Hi all, sorry for the delayed updates
here. Life is busy. Most of you know what we were doing all
last week anyway, but I know how much you like to read about it
too :)

A tired
Eve, patiently waiting as we packed for the trip.

Last week we had a
wonderful visit to the chaotic Collier half-a-house. It was
fun. We stayed in the hotel, took full advantage of their free
breakfast (Lex and I were there at 6am each day and we were all
back again later in the morning for a 2nd breakfast). The kids
loved the camper outside my parents house. Everything is little
and just their size :) We got to visit with two high-school
friends and meet their kids. Lex and Eve were sick at the
beginning of the trip so they missed a visit with one of my
friends, but then they got better and got to meet the other.
Then we had a fun trip to Bingo to see Rosy and eat a tasty
dinner (and lunch the next day!) at the Olive Garden. I do love
that place! We had a little birthday celebration for me, with
singing and presents and a signed drawing from Lex documenting
the event. On the way home we stopped at the Gap Outlet and
spent my gift card (thanks Joyce!!!) and way more than that
(shh…) on new clothes for me and a few things for the kids,
of course. A good time was had by all.

At the
hotel.

Eve’s
new hat from Aunt Rose! It has a pair of mittens hooked at the
top, she wore it that way for most of the trip, but we
eventually detached them. Eve loves the hat!

At the
Discovery Center.

Coloring
with Uncle Barney. The kids spent most of their time at the
house coloring. You’d think we don’t have markers at our house.
Something about the fancy paper, or scented markers… or just
something familiar in an unfamiliar house. Whatever, they loved
it. In this picture Lex is drawing a picture of my birthday
party that had just happened a few minutes ago. The finished
picture is now hanging on my wall :)

Friday was rough with a previously
scheduled playdate (silly me) and the WW meeting (scary
scale!). We were all tired and cranky and the day ended, sadly,
with Lex crashing his booster seat chair over backwards and
hitting his head on the low shelves in the dining room. There
was blood everywhere! Scalp wounds bleed a lot. We got the
bleeding stopped and had lots of cuddling and snuggles and Lex
said his head felt fine a short time later. He has a nice cut
on the back of his head, but he swears it doesn’t hurt. We
watched him closely for awhile to make sure there was no other
damage. It certainly put us all in a less cranky mood and
helped us appreciate things a little more. And we survived, as
we always do, and moved on to a nice Saturday with dinner at my
grandparents house.

I have lots of
pictures from the trip and I’d like to put them up on the
photos site. We’ll see if I get time for it
though….

We got back this evening from a fun-filled
visit to Franklin. I’ll post more later, but for now here are a
few pics from Rosy’s camera. I have to find mine and download
the pics, then I’ll post more.

At the
Discovery Center Eve’s favorite activity was the giant bubble.
You stand inside and pull the bubble up around you. Eve LOVED
it and kept trying to eat the bubble :)

Superstars!!

This is not a political blog, but I just
want to say that I think America has made a huge decision today
that will benefit us for generations. As he kisses his girls
goodnight each night, President Obama will be reminded of what
really matters most. I am excited for a brighter future for my
babies!

Ahh… my astute readers… apparently you
all noticed that my post about Lex’s new haircut did not
include a picture of the finished work. You’re too smart for
me! And my camera was flaky that day so I didn’t have any final
pics :) I do now…. the moment you’ve all been waiting
for….

Isn’t he a handsome little
man!

I took this picture this evening when we
were just hanging out. Seems I missed the “gray shirt, blue
jeans” memo this morning. Never mind the fact that I dressed
two out of the three of them :) Anyway, I love this
picture!

We went to a playgroup yesterday that had
a Halloween party. Lex was thrilled to go to the “Halloween
bouncy house” and eagerly put on his costume and everything. We
had fun (until meltdown at the end) and I started thinking
about various activities we could do today. Today came (dark
and early!!!) and Lex wanted nothing to do with his costume. I
tried to tempt him with various Halloween activities and he
said no, no, no. So we spent the day at home (except for a WW
meeting where I was down another pound, who knows how or
why!?!?!) When Alan got home Lex insisted that he was not going
to put on his costume and was not going trick-or-treating, so
instead we played Trouble and just hung out.

