If anyone still cares about October...

...here are some pictures.

I started the month out on a high note with an opportunity to skip town and spend some time with Jeff, Mom, Aunt Linda and Kai.  It was an enormous help to my mental state as I've been pretty down in the dumps about being unemployed and feeling kind of sorry for myself for being "stuck" in the house with a baby all day.  I know what you're thinking.  I won't get this time back, so I should enjoy it.  But I gotta be honest.  I don't enjoy 75% of the day.  Darcy is an absolute rotten baby.  So, many of my thoughts go to what would I be doing if I was working right now. 

Anyway...San Diego was a blast. Jeff looks great and I was so glad to get a chance to see him. Love ya Jeff!

He took mom and I to one of his favorite thinking spots.  We wound up climbing down an enormously steep set of narrow, winding stairs, passing surfers (with their boards) on our way down. 

Then on our last day, we went with Kai and Aunt Linda to a winery in Temeculah. So pretty! I really enjoyed the afternoon. Even the part where mom smushed a pesky bee with a napkin against her sandwich.

Kai loved, I mean loved the breadsticks. LOL!

Mid month my uncle passed away.  Mom, Dad, Jon and I took a road trip to Benton, MO to visit with family.  We don't see that side of the family much and it was good to catch up with everyone.

And then the pumpkin patch.  Camryn is such her daddy's girl.  We go to Rombach's every year, which is huge.  It never fails.  We walk in and Camryn picks out the first pumpkin she sees without even going through the gates to see the entire farm.  And she says "that's the one!".  To Craig's disappointment, I have to say no.  I just do. I mean, she hadn't even seen the ponies yet or the big displays that the owners have spent so long setting up.  She hasn't seen the jungle gym or stood in line for super sweet lemonade while fighting bumble bees to get to it first.  So, we kept walking.  And that's when I begin to enjoy the trip when I see Cam's face light up once she actually sees all the pumpkins. 

Here's farmer Cam.

Here are some other pics from the month, including the girls in their costumes.

Camryn was so proud of how her costume came together. She looked so pretty.  When trick or treating, she would get candy and turn around and spread her wings.  :)

And here's this stinker.  She was wearing a 9 month baby costume. It didn't have any legs to it. Keep in mind she is 5 months old here.  We had to cut off the bottom half just so she would come close to fitting in the costume.  And since it was cold we had to wrap her bottom half with a blanket. HA!

My apologies for such a long break in blogging.  It's been a crazy month and by the time the girls get to bed, I don't feel like doing much besides going to bed myself.  Hoping to be better this month and next.

Happy Halloween!

So sorry for the lack of posts this month. I had a ton of pictures uploaded a week ago and it crashed on me and didn't feel like messing with it again.

Will update soon.

In the mean time, enjoy:  http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/eSScjgfApvGZ0XuV

Belly laughs

During the evening, carrying Darcy around in the front carrier is a common occurance. She's only begun to laugh, although she's quite stingy with them. I had turned on the music and Camryn and I were dancing while I was making dinner. Only on the fast tempo songs were we getting some reaction out of Darcy...




And the next collection of pictures Cam calls Sweet Potatoes!

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes and Oatmeal

And my favorite...

Squash (Can you tell that Darcy has figured out how to spit? HA!)

Soccer

Well, Camryn is in her second season of soccer. I am still predicting that she'll do better at the individual sports, like dancing, swimming or running. But for now, she's 4 and she loves "playing" with the girls. They have a cheer that they do: "Pretty girls don't play soccer, so LET'S GET UGLY!" Cam loves it. On the day of her team pictures I got the 3rd degree for putting a purple ribbon in her hair. "Mommy, ugly girls don't wear pretty things in there hair. I'm supposed to be ugly when I wear my soccer uniform." Whatever. Just wear the bow. Anyway, she scored her first goal last week. It took her a second to realize it but once she did she ran to her coach, who has a tradition of swinging the girls around when they score. It was the first time she got to do that. Craig and I are hoping she got the taste for what it felt like; but this past week she was back to same old goofy Camryn on the field.

