There Should Be a Rule

My job tonight was the official candy hander outer at Casa Baughman.  I had help though, Lila was my assistant but though she kept her hands full, a box of Dots in each one, she never really handed anything out.  No one likes those silly Dots anyway so I figured it was okay for her to have her fun with them.  Anyway, we held down the fort, prepared with a big ol’ pumpkin basket filled to the brim, a cozy blanket and a chair on the front porch ready for all these darling little trick-or-treaters that I felt would be ascending upon our house.

Let me first say a few things:

* A wig is not a costume.

* A tutu is not a costume.  Tutu’s are fun to wear, yes, and they can be an integral part of a costume.  But worn just over a pair of leggings – not a costume.

* If you can’t tell me what you are, then you probably aren’t wearing a costume.

* And if you have your mom pulls up in front of each house in her car, get out wearing your school clothes and have your backpack on as a front pack, come running up to my front door – then I really shouldn’t give you any candy because that isn’t even trying.

It seems only fair, like maybe there should be a rule, that in order to receive free candy, you need to at least be in a real costume.  I am not the one that is going to enforce this rule though because I am afraid of the angry trick-or-treaters coming back to my house and throwing things at us.  But still, it seems like there should be a rule.

The most popular costume of the evening would have to have been Batman, which I was really glad that we hadn’t ended up going with.  My kids seem to get really out of sorts when they see someone else with their same anything.  So the 25 little Batmen traipsing around the neighborhood probably wouldn’t have pleased Reese if he had been wearing the same thing.  I saw no other little bats and Mattie was definitely the only strawberry fairy.  My favorite costume of the night was the mummy.  I am usually not a fan of the scary…. children dressed as evil things does not set well with me.  But this child around 10 or 12 was completely wrapped in what looked like hand-ripped muslin, head to toe.  And rather than look scary and spooky, they looked like something from a museum exhibit.  What was even better was that this kid didn’t say a word, just walked right up next to me and put their bag out.  I have no idea if it was a boy or a girl, but deserving of 3 mini tootsie roll pops they most certainly were.

At one point, a small hayride went past my house.  I’m not sure how you get to be a part of that.  We were thinking of maybe just pulling the kids in the wagon, but that just takes things to a totally new level.  And I also saw one very large dog dressed as a skeleton.  But other than that, it was a pretty uneventful evening in Kirby Woods.

And now on to the real reason you are probably checking this blog in the first place….But before we do that.  Lila has been sleep fasting for the past few nights.   And of course there have been no naps during the days either.  But crying….oh there has been plenty of that.  I think we finally found one of the main culprits to her issues today though.  It seems as though while I have been waiting and feeling every day for her top teeth to break through that a new little guy has come in through the bottom.  We are calling it Sandy because it has been its own little force of nature causing pain and destruction here in our household.

Okay, now on to the photos:

Big ol’ basket of candy….which didn’t end up being enough

The monkey suit in its 3rd and final performance

The bat

The Strawberry Fairy

The Baughman 3

The strawberry, the monkey, the bat and the Nana

Reese had been napping right before this whole show began

I Love My Truck

I don’t know that I’m to that point yet, but I am getting a bit more used to my airplane long vehicle. Day Two of driving the semi has been another success.  Each time I arrive to a destination and I look and see that I haven’t run over any small children, animals or other cars – I just feel like I need to give myself a little high-five.  Especially since instead of having a few blind spots, it feel like I have a few vision spots.  I am enjoying all the room though.  Its kind of like I am driving around our downstairs or something.  The other day, I went to put the stroller in the back and instead of folding it up, I just tossed it in all splayed out and it fit fine.  Who knows, give me another week and I might be hauling things.  I rather doubt that though…..I know my limits.

So here we are the night before Halloween and let me just tell you readers, I am a little nervous.  I have never really lived in a neighborhood that had trick-or-treat before.  Our house in Tulsa was at the end of a dark street and we just never got any there.  Then when we moved here to Memphis, our little gated community only had about 2 dozen homes and there were only about 3 of us that had kids.  I think most of the kids did their trick-or-treating elsewhere.  And growing up, I lived way out in the middle of nowhere and if someone showed up at your door at night, I was probably best not to open the door.  anyway, I have never really done this whole handing out candy thing and I feel like here in our neighborhood, they have high expectations.  There is some mighty impressive, yet terrifying decorating going on and I feel like the neighborhood children are used to certain standards.  I don’t want to be labeled as “that house” that gives out the bad stuff or worse yet that runs out of candy early.  I have no clue as to how much candy I should be buying for this whole event.  We have a neighborhood website, that might be something helpful for them to put on there, rough estimates of the amount of candy handed out on a typical Halloween.  I figure if we run out, I will just start handing out the stuff that my own kids have harvested.

