Let the Halloween Festivities Begin!

Tonight began our Halloween adventure. We attended a party at the kid's daycare.

We have a very busy weekend scheduled with pumpkin picking, trick or treating, birthday partying and a Halloween festival to boot!

The party at daycare was a lot of fun and it's very sweet of those dear teachers to stay late and put such an event on for the kids.

Freddie loves him some Ms. Irma. She is definitely his favorite.

And I hear that this is Ainsley's boyfriend - his name is Dino. Well, at least he's a cutie. Although, I see all the boys hug Ainsley when she leaves each night...and I hear when Dino is out, she's also fond of Owen. She's young, she should play the field :)

I'll post more stories and pictures on Sunday. Have a happy Halloween everyone!

Urban Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend I packed up the kids and the dogs and headed to Northern Virginia to visit Clif and his parents. Caitlyn and her fiance were also in town for a wedding. A few things I learned...

1 - Even with all the traffic Clif has to sit in to get to Richmond each week, I'm pretty sure it's way easier for him to travel than me. Clif brings one itty bitty bag each week. I brought my largest suitcase, a bag of toys, a bag of diapers, a bag of dog stuff, a bag of food supplies (baby food, cereal, cups, bottles, binkies, medicine, etc), a diaper bag, a stroller, two kids and two dogs. Clif can throw two shirts and a pair of jeans in the bag and be golden...I had 4 distinct lists. One for me, one for Ainsley, one for Freddie and a miscellaneous list.

2 - It really is not all my fault that I can't be anywhere on time these days - including work. Without the kids I am insanely quick and on time. Friday, I intended to leave work at 3:30 in order to get the dogs and bags in the car and be at daycare by 4:30. I left work at 3:50, got gas, got snacks, made it home, packed the car, loaded the dogs, pulled the trash and recycling bins back away from the street, got the mail and still made it to daycare by 4:30. Okay, it was 4:33, but still! However, this morning, I woke up a bit late. I should have been able to leave the house by 7:45...which puts me to work by 8:20...which even though is 20 minutes late, is still on time in my world. But, with two kids...wow, I just feel like I'm moving through sludge!!! Just - can't - get - out - the - door - and - when - I - do - I - inevitably - forget - SOMETHING!!!!! See, doesn't it suck reading that? That's how I feel like my life is moving some mornings, no, all mornings. I'm in slow motion but the clock seems to move faster than ever.

3 - Freddie and Brinkley HATE the car. I didn't feed the dogs on Friday or Sunday in hopes that Brinkley would not throw up during the car rides. He did, both ways. On Friday, Freddie started fussing around Ashland, was crying by Kings Dominion and had settled into an all out scream by Fredericksburg. He continued until we got off the highway, at which point he fell asleep for 10 minutes, then woke up and went right back to screaming until I pulled him out of the car seat. Sunday he was a asleep when we left, so that did buy us a bit more silence on the ride home, but he cried from our stop in Thornburg all the way to the front door.

4 - Northern Virginia is way too expensive. We had wanted to visit a pumpkin patch while there. You know, like a really fun pumpkin patch with hayrides and mazes and decorations and all. Well, everywhere that Clif found charged admission. And that didn't even count the pumpkins. I'm not talking a couple of bucks...no $15!!!! Are you freaking kidding me? I'm not laying down $45 for my family to go buy pumpkins!!! So we ended up at a pseudo pumpkin patch in a shopping center parking lot. Not at all what I had in mind. There was a hayride for $2. It drove around the parking lot, on concrete.

And there was a maze for free, with a slide at the end. It was about the size of my living room and the slide came up to my shoulders. Needless to say, it was a very citified pumpkin patch. Believe me, I have nothing against the city. You could not pay me to live out in the country somewhere...I like my conveniences. But when it comes to pumpkin patches and hayrides and picking Christmas trees you gotta go with the experience of the whole thing. That's what makes it fun. Otherwise you might as well buy pumpkins at the grocery store when you're picking up milk and have a fake tree. However, Ainsley loved it. She didn't really know the difference. Guess that's all that matters.

Sooo...all things I already knew, but it's nice to have them proven time and time again!

Freddie Loves Pickles!

Freddie loves to eat...anything really. He drools over my dinner every night and I think he's beginning to get over baby food. So I've started giving him little things like crackers or pickles to gnaw on. The kid loves pickles.

He just sucks and chews and sucks and chews. He doesn't like when it gets too flimsy and I have to take it away. I hope he stays a good eater as he gets older.

Carolyn and Mike Got Hitched!

As you all know, last weekend (I guess it's more like 2 weekends ago now) my sister, Carolyn and her fiance, Mike got married. I travelled to Raleigh with the kids for the week before the wedding, which I've already shared with you. So this post will be dedicated to the wedding events on Friday and Saturday.

The Rehearsal

Friday evening was the rehearsal. So let me tell you what's not easy...getting yourself, a 3 year old and a 7 month old dressed up and ready for a 5:30 rehearsal at a church while your husband is dropping off a table...especially if said 3 year old picks this exact time to turn on her "charm." Ainsley always seems to pick the worst times to act out. Probably because that's when my patience and temper are at their lowest thresholds and she wants the extra attention she gets when she's bad. So needless to say, my hair stayed in a ponytail and I didn't get to finish my makeup...so my kids looked awesome and I looked ehh for all the pictures.

