CPK

I want to introduce you to someone. This is Arianna Apple; Avery's very first Cabbage Patch Kid and my dream as a mother of a girl. And Avery hates her. She really does.

I loved my CPK's as a child...had 6 of them. I still remember their outfits and their names, etc.... Oh and their baby powder smell.....The dolls started making a comeback recently so of course I jumped at the chance to suggest that Santa get her one last Christmas. Avery loves dolls...has lots of them. Yet she has truthfully barely ever touched this one.


In fact, she has stuffed her in a bin in the art easel!!

One day earlier this week, as the children were pouring through the toy catalogs that are already coming in the mail, I wistfully looked in the playroom and announced they were going to have to give a few toys to less fortunate kids before Christmas so we could make room for new stuff. Avery piped right up and said she has something to give (what kid does that?!?!?). And it was Arianna Apple. Followed quickly by the statement "I don't like her at all." Ha.

Not sure I have the heart though.....I mean, it is her first Cabbage Patch Kid. Ironically, I bought her smaller, baby version of one at a consignment sale last year and she loves that thing.

Maybe if I sprung for the extra $15 and gotten the one with yarn hair.....

Oh and if you don't believe me and my love for CPK's....here are the names of mine, which Mom still has most of them, in the order I got them:

Lottie Georgine
Norton Carey (he was a preemie)
Jilly Garcia
Byron Todd
And then the Christmas twins, Sheila Inez and Charles Edmond

Love them. Why doesn't she???

My 3rd Child

And no, it's not the hubs!!!!  :-)

It's Sunshine. Avery has taken such a "shine", no pun intended, to her lately that it really is like another child for me. Wait, Sunshine calls me "grandma" so maybe it's not a child but a grandchild. Avery wants to ask Santa for a car seat for Sunny so she can ride safely in the car.

Regardless, Avery is very animated and life-like with her play with Sunny. We've even had to fashion a potty for her out of an old wipes container so Sunshine can go when Avery goes in the morning. Is this where I can confess that I have actually had to wipe Sunny's bottom!?!?!?

Mimi left the American Girls catalog at our house the other day and the look on Avery's face when I told her it was a catalog all about things for Sunshine....well, it was priceless.

So Matthew, Will and I are pondering if Sunshine ever "grows up" to one of the bigger dolls. And then I look at the price of them and decided not anytime soon!!!

Pumpkin Party

Last weekend, we went to Gray and Greta's for their annual pumpkin carving party. As usual, it was so much fun. Greta just adores Halloween and has so many great decorations, food, ideas, etc.... 

My boys hard at work at pumpkin carving.

Avery used stickers initially. I think she did a great job!

It is so cool looking when all the pumpkins are lit up in the dark!

Will's....

 
Greta's and Matt's

Sadly my pic of Avery's final carved (courtesy of Matt) pumpkin didn't turn out.

Of course the other awesome thing of the night was the Wolfpack winning the game!!!! Go Pack!!

Thankfully, Avery didn't fall in the fish pond like last year!!

Protest

Mommy got new wheels and this is what Stella and I got. I am less than thrilled.....

Monster Truck Math

I was busy in the kitchen the other day and Will and Avery were playing in the play room. I soon figured out Will had a 1st grade subtraction work book and was teaching Avery how to subtract! Using Monster Trucks!

He is such a sweet little teacher and gave her lots of praises and stickers.  At the end of her lesson, he wrote "cool" on her arm. She was soooo in awe and said "Wow, Baba, you write GOOD." :-)

 

The teacher and his subtraction prodigy!!

1st Kindergarten Field Trip

Last week Will went on his first "real school" field trip and I was lucky enough to be able to chaperone! We went to Ganyard Hill Farms in Durham. It was a neat experience because the pumpkin patch was actually just that....the pumpkins were still on the vine!

Another dad and I were in charge of our 2 boys and 2 other boys. Thankfully I had a well behaved group of kids who gave us no problems at all! We had never been to this fall farm before.

 We did a hayride, looked at goats, played in the corn pit and corn maze, "milked" a cow, went down the slide and ran through the corn field and got corn to feed the goats.  There was also some old farm equipment and tractors to climb on.
 