Here I guess she wore herself out and needed a rest during the game. Ha!

New Etsy site

The store is live! And I got my first order today already.

Visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/rosieraesnugglies

Two big things happened today

1. I heard Darcy's first belly laugh. Oh my goodness. I can't even express in words what that feels like. It's the funniest and the sweetest thing all at once. You cannot help but laugh with her. Oh, and she had a healthy 4 month check up today. 95% percentile on height & weight. So at least she's proportional but she's a chub.

2. Camryn got in trouble today. The kind that took only a few words and she knew exactly why she was in trouble. The kind that sent her butt straight to bed and she didn't protest once. The kind that made us so angry that we told her it's going to work out much better for her if we deal with it the morning because we were so angry with her. I've never been this angry with her. Camryn gets so many free passes from us. We try our hardest to put into perspective that she's 4. And in most cases that's okay.

But lately she's been writing on stuff. Not paper, which we've drilled into her head since she could pick up a crayon. But stuff. Coffee table, carpet, Darcy's car seat. Thank goodness for washable markers. Still working on the carpet though. Her markers were taken away for an undisclosed period of time. She's only to use colored pencils and crayons until I think she can handle markers again. She has seen me get upset over these incidents and not offered a single apology.

And tonight, I popped in to check my email and saw pen mark all over our brand new computer screen. BRAND NEW. And the screens these days are not the glass screens. They're the plastic screens that can be scratched much easier and the slightest pressure could damage the screen. She happened to be in the room when I noticed it. I was speechless. And that doesn't happen often. I couldn't believe it! I started saying oh no! oh no! and Craig came in, saw what had happened and started yelling. Now Camryn Rose is such a fragile little flower. She goes straight to tears in a second. She gets that from me. I tear up at so many ridiculous things.

I told her if she woke up her sister it was going to be worse and at least that toned it down a bit.

OK, so what in the world do you do to punish a 4 1/2 year old who definitely knows better? What's going to stick with her? Take away the computer? OK, probably for a while. Definitely pens now. What else? What can I ground her from or do that's really going to make an impact on her, so she gets it.

I tried to clean it with a damp rag and no luck. It appeared to be permanent and under the surface. FORTUNATELY, Craig hopped online to see how to clean it and found that rubbing alcohol might work. It did. Oh my goodness. What a relief!

OK, now what. She still needs to learn a lesson, but the damage isn't what we originally thought. Meanwhile she's crying her eyes out and wailing upstairs. And when we go to check on her (she can get so hysterical she has trouble breathing), she's seriously worried that we don't love her anymore. Oh no! What an impact our glares must have had on her because we barely said anything. Just the body language was enough for her to realize she screwed up big time. It made my heart sad that she believed it was possible for us to stop loving her.

So now what? We told her we would discuss it tomorrow. But not sure what the right consequence is. She's old enough to know better, for sure, but she's 4.

Trying so hard to move. Oh, and enjoy the sound effects. LOL!

Random comment

I LOVE my family, but it's hard work to keep everyone happy.

Lions and tigers and bears!

This is the perfect time of year for family outings. There are so many festivals and fun things to do in town. Camryn is game for just about anything. And Darcy is old enough she can be out in the sun and along for the ride.

Craig has been SO busy with football. The girls and I have really been a little threesome bopping around town. But he was free on Sunday afternoon, so we packed up the gals and headed to the zoo.

When Darcy was awake I popped her into the carrier (which is one of her favorite viewpoints) so she could see the action. Before I knew it her head dropped. All of the action wore her out I guess. The one time she fussed I think I got her too close to the glass in the monkey house. They were way up high and I had leaned in to look up and I think it made her a bit uncomfortable (and rightly so).

Craig wanted to see the sea lions, I wanted to see the bears and Cam wanted to see the lions. They were all hanging out in the shade. Seemed like most of the animals were sleeping when we walked by them.
Just plain wore out!
Camryn, in front of the zebras. She has mastered the stop for a picture pose.

Craig helped Camryn take pictures at the sea lion show with her camera.