HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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Souptacular Crockpotalooza

I had fun playing this last year because we tried out so many soup recipes in just a couple of weeks. It was great for cold Football Saturdays! We enjoyed a lot of the recipes, but nothing seemed to beat my Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana because it still holds it's reign as our all-time favorite soup. I had so many people thanking me for the recipe last year that I thought I would post it again. Just click on the button if you want to see other peep's recipes. It will take you right to the link.

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copy Cat Recipe

1 lb. hot Italian sausage
2 large baking potatoes - 1/4 inch slices, then sliced in half
1 large onion, chopped
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups kale, roughly chopped
1 quart water

Place onions, potatoes, chicken broth, water, and garlic in a pot. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are done. Add cooked sausage, bacon, salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for another 10 minutes. Turn to low heat and add kale and cream. Heat through and serve.

Runt Update

I got jipped. The terrible twos are already in full effect up in this joint which is total crap since I should technically still have three full months of sweet toddlers. Instead, there is pushing, biting, tantrums, unidentifiable smack-talk, and selective hearing. Lamps and knick knacks are breaking on a daily basis. My living room is starting to look like a barren wasteland. I'm ready to have my tubes tied.Three of the most beautiful words in the English language: Hot. Doughnuts. Now.

Callie is starting to string her own creative sentences. She already says a few common ones like, "Where did it go?", "There it is!", "There you go."..etc. But now she is starting to piece them together herself. On Saturday, she started talking about boogers. So lovely. I asked her if she had a booger and she said no. Then, Brent asked her if Wyatt had a booger and Callie looked at Wyatt and said, "Wy Wy, dadda boogah?", as if she was saying, "Wyatt, daddy wants to know if you have a booger." Then, a few minutes later, Brent asked the kids if they were hungry and when Wyatt didn't answer, Callie demanded, "WY WY! DADDA EAT!", like "Dude! Wake up and tell dad if you are hungry or not!" Miss Thang has an attitude problem.

They are obsessive about their coloring these days and it's actually helping them learn their colors. I was a coloring fanatic and have a hard time watching them because they flip through and do a quick scribble on every page instead of coloring one picture at a time. I've tried to sit down and color with them, but I get so territorial over my page that once I've started coloring, I bark at them when they try and turn my page. It's some kind of weird sickness I should probably be institutionalized about.

So, this is what Callie has been wearing almost every minute of every day (unless we are in public) for the last couple of weeks. I made the mistake of showing her that stupid princess Halloween dress again and we had a melt down like no other when I wouldn't let her wear it. So instead, I quickly jeririgged a princess dress that wouldn't shed glitter all over the house. She throws a fit when we make her take it off to eat so half the time she wins and eats in this getup too. She tells us that she's a princess all the time. It does come in pretty handy when she doesn't want to do something and I can get her to do it by telling her that princesses do it too. I'm sure it won't work for very long though.

Another Babok Patch...

We finally got a crappy new point and shoot because I still can't seem to justify spending almost 1000 bones on a dSLR. Maybe some day. Anyway, yesterday we went to another pumpkin patch with some friends which was the same farm where we went blueberry picking earlier in the summer. They were having a little fall festival thing that was pretty small but the kids had fun playing and seeing all the animals. We went on a hayride and the twinks also rode on a pony for the first time. It was really cute.

"Ba-bok" (Pumpkin) Patch!

Crappy pics

Well, we still don't have our camera back and I can't handle it anymore. I'm going to have to buy a secondary one or something because I just can't cope without it. Anyway, we're still dealing with this whole potty training thing and I'm starting to realize that it's going to be a pretty long road.

Callie has figured out how to use going to the potty as a procrastination technique when it's time to go to bed, take a bath, or anything else she's not in the mood for. She really only pees once a day or so despite demanding to sit on it 10-15 times a day. I'm so over it. She did poop on Saturday though and Wyatt has started peeing on the potty too. He won't ever ask to go, but since we are in there with Callie anyway, we'll plop him down on his potty too. I feel like he's so much easier right now because he's only interested in it at our convenience while Miss Thang is much more independent.

Since I don't have any pictures, I decided to upload some that we've been taking with our camera phones instead. Someone from the Geek Squad is going to get torn a new orifice soon if they don't get our camera back to us this week. Here are the pics:

Sneak peek of Cal in her Halloween costume. You should see girlfriend strut around in it! We had to hide it because she threw a fit when we made her take it off.

