Connecticut - Part 1

Ahhhh......finally unpacked from our trip, but now it's time to share the memories. We left late Friday night, our flight was at 8:30....bedtime. Which could have gone one of two ways---really good (Max would sleep the whole time) or really bad (Max would scream the whole time). We actually fell somewhere in the middle because he cried for about 10 minutes on take off and landing, but slept in between. When we finally arrived at the hotel it was midnight and the kids literally collapsed into their respective beds. Max in his pack n play and Alexis in her bed. The only problem was that Alexis was "afraid" to sleep in the bed by herself. It did not seem to matter to her that I would be in the bed right next to her. So I slept in bed with her. It was such a pleasant night for me.......getting kicked in the face (yes, somehow she ended up backwards in bed), getting laid on all night, and listening to Max suck his fingers all night. So I was really well rested on Saturday. Saturday morning we went to a breakfast/lunch place where Alexis got to eat her very first Rainbow Bagel. Then we went to a Children's Museum which was AWESOME. We could have spent well over the two hours that we were there. We got to visit the Rainforest where Alexis played with gorillas and Max dressed up like an little expedition man!Then we went to the Healthy Kids exhibit where Dr. Needle got to clown around. She morphed into a dentist, a doctor, an ambulance driver, a healthy shopper, an exerciser, etc. We also decided to see how many weird places we could put Max. He was inside the giant mouth, inside drawers, on shelves. He didn't even really seem to mind. Next we made it to the TV area where you could experiment with a green screen, but they didn't really think it was as cool as Ben and I did!!!!But they did like the construction zone. Of course Alexis waited until it cleared out before she would go in the building, but Max was a maniac.Finally we made it to the water play area which was awesome. It had a stream where you could send boats down, a whirlpool that you could send balls down and they would spit out the other side, a table where you could make water into steam, and a weather exhibit. I think we thought it was cooler than the kids did. And then outside was a whole 'nother play area! Just not enough time!!!! I remember when I was a kid my brother had tinker toys. All different shape plastic blocks that could interlink. Well, this place had a collection of life-size tinker toys. Alexis went to town building a bridge and a small city, while Max ran around with a noodle lookin' thing slapping it around everywhere. Very fitting.
It really was time to be at our next destination, but we figured it was going to be impossible to get Alexis out of there without a complete fit. Thankfully we have some bratty and obnoxious kids to thank for helping make her transition easier. Some kids started stealing all of her blocks so she got mad, cried, and said she wanted to leave. Perfect!

For the next installment, tune in later :)

Toddlers and Beyonce

So I guess when I posted this post back in March about Alexis jammin' out to Beyonce, she wasn't that unique and there was a reason for it.

I recently found this article about why Toddlers Love Beyonce! And here were the top three reasons:

• "The song is very Teletubbies," says Tony-nominated musician Kenny Mellman. "If you listen to it, there is very little music. It's all drum and Beyoncé's voice."

• Kara Shall, communications director of Baby Loves Disco, says, "Young children love songs with good rhythm and repetition, and 'Single Ladies' certainly has both."

• Babies love high-contrast colors, steady beats, and smiling women's faces. "Single Ladies" has all three.

You would think after 7 months since this original incident happened she would not be that into it anymore. But, oh, how you are wrong. While it definitely doesn't play on the radio as often, every time it comes on, her eyes light up and she start singing and bouncing away! Before I know it, Max will be singing "all the single ladies" too!

A Twist to Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me Monday!!! And if you make it all the way to the bottom of the post, there will NOT be a surprise waiting there for you!

This was started by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Max has not been a snotty mess this week causing me to NOT use my sleeve to wipe his nose in times of desperation. And at the very least, I would never use his own sleeve!

Alexis has NOT given up her naptime and I'm NOT crying about it :(

Since it's October and it's pumpkin season, we did not decide to go to the Pumpkin Patch on the coldest, rainy (more like a drizzle) day so far of the season! And I would always be prepared for such weather so while there I definitely did not forget jackets for either child and they were not merely wearing sweatshirts.