At the dinner, Ainsley spent the night dancing up a storm with me and Clif and one of the groomsmen - Tommy.

I forgot to mention that Ainsley seemed to fall madly, head over heels in love with two boys (really men) over the week. The first was Mike's sister's boyfriend, Tim. Ainsley spent an entire hour watching him mow the lawn. Yes, watching him mow the lawn. And when she could no longer see him from the sliding glass door in the kitchen, she went upstairs and stood at Carolyn's bedroom window where she proceeded to yell his name..."Tiiiiiiiiiim!" over and over again. I've never seen her stay in one spot so long.

However, Tim was kind of forgotten when she met Tommy and he danced the night away with her.

Freddie, per usual, couldn't hang and slept through most of the party. When the dinner spot turned into a nightclub, I decided to take the kids home and get a good night's rest for the main event.

The Wedding

The day of the wedding started early for me. I had to be at the salon by 10. So I left the babies with Clif, and then he turned them over to Uncle Cam and Auntie Amanda when he had to go meet up with the guys. Cam and Amanda were amazing. I really don't know how we would have juggled all three of us in the wedding and the kids without them. They truly pulled through for us and that's why I love them so much!

After getting my hair done I quickly fed Freddie, gathered up Ainsley and our dresses and headed to the honeymoon suite to get ready with the bride and other bridesmaids.

Ainsley had fun hanging out with all the big girls and watching Aunt DeeDee put on her pretty dress. But after we were all ready and headed for the church, Ainsley got transferred back to Daddy and Cam and Amanda. She wasn't allowed to ride in the limo because they had some dumb rule about me having to rent a special car seat for her. Um, no thank you for 5 blocks down the road!

Once we were done with pictures at the church, Ainsley arrived with Clif where she proceeded to entertain the early comers with "You are my sunshine" over the microphone reserved for the guitarist! I walked in just in time to hear (over the speaker) "Daddy, I need to sing a song about mawige (marriage)." Then I stayed to hear the song and everyone clap for her, and then we headed back to the waiting room with all the girls.

So, this begins my favorite story of the weekend...which was also the most frustrating story, but just goes to show you that in hindsight these can be the best. Ainsley was to carry a flower wand that Carolyn had made. I, being a bridesmaid, was carrying a bouquet of flowers. All day, ever since she had seen them, Ainsley wanted a bouquet. I told her over and over again that they were for the big girls and she had an AWESOME FLOWER WAND! And we'd say bippity, boppity, boo and wave the wand...but her desire for the bouquet never quite subsided.

As we begin our walk up the stairs Ainsley asked if she could hold my bouquet...this is where I'm really stupid because I say yes, but that we have to switch back before we walk down the aisle. And really, I actually thought this would work out. Look up stupid in the dictionary folks...my picture!

The bridesmaids start their procession. Three girls left to go before me and I say "Ainsley, here's your wand."

Ainsley: "No, I want the flowers."

Me: "Ainsley, we have to switch back."

Ainsley: "Noooo!"

Two girls left to go before me.

Me: "Ainsley, give me the flowers."

Ainsley: "NO!" As she runs up the stairs and kicks her shoes at me.

I race up the stairs, grab Ainsley, grab the shoes.

One girl left to go before me.

Me: "We have to switch." as I put shoes back on feet.

Carolyn: (a bit frantic) "Jaime, just let her have the bouquet!"

I glare at Ainsley as the last girl before me vanishes through the doors. Ainsley sprints out the doors ahead of me with the bouquet, which leaves me with the flower wand!

Ainsley, while looking back to see if I'm chasing her, spots Cam and Amanda with Freddie. She stops and exclaims "HI FREDDIE!!!!!!" Then upon seeing me come through the doors (with flower wand), sprints down the aisle with my...I guess her...bouquet.

It's amazing how everyone in the world thinks your kid is so cute at the same time you want to strangle her! There was a lot of laughter and quite a few "ohhs" and "awws" surrounding the events.

During the ceremony, she walked between me and Clif and the side pews, entertaining quite a few people. She also misplaced the bouquet she had and while I was holding Carolyn's much larger bouquet insisted in her whisper-that-is-actually-really-loud voice, that I give them to her. I did not fall for that one.

Finally, during the walk back down the aisle, Ainsley again had to be like all the big girls and have an arm to hold...so Clif pulled double duty with one of the bridesmaids and Ainsley. I'm so glad Cam and Amanda got these pictures, because I don't think the story would have been the same without them.

The Reception

So I don't have a ton of pictures of the reception...other than of my children. I was so busy talking and visiting and worrying about my speech, that the camera just didn't really cross my mind.

It was a lot of fun and Ainsley once again danced her little butt off until she passed out in Clif's lap.

Freddie got passed around to random family members, most of whom had never met him, and fell asleep on most of their shoulders.

I made it through the toast without too much embarrassment...I'm so not a public speaker...and Carolyn and Mike were married!!!

It was a great time.

Sunday came and everyone had to go home...I really didn't want to return to my life...but I did, and here we are. That about covers it.

Congratulations Carolyn and Mike and welcome back from Jamaica!!!