And of my monkey in his monkey costume! His favorite part is the stuffed banana in the pocket! For him, it's what makes the whole get-up okay to wear!

The pirate cake we made for Noah's 4th birthday while I was in in Va.

Precious little fall flowers Brent gave me this week.

Wyatt's very first victory!!!!

The kids having a little dinner party last night.

Potty training is a nightmare! I'm not feeling this at all! I know in the end, after she's mastered the skillz, it will be less work because I won't have to change diapers anymore. BUT... this chick wants to go to the potty every 10 minutes and sit there for at least another 15 minutes and will maybe only pee every 1 out of 10 times we go in there.

You can't ignore her either because the poor thing is probably trying to feel her way through this as much as I am. She says, "Poopoo piepie!" insistantly and even though we just sat in there 5 minutes ago for the last half hour, I have to find the energy to do it all over again with the same amount of encouragement as I had the first 300 trips to the frigging pot.

You get to the point where you're hell bent on not leaving the bathroom without a victory. Unfortunately, she's making the calls. Not me. You don't know how bad I want to tell her just to piss in her diaper! Seriously.

A HUGE day for my Cal Bear!

This afternoon, when I went to get Callie up from her nap, I peeked into her room to kind of surprise her. Instead of her usual huge smile and a giggle or two, she looked at me very seriously and said, "Poopoo piepie", which is her way of saying that she wants to go poo poo on the potty. She didn't even bother to grab Elmo out of her crib which is completely against her religion these days. So, we came downstairs and I put her on the potty and sat next to her for awhile. I kept asking, "Are you all done?" and she would look at me thoughtfully and say, "noooo", so we sat longer. Then, all of a sudden, I thought I heard her tinkle and when I checked in the potty, she had peed!!!!

I can't even tell you how shocked I was! I jumped up like a leap frog on crack and started squealing like a damn pig! I even busted out a jig in between my ridiculous hollering and cheering. When I finally pulled myself together enough to stop slobbering kisses all over girlfriends face, I grabbed my camera phone to take a picture (since it's the only camera I have right now) and I noticed that the poor thing was starting to cry! I had gone so buck wild that I had scared the poor thing to death! She sure as hell is gonna make me drop her off a block before school so she doesn't have to be seen with me. And I absolutely deserve it!

Then, tonight before bed, Brent asked her if she needed to go potty and she said that she did. So, we put her on the potty and waited with her. I kept asking her, "Are you done yet?" and she would thoughtfully say, "noooo". Then, the little booger piped up and said she needed a book! A freaking book! She's a diva fo' sho'! Sure enough, while reading her little book, she tinkled!!!! So freaking precious! I've been rewarding her with a Chick-fil-A butter mints but now I'm out so I'll have to come up with a new plan. I think I'm going to try and get some pull-ups tomorrow and see how that goes! I'm so excited but it's bittersweet too because it's the beginning of the end of an era for her. At least I'll still have my monkey in diapers. Hopefully, he'll poop in his pants for a little while longer! :) I just don't want to feel like I don't have babies anymore!

Long overdue update!

Hi Peeps! I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile and I really appreciate the emails I got from those of you who missed my blog! Not only is my camera still broken (and what is a blog without pictures!?!?) but I was in Virginia this past week visiting a friend. Before that, the kids were sick and are actually still not fully over it.

Virginia was fun! I've known Lauren since we were 5ish and she is more family than she is friend. The first full day I was there, it was her son's 4th birthday so we made him a pirate cake and stuff. That night, her daughter started complaining of a sore throat and the next morning, after a quick trip to the doctor, we found out she had full blown strep throat. Poor baby. We had planned on doing a bunch of fun things with the kids while I was there, but instead we stayed at home and made the best of it. I really hate that we live so far apart. Thank the Lord that I got to fly instead of driving. I HATE riding in the car!

And as I mentioned, before that the kids had been sick. Actually, I think that we brought home something nasty from Disney because it hit me first (the day we got back), then Brent, and it finally hit the kids by the end of the week. For them, it was the typical runny nose to green booger transformation thing. I feel awful for them and all they want to do is cuddle and bathe you in their boogers. Callie said, "Boogah hurt!" for days. Poor thing.

