Trunk or Treat

We had a tri-ward Trunk or Treat/Halloween carnival last night. It was quite the shindig, though not quite what I've grown accustomed to. The outdoor carnival was okay: bowling with small pumpkins and orange spray-painted 2-liter bottles, fishing for rubber duckies, face painting, donut-eating contest, etc. The girls had little interest in most of it, and had more fun running in circles on the grass. We ate corndogs and carrot sticks and wandered through the crowd to find people we knew so I could show off how cute my kids were. I meant to take a picture of the chaos that was the carnival, the turnout was bigger than any I'd ever been to, since it was 3 wards instead of just one.

As usual, Cadence refused to pose long enough for me to get a decent shot of her costume, so here's the picture I managed to snag when I first completed the project. She was so ecstatic when I finished it. We had to hide it from her to keep it in one piece. Now that it's her to do as she likes, she's been carrying it around in her Strawberry Shortcake trick or treating bag all day long:

Megan was SUPPOSED to be Lemon Meringue to match Cadence's costume (which got rave reviews, by the way), but the jacket I was making just wasn't working out. So last minute, we went costume shopping and found the most adorable Little Red Riding Hood costume. She looked 200% adorable. I may be biased in saying so, but she really, really did. The pictures I got didn't do her justice. Everyone who saw her, even complete strangers, just squealed in delight over how adorable she was.
Cadence did get her face painted and even managed to avoid touching it long enough to let most of it dry. If you peek in the back of this picture, you'll notice James trying to lure Megan out of the bushes she was obsessed with going into. Thankfully, they were pretty dense, so she never got more than an arm in before we grabbed her away from them.
The trunk or treat portion of the night was fantastic. I'm used to maybe 15-20 cars participating. This one had closer to 50 (if not more), since all three wards sat out. We started out early before all of the cars opened their trunks, but we did get a nice stash going (filled one of my mixing bowls, at least). Megan was quick to catch on to the idea of "open my bag and people give me candy". It fascinated her. Cadence caught on to the idea of "get candy, move on to the next one", but we frequently had to drag Megan away as she constantly asked for or reached for seconds. Most people indulged her (probably because she's so cute) but we tried very hard to discourage it. Anyway, they didn't fill their bags, but they had about 3-4 inches deep of candy going before we put an end to it (with many protests) and were content to munch on M&Ms on the way home.
Anyway, doubt we'll go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood this year. I'm not even sure our neighborhood does it. We're the only ones on the block with pumpkins set out. We're prepared with a big bag of mixed chocolate, just in case, but I bought it with the mindset of "if nobody comes, at least it's something we'll eat", since last year we ended up with a big bag of dumdums that eventually got thrown out (since our neighbors sat outside blocking the walkway to both our apartments to hand out their candy, so nobody squeezed past them to come to ours on Halloween).

Pumpkin Painting

Since paining the pumpkins was such a hit last year with Cadence, I wanted to give the girls a chance to do it again this year. I dressed them up in some of my old t-shirts that I wouldn't mind never getting the paint out of (though acrylic is pretty washable all said and done, I still have some clothes with stains). So, decked out in "mommy dresses", the girls sat on the back porch with their paint palettes and foam brushes and painted the pumpkins we bought them at Dewberry Farm (since Cadence would not let us leave pumpkinless!)

Cadence was very particular about how she placed her paint. When I pointed out she'd missed the bottom part of her entire pumpkin she scooted onto her belly and very seriously painted the blank spots. She had this intense look of concentration the whole time. I was too busy enjoying the moment to catch it on film, though.
The pumpkins were fairly small, so I happily bought a larger jack-o-lantern pumpkin when we went to the store. I let the girls paint the smaller ones themselves, but added my own finger-painting technique to the bigger one that we all painted together. Neither Cadence nor Megan were too keen on ditching their brushes to use their fingers, no matter how much I played it up, though.

By the end of our painting experience, both pieces of cardboard I put the girls paint on was a big goopy mess of brown paint. But the girls had a blast. I bought some foam stickers specifically for jack-o-lanterns for a dollar and decorated the pumpkins with silly faces once the paint dried.
The girls haven't seen the finished product yet, but I think they'll enjoy it in the end. Once they've seen them and admired them, I'll put them on our front lawn. Trying to decide between in front of the tree in the middle of the yard, or in front of the bushes that line our walkway. Nobody decorate for Halloween around here and it's kind of sad. Debating cobwebs in my walkway bushes still, now that the rain forecast has been changed to sunny all week. Not sure I want to deal with picking the cobwebs out, though...

