Mirror mirror on the wall...

Mirror mirror on the wall, which is the most beautiful pumpkin of them all...

The AGGIE one...DUH!

Like seriously, did you expect me to actually have a "normal" pumpkin? Surely you saw this coming!

Pumpkin Party

We went to a pumpkin party on Sunday and carved pumpkins and bobbed for apples and such. Here are some pics from our fun day.

Pumpkin Patch

These pictures were taken on Saturday at the Pumpkin Patch in Celebration, FL.

Remember how I spoke of Lexi's creative genius traits? She picked up this goard and said, "Look Mommy, it's a nose!" I guess you can't tell from the front view, but from a side view it's hook shaped. Hillarious!

Hungry Ash?

Bubbles

Today we went to a pumpkin patch (FINALLY, YES I FOUND ONE, YEA) and then Lexi requested McDonald's for lunch and even though I thought it just may put my face in the barf bag, I caved to her request. When she got her drink, she started doing that really fun kid thing we've all done at some point in our lives...blowing bubbles with the straw. And here's the conversation that followed:

Me: "Lexi, stop, that's yucky!" (Although, I don't really care if she blows bubbles, but I had to say the mom thing, you know, cause people were watching.)

Lexi: "But Mommy, I'm playing the Aggie song (Aggie War Hymn) with my bubbles."

Me: "Well, then...carry on!"

Yup, I'm raisin' em right!

So my mom just called from Heaven, I mean The Holy Land, I mean The Promised Land, I mean AGGIELAND! She held up her cell phone so I could hear the Aggie band. WHOOP! When we hung up I said, "Yell loud and pray hard!" We need it tonight. Kansas is ranked #9! The former "walk all over us" team of the Big 12 is now ranked #9! CRAZY!

Gig'Em Ags. BTHO Kansas!

Blessings

Today, my family was the recipient of yet another great blessing. How many blessings can we possibly receive in one week? First the minivan rental to Texas, then the box of clothes and shoes for my kids (all Gymboree and Stride Rite I might add), and now this!

Just the other day, I was thinking how much my kids would enjoy computer games. We haven't really started that yet mainly b/c we have a laptop and those aren't real kid friendly. But I was wishing that we could maybe get a cheap computer for the girls to play games on. Anyways, today I went over to my friend Carrrie's house and she said, "By any chance would you want an IMac?" Turns out she had several IMacs to find homes for...long story. And she was GIVING THEM AWAY! So I got TWO, one for each of my girls. They're about 2 years old and had been used in a school. So they're in great shape and just perfect for the girls to play games on. They even have wireless internet cards and everything!

So last year, we received this fabulous leather furniture from a doctor's family I tutored for, my DREAM furniture, a few months ago we received a free wooden swing set from a girl in my MOPS group, and today I got two free computers!

Thank you Lord for yet another AWESOME blessing!!!!

And please send some blessings by College Station, TX tomorrow and help my Aggies BTHO Kansas!

AMEN!!!

Brrrr...break out the ski jackets kids! It's COLD!

Thank you Granny for the box of Fall clothes and shoes you sent for the girls yesterday! It's a good thing you sent them too because I think we're going to need the LONG SLEEVES today! Time to put those flip flops in the back of the closet. WOWsers! It's a blustery 68 today with a high only expected to reach 78! Gonna have to find our scarves and gloves! And it's raining, which makes it feel downright like....well...68 degrees!

Okay so I'm kind of kidding. Tomorrow will be back up to 85. But at least for one day we can believe that it really is FALL! And in Florida, 68 is like shivery! This morning the girls were playing dress up. In their swimsuits. Because that's what we do in Florida. Some girls dress up in princess dresses, we dress up in swimsuits! But when Lexi walked outside with Daddy to take Candice out this morning she said, "Wait a minute Daddy while I go get my jacket!"

Both girls were in desperate need of some clothes that fit. Apparently they both grew at an astronomical rate this summer. So I went shopping a few weeks ago and I was blown away at the clothing items for sale in these Florida malls! LONG SLEEVES! CORDUROY! VELOUR! TURTLE NECKS! I was like, seriously people, it's 98 outside today, why would I buy this? I was hard pressed to find skirts or capris with short sleeved shirts. Because even in January it was 85. It just doesn't get cold here. I went to Gymboree, Baby Gap, Dillards, Macy's. You name it. I came away with a small handful of items. It blows my mind that the clothing industry doesn't have separate clothing lines for different parts of the country. Because we have two seasons here...hot and hotter!