Seems a bit much doesn’t it? We will probably be avoiding this house tomorrow.

My chickens are pretty excited about their candy harvest tomorrow night.  Reese has been wearing his bat costume (not to be confused with batman) for weeks now.  Mattie is thrilled about her Strawberry Fairy suit and I am just tickled that the little monkey suit will be worn one more year.  Mumsey made Mattie a little monkey costume that was just darling that she wore when she was 9 months old.  Reese wore the same costume when he was about 5 months old and as I recall, it was a little snug on him.  So its only right that for her first costume, Lila should wear the same Baughman baby monkey suit.

Reese in the monkey suit – 2008

The original monkey Mattie – 2005

And because pictures of cute kids are so fun, I thought I would share a little trip down memory lane of costumes from the past for you to enjoy.

Ladybug Mattie – 2006

Dorothy Mattie the first – 2007

Flapper Mattie – 2008. I realize the lifestyle of a flapper probably isn’t something my 3-year-old should be condoning, but hey, it made a darling costume. And moonshine running during prohibition is how NASCAR started so it must be something that I am willing to let slide

Peter Pan and TinkerBell – 2009

And one more just for fun

The Krispy Kreme Kaylee and Brandon and our little donuts – 2010

And last year, Reese the skeleton (not a spooky skeleton mind you – this was purely out of his love for all things skeletal system) and Mattie Dorothy Part 2 – 2011. Lila went dressed as me – get it, I was pregnant with her…..yeah, anyway………

 

Also, before I go….the key chain for the rental aircraft carrier is just a plastic do-dad that says, “Average Key Replacement Cost $225”.  Do you think they are trying to impress upon us the renters the importance of keeping up with the keys?

Rather Random

As seems to be the pattern lately, things have been a touch busy lately.  Nana came into town this past Tuesday and it has been wonderful.  Just having an extra set of hands, eyes and ears has been fabulous, but these hands also iron for me and put kiddos to bed and make delicious things like chili and chowder.  And they have also played and sang and held and hugged….its just been great and like I tell Brandon most every time a mom of ours is here, it would be so nice if they were closer.

So now on to a list of strange things that occurred this past Friday.

While driving to Mattie’s school to help set up for the annual Fall Festival, my car started to feel funny.  It seemed like it didn’t want to switch gears and when I would stop at a light, it would take for ever for it pick up and go.  Like I do whenever I have any sort of automobile trouble (or really any trouble at all), I texted Brandon.  Does he always fix my trouble?  Not at all, but I always feel that he needs to know that I am having some sort of problem.  We ended up having to take my car into the dealership and it didn’t take the mechanic 5 minutes to assess that the transmission had to go.  Thank goodness, it would be covered under our warranty.  But here’s the crazy thing, the warranty is up at 100,000 miles and we are at 98,000.  So the Acadia didn’t get to come home with us and the dealership happily offered a loaner car.  Last time we had a loaner car, they gave me the biggest they had…..a chevy Malibu.  It was a perfectly fine car, however, it didn’t fit 3 carseats very well.  Luckily, it was summer time and we just didn’t go many places.  But its kind of important that I go and pick Mattie up from school every day and legally, its frowned upon for me to leave one of my other children at home alone.  So Brandon was very firm that we had to have a replacement car that would fit us.  They gave us a Suburban.  The only other time I have driven a car this size was back in high school, I got the privilege of driving my family’s big ol’ van for a few days.  Looking back, I can’t remember why in the world I was driving that huge thing because I had my own car.  But I did and I also remember not knowing whether I should laugh or be mortified when I got out.  Anyway, I have been a little apprehensive about the whole deal.  From the dealership, Brandon drove The Black Pearl (as we have named our temporary vehicle) home and I took his car.

This is when the day started getting really interesting.  I had to make a few stops before I got home and one of those was to the grocery store to pick up some caramel apples for the Fall Festival.  After getting the apples, I opened up the trunk thinking that would be a great place for them to ride.  Apparently that’s a great place for Brandon’s secret hoarding habit as well.  I don’t have time to list all the things living in the trunk of the Accord, but a few of the items I noticed that didn’t seem to belong were: golf clubs (the whole set complete with the bag) a duraflame fire starting log, a tube of Lila’s Boudreaux’s Butt Paste, 4 pairs of dress pants on hangers, a whole PlayStation still in the box and a 2liter of Diet Coke.  And like I said, that was just what was on top and clearly visible.

