Halloween At The Nursing Home

More. Halloween. Stuff. The good news is that we're almost done! It's not that I hate Halloween, it is just a LOT of work being very pregnant, toting around the large bag I already carry, plus camera, costume, and bucket-o-candy. But Ella loooooves it so much, and she finally caught on to the whole "trick or treat" thing today. Last week at the group party, she got 3 pieces of candy in her bucket and then stopped to sit down and eat it. Today she had an epiphany: Hey, if I KEEP ON holding this bucket out in front of me, people will fill it all the way up with candy.

Guess what most of the moms did to keep the kids as quiet as possible? Stick a lollipop in their mouths and no whining can come out.




Ella loved this lady, who is 103 years old. Ella was giving her a hug, but I think that the lady thought she was going to pick Ella up.




I've relegated myself to the fact that I will have that one kid in the yearbook who does the weird, showing-all-their-teeth, half smile whenever posed in front of a camera. ALL of my posed pictures of Ella look like this one for, like, the last 2 months.

Tag, I'm It, I Guess.

I guess in an attempt to spread the blog-love around, there's a blog tagging game going on. Annie tagged me, so visit her blog, it's cute!

http://theutleycrew.blogspot.com/

Here are the rules:

-Link to the person who tagged you.
-Post the rules on your blog.
-Write Six Random Things about yourself.
-Tag six-or-so other people at the bottom of the post.
-Leave comments on their blogs, letting them know they've been tagged!
-Let the person who tagged you know when you've written the post.


Random Things:

- I have to have the flat bedsheet tucked in perfectly at the bottom. I absolutely cannot have it flapping around, inching up around my legs all night.

- I eat black olives out of the can sometimes.

- I love to clean my house. Not so much these days, as I'm eight months pregnant, but I love getting the house spotless and organized.

- I hate it when the white gum stick holder thingy falls out of the pack of gum, because then every other stinkin' piece of gum falls out and gets bottom-of-the-purse crap all over it.

- I have a horrible fear of snakes.

- I broke my ankle in dance class when I was 15 and kept dancing through the whole class. I was really committed to that dance practice, I guess.

I tag Mandy, Rebekah, Amber, Emily, and Rachel.

Another Day of "Fall" Stuff To Do

Checked off our list today were the Franklin Pumpkin Festival and carving our own pumpkin at home. First up, the Pumpkin Fest. Ella had bunches of fun, and her favorite thing to do were the "preschoolers only" bounce houses. She probably could have jumped on them all day long if we had let her...not sure if it was because she actually enjoyed the bouncing so much, or because she got a lollipop after every trip into the bounce thingy. She also got her face painted for the first time ever, and didn't know what to think of it at first.






After the Pumpkin Fest and lunch, we came home and carved Ella's pumpkin. She requested a "scary guy face", and I tried my best, but I'm not too sure how scary it really is. She had fun, though, so whatever.

Holiday Event #2 out of 253

It seems like Halloween/Fall always kicks off a neverending chain of parties and events when you have kids. I LOVE doing all of these things, but it can get exhausting, especially being eight months pregnant. So, we already did the pumpkin patch, next up: Moms Group Halloween party. One of the moms in my group owns a local dance studio, so the party was held there this year. What a great place for 20 kids to run around and be crazy! Ella had a blast and was on a complete sugar high when we left. I was surprised when she actually asked to go upstairs and take a nap after we ate lunch.

Introducing the "My Mom Is 8 Months Pregnant And Threw Me In Some Leggings And A Tutu" Halloween costume. I'll do better next year.



Some arts and crafts



Most of my pictures look like this when trying to photograph a 3 year old in a room full of 20 kids and candy:



Examining the loot



Take 58 of group picture (my favorite part are the moms frantically racing out of the picture, except the one who just laid on the floor):




One more party checked off the list. Up next: Fall Festival this weekend if it's not raining, then actual trick or treating. Then birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas stuff, blah blah blah. Oh, and a baby somewhere in the middle of all of that.

Things I Have Right Now.

1. A raging, violent case of heartburn from a glass of water. WATER. Not even ice water, just room temperature water that was sitting on my nightstand. How is it fair that I am supposed to be drinking upwards of 100 ounces of this crap a day? By the time I give birth I may just have a hole where my throat used to be.

2. No clue when said heartburn will choose to strike. I can eat my favorite tortilla soup with loads of crushed red pepper and extra hot hot sauce, fine. An apple? Not so much.

