Fall Festival

I brought my camera, just left the memory card at home. shoot. I was especially sad when I found out Dave was going to be in the pie eating contest. double shoot. But alas, cameras abound these days, and one sweet girl lent hers (in photo) and another family emailed these great shots. Honestly, the best part of the contest was watching Zach's face. He was SO EXCITED, he'd never seen Dad do something so silly. Seriously, how great is childhood? Zach had never heard of/imagined such a thing as a pie eating contest...and to watch your Dad participate? Well, it was obviously memorable! All Miss Lily wanted to do was lick the whipped cream!

Zoo Boo

We headed out to the Zoo Boo this weekend, Spiderman and Fairy in tow.
Zach was pretty excited to see all the other kids dressed up, but at one point, (I think he had seen one too many spidermen) he said in an exasperated tone, "Mom, WHY are there SO MANY superheros here?!"
Zach's old friend, Mr. Comodo.

Funniest part of the day: We waited in a little line so they could have their turn in the eagle's nest. Finally as Dave lifted them up to get inside, Zach turned to him, "Dad, are these eggs going to hatch while we're in here?"

Admittedly, this zoo trip was less about animals and more about finding the next trick or treat station to fill their candy bags. I think they are prepped for the big night!

Evidence

1. After Lily's birthday party, I threw away ALL the cupcakes...looking at them made me gag.
2. Yesterday I received a Deseret Book Catalogue, while reading pithy descriptions of their Christmas books/videos/cds for sale....I cried.
3. I've taken a nap almost everyday for the past few months. I get in bed around 9:30...and I am still tired.
4. Comments on the blog and phone calls from family telling me I've made them cry while reading my posts lately...attributed to my highly emotional state no doubt.
5. Unusual items showing up in my grocery cart.

All evidence pointing to the fact that I am 12 weeks pregnant today. yeah! I'm excited (and overwhelmed...but that's another post). I was able to have an ultrasound at my first appointment. With Zach and Lily, I had to wait until I was 20 weeks. So it was new and so beautiful to me to be able to see little bitty baby #3. I cried of course. And he/she moved his/her hands and legs while we were taking a peek. loved it. i've got a little picture on my fridge now. makes everything so very official. One of the BEST things about this pregnancy is that my sister Laura and I have THE SAME DUE DATE. MY SISTER!!!... I feel so fortunate to share this day with her. Its been fun to call each other and commiserate over how crappy we feel. My body is tired, my hormones are raging, but my heart is full. Life is good. Our little family is growing.

A Day at the Oil Ranch

Where everyone can take a turn milking Daisy the cow.
Lily preferred just petting her, and Zach said it looked "too squishy to touch", he said he would let me! haha. So I showed them how its done, I think they were impressed. But then Zach wanted me to milk the horses.......ahhh, city kids.
We rode a train,
and peeked in on the barn animals.
They actually started out really brave, "come on Lily, let's go pet them"
Lily...wait a second, they're looking at us!
abort, abort!
We also took a hayride out to the field to feed the cows. WOW. That was an experience. They gave the kids pellets to feed the cows before we left, but as soon as our wagon rolled into the pasture, the cows knew what was up. They stuck their heads into the wagon trying to get to the food (ummm, we were sitting on hay bales). Imagine a wagon full of about 30 kids screaming and chucking pellets to the cows. We got slimed by hungry cow noses, but after a few minutes of panic...the kids realized that cows don't bite and had fun watching them eat our seats. No really, I didn't even have a hay bale to sit on after the cows got to it.


I think Zach and Lily were starting to get the hang of farm life after that, so they decided it was time to ride the ponies. They were pretty proud of themselves!

And of course, we grabbed a pumpkin on our way out.
It was such a great little day with our ward playgroup. My favorite part was probably the drive out to the the ranch. After we got off the highway, the country roads were soothingly familiar to me. One thing I really miss about my old home is how I lived so close to "civilization" with every conceivable store within 5-10 minutes, but I also enjoyed the idyllic scenery of rolling hills and pastures and farms. I didn't realize how much I need both. I rolled down our windows, turned off the air conditioner and turned up the "classic country" station. It felt good.

Bitter and Sweet

The following story most certainly does not paint the prettiest picture of me, or my mothering skills. But I'd like to record it, because it has made such an impact. It's been a little rough around here the past month or so. So many things. To give myself credit, sometimes, I feel blessed with the patience of a saint. Maybe it is from my years of teaching...no matter your anger, you just CAN'T get mad...you find ways to deal. Throw things, break things, hurt your sibling, scream in public and I will calmly address the situation. Which is why it is always so disappointing that the times I truly loose my cool, it is usually about something minor. It's just me...my own stresses that betray me. And it was one of those days a few weeks ago. To be perfectly honest, I can't even remember the infraction, it was so insignificant. But I found myself yelling at Zachary. Mean mom face...shouting...threatening words...squeezing his arm... menacing. When I take myself back to that place, I recognise I just FELT out of control. And then it happened. Zach looked up at me with the saddest expression, and as calmly as he could he said, "Mom, please don't talk to me like that." pause. ton of bricks. I heard the Lord's voice. No really, I can't adequately describe the feeling that what Zach said was actually a message from the Lord. I quickly apologized and sent him from the room. I sat on my bed to cry. I felt the full weight of my responsibility, and sometimes failure, as a mother. And almost as instantly as I had been rebuked, a peaceful feeling came over me. Words fail. But I was taught again about my Heavenly Father's love for me individually. I felt his approval of my offerings as a mother, and His patience with my shortcomings. Because of His Son, I can try over and over again. It was a whirlwind of emotion, but in the end I felt hopeful, encouraged and loved. Just a little lesson for the day from my Heavenly Parent. The kind of lesson that I too, hope to pass on to my little charges.

Lily-lou-do is quintessentially two

Today at her well child check-up, she saw a stapler covered with bright stickers behind the desk. When she could not HAVE said stapler, the realization sent her into a screaming tantrum that forced her to flail her body on the floor and roll around in front of the other patients. When the doctor came in, she eyed him suspiciously but remained uncharacteristically quiet. Going through the checklist of questions, he said, "is she putting more that 2 words together to create sentences?" and apparently, the suggestion that she might not be, offended her. She promptly piped up, "I jump on the colored boxes (she then jumped from tile to tile on the floor) and I have a Dora sticker!" The doctor turned to me with a surprised look, "so she's a rocket scientist, and I guess I'll skip the motor development section!" Later, as I explained to her that she might have to get a shot today, she grabbed her little thighs and cried, "Mommy, they NOT cut me!" (lucky for her they were temporarily out of Hep A vaccines). But unfortunately, she did have to have her thumb pricked. She screamed over and over to the poor lady collecting her blood, "YOU'RE HURTING ME, YOU'RE HURTING ME!". I didn't know who to feel worse for. Luckily the pain was short lived, and once she had her sparkly band aid on, she looked up at me with those big blue eyes, red with tears, and said, "soda now?" Yes my little love. You earned it.