repeat in MY house. There will be loot to be sorted and traded. haha.

Now we're off to our ward party and trunk- or - treat!!! And what Carter will be, well your guess is as good as ours.

Family Fun

So Bo and I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese yesterday as a surprise. We've been feeling the need for some family time, especially since Bo is going to be starting OB-GYN next week and will be BUSY for the next 8 weeks.

We had a great time. Carter was so surprised! He kept saying he was so happy. Loved it. Carter and Bo played racing game after racing game, threw footballs, and did practically everything. Meg? She was happy walking around with her cup and a couple of coins. She's in that stage where she likes to take things out of a bowl, or in this case cup, then put them back in, and then repeat process over and over and over and over and . . . you get the idea. I had a great time just watching them all, gathering the tickets, and playing the new game, Deal or No Deal. haha.

I love Family time!! Especially since it's MY FAMILY.

Bailey's Wedding

One of my Young Women, from a couple of years ago, was married last weekend in the Houston, TX Temple. The exciting thing about this wedding is that Bailey is a convert, and the ONLY one in her family. She is such an example to me and my YW. She is AMAZING. She is so strong in the church. She was baptized at around 16, and in the time she was baptized to the time she graduated H.S., she completed her Young Womanhood Recognition!!!! As I said, AMAZING. She completed it in 2 years, where I know it takes most of us the entire 6 years of being in YW, and that's with our Mom's encouragement, which she didn't have!!!!

Anyways, it was soooo fun seeing her get married. She looked gorgeous. It was also fun to see Briana, an old friend, and the former YW president of Galveston, Bailey's leader for most of the time she was in YW.

Awww

So Meg was running a high temp last night, so instead of taking her to story time today, I had her stay home with Bo, who had the day off.

As we were driving to story time, just Carter and me, Carter started asking where our little Meg was. I explained that she had to stay home, to which he said, "Aw, I miss Megan. She's my best friend."

How cute is that?????

Ferry Ride

Last week Bo had an hour and a half lunch break, so we thought we'd ride the ferry and spend some quality time with Dad.
The kids had a blast. I think this was Megan's first time on the ferry, sadly enough. I need to take more advantage of the free fun this town has to offer.
This was a great trip because there were SO MANY dolphins. I've never seen so many! Usually when we take a ferry ride, we see maybe 3 to 5, but this time they were EVERYWHERE. It was awesome. We even saw some jump completely out of the water, instead of just coming up for air or whatever it is they do. They were left and right, in front and back, we saw grey and black, etc.
So fun and cool.Thanks Dad for spending time with us. Your kiddos love every moment they get to spend with you!!! (so do I!)

Life can't be that bad

Carter told me that I was his best buddy yesterday.

Shoes, Pajamas, and COOL WEATHER!

Megan LOVES shoes. She knows what they mean. They mean freedom. They mean outside! All I have to do is pick one up and she will plop down on the floor and lift a foot up to me. Really.
She was carrying around about 6 shoes in her arms yesterday, but of course by the time I got the camera, she had dropped them all.

Carter and Meg were in DESPERATE need of new PJ's. Here they are showing off some of the new ones.

Let me out, let me out, LET ME OUT.

We had a little cool weather a few days back and so we let the kids outside to play. They had so much fun. They actually got to wear pants!! They only played for a little bit though, because even though it might've been cooler, the misquitos were still CRAZY.

When I went to Arlington to hang out with my friends, they couldn't believe we still had hot weather and misquitos. I easily proved them that it was still summer there, by showing them our bites. Meg had like 7 on one leg.

Arlington

So on Thursday morning I headed over to Arlington, TX to meet up with some friends of mine that I knew back in my Temple, Tx days. We left early in the morning and only had to drive about 4 and a half hours! Half of that time was spent red faced and with the windows down. hahaha. Luckily a cold front was coming through and the way back to Galveston on Saturday was nice and cool.
The trip was great. Okay, sure the kids were TERRIBLE at sleeping, and for some reason Carter kept begging to go home, but other than that, it was FUN. The kids had fun playing with all the other kids (7 total), and us ladies had a fabulous time eating, laughing, maybe gossiping, and hot tubbing.
Thursday night we took the kids out to a local pumpkin patch. My kids were in heaven. They loved it. We tried getting some decent pictures. Please ignore me in a pony tail, yet again. What do you expect when its hot and you're driving with the windows down? Although in all honesty, I'm too lazy to do my hair anymore. . . .
On Friday we went to the Dallas Zoo and we were there ALL DAY. It was tons of fun, but I can't believe we lasted that long!!! Carter loved it, as usual, but Meg?? Oh my goodness, Meg was in HEAVEN. I think the last time she went to the zoo she was still a baby and just laid in her car seat. It was funny to watch her. She would freak out with excitement at every. single. animal. I got a great picture of that.
Saturday was spent lounging around a little bit before hitting the road again. I had to leave early so that I could get home in time to get things ready for the Youth Fireside I was having at my house the next day. Not to mention I was SO TIRED. Neither me or my kids had naps, which is a MUST, and the kids just did not sleep well in a new place. Makes me really excited for Christmas.
Anyways, here's some pictures of the fun weekend. Claudia, thank you THANK YOU for hosting!! Fabulous food, fun, and conversations! You are AWESOME. It was so good to see you and Lindsay again!!