3. Not very much room left in the belly for this guy. He's gonna be a whopper, I just know it. Already I can feel my bones separating from the weight of him, and I'm fairly certain that that did not happen with Ella until around 36 or 37 weeks. And she was a smidge under 9 pounds. God help me.

4. A burning desire for a big margarita/beer/whatever. Or ten of them.

Okay, NOW it's Fall. Really.

Today is the very first day that has actually FELT like Fall to me, with the leaves actually falling and a definite chill in the air. Finally! We've had "chilly" days here and there (like, 75 degrees chilly), but this weather should be here to stay since it is the very end of October. Ella and I spent the whole morning at the park, playing in the leaves and running around like crazy (her, not me).








We also spent a good, oh, 45 minutes playing berry ball, which is apparently a real game, because when I asked Ella what berry ball was she looked at me like I had lost my everloving mind. Berry ball consists of: one berry found on the ground, two sticks pulled out of the mud, and (amazingly) the full attention of a toddler for more than 3 minutes. Think miniature hockey on a picnic table.

The Pumpkin Patch

Ella got to spend the night at Nana and Pop's house on Friday, and then we met them all at Honeysuckle Hill Pumpkin Farm. It is such a cute place! After recovering from a brief freakout on the little kiddie ride pulled by a four-wheeler, Ella was off and running, and couldn't seem to see everything fast enough. She had such fun running around with her cousins and seeing all of the different activities and animals. By far the favorite of the day were the pigs and the pig races. Oh, and the fact that she got to have NACHOS and SPRITE for lunch. Gotta love lunch from a concession stand. She kind of kept looking sideways at me like I was going to take them from her at any minute, like it was too good to be true that Mom, of all people, was letting her have nothing but chips and fake cheese for a meal.













Last year at the pumpkin patch, and I can't believe how much she still looked like a baby last year. Now she's an actual KID! When the heck did that happen?! Last year she was stringing 3 words together in a sentence, and now she is informing me that "those are MY chips and cheese, Mom, and please do not touch them". Lord.

Countdown To Charlie

It hit me this morning while I was in the shower that tomorrow I will be 33 weeks pregnant. I could conceivably have a baby in about 5 weeks, if I go early. And 5 weeks is not a whole lot unlike a month. A MONTH! I'm alternating between "Get this $@*% baby out of me, he feels like he already weighs 11 pounds" and "Please stay in there until your due date, little person, because we have a lot left to do before you get here."

The mess and chaos in this room makes my eye twitch every time I walk past it.



In addition to the crib (hey, at least THAT'S already set up), you'll also see a few laundry baskets filled with clothes, clothes scattered all over the floor, a baby bathtub sitting in the recliner (because we all know that is where it goes), a big pile of fabric that will hopefully become a nice crib skit before he arrives, and yes, a big box of Christmas decorations and ornaments in the bottom right corner of that picture. If nothing else, Charlie's room will be a winter wonderland, complete with red glitter snowflakes and white Christmas lights.

He's coming soon, let's just hope he doesn't come home to this:

Pumpkin Painting

Since toddlers and carving knives aren't really a great combination, I dumped some paint on a big piece of paper and let Ella have at her pumpkin. I had no clue that it would be as big of a hit as it was! She loved it and, being the perfectionist she is (wonder where she gets THAT?), it took her almost an hour to get her pumpkin "just right", as she said.





**Refer back to previous post titled "Amen" re: Things I said I would never allow/say/do/become, etc. BLUE toenail polish. And it's chipped. The horror. Up next: probably some light-up sneakers with a Disney character on them.

Getting All Nostalgic (damn hormones!)

I realized this morning that mine and Ella's days alone are rapidly coming to a close. I know, I should have realized this way sooner than 8 weeks before I give birth, huh?! Anyway, I was looking back at pictures of her as she has grown up since in a few weeks she will no longer be considered a "toddler" and will officially be a preschooler. I cannot believe how fast it has gone, even though everyone told me that it would fly by faster than I could imagine. I have loved every minute of every day (well, almost every minute) that I have had her all to myself, and while I am sad that our long days alone together are ending soon, I am excited to watch another little person grow into an amazing little someone. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Ella over the last 3 years. Sniff, sniff. And hopefully these damn pregnancy hormones will chill out a bit once Charlie arrives.