I was still puzzling all that over in my head when I noticed a very odd car pulling into the bank across the street’s ATM.  It was a limo, but not just any limo – a maroon Dodge Charger limo.  I have never seen a Charger limo or a maroon limo, so to see one that was both of those things just seemed double weird.  And why in the world was it going through the ATM at 3:30 in the afternoon?

My last stop found me at a little clothing store where I overheard one woman asking another if she knew the closest location for early voting.  They discussed voting locations and where they both normally vote and then as things seems to be wrapping up, one lady says to the other, “Whatever you do, you HAVE to vote.  If you don’t vote, you might end up in bondage somewhere.”  I have no idea what that even means.  I could understand if she was implying even one candidate over another, why we needed to vote for one particular one, but no, it didn’t seem to matter who got my vote….as long as I participated in the electing of our nations leader.  As long as I voted, the chains of bondage would pass over me.  So all of you readers, keep that in mind next week.

And the last thing that struck me as newsworthy was that McDonald’s is now serving sweet potato versions of their little apple pies.  I can’t report how they taste, but from what I understand, sweet potato pie tastes a lot like pumpkin pie and I think a little personnel pumpkin pie would be a terrific idea.

Before I close off here, please not that Gap has 40% off all their currently on sale items and here in Memphis, that also includes uniform pants and shorts.  I went this evening and scored several pairs of uniform shorts for $4.00 and I feel its my duty to share that shopping tip with you.

Vote Man’s Best Friend

I think I know my dog fairly well.  I take care of him and he is a loyal companion to me.  We communicate without even having to use words (that is primarily out of necessity seeing as he doesn’t speak and all).  I feel like we have weathered many storms together, as well as shared many celebrations.  He was here to welcome all 3 of my babies home from the hospital and even seemed to know before I did that I was expecting.  We looks at me very intently as I speak to him and though he is really listening, and though he has angered me very much before, in all 10 years (almost) that he has been around, he and I have yet to have a fight.

So with all this history that we share, this understanding between us and this unspoken (because of the whole no vocal chords thing) bond that we share, you can understand my surprise when I found out this past weekend that Crosby was keeping a very big secret from us.  Turns out that my dog has an interest in small town politics.  We discovered this while driving out to the pumpkin patch, Crosby for Mayor signs were dotting the countryside.  In all our late night conversations and belly rubs, ear scratches and the like, he never once mentioned that he had any cares or concerns about the world outside of our house.  After we got home, I decided I should probably look him up on the internet and find out just what his platform was, were he stood on the issues and what his political party affiliation is.  I would hate to think that all this time, he and I were disagreeing about such important issues like taxes and illegal immigration.

Turns out, Crosby doesn’t really take much of a  political stance on the big issues that affect the rest of the world, but he has a real agenda when it comes to local roads, their upkeep and how the local sheriffs office uses them for city revenue.  Who knew?  So ever the supporter, i have joined with Crosby to do all that I can to help him with his campaign.  We figure that the biggest obstacle in front of us is for him to learn how to keep his hat on by himself.  Speeches shouldn’t be an issue, not speaking and all, and I don’t need to worry about any skeletons in his closet since he has been neutered since he was about 9 months old.

Not the most energetic, go-get’em candidate, but he’s loyal and very even-tempered

So while there rest of the country is debating Romney vs Obama, debates are being watched and hateful messages and snide remarks are blurring up friendships and Facebook.  I ask that you just take a minute and smile at the idea of my dog running for mayor.

Don’t forget to Vote!

Favorite People and Pumpkin Patches

It’s been a bit, sorry about that.  there have been many things that have kept me occupied since Thursday and sitting on the couch and blogging just didn’t fit in anywhere.  Thursday night, I had both a School Board meeting to attend to and company coming.  I really feel like the word “company” doesn’t fit here.  Company, suggests guests – people who are not regulars.  The Murrills are not regular fixtures in our home at the present (maybe not in body, but definitely in spirit), but back when we both lived in Tulsa, it was rare for us not to be together.  Maybe not all of us at the same time, but at least 2.  there was a point even when 3 of us worked together.  Mattie had her own little drawer with diapers, wipes, a few changes of clothes and toys at Mark and Steph’s house because we were over there so often.  We even have a special family name, the Murrman.  So it was not like having company at all, but rather having your family all home in the nest.

Here are just a few little pictures of us Friday morning enjoying some time outside before Mark, Steph and the girls had to continue on with their journey to Oklahoma.

That would be KiKi, number 8

So precious, little Rosie is in love with number 9

Murrman number 1 and number 4, they have missed each other!

