Random List Thursday - Halloween Edition

1. It's October 28th. My air conditioner is on. This is wrong, just plain wrong. I do not live in south Florida. Or Hawaii. Or anywhere tropical.

2. We're 3 days from Halloween...what are the odds my children will wear the costumes that we painfully picked out a month ago? I'm betting at least 1 of mine changes their mind.

3. What is with the confusion on when to Trick or Treat? I've seen more people asking this year when is Trick or Treating? Is this because Halloween falls on a Sunday or a school night? Trick or Treating should be on Halloween. The end.

4. And while we're at it - the general rule should be if your porch light is on then you are participating in Trick or Treating. If the light is off you are not. It's that easy: Lights on = candy, Lights off = leave me alone.

5. And still more - if you are going to go Trick or Treating (teenagers I'm talking to you) then at least put on some sort of costume. I mean honestly if you think you are too old to dress up then you can go buy your own candy. Here's a tip: it's 50% off on 11/1. And don't get me started on grown ups trick or treating for themselves. And yes, we had that last year. I'm not kidding.

6. My preschooler had her "Let's Pretend" Party today and all the kids came in costume. Cuteness abounded. There were 3 Jessie's (including mine) and 2 Buzz Lightyears. Clearly Toy Story rocks.

Fall Fun

We took our annual trip to Hillridge Farms yesterday afternoon. It was the older girls last day of track out (thank goodness!) and Paul took a half day off. With the gorgeous fall weather it seemed like the perfect way to spend an afternoon. The kids were super excited to go...once we pulled into the parking lot they remembered all the fun stuff there was to do. And, for the first time in like 7 1/2 years we didn't take a stroller. That's right...no stroller!

Hillridge is full of wonderful things to do: bounce houses, mazes, corn playhouse, giant slide, hay jump, hay tunnel, playground, sand box and animals to see. The kids especially loved the giant slide. Jacob kept saying "more side, more side." Thankfully it wasn't crazy busy so we did it a few times. New this year was a bunny house which the kids enjoyed. The highlight of the trip is always the hayride to the pumpkin patch and picking out our pumpkins. Once we got there Lily said: "I am looking for one that is orange and perfectly round." Everyone found their pumpkins and managed to pose for a few pictures in the patch (though Jacob was remarkably uncooperative).

Here are a few pics from our fun day:

I Knew It Would Happen....

Sooner or later. I was hoping for the later but ugh..it happened today. Jacob climbed out of his crib. He's the first of my 4 kids to climb out of his crib. Well, technically my youngest daughter did but that's because she was in a room with her 2 older sisters and they taught her how. But she was 2 1/2 and probably ready for a bed. Jacob? Not so much ready for bed. And me? Definitely, positively not ready for him to be a bed.

Here's how it all went down: It's 7:26am and I am laying in bed snuggling with my 6 year old when I hear a thud. Being the best mom in the world I totally ignore it. I figure the 3 year old is jumping down from the bunk bed ladder. But then I hear the cries and my ears perk up a little. Then I notice Jacob is standing in the hallway rubbing his head and crying for daddy. And even though I hadn't had my morning coffee I deduced that thud was him getting out of the crib.

I am hoping he'll remember that he hurt his head and won't try it again. If he does we are so looking for a crib tent until the denial passes that I no longer have a baby and have toddler who probably needs a bed.

Exciting News!!

I'm finally ready to share some very exciting news with you all. I am now working with TMC Travel - The Mouse Connection as a Disney travel planning specialist! A job yall! Working from home! Planning Disney trips! Doesn't that sound so exciting? Well...if you like planning vacations and you love Disney. Which I do!

It all came about when a long time friend from high school and I were corresponding about our Disney Cruise. She had started this business in the Spring and I thought it sounded so cool. I told her if she was ready to expand her business to the Triangle to let me know. To my surprise she said sure! We talked, emailed and met and it sounded like a good fit. Over the last few weeks I've completed the Disney College of Knowledge training program for travel agents and researched a ton of information and now I'm ready to really get started booking vacations!

You can to here to check our agency's website. We are a NO fee agency which means that Disney pays our commissions and we do all the planning for you. Plus we offer free gifts and tips for anyone who purchases a 4 Night package! So..if you or anyone you know is planning a trip to Disney let me know and I can help them plan a most magical trip!!

