Missed a bit and a catch up on adventures

Argh,  I've missed a bit, but had no computer access for a few days so, c'est la vie. Anyway...I'm going to jump right back on the band wagon (or try to anyway).

So let me fill you in on our week.We had a blast!! As you know we did go apple picking. Then we hung around the old family hold and visited with friends and family! It was awesome!

When we left,  I took the girls to visit the children's museum in Atlanta and we went to Zoinks in Tallahassee so they could jump. Ella Rose got to milk a cow at the children's museum and "milk" (it's really water) squirted out. Evie Alice loved the infant waterbed (and so did I)!!!  Ella played with fish under an indoor tree house area and got to paint on walls, walk through fair tales, build sand castles indoors...and use simple machines to make a ball move around. We spent several hours at the museum. Zoinks was fun, but we didn't spend as long there....I was impressed though with the facility as a whole and will take Ella Rose back there to play on a rainy day.

Sunday, Josh and I took the girls to Perry to the GA National Fair. It was fun. Evie even enjoyed it although they were both totally worn out after the fact. Evie fell asleep at the fair and both girls were completely asleep within 15 minutes of leaving there to head home. Ella Rose and Josh rode down a big slide and rode the ferris wheel.  I swear I could eat my way through a fair though if I had unlimited funds and if I didn't mind getting as large as a house! Yum!! We did have Reese's funnel cake though and fries. We also looked at bunnies and cows and wandered around a lot. Ella Rose played in the dirt, on a playground setup that was for sale and Evie and I visited the baby care center. Ah, the baby care center...I do believe it's one of my favorite parts of the fair. I think the flags were favorites for both of the girls too. I have to say when speaking about the fair, as always: It was so cool!

Oh! I didn't even mention Saturday. Saturday I took the girls to the 100 mile yard sale. We got some real deals! Ella got a big Clifford stuffed animal for 25cents. Evie got a new twisty toy and stuffed puppy too...and I got Ella some crocks for this next summer. All in all I think we spent less than $5...but had so much fun. Then we headed over to our church for a pet blessing and Father Butch even blessed Clifford for Ella. And we had a K-9 police officer demonstration. After all that fun we gathered up some blessed holy water and took it home so that we could bless Elmo (the fish) and Daisy...both of our babies didn't travel to the pet blessing, but definitely got blessed when we got home.

Yesterday, Ella Rose went back to preschool. She had a blast and Evie Alice and I began working on fall decorations. We got most of our Halloween decorations set up at home, and I continued sorting through the ever changing seasons of clothing. I discovered two full rubbermaid bins of clothes for the girls and added that to the piles of clothing that they both have. I do believe I could clothe an army of little girls! :) And I love that!!! Ella Rose was really excited about our find too and wore one of her "new hand-me-down" Halloween outfits to Miss Jenna's today. She was so proud!!

Tonight, we are carving pumpkins AFTER we go to gymnastics! I think I'm more excited than the girls are...or perhaps we are just decorating them. Regardless, it's a girls outting to Chick-Fil-A to do so! Josh is out of town this week and we diligently holding down the fort.

I'm so thankful for the prayers last night to keep the creek from rising (an ever present concern when we get a lot of water). Rising creeks=Flooding of our home! YUCK!! Thankfully,we have narrowly avoided this situation many times in the last 4 years...the creek has risen many times, but we've not had much damage....so I just pray that continues.
Oh, as I ramble away, I discovered today that one of the technical schools is offering a sewing class at the end of October/beginning of November. It's 3 day class and I'm hopeful that I will be able to do it. I SO want to be able to sew on a machine and not just by hand. If I can get some help with my machine that just might be possible!

Lastly, before I go...my little Evie Alice is talking and her first word was Ma ma! I couldn't be more proud!

Boop Boop de Doop!

Children's Museum

Today was a great day! The girls and I got up and had breakfast with my nieces and nephews before they headed out to school. Then we had time to cuddle and slowly get ready for our day since we are on break! Nice!! Momma returned from delivering children to school and we had plenty of time to visit with her.

After we did that, we packed up and headed out the Children's Museum in Atlanta. We had a blast!! Ella loved the balls that could be used in various types of tools. Evie Alice liked the infant waterbed. I liked the garden, fake sand, and that Ella got to paint on the wall, but my favorite was the cow that Ella got to practice milking. We spent several hours exploring all that the Children's Museum had to offer.