Murrman number 2, number 3 and number 8

Uncle Mark being loved on by all our little kiddies, minus Mattie who had to go get an education

And then as soon as Mattie was out of school, it was off to Nashville for us for a weekend with Nene and Papa……and Uncle Loren and Auntie Brandi, too. It has become our tradition since we moved to Memphis to go and visit Nene and Papa in pumpkin patch season.  We  have some cute little picture-taking spots, Farmer’s markets and the like, but no real fabulous pumpkin patch here nearby.  They do.  The first year we went to Honey Suckle Farms, Mattie had a grand time, but Reese wasn’t really into it.

Fun in the corn bin

Reese is actually in my sling here, not really participating

The next year Mattie had twice as much fun as the year before.  She branched out a little further from the corn bin (where you can swim in corn) and the giant sandbox.  She had a blast, Reese on the other hand spent much of his visit to the farm sitting on the grass with Papa….on the verge of a meltdown.

Pumping water for the duck races with Nene

Sitting on Papa

Riding the cow train

Ventured off of Papa’s lap, but not very far

The next year, they discovered the huge slide.

Using her brother as a mat

You could hear their delighted little screams the whole ride down. It was wonderful.

Last year, we ventured out to the back 40 play ground for the first time and it was like a whole other park.  There were hayrides, panning for gold, pumpkin train rides, a huge pumpkin cannon, more snack areas, and this thing called the Corn Popper.  It a giant “blob” buried  in the ground and the kids just go and jump on it like a trampoline.  Reese had an impossible time getting up to the top of it and kept sliding down into the dirt, but luckily, Dad was there to help.  They also had cotton candy.  Honey Suckle Farms just keeps getting better and better!

Having a blast!

Jumping with Daddy

And this year was maybe even the best yet.  It was a beautiful day, we had all the little Pumpkins along with Nene, Papa, Uncle Loren and Aunt Brandi.  I love this little tradition that we have started and I hope that even when Mattie is way too cool to be seen with us, she will still humor us with this once a year trip to the pumpkin patch.  I like to think that even when she is 16, she will still be willing to go and play with her parents and aunt and uncle and let her grandparents sit back and bask in the whole seen.  Reese will probably work at the pumpkin patch so I’m not worried about him not wanting to be there.

Showing her gems that she panned for to Papa

Picking the perfect pumpkin with Nene

Cuddles with Aunt Brandi

Racing around the track, next will be dirt bikes then motorcycles and cars…..it scares me

Proof that I was there

 

Being silly with Auntie Brandi

Still not quite ready to tackle the slide alone

Thank you so much Nene and Papa for starting this annual tradition!

 

Teen Mom And Tilex

Yesterday was a leggings and favorite t-shirt (looking focused and possibly like I just went running – but actually I was too tired, had too much to do and couldn’t be bothered with actually spending any energy on my appearance this morning.  I have had several things on my to-do list these last few days, number 1 being clean the tile in the kids bathroom.  Well, I finally finished that little project Wednesday and that meant that I didn’t get anything else done.  Our house is over 40 years old and though I do appreciate the time, energy and finances that the past owners have put into the downstairs master addition we fondly refer to as the annex, I wish they had devoted some of that love into the bathrooms.  Fact is, the tile in what is the kids’ bathroom was almost a deal breaker for me when we were originally looking at this house.  It is the original tiling and though it is vintagey and unique, it was terrible.  And once upon a time, there had been wallpaper on the walls.  Actually, it’s still there, someone just decided it would be way easier to just paint over it rather than bother with trying to tear it off.  Then another person decided that they didn’t like the painted color so that painted over it again, and also painted over the tile in shower.  That’s probably one of my favorite details of that particular room.  On a side note, the shower tile paint must have been peeling just a touch, so one of my precious dolls took it upon themselves to rip it.  Now there is an unsightly, jagged flash of yellowy gross mixed with the painted white.  Anyway, with all this painting, they never bothered to put anything down to protect what wasn’t supposed to be painted.  It also looks like maybe they were having a very heated argument with lots of hand gestures while they were painting.  There are paint splotches all over the tile.  I bet I could find out exactly what went down during this painting fight if I asked the grout, because the dirt on said grout has been there for probably longer than I have been around.  I made the mistake of spraying some Tilex on the grout while cleaning the bathtub several  months ago (there is also a bright green mystery stain in the tub), and oh my wow! it was incredible.  Unfortunately, this opened up quite the can of worms for me.  Once I saw that there was actually light-colored grout in there, not smoke colored, I got quite the bee in my bonnet to restore it.  Also unlucky for me, this tile is tiny and requires a little toothbrush to clean it effectively.

Anyway, this tile has taken me the better part of september and a few mornings here in October.  And I apologize for sharing the details in a huge paragraph.  All of that to say that I didn’t feel much like bathing or wearing real clothes yesterday.