BFF Time

My BFF, Erin, came for a weekend visit. Oh so fun! It had been several months since we've seen her and since she works in retail this was her last long weekend for a while. She drove down Friday evening and we had a blast all weekend. Emma went to Camp Gagi for the weekend so the family dynamics were a little off. We comment frequently over the course of the weekend how much "easier" and "quieter" it was with only 3 kids around! Saturday we hit the fair. Erin loves fair food as much as Paul and I so we drug her all around finding all our favorites: Al's French Fries, funnel cake, corn dogs, roasted corn on the cob and of course deep fried cookie dough (omg..sooo yummy). After walking around the fair for 6 hours in the afternoon we were beat Saturday night. Thankfully Erin & I can have fun just flipping through the TV and reading magazines! Sunday we were pretty busy with the kids but managed to have fun all the same. Lily was thrilled that she and Auntie got to go to their special place (aka Barnes & Noble). We grilled out last night and chilled.

It was great to see her. We appreciate so much the effort she makes to come see us..its' always a great time for everyone!

Toothless Wednesday

Emma lost her 2nd top tooth this morning. The cuteness is more than I can stand. Selfishly I hope the big teeth take a long time to come in so she can toothless for a while longer!

Tuesday Tidbits

1. My older kids are tracked out right now. We're in the middle of week 2. So far so good but I think they are bored. Secretly that's my plan...if they are bored then they are ready to go back to school when break is over. If I let them have too much fun they will never want to return.

2. I cleaned out my fridge today. Apparently I have a problem with buying bbq sauce and then using about 3/4 of the bottle. No lie I think I threw out about 4 bottles.

3. We've done some rearranging around here in the past week. I've been wanting to get all the toys off the main floor for a while (we used the bedroom/office downstairs for a small playroom) and for some reason I was feeling motivated last week to go ahead and make the move. Plus I had the older girls around and I figured they could help. So we moved all the toys upstairs (except for a small basket of Jacob toys) and moved the computers downstairs to the office. It's so nice not to have toys everywhere downstairs! And the girls are in heaven that we have 2 computers set up for their use. Win!

4. I'm really tired of Fall being such a whimp. I mean honestly, 90 degrees on 10/12? Summer & Winter are such bullies - can't they let Fall have their 13 weeks??

5. I'm so excited that my BFF is coming for a visit this weekend!

6. I am working on something very exciting to be announced very soon! Because, you know, I don't have enough to do!

Mouse in the House

Backstory: We noticed last Spring some signs that we may have a mouse in the house. We bought some traps and sure enough we caught one. Thankfully the hubs was home and was able to dispose of it without my knowledge. We kept traps around and I think we caught one more over the summer. And even though we've seen no signs of the little creatures Paul kept some traps around just in case. The temperatures around here have recently taken a turn for the cold so apparently all the vermin are trying to get indoors to keep from getting cold.

So, this afternoon I turn to get something out of the pantry and I notice it out of the corner of my eye, under the kitchen counter (I am still shuddering, by the way). A mouse trap. That's odd, I think, how did the trap get from the way back corner of the pantry, under the door and now to the corner of the kitchen? Then it hits me. OMG THERE IS A MOUSE IN THE TRAP ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR. And then it hits me again...AND IT'S NOT DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At this point my heart starts beating about a million miles a minute and I start shaking a little bit. What do I do? I contemplate grabbing all the children and heading for the door only to come back in 36 hours when my husband gets home. But I decide against it. I then call my super brave neighbor, hoping her husband is home for help. She wasn't at home but did give me some advice. At this point my 6 year old comes downstairs and is fascinated by it. Until she sees the mouse move and then she screams like, well, a little girl and runs back upstairs. She goes and gets the 3 year old and they both come down to stare at the mouse and to ask me what I'm going to do about it. At this point I try another neighbor who works from home but he's not home either. Crap. I am going to have to deal with this myself. So, I put on my brave face and go search for a big box. I figure I can corner the mouse with the box and sweep it into the box. I find a big diaper box, the only time I've been thrilled Jacob is still in diapers. I try to do this with my eyes closed but it was a little tricky and after a few false starts I finally did it. Got that nasty thing into the box and ran it out to the outside trash.

I'm completely traumatized and still shuddering. I realized that yes, I am such a girl and that I am very thankful that I have a husband who normally takes care of such matters. Also? I will have nightmares for weeks.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Welcome October! September - you passed in a blink - I sure hope October lasts a little longer. I love, love this time of year. Cooler weather! Pretty leaves! Jeans! Fall Festivals! Hillridge Farms! Corn Maze! Sweaters! Halloween! Candy! Deep Fried Food! The Fair! To me this is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

It's also time to go through the kids clothes and switch out tank tops for sweaters. That's really not so fun. When I mentioned this to Emma this morning she got the saddest look on her face and said "but I'm not ready to say goodbye to summer." Bless her heart - not me..I'm thrilled to say goodbye to summer. I'm done with being hot and the pool and sweating just walking out the door. So, Fall please be good to us and stay a while, 'kay and please don't let that bully Winter come too early.