we did not come back with a prescription souvenir

We made it back from Texas without visiting the emergency room! All my wiping down of the airplane seats and stuffing us full of vitamins worked! It was the miracle of the century! Annabelle demonstrated how we all feel about this.

To be honest the trip wasn't 100% healthy. Annabelle suffered from horrible allergies the entire time and would cough to the point she'd almost throw up, but I didn't clean up any vomit so I call it a win. 

Thanksgiving night we went to a gorgeous lights display. 

We swung by London Bridge to practice for when we visit in real life. 

Feel free to pin this as inspiration for your next group exercise class. 

LOOK WHO WAS THERE LIVE AND IN PERSON. Sesame could not believe it. She kept saying "wow! Wow, Mama!" She went right up to Elsa and told her she had a matching dress. She told them she knows their songs. They talked about Olaf. I was so happy for her I almost cried. 

We went to a drive though safari and AB was reunited with her favorite animals. 

Christopher got corned by a pregnant goat. When I got pregnant Christopher said he was excited for all the food he'd be able to fed me. That never happened but mama goat pulled through for him. 

I don't know how she's big enough to ride a horse by herself. Two weeks ago she couldn't sit up alone without falling over! 

We enjoyed our trip but as always it was nice to come home. We're such homebodies around here.

This morning after MDO I took Annabelle to the doctor. The cold and bad cough I had been treating as allergies wasn't going away. I was sure the doctor would tell me to buy some benadryl and shoo me out the door. Turns out she has bronchitis. 

Sickness finds us wherever we are.

maybe I should bring face masks to we don't breathe infected air

We're currently preparing to visit the Great State of Plagues, Germs and Vomit. 

I mean Texas.

If I didn't like the family members in Texas so much I'd swear off the state forever and never return.

I learned a few tips from our last three trips of sickness and urgent care visits so I'm not going empty handed. 

Advanced purell! Kills the most germs! #1 used in hospitals!
Nausea control! Benadryl to calm AB's stomach/make her sleep!

This is only a small part of my Sickness Avoidance Plan 2016. I also have a package of clorox wipes with which I plan on wiping down our entire row on the plane. I've been pumping us full immune system building supplements. Christopher hasn't been gungho about my holistic efforts but I made him swallow some medicine yesterday. Germs spread like wildfire and I can't risk him being the weak link that takes us all down. The pharmacist told me I should hand out ice chips to avoid nausea. I have no desire to carry a cooler of ice through the airport BUT I WILL DO ANYTHING.

If anyone (mostly looking at you, Belle Belle) does get sick on the plane, I have an extra pacifier, a towel, a brand new package of baby wipes and change of clothes for both of us. I learned that lesson the trip AB threw up on me three times during a two hour flight.

Surely we can't get sick four times in a row, right? RIGHT?! Send prayers and any extra clorox wipes my way. 

we haven't had many quiet nights around here lately

This morning as I was driving to Walmart I started wondering where I put my keys. I couldn't remember if I put them in my purse or if they were on the seat. Then I remembered THEY WERE IN THE IGNITION. I blame Annabelle. She didn't fall asleep until after 12:30 last night. TWELVE THIRTY IN THE A.M. If there's any time I don't want to discuss her book about dinosaurs or her new Paw Patrol shoes it's at 11:48pm.

I feel like I've missed Fall this year. We went to the pumpkin patch, had our family pictures taken under trees with yellow leaves and drank a gallon of apple cider but none of it made me feel fallish. Even leaf peeping didn't do it for me. 

In case anyone besides Christopher isn't familiar with the term leaf peeping.

Yesterday I burned my flannel blanket candle and played in the leaves with Sesame. Making leaf angels finally put me in the autumn mood. 

Speaking of things that put me in a good mood, Annabelle's first school pictures came in and I'm dying over the cuteness.

On this particular day she was getting molars and the fake apples went straight into her mouth. She didn't have time to start eating the fake pumpkins. Clearly she didn't pick up any tips from the 4yo boy who had his picture taken before her. He was wearing a vest and smiling so perfectly I fully expected to see him as the cover model for the November GQ magazine. 

This morning we went to an event about harvesting at the children museums. The teacher started off by handing everyone clipboards and pencils and herding us over to the Faces of Our Town exhibit. She sat everyone down and said, "ok, friends! Can anyone tell me what 'community' means?" She got the following responses-
My shoe is coming off. 
She's sitting on my lap!! 
I don't want her sitting on my lap! 
That's my pencil. 
Where's my paper?

That's what you get when ask a bunch of 2 year olds a question way over their heads. 

Tomorrow the topic at MOPS is Become Better Sleepers. This is a very unusual topic for our group.Unless they're going to hand out ambien I don't know how they plan on discussing this topic. Personally I think they should let us all take a two hour nap while the kids are in child care. Annabelle's been in bed for two hours and is no closer to sleep than she was when I put her down. I should have her sit in the meeting with me and pick up a few sleeping tips.