All the kids at the zoo.

Jay, Ian, Grant, Carter, Nikki, Megan, and baby Hannah

Megan flipping out over the monkeys. Isn't that face hilarious??

Us girls! Claudia, Lindsay, Me. My camera shutters sometimes don't open all the way. Sorry about the black corners.

Me and the babies at the pumpkin patch. I love them.

The kiddos, minus Hannah.

Back when we lived in Temple, Carter and Jay were the best of buds. Grant was just a newborn then. I can't believe how much they've all grown!!!

Story Time

I almost didn't take the kids to story time today. I was running behind schedule and Megan REALLY needed a morning nap. I laid her down, but a half hour of crying later, decided to ditch that and go ahead and head for the Library. Besides, I needed new videos for Carter to watch as we head to Dallas tomorrow.
I'm so glad we went!!! Today for story time, how it's related I don't know, the Houston Zoo had a lady come down and talk about animals. Carter and Meg were in HEAVEN. Not only that, but she brought some LIVE animals too!!!
She brought out a tortoise, which she said is nicknamed the pancake tortoise because of it's flatter shell, a Chincilla, and some sort of snake that lives in the Sahara. SO COOL. Not only that, but we got to touch them. Okay, okay, so maybe I loved this more than the kids. Maybe. hahaha. I don't think I'll ever get the chance to touch a Chincilla again, so that was my favorite. It was SO SOFT. And way cute. Carter and Meg's favorites were the snake. Why the snake? I have no clue. Meg wouldn't touch any of the exhibits, even feathers, but stared and stared, and moved around people, so she could keep staring at the snake. Carter is a boy. Of course he would chose the snake.
Awesome trip. Totally made our day. We really do have a good library story time here on the island.

Chocolate!

I just barely woke up from my nap. In my nap I was eating chocolates. Supper yummy chocolates.

ahhhhhh

I'm off to the store to go find some. How can anyone recover from a dream like that and NOT buy some??

Plane Tickets and Midnight Car Break-Ins

So all last week Bo's mom, and sisters, have been trying hard to convince us that we should go home to WA for Christmas. ALL of Bo's family will be there, with a brand new niece and nephew, and we would be the only ones not there. So. . . after much debate, and despite the fact that it's going to cost over a thousand dollars to fix the ac in our car (which I think we've decided isn't worth it. . .), we decided on Saturday to go ahead and get plane tickets to fly home for 3 weeks at Christmas time.
We are really excited. I'm kinda anxious about spending the money, but what else is money for, if not to be spent doing fun things, right???? riiiiiiiggghhhtt. At least we'll get to have good food, good company, and SNOW!!! Bo and I are both excited for cooler weather. And I just CAN'T WAIT to see my too adorable kiddos all bundled up in snow clothes and rosy cheeks and noses. I adore my kids. Try finding two cuter ones.


So now on to the second part of my title, the midnight car break-in. So Saturday night Bo and I decided to go to bed early, say 10, and around midnight the door bell rings. What the. ???? So I get my robe on and drowsily stumble to the door. It's the neighbors from across the street. Apparently they caught some (like 8-10) teenage boys trying to break into our two cars!!!! They were also trying to get into the neighbors car too. Yeah. Great. Actually I wasn't too worried. I have absolutely nothing of value in those cars, but it's still the intrusion of privacy that annoyed me. They got into Bo's car, which he doesn't lock, and scattered stuff all over before the neighbors scared them off. They hadn't accomplished getting into the car IN OUR DRIVEWAY because thankfully I lock that one. Still, I shudder to think some kids trying to break into stuff on my own property.
When the cops came, they found an abandoned backpack that the kids had ditched while running away, and were able to use it to track down all of them. When talking to my neighbors last night, after bringing them THANK YOU cookies, they told me they saw 4 cop cars with at least 2 kids each in them. Nice. Punk kids. And apparently they had gone down our whole street. Our houses are on the end and must have been the last.
Crazy.