Which brings me to my next update. I can't get over how much they have started in the last couple of weeks! Callie is stringing new words together on a daily basis and while it's really exciting, I know that she's onto a whole new phase of her life and I will never get back that one-worded little girl. These are some of her new favorite phrases:

"Abble boss" - apple sauce

"Abble juice" - apple juice

"Arnj juice" - orange juice

"Dere-du-go" - there you go

"Dere-it-is" - there it is

"Up-en-den-down" - up and then down

"Bye bye ______" - (bye bye to anything she sees)

"Poopoo piepie" - poo poo (on the) potty

I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but to me it's such a huge deal! You can ask her almost any question or to do any task and she understands! It's surreal because I remember the little baby that couldn't even lift her head up a little over a year ago! She has a memory like an elephant and can sing songs (more humming the tune) that she's only heard a couple of times. I feel like I'm losing her.

Of course, Wyatt is just starting to learn to string words from Callie. He never really had a word that he learned separately from Callie until he became obsessed with pushing the elevator button at the condo we stayed at in Orlando. Now, he'll point out a "butt-(obnoxiously long pause)-on" from a mile away. Callie doesn't give a crap about buttons. It's a boy thing I guess. Wyatt has always been into pieces and parts ever since he could hold a toy.

Also, I was only in Richmond for 5 days and when I saw the kids at the airport when they came to pick me up, Wyatt looked so much bigger to me! It took me back actually and I all of a sudden had an enormous lump in my throat. I didn't see a change in Callie but Wyatt definitely looked different. It kept me up that night just thinking about it and when he made a squeak an hour before he normally gets up, I ran upstairs to grab him and brought him down to lay in bed with me for awhile. I can literally start crying when I think about it too much. I hope I'm not one of those mother's that need to go into a mental institution when they end up with an empty nest. I sure feel like it's possible though and even understand the ones that want to get knocked up again when they old as dirt and liver-spotty. That will be me. Preggo at 65.

Two halves of my heart!

I cannot get over how much these kids light up my life. I know I've said it before, but every day again, it blows my mind how much a human being can love someone. I've had moments where I figured that if I loved them anymore, I'd go into cardiac arrest. And some how, everyday I love them more than the day before. It's mind boggling and I can't tell you how much it's like walking around in heaven with two little angels by your side. Seeing them learn and accomplish new things and be so full of love for each other, for life, and for us... I never knew how humbling it would be to watch them experience life and to see them discover new things. I have no doubt that they are the reason I was put on this earth and they are the reason I will die a fulfilled human being.

Wyatt is my heart. He is such a loving little kid and loves giving us (and every other inanimate thing he likes) hugs and kisses while saying "Awwww." He loves his sister so much that he doesn't have a vocabulary of his own. Every single word he says, he's learned directly from Callie. In fact, he even calls her "Wy Wy" because that's her name for him!

Callie is equally obsessed with Wyatt though. If she's about to do something fun or eat a treat, she will call for him and wait to make sure he's there with her so they can do it together. I'm amazed at what great kids they are turning out to be! I have no idea how I got so lucky!

Yesterday, I was running a bath for the babes and getting their clothes ready to go some where. Callie had been bustling around me but then she quickly left. I was holding a pair of Wyatt's socks in one hand and a pair of Callie's in the other. The next thing I know, Callie comes running back into the bathroom with a pair of Wyatt's socks in one hand and a pair of hers in the other. I can't believe how much they copy us and try and learn from the things we do all day long. It's a such an enormous responsibility to be a parent and to try and set good examples. I just pray that I'm doing a good enough job to have deserved these two little blessings.

The camera is getting fixed so I don't have anything fun to share. Instead, I put a bunch of random pictures from our vacation that never made it on the blog. They have been talking about Mickey Mouse, "Hat" (Goofy), and "bi-bices" (princesses) ever since we got home. They ask to see pictures of them a couple times a day and they smile and laugh. It's great knowing that they obviously loved our time at Disney.


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BooMama's Before & After

This is a blog that I read when I'm really bored (not that that makes it any less fabulous) and it sometimes has these community blogging activity things which are actually kind of fun. Well, she announced this one a couple of months ago and kept postponing it. Anyway, it gave me enough motivation to try to finish the upstairs foyer area which I have been needing to do anyway for four years now. And I actually did it. Unfortunately, she decided to finally do it on Friday but we were still on our way home from our trip. So, I know that I'm a couple days late with this, but other people are still playing that are late too. If you want to see other people's before and afters, click on the Before and After button.

