October!

Not a whole lot's been going on over here. Glad its finally October. We had four really nice days last week but its warm again... at least its not in the triple digits!

Since its a bit cooler, I finally decided to make the kids their teepee. Have you ever checked out prices on those things?! $100-$250. Steven picked up four poles for $10.12, drilled holes at the top and I strung them together, then hot glued an old sheet around. Perfect! Its not the most stable thing in the world but the kids love it and you can't beat that price! Eventually I'll probably get a more durable fabric around it and make it sturdier.

I used a stencil I alread had and made designs around it.

That back board's going to be a real chalkboard soon. And we took down the other one that was to the left. I like that it lets more light into the house and I can see the whole yard from inside, but while I'm outside, I can now see all the junk in the corner. Boo.

But we're slowly getting things cleaned up back there. Its actually the prettiest its ever been. We love being outside! Still have a ton of things I want to be done, patiently waiting. :)

Everything is blooming. I took this last week, since then the bougainvillea in the corner has pretty pink blooms on it and the yellow flowers on the ground have a TON more. Hopefully I can continue with this rare green thumb. :) The grass also looks better than this, I didn't water it for about a week- its nuts how fast it gets green again! I think we should plant winter seed. We spend so much time and energy in the summer trying to keep our grass nice, to only let it die in the winter. I want pretty grass all year long!

We got Aiden a big boy bike a few months ago, the kids fight over it constantly. Friday night Steven called me and said he wanted to get one for Rian.

She was so excited.

They look so big. Well, they are so big. On our first walk with her new bike, I got emotional. I've gone on so many walks around this neighborhood, all through different stages with the kids. Pregnant belly, wearing/pushing a screaming baby at all hours of the day and night, pushing a toddler with a second pregnant belly, pushing a huge double stroller, one kid on a bike the other in the stroller and now two kids on big kid bikes! Oh my. Time, you can slow down anytime you want. Just a litle, please? :\

We carved pumpkins for the first time as a family. The kids had so much fun! Rian refused to put her hand in though haha. I don't blame her!

Aiden drew the face on the right and Steven drew the one on the left.

The kids now know letters A, B, C and D. Aiden totally surprised me by writing A and C all by himself.

So proud of him!

Chores. Alphabet. Detergent. Kitchen Door.

Our computer kind of works but is still being weird- so annoying. I don't like updating from the iPad- it took over an hour to upload the other day! Then I go on the computer and put the pictures where I want them, I didn't like how jumbled my last post was. Anyway...

We started chores for Aiden last week, Rian too but his are more something he has to do. They both love helping out anyway already. I want to make some sort of chart for them. He helps set and clear the table, vacuum, folds his clothes (mosly shorts and pants because they're easiest for him) and clean his room every night (that was already his responsibility) they also help empty the dishwasher- big kids!

The kids now know letters A, B and C. They know ransoms like o and r too. But we're going in order. Today I had them look for the letter A in a bunch of other letters. They did so well!

 Rian easily picked them out, but as you an see, is still learning how to circle, etc. :) I should've put more on her paper, she was helping Aiden because she finished hers so quickly, he wasn't happy about that.

This morning I decided to make my own laundry detergent. Since I don't work I have so much extra time to be trying out things like this. Plus if I can save us money, I'm all for it! I've recently also stopped buying cleaners and am using homemade ones- mainly a vinegar mix. Hard to get used to the smell  instead of my old favorite Mr. Clean, but I'm learning. :) I bought all the supplies and the bucket for less than $16! I'll get tons of detergent out of all of this for less than one thing of Tide- exciting! I've read mixed reviews so my fingers are crossed it works for us.

One thing I already want to change, a few blogs I read said you can use any soap but most said this certain specialty brand I can't remember or Ivory, so I'm getting Ivory next time. It has to sit for 24 hours so I'll be updating soon!

Steven's dad ended up not coming over the other day, that's okay! My beautiful new door came in yesterday, a week earlier than expected!

It came with only primer on it so we're painting it next weekend (white). Can't wait!

Wearing their new Halloween jams! Aiden picked them out. They love them and want to wear them every single night!

So happy its Tuesday- New Girl starts tonight and of course my favorite, Parenthood! Better bring out the tissues.

Crazy. Growing up. Fall.

Things around here have been crazy. Cuh-ray-zie. Our computer is acting up so I'm doing a full update from the iPad- this'll be interesting! Boo to not being able to upload pictures from my camera. Also I don't know how the pictures will upload in the post, I can't attach them in certain areas like I want.

The kids have been in two modes lately: fighting and crying horribly or getting along so well that they're going nuts together and being naughty. Honestly, I feel so drained!

Rian's 3rd birthday is in exactly three months, how's this possible? Today we were in the car and she asked me if I could turn the music up louder, my heart melted then sank. She's so grown up: potty trained, sleeping in a twin bed, forward-facing... nothing "baby" about her. They were looking at books in Aiden's room [a moment of peace] and I heard him telling her to watch him. She said, "Stop! I'm looking at what's on sale." Haha! Mini Me.

