Halloween Past

Since I won't have this year's Halloween pictures until tomorrow I thought I'd post pictures of Andrew's first 2 Halloweens. The first one, he is a turtle and wearing my costume from when I was a baby. He had just started crawling for real (not doing his "leap frog" that he had been doing for a couple of months already). The next one is self explanatory I think.

Pumpkin Carving

Scraping the guts out

Getting the seeds out

What a fake smile

The Spooky Picture, Andrew is there too.

We carved our pumpkin last night and Andrew loved it. He tried to help scrape all the guts out and would say "ooooo, yucko!" Then when we got the candle out he kept saying "Happy Birthday? Daddy's birthday? My Birthday? Mommy's birthday?", then would try and blow out the candle. I read in a magazine that if you cut the bottom off instead of the top more of the guts would come out so, I tried it and it seemed about the same. However, it was a ton easier to light the candle and then just put the pumpkin over it.

Andrew also had his fall party at MDO today and here is a picture of his class in their costumes.

Wordless Wednesday (almost) ~ My Black Tooth

This is what happened when Andrew fell and hit his mouth

on the kitchen floor almost a month ago.

It didn't turn black until a couple of weeks ago.

Now it is even darker.

Andrew Anecdotes ~ "She's Lying"

(Yes, I know, this picture is from almost a year ago)

Marc has been golfing the last few weekends and every Friday or Saturday evening he and Andrew go out to clean his clubs. Well, Andrew comes in and wants to clean his plastic club and I think he tried to do it in the toilet the first time before deciding that the sink was better. Then the day Marc does go golfing and tells me all day how he wants to go to. I tell him that he can't because daddy is at the golf course and he can't go there. The Andrew tells me "I go golf course too" I go course tooooo!!!!!". Well, last night Andrew asks me to take him to the course and I tell him "only daddy can because mommy doesn't know how" then Marc says softly in the background "She's lying" (which I was, I can sort of play golf) then Andrew plops in the chair with a pout on his face and says real loud "She's lying!!!" As if anyone needs more proof that you need to be careful what you say in front of little ears.

Pumpkins at the Arboretum

A couple of weeks ago Andrew and I went to the Arboretum with my 2 Aunts, cousin and her baby. It was a really nice day until we left to go eat. Andrew threw up while we were eating at Souper Salad. I think he had drank too much chocolate milk, because he was fine before and after. I was sooooooo mortified! Anyway here are some of the pictures I took.

P.S. I didn't know until later that I could take that bar off the stroller.

Andrew in the pretty flowers.
There are a ton of Butterflies in the flowers behind him.

What a ham!!

GAM and Andrew

Cousins

Mommy and Andrew in front of the giant flower pumpkin

Andrew and Abrey

Here is a close up of the butterflies in those flowers.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Why So Sad?

Horseback Riding

We went to a friend's birthday party yesterday and there was a little petting zoo and a pony to ride. Andrew had a blast and kept going back to ride the horse, "Dallas". He loves horses and this is the first time he got to ride one. Of course, the most interesting thing about the horse was when in pooped. I don't know what it is about my kid and poop. Everyday when Marc comes home he wants to go out in the backyard and "pick up poop!". We took the picture with our phone, so it is a little fuzzy.

"Neil Diamond Rocks!"

Last night Marc took me to the only concert I have really ever wanted to see, Neil Diamond. Yes, I know, I am only 30, but he has the best songs and I love them. Not that anyone needed more proof that I am the world's biggest nerd. I had such a great time and would totally go again if given the chance. It was funny to see all the people there. Most were in their 60's or older. We saw a bunch of little old men and women in wheelchairs and with canes. I probably was in the 1% of the crowd under 35. Another funny thing I noticed was kind of a sign of the times. When it came time to hold up your lighter, there were only a few. Most people held the lighted screen of their cell phones or glow sticks. I guess people really don't smoke anymore. I did have to buy a T-shirt and let me tell you I am not sure who they look at when they make a woman's X-L shirt as you can see in the picture. I was smart and got my souvenir before the show. Below is a picture Marc took of the line to buy "merch" as we were leaving.

Wordless Wednesday

El Paso Trip

Last week we went to El Paso to visit my family. We were so busy while we were there. First we went to Andrew's cousin Ryan's birthday party. My sister in law has a costume party for his birthday with a bounce house, pinata, games and lots of fun. Andrew had a blast!

The next day we went to White Sands. This is one of my most favorite places to go. I have gone there pretty much every year since I was born and it is the most fun. This year it was a little wet, it had rained earlier in the day. It actually worked out pretty good for us, since the wet sand made the sand sleds really fast. I have a great picture of Andrew and my mom going down the hill, but I am saving it for my "Wordless Wednesday" tomorrow. Andrew had so much fun! He would run up and down the dunes, got buried in the sand, and of course he had to taste it. After riding down the hill a couple of times with other people Andrew insisted on going down the hill on the sled by himself. One of the pictures is of him sliding down alone. Needless to say he went really really fast and then wouldn't go down again. When we first got there he kept saying it was snow, which is understandable, because it does look like snow. If you have never been to White Sands you should try and go. There is no place like it.

