Happy Halloween and 7 years ago.....

Happy Halloween!!

I have to admit, I have never really been "into" the Halloween thing. I see all of these people that dress up in these elaborate costumes and then there is me....dressed up as me. I have to say though, it is much more fun dressing up the kids for Halloween.
This year Peyton went as Darth Vader {thus feeding his new obsession with star wars} and of course Kael had to be Yoda.

Our little Halloween family
I will post a little more on Halloween later!

Seven years ago, yesterday Bryan proposed to me! Yes, it was a Halloween themed proposal. I wish I could find the pictures, they are in some box in my garage {which is a scary thought} and they are pretty hilarious. When I find them I will have to post them! It was way back when Napoleon Dynamite was all the rage and we dressed up as Napoleon and Deb {totally bryan's idea} :). He proposed to me wearing a dorky suit and a big red afro. Not what I imagined my proposal being but if you know my husband, it is perfectly him. And it was perfect.

Seven years ago I said, "yes". Best decision I have ever made! He has made me laugh 32,679 times our seven years being together...and I love that. I love him.



**P.S. My brother-in-law Mark took some family photos while he was visiting Texas. He has an amazing design and marketing company. He is a fantastic photographer as well. He can do some cool things to your pictures. Check out his website, Signum Studio & Design. You won't be sorry. :)**

A Day at the Park....

Bryan's family recently came to visit. They stayed for a few days and we did lots of fun things. One of the days we went to the Duck Pond Park in Coppell. I love this park.

We went and bought some fresh bread for the ducks, although, the catfish ate most of it. That was an unexpected element {they are pretty disgusting looking}. This time things went a little better, Kael usually {relentlessly} tries to dive in the water{which i am telling you...you would not want to go into this water. yuck.}...this time he only tried a couple of times.

Megan tried really hard to catch a turtle...she was unsuccessful. So she tried to get up close and personal with a squirrel....also unsuccessful. Ha ha. Bless Megan's heart, she loves animals!

We then went and played on the playground...even Grandpa Ron got in on the action!

Monkey bars are harder than they look.
Ha ha! I got instant blisters!

Home Alone....

At our house for the past month we have been watching Home Alone and Home Alone 2. It has already left me humming Christmas tunes. Yikes.

Image

Peyton loves this movie. He secretly wants to be Kevin. Okay, not so secretly. He loves to pretend that he is Kevin. If I ask him to do something he will tell me, "No. Say Kevin." So then I have to repeat myself, "Hey, Kevin, will you pick up those toys for me, please?" It is pretty funny. He even talks about going to New York City to see Kevin and Marv and Harry. Today the morning news was on in the background and they mentioned that it was going to snow in New York City today and he said, "Hey! They just said that it is going to snow in New York City. It's going to snow on Kevin!"

He's gotten a little more obsessed with the movie. This is the display of toys that I found outside of his toy room tonight.

When I opened the door he said, "How are your feet Mom? Did you step on any toys?" When I told him no, he then replied, "Good! I set them out for Marv and Harry!"

As we were quietly playing in his toy room I saw him put his stethoscope on the doorknob. When I asked him why he put it on the doorknob he replied, "It's that thing Kevin puts on the door to make it hot." I totally remembered! It looks just like the tool Kevin used in the first movie to make the doorknob hot! It made me laugh. He is pretty creative.

He even has the same cowlick in his hair...just like Kevin McCallister!

He already has his Halloween costume planned out for next year....he asked if he could be Marv and if Kael could be Harry. :)

I think it sounds perfect.

Diets are for the birds.....

For the last two weeks I have basically been eating a vegan diet. I am doing a special diet to help my acid reflux issues {long story}. Tomorrow is the day that I end. Thank goodness. I don't know any vegans but all I can say is bless.their.hearts. It is tough. I was CONSTANTLY hungry. I wonder if vegans are grouchy? I sure was.

This is basically what I had for dinner every night. For breakfast I would eat watermelon...which was digested in about a half an hour...and then I was hungry.
Basically I had to stay away from anything sour, bitter, spicy, dairy, flour, and meats {except turkey}. It was hard. It was torture to watch others enjoy good food and then turn to my dish which was filled with bland, bland, and more bland.

So tomorrow will be a celebration. I am going to start out easy so I don't overwhelm my system but in the next few days tomorrow may or may not include:

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
Happy hour strawberry limeade
homemade soup
fresh rolls
Raising Canes

Just a few things that I have been craving while I was gnawing on my celery sticks.
:)

Can I just say something?

I totally don't want to be a complainer here or anything, but somethings you just have to get off of your chest. Right? I am about to make a bold statement and I really wish not to offend anyone by my words. I guess I will just say it.....TEXAS DRIVERS ARE THE WORST! Okay! I said it, and I feel so much better. For the last year since we have lived here I have been pondering a few things about some drivers in the state of Texas.

