Halloween, doing it up right!

Apparently one Rapunzel costume isn't enough to celebrate Halloween as we had to go through 3 costume changes today...

We started this morning decked out in the Rapunzel and me costume that came with Maison's "My first princess" that she got for her birthday.

A Dora Halloween shirt wasn't festive enough to welcome home Daddy so we had to add an orange and white tutu.

And finally, the Rapunzel costume...

Ready to meet Prince James to go trick or treating:

First house, James's grandparents:

I didn't care too much about my UT colored pom-poms that James's g-ma got me, but I certainly liked James's cars that he called "go-gos":

Prince and Princesses still need their mommies, sometimes....

And sometimes they don't....

Happy Halloween from Prince James and Princess Maison!!!

Hot Mess!

Maison is sick again (yes, again!) so I had a rough night staying up with her and listening to her cough on the monitor all night. Adam was not only kind enough to get up with her this morning but he even took her to go get us pumpkin spiced lattes at Starbucks.

We were in the playroom and I set my full latte on the brick planter where we always sit our drinks. I'm not sure what happened but within seconds I was drenched in piping hot coffee. I have never stripped so fast in my entire life. For once, my description is not an exaggeration for dramatic flare, as this is what your clothes look like covered in 24oz of pumpkin spiced latte:

I actually burned the skin on my stomach, arm, and leg bad enough that not only was it a rather alarming shade of red, it hurt pretty bad to wash the sticky pumpkin coffee off. As if losing my pumpkin spiced latte after no sleep and burning 25% of my skin wasn't bad enough, our couch and rug are sticky beyond belief, and during my strip tease I flung coffee over most of the Maison's new b-day toys. If that is not the most literal definition of a hot mess I don't know what is!

Recycling at it's best

Look familiar?

Shari couldn't help but want to be Britney again..."Hit me baby, one more time!". Adam and I were so comfy in our Rapunzel and Eugene/Flynn Rider costumes we decided we would give them another go. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Amateurs!

Maison's 1st school picture is back.

The positives:

- She's looking at the camera

- She's kind of smiling

- She's not crying

The negatives:

- It's not centered at all

- No one photoshopped the scab off her nose

- No one bothered to clean her fingernails after craft time before picture time

As if the negatives weren't proof enough they are amateurs at toddler picture taking...

We received THIS free t-shirt with purchase:

- It's sized for Maison, what child wants to wear a shirt with their picture on it?

- They selected the worst picture of Maison, she's not smiling and in fact she looks drugged.

- It says "I'm special at Fort...", I'm pretty sure to people in my age group that has a whole different meaning.

Thanks for the "free gift with purchase" but in the future, NO THANKS!!!

Call it like it is

Tonight was the Fall Festival at Fort. What's up with calling it a Fall Festival?

- Did the children wear costumes? CHECK

- Did the decor include jack'o lanterns and not just pumpkins? CHECK

- Were the children given Halloween candy (Halloween not only in size but in packaging) as prizes? CHECK

I don't remember purchasing a Fall costume or opening Fall candy, and given the above checklist I'm pretty sure we were at a Halloween Carnival tonight....though I'm new to all this school stuff so I'm no expert.

Tossing rings or placing them directly on the spokes:

Choosing a duck from the pond:

Stuffed Animal walking with Daddy:

Pulling a 'pop from the lollipop tree:

So proud Maison chose the sour apple. She obviously knows that is the ONLY dum-dum that does not suck!

Digging for treasures:

Tossing bean bags or placing them directly in the NON-HALLOWEEN jack'o lantern buckets:

Cake walking with Mommy:

The Queen Bee ~ A Queen having her picture taken by a bee:

We had a great time at the HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL tonight. I'm not sure if those that went to the Fall Festival had any fun since the only thing at the Fall Festival was the hay/pumpkin picture booth!

All in a week's time

Monday I picked Maison up from school and received her with a bruise on her cheek, forehead, and inside her left eye. Apparently, when two children go to hug each other and one is a head taller than the other some bruising can occur to the face. Ok, so Mais is in school now and she's going to get bumps and bruises. I get it...so I let it go.

Today I picked up Maison, put her in the car seat, and then decided to undo her seat belt so I could take off her winter coat. That's when I saw it...on her right arm as clear as day. Maison had been bitten....OH...NO...YOU...DIDN'T!!!

Good thing Maison was already unbelted because I literally pulled her out of the seat and car in one quick motion and was back in that school within seconds. It just so happens that the owner and the director of the school were in the entry way when we came back in. I blurted out, "Does Ms. Heather know that someone bit Maison?"

The owner assured me we would get to the bottom of what happened as he was examining Maison's arm. He escorted me to Maison's class to talk to Ms. Heather. She claims (yes accusing tone intended) that Maison did not cry all day and that she has no idea when it happened or which child did it. She speculated (yes accusing tone intended again) that it happened when the school was out on the playground taking class pictures for Fall Festival.

Since I was not satisfied with this response, I politely told the director, "We don't have other children so the only place she could have been bitten was here...I don't need my child learning such habits at school...If Maison starts biting I cannot be responsible since someone else is obviously doing it to her."

Given their no tolerance policy against biting, I am NOT letting this one go...I just decided to put it aside since tonight is Fall Festival.

Have a Coke and a smile ~ Part 2

On the way to pick up Maison, I may or may not have stopped at Race Trac. THE Race Trac that does not carry iced tea. I may or may not have been fixing myself a 44oz diet coke when a rather large man with a 60oz thermos type refillable cup got in my way.

I don't know much about addiction but I know enough not to stand in an addicts way when they have fallen off the wagon. I may or may not have jumped in front of the '60 ouncer' to get my crushed ice and may or may not done some what of a dance with him to get to the diet coke dispenser.