Last night I was looking at pictures from when Aiden was 13 months old [which was exactly 3 years ago yesterday] it's crazy to think at that time I thought he was SO big. If only I'd known!

Steven's dad came over last weekend as promised, instead of working on the floor, they removed and covered the old phone landline faceplate and installed a light switch, since the old one was on the wall that we knocked down. Now that we have a working light switch again, we bought a new ceiling light fixture for when you first walk into the kitchen from the garage. He's coming back over tomorrow and they're going to work on patching up the area where we knocked the wall down. Then I have to repaint a small area. Eventually it'll look like a home again. :)

We decorated for Fall this week, the kids think its so fun! That's one of the best thing about them getting older, the holidays get better and better. Steven surprised me with my favorite creamer! I didn't think it'd be out until sometime next month- ahhh so good. I have to talk myself out of drinking more than one cup of coffee every morning. :) I had gotten new living room curtains a few months back, I love them but I was thinking how they won't look good with the Christmas tree against them so I got some new ones yesterday- using tablecloths! Perfect. Cheaper and they're wider so they work even better.

Happy first day of Fall!

Maybe baby, crowns, bikes, chalk.

For awhile now we've been talking about when/IF we'll have another baby. One thing we for sure know is, we want to have a bigger car before I were to get pregnant. We thought we'd start looking around February/March when Steven's Jeep should be payed off. Right now we have no car payment [unless you count his Jeep loan] so we'll be going from not having one, to having a big payment plus hospital bills. Yikes!


Saturday night I brought out our insurance booklet to get an idea about numbers [$$$] and Steven decided to tell me he doesn't think its a good idea to have another baby... at all. I was soo upset. :( He had a bad day at work and I think that had a LOT to do with him saying that. He's worried about the future, the what ifs. What if for some reason he loses a job, its a whole nother little life to worry about, mouth to feed, etc. The worries every parent has.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling okay, but still a little blue. Then I saw my friend post about a new Taylor Swift song- I was exctied! But... wow.

Steven refuses to listen to it.
[don't listen to it if you don't want to cry]

I was bawling. Its so heartbreaking thinking of families that have to go through that. But I'm so glad I found it when I did. Every day I'm grateful for my kids and their health. But it put things into perspective for me, of course I'll be sad if I never have another baby, but it won't be the end of my world. I have two amazing little kids. I'm blessed.

Deep in my heart, I'm almost positive we'll have another one someday. Steven has his worries, so do I. It might not happen like I want it to happen: sooner rather than later, with them all close in age. But I need to let go and remind myself that I can't plan every little detail of our lives. Its in God's hands and what will be, will be.

We had lots of rain Sunday and yesterday. So nice! It really cooled things off for us. I've had my Fall scented candles out for two weeks now. Hurry up October/November!

Cinnamon in my coffee to hold me over til Pumpkin Spice creamer comes out! Mmm.

 

:)

[Last year I drew the crown with her head right there, I didn't yesterday so its too big.

And check her out on Aiden's bike! I had a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. She's supposed to be a baby. :( She kept saying "Mommy, I'm a big girl!" She was so excited.

My handsome boy.

Rian and her happy face.

Next to it is a heart she asked me to make for Daddy. <3


9.11.01
Never forget

Getting ready for Fall/Winter!

...even though we still have two more months of hotness.

But anyway! I had $20 off at Old Navy so I got the kids some stuff. Ahhh I love new clothes shopping!

I went in for long sleeves but I couldn't resist these tees.

Jeans and leggings! [The teal jeans I actually got at Target a few weeks ago.]

This dress was regular price but look at it! It'll be soo cute with her fringe boots. Love.

As for the shoes, so dang cute and she picked them out herself! I wanted her to get some cute little pink ballet flats but she was set on these.

Last Friday on Zulily they had moccasins for $9 so I ordered her a tan pair and a brown pair.

Poor Aiden, basically all I ever buy him this time of year are flannels and thermals, with a few long sleeves he picks out. So I didn't take pictures of his clothes. Is that bad?

But he picked this awesome beanie and I ordered him these super cute shoes from Children's Place [of course they don't have them in the store, at least shipping was free!]

Still need to get them more, I want to check out Goodwill. I always find cute stuff there and its always brands I buy them. Online at Old Navy they have some sweaters for Aiden and leggings for Rian I want to get.

I had to try one of the outfits on her:

Cute overload!

We did our letter B project yesterday, just colored the letter and some pictures that start with B. Then they looked at alphabet stickers and found the B's to put on their page.

Aiden finally colors in the lines- took his sweet, little time.

And Rian spent most of her time putting on crayon lipstick.

Allll morning she pointed at every B she saw, so I guess she did pay attention afterall!

On Monday at breakfast, I gave them their milk in regular cups instead of the straw Take & Toss cups. They know how to use regular cups, they use them all the time when drinking water. But since then, they haven't wanted their morning milk because it hasn't been in the straw cups. Brats! They still have their afternoon and evening milk after naps and baths, the same times I used to give them their bottles. I don't know how to include them as their drink at meals instead. They need to get used to it though!