And before you ask, yes, the larger pumpkin does have a goatee. That was supposed to be the vampire's hair, since the kit I bought had pieces for 4 pre-designed faces. So I snipped the sideburns and made a goatee for the pumpkin, lol.

Dewberry Farm (Lots of Pictures)

James has been working extra hard recently, so when he unexpectedly got a 3 day weekend, we decided we had to take full advantage of it and went to a family farm just outside of town. We had an amazing time. For the cost of entry (the girls were free, at least for another year) we got access to a playground, barrel train, hay stack with rope swings, pig races, and a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch itself. There's also a great corn maze, but by the time we did everything else, the girls were too tired for us to even attempt it. Now for the dozen pictures:

Cadence posing right before the barrel train ride. She loved it. A big tractor pulled around some old 55-gallon barrels painted and decorated to look like cows:

This was by far Cadence's favorite. Climb to the top of the hay mountain and swing on the ropes. If you fell? No big deal! Lots of soft hay to land on.

She seriously would have spent all day on this one if we let her. But there were only so many ropes and we needed to let other kids have a fair chance.

We paid a little extra to go through a dark building with lots of carved (and lit up) pumpkins. It was crazy hot inside that small building, so when we came out, it was only natural to go to the snow cone booth right next to it. Pretty fun. They give you the ice and you go to a little room with a dozen flavors and you can mix and match to your hearts content.

Obviously, the girls loved it.

Megan at the pumpkin patch. Thank goodness she wore that hat. It kept her from getting sunburned (like me).

Cadence was CRAZY about the pumpkins. As soon as we got off the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch she was running around trying to pick them all up.

Others had stacked pumpkins for photo ops, so we attempted to take advantage of the opportunity. Here's Cadence bossing her sister around as I attempted to herd Megan to the perfect spot for a cute photo.

And this is how Megan interpreted my request of "sit next to Cadence!"

James and Cadence inspected a few, but in the end, we bought some from the stall closer to the gates. Smaller pumpkins, good for the girls to paint next weekend.

After we checked out the pumpkins we headed into the farm to check out some chickens and sheep and pigs. At one point a big turkey attempted to hop out of his pen and spent a few minutes perched on the gate. Megan kept trying to go pet him. The attendants didn't seem too concerned, but turkey's aren't known for being gentle, so I had to keep snatching her back.

Checking out the ponies and miniature horses outside.

On our way out, Megan tore her hand out of mine and ran to see the goats.

What I didn't get pictures of include the girls' favorite rides: the big roller slide. We went down that thing half a dozen times and I got a nice bruise on my hand since I didn't trust the two of them to go down it alone (8-10 feet high, what can I say? I'm a nervous mom). And the cutest moment had to be Megan and the ducks. She was obsessed with the things. As we headed on our way out, we happened to be between two white ducks and their pond. They got nervous at our approach and ran straight in front of us. Megan was THRILLED and ran after them quacking. James snatched her before she chased them right into the water. Too bad those ducks wouldn't cooperate for a picture!

We plan to go back the day after Thanksgiving. Free admission to all the little rides and a chance to cut down our own Christmas tree!!

Yard Work

I was crazy excited to move into a house with our two girls, especially with the idea of a yard to play in.

Unfortunately, having been apartment dwellers for so long, we did not have the tools for yard upkeep which meant it quickly got overgrown and I was reluctant to let the girls out in to our new private jungle, especially when the rain came and the grass, okay, okay, the weeds doubled in height practically overnight.

We finally bought a lawn mower and I got my first taste of lawn work. I had previously trimmed our bushes and our tree, but that was it, until today. Other than sweating like crazy and struggling with the tall grass and the lawn mower (I didn't think to change the height until later, so I really struggled), I found the experience... heart-warming. As I trimmed bushes put tree branches and bush trimmings into trash bags, the girls ran wild around the tree in our front yard and even offered to help. Then, as I mowed the lawn, they rode their bikes in the driveway.

I basically loved it.

Even though I was panting like a dog as I wheeled the lawn mower back into the garage, and hauled the three bags of grass clippings (before I got sick of emptying the bag and switched it out for the blow-it-out-the-side thing, yes, that is the technical name) and my back aches.

Maybe I'm a little crazy.

Cady's haircut

Cadence has been working hard on growing out a beautiful, curly mullet for the past year and a half or so. Her curls started coming in shortly after Megan was born and even then the back was noticeably longer than the top of her head.