Tomorrow is another fun filled day of fall break. We may take it a bit easy though...my left knee has begun swelling and I honestly don't know why it's doing that...so I've put a brace on it and I'm going see what happens from there. I'd share more, but honestly I'm exhausted so I look forward to telling you all about our day tomorrow, after it happens.

For now, good night!

Relaxing Monday

We had the nicest day today! I visited with my nephew at his school and the girls and I hung out around the family abode. We visited with my parents, niece, nephews, and let the girls play outside. Ella Rose led my parent's dog around by the collar. She dug in the dirt and bossed our dog around too. She bounced on the trampoline for a while, but I do believe her favorite toy of the day was a little coffee pot that pretends to actually make coffee. You can fill it with water and it goes through the proper motions as if it were making the coffee. She adores this toy...I do believe I need to find one for Santa to deliver this year.

Another one of the highlights of Ella Rose's day was the car shopping cart at Kroger. She had the best time driving it through the store as we picked up milk and eggs.

However, the largest bright spot of Ella Rose's day was visiting with cousin Gabe at his big boy school. She got to eat lunch there with him and he took her around to look at all the murals on the CPS walls! It was so sweet and they had a really good time. He even let her pet the painted dog, cats and birds! He's so sweet to her.

After our visit with Gabe we came back to my parents for some quiet time. Ella ended up playing outside more, and then we decided to surprise the family by going ahead and starting supper. So, I got to use my new crockpot buffet!!!  It was SO much fun and made supper easier for everyone around here. We had candied carrots, corn, and green bean casserole (all prepared in the crock pot). Yay!!

After supper,  we all loaded up in the car and headed out to see my nephew Peyton's football game...he is really good player. And I'll tell you, I'm not one to go to any football game. I don't watch them on tv, don't typically talk about them and really couldn't usually care less whether or not the sport existed, but tonight I saw an amazing play. One of the players on Peyton's team ran almost the entire field to score a touchdown....wow!!! It was during the last few seconds of the game too. Talk about something to see! It was amazing. I was so excited that we were there, and have to admit I even enjoyed watching some of the game.

Tomorrow, the girls and I are headed to the Children's Museum in Atlanta and then home to our little homestead in Moultrie. It's going to be a great day!! And I look forward to telling you all about it tomorrow...

But for now, I've got to run because little Miss Chipmunk (Evie Alice) has awakened and needs her Mommy. So g'night y'all.

Apple picking, birthday celebration, and food poisoning

Hi all-

I simply cannot believe that I missed blogging the first night of the NaBloWriMo. ARGH! I was so excited about it and thought about the blog entry I was going to make yesterday, but when the evening hit and I'd planned to blog I was sick. So I'm going to just pretend that it started tonight.

Yesterday, my family, and lots of our friends loaded up in cars and headed into the mountains to go apple picking. We had a grand time. However, we discovered that you only get to ride on the wagon if you pick in September....hmmm...something to commit to memory for next time.

Ella Rose had a blast picking Apples and so did everyone else. We even got a great picture of Evie Alice trying to grab and apple! The girls napped while we traveled back and forth to Ellijay and Josh and I enjoyed the scenery.

Then last night, we headed to Provinos. That has got to be one of my all time favorite restaurants! It ranks right up there with Scalini's as far as I'm concerned. The entire family descended upon the restaurant together (with the exception of my niece Annie) and we had a joyous and lovely meal. The only problem that we ran into was after the fact. Apparently the Eggplant Parmesan that I ordered with marinara sauce had meat sauce in it, and I awakened in the middle of the night to revisit this fact. But despite this unfortunate occurance, I still absolutely adore Provinos and would go there for my birthday celebration again.

Then today, we visited with some old friends and had cake and ice cream. The kids all bounced on the trampoline, swang on a tire swing and  ran around outside playing. The weather was perfect for it...and I enjoyed our visit so much! I just wish our visiting friends didn't live so far away.

As far as the birthday celebration goes, it was awesome! Ella Rose helped me blow out the candles on my cake. Evie Alice got to try cake for the first time and I got the most wonderful buffet set of crock pots. It's not one crock pot but three crock pots with holders for the spoons, individual temperature adjustments for each pot and absolutely my ideal situation when it comes to using a crock pot type cooking device. I can hardly wait to try it out!! :)

Then tonight, we had a relaxed family supper. Ella Rose helped me put her stuffed dog to sleep and Evie Alice snuggled up and dozed right off and has actually stayed asleep.

