halloween 2018!

halloween has come and gone, and while it's definitely not my favorite holiday (and it's left me utterly exhausted), i'm kinda sad to see it go.

all the festivities started last saturday at a little halloween harvest festival our neighborhood put on.
they had games, fall snacks, cupcake walk, and picture ops! the kids had fun, but it was HOT.

they both got lots of compliments on their costumes!
gigi gifted presleys costume to her, and it was the most magical costume for her... the wings are HUGE, and the WHOLE costume lights up! the wings, the dress, and the wand! we were both obsessed with it.
my mom made eli's ghostbusters jumpsuit all the way from houston! it couldn't have been more perfect. i ordered the custom patches on etsy and he loved pointing to the ghostbuster patch when people said "hey ghostbuster!". my dad made him a custom proton pack out of odds and ends and it put his whole look over the edge!

monday started "spirit week" at presley's school, and it was crazy day (crazy socks, clothes, hair...)!

tuesday was halloween at dance class! she wanted to be a unicorn, so we made it work with some dress up accessories from gigi!

wednesday they were able to dress up at school, but i didn't trust presley to wear those giant fairy wings (and also i don't want her teachers hating me for it!), so she went through the dress up clothes again and decided on a bumblebee!

when randy got home from work i had the kids all ready to go celebrate halloween! presley got to wear eyeshadow, blush, lipstick, and even mascara. she LOVED it. she told me, "i look like a lady! like you!" 

eli was OBSESSED with the slimer balloon i made for him. he kept yanking the string and saying, "stop it slimer!" over and over and over. 

after our little front yard photoshoot, we headed up to our church festival with our neighbor friends (from houston!)

the kids had a blast! they had tons of games, bounce houses galore, hay rides, and train rides.

presley especially loved the different bounce houses...the slides and obstacle courses. eli loved the hayride, of course!

after about an hour we decided to come back to the neighborhood to go trick or treating!

these two boys were HILARIOUS. they walked into people's houses when the opened the door to give out candy.

presley got TONS of candy, almost her whole bucket was full. eli was the SLOWEST kid ever. he took the leisurely approach to trick or treating. he dragged his bucket and strolled along. he missed half the houses because he was just taking his sweet time. but he loved it. i tried to pick him up and he told me to put him down! 

we had ONE trick or treater at our house... and i bought FULL SIZE CANDY BARS. what?! i literally bought like 90 candy bars (costco! they were the same price as the big bags of assorted junk that always has something nasty like mounds or almond joy or milky way dark). so now we have all these candy bars...guess what you're all getting for christmas?! 

but really, we didn't get home until almost 8, so we probably missed all the real action. i'll do better next year.

so i'm sad it's all over, but only because my babies are babies and these fun times just go by too fast.

i love love love holidays with kids, it's BY FAR the best part of every holiday...watching them laugh and play and smile.

but, the show must go on, and the christmas tree must go up. and it did. today. and you're welcome, RANDY, for waiting til november. i know it's probably silly, if not flat-out ridiculous to be putting up my tree so early...but it makes me happy. and it makes my kids happy. 

i just really want and hope that when my kids are grown they will remember how fun and special christmases were at our home. i want them to laugh about how enthusiastic i am about christmas (and birthdays!). 

when i die, i want randy to reminisce about my christmas loving heart, and smile. i know he thinks i'm crazy, but he's the one who married me, soooo...? who's crazy now?

but really, jesus is the reason for the season. he's the reason for every season, for every day, and for every single second. and in this month of thanksgiving, HE is everything i'm thankful for, and he is why i have things to be thankful for.... happy november!

hello from (still) sunny and wayyyy too hot for october, california!

seriously, i'm getting heat stroke just thinking about going outside.
we are taking family pictures on sunday...in long sleeves. and it's going to be like 88 degrees. so basically we are going to melt. help me.

so a few weeks ago, when randy was out of town and my mom was in town, i was taking some trash and recycling out into the garage and I SAW A MOUSE. it was alive. and it was running.
WHAT IN THE WHAT.
i don't do bugs, snakes, or rodents. nope nope nope. i was this close to setting the house on fire and starting over.... but instead i bought bait stations. because RANDY told me to buy bait stations.
"but won't they die in our garage?"
"no, the eat the bait and get dehydrated and then go outside to look for water, they won't die in our garage."
but, SPOILER ALERT. i have FOUND TWO DEAD MICE IN MY GARAGE since then. and there are probably more that i haven't seen, you know, dead. behind boxes... like my christmas decorations that will be coming into the house in a few days....RANDY.

speaking of christmas decorations. jk. i don't really have anything to say about christmas decorations. just a gentle reminder that HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES START THIS WEEKEND.
and if you are on my level of excitement, then you already know the first new movie is called, "christmas at pemberley manor." PEMBERLEY MANOR. what?! do you know that i live on PEMBERLEY passage avenue? so basically, i have renamed my house "pemberley manor" because i can, and shall be calling it that henceforth and forevermore.

