Happy Fall, Y'all!

As usual, I had to take some pics of the kids in their costumes. I like to send out cards to family and a few friends that don't mind me filling their mailboxes with pics of my children. ;)

So one Sunday evening we went out to take a few pictures. I made a rookie mistake and put Maeva down on the grass. Even though she can walk now, she still is not a fan of grass. SUCH a diva. ;)

She was NOT a happy camper, even when I put a blanket down for her.

Being the good big brother he is, Manny tried to comfort her. His face here kills me.

She was not in the mood for a hug though.

He managed to get her to sit down, and wanted to give her a kiss.

But she was NOT having it. :)

She did eventually come around. Snacks may or may not have been involved.
 

Manny decided to ride his horse around for a bit. I'm kind of obsessed with his curls coming out from under his hat.

And sissy then decided she was sad that Manny left her. She acted like she'd be stepping into a pit of snakes if she were to step off the blanket into the grass. She's so funny!

But then she decided she was happy to just watch big brother run around. Photo shoots are always an adventure with them! ;)

Storybook Forest

Ever since Manny knew he was going to be a cowboy for Halloween, he has been begging me to dress up as Jessie and for Patrick to dress up as Bullseye. :) While the Bullseye costume isn't going to happen (Patrick was willing but is on call this week so won't be able to join us), it was impossible for me to say no to Manny when he'd look up at me (through his curly locks) with his best puppy dog eyes and say "Please please please mama be Jessie?" So I did what any good mama would do and bought a racy cowgirl dress. Yes, you read that right...it's a dress. I do have it folded under here, but trust me...it wasn't much longer than what you see. I didn't even realize it was a dress until I went to take the tag off and saw the girl booty poppin' while modeling this little number. I'm officially getting old.
  

Manny was absolutely thrilled that I dressed up. We went to a fun place called Storybook Forest, and when we were there I took him to the bathroom. While we were in there he turned to me and said, "Mama, you sure are a handsome cowboy!" Everybody waiting in line cracked up laughing. He's too funny.


Storybook Forest was really neat! It has little areas set up throughout the forest with scenes from classic storybooks. At each stop, kids can get one piece of candy. One nice worker even gave me some Twizzlers since I was dressed up too. Can't beat a deal like that!

They had an area with several fire pits, and we roasted hot dogs and then smores. Manny stepped right up like he knew what he was doing - no clue how he knew what to do but he did!

They also had a few carnival type games set up that Manny enjoyed playing. And before heading home, we went on a hayride! Manny was most excited about being pulled behind the tractor. We were riding along and he leaned over and kissed my cheek. I nearly melted on the spot! Of course I was all emotional about it and told him how sweet it was and that mommy loves Manny's kisses...so then he started kissing me again and again and again. So then I had to tell him to dial it down a bit after awhile. Haha! But looks like dressing up as Jessie paid off. :)

I left Maeva with a baby-sitter because I knew it would be too hard to have her along and she isn't really old enough to enjoy it yet. I was sad to leave her but it sure made for a fun little "date night" with my special boy! :)

31 Days of Blogging: Days 23, 24, & 26

Last week they had a fall festival at Manny's school. It was during the school day and was a quick but fun little event for him. MB was along for the ride too, with snacks in hand of course.

It wasn't a dress-up thing, but he desperately wanted to. So he wore this hoodie and said he was a "raccoon cowboy". Oh these cowboy boots. Every.Day.

I went to take a picture of the kids, and Maeva reached into Manny's bag and swiped a pencil while he wasn't looking. 

She was SO giddy at her treasure and couldn't stop admiring it. Though she had no clue what it was. Shortly after this sweet picture a major throwdown ensued when Manny realized Swiper was in action. :)

Thursday morning was the day Manny has been not-so-patiently waiting for: his turn to be leader again! Or as he says "wine weader", which cracks me up. His teacher has done an amazing job of making the leader job highly coveted, and Manny asks nearly daily if it's his turn yet. I was excited to let him know it would be his turn, and was actually on the phone with Patrick when I realized it. So Patrick asked if he could be the one to tell him the big news. I put Manny on the phone, and I could kick myself for not videoing it. Patrick told him, and Manny's eyes got huge and his mouth drop opened and he slowly pulled the phone away from his ear and said, "Mommy...Daddy said it's my turn to be wine weader!!!" He was SO giddy and it was like the best news of his life. Sweetest thing ever!

Part of the leader's privilege is bringing an item for show & tell, and he decided to bring Donald Duck this time. When he was eating breakfast that morning, he sat Donald down next to him and said, "Donald Duck needs to eat breakfast too mommy. It's hard work being the weader!"

On Saturday, there was a big game - OU vs Texas Tech! I went to OU and Patrick went to Tech, so we always try to go to this game when they play in Norman. Luckily some friends of ours were kind enough to invite us to go with them, and we had a great time! (Well I did anyway. Haha!)