So Lila and I were out running a few little errands, me sporting my Dillon Panthers t-shirt and we stopped into a little children’s shop that was having a sidewalk sale.  The sales lady came over to greet us and chat up Lila a bit and made a comment that left me feeling embarrassed, confused, flattered…just all-around awkward.  While speak sweet little nothings to Lila, Lady says, “Does your Daddy play football?” Why in the world would she think that?  Then I looked down at my t-shirt.  Did she  not know that the Dillon Panthers were a fictitious team in a fictitious Texas town?  And was she thinking that I was in high school still and this number 33 on my t-shirt was my baby daddy? She then went on to say that she hoped there were grandparents that got to love on this little baby quite often.  I found that to be kind of a strange thing to say and to be honest, I think maybe she was trying to get a feel on whether or not I still lived with my parents or of this high school boy and I were shacked up together.  I told her that yes, we were heading out to visit the grandparents in Nashville this weekend and number 3 and I were just running a few little errands.  To that she says, “3?” and I confirmed that yes I had three little ones and she quickly asked how old they were.  When I said that my oldest was 7, I could see that she was doing the math and coming to the conclusion that I was 11 when I had given birth to Mattie.  I found it was probably a good time to say that Daddy’s patient had cancelled on him this afternoon and he was home lunching with number 2, which had given the little one and I a chance to get out. To that comment, you could see the blood rushing back into her face and breathing to resume at a normal pace.  She kind of laughed to herself and still in the same tone, went on saying how I didn’t look old enough to have 3 babies.

I don’t know if its better to look my age (whatever 33 looks like), or have people thinking that I am an irresponsible teenage mom, who do to my pregnancies has smashed my teenage boyfriends football dreams.  It does make me feel a little bit better that the guy whose jersey number is 33 for the Dillon Panthers, is actually my age in real life.

And just for some random fun, it was Spirit Day at school on Wednesday.  The theme was Decades and Mattie sported a “50’s” inspired look.  I was going to dress her like myself, circa 1987-88, but our attempts at tight rolling her jeans were highly unsuccessful.  And try as I may, I could not for the life of me get her hair to look anything like mine did without cutting her bangs.  And I don’t think one spirit day is worth ruining my kiddos hair for the next 6 months

 

And one last thing, I say Elvis at Kroger the other night.  I have lived in Memphis for over 4 years now and have been highly disappointed at the lack of Elvis sightings.  This is the 2nd Elvis I have seen at a store, and not a store you would expect to see an Elvis.  This first was Target back during Elvis week, but he was obviously a fake.  This guy however, it truly was something!  He was wearing dress pants, a white dress shirt and a red tie, had the jumpsuit era hair and was checking out his own groceries in the self-service aisle.  At one point, I guess the attendant went over to help him and he actually said to her, “Thank you, thank you very much.” I couldn’t help noticing that the older Ford Bronco that he got into didn’t really fit what I would imagine Elvis driving but hey, I was mistaken for a teenager so that should teach me not to judge.  But he had these wonderful lightning bolts and “TCB” on his windows, which all good Elvis fans or Memphians know means Takin’ Care of Business, which was Elvis’ catch phrase.  Of all times not to have my phone with me!

Okay, well that is all for now but maybe a bit later I will share with you the little midweek wonderful that stopped in last night.

Doing The Dishes and New Shoes

So yesterday I got a visit from someone who has become a very dear friend of mine.  They have visited me now every week for about 6 weeks, arriving just in time for coffee.  Who is this new, dear friend?  The dishwasher repair man of course!  I know I mentioned him a while back, stating that he was coming and how excited I was not to be doing the dishes anymore.  Well, he’s been back 3 times since then.  Our dishwasher has been rebuilt, it ought to be bionic or something now – able to fly or go back in time…..or at least wash dishes. To be honest, I am afraid to actually run it.  I’m afraid that it still won’t work and that we will have to call my friend back again and I will go through another week or two of getting all excited when the UPS man shows up with packages.  Ripping into them thinking maybe its something grand I forgot I ordered or a late birthday present or something, only to discover that it’s a new heating element.  Then, not only am I disappointed at not getting something fun and wonderful in the mail, but also at being reminded that my dishwasher still doesn’t work.

In other news, Reese and Brandon came home from Lowe’s with a present for me on Sunday.  They had made a donation to breast cancer awareness and were gifted a lovely little pink ribbon key chain.  I was telling Reese again how nice that was of he and daddy to think of me and that I really liked my new key chain.  Without batting an eye or even the slightest hint of a smile, he replied, “You are the one with the ninnies.” And then went right back to running his cars through the dirt in our unkept flower beds.  I suppose he’s right, in our little family of 5, I am the only one with functioning ninnies (our little family name for breasts) so its only right that I should get the pretty key chain.