i have a really hard time thinking of gifts i might want for christmas... or my birthday that falls 5 days before christmas. usually because i don't want extravagant things, and for the small things i want, i usually just pick up at walmart on one of my multiple trips a week.
BUT, the other day i saw a commercial for a roomba vacuum that not only vacuums your house, but EMPTIES IT'S OWN CANNISTER. so basically when it docks, the dock just sucks up the cannister and you don't have to worry about a full cannister all the time. first of all, i have dreamed of having a robot vacuum for a LONG time. but honestly i really wanted to wait until they were at the top of their game, and wouldn't get stuck in the rug under the kitchen table or lost under the couch. and folks, i think we are THERE. so i got excited, thinking this might be THE birthday/christmas present i could actually ask for this year. and then all my hopes and dreams were murdered... by the $1k price tag. ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. for a vacuum. can i just say, that really...sucks. get it? because a vacuum...sucks. ok so thanks, but no thanks roomba. hard pass on the thousand dollar robot vacuum. call me when it'll do my dishes. i'd pay $1k for that.

anyway. that's about all i've got today.
signing off, from pemberley manor.

not too much new to report here! it's still blazing in bakersfield. ugh. i checked the forecast yesterday morning and saw there was a rain cloud NEXT TUESDAY!! the last time there was a rain cloud on the forecast was when my mom was in town, and it NEVER HAPPENED. so i was trying not to get my hopes up... and then i checked again yesterday afternoon and the rain cloud was already gone. WHAT?! how does that even happen? my little rain cloud turned into a sun, and that is the saddest thing ever. 

sunday after church we went to lunch with our small group to celebrate someone's birthday. we ended up sitting across the table from some friends, and presley started talking about holly. "she's my sister and she's two..." our friend looked at randy really confused, like what am i missing here? is there another child? randy had to let him know that holly wasn't REAL. he kept asking presley questions about holly, and she answered them with zero hesitation. 

does holly like waffles?- "no she likes pancakes. with no syrup."

does holly like strawberries?- "no. she likes apples."

where is holly from?- "like, all the places."

i learn something new about holly everyday, it seems. the other day when we were driving to school, i asked where holly was, and presley let me know she was sitting on my lap while i was driving. uhhh, ok. should i be worried that holly is into breaking laws? 

i've been working on starting to plan eli's birthday party for when we are in houston. it's car/truck/tractor theme, surprise surprise. we cannot even walk into a parking lot without eli pointing out every single car he sees. "car! truck! car! car! car! truck!". he tries to say excavator, but it sounds like rootbeer. idk. we went to the park a couple days ago and they were clearing some land nearby to build more homes, so there was some equipment parked in the lots. he spent half the time we were at the park pointing and shouting "tractor!" over and over and over. safe to say we are going to be visiting pawpaw's office to see all the big toys when we get to houston.

eli is really starting to get chatty. a lady working the nursery at work told me his vocabulary is really good, and that he was talking to her in sentences. i feel like presley was putting words together at like 6 weeks old (ok, maybe not that early, ha!), but i really try not to compare them. he told me a couple days ago while he was eating, "this is good mommy!" he is also picking up songs from the radio, and i'd say he's definitely a toby mac fan (or maybe he doesn't have a choice!).

well it still doesn't feel like fall, but i've decorated outside anyway. i just want to stop seeing 85+ degree days on my forecast. pleeeease.🙏🏼

i don't decorate the inside of my house for fall, because as soon as i put it up, i'd be taking it down. christmas decorations start going up as soon as hallmark christmas movies start which is OCTOBER 26!!! so the outside might be looking like fall, but inside will be christmastown in t-minus 15 days!!!!

i can't believe i haven't posted about presley starting dance! she started at the beginning of september, and she is absolutely the cutest ballerina i have EVER seen. 😍

speaking of presley, i've got a couple presley-isms to brighten your week.

"since i'm four, can i call you BB now? or how about beeb? i call my teachers 'teach'!"
she def doesn't call her teachers "teach", in case you were wondering. 🙄

"in california it's presley's world. everyone is in presley's world, right? say right."
i guess she's heard me mutter "i guess it's presleys world and we all just live in it" under my breath a few times. 😂

eli doesn't really have any "eli-isms" yet, per say. but here's what he's been spouting off lately...
"BOP!" - stop. he tells me this 800 times a day, usually when i'm wiping his face or trying to change his diaper.
"ENOUGH!" - goes hand-in-hand with "bop".
he is very very VERY into cars, trucks, tractors, dump trucks....basically anything with wheels, and is never without a car in one hand. even at the dinner table.

i've got one more "ism" for you... and it's brought to you by my dad.
 "WHY SHOULD CATS HAVE MORE RIGHTS THAN A TAXPAYER?!" - bryan wise
if you're curious, you can ask him about it... unless you're the harris county commissioner of precinct 1-rodney ellis , then you've already gotten the message(s) and you know why he's so mad.😂😂

i figured i'd hop on and give a little recap of the last 3 weeks of our crazy life.

