Cedar Hill Farm Adventure

Today we went on our annual Pumpkin Patch visit. For the last two years we've visited Uncle Fudd's Pumpkin Patch (you can ready about last year's visit here), but the truth is that after last year there was a "gross and creepy factor" that I just haven't been able to shake off. So we decided to change it up a bit this year and go to Cedar Hill Farm Pumpkin Patch in Hernando, MS instead. And boy, are we ever happy we did? It was awesome!

Although it's a bit of a hike at about 45-50 minutes away, it was extremely easy to find. The $8.00 admission charge covers a ton of stuff ~ train rides, hayrides to the pumpkin patch, a corn maize, a petting zoo, access to the playground, and pig races amongst other things. For additional money the kids can have their face painted, go on a pony ride, shoot a corn cannon, and a bunch of other activities. Scott and I were in awe over how unbelievably clean and well kept the grounds are (including the bathrooms!), how much there was to do, and how affordable everything was. The fact that the weather was fantastic was also a huge bonus. We've definitely adopted Cedar Hill as our new Pumpkin Patch tradition going forward. Here are a few pictures of our fun little adventure:

Scott and the kiddos:

When these people say face painting, they mean face painting:

Here's Sam being the happy go lucky baby that he normally is:

Hey, for once I'm in front of the camera (well, kind of,...):

Isabella on one of the two pony rides she took:

Sam and his very own little pumpkin:

One REALLY bad thing that happened today was that midway through our very fun adventure my camera battery died on me,... DEAD!!! And unfortunately I did not have a backup battery or our little point and shoot with me to continue the picture taking extravaganza. So I thought I'd improvise some by using my cell phone camera to capture the train ride, the hay ride and the pumpkin patch. Pretty resourceful, don't you think? Well after I took a few pictures, what do you know? A box pops up saying that my "picture memory" thingy is full. What? Are you kidding me???

So, I did what any photography obsessed mature individual would do in this situation ~ I pouted for just a few minutes, put everything away and enjoyed the rest of our time at the farm. It was such a great day!

By the way, I'm sure I'll post some pictures of the 36 pound pumpkin we picked at the patch after we've carved it. Can you believe I haven't carved a pumpkin in over 25 years? Geez, I can't wait!

Gotta go now, I have big plans for tonight and I have to go get ready. Dinner and drinks with my wonderful friends Hannah and Charlotte. Yay!

My Mosaic

1. Elizabeth Park, 2. Piñón de Plátano Maduro o Lasagna Caribeña, 3. most photographed umbrellas, 4. Purple sensation, 5. Clive Owen, 6. My favorite drink...a Cosmopolitan!, 7. Door to Tuscany, 8. crème brûlée, 9. lantern walk, 10. Chunky, 11. time, space and wormholes ........... or something like that., 12. Pik n Mix

I've seen this done on a few different blogs I visit and thought I'd give it a go. It turned out to be a bit more time consuming than I had anticipated, but you know what? I think it really represents me quite accurately.

The questions (my answers):

1. What is your first name? (Elizabeth)
2. What is your favorite food? (Puerto Rican Food~ YUM!)
3. What high school did you attend? (San Antonio)
4. What is your favorite color? (Purple)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Clive Owen~ I heart him!)
6. Favorite drink? (Cosmopolitan ~ Anyone else thirsty?)
7. Dream vacation? (Tuscany)
8. Favorite dessert? (Creme Brulee ~ I'm drooling over here,...)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Interior Designer~ Hey, it's my dream!)
10.What do you love most in life? (Chunky Babies ~ like my Sammy)
11. One word to describe you. (Intense ~ although I prefer passionate)
12. Your Flickr name. (Liz)

If you'd like to make one of your own, here's how you do it:

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search, using only the first page, choose your favorite image, copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (4 columns, 3 rows).

Have fun!

Jimmy Dean, Honeynut, Cheerios

I love, love, love Wednesday mornings. I love the fact that I get up early, get ready, get the kids dressed, we all eat breakfast and then we go to church. Once we get there Sam goes into the nursery, Isabella goes into the three year old class and I get to go hang out with a bunch of awesome women during my weekly two hour long Women's Bible Study. I do not exaggerate when I tell you that I absolutely need this time; it is definitely food for my soul, and I crave it all week long.

The study I am currently enrolled in is "When Godly People Do Ungodly Things" by the amazing Beth Moore. This is my fifth Bible Study at Hope and my third Beth Moore study. If you have never taken one of her studies I cannot encourage you enough to try one. They are totally life changing. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Anyway, after today's study we had scheduled some fellowship time, which is nothing more than getting together to enjoy conversation and yummy food (FYI: it's gonna be a really bad WW week!). After many conversations as to where such gathering should take place, one of our study leaders graciously offered up her home. Since Pam's beautiful house sits on many acres of land and she has quite a few animals, we thought this would be a great setting for all of our children.

So, this is where the "grocery list" from the title of this post comes in. Amongst all of her animals are Lucy, a very shy Black Lab puppy and Honeynut and Cheerios who are two adorable miniature horses. Cheerios was somewhat anti-social and pretty much kept away from the crowd, but Honeynut was not about to miss a thing.

Here's Isabella, ready to feed the horsey some yummy carrots.

The kids having a blast feeding Honeynut.

Even Sam enjoyed watching all the animals.

In addition she has three beautiful "regular" size horses whose names escape me right now, but one of them is a retired race horse. Isn't that cool?

Can you see them in the barn? It might be hard to see, but they're there.

She also has another dog, Chloe, who was put away because of her dislike of children. Did I mention that there were about eight kids running all over the place?

And finally, she also has a pig, whose name is Jimmy Dean,... is that not terrible? OK, first let me tell you, I was envisioning this cute round little pink pig running and snorting all over the house. Oh, no! What I found was not even close. Jimmy Dean is a 200 plus pound UGLY looking pig. UGLY! And in all honesty, he kind of grossed me out a little.

Yeah,... not so cute, is he?

This is Pam, our lovely hostess and Jimmy Dean's owner.

The kids had a wonderful time running around and playing with the animals and us girls had a great time enjoying some adult conversation and catching up.

Have I mentioned how much I love my Bible Studies and the amazing women I have met through them?

Meet Me in St. Louis

Our trip up to St. Louis this weekend was, how shall I put it? ... "interesting".

We had a great time visiting and playing with family, our hotel was quite comfortable, and Isabella LOVED The Backyardigans Live show. So what made this trip so "interesting", you ask. Well, for one the fact that it was an overnight trip.

Do you realize how much you have to pack for kids? Even if it is for just one night? Formula, bottles, rice cereal, baby food, diapers, overnight diapers for Sam, overnight Pull-Ups for Isabella, medicine, Pack n' Play, stroller, snacks for the ride, clothes, shoes, toys, lovies, blankies, books, DVDs, a portable potty,... and on and on and on. Just to give you a visual of what our car looked like before we left:

And just a friendly reminder,... this is all for just ONE night!

What used to take us five hours (before children), is now a six and a half hour trip. Once we finally made it there we visited and had lunch with Nana and Papa and then we all traveled further north to see Aunt Liz and her family for dinner. Isabella got to play quite a bit with her cousin Daniel, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

By the time we made it to the hotel, we were all exhausted! After Scott made sure we were all settled in, he went back to his parent's house for more conversation while the kids and I instantly crashed.

Here they are playing in our hotel room on Sunday morning.

After having breakfast and lunch at Nana and Papa's on Sunday, we headed off to downtown St. Louis for our most anticipated show.

As you can imagine Isabella was besides herself with excitement. She just couldn't believe we were finally going to see the one show she's been asking to see for months. The show was at the Fabulous Fox Theater. The only other time we've been to the Fox was to see Robin Williams years ago when we lived there. Yeah, I'd say the crowd was quite a bit different this time around.

So we're making our way into the theater and the ticket collector keeps looking back and forth between us and the three tickets I handed her. I finally say: "Ma'am, there's just three tickets. He's only 6 months old." She says: "Every person needs a ticket." And in my most confident, I've done my research tone I reply: "Well, the site where we purchased the tickets stated that one year of age and younger are free as long as they're on an adult's lap. He's only six months old, he can barely sit on his own." Unimpressed, she replies: "It doesn't matter, every person needs a ticket." She then yelled out to someone who told her it was OK for us to have only three tickets. Well, thank goodness. I mean, where were they going to seat him? And who would have held him upright on his seat if he would have gotten his own ticket/seat?

We found our seats, which were pretty good, sat down and I immediately took this picture:

Yes, this is nothing but the stage.

Right away a lady usher was hovering over me informing me that absolutely no pictures are allowed. I looked at her in disbelief and then looked around me where I was stunned to see a sea of flashes that looked like fireworks on the fourth of July. Then I proceeded to look back at her and said: "Are you SERIOUS?" To which she replied: "I know many people are taking pictures, but we are trying our hardest to stop everyone from doing it." Not wanting to drag out our little exchange any longer, I put my camera in my purse and said: "Right, good luck with that!"

So by now I'm thinking: What next? Anyway, we sat and enjoyed the first half of the show without any additional incidents. During intermission I went and got us some popcorn, cotton candy and sodas to enjoy during the second half. Nobody was as happy as Isabella was; she was ALL about that cotton candy.

We all had a great time: Isabella was totally mesmerized throughout the entire show and Sam was actually really good, which totally shocked us. To our surprise he even watched a lot of it quietly.

Does this look like a happy girl or what?

Oohh, busted! Young man, where is your ticket stub?

Now you may or may not know this about me, but I tend to be a rule follower. Well,... maybe except for speed limits, but that's besides the point. But I am also a proud mama who very much enjoys scrapbooking our memories. So at the end of the show I quickly pulled out the camera and took this here picture:

Here they are: The Backyardigans.
Tyrone, Pablo, Uniqua, Austin and Tasha.

Seriously, how else am I supposed to scrapbook this event? With just the ticket stub? I think not. Besides, this if for my daughter's future,... so there. I'm sure these two pictures aren't going to slow down their tickets sales any.

Now it's time to get back on the road and go homeward bound. This is where I pick back up on the "interesting" aspects of our very short, yet so very long trip.

In hindsight, I probably should not have jacked Isabella up on sugar (yeah, remember the cotton candy she devoured?) before confining her to her car seat for our 5 hour (minimum) drive home. To say she had a number of MAJOR meltdowns is me putting it quite nicely. Lucky for us during this dreadful portion of our trip, Sam was able to sleep quite peacefully.

Sam on the other hand, decided he had had enough about an hour and a half outside of Memphis. During this time we stopped once so that I could sit in the back and feed him a bottle but as long as he was still in his car seat, there was absolutely nothing in that car that would soothe him. So you guessed it, for the last hour and a half of our trip he was screaming like a banshee.

Actually, in all honesty, even I cried during our trip back home. I'm surprised Scott didn't just jump out of the running car during any one of these instances.

We finally made it home by 10:00 pm. Isabella apparently saved the biggest meltdown/tantrum for last, but luckily by about 10:30 pm we were all passed out.

In closing: we're ecstatic to be home, we are going nowhere today, and there is a really good chance that we will NEVER take an overnight trip like this again (unless we absolutely have to). If Scott cannot take time off work, then we will go during a long weekend.

Weekly Weigh-In

Hey everyone, since I won't be able to go to my "regular" WW meeting tomorrow due to our very quick trip this weekend (Backyardigans, here we come!), I decided to go and weigh-in today.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay for the meeting, which I hate, but with both kids in tow trying to sit for any amount of time in there surely would have ended in disaster. Oh, well.

So, survey says,....

Pounds lost this week: 2.4 lbs
Total lost: 14.2 lbs

I'm pretty much at a steady pace in this journey so far, but I'm done complaining. I'm averaging about 2.8 pounds a week, which is really just fine by me. I'm sure however, that if I actually started being more active, instead of just talking/typing about it, that I would have some weeks with bigger loses. I don't know what it is about exercise this time around, but I just can't seem to get motivated enough to get moving.

I was talking to Scott last night about the fact that we have our family shoot with Marci coming up in three weeks and my goal was to lose 20 lbs beforehand. After today, I'm thinking that I might just be able to accomplish, and dare I say maybe beat, that goal. I'll make sure to keep you posted.

Have a great weekend!

A Sad Reality

Well, I just came across this cartoon in one of my friend's Facebook page and couldn't help myself from posting it here.

Sad but true my friends, sad but true.

And the bad blogger award goes to,...

Oh my! Are you guys dying of anticipation, like I am? I wonder who will be the lucky person to get the award,... Oh wait!

It's ME!

I wish I could tell you that I have been SUPER busy doing very important things, life changing things, things that will fix the current state of our nation and economy. But, I can't.

I wish I could tell you that I have been away pampering myself with a much deserved and needed relaxation and meditation spa retreat in oh,... let's say Tahiti. But, I can't.

I wish I could you that I have taken up running and biking, competitively, and have been building my stamina for the last week or so. But, I can't.

I wish I could tell you I've been slaving in our house and every single square inch of it is absolutely spotless and clean, every single piece of clothing folded, ironed and put away. But I can hardly type right now cause I am laughing so freaking hard. That was a good one,...

I can however tell you that I've been feeling a bit blah lately. I'm not really sure what all has been consuming my time lately, other than the obvious every day hustle and bustle. But for some reason I'm tired, unmotivated and kind of disconnected. I can't even remember the last time I logged into Facebook (gasp!).

So this here post is my first attempt at getting over whatever this thing I'm feeling is and back to my cheery blogging self.

Alrighty then, so last Saturday my good friend Hannah and I went to the Vesta Home Show. For those of you unfamiliar with Vesta, this is an annual home show where you get to tour (and drool all over) a number of upscale model homes furnished with the latest and greatest products and designs. Scott and I have been to the show in the past, but since he doesn't enjoy it quite as much as I do, he kept the kids while Hannah and I indulged in some girl time.

Although the houses are huge and beautiful and impressive, one of my favorite things about the tours is getting design ideas; from furniture and accessories placement to paint colors and window treatments. I do not discriminate, I love it all,...

So I'll now leave you with some of my oohs and ahhs from our tour:

One of our priorities for next Spring is to re-do our back patio. And since I really want a pergola, I brought these home for Scott to admire:

Apparently the latest thing in high end silk flower arrangements is adding feathers, lots of them. The feathers are strategically placed so that it doesn't look like a bird crashed right into the arrangement. I know this isn't a very good picture, but trust me they're there. And I LOVE it!
Last year my mom and I bought yards and yards of fabric so that I can make window treatments for our master bedroom. After Saturday I'm trying to figure out how I can incorporate something like this:
Hannah, if you're reading I'm sure you're wondering why I haven't posted pictures of the one thing I absolutely and positively loved the most, but I'm saving those for a later post. You know,... the one where I show you how I recreated it for our home at a fraction of the price they were selling it for. I can hardly wait!

OK guys, until next time.

PS Can someone please tell me where in the world are Max and Ruby's mom and dad? They have a grandmother that shows up sporadically, but are they orphans or something? Who pays for all of her Bunny Scout stuff? Seriously, I'm absolutely baffled,...

Weekly Weigh-In

Although we've got a pretty busy day today, I wanted to swing by really quick to update you on my WW weekly weigh-in results.

Pounds lost this week: 2.2 lbs
Total lost: 11.8 lbs

Yay!

I'm so excited to be over the 10 lb mark and can't wait to see what will happen this coming week, when I'm REALLY going to try to be more active. Last week was a bit taxing around here so it didn't quite work out how I had originally envisioned. But flexibility is key to staying motivated, so I'll just have to try again this week.

OK, gotta go and have some fun now.


PS Congrats to my friend Lynn who lost 4.8 lbs her first week on the program.
4.8 lbs!!! That's awesome! Keep up the good work, Girl!

Work It, Girl!

Hey, looks like someone had some fun with our little photo shoot this morning.

She looked adorable and let me tell ya, she absolutely knew it. Last year we did a cute top and pants, so I thought I'd change it up a bit and do a dress this time around. Her dress, bow and tights came from Gymboree (yeah, have you seen their new Holiday line? LOVE IT!!!). The shoes were hand picked by her from Target and although it's kind of hard to tell in the pictures, they are loaded with glitter and sparkle, just like her.

After our "shoot" Sam and I dropped her off at school. I asked her how she was going to smile for the photographer and luckily she spared me from the scary "Chucky Smiles" from last year. Remember this? Seriously, who can forget?

Other than that I have to tell you I have been SUPER productive this morning. Since dropping Isabella off and coming back home I:

* fed Sam his midday bottle and put him down for a nap (hear that? It's called silence, ahhh!)
* made the reservation for the hotel for next weekend (we got the last available room, phew!)
* booked our dog sitter, the lovely Miss Lottie (the dogs LOVE her and are going to be so excited to see her again after so long)
* scheduled Scott's eye doctor appointment (his glasses broke a couple days ago, but it's also been over two years since we've been to the eye doctor so we're both due anyway)
* called Miguel, our go-to handyman, to see if he got a quote for our new countertops (yes, a little something something we've got in the works)
* found the kids' Halloween costumes (I've been checking them out online and found the perfect ones ~ well, I just received a flyer from Party City and not only do they have the exact ones I found, but they have a coupon for $5 off and I don't have to pay for shipping. Score!)
* made sure the dermatologist I have an appointment with next month is in our network (she is)

I'm telling you, there is nothing like procrastination to light a fire under you.

OK, so I gotta go and do some more productive "stuff", but before I do let me share with you these pictures of my amazing boy. I noticed the last couple of posts did not include any pictures of him and I realize it is just not fair that I keep him all to myself.
Seriously, look at him. He's so yummy! Do you not just want to take a big ol' bite of him?

Homework already?

First off let me apologize for being such a bad blogger here lately. But you see this is Scott's busiest time of the year and on most days he leaves for work super early in the morning and returns home pretty late in the evening. Which basically translates to some pretty long days for me. So by the time the kids are down for the day I am pretty much a useless catatonic mess ( so much for my "active week"). Seriously, my heart goes out to all the single parents out there. Although I pray that I never have to find out exactly how it is you do it, you all must know that I totally respect you for doing it.

Alrighty then, moving on. So, on Monday night I was emptying Isabella's school bag and found a note from her teachers in her folder. It said something to the effect of: "During the month of September your child has learned the letters A, B, C and D. We've enclosed some worksheets for your child to practice these letters. Although this is not mandatory and you do not have to return the sheets to us, if you do your child will get a prize."

OK, so my preschooler has homework,... seriously? already? Not to mention the fact that Isabella has never brought anything home with these letters that didn't include slapping some paint on them, stamping on them, gluing on them, dressing them up with glitter, etc. Never anything where she had to actually write the letter per se. But hey, I'm game for just about anything, so let's give it a try.

We sat down at the kitchen counter this afternoon and got to work. The first row was for tracing a specific letter and the second row was for them to write it on their own. Well, I know I can be somewhat biased when it comes to my children (oh alright, I can be VERY biased), but I think she did a great job for this being her first time doing this type of activity. She knows how to write the letters "I" for Isabella and C, and O. But A, B and D are a totally new adventure.

As you can see she loved doing her "homework" and felt like such a big girl.

Here's the Michael Jordan of homework. Check out that tongue. Oh, the concentration that homework requires,...

Anyhoo, Isabella's school pictures are tomorrow so of course we had to go hunting for the perfect outfit and shoes and take her to get her hair cut. Oh, she's gonna look so purty! I can't wait to post some pictures tomorrow.

Well, I'm afraid that's it for today. I gotta go and pass out on the couch now until it's time to get up and go pass out on the bed. Until next time,...