I'm not complaining about the weather. It actually suits me just fine. I like about 2 weeks of cold weather, then I'm ready for the warm sunshine. And that's about what we get. Even in Dallas, I would wear my flip flops when it was 32 outside. I'm a warm weather kind of girl! And I don't know if it's because of the climate or what, but neither of the girls or myself have had any sort of illness since March! Lexi's asthma definitely agrees with this warmer climate for sure! I think their last visit to the pediatrician was in February. So Florida definitely agrees with our biology.

Now if only they had a Wings N More or a Double Daves.

CT Scan

Ashton had an appointment today for a CT scan of her skull. The reason for the scan is that at her last appointment with the neurologist, the doctor couldn't find her soft spot on her head. So in order to make sure the skull hadn't fused together too soon, she wanted us to have this done. And if you want more background info on why Ashton sees a neurologist, you can read about it here and here. So she had to fast for 6 hours, therefore this particular facility only schedules children in the morning hours because it's too hard for them to fast during the day. That makes sense but they also wanted her to be sleep deprived. THAT, does NOT make sense. Sleep deprived first thing in the morning? Now, I am sleep deprived in the mornings, but the children are not! So she went to bed a little late last night and got up early this morning, and hasn't had a nap in like a week! I don't know how much more sleep deprived I could have made her to be, but apparently it wasn't enough. Because after 2 hours and a maximum dose of sedatives, we were sent home WITHOUT a CT scan!

And that was 2 hours of hell. For me and for her. She was SO drunk on drugs. Poor thing, she couldn't hold her head up, she was running into everything, her eyes were rolling back in her head, and yet she wouldn't GIVE UP! Have you ever seen a chicken after their head is cut off? That's what she reminded me of. She was SO delirious and incoherent and had no muscle control at all, but she was still ALL OVER the room! Finally after like an hour of torture for both of us, the doctor let me take her for a car ride. And she was out in like 2 seconds. So I took her back in and laid her back on the table which woke her up and then she screamed for the next 10 minutes until they finally said to go ahead and leave and reschedule. I don't know why they think next week will be any different.

I'm not sure I'm going back to this clinic. It was a Healthsouth clinic and I've had more luck with procedures like this at an actual hospital. They can use the gas, which is quick and easy and a sure thing. There's no chance of her waking up during the procedure and seeing the scary looking machine.

So I reckon we'll try again next week. I have to trust that either there was a reason God was protecting her from this today, maybe a technician who didn't know what they were doing or a quirk in the machine, or something, OR He's just really trying to teach me patience. And today certainly tested me! A two year old who wants to be independent and can't understand why she can't just get down and walk to the elevator or the car on her own but can't go one step without falling down...NOT FUN! She was screaming and squirming to get out of my arms the whole time but I was trying to protect her from getting hurt because she couldn't even walk! UGH! Glad that's over.

Next week, Daddy's going too!

Decision Made

Well, we made our decision yesterday evening. Thank you for all of your input!

Drumroll please.....





We decided to....





FLY! However, the Lord had other plans apparently because in the one hour's time of getting my mom's credit card number and my internet going haywire and not letting me log back on, the fares went up over $100/person. So it was going to cost around $1600 for the four of us. And my mom was totally willing to pay it, and happy to do so, mainly because who would want their babies on the road for over 20 hours on a holiday week??? But I just couldn't let her spend that much money on plane tickets. Not to mention probably another $200 for kenneling the dog! I know she didn't mind, but I just couldn't do it.



SO...



She offered to rent us a car, actually a minivan! Never thought I'd be so excited to drive a minivan! We're just not sure it's safe to take my car. It's a nice car, don't get me wrong. A 2002 Eddie Bauer Explorer. Still in great shape appearance wise. I LOVE my car. Except that it has 122,000 miles on it now (I thought it was 140k but I looked this morning and it's 122k) it's not a spring chicken if you know what I mean. It's well seasoned! But I don't think it's meant for long trips these days. Even this morning on the highway it was acting funny and I couldn't drive over 60 mph without it vibrating us crazy! Fabulous! Another repair.



And as for the DVD player, mom said she'd buy us a new one for the trip. We've already gone through 2 or 3 I think. They just don't last long, or maybe we're just really hard on them.

So there, I guess it's settled.



We're driving! In a minivan!


AND MY DOG CAN COME WITH ME!!!!!! (That gives me warm fuzzies...tee ith toe booteeeful! That's our little language I speak to her while she licks my face!!!)



Can someone send me some earplugs and a sedative (or a dozen) for the trip? Did I mention it's over 1000 miles, over 20 hours, with two toddlers, in holiday traffic???