Happy Halloween

Hannah Montana & Bumble Bee



Olivia got sick at school today. She missed out on trick-or-treating. Luckily, we have some family that agreed to let her take a rain check on Halloween. She will get to have a make-up session this weekend probably. Rachel got to go trick-or-treating with her Daddy & was thrilled to pieces. 

party day

rachel's 4th birthday party went off without a hitch. she looked absolutely beautiful in her little tu-tu'ed outfit. gorgeous. such a wonderful, happy time with all of her family & the people that love her the most.

Rachel turned 4 & got a new pair of kicks

the middle picture warms my heart to the core. this smile is exactly what i needed. this is the face of pure happiness. she doesn't care that  i didn't bake cupcakes. i put her candles in a hostess cupcake & she loved it. we sang to her & she blew out her candles 3 times, because once just isn't as much fun. happy birthday sweet girl. we love you.



my favorite 4 year old 

Happy 4th Birthday Rachel



My Dearest Rachel,

Happy 4th Birthday!!! I cannot believe how fast these 4 years have flown by. From age 3 to 4 you have grown & learned so much. I love hearing all of the crazy things you come up with. You have a wonderfully wacky personality now. You have so much energy. You are very much my girly-girl. Your favorite color is purple. You can spell your name out-loud. You have mixed-emotions about going to Friends, but I think you love it. You are a great sister to Olivia. You have, hopefully, outgrown the 3 year old sass. You are turning into quite a little lady. I am so proud of you. And I love you with my whole heart.

All my love always & forever,

Mama

it's a Limp Bizkit kinda day

today started off poor & has steadily gotten worse. i am so completely overwhelmed & frustrated right now. work = 100% frustration these days. when i'm home, i ,admittedly, have a short fuse because of work. this is something i need to work on. mental note: leave work at work.

but for today, it's just one of those days. i keep replaying the song "break stuff" over & over on a loop in my head.

you don't really know why, but you wanna justify rippin someone's head off. your best bet to stay away, mutha f-----

and so on & so forth. excellent.

ready for a bit of a word dump??? well, ready or not, here it comes:

blame it on pms or work stress, maybe a combo of the 2. but i seriously 100% considered deleting the ol' blog today. it may still happen. who knows. i'm, well, i don't really know what i am. but i definitely feel like i am ready for a change.

i sent the following text message yesterday: "pet peeve: people who says pacifically instead of specifically". it was a mass text to several people in my go-to group. all replied with some form of laughter. but seriously, it takes every ounce of will-power to not correct these dumb people.

which leads me to my next point, my sister so kindly says "if you meet more than 1 asshole in a day, you are the asshole." i have been thinking about that phrase for several days now at work. am i really the asshole? i can't be. that's not possible.

i need a nice hot bath & a glass bottle of wine. i think tonight is just the night for that.

just so i'm not 100% debbie downer-woe is me in this post, i do have 1 bit of fun-celebration today. we are going out to eat as a family for rachel's birthday (which is tomorrow). my little birthday girl asked to go to our favorite mexican restaurant for chips & shalsha (so cute how she says it).

St. Louis Weekend

we went to FRIGHT FEST at 6 Flags saturday. it was totally awesome!!! i had a blast. i kept saying how excited i was all the way there. it was a beautiful day! sunny & 73 or so - absolutely perfect. the lines weren't bad at all.



rides were a good idea in theory. here are the girls on the tazmanian devil ride - very similar to teacups.

by the 3rd time around, Rachel was a hot mess. crying & screaming. Olivia continued to spin & spin & spin that bad-boy.

we did do a couple of family rides: the scooby doo scary swamp ride & the log flume. after about 4 hours at the park, the girls were ready to go to the hotel - luckily my dad was heading that way. Jarrett & I stuck around & did all of the big rides with my mom, sister, & brother & sister-in-law. it was so much fun! i always feel like a kid there.

sunday, Jarrett left early so he could work the whole afternoon. the girls & i went with my Mom & Dad to Grant's Farm with the Brownies & Tim & Hilary. it was alot of fun too.



Dad, me, & Mom - photography by Rachel



just some random cuteness from the day



Rachel & The Pledge of Allegiance

The girls were arguing in the car this evening. Olivia told Rachel, "You're not in 2nd grade, so you don't understand." To which Rachel replied, "Well, at Friends I do the Pwedge of Awegiance evewy day."

That was news to me. I recorded her because it was just so darn cute!

a letter to my love

i couldn't sleep last night. i have been fighting these horrible allergies - headaches, sore/itchy throat, stuffy nose - it's fabulous. while i was awake, i had time to reflect. jarrett & i are celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary 1 week from today. 9 years. does that seem incredibly long & still very short to anyone else? i have been married for almost 1/3 of my life. so, i sat down & wrote jarrett a letter. this is something that i do quite often. as jarrett would say, i typically do it after i have been "breakin his balls" an exceptional amount. but this letter was different.

jarrett & i have grown up together. i was 19 when i met & fell in love with jarrett. 19 is so very young. in my letter, i told jarrett that being with him & watching him as he grew into the man he is today is one of the greatest joys of my life. and it is so completely true. all of our experiences over the past 9 years, the good the bad the ugly, all have molded & shaped our love into what it is today. it is not the same love that i had for him when we were married 9 years ago. it is so much more. i entered our marriage with a blind, innocent, fairy-tale love. if people warned me or told me marriage is work, i was all "whatever, we are in love. it will be fine". and in a sense, that is accurate. but this is work. it's hard work, but it is rewarding work.

i am blessed to spend my life with my best friend. happy anniversary, jarrett - 1 week early. i love you.

threats & bribery

I don't profess to be some all-knowing amazing parent. I want the best for my children. I pray for their health. I pray for their futures. I love them with every fiber of my being down to my very core. I was born to be a mother, I know this.