It was somewhat of a rainy day, but after the rain delay the weather was perfect and the game was awesome. I was a little nervous at times, but my Sooners pulled through! Poor Patrick. This is the 2nd time he's had his heart broken by the Sooners when Tech was undefeated. He's a good sport though. :)

31 Days of This & That: Pumpkin Patch & a Birthday!

So I haven't had much time to keep up with blogging every day. Which is no big deal since I'm just random blogging anyway. My whole point in doing this was to try to get back in the habit of blogging more, and I think it's working. I have mentally blogged every day...does that count for something? ;) Just finding the time is still tough. We are busy busy!

On Saturday afternoon, we headed out to the pumpkin patch. Manny fell asleep on the way there, which is why he appears thrilled here. Think he was still sleep walking at this point.

Since the kids weren't exactly in the mood for pictures, we had Gabi take one of just us. Well us and the scarecrow, that is.

Maeva was so intrigued by all the pumpkins. Pretty sure she thought she was living her dream and these were giant oranges (she LOVES oranges). She just wanted to hold one the whole time, which of course wasn't exactly realistic. 

We went this same exact weekend last year, when Gabi was here visiting on her fall break. We also met Megan and her family again, so I guess it's officially a tradition now!
 

Getting a picture of the boys is always fun. They are such sweet buddies though and are so cute!

The pumpkin patch we went to had tons of stuff to do, and here we are waiting on the train ride. Of course Manny had to sit on the horse while we waited. 

 

Manny couldn't wait to ride the real horses. While we were waiting in line, Maeva was lunging toward the horses and barking like she wanted to ride the horses right that second. So I ponied up (see what I did there?) and paid the money for her to ride.

And then this happened. She squealed like a pig when Gabi tried to put her on it. Luckily they were kind enough to refund our money. MB was just conflicted I suppose.

Manny, on the other hand, was all business.

He loved it and didn't want to get off of course.

And just for fun - here is a pic comparison of us from last year to this year. What are the odds that Manny has basically the same expression on his face? Oh and my "messy top knot" had taken on a whole new definition at this point. Maybe it was windy? Who knows but it was a mess there. So crazy to see how much the boys have grown!!

On Monday, we celebrated Treva's 72nd birthday! Treva is Patrick's aunt - the one who, combined with my mom, set Patrick and I up. :) She is living with us for awhile while she is getting treatments nearby. Long story short, she had a wound on her foot that got infected, and the hospital she was at amputated one of her toes, and when it wasn't healing well, wanted to amputate her foot. She decided to come here for a 2nd opinion, and fortunately they were able to save her foot! So now I'm taking her for hyperbaric treatments 5 days a week, and it is greatly helping with the healing process. We are so thankful that everything is going so well and have loved having her here! Manny has her wrapped around his finger. ;)

31 Days of This & That: Days 17 & 18

Yesterday morning Manny & MB had to get flu shots. She was not too happy about it, but calmed down once daddy picked her up. Well that and we gave her a snack. Eating her emotions already. :)

They have really started playing together a lot in Manny's room. They always shut the door too...it'2012/02/happy-valentines-day.html" target="_blank">this Valentine's picture - oh how I miss that little baby!) Anyway, Maeva started whining that she wanted them too. Luckily he actually has 2 pairs, and I was able to dig the other pair out. She LOVED them and kept getting mad when they would fall off.   

Yesterday afternoon we had a fun surprise when my niece Gabi came to visit for a few days! I knew she was coming, but didn't tell Manny and he was SO giddy when she showed up at the door. He immediately started bossing her around and Gabi played along like the awesome cousin she is. Manny kept wanting to sit on the ottoman and fall backward. Not sure where he got that idea because he's never done that before, but he was making me a tad nervous. Gabi kept him safe though. :)

I can't believe how cold it's gotten here! I've been looking for a jacket for Manny, but have been hesitant to buy one because he HATES wearing coats. He is still dead set on trying to wear shorts and a tshirt even if it's freezing outside. It's exhausting. Needless to say, when I saw a kid wearing this Planes bomber jacket, I immediately googled it because I knew it would be the answer to our problems. Sure enough, he is SMITTEN. When he put it on this morning, he stood there and admired himself for like 10 minutes. It was so cute! (Jacket is from the Disney store FYI.)

I wanted to get a picture of Maeva in her little outfit, but she was not going for it. She was standing there eating crackers and I tried to get her to back up 2 steps so I could take her picture with Manny. And for whatever reason, that made her break out the Chris Farley cry face. True story, not exaggerating one bit...Gabi as my witness. She can be such a diva over the silliest things. But good grief, she is cute!!!

