fall break--the children's museum of phoenix

the museum is a little far and a little pricey, but we def got our monies worth. I do believe my sister and I spent about 6 hours there!

fall break highlights- the zoo.

this peacock just walked right up and started eating spilled popcorn--since when did the peacocks just roam around? new to me.

that's a whole lot of kids between 5 moms!

brayden, the texter.

Chances are if you are in my phone, you may already have recieved a text from Brayden. He loves to text, and he's becoming a pro. I loved this little convo I found recently...(brayden on the right, jer on the left)

the ball.

my kids both hate this hair do. they named it "the ball". I love it because it gets me through day 3...yes day 3! I am so proud of myself that I can now go 3 days without washing my hair. Once upon a time I washed my hair every single day or else it got greasy and nasty. Now, I spray a little dry shampoo, it smells good, and it simplifies getting ready so much. such a timesaver. its also supposed to be healthier for your hair. haven't noticed that yet, but I guess that's what more than a decade of bleaching does though, yow.

also, once upon a time, in 7th grade, there was a mean girl who said I had a weird forehead and that my hairline starts in the middle of it. I had never thought of my forehead as weird before then. Suddenly after that, I was self conscious about my hairline. But when I met jer, he told me he loved the baby hairs on my forehead. And from then on, i liked it too. So take that, Tonya Floyd.

(bad) spirit halloween.

On Saturday, the kids asked if we could go to Spirit Halloween to look at costumes. Kosty had been last year and remembered there were a few spooky things but wanted to go back. Brayden was really excited to go, he had never been. So we walked in and went right past the evil clown display (yikes) to the kids costumes. I asked a worker if they had hats and he pointed me in the direction. In order to get there, we would have to walk past the 'demon' babies. Yes, a whole slew of demon babies! (who thinks of these things? so disturbing) I remembered them from last year & remembered that they were the worst thing in the store, so I shielded their eyes as we walked past.

BUT...At the end of the path, we found ourselves directly in front of life size & moving killers from all the scariest movies. They had Hellraiser (with the needles in his head), Jason, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers. They looked very real & had bloody weapons and like I said, they were moving. So all of a sudden, Kosty SCREAMS and starts crying his eyes out as he jumped up on me, burrowed his head, wrapped his legs around me and gripped his fingernails in as hard as he could. While I am trying to grab Brayden and leave, I notice that he too, is shaking and his eyes are filled with tears.

Holy traumatic.

We went outside and I tried to calm them both down. Brayden wanted to know why I took him in there since I knew how it was. I told him that they didn't have those guys last time I was there! I had to explain over and over that they were fake. Then we had a prayer. I prayed that their innocent little minds could forget those nasty images. I felt so bad knowing what might be stuck inside their heads. Kosty wouldn't talk for about an hour or two afterwards. It was pretty bad. They should have a warning sign on the front door for crying out loud. Don't take your kids there.

fall is my favorite.

chocolate chip pumpkin bread is my favorite.

pumpkin pancakes are my favorite.

pumpkin pie is my favorite.

soup and chili are my favorite.

opening the windows is my favorite.

having both my babies born in October was my favorite.

celebrating their birthdays in the fall is my favorite.

family bike rides at night are my favorite.

winter grass is my favorite.

october Conference is my favorite.

decorating for Halloween is my favorite.

running outside after the 4 month heat wave is my favorite.

morning & afternoon park time is my favorite.

kids playing outside instead of being stuck inside is my favorite.

perusing the Halloween aisles is my favorite.

seeing what the kids choose for their costumes is my favorite.

trick or treating is my favorite.

cool soccer games are my favorite.

pumpkin patches are my favorite.

watching jer carve the pumpkin is my favorite.

boots & layers are my favorite.

October, you are my favorite. (until December)

five.

In kosty's average day, there are many highs and lows. His birthday was an even more intense version. Anyone remember the Berenstein Bears book, "Too Much Birthday"? All day long, I kept thinking of that book and how we were living it! He was sooooo excited this year. He could barely contain himself for the 3 days leading up to his birthday. Every time he would rip off one of his paper 'birthday' chains, he would squeal with excitement. There was some major anticipation the night before, and he had a hard time falling asleep. He asked me after breakfast on the day before if he could just go to bed so that his birthday would be here quicker. So, falling asleep late + waking up extra early with BIG expectations = major breakdown. He woke at 6 am and came and got us, we all sleepily walked into the kitchen where he ripped into the 4 things we got him (all on his birthday list) in a matter of 8 seconds. When the last one was opened, his eyes were filled with tears, and he said, "that's it?" We tried reminding him that he still had friends & family coming over later on and he just wiped away his tears and said, "I know, I know..." it was SO sad seeing him so disappointed!