And in still other news, my pair of shoes has come home.  I was delighted to come home from Mattie’s piano lesson last night and there was a package on the front stoop.  I’m so excited to wear them and feel pretty even though my hair probably won’t be fixed and I might be wearing the shirt that I slept in.  At least when I have to go jean hunting tomorrow and Reese tells me that my drahonkus (our family word for bottom) looks funny, I will have some sort of dignity left in knowing that I have good shoes.

Birthday Shoes!

And I am going to leave you with a few little things, a few little happy fall moments

Lila Red Shoes Baughman

Her cute little bow is from Inspired by Faith on Etsy. We are big fans of the bow making skills of Ms. Ramona

I Like Mondays

Unlike the rest of the world, I actually like Mondays.  To me, Monday is the day to start over again, almost like a redo to make up for all that went wrong or didn’t get done the week before.  I almost always wake up feeling relatively positive on Mondays, maybe because instead of looking at a half-finished list like I did on Friday, it turns into a brand new list.  So today is Monday, and to that I say,bring it on list.  Also, I have some company coming in on Thursday and nothing turns the fire up under me like having company coming.  I have a feeling this might be THE WEEK that all of the bathrooms are cleaned at the same time.

So first thing today, I took out my list……….and modified it.  I broke it down into even smaller tasks and here at 2:06 p.m. I would like you to know that there are several things finished on it.  Not just things from the modified, easier list either.  Things from the big original master.  I have hung up 3 pictures, changed Lila’s crib bedding, fed all my children (and myself) multiple times, finished laundry, made Reese a bulletin board, swept, put away laundry,cleaned the windows on my front door, transferred the summer clothes out of  Mattie’s closet and put 4 items on ebay.  I am quite proud of myself.  I am considering doing a little ironing, but I don’t want to be too showy.

This past week, I have discovered a few things.  The first is that Reese has no socks.  The boy isn’t a very big fan of socks and during the warmer months (which here in Memphis means from April until Octoberish) he really has no need to wear them.  When we went to Mumsey’s house, I knew it would be colder there and so I packed him a pair of socks for each day.  But each day, the socks seemed to be getting smaller and smaller.  When we got home, all of those socks were washed and then put in the Goodwill pile.  And when Brandon dressed him for church this week, he didn’t have much better luck.  He and I both hung our heads in shame as our boy walked into God’s house wearing entirely too short and entirely too white socks with his dress shoes.  So that is something  else I need to put on today’s list and highlight it about 4 times, buy Reese new socks, specifically a pair suitable for church.

The next thing I noticed this past week is that the changing of the jeans is upon me again.  This has happened with each of my other two post pregnancies.  The day comes when I can actually wear my old jeans again, but I no longer like them at all.  That might be because in the time that it takes for me to marinate a baby and then get back into a somewhat similar version of my old self, the styles have changed.  No matter what, I have a closet full of jeans and I am not really a fan of many of them.  I think this is because many of them don’t go with me newly discovered “good pair of shoes” rule.  You can’t really wear hip boots with a pair of flair legged jeans.  And that darling little flat is going to get swamped if the leg is too big.  I’m not certain, but I also think that with each one of my pregnancies I either shrink a little or my booty falls down my legs a little bit more because I don’t remember these jeans being so long previously.  anyway, Friday the jeans were separated into two piles, the keepers and the keep-nots.  And I hate to say that not many made the keepers pile.  I am trying to stay positive about this situation but let’s be honest here, jeans are essential, but buying new ones process can be a nightmare.  There will probably be a bit of crying, cringing, and a whole lot of deep, heavy sighing.  Also, shopping for me means that there will also be an audience.  Nothing makes an already mortifying and torturish experience all the more dreadful than having their brutally honest 4-year-old (and if I’m lucky the 7-year-old, too) describe your naked thighs out loud.  And with great detail.  I can definitely think of many other things I would rather be doing.

And on a completely random note, I wanted to share some of the pictures that I took when the boys and I went to visit the pumpkins a while back. I finally got them off my phone and they were just too cute not to share

“This one’s for my mama” – another exact quote

Pumpkins amongst the pumpkins

Boys atop a pumpkin

“Take our picture here, we look like farmers.” That’s an exact quote.  And Landon is making tractor noises, hence the face.

Lila Bird checkin’ out the pumpkins, too

Landon taking out this poor jack o lantern’s eye

Cheese! Or should I say “Gourds”

Cute Boys

A Bit of Advice

As far as motherhood goes, I wouldn’t consider myself an expert.  And fashion, that I know even less about.  I have figured out a few little fashion tricks that seems to go hand in hand with the demands of motherhood (those demands being things like up since 5:30 but not had a chance to shower since 3 days ago and yet still need to look presentable and not wearing the same thing for school pick up that you had on for school drop off).

