Monday, October 31, 2016

Halloween 2016

Happy Halloween! I failed majorly at trying to blog over the weekend so this week will be full of Halloween posts. Bare with me! I just need to document all of these cute moments and photos of my kiddos!
Today was such a fun day but oh man, I'm tired. I woke up at the unruly hour of 6 am (which is crazy early for me) because I had so much to do today. I wanted to be up and showered/dressed before the kids got up. This morning we had an early breakfast at Campbell's MDO with his friends and teachers. Scott and my Mom came with us and it was a lot of fun! Campbell loved showing my Mom his classroom and wanted her to stay with him all day. We said our goodbyes then I ran a few errands and got ready for a fun Halloween day!!
I love getting the boys dressed up for Halloween! For Bennett's very first Halloween costume, I went with a goldfish! He looked sooooo cute. It was the perfect costume for a little one who can't crawl or walk yet. Thanks Pottery Barn Kids!
I have known for over a year that this would be Campbell's costume this year. He was a skunk last year but I had such a hard time deciding between the skunk and this puppy. I loved both costumes SO much and said whichever one we didn't choose, we would just do the next year. And that's exactly what we did!
Campbell LOVES trick or treating and it is so. much. fun. watching him do it. He is not shy at all. He ran up the sidewalks and told us to "stay back" because he's a big boy and can do this on his own apparently. He gave the doors a solid knock and said "Tra Tree!!!!!" then picked out his piece of candy, said thank you and occasionally blew a kiss as he was running off and down to the next house. Insert huge grin and giggles on my face all night long. Ahhh I love it!
Unlike last year, Campbell lost some major pep in his step towards the end of the night this year. We still had plenty of time to trick or treat before we needed to get Bennett to bed but Campbell started moving slow as a turtle so I knew it was time for us to head home. We hit up a few of the houses on our way back then called it a night.
Bennett was a little sweetie and just hung out in the stroller all night, his little fin hanging down low, giving a smile to anyone who said hi to him.
Overall, such a fun day. I knew it would be. Halloween has become such a fun holiday now that I have kiddos! We ended the day with a Papa Murphy's Jack-O-Lantern pizza, per tradition. We've been doing that for years and years now and I know it may sound silly but I love that it's become part of Halloween for us. It just adds an extra little something.
And you know we didn't leave the girls out of the festivities!! Gracie joins us every year. They have dressed up every single Halloween and this year they were pretty little angels! I love, love dressing the girls up and they politely oblige. We decided not to take them trick or treating with us because they would probably bark like crazy and embarrass us. But we pulled a bench up to the front window so they could look out and see everything that was going on.
So that was our Halloween of 2016. Trick or Treat from my tiny goldfish, sweet puppy, and pretty little angels!!

Friday, October 28, 2016

Halloween Weekend

We are getting ready to have a super busy (and very fun!) weekend!! We have so much to do and so many Halloween festivities to participate in and even though we'll be going 90 to nothing, I'm looking forward to it!
Scott and I have a Halloween party to go to tonight. In true fashion, we have no idea what we're going to be but I have a few ideas up my sleeve thanks to Pinterest (what did we do before Pinterest?). I'll be spending all day trying to execute a Halloween costume. This should be interesting with a toddler and baby in tow. Every year I try to talk Scott into going as Dancing With The Stars. I think it would be so hilarious to get the darkest spray tan we could manage and bedazzle ourselves in ballroom gear. But every year Scott says absolutely not. Party pooper. I think it's such an awesome idea, especially if Scott would wear his shirt all the way unbuttoned. LOL!
I'm really looking forward to Halloween. Our Halloween last year was so much fun because Campbell had an absolute blast!!! I hope he enjoys it just as much this year. I have a feeling he will. He and Bennett both have some pretty cute costumes to wear and I'm already looking forward to eating the candy Campbell collects. Shhh, don't tell him.
I'm going to try to blog over the weekend since we have so much going on and I know I'll want to document it all. Hopefully I have time to do it. If not, next weeks post will consist of nothing but Halloween festivities I'm sure. Until then....

