The best day

I was so worried last night about how today would work out. Even this morning I was stressing about being able to get Jasmine ready and packed with an hour worth of entertainment so we could make the Halloween Parade at school. And, everything went so well today. I woke up early to make Taylor some gluten free cupcakes and decorated his with a pumpkin and sprinkles. I knew the class would be having cupcakes, and I didn't want him eating one, but I also did not want him to feel left out by having a plain, homemade cupcake. After I dropped him off I skipped my usual mommy stalker routine of driving back around to the playground area and hanging out to make sure he made it safely, and instead walked his cupcake into the classroom to give it to the teacher. She said I could bring in extra cupcakes that they would just freeze and warm up when other kids had birthdays. I am going to try Martha Stewart's meringue recipe substituted with our version of "butter" which I think is quite tasty. If it works, then I think that would be the best to freeze. But, I digress. So after dropping off the cupcake we walked back to the parent pick up area and I sat Jazz in the front seat and we just talked and played. She was pretty fragrant, but kept insisting she did not poop. The parade started and I gathered with the other mommies and we watched the kids walk around. Taylor was the first kid out and was holding the music teachers hand and dancing away. I love how uninhibited he is, and I think he could really care less what other kids think. I hope through this whole process he never loses that. I blew him lots of kisses, tried to take as many pics as I could and off they went back inside for more holiday fun. I talked with a few of the other moms and hoped they couldn't smell my stinky girl.


About noon, I went to take some garbage out and Jazzy followed me out to the garage and climbed in her wagon. "Can we go for a walk?" she asked. "Sure!" I said, and ran inside to grab some water and sunglasses and of course my phone and off we went. I let Jazz choose our route and we went around and about and down streets we haven't been down before. It was tons of fun. She loved each time we went up and down a curb and got upset when it looked like we were heading back home. So we turned around and went around and about all over again. Finally, she decided she wanted to go home to paint her nails and we headed back home. We passed one butterfly and I stopped to try to get a picture. Then we kept on walking and saw even more butterflies. Tons of butterflies! "Mama, where are they going?" she kept asking me. Since she now had a clean diaper, I really didn't know but on we walked and they were still all around us. It even looked like some were playing tag with one another, it really was the neatest thing. And of course, super fun to experience it with my little Jazzy.

Wedding Weekend

Yay for weddings! I love weddings, and I love that we were able to go to the wedding of one of my friends from high school. We ended up staying at Dad's house in Tucson, which worked out well since he was watching the kids. We arrived on Saturday and went to the rehearsal dinner which was at a house they rented for the weekend. The kids had a good time, but Jazzy did not take a nap and we also didn't pack well for the cooler temperatures, so we called it a night early and Jazz was asleep in the car by 7:00.



The next morning, we took the kids bowling and had a blast! I did my usual routine of holding back, I certainly did not want to intimidate anyone with my mad skills. Taylor had a great time, we had the bumpers on and he also used a ramp. The girls were great with Jasmine and helped Taylor launch the ball off the ramp. Brooks and Gabe found their groove and ended up scoring pretty well. After probably 5 games and 2 hours ish we headed back to the house and stuffed ourselves for Gabe's birthday barbecue. I should also mention that we had chorizo for breakfast, and mole the night before for dinner. Praise Jesus for Spanxx. Brooks and I left the party about 4:30 for the wedding, which was just a few minutes away. It was at the Tucson Botanical Gardens which were just beautiful. We really enjoyed ourselves, but more than anything it was nice to spend time with Brooks.

Making plans

One of the best parts of having time on my hands is making plans for family outings! This next week should be fun with Halloween and Taylor's fall festival and parade. I am hoping I can convince Brooks we should also take the kids to Sea Life, the new aquarium, but I may have to downplay the crowd factor on that one. While I love festivals and events, Brooks does not. We often use the phrase with each other "you knew it when you married me", and while he is the homebody type I am not, and well- he knew it when he married me ;)

