Weekly happenings Oct 20th-25th

Oct 20th:  Sometimes you just need to get creative to keep your kids out of your room.  It didn’t work, boo!  Xander walked right past him.  Twice.  {thumbs down}

Oct 21st:  I received shirts for work so Sterling and I decided to match. Both had black yoga pants on also. She loved it!  Xander felt left out of course, so I told him we could match next week.

Oct 22nd:  We took Hawkeye for a ride with us to pick up sandwiches.  I think he loved it.

On another note, I was asked by a co-worker if I had Xander in a booster seat (without the 5 point straps).  I said no and I don’t plan to move him to one until he outgrows this seat.  Now it has me thinking I need to?  But, he’s not even 40 pounds yet.  I like the 5-point.  It’s safer and I know he’s staying in.  He can buckle himself in, I just help him unbuckle.  It’s not a hassle, so I don’t’ have plans to move him to a booster anytime soon. 

Thoughts?  When do you move to a booster?

Oct 23rd:  When did this boy grow up?  He makes a chocolate sandwich all by himself!  He says he knows how because he watches me make them all them time. He sure surprised me by this one! He’s officially a big boy now {ugly cry face}.

Oct 24th:  Saturday morning snuggles and cartoons.  Sterling has this thing this week that she needs to sit on my lap.  She also does not like when I’m using my phone, always telling me to put it down and watch her shows with her.  Maybe she’s right and I need to put gadgets down a little more!

I had plans to take the kids to a harvest party and to a trunk-or-treat bash at my friends church, but, these kids are naughty and took their fun away by not listening.  I gave them chance after chance to change their attitudes and use their listening ears, but they kept on being naughty.  I gave up and told them they are not going anywhere with me.  My plans then changed so I headed to the grocery stores and Nick took them to the trail to play soccer.

Oct 25th:  Sunday morning grandpa reading to grandma.  These two can play so nice, when they want.

There was another Halloween celebration at our local mall, so I told them if they could be good and listen this morning, then I would take them to this one.  It worked and they had fun!  Saturday’s activities would have been way more fun, but kids will be kids.  They have to learn.

My little Dorothy and Batman.  “I can’t look, the sun is in my eyes!”—Sterling  Her eyes are SO sensitive to the sun and is always screaming that the sun is in her eyes!  Such a drama queen!

 

Have a great week!

First half of October recap

 

Happy October…on the 19th!  I’m slowly catching up and after todays overload of pictures and extremely long post, I will be!  Now the daunting task to stay updated.

Oct 1st:  Sterling had a school field trip and her daddy took her because I had to work.  She had fun at the farm learning about the animals and what comes from specific animals.

 

Oct 2nd: Hubs was working night shift (6p-6a) so Sterling and I ran errands while Xander was in school, picked Xander up, ran across town to get Sterling to ballet, we decided to stay out and give Defy Gravity (an indoor trampoline park) a try.  It was crazy expensive for 30 minutes to jump ($35 for the 3 of us, including the mandatory socks).  It was a sweaty fun experience though.  Xander and I had fun racing (by jumping of course) from one end to the other.  We don’t have this activity on our must do again list, but it’s also not on the definitely will never do again.  Maybe we’ll jump on another time.

Oct 3rd:  Hubs still working nights shift so the kids and I headed out around 10 for a full fun day.  I was aiming for a no cost play day.  First up we headed to Sam’s Club to pick a few things up and to look for an adorable outfit I’ve seen on Instagram for Sterling.  Our club didn’t  have it…boo! 

Next up was for the kids.  Two years ago they both received a $25 gift card to Chuck E. Cheese from their Opa.  I’m not a huge fan of that place, so we haven’t went since their birthday that same year (we received the cards after their party), so this day seemed like a perfect time to use them.  Say hello to Mr. Germs.  Ha!  The kids loved it of course and I’m glad I don’t have these cards hanging over my head anymore!

After this completely free visit, we headed to the mall because I had $75 in Gymbucks to use and they have an indoor playground for the kids to run around on.  After getting what I needed in Gymboree, we headed over to the playground.  They were running and playing, having fun.  Then, a little 7 or 8 year old girl started throwing up all over.  I snatched my kids and we left quicker than we got there (played less than 5 minutes)!  I wasn’t going to have them touching that mess and getting sick. So I told them I’d take them to the frog park by our house.

Now they’re having fun!  We played for an hour.  The weather was beautiful, a bit chilly when the wind blew but otherwise, really comfortable.

We got back in the house around 4, just in time to start dinner and they could tell daddy all about their day!

Oct 6th:  It’s Captain Xander!  Look how adorable he is in this Captain Hook outfit! 

Oct 7th:  When Xander woke up, I noticed one of the bumps on the side of his head was swollen and red.  I called the nurse that afternoon and she said it sounded like a swollen lymph node.  Um, yeah, there not located there lady! So I took him into the doctor on Friday morning for them to look at it.  It wasn’t red anymore, but still a bit swollen so I was glad I took pictures.  The doc said it probably was just bacteria in a hair follicle and it got irritated when he got his haircut a few days prior.  My question…if so, why did it take so long to turn red and swell?  His response?  Nothing.  I HATE military doctors! 

 

Oct 9th:  We headed to the Pumpkin Patch after school and ballet!  We spent 6 hours there and didn’t even get to do everything.  I’m hoping to get the kids back, but I’m not sure it’s going to work out.  They had a blast.