We had a rare treat of getting to meet Patrick for lunch! Though not so much a treat when MB was crawling all over the table. ;) 

I'm so excited for the kids costumes this year! Manny is going to be a cowboy and MB is going to be a pig. Nothing original, but I think it will be cute and Manny is of course excited to be a cowboy. We borrowed the costume for MB from Candice and at first Maeva was scared of it and didn't even want to put it on. We decided to try again this morning, and turns out she liked it! So much so that tonight she brought it to me wanting me to put it on her again. So she hung out in it for awhile tonight. The little tail on the back gets to wagging like crazy when she walks fast, and it is the cutest thing ever. Can't wait to get both of them in their costumes! :)

31 Days of This & That: Day 16

I've mentioned a time or two how feisty MB has become, and it's become much harder to get a picture of her or with her especially. Tonight Patrick snapped a couple of pictures of us and I think they are just so telling of her personality. In this one, she's desperately trying to nose dive out of my arms. 

But Patrick was finally able to get her to sit still for a smile. Food may or may not have come in to play in getting her to cooperate. ;)

She loves making faces at the camera, so we take a lot of selfies these days. She's started copying me sometimes and it cracks me up. We were growling here. :) 

 

And while I'm at it, I will mention my new love for wire headbands like I'm wearing here. Yes, I know my mom and sisters are probably laughing. I'm always falling in love with random stuff. :) BUT these are awesome! Most headbands give me a headache, so I like that with these kind, you just bend the wire to make it fit as tight (or loose) as you want. They are tons easier than trying to tie them - plus my knot never looks right. :) I bought a couple on a Very Jane deal a month or so ago, and loved them! I stumbled upon the gold glitter polka dot one in The Buckle the the other day for around $8, and the second I laid eyes on it, I knew it didn't stand a chance of not coming home with me. Anyway, these might be old news but I wore this to church tonight and I can't tell you how many people asked where I got it, then wanted one after I demoed it. Yes, I untwisted it and showed how easy it is to wrap on. And where I bought it and how much it was. I'm an oversharer, would you expect any less? I swear I missed my calling as an infomercial spokesperson.

I had some Kohl's cash that was about to expire, so I decided to stop in tonight. I went in to treat myself to something...but came out with all this for MB instead. I couldn't help myself! I love polka dots and stripes (duh), and it's always fun to throw in some neon, glitter, or leopard. Add to that the fact that almost all of these pieces were only $5.99 (the other 2 were $6.99), and I couldn't resist it! Plus it's finally getting cold and Princess baby needs some warmer clothes. :)

31 Days of This & That: Days 11-15

Well I kind of fell off the 31 days of blogging bit for the weekend. We were at my parents, and the internet wasn't working for me, so I just decided to give myself a pass and enjoy the weekend. I hope you were able to get through each day without my thrilling posts (#sarcasmfont).

As I mentioned, we spent the weekend with my family. My beautiful niece Gabi was in her SENIOR homecoming. I absolutely cannot believe she's already a senior!! Doesn't seem possible that it's almost time for her to go to college. (Remember Gabs - Boomer Sooner is the way to go!!) Anyway, she looked absolutely gorgeous and we had so much fun! This is her and my sister Becky (her momma) before the Homecoming festivities. Beautiful girls!

My sister Rachael and her kids also came up from Dallas. The kids always have so much fun together. Rachael walked into the room one time and Manny and Liv were being married by Ellie (who was holding a small Bible and doing the service). When she referred to him as Manny he said, "No not Manny, I'm Sonic!" Not sure how his love for Sonic the Hedgehog came about, but he has officially declared that's his name. 

On Saturday, the kids spent some time at their favorite place - the amphitheater, or "farm" as they like to call it. Sawyer and Ziggy the Piggy were in on the action too. 

Manny and Livvy being silly before bedtime. I asked Liv about them getting married and she said, "Yeah, he's my cousin and I love him so much so we had to get married." :) Guess we might need to teach them about how that works.

We got home Sunday night in time for life group, and have been on the go ever since. Maeva-girl is busier than ever but Manny took the sweetest picture of us the other day. She loves being tickled and wrestling these days. She's pretty strong and has an intense fish hook...and hair pulling capabilities. :)

I had to run into the mall today to return some stuff, and I decided to stop in to Bath & Body Works real quick. Well actually I got sucked in because they sent me a coupon for a free regular sized item from their signature collection. I'm a sucker for their awesome coupons! But I always feel a *tad* guilty for just getting that and nothing else. So essentially, yes, their coupons work on me. I thought I'd just buy a little travel size lotion when I spotted these luxe shea-infused lounge socks. Not only are they adorable, but they really are so comfy! My feet feel softer already. (Did I mention I'm a sucker?) Oh and Patrick calls me an elf when I wear them, so there's that.

That's all I've got for today! Hoping to get back into daily blogging again for a little while longer...we shall see. ;)