And after the trip, I did not spend about 2 hours editing my pictures just so I could get them posted on Facebook for all to enjoy!I also did NOT spend hours updating my store so that shoppers could have an adequate Fall selection instead of the bright summer bows that continued to remain online! And if you are a blogreader and you've made it all the way down here, then you will certainly NOT get a coupon code to get a free hairbow with the purchase of a bow at my store. That's right.......for every bow you buy you'll get a free one! So feel free to buy 6 and get 6 free! Just do NOT go to AffordaBOW by clicking here or typing in www.affordabow.com to your browser. Or you can click the picture in the upper left hand corner of the blog. And in the shopping cart, do NOT whatever you do, type the coupon code BLOG in to receive your special offer. Happy "not" shopping!!!!

Alexis and Nap Time

Alexis and nap time used to be BFF. I mean BFF in the sense that she would take 3 hour naps like a champ. Unusual for a 3 1/2 year old? Yes! But appreciated by mommy? Yes, yes, and YES!!!! Alexis treasured her nap time and could not function without it. However, for the last 5 days, she has not napped (this does not mean that she has functioned either, just ask us around 7:00pm each night). But she still goes to her room during Max's nap and usually reads books in her bed or plays with Claw (her imaginary friend and a whole 'nother post!). But today her "nap" time took on a whole new meaning. And by new meaning I mean nap time became "let me trash my room, take every book of my bookshelf and build a road with it, and play with every toy without putting it away" time. Here are the damages:This would be her floor covered in all the books from her shelf which she herself deemed to be a "road" on which she of course leap frogged from one book to the next and was quite proud of herself and her accomplishments. And here is her bed covered with dolls, blankets, toys, and whatever else she could get her cute little hands on. If you don't know me well, you might not know that I am a NEAT FREAK. I hate when rooms are messy and my motto is "everything has a place". Just ask Ben how annoying I am and how often things he wants get thrown away. Imagine how much it pained me to actually leave the house tonight to go to my mom's for dinner without cleaning it up! GASP!!!! But rest assured that once I got home, her room once again looks like this:

Apple Picking

We decided on Sunday to take a trip to the apple orchards. We also decided to take a DVD player in the car so that the long trip wouldn't be so painful. But of course, Max is still facing backwards because he has barely crossed the 20 pound mark and we decided to leave him backwards for a little longer, so he would not be able to see the DVD player. So Ben and I decided to make the milestone and turn him around. He was hilarious just looking around with these big eyes for a while. We drove about 1 1/2 hours to get there which with a small 3 year old's bladder always makes for an interesting trip. We were about 10 miles away when Alexis states that she has to pee. I decide that she can hold it. We get about 8 miles away (out of all civilization) and she starts crying that she can't hold it. So we pull off the side of the road and she pees behind a small brick tower. Of course, Ben decides to take a picture, but he missed the action so here is the after shot. Finally we arrive. The first thing we do is take a "hay" ride. But, hay rides are not what I remember them to be from when I was a kid. I remember a whole wagon FULL of hay that you sat on and played around in. This hay ride was a bench with bales of hay under it. But, nonetheless, it was fun. Then we went to the petting farm. The petting farm including sheep, goats, a pig, turkeys, chickens, and rabbits.Maxwell liked the "petting" part of the farm a lot better than Alexis who liked to walk up close enough to the animals but not close enough to touch them. Although, she did pet this baby goat I think. She would claim she wanted to feed them, get some food in her hand, and then as soon as the animal got close enough to eat it, she would throw the food on the floor. But my mom did like getting up close and personal!
After the petting zoo, we finally made it to the orchards. Of course as soon as Max saw the apples all he wanted to do was eat one. So I let him. Yup, right off the tree. I'm not sure if that was against the rules and I know it wasn't clean, but, hey, it was fun. And it sure beat the knock down drag out fit he would have thrown if he couldn't eat one. Alexis did enjoy picking apples that were low enough for her to reach, but the real thrill and challenge was being able to pick one that was high up. She had this idea before we got there that there would be ladders there (she must have read about apple picking somewhere because I have no idea where she got this from). When we broke the news that there were no ladders, she decided to make her own. Here are a few other highlights!!!!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me Monday!!! This was started by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not videotape Alexis throwing an all out fit just for future viewing pleasure!!!! (You'll have to tune back in maybe tomorrow to see the video!)