1. In Kindergarten did your teacher teach you how to color inside the lines?
You see it's a very simple task when you drive. You stay within the little dashed lines, just like you would when you would color those pretty little pictures. If you do decide that you would like to change lanes, use your blinker. Yeah, that little thing that goes, "tick, tick, tick, tick". Novel idea right? Don't just come over whenever you feel it is needed. And PLEASE check your blind spot!
{i have almost been run off the road several times by cars and trucks of all sizes. right here on one of the many freeway systems in texas}

2. On a protected left turn, PLEASE, once again STAY WITHIN THE LINES! There are a lot of 2-lane protected left turns here in Texas. And once again....people think it's a gumball rally. Whichever lane they want to choose, they will. "Oh really! You think you can just meander into my lane and then honk at me like I'm the idiot. Seriously?" Yep. Dead serious. Makes. Me. Crazy.

I know, I know, I am from Utah where multiple times has been deemed, "World's Worst Drivers". However, I have come to this conclusion.....Utah drivers aren't the "WORST" drivers per se, they are just inconsiderate.

And I can't blanket statement everyone that lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we have a melting pot of folks here. Perhaps we have a conglomerate of bad drivers from around the globe? Who knows. Some of them are just bad.

Thanks for listening to my rant.
:)

It is no secret that Kael is the MESSIEST child EVER. It has been the topic of many blogs and when I think that it can't get any worse....pretty sure it does!

I gave him half of a Twix bar on the way home from the store {i didn't want him to fall asleep on the 5 minute drive}...and I should have known better! I turned around when he started slapping his legs and this is what I saw!

Seriously. It was all over him!

After cleaning Kael off and changing his shirt, he was a little too quiet for comfort. I tracked him down and knew that it wasn't a good sign when I saw this. An open make-up bag with a foundation covered bag, floor, and cow. Love that he has learned how to unscrew things. Love it.

I turned the corner into my bathroom and found this. A mascara, foundation covered child. When he figured out that the bathroom was a fun place to play I had to take everything out of the drawers and put them on top of the counter. He now knows how to climb on top of the toilet and onto the counter and gets into everything! Why don't you just close your bathroom door you ask? This would be a simple solution but this lovely rental doesn't have a real bathroom door, only a set of tiny double doors that he can pull open. {we're now rubber banding the two knobs together.}

As I finished cleaning up the foundation off of the floor and the cow, I came out to the kitchen and found two broken eggs on the floor. Awesome.

He has also learned how to open the refrigerator door. He also broke the remaining eggs that were left in the carton...but at least he left them in the carton..thanks for that little man!

He is exhausting...and messy.

He even exhausted his older brother/Darth Vader.

He fell asleep in his toy bin.
Comfy.

What a day!

Mr. Independence...

I have a love/hate relationship with the fact that my children are growing more independent. I love that Peyton can now be my little helper. As magical as that sounds, it doesn't always happen that way, but I am grateful when he will help me. {he's our mr. attitude} I hate when we go to grocery stores that have mini carts for the children. I have to admit that it is really cute watching him push around his little cart....until he smashes you in the back of the foot for the 300th time! That I really hate!

But then when he smiles at me like this, and says, "Sorry, Mom!" I am okay with it. Until he does it again and I turn around and kindly remind him with a half smile on my face, "Peyton sweetheart, please watch where you are going." He then snipes back with, "Well, if you would just get out of the way!" Okay. I hate this again.

Then we move onto Mr. Independence #2. I love when they get a mind of their own and have to do it all by themselves. Every morning I go through the same routine with Kael. After I pour him a bowl of cereal, he has to reach into the cereal box and grab a handful of cereal to adorn the top of the already poured cereal. After I pour the milk, he and ONLY he can put the lid back on the milk jug. When I pick out a spoon for his bowl of cereal it can't be a plastic kid spoon, it must be an adult metal spoon. Ridiculous right? Whatever we have to do to avoid a melt down.
Lately he has learned how to unscrew things. If he sees a bottle of water, he just helps himself by unscrewing the lid and taking a swig...and leaving little floating presents for me. Yum. I have caught him in my bathroom where he has climbed on the toilet, over onto the cabinet and is unscrewing medicine bottles...the type that claim to be "child proof".
The other day while we were getting ready to go to the gym he came and handed me a bottle of craft paint. First of all I wondered where in the world he had gotten this and then I looked at his face.

"Oh my gosh! Did you eat this?" {as there is a nice ring around his mouth and white paint all over his lips. duh mom!} I reached in his mouth and his spit was a bit milky. I was panicked thinking, "Oh great! My child eats paint now. Not surprised, but still he ate paint! Poison control is going to be hearing from us once again." I then read the back of the bottle and it said "non-toxic", so I figured that he would be okay, and he was.
I feel like I have a child that just learned how to crawl on my hands. Always worried about what they can get into, and what they can put into their mouths. He is definitely into a lot more than Peyton was ever into!