 

Sterling is afraid to climb on/off anything, so when she started on this net, I was surprised at how far she got until she was scared.  She started from where I’m taking the picture. Bubba came to her rescue because I was not climbing in there to save her

Oct 10th:  They painted the pumpkins they picked out from the pumpkin patch.

 

Sterling loved on her baby doll. 

Oct 12th:  It’s time for a checkup…at the dentist!  Xander has a cavity…boo!

 

Oct 13th:  One of those days where the kids were bouncing off the walls so I pulled out an activity for them to do.  They made a college to kill time.

 

Oct 15th:  Xander went back to the dentist to get his cavity filled and ended up having a total of 3!  All were very tiny, but fixed to prevent bigger damage.  I’m determined that he didn’t have the 2 other cavities because they didn’t show up on the x-ray from Monday.  Hmmm…people in the medical field sure do know how to make money!

Oct 16th: The usual. Xander school. Sterling ballet. After ballet we went to a park where we would be taking our pictures the next day.  Such a fun location and I was in love with these stairs!

Oct 17th:  PICTURE DAY!  I scheduled the pictures for the evening at 5:30 because our photographer suggested that the lighting would be perfect at that time.  And she was right!  She gave us a sneak peak of 4 of the pictures and they were absolutely stunning.  The kiddos were perfect during the shoot and listened so well to her.  Perhaps it’s because she’s Xander’s teacher and has also filled in for one of Sterling’s teachers.  Or maybe it’s because they know they have to listen to their teachers?!  Ha!  Whatever it was, it worked out perfectly.  I can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures!

The kids woke up and knew it was picture day so they kept asking every second if it was time.  So we had to kill time.  They painted.  And Xander really put his imagination to work and created a playground with a swing set with his cousin’s swinging (Kinley on the left and Caleb on the right), an apple tree, a bunny, and a hill.  So creative!  And we hung both pictures last night.  They feel so special.

After lunch, it was time for breaks, showers, getting ready, being silly, and heading off to the park.  I went a little early hoping Sterling would fall asleep and she did! She’s been on the hot mess express this month and I didn’t want her to be grumpy so I needed her to take a nap. She got in a good 45 minutes!

She always tells me she does not close her eyes and that she didn’t nap.  Good thing I know to snap a picture for proof!

 

Pictures in action

Look at my handsome boy! He’s gonna be a heartbreaker, for sure!

Those eyes!  Love love love this picture!  She’s a beauty.

Oct 18th:  I cleaned the house and did laundry.  Does laundry ever end?  I feel like I do 2-3 loads during the week and still have 5 loads every Sunday.  And why do wood floors have to take so long to clean?!  At the end of the night this hot mess express fell asleep on me.

I don’t know why she’s having such a hard month, but man, it’s rough.  The tantrums are real and I’m over it!  I can’t take her anywhere right now because if she don’t get something she sees and wants, it’s over.  And embarrassing in public, so she stays home other than school and appointments (and a quick Friday morning run to Sam’s Club). 

How did/do you get through the tantrum three’s?!  I need advice because I’m losing my marbles!

Have a great week!

September recap

September came and went way too fast.  I guess with working, working on my master’s program, and taking care of the daily housework and kids the little ole blog was put on the back burner.  I was telling Nick last night that I need to find a good routine to get back into writing more than once a month, ha!  Maybe I could squeeze in a weekly recap?!

 

We started September out by making a fun Halloween cake.  It was so good.  It wasn’t a box cake either, all homemade, and all so yummy!  I’ve never made a homemade cake before this day. Is that sad or what?!

We started with our homeschool program.  We’re using the Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week curriculum.  It was $15 and includes everything I could need! I love it and so does Sterling!

We stopped by a different local Target and it had fun characters throughout the store.  The kids had to get their picture with the doggie, of course.

Sterling started ballet at the Academy downtown.  She loves it!  It’s a 30 minute drive from us every Friday, but we make it work.

Xander woke up with his eyes crusted closed, so I thought he had pink eye.  I called the nurse and she sent us up to urgent care.  It was just a bad case of a sinus infection draining through his eyes. He was given amoxicillin and 3 days later we find out he’s allergic to it.  boo!  Kid had a rash all over his upper body. Once we stopped it, the rash was gone the next day.

I’ve had some pretty good lunch packing helpers.  One day as I was getting Sterling’s ready, she started stuffing a bunch of stuff in her back.  Little sneak wanted all snacks that day.

 

We went ice skating after ballet one day.  We also signed Xander up for lessons because he really loved it.  He starts in a few weeks.

We painted masks

Kids loved talking with their cousin

We were so happy that Fall finally arrived that we wore a Happy Fall Y’all t-shirt

Xander came in our room one day looking for Sis dressed like this. He asks if this “thing” is for slicing. I had to tell him wood only! Nick really needs to cut out the bad TV shows.

Xander wrote out his list for Santa.  He’s ready!  He wants a fire station and truck.

We had a lot of warm weather so we played outside a lot

On the really hot days, we bounced a lot. I’m so thankful that our basement is large enough to put this thing up!

Work is going awesome and I work with a great group of ladies and kiddos.

I’m on Instagram more than blogging so if you want to connect on there my name is bstew02.  I’d love to have you around.

Have a great day!