Of late, the curls have gotten very sloppy looking, even when I try to brush it out and get them to look neat. It just wasn't working. For awhile, I've been toying with the idea of chopping off the last few inches, knowing her curls would hide any imperfections I might cause with my amateur beauty shop attempts. But, with my good scissors tucked at the bottom of a box, I never really carried through.

Until today. I had just dug through my sewing box last night and had my scissors in reach when I was combing Cadence's hair after her bath this morning. So, I snipped off the bottom few inches before I could think twice. It looks WAY neater than it did before, but she also looks older at the same time.

And if any one wants a before to compare it with:

Moms & Tots at the temple

The girls and I got to go to the temple today! I was talking myself out of it all morning, because I hate doing new things, especially with people I barely know. So glad I went, as things usually go.

Despite living in the same city as a temple, it's still a 40 minute trip. We met with some other moms at the church building and carpooled, giving me 40 minutes to chat with a woman I've smiled at but never had the chance to talk to before. The Houston Temple has a small sitting room in the annex that I assume is for baptisms and the like, but also doubles as a great place to corral a bunch of preschoolers, toddlers, and infants. Half the mom's went in to the temple, and the other half of us tried to keep the zoo under control. It wasn't bad at all, really. Everyone came prepared with toys and snacks and the kids all played well together, give me and a few other moms plenty of time to chat and get to know each other.

After about an hour, the other mom's returned, and the rest of us got to go inside. My first time inside the actual Houston temple and I was kind of completely lost because it's so much smaller than the Los Angeles one (seriously I'm pretty sure Houston's two locker rooms, the sitting area between the two AND the little chapel they have for before services could fit into the one locker room in the LA temple). Thankfully, I was not on my own and the other women were more than happy to politely point me in the right direction.

So, I got to spend an hour doing initiatories. My first time getting to do so since doing my own. It was quiet, and relaxing, and pleasant. Then, feeling uplifted from an hour of that service, I got to walk back into the room and be joyfully greeted by two little girls who love me to pieces. I meant to get a picture of the girls playing outside the temple, but by the time I was finished inside, the girls were anxious for lunch.

Seriously, so glad I once again stepped outside my comfort zone and went. Although, spending an hour in the temple makes me really, really want to get a session in. Anyone want to fly down to babysit?

Long-Term Goals

This is what I want to be when I grow up:

September 13th

Without a working camera, I don't have any cute moments to share in too-cute picture form. So I shall attempt to paint a picture of how the past week has gone with words alone.

It's remained another quiet week. Those weeks are fairly enjoyable in their own way. I get the house clean a lot more often in quiet weeks than I do in busy ones. But the girls and I also get extremely bored in quiet weeks.

Last Friday we drove down to the church building for a Moms and Tots playdate. Lots of other parents from the ward showed up with their preschoolers and infants. Everyone brought bicycles and snacks and I brought the girls' oversized bouncy balls, which were such a big hit they spurred 90% of the fights that went on that morning. I didn't get to socialize much. First my own insecurity kept my tongue tied and then the girls got a little overwhelmed with so many people and started to get really clingy. We only stayed about an hour. In that hour, though, Megan spent most of it wandering as far as she could in the field surrounding the building, following some of the older boys. They ignored her, she ignored them. A few times she got far enough, I was about to get up to get her, but she seemed to realize she'd wandered too far and began meandering back towards the picnic tables. Cadence spent most of the time sulking because I wouldn't let her demand her balls back from the other kids.

The weekend was equally quiet. We did go grocery shopping so James could get six different types of chili, three types of meat, and several cans of different tomato textures to try out a super spicy chili for this Saturday's ward cook-off. He's aiming to get a prize for the hottest chili, but I refuse to let him just dump a bottle of hot sauce and call it good. The chili he pulled off was pretty spicy, more so since there's a sweetness when it first hits your tongue (a can of coke was used as well), then it starts to burn. He's eating it for lunch all week, since I can't feed it to the kids and I'm not a fan of spicy stuff.

My birthday came and went last Wednesday. I'm 26. I've decided that's one of those boring ages. 25 is a cool age to turn, because it's a nice round number. 27 has a kind of "older-20s without being close to 30" zen that makes it a fun age to say. But 26 is... just 26. Kind of like 28. The day itself passed rather uneventfully. A few phone calls, lots of facebook notifications, an email from the head of Writing.Com, and a slice of overcooked cheesecake (so unappetizing, a full 3/4 of the thing is still untouched in my fridge...). Next year will be better. It'll be a Friday birthday and we'll have found someone to babysit so James can take me out on a date. This year, though, a quiet birthday is fine. I've never had high expectations for my birthdays anyway.

