Croquet Anyone...?

Elyssa got a new obsession this week. I say obsession because it seems like when she gets anything new it becomes the one thing we have to do all day long. So now we have jumping on the trampoline and her new croquet set from Aunt Red and her mom. We had a GNO at Aunt Red’s apartment on Monday. She is moving again this weekend and Aunt Lisa, Aunt Tonia and Elyssa and I, all went to help her pack up some of her apartment. While we were there Red pulled out a bag she said her mom got for Elyssa. Well, it was her new Croquet set and let’s just say Elyssa loved it! We played Croquet and jumped all day Tuesday to the point where mommy just had to say no! I love my little girl to death but being Elyssa’s favorite playmate 24/7 is a bit trying some days. On Wednesday we had to take the croquet set with us to Aunt Lisa’s house to play with, so Aunt Lisa got to play croquet as well. I can only imagine just how comical it looked to see Lisa and I playing a child size croquet set in her front yard. Like I said I love my little girl to death and will do anything for her even if it means embarrassing myself and my friends to get it done!

Well Eddie did have Thursday off and Elyssa chose to go to the pumpkin patch. We had so much fun we ended up spending almost 4 hours there enjoying it all. The weather was just perfect, a sunny beautiful day and the temperature was about 74 degrees. We could not have asked for better weather for our day. On the flip side of the beautiful sunny weather, I was not thinking about sunburn! Who worries about sunburn in October?? Well I ended up beet red all over my arms and my neck. Thank goodness Elyssa has Eddies skin and she did not get sunburned at all. I am so glad she was blessed with Eddies skin, I would hate for her to have to deal with pale, fair skinned crap! None the less we had lots of fun. Elyssa ran all through the pumpkins picking out a ton that she wanted. They had about 5 bounce houses, a merry go round and of course a hayride. Believe it or not, the whole event was free! I could not believe how much fun she had on the merry go round. It was quite cute all the little boys were pushing it round and round while the while the little girls enjoyed the ride. They would stop to let the little kids on and off, I was actually surprised how well they all behaved on the darn thing. While we were there we enjoyed a funnel cake and lemonade at one of the many picnic tables they had all set up. Of course Elyssa picked one of the small kid sized tables for us to sit at so we all huddled around it as a family. It was nice getting to spend some time as a family. Eddie has been working a lot and has not been home much these days. He informed me on the drive to the pumpkin patch that he has to work this Sunday 7am-7pm. This would all be great if he were hourly and not salary, but since he is salary it just means less time together.

Today we had a fun play date with our friends Ashley, Jack and Luke. We all took a walk to the park by their house and the kids had fun climbing on rocks and playing on the swings. It is amazing just how much the kids are growing up. It seems like yesterday when Elyssa and Jack were learning how to walk and now they are running, jumping, and riding scooters and bikes. It sure does not take long for them to grow up.

Well we are sitting here watching the Rangers play the Yankees on TV while Elyssa is in her playroom watching “How to Train your Dragon”. Honestly I’ve spent more time watching her movie than the baseball game. Watching Baseball to me is like watching the grass grow, yeah, just about that exciting. Eddie is enraged about it because apparently Texas is not doing as well as he expects them to. It is almost like he feels he could do a better job! O’well, at least he is passionate about something right?

Another year older...

…For daddy that is! Yes, we celebrated Eddie’s birthday this past weekend. His birthday was actually on Friday so while he was at work, Elyssa and I proceeded to make and decorate cupcakes for him. They were red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Elyssa had a blast making them; she is quite the little cook. She knows how to crack the eggs (I put them in the mix though), she is great at pouring in all the ingredients and she knows how to use my mixer to mix it all together. I love letting her do it, she gets so excited and of course loves to lick the bowls and the spatula when it all done. I took her shirt off for her to lick the bowl this time, last time I had red velvet batter all over her clothes, this time I got just a bit smarter. While the cupcakes were cooling in the freezer we went to Wal-Mart to get some icing and sprinkles to decorate the cupcakes with. If any of you know Elyssa well, you already know that her favorite part of decorating is the sprinkles and true to form the 4 cupcakes she concentrated on were covered with sprinkles! There wasn’t a bare patch of icing anywhere on her creation. In fact we had sprinkles everywhere including the table, her chair, and all over the floor. It was ok though, the cleanup crew (our dogs Nana and Nicole) were there to take care of everything that fell from the table. I even found sprinkles in Nicole’s fur! Elyssa surprised daddy when he got home from work and insisted on putting candles on the cupcakes and making him blow out the candles as soon as he walked through the door. He of course obliged her and she helped him blow them out. That evening Aunt Tonia came over and we all went out to eat at Souper Salad for dinner. Poor daddy was so tired from working so much last week that I’m not so sure he even enjoyed dinner. Eddie has been working a lot lately. In fact last week Elyssa and I barely even saw him. He was leaving for work at 7am and not getting home till almost 9 every night. In fact Thursday night he did not come home at all. He came home at about 3 am Friday morning and went back to work at 8am Friday morning. It was a really long week last week!