I did not let my children eat apples straight off the tree while we were apple picking! I mean surely they were NOT filthy and surely that is not against the rules!!! (I did wipe them off with a wipe, does that count?)I did not eat a fried chocolate pie at the same Apple Orchard because I would never consume that many calories at one time (but anything with fried and chocolate in the same title must be deeeelish!). And even if I did eat it, I definitely would not have made it my lunch!

I do not laugh at Alexis during her 'roid rages that she has while on her asthma medication (we had to start her whole regime again because comes October she is a wheeze machine, but the medication combinations make her 'roid out and it's kinda funny. But I guess if I didn't laugh, I would cry or go insane). Oh, and she definitely isn't screaming with her nebulizer mask on her face as we speak. Ahhhh, I love winter.....NOT!

I did not drive down the street this afternoon and see the creek about to overflow again like it did a couple weeks ago and I did not secretly hope that it would overflow again just to get school cancelled for another day and have Ben home with us!

Aaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!

Yup, it was a day full of pirates! But before we get to the pirates, the trip getting there was quite adventurous. We left our house around 10am for a 10:30 birthday party....plenty of time. Get everyone loaded in the car, Ben pulls out of the driveway while I plug the address into the GPS. As we get down the road, the GPS keeps saying "match not found". Well, darn GPS, I know the address is correct as it is printed on this card; however, it is not working. The next logical step is to call the phone number and asked for directions. The guy who answers the phone tells us how to get there. About 30 minutes later we are driving though the nastiest, grossest, most disgusting part of the town that I didn't even know existed. Ben called it "Crack-worth", a bit of a play on its actual name since that is about how slimy the area was. So I decide to call my friend for directions. We get some different directions, but after about 15 minutes realize that we are in the next county. Fabulous! We call again. This time we finally get directions that work and 1 hour later we arrive. Anyway, the birthday party was at this really cool Pirate's Cove.It's basically a warehouse size sand box with a huge wooden pirate ship built above it with things to climb on, play on, and slide down. It also has some super cool air shooters that shoot these little foam balls.
Max really enjoyed this part, especially since he would not play in the sand. Every time we put him in the sand, he would make a really weird face and come right out. And if by some rare chance he was near the sand and some got on his hand, he would immediately run over to us with his hand held out and say "dirty" wanting us to wipe it off.
Alexis was playing in the sand, but not actually getting dirty. She primarily would walk on it and then go up onto the play structure.
She did make a friend who played her style and they sat under at a picnic table for a while making "pies".
It actually was kinda funny to see all these kids running around like maniacs and literally rolling around in the sand, and then there are my kids either walking around outside the sand box or sitting at a picnic table! I love my kids! Because then I didn't have to give them a hose down when we got home or dig sand out of diapers!!!!

Perhaps one of the funnier moments was not in the mega sandbox, but in the jumpy toys they had surrounding the sand box. One blow up tunnel was particularly intriguing to Max because the place where you crawled in would blow air when you opened it. Here is Max upon opening:But funny man Ben decided that coming out of the the opening looked more like ummmm.......well.......being born! I thought it looked rather like a giant blue tush, but my sicko husband had other ideas. So of course he had to climb in and "crawl out"!So there is Ben being "born, and here is Max being "reborn"!
Here are our two little pirates!!!!
And the best part was......our 60 minute trip there getting lost ended in a 20 minute trip home!!!!