Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween from Elmo and the Ninjago!!

 



Memories

This weekend we attended the Seafood Festival held every year here in town. Holdyn went with us Friday night and he got to ride most all of the carnival rides. Robbie and I were hesitant that he wouldn't go down the big slippery slide.... well that lil man proved us wrong! He had a blast going down it and went several more times!

 

He was thrilled to ride all of the different rides!

He was even more excited to see "Police Officer Tim"... He kept running to give him hugs. It was so sweet! Tim loved all of the attention from the lil man!

He loved ALL of the rides.... Seeing the joy in his face was just priceless.... It made my heart overflow with happiness.

We also got to see Ms. Sally (Mr. Tim's wife)!

The night could not end without finding a balloon! The child asked 5,000 times to find one.... Well I was on the hunt and located one before we left the fair grounds.... I had one happy boy on my hands! He was on cloud 9 and it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside seeing how much fun he was having!

Our fishing club made Kingfish Kabobs to sell at the festival. We worked our booth Friday and Saturday. I spent most of Thursday helping some of the group prepare all of the kabobs. It was exhausting, but it paid off.............

We won the award for the "Best seafood overall" out of all of the vendors at the festival! 

We had a great weekend, and we can't wait for next year! Hadley will be old enough to go on some of the rides, so I think both kids will really get to enjoy it then!

Roller Coaster

I am emotionally drained tonight. It was a mentally hard night, and I'm sure tomorrow won't be any better. Our best friends invited us over for dessert tonight to share with them a special family moment. Their Au-pair, Maria, is leaving tomorrow, and we were honored to be asked to come join in on the farewell before she leaves tomorrow afternoon. Even though we have only known Maria for about 6 months, she means a lot to our family. We had multiple playdates and explored many towns and fun activites with her. She treated my children like they were her own. She was always there with a sweet smile, a big hug, and a unique personality that you don't find just anywhere! She knew that she was allowed to discipline Holdyn and Hadley, just as she would discipline Britton and Caroline if/when needed. My children knew/know this, and would (usually) not push the limits, knowing she had some authority!We spent our summer at the pool during countless hours of swim lessons and all tagged along to the water park on Jekyll Island, a trip to Hilton Head, multiplie visits to the children's museum, and weekly ballet lessons.

 

Holdyn wrote her a letter in preparation of her leaving. I told her he was just starting to write sentences. I think this meant so much to her and she held it to her heart after seeing and reading it.

"Ms. Maria, I had a lot of fun with you. I will miss you. Love, Holdyn"

Ashely put long hours in to making a memory book of the time that Maria has lived with them and been apart of their family. I know she will cherish this forever! She and Caroline both loved looking at it together and remembering all of the fun memories they had together!

The new Au-Pair, Sabrina is from Germany. She has been here 2 weeks. She seems very nice, but really hasn't had the time to warm up to us yet, and still seems a bit shy. I know she will feel more comfortable and warm up to us once we get to spend some more time with her!

 

 Caroline, Maria, and Ashley looking at all of the pictures of their adventures!

 

Sabrina and Maria... Maria kept telling me I needed to have a 3rd baby so that way I would need help and she would have to stay to help me! LOL!

Might as well go ahead and rip my heart out of my chest and stomp on it. Ashley and Maria crying together.

 

Caroline has always been really close to Maria. It is going to be an adjustment for her in the coming days and weeks. (Notice Britton and Holdyn missing??!! They were running around playing the entire time while the girls were trying to keep their eyes dry!)

Maria and I had to hold the big boys to get them to be still long enough for one picture!

 

Holdyn and Hadley made Maria a piece of artwork with their handprints and I framed it. 

Ashley's dad drove down to surprise Maria to be able to say goodbye to her on her last night here. One of her favorite things is his banana pudding, so he brought that along with him for her and everyone else. How sweet was that?! They were joining arms to have the first bite... Britton Sr. kept saying how 'disturbing' it looked while they were doing that... LOL!

 

 A family picture with Maria!

 

We were getting ready to leave and Holdyn went to tell her goodbye... another "rip your heart out and stomp on it" moment.