Our laptop died on my birthday as well. Since we'd just bought the thing in May/June I was not a happy camper. But a quick email to my computer-savvy got the ball rolling for me to replace the hard drive and get the whole thing up and running without a problem. I consider myself pretty proficient at computers, at least as well as the next person, but with Jim's help the whole process was a breeze and just took a little time.

The girls... continue to tear the house apart and run wild. We recently took away Cadence's overnight diaper, something she's had since we started potty-training at the beginning of the year. It was a rough two weeks as we did everything we could to get her bowels moving, since she stubbornly held it in as much as possible. Saturday, though, she had a break-through and since then has been happily using the bathroom and staying dry overnight. Megan is showing an interest in following her sister's footsteps, but I'm not ready for that yet and she's not even 2 yet, so no rush. Though after some of the diapers she's had the past few days...

It's fun watching them play together. They're both bullies with each other, which makes it frustrating, but with Megan able to communicate more, they do play well. Cadence likes giving her sister orders and Megan loves being able to show she understands by carrying them out. I love watching Megan with James. At this age, Cadence's mommy-preference was strong, but Megan's pretty neutral. She prefers me when she's hurt or upset, but if she can't see me, James is a perfectly acceptable substitute and she enjoys sitting in his lap almost as much as mine. At night, if James is sitting on the couch and I'm busy, she'll happily climb into his lap and snuggle with him.

Megan really is a daredevil compared to her sister. We went to Chik-fil-A yesterday to split a bit of soft serve and let the girls use the play equipment. Cadence risked climbing to the top of the structure before she got nervous and came back down. Megan wanted to follow her and spent quite awhile attempting to climb the steps that were just too tall for her. Cadence lost interest in everything else when an older girl came in and began playing around. She immediately began mimicking the girl's moves, enjoying the novelty of some of the things she did (like attempting to climb the structure's poles). I had to drag them out of the place in the end, then I had to run back in and find the blanket Megan left behind.

Today's another quiet day. Trying to get caught up with the house, since it tends to get away from me when I'm running errands. Gotta make dinner as well. Chicken stew and some biscuits. But biscuits will only happen if I get off my butt and go clean the kitchen. Suppose I should go do that now... *sigh*

Just a weekly update

Labor Day weekend has gone well for us here in the Smith household. James normally works Saturday mornings since there's so much needing to be done at the new shop for awhile, but he talked to his supervisors and got approved to not be needed on Saturday (they can't force him to work Saturdays, but...) so we could spend the full 3-day weekend together.

We didn't do anything super special. Went to a few stores to pick up random necessities (like the ingredients and a pan for a baked cheesecake this upcoming Wednesday. No special reason or anything, just, you know, wanted a cheesecake this Wednesday...). We even bought a new video game, which isn't really new. It's old, but we didn't own it yet for some odd reason. Now we do. Problem solved.

We missed church, unfortunately. Megan woke up crying at 5:30 and I laid on the couch with her and we both fell back asleep. And since James doesn't respond to my alarm clock, we both slept right through it and woke up right around the same time church was supposed to start.

Happily, I still got adult conversation since the Relief Society presidency stopped by for a chat and then later that night we went to a family BBQ. Just us, the host family and one other family. The kids played well together and I got the chance to talk with two other moms in the ward. It was a nice evening and I'm glad they invited us. I'll have another chance to socialize with other moms this Friday at a ward Moms & Tots get together. I'm nervous, as I usually am in new situations, but excited.

Today's been pretty laidback. For such a long weekend, you'd suppose we got more done, but we didn't. We really just sat around with our feet kicked up and enjoyed the peace and quiet of just staying home without any responsibilities for a few days except what to have for dinner. James has done a good job of spoiling me. Chinese food on Saturday and Taco Cabana for lunch today. Mmm. I am crazy about Taco Cabana. They have the best handmade tortillas that are included with every meal and their steak fajita tacos are amazing. We discovered this gem our first few weeks in Houston (when Seaboard was paying for all our meals and we were free to try every dining out option in the immediate area) and have gone back twice since. So yummy.

The girls have adjusted really well, I think. Of course, I don't think they comprehend just how big this move was. It's still hot outside and they still get put in timeout in the corner whenever they do something wrong. Taz still hides in their room and Hanna still hides out of reach. Daddy comes home and we eat dinner. We watch Strawberry Shortcake (albeit, on a bigger, better television screen now). We play with Legos. Life is same ol' same ol' for those two little girls.