Now, before I go...to answer yesterday's question. Why do I blog? I think the best answer to that question would be that I love to write. I express myself so much better through writing than I do any other form of communication and I think that's why, I blog. It's an outlet for me, and one that I adore (when there's time)...and I am looking forward to making time these 30 days!

Early morning chaos!!

As I drug myself out of bed this morning around 5ish...I couldn't help but think about how much has to get done each and every morning before I even step foot outside of my home! And this morning was nooo exception. My darling seven month old has decided that it's her favorite pasttime to get up within ten minutes of my departure from bed. No ladies and gentlemen, it doesn't matter what time, day or night I get up...Miss Chipmunk will be yelling for me shortly after that feat. So I was amazed this morning when I had time to put on all of my make up...roll my hair and even get my clothes on before she began summoning me back to the bedroom.

Thursday mornings are ALWAYS interesting around our domestic estate, because not only am I trying to get my darling doodlebugs out the door on time and to school/work myself, but I'm trying to make sure everything is picked up for our cleaning lady. Yes, I too pick up in anticipation of our cleaning lady's arrival...and God Bless her! I broke down and hired her when the school year began because I knew that I wouldn't be able to hold back the tons of impending chaos with two little ones two and under and still keep up the schedule that we currently manage. And let me tell you...it's a schedule.

Miss Chickie has dance on Mondays, Gymnastics on Tuesday, and we pick up our CSA groceries on Wednesday. Then we inevitably have company Wednesday evenings...so Thursday mornings I'm more than ready for the house to be spruced up for the weekend!! Any free time (even just 15 minutes) to do more than a quick pick up here and there seems non-existant. I'm working on it...but I do believe that the piles and mounds of STUFF grow over night.

Anyway...the morning routine this morning, was CHAOS! I had to clean up the dishes from the night before because I fell asleep putting my darling doodlebugs to bed, for the third time this week. Then I rebooted the laundry, emptied the dishwasher, packed the lunches, loaded up supplies that Chipmunk and Chickie need for the sitter, fixed breakfast and finally got my dear little ones and husband out of bed. WHEW! And  yes, that's all before even thinking about heading out the door...

This morning, not only was the counter covered in dishes, but then there was the struggling with mounds and piles of LAUNDRY! Good gracious, I believe the clothes and paper have been communicating because I'm certain my laundry has taken a cue from the paper piles and is now multiplying and procreating as we speak. So after shoving the uneccessary paper piles into the black hole  (insert twilight zone music here) of our guest bedroom and gathering the fifteen piles of clothes from around the house, of clothing...I sat down...and enjoyed a hurried breakfast with my loved ones. Whew!

Mornings around our home! Gotta love them...and I do... but I'm I'm going to get better at preparing the night before (cough...sputter... after Fall break) ...I'm determined not to fall asleep with my children! I will load supplies into the car earlier and convince my precious seven month old that her dear Mommy does not need supervision during the morning sprint to prepare the household for our journey out into the wide wide world...at least that's my plan... ha ha!

Then again,  I may just decide to follow the song: Here we go 'round the Mulberry Bush. That's got to be the schedule that will calm the savage beast...also known as Thursday morning...

We'll see...won't we...but for now...I'm going to savor the fact that tomorrow is Friday...and then I have ten glorious days of fall break! Wooo hoo or should I say  Boop Boop de Doop!!!

NaBloWriMo

I've decided to try to participate in October's National Blog Writing Month. I tried to do this last year and it was an epic failure! I'm confident this year will be better though.

Basically the idea is to write a blog post a day for the entire month. I know it's going to be a challenge with two little ones running around to manage this. Hopefully, instead of discouraging me, the busy schedule that we have planned to October will inspire me to blog daily. So far plans for October include, our annual apple picking adventure, the Georgia National Fair, Kid-o-ween at Wild Adventures, playtime at Chehaw Park, possibly the Georgia Aquarium or the Children's Museum in Atlanta, Thomas the Train's big day out, a trip to the Pumpkin Patch and finally trick-or-treating!
Whew! It's going to be a wild, but FUN month! I can hardly wait...I have to admit it's my favorite month mainly because it's when fall really starts to begin down here in South GA.
    Ella Rose is SO excited about Halloween! She's already decided on her costume and has declared that she's going to be Bob the Tomato and Evie Alice is going to be Larry the Cumcumber. Now I've just got to make those costumes. Here comes, OCTOBER! I can hardly wait!