A hungry
little flower. They had free snacks at playgroup and boy did
she take advantage of that :)

A little while later we ate some
dinner and then Parrish came trick-or-treating. I thought maybe
Lex would want to trick-or-treat with Parrish, but Lex said no,
no, no. Eve, however, immediately wanted to go out and walk
with Parrish. She likes Parrish :) So we got her in costume and
Alan took her out. Suddenly Lex wanted to go too! So we got him
suited up and away they went. Half hour later they came back
with more than enough candy for two little monkeys.

A
dinosaur and a flower… an unlikely pair.

Alan
tries to hold hands. Lex loves holding hands these days, but
Eve says “walk! self!” and pulls away.

She
loved the glow stick!

Alan sorted out the candy (nuts,
choking hazards, etc.) and put a little pile on the little blue
kids table. They both (ok, all three of them!) went to town! A
few minutes into the frenzy Alan realized that he had missed
the Baby Ruths and Eve was half way through one! He took it
away from her just before she took a big, peanut-laden bite! I
was scared. Fortunately we had handy the “allergy action plan”
that our allergist gave us two days ago! It said to give a dose
of antihistimine if there is ingestion but no symptoms… so
Eve got her first drink of Children’s Benedryl. She probably
thought it was more candy :) She ended up getting a rash quite
similar to the one she got when she first ate peanut butter,
though the one tonight was a bit smaller. Ack!! So very scary.
She went to bed an hour later, very tired thanks to candy and
Benedryl, her rash mostly gone and no other symptoms present.
I’ll be checking on her a few times tonight!

A shiny
little rash face.

All in all an ok night. Now that we’ve got this silly
holiday behind us we can look forward to my favorite holidays
of year!!

Where a kid can be a kid! We took a drive
today to meet Julie and Molly at Chuck E. Cheese. We had a
blast. The kids ran and played, we ate cheap expensive pizza
and I got to chat with another grownup! Yay! :) I also got to
hold Molly, a lot! She likes me (and other random strangers :)
). Lex’s favorite activity was the “pipes in the sky” and Eve
loved the little merry-go-round. Every time she heard the
merry-go-round music play she ran over and wanted to climb on.
As soon as the ride ended she said “more, more!” I loved the
fact that everything cost just one token and neither of my kids
fully understand the “put money in” concept yet :) A good time
was had by all! Both kids fell asleep in the car (Eve before we
even left the parking lot!) and we sat in the garage for half
hour after getting home while they continued to sleep. Then I
moved Eve in to her bed and she slept for another hour! Lex is
already asking to go back :)

Molly
and Eve riding in the fire truck. Lex was there too, until I
put a token in and made the ride go, then he hoped off and ran
away. Eve enjoyed the ride anyway.

Not a
great picture but here is Eve’s favorite ride. She held on with
both hands and grinned :)

Lex,
climbing to the pipes in the sky. He climbed right up there but
it took him a long time to venture into the pipes. At one point
I asked if he knew that he could go in there and he said yes
but the speakers in the pipes are too loud. Eventually he got
brave and had a great time! On the way home he told me they
turned the music down in the speakers so it was ok to go in
then.

Julie
and Molly. Molly took a little while to warm up, but then she
loved me! She is a super cuddly baby :)

My
favorite Calvin face :)

Because I know curious minds want to
know… Have I shared our costume saga yet? Keep in mind that I
don’t really care one way or the other about Halloween, so the
idea of spending $$ on a custom that Lex may or may not wear
didn’t really appeal to me. We’ve been chatting about it, he
and I, for awhile now and initially he didn’t want a Halloween
costume. I was ok with that, but nervous about what to do if he
changed his mind on Halloween day. The he announced one day
that he wanted to be a snowman for Halloween. Ok, we went on a
mission to find a snowman costume, but turned up just two…
neither of which he wanted. I looked in to making a costume,
but it seemed pricey and who knows if he’d wear that either!
Then he wanted to be nothing again. One day I was in the
basement digging through a box of dress-up clothes we have and
I found a dinosaur costume. It’s kind of like PJs really, but
clearly a dinosaur. I brought it up and hung it on the newel
post and a week later he announced he wanted to be a dinosaur!
Just yesterday Alan was able to get him to actually try the
thing on and it fits ok. Score! Eve is going to wear a
hand-me-down flower costume that mostly fits. She didn’t really
have any say in the matter. She’s getting mighty opinionated
lately though, so we’ll see if she’s willing to get dressed up
with the time comes!

C’mon Christmas!
There’s a holiday I can really get excited about :)