This weekend we have some extra fun plans! We'll be heading down to Tucson for my friend Aurora's wedding. We had booked a hotel, but my Dad offered to let us stay with them so after some convincing, Brooks agreed. We love hotels, but more then we love hotels we hate inconveniencing people. While I love my kids dearly, I can image 24 hours with them might be a little much for someone who did not carry them for 40 weeks. But, I really have been enjoying spending time with my dad so I really wanted to do this. Aside from the rehearsal dinner party and wedding, it is also my brother's birthday and believe me- nothing beats a Mexican birthday party. Even though Gabriel is a teenager, I am sure there will at least be a barbecue which in itself is worth the trip. We'll leave for home on Monday and them meet up with Mom and Katie who will be on their way home from the Selena Gomez concert. The icing on the cake is that I think this weekend may also involve some clothes shopping since Brooks needs a new pair of dress pants for the wedding. Something happened with my sense of style in the past few years- perhaps it went with my bladder and memory from childbirth, but I really, really need new clothes. I am heavier now than I like to be, so when we do go out I don't buy anything because I don't want to be this size. But, after packing our bag for this trip, I just need to get creative on how to buy stuff I can still wear. With time on my hands again, I really have no reason not to be healthy.

Fall!

I am so done with Arizona. As Brooks says, "D-U-N, done!" But, then of course fabulous days like today happen and my heart begins to soften for this state.

Taylor has been home sick for the past two days, and I sent him back to school today in shorts. I should have put the kids in pants, but at that point he was already in the car and I couldn't convince him to change, but I did run back inside and grabbed his jacket. Jasmine has been sick as well and woke up with a fever, but is now running around the house and playing with Delaney. She was dressed appropriately but started asking for her jacket as soon as she saw her brother with his.

This weather has me thinking all sorts of things- most of all is how absolutely grateful I am to be home with my babies and enjoying getting back to what I love. My house has been clean, dinner has actually been ready on time and the kids are just amazing. There were some days where I just had this tremendous guilt about sitting them in front of the TV or telling them no-mommy could not do that with them now. But, they don't seem to care that I am back 100% and it is like we haven't lost a beat. I guess if I was going to hear some dissertation about neglect to mommy duties it would come from the mind and mouth of Taylor, Jasmine may just be paying me back my hogging the bed, covers and pillows each night.

Houston, we have a costume

Yesterday was a fun day for mail! Taylor's costume came in, as did their new winter coats. Jazzy got the cutest pea coat with a ruffled collar and Taylor got a new big heavy jacket. We needed something a little warmer than we normally use as this winter we will be going on the Polar Express train ride again. Taylor's jacket is a little big, but that little boy is growing like a weed and I was nervous about getting him the smaller size. Taylor loves his new costume and wore it for a few hours yesterday and has worn it again most of today.

Decisions, Decisions

The kids love dressing up year round, so I guess it makes sense what to be for Halloween was something they changed their mind about a few times. Taylor originally wanted to be Wall-E, then changed his mind and wanted to be an astronaut. Easy, I thought, since we had just seen a pretty cool astronaut costume at the Challenger Space Museum. Jasmine first said she wanted to be "Dolly" (who is really Ariel, she just calls her Dolly), then changed her mind and wanted to be Jessie from Toy Story. We bought the Jessie costume at Wal-Mart, but discovered we'd bought the wrong size. When we went to exchange it, there were no more Jessie's so we let her pick out a Tinkerbell costume just for play. She had already changed her mind again and decided she wanted to be Princess Jasmine, which was fine but a little interesting since she is not really into the Aladdin movies. But, no biggie so I went online and ordered Jasmine from the Disney Store, my preferred costume store anyway. I really hate shopping at Wal-Mart anyway and their costumes are pretty cheesy. I wish we had a Target here, but until that point I guess I just need to get over myself. As for Taylor, I decided I really didn't want to drive an hour to the museum and instead found an astronaut costume on Amazon which should be here this week. I am not going to say anything to him until it comes, but I know my little space whiz will be so excited!

Hooray for free time!

The past few weeks have been a very welcome relief. While my mind is full of the changes that will be coming, I am loving having free time with Brooks and the babies. This weekend was nothing short of wonderful. The kids played together like little angels, Brooks and I watched a movie on Netflix in the middle of the day, and in the afternoon we took the kids to the park, then went to the store to pick up a pumpkin for a class project Taylor will be doing. Taylor helped himself to some frosting from the fridge and I couldn't help but smile as I helped him scoop it out to lick the spoon. He even let his sister sit in his lap going down the slide at the park, and Jazzy excitedly mastered climbing up this wavy ladder. My heart was so full of happiness and love and it was just one of those days where I could not believe how lucky I was. My kids are just amazing and being their mom is truly the best!