I can't even record how much they've grown because I honestly barely notice. Cadence's learning has slowed down to the point I can't pinpoint new things as easily and it's hard for me to notice Megan's growths because they're not as obvious when I've got Cadence to compare her to. For example, it took me several weeks to realize Megan was using sentences. Mostly she was parroting her sister, but she quickly began to understand the syntax rules and coming up with the sentences on her own. It's made her much more vocal recently. Cadence has learned to link descriptive words with nouns to specify things. Not just colors like she used to. But the other day we had star-shaped chicken nuggets and she was calling them chicken stars. She is also learning a ton of things from watching television. The other day I caught her putting a doll on the back of her stuffed dog and telling it to "giddy up, horsie".

They both continue to grow like weeds. I'm afraid to measure them, because I don't want to know for sure how big they've gotten. Cadence was just shy of 3 feet last time I measured her. Not sure I want to see her hit that particular mark yet. I'm already fighting the idea of a haircut, though I know she could use one to even out her mullet.

We've progressed to the last stage of potty-training for Cadence by taking away her bedtime diapers. So far no accidents, but we have had a few issues. Nothing unexpected, but I won't say she's 100% potty-trained yet. Megan shows an interest, but I want a few more months before we get her going. Maybe after she's 2 I'll consider letting my last baby grow up...

It's raining, it's pouring

Wow, over two weeks since my last update. Oops.

I have little news to share, really. I have spent pretty much everyday of the past 3 weeks chasing two way-too-energetic toddlers around and picking up the mess. Or, sitting on my butt and thinking how much I don't want to pick up yet another mess. Welcome to motherhood, right?

James continues to enjoy his new position. He's had a few hiccups as he adjusts to a few changes between his old shop and this new one. But, overall, he's still well-liked by his managers. He's working crazy hours, unfortunately. Since some of the machines are still not up and running after the move, the workload on the machines that are running is doubled, which means they need as much as they can get out of their operators. James, naturally, is working as many hours as they ask of him within reason. Once things run smoothly, the hours will calm down, but he expects to be pretty busy for quite awhile.

So, most of the time, it's just me and the girls.

Yesterday we got caught in a decent downpour. We'd experienced some Houston rain shortly after reaching the city, but Thursday's downpour put it all to shame. I pulled into the small parking lot of Babies R Us while it was overcast (lots of thick, low, gray clouds threatening to rain at any second at this point). The parking lot really is tiny. Four parking spots deep with the extra row along the far side. I parked at the "far side". As I was checking out ten minutes later I noticed it was raining outside, so I put Cadence into the cart and ducked into the rain. It took me all of one second to decide my best option was to run. So run I did, as quickly as safely possible. Megan, who hates baths and swimming pools, immediately began freaking out. Cadence, my water baby, was bouncing in the cart and laughing. And in the time it took me to get to the car, we were all soaked.

I'm not talking our hair has a sheen of water over it and our clothes are damp. By the time I got the girls in the car, their hair was plastered to their heads. My jeans remained wet for the entire 20 minute ride and for the next hour indoors. It was crazy. I turned my windshields to their highest setting and it barely kept up with the rain we were experiencing. There weren't rain drops on the places the wipers missed. It was a solid flow of water pouring down my windshield. Craziness!

Later, I learned I walked out into the absolutely worst of the day's storm at just the right moment. I have to say, I'm rather pleased. It was an awesome rain experience, lol. If it wasn't for Megan, I might've enjoyed just strolling to the car so Cadence and I could enjoy it. :-)

But, that's really the most exciting news of the past few weeks. Unless you count paying someone to mow our lawn, or the delivery of our washer and dryer. Well, I guess the TV's exciting news, but not really blog-worthy. We really got it so we could fully enjoy Skyrim when the time comes (uh-oh, my geek is showing...) And, no, I will not bore you all with a geek review of Skyrim when the time comes. Just... when this blog goes silent again in November, know I'm too busy to care about any of you and my kids are probably being unwashed and unfed. ;-) (Totally kidding about that last part, mostly...)

Unfortunately, my camera has officially gone kaput for the time being. No real worries. I'll be getting one next week for an early birthday present. Then I'll get lots of pictures for you all to enjoy. And maybe I'll even get some family pictures done soon so you can see the whole good-looking brood (maybe, it'll take a lot of sweet-talking on my end to get James to spend his free time in front of a camera, lol).