Maternity Leave

Figuring out when to begin my maternity leave has been quite an interesting adventure this time around. With Ella Rose it was much simpler, I was waiting for labor. :() Actually, I ended up waiting for a date to induce since my doctor was going out of the country. However, the induction didn't work and I ended up having her two days later...via c-section because my labor didn't progress properly and pre-eclampsia set in.

This time around though, there's no worries about labor. We won't be inducing and the only real determination has been when to start my maternity leave knowing that the c-section is scheduled for February 15th. Actually, it was originally scheduled for February 8th and that's why the maternity leave date began to move. I put in for my leave to begin on the 4th of February...but then my doctor announced he'd not be in town this week....SO...I moved the date until the 11th of February.

However, the situation has gotten more interesting. My little family has struggled through 4 deaths in 8 days right now. All of these deaths are people closely connected to my husband. Bless his heart...

So...things have been quite stressful at home. Needless to say my blood pressure has increased again during this pregnancy and so I've been worried about a repeat of the pre-eclampsia that didn't show up with Ella until I was in active labor. So tomorrow is it. I'll officially be on maternity leave until May 2nd, and I have to say that the prospect of being home for 9 weeks fills me with excitement, but anxiety.

I'm nervous about how things are going to go during the scheduled c-section. I'm very nervous about the two weeks at home confinement after the c-section. I am phenomenally nervous about how Ella Rose will react to having a sibling. I can't help but worrying that I'm somehow hurting her by bringing another baby into our lives. And yes, I worry that I won't be bonded with this child as much as I have with Ella Rose.

Ah, the worries of a soon to be second time Mommy.

I am however, looking forward to having time with my little ones...and I look forward to updating this site and having time to do things for my loved ones at home...

I guess we'll see how it goes.

Betty

The nesting begins

I am a month out from adding a new member to our little family. Ella Rose is quite excited about Evie's arrival and I have to admit I'm excited but nervous. There is soooooo much to do at school and soooooo much to do at home. Evie's border isn't up in her room yet. Her crib isn't put together. The guestroom has to be converted into a guestroom/office and the office has to be fully converted into Evie's room. I still have to buy a mattress and I need to retrieve Ella's cloth diapers from a friend who used them for their little one. But slowly, but surely all of this will get done...

In the meantime, I'm focusing on the little things. Ella and I sorted through her old clothes yesterday and organized them. We've cleaned all the cushions on the couch and yes, I mean CLEANED!! I took the covers all off of them, y'all and washed them. I don't think I've done that since I've had the couch. Yesterday, Ella and I mopped the floor and then got down on my hands and knees and cleaned under the cabinets. Ella and I also organized her cabinet in the kitchen and the tuperware drawer.

In the meantime, Ella and I played trains, tea party, and in her sandbox. We also went outside and played ball with our yellow lab, Daisy. It was fun and Ella just cackled with laughter as Daisy chased the ball.

We've also got to get Ella's new chest-of-drawers ready to go into her room and move the wicker one into Evie's. I feel like I have months of work to do to be ready for this precious little bundle of joy to be here...but I know it will all get done.

Then there's Ella's birthday party! Ella will turn TWO exactly 5 days after Evie arrives *if* Evie waits for her c-section date to arrive. So I'm trying to do all of the preparations and planning for her birthday now. I have decorations to order, a trackless train to schedule, and birthday presents to purchase. But I'm looking forward to it.

I may be totally out of my mind, but I can hardly wait to be home full time with my girls for a few months. And I know that things won't all go according to plan, but here's what I do have planned. Ella will keep going to Aunt 'Nise's on Tuesdays and Thursdays to play with her friends. Friday's Ella and I will go to Mommy and Me at the Arts Center and Evie will go to Aunt 'Nise's for an hour or so. Monday nights Ella will do gymnastics. Other than that we'll play outside...and do crafts at home and such. We can visit Wild Adventures on our season pass or go to Chehaw Park to the playground/zoo etc...on our season pass. I can hardly wait!

I have no idea what it will be like having two so close together in age, and I worry about how Ella Rose will react. Hopefully, it won't be so hard her. I am planning on tandem nursing and yes, Ella is still nursing now. I keep reminding her that Evie will bring more milk when she arrives. Ella really likes this.

But I am open for tips, suggestions and thoughts on what it's like to have two...two and under or just two in general. In the meantime, I'm going to return to my flurry of activities and nest away...after all Evie will be here soon...so there's a LOT to do before she comes.

Betty