i actually turned on my computer so i could google how to get a 4 year old to stop saying the word poop every 3.5 seconds. yes, real life. a pretty little girl should not be talking about poop as much as this particular little one who happens to live in my house. ugh. is that normal? i'd expect a 4 year old eli to think poop was funny.... but my prissy girly girl? not cute.

my parents graciously came to bakersfield 3 weeks ago to watch the babies so that randy and i could go to a work thing he had in napa. we loved every minute of our trip (side note-we haven't had alone time in MONTHS.... to say this mommy/daddy only trip was MUCH NEEDED would be a tremendous understatement). we also spent some time in san francisco, so fun! 

when we got back from our trip, my parents took a few days and went to napa and san francisco as well. when they got back my dad had to go back to houston (he needed to mow, haha!), and randy had to fly off to north carolina for a different work thing for a WEEK. so my mom stayed with me and the kids, and it was basically the best week ever. she got some special time with the babies and i got some special time with her. i will never NOT need my parents... idk what they ever did to make me so obsessed with them, but i hope my kids love me this much one day. 

mom left last saturday morning and a few hours later, my sister and her kids arrived just about the same time randy got home! it was a GOOD day! 

we had so much fun with them the past few days... going back to the farm, just hanging out on the couch, and, of course, a full day of hair cuts (me, pres, and eli!) and color (for me!). her kids are just growing up so fast, so the fact that they still want to play with my babies and love on ME just makes me so happy.

anyway, i'm gonna go cry for a day or two.... i'm sure you're all used to this by now.

happy friday!

typically i'd be in my post disneyland funk at this point, but honestly i have so much to do, there is no funk. just terribly overwhelmed.

disneyland was a blast, as usual. but i'm not gonna lie, i definitely need a vacation from our vacation. 

i guess with eli being older and wanting to be in the stroller less and less... momma is more and more tired. 

we headed out after sunday school, and had an easy trip in to anaheim. traffic wasn't terrible, which was nice! the kids didn't nap in the car, but they were both pretty well behaved anyway. thanks, ipads!

we had dinner at our hotel (the grand californian! amazing.), and made it an early night.

monday we got up bright and early and went straight to california adventure. the hotel we were staying at has its own entrance into the park, so that made it so easy to get in and out!

we rode lots of rides, saw all the sights, went back to the hotel for a quick rest (presley napped?! it was miraculous!), and finished the night watching the paint the night parade (probably my favorite thing everrrrr.) presley got to meet vampirina (ooooh whooa-ooo!), and eli wouldn't even get close to her... "noooo! no! no!". we also hit up the disney junior dance party, our favorite from last time. it was just as good this time around!

eli is officially a mess. they have this little gaurdians of the galaxy dance show in front of the ride where star lord and gamora get the crowd to dance to all his oldies songs, and eli kept trying to get on the little stage to dance with them. i kept having to pull him off which in the end resulted in an EPIC meltdown. also, at night, before the parade they clear the streets and everyone lines the curbs to make sure they have a spot to watch the show. the parade started at 8, but we got our spot around 7ish and ate some dinner.... and eli earned himself an audience. he was running around and dancing in the middle of the empty streets. i guess he thought it was his personal stage. at one point he got a napkin and started cleaning the street. ha. the lady next to me was like, "does he do this at home?!" uhh, no. exactly the opposite. he was so funny... the kid wont get within 5ft of a princess, or character, but put him in the middle of a crowd and he's right at home! he also clotheslined himself at least 239 times on chains. you know when you're waiting in line and they have chains to guide the lines? yeah, well eli would just take off running and SMACK right in the forehead.

tuesday we went straight to disneyland park, and the fun continued. since presley is exactly 40in now, she could ride LOTS of new rides... including space mountain! she and i started off the day with that one, and she was NOT a fan. she didn't cry or anything, but when i asked her if she wanted to ride it again with her daddy, she said "NO!". ha! we also had dole whip, of course! after we had done it all at disneyland, we went to downtown disney for dinner, and then we went back over to california adventure. we went to meet anna and elsa, and eli found himself a girlfriend... and it wasn't anna or elsa...because he wouldn't even look at them, much less touch them. no, it was the girl working the anna and elsa meet and greet. when she called us back, eli just ran up to her and gave her the biggest hug. randy and i were dying. the sweet girl said, "i've never gotten hugs like this before! i love it!", and eli just kept going back and hugging her again and again like he knew her. i was like, "this is not typical, so you should feel really special!" she said she did :) 

it was a fun, but exhausting, trip! i love love love how magical it is for my babies, presley is just in awe of everything, and meeting the princesses and characters, watching the shows, it's just so real to her! and eli isn't quite at that age yet, but he still has the time of his life! most of all, i love our time together, and feel super blessed and grateful for it, and that randy is able to take a few days off work and take us on such fun trips! 

so that's all for now! i have so much to do before wednesday when we leave for napa/san fran! and my parents get here tuesday and i just can't wait!