Saturday Eddie and I actually got to have a free evening. Aunt Tonia took Elyssa to see “Alpha and Omega” at the movie. Elyssa loved the movie and did wonderfully again in the theater. For our date night Eddie and I went to the Mattel Store and did almost all of Elyssa’s Christmas Shopping. We then went to Home Depot to pick up some salt for the pool, dropped everything off at home and went to dinner. Elyssa and Aunt Tonia were not even done with dinner when Eddie and I were on our way home so we met them at McDonalds. Yeah, I know a “fun and exciting” date night huh? We were home by 9pm!! I guess that all that matters is that we had fun and enjoyed each other’s company. I have to say it was nice to be able to eat a meal and not worry about what someone else was eating and doing!

Because Eddie worked so much last week, he is getting a day off this week. We have decided for him to take Thursday off. He wants to for us to go to the Zoo or go to a Pumpkin patch. We have not decided yet, but the weather is supposed to be just incredible for whatever we decide. I think that Elyssa is pushing for the Zoo, of course with her that could change today. Such is life with a 3 year old…the adventure continues…

On the Road Again...

I guess you just can’t keep us down now can you? On Saturday we took a road trip to Lufkin, TX to not only visit with Nana and Pop, we were also picking up a new old desk that Eddie’s dad wanted him to have. It was nice getting to see them but boy was it a long trip for poor Elyssa. We left at 7am on Saturday morning, picked a trailer from U-Haul and we were on the road. It took almost 4 hours to get there towing an empty trailer and Elyssa slept about an hour of the drive and was up the rest of the time asking over and over and over again if we were “there yet”. Yes, we have entered the endearing stage of “mommy, mommy, mommy, are we there yet???” How is it possible for one child to repeat these words over and over again without tiring? Ignoring her does not help the situation, she just get louder and louder and starts a repetitive “mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy” over and over again until I answer. I sometimes wonder if I’m being punished or paid back for something I did in a previous life!!
Anyway we did finally arrive at “Nana and Pops” and after a wonderful lunch went back to the house and loaded up the desk and we were back on the road again. The trip back actually took a bit longer, probably a bit more than 4 hours because of the load we were not able to drive as fast. Luckily Elyssa actually took about a 2 hour nap on the ride back so I only had to put up with 2 or so hours of the “are we home yet” song and dance. Once we were home Tonia and JT came over and helped us unload the trailer and got everything in house and everything seemed to go without a hitch. Sunday Tonia, JT and Keith came over and helped get the desk up the stairs which was the biggest obstacle of the entire trip. It is a really big, old, heavy desk so we needed additional man power to get it up the stairs.
Monday Elyssa, Lisa and I went to the Dallas Zoo. The weather here has been simply wonderful and it was a beautiful day at the zoo. The temps have been in the low 80’s and we have been enjoying every single second of it. No air conditioning and the windows are open allowing fresh air to come on in! Anyway, the zoo was wonderful. Of course Elyssa loved the kid’s area the best. She got to run through the water and play in the play area. We even went into the bird feeding area and she got to hold several birds. In fact one of the nice birds decided to nest on mommy’s head. I of course thought for sure it had just stopped to poop, but it did not, just hung out and nested! Afterwards we went the McDonalds outside the zoo and had lunch and of course ice cream cones for dessert. I have to say, the Zoo membership I bought was so worth it. We can go whenever we want and I can get up to 4 kids in free and one guest. It is really nice because we can take people with us for free!
I did forget to update that last week I did take Elyssa to the movie. We went to see Cats and Dogs: the tale of Kitty Galore or something like that and she did wonderfully!! I was so excited and relieved that it went well. So this weekend her Aunt Tonia is taking her to see Alpha and Omega while mommy and daddy go out and celebrate Daddy’s Birthday on Saturday. Whoo Hooo….date night for mommy and daddy!! I think this is our second date night in almost 3 years, tell me what do people do on dates these days??? I’m not sure we remember… anyway….Wish us luck!