All that being said, these are trying times, friends. Trying times. Olivia is the queen of sass. Remember this? Well, it got easier for a little bit, but then we quickly went backwards. If you look up the word defiant in the dictionary, this should be what you see.

I'm not kidding, I wish I was.

She is learning that very painful lesson that bad behavior & attitude means consequences. Except we are past "time outs" & spankings (yes, we believe in spankings - I was spanked EVERY DAY {that's where Olivia gets the sass, I guess} & I am fine.) So now we are losing privileges. This weekend, Olivia learned that playing her DS is a privilege, not a right. She will be without that bad boy for a week.

And not to make Rachel out to be the "good one" & Olivia the "bad one" we will address Rachel. She is the most opinionated 3 year old I have ever met. She will be 4 next week. She marches to the beat of her own drum, and gets mad when you try to change the tune. It's pretty much awesome.

So, Jarrett & I have resorted to a new method of parenting - Threats & Bribery. We're not above it, obviously. Jarrett & I joked just this morning that it has proven to be a pretty effective parenting method. And I am sure a lot of people use it, just are as readily willing to admit it as we are. Ha!

Now I am off to make a "behavior chart" for each of my gals. Maybe I shouldn't look at it as threats & bribery....maybe its more consequences & rewards - that sounds better.

Pumpkin Patch

We took a trip to the local pumpkin patch today. As luck would have it, Jarrett was just switching fields & was able to go with us. The girls had a blast. We left with $13 worth of pumpkins. It was a beautiful day!


Olivia - feeling much better today!



Daddy & Livie on the seesaw

It looks like Olivia was having fun, but she was scared. Ha



My girl in the tube.



climbing on the straw bales



My 2 beautiful girls!



my love & I. 
{the new hair color is growing on me - makes my eyes look super blue}





corn angels



hair changes

 Blond was fun...It really was.

But for the fall, I wanted something different. Reddish-Brown it is. Still taking some getting used to. But all & all, I like it.

faces of Rachel

this girl hasn't been getting much face time on here.

she is so funny.

she is going to be 4 years old in a few weeks & i can hardly believe it.

she talks non-stop.

she says silly things like "lets touch teeth when we kiss" or "hey you, you better watcha whata you are-a doin witha thata thing".

she missed her sister very much & was so concerned about how she was doing. she kept asking her Bopchi "when is sissy comin home from the hop-sit-al".

she is pacifier-free & wasn't loving it at first. but, she has come around.

she tells me day-care is college & that she learns lots of things there, like how to be a doctor.

oh and, she has dorrito crumbs & orange smears all over her face, it's just part of her charm.



so long, tonsils

Olivia's surgery went very well. We arrived at 7:00 am. She was in pre-op for about an hour. They took her back to surgery & sent us to the waiting room at 8:10. At around 8:45 the doctor came & told us everything went great. We were back with her in recovery by 9:00.

Olivia was so anxious to get home after her surgery. She asked everyone that walked by her little bed if it was time for her to go home. After a glass of water & 2 slushies we were out the door. After a quick stop at the pharmacy, we were home by 1:00.

I think Olivia was worried about how her voice would sound after surgery. Her cousin Andrew's voice changed very very drastically. She was very pleased to see, or hear rather, that her voice didn't change much at all. It's a little froggy, but I think that will wear off once she is completely healed.

We are now on day 3 of recovery & from what everyone told me, today & tomorrow will be the worst pain wise because it really starts healing. She is drinking plenty of water. She is eating plenty of fudge pops & ice cream. And she has been eating ramen noodles for every meal. She is really being quite a trooper. I am very proud of my brave tough little girl. I am so thankful & relieved all went well.

Rachel has been very concerned with her "Sissy". She is helping me take very good care of her. Now, I must get back to my patient.

Olivia's Surgery

Tomorrow, Olivia is having her tonsils out. We have to be there at 7:00 am - she is the first surgery on the books. She didn't sleep much last night, she was up worrying about tomorrow. I have to say, she definitely inherited that from me. I know she is going to do just fine tomorrow. She is my brave girl.

Prayers for Olivia greatly appreciated. I just don't want her to be frantic tomorrow morning. I have reassured her this whole thing is nothing to get worked up about. Prayers for me, also greatly appreciated - this may come as a surprise, but I tend to get worked up sometimes too. Ha! 

fall is the best

a family walk at sunset.

checking out daddy's corn.

the sweet smell of harvest.

a crisp october night.

this is why, i love fall.

 

oh yea, I turned 30

So, on September 27, I turned 30. I'm coming to terms with it nicely. I had a brief cry that morning in the shower. Luckily, I was fully recovered from that semi-emotional/hormonal outburst in time for my party. Good thing too, the cards were all about how I'm old & my youth is dead - it was good to have my sense of humor back before all that jazz.

My parents threw an awesome party for me at their house. We had delicious food, played bags, & enjoyed a little fire. All of my favorite people where there. Somehow, I neglected to get any pictures of me with the rest of my guests. That may have something to do with me having my drunk face on. Especially in the picture with April. ha!

30, I challenge you. I am going to make you the best year yet. Plus, you have got to be better than 29 was, by a long shot!

Olivia's Saturdays