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Me Time

Sometimes I find myself wondering what other moms do when they get a minute to themselves. That time is precious am I right? I had a lot more free time when it was just me and Campbell. I rarely get any time to myself these days but that's okay. For the most part I enjoy how busy I am because I don't get bored and my days go by quickly. Plus, I know that my time will free up a tiny bit as Bennett continues to get older.
My most sacred days are my Mothers Day Out days. I send both of my boys twice a week. Campbell has been going to MDO since he was 10 months old and he loves it. I knew before Bennett was born that I would want to put him in starting this fall. It's truly my only chance to have me time and get a lot accomplished. I need that time. I never blogged about putting Bennett in MDO when he first started because I wasn't sure how I felt about it. The first day I put him in I cried and when I picked him up, my heart felt weird. I held him the rest of the day. I literally wouldn't set him down and told Scott I wasn't going to continue to put him in. But Scott encouraged me to try it a few more times since it is my only chance to have time to myself. Slowly I got used to it and now I'm really glad I kept Bennett in. The women who take care of him are absolutely wonderful so that helps me feel good about everything. Bennett is chill so he's totally fine being there and I've said numerous times before how much Campbell loves it.
The boys are there from 9:00-2:00. I drop them off, come home, go for a run, shower, pump and before I know it, it's 11:30-12:00. Sometimes Scott and I have day dates and eat lunch together and sometimes I have so much to do that I don't have time to eat anything other than a handful of goldfish. I spend my last hour and a half getting groceries, running errands, or doing some fun shopping. I pop back home around 1:30 to pump quickly then I head back out to get the boys. Right now I send two bottles with Bennett so I have to pump twice which takes up a lot of my time. I feel like within the next few weeks we'll be able to stretch him out to having just one bottle so that will give me a little bit more free time.
While my MDO days are pretty much the only chance I get me time, I can usually work it out to where the boys both take their afternoon naps at the same time. If that happens, a lot of the time I just lay on my bed and relax. I look on Pinterest, social media, shop online and snuggle with my girls. It's a much needed break in my day. After the boys go to bed at night, I typically have a lot to do around the house: laundry, dishes, pick up toys, blog, edit photos, etc. If the stars are aligned and I don't have any of that to do, I treat myself to a bath and Scott and I will usually watch a show together. Before I know it, it's time for bed and then I start all over again the next day.
So that's how I spend my free time! What about you?

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Silver Dollar City

On Friday evening Scott talked me into going to Silver Dollar City. I wasn't really in the mood for the production of it but the thought of seeing how much fun Campbell would have won me over. We'd talked about going for months and we had nothing else to do so the next morning we loaded up the kids and took off towards Missouri.
The drive there was really lovely. The roads were scenic and beautiful with the crisp, fall colors. I sipped on my cappuccino while Campbell watched Mickey on the iPad and Bennett snoozed the entire ride. It was bliss. We drove right into Silver Dollar City and Scott and I were so excited about what we knew was to come. The first thing on our agenda was to grab an early lunch so we could focus on fun for the rest of our time there. We found a little restaurant, quickly ate our food, then headed towards the area of the park we felt Campbell would enjoy the most.
Campbell was fascinated by his surroundings. Since he loves dogs we thought this cute little doggie ride would be the perfect start to his adventure. Campbell said he wanted to ride with me so the two of us got in line while Scott stood with Bennett, camera in hand, waiting to capture the huge smile on Campbell's face once the little ride took off.
Campbell climbed in the ride and was so excited. The ride operator told me to sit in the back so I got Campbell strapped in then climbed in the seat behind him. We talked about how much fun we were about to have and before we knew it, the seats started rising then leaned slightly to the right to get ready to turn.
And that's when Campbell lost his mind.
Yall. He screamed so loud all of Silver Dollar City could hear it. At first I tried to console him and tell him it was okay, that I was right behind him, and I was holding him tightly. But he didn't care. He continued to scream at the top of his lungs and I couldn't help but laugh especially since everyone was watching us.
Thankfully the ride was a quick one so the torture didn't last too long. We gave Campbell some time to regroup and play in a little jungle gym for a bit. Once we thought he was okay, we asked him if he wanted to ride a different ride, with Dad this time. He said yes so again, we got the camera and were ready to capture the fun.
But no.
Before the ride even got started, the operator allowed Scott and Campbell to get off so Silver Dollar City wouldn't have to continue to hear Campbell's screams of terror.
At this point Scott and I weren't real sure what to do but we were certain that we were already emotionally and physically exhausted and we hadn't even been there an hour yet. We suggested some ice cream so Campbell was excited about that. We took a little ice cream break then tried to get on the carousel.
Campbell wasn't real pumped about it but I ensured him it was no. big. deal. and tried to get him excited about picking out which horse he could ride on. We climbed on the carousel and it started to take off (and by take off I mean slowly spin around and around at a snails pace) and yet again, Campbell lost his mind. He screamed as loud as a 2.5 year old could scream and suddenly I heard the operator come over the speaker saying he was stopping the ride so we could get off.
We got kicked off of a carousel. Because my child was afraid of it.
This was the ultimate low moment.
I looked at Scott and said "let's get out of here" and that we did. Vowing to never go back to Silver Dollar City again.

