My Sweet Pumpkins (Then & Now)

We made our second trip of the year to a pumpkin patch...and this one went much better than the first. Charlotte and Jensen had so much fun running around and checking out all the pumpkins (not to mention the cars going by on the road beside us). It made me think of last year's trips to the pumpkin patch when Charlotte and Jensen were just six months old...I remember thinking how much fun it would be to take them when they could actually run around and enjoy themselves instead of being stuck in a stroller and propped up against pumpkins. I was right: Charlotte and Jensen are just so much fun these days...but they were awfully cute a year ago!

Then...

I do NOT remember Jensen being this chunky! I love it!

Charlie had no hair...and she couldn't even sit up on her own. No wonder she looks mad.

When the lip curls down, you know you've got a fight on your hands. Some things never change...she actually gave me this exact face today!

And now...

Wynn-ing!

Yesterday Brian and I returned home from an awesome and much-needed trip to Vegas. It's an annual work trip for Brian (the International Fastener Show...now doesn't that sound fun??) and lucky for me, the wives always get to tag along. While Brian attended the convention, his mom, sister Kari and I did some serious relaxing, shopping, and spa-ing. We stayed at the Wynn this year for the first time and I loved it. Highly recommend!

Brian and I were scheduled to head home on Friday, but we decided to extend our trip by a night so that we could see...

 

Garth Brooks! Y'all...this concert was amazing. It was a small-ish venue, Garth Brooks, and a guitar. That's it. He covered songs from the 60s and 70s that he had loved growing up, then he sang some favorites of his own music.

I know this is awful but you weren't supposed to take pics and I was scared to try to get a better one!

He was even joined onstage by Trisha Yearwood for a few songs and her voice is beautiful. They did a duet of "In Another's Eyes" and oh my gosh. I seriously had chill bumps. If you ever get the chance, go see this show! Even if you don't think you're a Garth Brooks fan (Brian isn't) you will LOVE it (Brian did).

Backing up to before the concert on Friday, Kari and I decided to do something just for fun...we went and got our hair fixed at the hotel's salon. I've never gotten my hair done except for weddings and proms, and I am TERRIBLE at fixing my own hair...so I was excited to have a pro give me a fun hairstyle for the evening. Here's a pic of the result:

I loved it! I have the world's straightest hair, so it was really fun to have some curls. I am now seriously considering getting some kind of body wave or something. Yes, I am serious. And yes, I know it's not 1988. My hair just won't hold any curl and I think it might be a fun change for awhile. And surely the techniques have changed and I won't end up looking like the seventh member of this crew...

Uh, I might have just spent too much time googling perm pictures and changed my mind.

Anyways, we returned home yesterday to a couple of displeased children. After being gone, I always come home and expect Charlotte and Jensen to be super-excited to see me...and that is NEVER the case. They just always kind of give me blank looks and then go about their business. They were in awful moods...fighting with each other and throwing some impressive tantrums. I swear, they were punishing us for leaving. Either that, or they figured out that we lost their college funds at the slots! Ha!

Gettin' Down on the Farm

This past Sunday we had plans to meet up with the Samuel and Wren families at a pumpkin patch-slash-farm type of place to let our kiddos have some autumn fun. Against my better judgment, I woke up a napping Jensen (who was still in stomach-flu-recovery mode) and we loaded up and headed out. I thought the sights and sounds and fresh air might perk Jensen up a bit, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Poor little dude was pretty miserable and pretty much just wandered around whining. I felt terrible for dragging him out there, so we took a few pics in the pumpkins and headed home.

Sad little boy. He was crying big tears at this point...so unlike my usually-happy dude.

Not really frame-worthy.

Charlie picked out this little pumpkin and was quite pleased with herself. She looooves the pumpkin and it currently resides in our living room.

Chris and baby Ellison, the smiling Samuel girls, sad Jensen and an unimpressed Charlotte.

So, other than Charlie's prized baby pumpkin, it wasn't really a successful trip to the farm. It was a cute place, though...hopefully we'll go back next year in better spirits.

It Took Almost 18 Months, But It Finally Happened!

Charlotte and Jensen's first stomach virus! (You thought it was going to be something positive, didn't you? Well...you're halfway right. It was positively yucky!) I have been seriously dreading this event...I do not do well with stomach issues. Anyways, I started to hash out all the gory details of the past week, but stopped because a) nobody wants to read that, and b) I can't remember all the gory details. I'm too tired. Let's just say Charlotte got sick, then Jensen got sick, then Brian got sick, then my mom got sick. But if you want to really go back to the beginning, Uncle Dot got sick, making him (in his words) "like the monkey from Outbreak". For the entire past week, Charlotte and Jensen have alternated between being sick, acting completely fine, being completely lethargic, getting sick again, and back and forth and back and forth. Our current state, after a full week of sickness, is that Charlotte is acting completely fine and Jensen is pretty lethargic. This virus seems to have really taken a lot out of the poor guy.