I started getting mad about no honest people anymore, but then I remembered the neighbors, and was glad that yes, there are still some out there, ready to watch their neighbor/strangers backs.

Who needs toys??

Really. Why buy toys when your 1 year old is perfectly content with pulling things out of the cupboard. Bo HATES it when Meg gets into the pans. He's convinced she's going to break something. That, and it's LOUD. Me? Hey, they're pans, they can't break, and if it keeps her busy, happy, and lets me write a post on my blog and catch up on others, why not? My only fear is that she just might break our rice cooker.

The Wonder of Wipes

So I got out of the shower today, noticed the kids were quiet, and went to find out what they were up to. Somehow Carter had found Bo's book markers and had drawn ALL OVER both himself and Megan. I should've taken a picture, but I was soaking wet and upset.
I really should've taken a picture.
Part of me wanted to keep them orange for the day, or at least until Bo got home so he could see the consequences to leaving his stuff out in easy reach of the kiddos.
But I didn't. I'm all talk. Instead I grabbed the baby wipes. Those things are MARVELOUS! Not only are they great at wiping little tushies, but they took most of the marker right off.
Now my kids are orange free. And Carter? He now has a pirate mustache instead. But don't worry, I did that, and with easy to remove eyeliner.

Meg was tagged

Yes it is true, my Megalove has actually been tagged. She's that popular.
I normally don't do tags (I tend to delay doing them and then forget), but I like the questions and want Meg to know some of things about her.

You wanna piece of me?

So here goes:

1) What is your favorite food?
She love, love, LOVES grapes. And green beans. Really its any fruit and most veggies.

2) What are some of your favorite things to do?
Follow Carter around or sit on her Mama's lap
3) What is one of your pet peeves?
Carter grabbing her cheeks.
4) What is your favorite book?
She really doesn't have a favorite, but she does LOVE books. The other day I caught her sitting down flipping through one of MY books (Austenland). She's so funny like that. She justs wants to do what everyone else does.

5) What do you want to be when you are older?
I don't think she cares specifically, but I'm sure it is something along the lines that will help her defend herself from her brother. A ninja perhaps. Although she is getting good at pulling hair. . .
6) What nice things do you do for mommy and daddy?
She does what she's asked, generally. She picks up toys and puts them away. really.

7) What naughty things do you do around your house?
She loves to flush the toilet and drop her food- on purpose!- over the edge of her high chair. Seriously. Either event, she'll look at you smile with a "what are you gonna do about it" look, and drop the food or flush the toilet. The stinker.
8) What words do you like saying?
"Uh-Oh" and she loves to shake her head no.

9) What do you and your daddy do together?
Eat goodies and follow Mama around (yes that goes for both of them. Carter too, actually)

10) What do you and your mommy do together?
Sit and watch a show, sit and read a book, sit and just stare. She LOVES to sit on my lap, even if we're not doing anything. She also likes to sit on my legs and have me lift her up and down.

Dr. Pepper

Dear Dr. Pepper,

I LOVE YOU.

You make me HAPPY.

Such a wonderful and comforting flavor.

ahhhh.

I think I'm drinking too much of you, and I need to cut back.

I should switch to non-caffeinated, but I really can taste the difference.

You've always been so good to me.

You got me through college, pregnancy with Carter, and hot humid summers.

I love you.

Your friend,

Bo. hahah JK--- Obviously Cassidy

Knock on Wood

This week was AWESOME!!

Carter and I got along so well! I can safely say we made it through the whole week without once wanting to strangle or yell at each other!! WooHoo!! We even had a GOOD time!

I've been really worried about our relationship and have been praying really hard, along with working really hard, to have peace in our home. I have to say that this week I finally noticed some results.

And it feels GOOD.

Maybe there is hope for us afterall!! I was seriously dreading a lifetime of Carter and I at wills against each other. Now I know that it doesn't have to be that way. I'm not sure why this week is different. Could it be that he's getting out of this phase? Or am I learning to relax and chose my battles. I'd like to hope he's getting out his phase, but I think it's more the fact that I'm just being blessed with patience and a different way of viewing things. Either way, I'LL TAKE IT!

Makeup

Here's a conversation Carter and I had the other day:

Carter: "Whatcha doin' Mom?"
Me: "Nothing"
Carter: "Oh, are you doing your makeup?"
Me: " Yep"
Carter: "Oh that's good"




Ummm. . .. thanks?