Thanks for letting me tag along, Will!!

Halloweenies!

I am totally head over heels suckered into Pinterest. Plus, I like doing fun and unexpected holiday things for the kids. So I saw this recipe for “Halloweenies” and thought hot dogs, cheese, biscuits….my kids LOVE that stuff. I mean, look how cute they are supposed to be. SUPPOSED TO BE.

Obviously not a hard recipe to follow. But as I was making the jack ‘o lanterns, I really thought they resembled Freddy Krueger’s mask!!

They did not disappoint on a scariness level!!! 

Of course Will thought they were totally cool! And for what they were, they were tasty!

Mini-vacay

We took a quick mini-vacation last weekend to the Charlotte area.  My dad has always been a big NASCAR fan and when he was sick this summer, he and Will would lounge on the sofa and watch the races together. They like opposing drivers, so just listening to them was entertainment.  Dad really wanted to take Will to a race and while a year ago I would have protested, well, this time around I obliged.  We all decided to make the trip, with just the boys going to the race. To make it even more fun, we decided to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge so we could enjoy the water park

First trip in the WAY back!!

We hit the road bright and early and stopped about midway for some breakfast!! It was the first Waffle House experience for the children (and maybe even me!??!). They ate fast because they love syrup!

 

 We did a little shopping at Bass Pro Shop and Concord Mills before check-in. Avery picked out her Christmas present!

 We hit the water park after lunch for a few hours. It was sooo much fun! Will was in heaven because he is a huge thrill seeker.  Avery, who is the exact opposite, had fun, but not on such a grand scale. Avery also doesn’t like water spraying or dropping on her unexpectedly and unfortunately even the kiddie area was plagued by this. But she still had a good time.

After a little rest in the room, the boys headed off to the race around 5 or so and us girls hit the highway and headed down to Ikea. It was our first experience there…what an overwhelming place! I wish I had taken our picture there.

The boys had so much fun at the race. I didn’t realize that Matthew had never been to a race before and he seemed to have so much fun!

Of course Miss Avery was “up and at ‘em” bright and early the next morning…of course she was in bed at her normal 7:30 bed time so why not!?!?!  Hot cakes at Mickey D’s for breakfast (more syrup!) and we hit the waterpark again for a few hours before heading back to Raleigh. Honestly, I was glad to leave because between walking Concord Mills entirely too many times from one end to the other and then climbing the steps up to the slides over and over at the water park, my legs were DONE!!!! Obviously I am getting too old! I know 2 other people who were worn out!!

I’m so glad we got to take this trip….events of the last few weeks have reminded me that you never know when your time on this earth will be cut short so while the trip was exhausting and all that, it was a wonderful memory to make.  I never knew any of my grandfathers as they all died before I was born so to know that Will and Avery will have memories I never was able to have makes me so happy for them. They are lucky kids to have all 4 grandparents!

Hold on Tight

It’s been a tragically sad couple of weeks. Neither were particularly “close to home” to me personally (thank goodness) but eye-opening nevertheless.  One was a young husband/father out in blogland who was killed in a car accident two weekends ago. Another was a friend from home who found his toddler son dead in his crib a few mornings ago.  The Lord has a plan but I’m not going to pretend that I understand those plans right now.  But I know I am thankful for what I have and I know that I need to hold on to it a little more tightly than I probably was. It is too easy to get wrapped up in all the nonsense of life….well, careers and child rearing/disciplining aren’t nonsense but in the big scheme of things, sometimes it is more important to hold that little girl at night because she is scared or go down that water slide one more time because of the grin on a certain little boy’s face than it is to worry about beating traffic. Or getting someone in bed on time.

It’s a hard balance…..being responsible and mature versus free-spirited and carefree.  To the parents who just lost their son, they would give anything to have one more minute with him.  Even if that one more minute was him not listening or running when he was supposed to be walking, etc…. But I know in life, I have to teach them when to run versus walk. And to save money. Or to use good judgment.  But finding that sweet spot is difficult and I never want to be in the position to say “If I had only…..”

God is with me. He has to be, because I know I can’t do this alone.

Praying for all those who are suffering and praising His name for the blessings in my life, including these guys.……