Monday, October 24, 2016

T'was The Week Before Halloween

Oh hi there.
We have a crazy, busy and fun week ahead of us. Lots and lots of Halloween festivities and parties to attend from now until next Monday. It's going to be fun though and we're looking forward to it! Now might be a good time for Scott and I to figure out what we should be for Halloween this year. We're notorious for waiting until the day of....actually just a few hours before....the party before deciding on our costumes.
I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5:30 this morning for no apparent reason. I laid there for the longest time willing myself to go back to sleep before I finally hopped up and decided to make my family a yummy breakfast and start some laundry. I told Scott that it was actually kind of nice being up and moving before the kids were up. Bennett is my alarm clock so I literally hit the ground running every day and it's exhausting. I would love to have just 30 minutes to myself before the day starts but that would mean I would need to go to bed earlier and going to bed early these days seems next to impossible. Sigh. #momlife
I got the new iPhone today and I'm not even messing around this time. It has 256 GB and if I ever see a "storage full" message pop up on my screen again, I will lose my mind. 
Here we are on Saturday headed to Silver Dollar City. I'll share about our little adventure tomorrow. It's a story that's for sure.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Date Night & Bucket Swings

Last Saturday night Scott and I got to go on a much needed date night. I've said before how rare those are for us. We honestly enjoy spending our nights at home but every parent NEEDS a date night here and there. Since they're so rare for us, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at Ruths Chris. The Razorback game was on TV so we thought it would be fun to sit in the bar, eat a nice meal and cheer our hogs on. When we arrived, we told the hostess our plan and she mentioned they had the game on in the patio area as well. It was such a beautiful evening so we opted to sit outside instead. It was wonderful! We had a perfect view of the TV, I sipped on the first glass of red wine I've had since I don't even know when, Scott and I shared a huge steak and we watched the Hogs play an awesome game. It was all just so perfect that I wanted to cry. Ha! Momma needed a break from life and thankfully, I got it!
Our week has been pretty typical. Busy, busy. I used to get bored a lot when it was just me and Campbell but with the addition of baby brother, there isn't much time to get bored. It's nice because my days go by fast but it's also completely exhausting. I've been trying to get a lot more done around the house during the day time. It's hard to do with two littles but I was always waiting until after they went to bed to do stuff but then I wasn't able to get in bed until 11:30 or 12:00 most nights. I've been able to get in bed around 10:30 this week and it felt good to be in bed "early."
Fridays are our most chill day of the week so I'm glad I get one tomorrow. We almost always eat Chick Fil A on Fridays. If I'm brave we eat in and if I'm not in the mood we do the drive through. This has somehow become a tradition the last year and a half or so. Campbell likes it and I do too. I'm sure Bennett will feel the same way about it before we know it!
Speaking of baby Bennett, he got to enjoy the bucket swing for the very first time yesterday! I wasn't sure if he would like it or not since he's kind of small for it but he just sat in there and chilled. It's so funny because the first time I put Campbell in the swing, I made sure to bring our comfy (and sanitary!) bucket swing cover. Ha. #SecondChildProblems
I'm glad the weekend starts tomorrow. How about you? Until then....

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Wordless Wednesday

Monday, October 17, 2016

Pumpkin Patch

We took a little trip to the pumpkin patch last Friday evening. The weather was chilly so it seemed like an ideal time. We have the cutest little spot in NWA that I go to every year to pick out pumpkins. The people who run it are always so nice and it's fun to go and look at the many different varieties that they have. Campbell had an extra good time going this year. He immediately picked out a wagon and started putting as many pumpkins in it as he could manage. Then he got mad because the wagon got too heavy for him to pull. He didn't understand and became beyond frustrated. We tried to take some of the pumpkins out so he could roll the wagon but that just made him angry. Good times.
Here's some cute pumpkin patch photos that we got before the pumpkin meltdown.