I'm currently accepting applications for photo shoot assistants

Last year when I reviewed a dress from eShakti I wrangled two babies for the pictures. This year when I received an email asking if I'd do another review I envisioned an easy-peasy photo shoot with my darling angel of a daughter. Surely one child would be easier than two. 

WRONG.

Did I forget I have a toddler?

Annabelle had no interest in being part of the pictures. She made it her personal goal to be as uncooperative as possible. First she stood in one spot like a statue while I tried to maneuver her into position. 

Then she felt the need to dive towards the ground.  

Finally she was standing still but all her movement had caused my sweater to move to all the wrong areas. 

In all honesty I had my concerns that this dress would be too plain and boring. Now that I've worn it I like how versatile it is. I'm sure it will look cute with boots and a scarf when it gets cooler. When I put it on with this sweater and shoes I questioned whether I looked like an old lady. Christopher said I looked like Meg Ryan from You've Got Mail and while that movie was made 18 years ago and I don't want to copy all the late 90's fashion, I do think Meg Ryan is darling.  

Except for the fact that she gets to kiss Tom Hanks, Meg and I are basically twins. 

I slept in the dress when I took a nap after these pictures and it felt like I was wearing pajamas. It's the most comfortable dress I've ever worn. Being wardrobe/makeup/hair person and child handler is exhausting so I deserved the nap. Annabelle on the other hand wasn't tired at all and spent the entirety of nap time yelling to get out of her crib. I guess I'll have to work her a little harder next time we do a photo shoot.

eShakti website + twitter + Pinterest + Facebook

fare thee well, America

Today is election day. I thought I'd write one last post in case the world collapses and life as we know it comes to a screeching halt. 

I wore my Barbara Bush pearl earrings to the polling place and cast my vote for a man I know won't win. This party gets my real vote. 

We all win when chips and salsa are on the ticket.

Speaking of tickets-

When we were visiting my family a few weeks ago we went to a renaissance fair. There are few time periods I'd detest living in more than medieval times. The dirt, the weird "medical" practices, the lack of clean water, the fact that no one wore underwear. None of it appeals to me. We were among the few not in costume. You could say it was the ComicCon for renaissance fans. Everywhere we looked were court jesters, monks, a self-appointed queen, witches and even two girls wearing a cow costume and a Pokemon outfit. I don't know what type of fair they thought they were at. I shouldn't say too many negative things about those who attend fairs in costume. I once was one of them. Here I am, circa 2008, at the same fair with a large group of my costume wearing friends. I wore my hippie aunt's wedding dress that we dug out of box in my grandparents basement. 

Dad, AB and I enjoyed ourselves even though we stuck out like sore thumbs. I was tickled to see that the knight doing the jousting demonstration was the same one from years ago. I thought he was so handsome back in the day. Apparently I've always had a thing for men in uniforms. Annabelle got a butterfly painted on her face and it was the best thing that's ever happened to her. She kept asking for a mirror so she could see her "be'utiful face."

At one point I was in a tent putting back the boxes of incense Sesame had rearranged. Dad and the mess maker disappeared and I was left with the stroller. I rushed around trying to find them and walked over a stop sign on the ground. Immediately the town sheriff and a very unauthentic camera man were in front of me. The sheriff pulled out his pad of tickets, a Bic pen and said "Do you know what you just did?" I muttered something about having somewhere to be and how I had fallen for this trick in eight years ago. The sheriff made a big deal of making check marks and the camera man probably got a nice shot of my eye rolling. 

Disturbing the peace, obstructing justice and/or annoyance of a public official

Failure to stop at a stop sign

Treason, piracy, lunacy or other acts of tom foolery

Lunacy and tom foolery. Sounds like a few people running for president, doesn't it? 

flutter by, butterfly

I'm not much of a halloween person. I'd be perfectly fine if halloween was removed from the calendar entirely and replaced with National Chocolate Eclair Day. However, as evidenced by the below collage, I do love babies in costumes.

Annabelle recently picked up that kids were picking out costumes and said she wanted to be a butterfly. She had no idea what the costumes were for, but she knew she wanted one. In years past I've decided her costume for her, but I didn't object to her choice. I bought the wings on sale and everything else came from her closet. It was a trillion times easier than sewing yarn on a onesie to make her spaghetti costume.

She wore the wings all day and ran around the yard saying "I fying, Mama! I fying yike a butterfy!" 

We've never taken her trick or treating and didn't have plans for this year, but we were visiting my family so we made the rounds. Sesame adores Memere. When we left her house she turned around, waved to Memere and said, "Bye, sweetheart!" 

Some days I don't love the age she's at but sometimes it's so fun. She was so excited to see the other kids and run from yard to yard. 

Baby Ivy got in the action as a baby skunk. It was precious. 

The butterfly wasn't too thrilled about posing with her mom, but she did it because she got to eat a KitKat afterwards.