The day after White Sands we went to the El Paso Zoo with Ryan and William. Ryan is 6 months older than Andrew and William is 1 year younger. The boys had such a good time together. One of the best parts of the zoo were the seals. There is a new viewing tank there and you can see the seals swim right up to the glass. Andrew thought that that was "so cool"!

The rest of time we just visited with everyone. "The People" come and stay at my mom's everyday after school so Andrew got his "people fix". He really liked the fact that they would go outside and play with him. Mommy like that too. He loved being at Grandma and Granddad's house has been really missing everyone. He asks all the time when we get in the car "go see John Michael and The People?"

He did really well on both flights. Slept pretty much from gate to gate, which is why we fly out at 6 am. We did use one of those new FDA approved seat belts for Andrew. It was so much easier than lugging the car seat on the plane. This was just a seat belt for him that fit in our carry on. We did have one little incident which I am sure some of you have already read about in my last post.

I will probably post pictures from this trip for the next week or so. That way I am not putting like 20 pictures in one post.

Andrew Anecdotes ~ If I could have melted into the floor...

I would have. Listen to what he did now. We are sitting in the El Paso airport waiting to catch our flight home when this man walks up to talk to the gate agent. Well, this man had a prosthetic arm; the kind with a hook as the hand. Andrew sees it and starts yelling "HAND GONE!!!!! HAND GONE!!! HIS HAND'S GONE!!!!!" all while grabbing his arm at the elbow and swinging it around. I, in the mean time, am trying to turn Andrew around so he can't see the man all while saying yes. My child them proceeds to try and climb over my shoulder to see the guy. I was soooooo embarrassed. I am hoping the man didn't hear or couldn't understand what he was saying, even though I am sure the visual aid gave it away.

I will post about our trip starting Monday. I got some really good pictures that I think you all might like.

Se Habla Espanol?

Apparently you have to speak Spanish to order at a McDonald's in El Paso. I went there on Saturday with "The People" and this is what happened:

Idiot: "Buenos Tardes"

Me: Do you have McRibs?

Idiot: Blank stare

Me: McRib?

Idiot: trying to say McRib.. "Bibs?" then asks the manager and doesn't even say McRib.
"no"

Me: "ok, I want a Chipolte Chicken snack wrap"

Idiot: Blank Stare

Me: repeated the order and pointed at the picture on the board.

Idiot: Blank stare then gets the manager again, who typed it in for her

Me: not wanting a value meal I order " Southern style chicken sandwich"

Idiot: blank stare then again gets the manager and they both look at me as if I am speaking another language, which I was, English.

Me: realizing I am not going to get just the sandwich I decide it would be easier to get the dumb meal "A number 8"

Idiot: Light bulb goes on in her head and it is visible on her face "ok" and immediately hits the button.

Me: "a large diet coke and a large regular coke."

Idiot: searches for the buttons and enters it in.

A few minutes later I get my order with only one coke.

Me: "I ordered a coke AND a diet coke"

Idiot: blank stare........."2 cokes"

Me: "Yes, 2 cokes"

The manager fills it up for me.
Then my sister had the same experience. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that if you speak Spanish you are an idiot. It is just that if you are going to work at a restaurant you should know how to say the entire menu in English. When I worked at Cracker Barrel here in El Paso, I could say or at least understand in Spanish the basics of what the store had to offer.

Thursday Thoughts ~ It's The Little Things

I don't know if you have noticed all the butterflies lately, well I have. It really started yesterday when I was at StrollerFit doing abs and this huge butterfly flew over the skylight. It was so big that at first I thought it was a weird bird. Then 4 more butterflies flew by in a big group, just as big. I couldn't help but smile. Then the rest of the day and today I keep seeing butterflies. They must be on their way to Mexico for the winter. It seems like the last few years I haven't seem that many butterflies and now I am seeing them everywhere, it is really nice.

A quick Andrew funny. Most of you know how much Andrew likes to play golf, well his new thing is that right before he hits the ball he says "SHHHHHHH!", then swings away. LOL

I forgot to post this originally, but poor Andrew slipped on the kitchen floor this morning and split his lip wide open. And wouldn't you know it, today is picture day at MDO. I really feel bad because it was sort of my fault. He was handing on my nightgown and when I turned it pulled him and that is when he slipped. It really bled a lot and he cried all morning. That is when I knew it really hurt him. I tried to check his teeth, but he really wouldn't let me get a good look. Poor baby!

Well, Andrew and I are going to go to El Paso tomorrow for about a week. I will try and post some while I am gone if I get a chance. We already have a fun, busy weekend planned. I probably won't be able to upload pictures until I get back though. So, I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Wordless Wednesday ~ "There was a Farmer..."