Later, his cute friends came over for his first friend party and we did a candy treasure hunt, ate pizza & cake, opened presents, and went to the movie theatre. His request. After the movie, we dropped off the kids and headed home, where all three grandmas came bearing gifts. He opened his gift from Nana, which was a skeleton costume (which he asked for) but it was a different version, and he lost his mind. He had the biggest melt down, and I had to put him in his room to settle down. I was worried that it would only get worse from there, but luckily, about 5 minutes later, he came out with an apology and a more kind version of himself...I could not wait to put him to bed that night. Sheesh.

He gets grossed out very easily lately. While they were all eating pizza, he so sweetly reminded each of them to chew with their mouths closed, not to talk while they were eating, and not to chew too loudly or too close to him. He's really easy going.

Here he is the next morning, happy & well rested, and he decided he LOVED all his gifts. Even the skeleton.

Dear Kosty,

You have changed so much in the past year! You ask me nearly every day if you look bigger, taller, stronger, and when you will have a loose tooth. You also tell me often that you want to be 10 or 12 or 16. You want to grow up fast. You want to work at the Lego Store when you grow up. You love pants. Shorts are not an option in your world. You love spaghetti. You love Lego's. You love to make traps and all sorts of crazy contraptions around the house, which I love. You play outside every single day and you have a big imagination. You are such a perfectionist. You LOVE to draw and color and write phonograms. You are an excellent student, and you are writing your name like a pro. You love Kick Buttowski, Max & Ruby, and Spongebob. You love eating popcorn. And have a hard time with eating "healfy fings", but you love artichokes and raspberries. You love to swim, go to the park, and ride your scooter. You love wrestling/attacking Brayden. You are stubborn, but I have a feeling you will use your stubbornness for good in your life. You have a very hard time with change. Just today you told me "I don't like when things are different." I have noticed it getting better though, slowly but surely. You are self sufficient, smart, and determined. You volunteer for the family prayer every single night. And at every single dinner. You like to dominate in our home, and you are happiest when you are in control :/ You worship your daddy, and you are warming more and more up to me. You have a hard time showing affection (mostly to me) but lately you have been coming up to me randomly and squeezing my legs while gritting your teeth and grunting. Maybe one day those leg squeezes will turn into big hugs? Baby steps. Yesterday morning, I made your pancakes and sat down on the couch. You finished eating and then came in the family room, and were surprised to see me sitting there. Your eyes lit up and you said "MOMMY!" and curled up in my lap for an hour. I was overjoyed. Its not often I am privileged with your sweet affection, and it was so special. Kosty, I love you so much! You are so special! I am so honored to be your mom.

Love,

momma

first concert

I remember the first concert my Dad ever took me to. Richard Marx. Did I know who he was or know any of his songs? Big no. But, I remember I had so much fun and felt special to go to a concert with my dad.

Word got out that Jonas Brother's lawn seats were $10, so a group of friends were going and although I knew Brayden wasn't that 'into' the Jonas Brothers per say, I decided to take him because I thought it would be fun for us to go to his first concert together. Demi Lavato (?) and Camp Rock (?) opened for them and it seemed to take all night for the Jonas Brothers. Finally, they came out and we couldn't see, so we went up farther into the crowd. It was SO hot and SO sweaty, and Brayden couldn't see a dang thing. So we went back to our seats (blanket) and two songs into their performance, he was snoring. Oh, what a party animal!

Bless his heart, he wanted to leave pretty soon after we got there, but he kept saying he wanted me to stay and have fun with my friends.

mint.com

Oy. I feel sucker punched after spending the last hour setting up our finances on mint.com.

Crazy to me that even though I feel like I am super frugal, I ad match & clip coupons, we rarely go on dates or vacations, or even pay for preschool anymore, that I would be so surprised by our budget pie chart.

EVERYONE should do this asap. It is super easy. It links up your bank info in minutes, and categorizes your spending. I loved/hated seeing how every dollar was spent: gas, groceries, mortgage, car, clothes, insurance, kids activites, etc... they have every category and you can add your own & personalize it. You set the budget for every expense and it even emails you to tell you when you are over budget (whoops). I can't say enough about it! It's the little "cheap" things that added up the most.