Last weekend Steven's Dad said he'd come over in two more weekends [he's working this one] and they'll start figuring the kitchen floor out. Thank God! My pile of dreams, as I call it, looks so lonely. We ordered the kitchen door this week. Yay! Slowly, soooo slowly but surely its happening. I can't wait til it looks like a home in here again.

This week on Pinterest I noticed pins were appearing that I didn't pin- spam! So I changed my password, a few days later I noticed my "Home" board was gone. Boo. :( I pouted. Sometimes when I'm bored, I look through my pins and dream. Ooooh well.

I can't believe its already time to start thinking of Halloween costumes. I love this time of year! Just wish we lived somewhere with pretty leaves falling and a chill in the air. One day we'll live somewhere pretty, I know it... maybe we'll retire and move to a farm! :)

Rain!

Lucky us, we got rain last Wednesday night and a good drizzle for all of this morning. So fun! And it was really nice, about 79 degrees!

Coffee on the porch, I've missed this!

We <3 rain!

Jumping in puddles.

Touching the sprinkles.

While she was doing this, a hummingbird came up to the feeder. It would've been a perfect picture but Aiden decided to not listen and go by on his bike and scared him away. Boo.

Chalk.

RAIN!

I hate how the grass looks right after its cut. It takes a week of watering to get it pretty again, then a week later Steven cuts it and it looks like this all over.

Aiden and the birdie.

I ended up taking my camera inside to charge the battery, when I came back there was a little hummingbird under the porch trying to stay dry. So cute! I had to use my phone to take a picture so I couldn't zoom.

:)

I wish it rained more around here. For 3 years I lived where it rained a lot and I ended up dispising it. Now I'm back to loving it and miss it. No happy medium ha.

We painted bird houses for the backyard. :)

Another update!

Wow three updates in a week! I'm on a roll. :)

I complain about the heat pretty much every time I post. Sooo over it. Its been extra humid like all of August which makes it so much worse. Hurry up October! Its still warm in October but at least its not disgusting triple digit hot. Anyway... so I'm constantly trying to keep the kids entertained. Its not even fun to swim this time of year, the pool's aren't refreshing at all.

When Aiden was a month old, I started watching my God-daughter, Ali. I bought a bunch of stuff for her, Play-Doh was one of them. I've taken it out a few times for Aiden but he really had no idea what to do with it. Last week we took it out and it was the first time it was actually used correctly and they had so much fun! They ask to play with it every day.

Fun!

I downloaded some fun learning apps on the iPad for Aiden. His favorite one is this Alphabet Pop game, it has three letters floating in bubbles and at the top, shows the letter you have to look for and pop. He loves it. Rian can play it too! I just have to remind her to look at the top to see what letter she's looking for.

Friday morning Aiden asked if he could spend the night at either Nana and Papa's or Grandma and Grandpa's. He's so grown up, asking to spend the night. My parents were in San Diego for the day so Steven tried both his parents cell phones and no answer. Later when Steven was at work, he texted me that his Dad would be picking the kids up later. They got picked up a little after 4 and didn't come home til around 5pm the next day! I let them know around 10 that I could pick them up but Aiden wanted to stay longer. 25 hours! And he still cried when they got dropped off. While they were gone Steven and I went to dinner at Brewer's. Mmmm! We've been there three times, I don't know why we don't go there every single time we eat out. Its so dang good! And the servings are huge. We stuffed our faces like two fatties. Its nice having time alone together, we need that. We're always caught up in being Mommy and Daddy that sometimes we forget to be Us.

We started our Alphabet project this morning. The letter A covered in tissue paper. And here's our hallway art display area.

Rian's on the left, Aiden's the right.

I went in Rian's room yesterday and she was cooking with leg warmers on, with one of Aiden's pajama shirts, undies and her apron- it was so cute! The next time I went in, she was wearing boots. :) As I was uploading the picture on facebook, Aiden came in with some tea for me and told me they were having a tea party and asked if I could put a blanket on the floor.

Love them. :)

I'm trying to grow Rian's bangs out, they're driving me NUTS! She'll keep a barrett in for awile then just rips it out. I don't know how her hair constantly in her eyes doesn't bug her.

Tonight is the last ever Teen Mom. I've been watching them for almost as long as I've been a Mom. I like their babies. I'm sad its ending but also, glad. They make way too much money! MTV should've been smarter and added into their contracts that they save money for their kids' futures. They make a lot of money now, but in a few years when nobody cares about them, I bet they'll have blown all of it.

Parenthood starts in two week. Yay! I could go on and on about how its the best show ever. Because it is. It ended early last season and the finale wrapped everybody's stories up as if it was a series finale, I was sad thinking it was over but its coming back. Only for a half season though. :\ Watch it, people! You'll love it. September is an awesome month for tv bugs like me. :)