 

I am going to miss her so much! I am thankful for the time that we had together, and I am even more thankful for the way she loved and cared for my children.

I started to tear up while walking out the door and Ashley walked out on the porch with me to talk and say bye. All we could do was hug each other and cry. My heart hurts for her. Both of our husbands are gone for long periods of time for work, so we both know exactly how each other feels and we both relate so well because no one else really understands, unless you are in that situation, and we both have been a great resource for each other during difficult times.

 

Part of me feels guilty for feeling such emotion in 'loosing' Maria. She wasn't our Au-Pair, but we grew to love her and respect her. I feel like I need to be strong for Ashley, but part of me feels like I am crumbling inside, even though I know she is the one crumbling inside 10 times more than I am. I know Ashley and her family are hurting much more than I ever could imagine and much more than my kids will. I know that her family will struggle and deal with this 'loss' longer than my family will. I feel as if we are starting back at square one with a new Au-Pair (I know that sounds SO selfish) but we met Ashley and her family at the same time we met Maria... it was like a package deal.. ha! This time around I guess both of our families will all go through this 'new' process together of learning to love a new Au-Pair, not only as neighbors, but as friends.

3 kids...

No... I have not fallen off of the earth. I have been the mother to 3 children for the past several days... A "single" mommy at that! When Robbie and I were discussing our family and how many children we would have, we also had to take in to account how many kids I could handle being alone the majority of the time. Nobody would be there in the morning to help get them ready for school and at night to shuttle them to practice, games, playdates, and help with dinner, bath time, homework, bedtime, etc. We decided (or I did...) that 2 kids was a good balance to take car of while being alone. I thought 3 would just be too much. I feel like we already live in the car between running errands and going to all of their activities.

 

This week, some of our friends asked us to keep their sweet, adorable baby Charley so they could take their older child to Disney World during 'Fall Break'... that's right... that meant that my kids would be out of school also... so I really would have 3 kids by myself all day and all night with NO school. Oh dear!

 

I got a run for my money and a taste of what it would be like having 3 small children. It took time, but you finally figure out a good balance and how to handle everyone's needs. The most challenging time was in the early evening hours. It seemed like all 3 wanted/needed to eat, bathe, and be tucked in bed all at the same time. Well I only have 2 hands and 2 arms.. so some had to wait, but everyone did get fed, bathed and tucked in bed everynight.... somehow!!

 

Charley is really the best baby which made this adventure 100 times easier!! We had so much fun playing with her and taking her everywhere with us!

 

We went one day and played at the children's museum!

 

I think Charley had a little too much fun with our busy and hectic days. One night I was cleaning up from dinner and unloading the dishwasher. She was happily playing in her jumper. It all of a sudden got really quiet and I went over to check on her and the girl was passed out cold in the jumper! HA!

 

We even had some fun and made Charley in to a pumpkin :)

 

We LOVE 'borrowing' Charley, but on a full time basis, the thought of a 3rd child kinda gives me the willies. It honestly makes me tired just to think about it or even to say it! I manage 2 kiddos pretty good (I think)... with 3, we were just in survival mode! I found myself jumping in the shower at 10am when everyone was settled watching a cartoon or playing... and many mornings I woke up still in my clothes... I guess I was too tired to put on PJs. HAHA! I had to look at that one on the bright side.... less laundry!!

Blog/Media Day of Silence

For some reason most of my blog 'friends' live in Arkansas. I guess I linked with one, then a link followed to for a chain! I am observing the media/blog/social networking day of silence.....

So tragic that such a young and talented news anchor's life was cut way to too short. 

 

Leaving behind Julee and sweet baby Preslee

I can't even imagine or begin to think what their family is going through. Life is not fair. Period.

 

A news video/article from his news station regarding some of what happened:

http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=371742

He just left this station in August and moved his family closer to family and took a job opportunity that he couldn't pass up at a large station being the head news anchor.

 

Here is a link about Matt from his current news station. He was only there 6 weeks but obviously made a huge impact during his short time there:

http://www.todaysthv.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1884876306001