The '60 ouncer' looked at me in slight disbelief and said, "I see you still like to play musical chairs." I chose not to reply only because I was in such a hurry to cap my cola, pay for my fix, and be on my way. The '60 ouncer' had the audacity to accost me at said capping counter and said, "Playing musical chairs with you felt so good." And my 'cranky addict without a fix' reply was, "Not as good as that gallon of Mountain Dew is going to make you feel."

Yes, in case you are wondering....I'll be here all week. Just make sure I get my fix ;o)

Here we grow again ~ Part 8 the final chapter

Those people are at it again. You know the ones that talk so much. The ones that say, "If you double your child's height at two that is how tall they will be as an adult." Today was Maison's two year wellness exam and apparently we are going to have a VERY TALL lady in our family if they are right.

Age Weight Height
Birth 7 lbs 9 oz 21"
2 weeks 8 lbs 11 oz 21 3/4"
2 months 11 lbs 14 oz 24"
4 months 15 lbs 2 oz 26"
6 months 17 lbs 7 oz 28 3/8"
9 months 21 lbs 0 oz 30 3/8"
12 months 22 lbs 10 oz 32 1/4"
15 months 23 lbs 5 oz 34 1/2"

18 months 24 lbs 4 oz 33 3/4"

24 months 27 lbs 2 oz 37"

In fact if they are right, Maison will be 6' 2" when she grows up. I guess it's time to start looking into ballet and modeling lessons and/or volleyball or basketball teams that take extremely tall 2 yr olds.

Happy Birthday Princess

What could be more fun than a 2 year old princess party? A princess and frog party complete with a costumed prince, fairy god mother (Nooey of course!), 2 frogs, and princesses galore!

Rapunzel (Maison) opening her first gift with her fellow princess, Olivia, and Rapunzel's Mommy:

Elmo rock band was a big hit with princesses and princes:

Obviously the light-up Rapunzel Barbie from Tangled is more exciting than the next gift:

Happy Birthday, Rapunzel! (Featured with Eugene, aka Daddy):

The Prince Frog cake:

The difference a year makes...not only did I LOVE my cake, I ate it all by myself. Must be my princess power!

Rapunzel's Mommy handing out cake to my fellow prince and princesses:

The only 2 frogs at the party who happened to choose very similar costumes:

Tired princess, can't even walk to the car....must be driven in her new carriage, ummm wagon:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRINCESS MAISON!!!

A day at the Fair, Texas Style

To celebrate my precious bug turning 2, we spent the day at the State Fair and like good Texans we did the fair "Texas Style"...

A "Texas Style" trip to the fair must include:

1. A visit with the biggest Texan in Texas; the iconic Big Tex:

2. A little hunting, is it duck season already?

Trying the "Duck Pond" on the Midway:

Picking a good duck:

I WON!

3. Some horse back riding:

Riding the carousel with Mommy and Daddy:

2 is not too young to start riding alone, this is Texas after all...

Riding the horse all by myself:

4. Driving a Monster Truck

Driving a hot pink truck with Mommy, can't get more Texan than that!

5. Flying out to the ranch in a private plane:

6. Spending time on an exotic ranch (Think exotic animals not scantily clad women)

Feeding a mini horse:

That's a lot of horns, even for a Longhorn fan!

Watch where you point those things!

A camel, a zebra, and a tortoise....so many ways to go with this one!

What's a ranch with exotics without an ostrich???

Birthday week continues...tomorrow Princess and Frog party!

Have a Coke and a smile

On my way to pick up Maison from school, I stopped at Race Trac to get an iced tea. Imagine my surprise when THIS Race Trac did not have iced tea. Uh, I'm a Race Trac connoisseur and every other Race Trac has iced tea. I even asked where the tea was in case I had over looked it. Not unless I wanted tea from a bottle which I informed the attendant was, 'not iced', I would have to select another fountain drink from the 24+ fountain choices.

So after SEVEN MONTHS of no cokes, I HAD TO HAVE A COKE. What other choice did I have? Coke is the only fountain drink I like and I already filled my 44oz cup with ice. I would like to tell you that I felt like I had been poisoned. I would like to tell you that it was disgusting; that it was laced in fake sugary substance....

BUT it wasn't! It was A-MAZ-ING-LY delicious! After the first sip, I was grinning from ear to ear.

Celebration of Life

Maison's school celebrates each child's birthday with a "Celebration of Life" ceremony. The parents bring pictures from each year of the child's life. The class sits in a circle with the parents and the parents tell stories for each year. The teacher lights a candle for each year of the child's life and an extra candle to represent their future years to come. The birthday child walks around the circle of her classmates after the story is told for each year. It was a wonderful celebration!

Mommy telling stories while Daddy displays the picture poster Aunt Shari made:

Maison walking around for the 1st year (I forgot what the globe was supposed to represent ;o):

Maison blowing out the candles:

After the Celebration of Life, we gave the kids cupcakes and juice. Maison had never had a cupcake before so she quickly licked the frosting off in about 2 licks and then ate her entire cupcake in about 3 bites (God only knows what it will do to this poor child's stomach). The little boy at Maison's table was going from table to table secretly sucking off every one's juice boxes while they weren't looking. While he was off stealing juice, Maison reached over and snatched his cupcake. I had to fight her for it to give it back!

"Cupcake Queen" with the "Juice Thief"

The "Juice Thief" in action. Check out his bold move right in front of Ms. Jitender!

Proof that I don't have the most dramatic child in the class. See the "arms crossed pouter" behind Adam and Maison...he was upset that Adam wouldn't play with him.

Birthday week continues...tomorrow is the State Fair!