Having two sick children at one time is emotionally and physically draining. I am so ready for them to be back to their happy little selves. But as yucky as this past week has been, I can definitely see the silver lining...and there's actually quite a bit of it:

• God answered the many prayers I sent up asking for me to please, please not get sick until my babies felt better. In fact, He might have even given me more than I asked for and kept me from getting sick at all (although, as several people have helpfully reminded me, I'm not out of the woods yet).
• I got to spend a night sleeping on the floor of my little man's room with him. I made us up a pallet and we slept together during his sickest night...when that little boy is sleeping, I swear he looks like an angel. 
• I have a 90-minute massage scheduled for later this week. When I made the appointment, I felt guilty scheduling 90 minutes instead of 60; now, I feel like I've earned every one of those 90 minutes!
• I was reminded of a time when I was little and sick...I remember asking my mom if it she thought it was really gross when I threw up. She answered that when their babies are sick, moms are too busy feeling bad for them to be grossed-out. She's been proven right yet again.
• Every single time my kids are sick, I am so thankful that they aren't sicker. They are usually happy and healthy, and for that I am so grateful.
• Lots of cuddle time with both Charlotte and Jensen...they rarely take naps on me anymore, but there was lots of sleeping on Mommy last week.

Finally, here's a picture of Mr. Jensen. This was mid-morning and he hadn't gotten out of his pajamas yet, and he fell asleep while watching some TV.

He Gets It From His Mama...

People tell me all the time that Jensen looks like me. It's kind of hard for me to see it, but my mom found a picture of me that helps a bit...

Mr. Jensen at almost 18 months

Me at 18 months

And another one of Mr. J.

School Picture Day Fun

Today was Charlotte and Jensen's first-ever school picture day. Fortunately, I actually planned ahead and shopped for outfits for my stinkers when I was in San Antonio last weekend for my annual girls' trip. Unfortunately, Kim and I had a little mix-up with our Gap bags and I made my way home with a bag full of maternity clothes while Kim found herself with Charlotte and Jensen's picture-day ensembles. So yesterday I headed back up to Baby Gap and found some new outfits...very cute, if I do say so myself.

This morning was a bit crazy with the task of getting two toddlers picture-ready added to our usual morning chaos. Throw in a skinned knee (Charlotte) some extra-crazy hair (Jensen) and a million stupid buttons (courtesy of Baby Gap...why do they insist on using real buttons on their clothes? I much prefer the fake buttons that snap that you find on most baby clothes) and we were good to go. Seriously, I don't understand how some people dress their kids to the nines every day. Charlotte and Jensen weren't even really what I'd consider "dressed up" today, but it was still much more effort than our usual shorts and t-shirt routine.

Anyways, I dropped them off at school (where Charlotte once again did great...no tears!) and went about my day. When it was time to pick my stinkers up, I approached their classroom ready to hear about how the picture-taking went. Instead, I was immediately asked by their worried-looking teacher to sign an "incident report." Now, maybe I don't have enough faith in my kiddos, but my first thought was, "Oh crap. What did they do?" It turns out, nothing. Charlotte fell on the playground and scraped her face. Phew...Charlotte falling down? That I can handle. I eventually got the scoop on the school pictures, and it doesn't sound like either of my kiddos was really into smiling pretty for the camera. So I decided to get some pics of my own when we got home...

So despite the fact that the ruffles on the dress look a bit disheveled, keep in mind that this was after a full day of playing (and napping. And falling on the playground.). I would like for it to be known that I actually ironed those ruffles the night before. I may or may not have had to ask my husband where one might find our iron.

So that was our picture day. I tried to take a photo of Charlotte's scratched-up face, but it really isn't that bad. She's a tough one, my little Bug!

Wordless Wednesday (Well, technically it's a picture of words...does that count?)

Lawn Chair Dreams (Continued)

Despite my protests that you really can't sit down anyways while watching Charlotte and Jensen romp around the front yard, my mom and Auntie Tammy couldn't take it anymore...they brought over some lawn chairs. And they were right about one thing: The lawn chairs are relaxing and fun! But not for me. For these two: