Halloween attempts to be the best Mom in the World

The past two nights I have spent my time baking and cooking. I made the usual Halloween cupcakes, but I also wanted to try to make those sugar cookies that look like candy corn candies to hand out in goodie bags in Audrey's class today.

Unfortunately, there is no picture of those as I completely burnt them last night.

But! I did attempt to make jello-filled oranges for the girls breakfast this morning that look like these sorbet filled ones from Martha Stewart.

I also stopped by the Krispy Kreme yesterday by my office and picked up the Pumpkin shaped doughnuts.So I left the sugar-high kids with Ray this morning to get to work early so I could leave early for Audrey's party this afternoon. The girls had Halloween purses on their breakfast chairs this morning - both with light up rings and Ashley with crazy socks for her to wear to school today (it is spirit day, she is not allowed to dress up) and tattoos for Audrey.

Maybe for Thanksgiving my baking skills will improve?

Ashley will be Sharpay from High School Musical tonight (I know, SHOCKER) and Audrey will be a "pink princess" which is actually Ashley's old Halloween costume from a few years ago. Thankfully it is supposed to be a little warmer today, because the past few days? Cold. At least to me.

Field Trip

Ashley had her first field trip yesterday on the coldest day yet in our area. Not only was it supposed to be cold, but there were wind gusts that made it seem even colder. And of course the field trip was to a pumpkin farm complete with hayrides, corn mazes, and lots and lots of pumpkins.


Ashley got to ride in style to the pumpkin patch. I was not allowed to ride with her on the bus, but instead I carpooled with a few other Moms who were going as well. This seemed great and the kids loved the fact that they could watch a movie on the way to and from.

Until it was time to leave and the stupid bus wouldn't start and we had to wait out in the cold for another bus to come and take the kids back to school. Luckily, the kids were fine with playing Duck, Duck, Goose to pass the 20 minutes or so we had to wait for the new bus.
Yes, Hallelujah I got my child to wear jeans. This is a first as she flat out refused to wear them. The only way she would was if I let her wear the boots I purchased for her to wear with her Halloween costume - some God awful blue Tinkerbell boots I picked up at Walmart to match the blue Sharpay dress. And she actually enjoyed wearing them so I just might have to buy her some more.

Since there were 12 chaperones and 23 kids in Ashley's class, each chaperone was responsible for 2 kids. The other kid I had was not too good at staying with me and stressed me out for most of the day. And the cold. It was actually fine when we were walking around, but when we sat on the hayride and when we ate snack and lunch, the wind was pretty brutal.

Ashley had fun, but was extremely tired at the end of the day and she still had cheerleading practice last night. I had to stop by Starbucks on the way home from picking up Audrey since I too was pretty wiped. Thankfully she doesn't have another field trip until the spring...

Sponge Bob, Square Pants

There is a sort of long back story to this, but the bottom line is that for YEARS, Ray has requested a SpongeBob Cake. One of our friends back in Virginia always promised him one, but they never made it.

So I decided to actually get him one this year. There is an amazing woman who makes cakes out of her home in my town, so I contacted her to see if she could do it. She was more than happy too and everything was a go. Then a few weeks ago she emailed me asking if she could be creative. She wanted to replicate the Krusty Krab. I said go for it. As long as it was cake and it was related to SpongeBob, I was all for it.

So for Ray's 33rd birthday, this is what he got:

I need a weekend from my weekend

Friday I took the girls to see High School Musical 3. Yes, Ashley and I had already seen it, but Adurey had not and Ashley and Audrey were invited to see it with a friend from Ashley's class. Audrey did great during the entire movie, her only problem was a cough.

A cough that got worse and worse and made it difficult for her to breath during the night on Friday as her asthma kicked in. A couple shots of Albuterol, and we finally made it to Saturday morning without much sleep. Luckily our pediatrician has Saturday hours, so I took her in. He confirmed her lungs sounded "crunchy" and prescribed steriods.

And today? She's fine. She has a little bit of a cough, but nothing like it was on Friday night.

The weekend ended last night with game night with friends. We played a game they called Celebrity - basically everyone wrote down names of celebrities and dropped them in the bowl. The first round, you get people to guess the celebrity by saying anything except sounds like or rhymes with. The second round you use the same names, but can only say three words. The last round? You can't say anything.

Let's just say I kind of suck at this game, but it was fun. I now know who Dwight Schrute is (I have never watched The Office...) and my husband is a jerk for putting John Lithgow in the bowl so that I pull his name in the last round.

The Middle Finger

The other morning at breakfast, Ashley started telling me a story about something that happened in school. As she always does when she is unsure of herself or worried something will get her in trouble, she was talking really quietly. She went on to tell me a friend in her class told her about using her middle finger at someone, and Ashley wanted to know what it meant.

"What do you think it means?" I asked.

"That you don't like God." Huh. That was interesting.

I went on to inform her it meant something mean towards the person it was aimed at, kind of like calling another person a name. A really, really bad name. She knew it was a bad thing, she just didn't understand it.

And seriously, if these are the questions I am getting in KINDERGARTEN, what in the hell is she going to ask me in middle school?

Oh, and go here if you want to read my review of HSM3!!

Happy Birthday Ray

Except Ray really isn't his first name, but I am betting he would not be happy with me if I shared his first name.


Happy Birthday to the one person in the entire world who is willing to put up with me and my indecisiveness and stubborness and who knows what else.


Happy Birthday to the guy who STILL GETS CARDED because he looks that young.


It was actually 12 years ago this week that Ray and I started dating...the week we both turned 21 at college.


Happy Birthday and I love you.

No Allergies

Audrey shows signs throughout the spring and the fall of seasonal allergies. Runny nose, itching eyes, the whole ball of wax. When she was one, her pediatrician put her on Zyrtec and Flovent to circumvent her asthma relating to the allergies. The other signs of allergies she has shown have been the random hives that have appeared on her face. It was particularly bad when we were in Disney in September. She had a bite of banana, and her whole face broke out in hives. We gave her Benadryl, and they went away.

So I thought I would have her allergy tested to see exactly what was going on. Ray is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts and other random fruits (including bananas).

Yea, she's allergic to nothing.

They did four environmental boards on her back, none of them showed any signs of allergies. They also did peanuts and bananas, and those were negative as well. It was explained to me that she can still have seasonal allergies and pollen and ragweed and such can still irritate her and cause those allergy symptoms. So we are keeping her on Zyrtec for now with a suggestion by the doctor to try a nasal spray.

As far as the hives, since it has been kind of random when she has gotten them, the doctor seemed to think she might be allergic to a preservative or additive in a food. She prescribed an epi-pen just as a precaution (and I hope I never have to use it - have you seen the needle on that thing???!!!).

So we really didn't get any specific answers, but Audrey was great throughout the whole testing ordeal.

Birthdays

Yesterday was my birthday, and it ended up being a really good day. Actually, I had a really good weekend. My Mom and Stepdad came into town, and Friday we went to the fair. Saturday was spent running around at the kids' events, but we managed to have dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We also got Audrey's bed ordered (thanks Mom and Ed!) and it will be delivered on Thursday.

Yesterday morning, I taught Sunday School, then met the best neighbors/girlfriends that a girl could have for brunch for my birthday. Not only did they take me out for brunch, but I got a giftcard for a spa and a cute "Girl's Night Out" money jar. Back home I went to help Ray switch the girls' rooms. In the middle of that, another friend/former teacher of Audrey's stopped by with a cookie cake and balloons for me.

So another year down, another year started. Thirty-three is such a forgettable number that this birthday didn't seem like much to me. But with my good friends and family, I had a really good birthday this year.

And I did talk to my twin brother yesterday for our birthday. It sounded like he had a pretty good birthday as well.

And now this morning I get to take Audrey to be allergy tested. Good fun for me.