The first would be, find a nice sweater/ light jacket.  Something preferably that doesn’t look like a robe and that you would have actually worn out before you had children.  Even if you are still in your pajamas and you have to drop that kid off at school (but aren’t getting out), or do a few “stay-in-the-car” errands, a nice sweater gives the appearance to those around you that you are actually ready for the day.  But make sure that you don’t fall for the illusion as well and forget that you indeed aren’t completely ready for the day.  WAlking into Target in our special sweater but forgetting that you are still wearing the plaid jammie pants could really ruin your day.

The next trick I have discovered is that 2 of these 3 items, when worn together, can give the illusion that you have it all together.  A) fixed /styled hair.  And by this I mean, you actually style it from scratch – not just a ponytail.  Actually, invest in the full shower and blow-dry and if you are in my situation, the needed curling iron or straightener. Remember though before you get overwhelmed, we are only doing 2 tricks here so don’t worry.  B) make-up and again, sunglasses are not the same as makeup because eventually, you have to take them off.  Or they may even be ripped off by those little hands that belong to our cherubs. C) The next trick, and probably one that I am the most proud of discovering because it’s completely, 100% true is good shoes.  You can be wearing the dullest of shirts, even something with a stain on it and maternity jeans (even though you had your last baby 3 years ago), but if you have some footwear on that is just a little bit on the nicer side, it speaks volumes.  ITs kind of like yoga pants, good shoes say, “I have potential to take care of myself and have very high-class taste, I just may have been out feeding the homeless today and didn’t want them to feel inferior to me.  And these stains on my shirt are from the soup kitchen.” I feel like having good shoes gives me mystery.  Who is that woman who can be so carefree with the rest of her outfit, not seeming to give a care at all what other people think of her bird’s nest pony tail, yet obviously knows what nice things are? It confuses people when they start from the top and work their way down and everything is a little bedraggled except for your incredibly stylish shoes.

So pick two of those things, make up and shoes, shoes and fixed hair, fixed hair and make up – and you can let the rest go.

Here is an example:

Ignore the light….and the bathtub…..and anything else that seems awkward

I am sporting old maternity leggings, (Funny story here, I was wearing these last week and was amazed that they were feeling somewhat baggy.  Leggings and me don’t usually have baggy moments.  Anyway, I was beginning to think that wow, I must be losing some weight or something.  Then I took the leggings off and realized that they were maternity.  I went from feeling really quite good about myself to feeling rather stupid.  I got over it pretty quickly and just decided that leggings are leggings and these were still decent…..even if they were maternity.) a tank top that I will probably end up sleeping in tonight and this months “special sweater”.  But the fashionable boots take it from homeless to a little bit hip.  And I apologize for the weird pose.  It was the best I could with my conditions.  And my makeup was on, because as you can clearly see, my hair was not fixed.

And here is another fun little story for you, one that I like to call humility in the form of shoes. As I stated above, a good shoes to have is very important.  I personally have found that a good boot works great in the winter.  You can wear it with leggings (which are my going out sweats) or skinny jeans and it’s just super easy.  Plus, if you get a mid/ casual pair, you can wear them for all sorts of occasions. In addition to my boots, I like a nice flat.  I have been searching for a good flat for quite some time and finally decided on a pair.  They were quite pricey, but very high quality so that will last and look nice all year.  Since they were rather expensive though, I felt a little expensive about buying them.  Brandon ended up getting them for me for my birthday though which I was super excited about.  However, he had to order them because they were currently all out of my size at the store.  I was so excited when I came home from my mom’s house last week to find a lovely gift bag with a lovely shoe box inside housing my long-awaited shoes.  I opened the box and was just happy as a clam holding my new, beautiful shoe that was guaranteed to make people not think I was homeless.  I did a little dancing around the room in my one shoe and proudly showed it off to Brandon and thanked him profusely for my wonderful birthday gift.  Then I went to put the other shoe on……..and it wasn’t there.  It wasn’t in the box, it wasn’t in the sack, it wasn’t in Brandon’s car.  I may or may  not have requested that he drive back to his office where the shoes had been delivered to see if it had somehow fallen out in there.  No right shoe.  I find it to be a very mean trick to gift a woman with beautiful, designer shoes.  Shoes that are going to give her confidence on those days where she just wants to crawl back into bed.  confidence on those days where she is still wearing the same Dillon Panthers t-shirt that she has been wearing for 3 days, except for a few hours when she took it off to wear something a touch warmer, but then decided that she was more comfortable with the t-shirt and a hoodie.  I needed those shoes!

Brandon made some calls and my other shoe is to be delivered on Tuesday.  So now I still have this lovely, bag, with a lovely box inside that holds only one shoe….its like some weird reverse Cinderella thing or something.

Anyway, I hope that this has been helpful for you.  It works well for most any stay at home mom and probably most any college/ grad student.  But probably no one that is either trying to get a job or actually wants to keep their job.  I think most professional work places like the whole package.

Two last things that having nothing to do with anything.  I am showing off a little acorn craft that Reese and I finished yesterday.  We have been collecting acorns for a few days and I think the neighbors were very curious as to what we were doing and if we realized that those acorns aren’t really something to be desired.  But I think it turned out pretty cute.

Also, I bought this service tray thing from the museum house next door at her garage sale.  It was only $3, but I’m not quite sure what to do with it.  Paint it, yes, but what color and how…..I really am stumped.  Any advice?

Have a great weekend!

 

Wooooo Pig Sooooie

I came home this morning from dropping off Number 1 at school and Brandon had the Memory game all set up.  He was all set for a pre-work challenge with Reese The Cheater.  Personally, I think that rather than doing these expensive memory tests that Brandon runs on the geriatric crew at work, he should just have them play a round of Memory.  It would be great, the Interns could do the actual “playing” and then just document how the game went.  Brandon wouldn’t have to pay for these expensive testing materials or have degreed professionals do the actual testing.  Fact is, he could schedule Reese and on her breaks from school, Mattie to do the “testing”.  It would save so much money for everyone, keep Reese busy and wouldn’t take nearly as long.  I think I could be on to something here.

So on to my actual topic of the day. We are Hog fans in this family.  Brandon is not, but because 4 out of 5 are – that is a majority.  I could say that we are a house divided, but that wouldn’t be true.  I would also like to take a moment to say that I would be perfectly open to Brandon dressing our children in Bruin’s gear.  Fact is, I have actually purchased some……

example a)

For Brandon’s birthday, I surprised him by dressing Mattie in a UCLA t-shirt

But he doesn’t really seem too interested in educating our children about his team, so I am indoctrinating them all about mine.

Baby Lila sunning on her Hog towel, way back this spring

I would also like to take this moment to my explain devotion to the Arkansas Razorbacks, because there have been people in the past that like to point out that I am not originally from Arkansas and cannot be a true fan.  I was born and raised in lovely Claremore, Oklahoma, which will always hold my heart. My family is very proud to be from Oklahoma,(I can sing the Oklahoma song word for word and rattle off all sorts of statehood information at any given moment). But we never really had an allegience with any sports team.  WE weren’t especially close to either of the large college towns and my parents just aren’t huge sporty people.  My parents weren’t alumni of either state school, so we never really felt pulled either way.  Then in 1996, we moved to Arkansas, right outside of Fayetteville which is the home of University of Arkansas.  There are no other pro teams or college teams really in Arkansas, so it is pretty hog saturated.  It’s very easy to get caught up in the local home team when the whole state is so involved.  It’s a camaraderie really, part of being a community.  It also really became a part of our life when during my junior year of high school, as a fund-raiser for class trip and graduation, I got the privilege of cleaning the football stadium and basketball arena after games.  Not me alone, my entire class, as well as Mumsey and Poppy because they were two of the class sponsors.  That sort of experience kind of bonds you with a team.  Sort of like, if I’m going to clean your house, I will develop a loyalty for you.  Since we were going to be there anyway and got in for free, my family and I would often go early for our cleaning and actually watch the game.  We also discovered that the fans were less likely to throw their popcorn all over the floor and kick over their drinks in disgust and anger, when the home team won.  So you start cheering on the Hogs.  And before you know it, you actually care about scores and championships and rivalries and such.  And then……you find yourself wearing Hog clothing.  Now 16 years later, as the parents still live in the land of the running red razorback and that’s where I go when I go home – I feel that I have earned the right to be a true fan.  I never changed alliances, never flipped from one school to another.

All of that to explain why my kids can often be found dressed like this:

Wooo Pig Soooie

Or have birthday cakes that look like this:

Most children would be horrified by such a thing presented to them on their birthday…not mine

And all that to show off Mattie’s latest refrigerator masterpiece

I am so proud!

Lovely isn’t it?  Her hog looks a bit more like a bull and she wasn’t completely satisfied with it so she tried again.

Can your kid draw a wild pig? Mine can

I have to say, I am terribly impressed with her skills.

I do believe that she got her daddy’s artistic skills, but she has her mommy’s taste.