Here's my before (it's a video):

And here's my after:

Last Day!

We are finally back at home! It was a long week even though it was really fun. We are totally exhausted and just trying to recover this weekend. On our last day in Orlando, we didn't have any plans or force ourselves to see too much. We went to Disney's Boardwalk which was totally cute and quiet (and made me want to stay there the next time we visit).

Then, we took naps and headed out to the Magic Kingdom for the Spectromagic parade. Disney is pretty during the day, but gorgeous at night! We had a little more than an hour to wait before the parade started so we got to finish up going on some rides we had missed earlier in the week. It was great because it wasn't as hot and sticky and the lines were much shorter. We had a blast and it was probably the most fun we had since we got there!

The parade was really pretty and fun but the kids were just so tired. They liked seeing all the lights and of course, Mickey Mouse. They stayed awake until 10:00 like real troopers! It was so fun an awesome ending to a great trip!

Poor Thing!

OR NOT!

So, yesterday we went back to the Magic Kingdom to take the Peeny Peencess to meet the princesses thinking it was going to light up her life since it's all she could talk about since she got here. And as you can see, it didn't go over so well.

Hahaha! Poor thing! I guess it was too overwhelming or maybe they looked too much like strangers as opposed to the adorable Mickey Mouse who is definately not scary.

We did a couple more things while we were there like ride the Haunted Mansion and rode the "choo choo" around the park too. But, we were so Disneyed out by that point that we just wanted to leave. So, we left and went to Ikea instead. We needed a break. I'm getting kind of sad about having to go home and leave all this behind, but I think we are almost ready. There is so much to do here that you could never see it all in just a week!

Animal Kingdom

The Animal Kingdom was awesome and has been by far our favorite park. We got up early since the animals are usually still awake before it gets too hot. It was so worth it because we saw a baby giraffe and a baby elephant! Brent and I both love animals so much and the kids do too! It was the funnest day we had so far because we got to meet so many characters too. Wyatt is not a fan Mickey unless you are holding him for reassurance. He cried everytime... but Callie was all about it!

Please just look at this one picture of my kid. Girlfriend sees the goat eating hay off the ground and was trying to mimick it by eating some hay too! So gross. I guess she noticed the thing didn't use it's hands to eat. Hahahaha! Precious.

We did the entire park by 1:00 so we came home and ate and took naps and headed back out to Downtown Disney. It was fun and relaxing... just a bunch of shopping and places to eat. It was so cute to see all the little girls getting done up like princesses at the Bibbidy Bobbity Boutique. Callie has been obsessed by all the princesses since we got here! Please believe she asked to have her picture taken next to the princess statue. Oh, yes ma'am!



On the way home, we stopped by the pool so the kids could run around in the splash area and get wet. Wyatt was a champ! He loved stomping on the jets and smacking the water and screaming and just being a nut. Here is Wyatt:

And here is Callie (who was having none of it!):

Hollywood Studios

The lack of naps finally caught up with us today. We ventured to MGM this morning despite the fact that we are starting to fantasize about wheelchairs. The kids seemed good to go but as soon as we got there, we realized they were kind of a mess. They weren't really coping with standing in lines too well or being in the strollers either. We did manage to see a couple things, but Wyatt even cried when he met Donald Duck. It was still pretty cute even through the tears.

At that point, we figured we needed to head home for a nap. It worked out really well too because as soon as we got home, it started pouring and it hasn't let up since. None of us were really interested in heading back out tonight so we took the afternoon to chill out and recoop for tomorrow. We're headed to Animal Kingdom in the morning! I'm so excited!

Epcot (BALL! BALL! BALL! BALL!)

Epcot was fun and chill. I know that probably makes me a nerd, but after the Magic Kingdom, I was so glad we picked a park that had a much thinner crowd with less stuff to do. We did Spaceship Earth and the Nemo part first and then walked the loop of all the countries. Then we hit the Coke exhibit where you can try tons of different kinds of Coke. That was a bad move because Callie pretty much bathed herself in Watermelon Coke right before we met the characters so she was sticky, wet, and stained pink in all of the pictures.

Meeting the characters was my favorite part so far. We have a Disney Credit Card and one of the perks was getting to meet Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy in a big room with just the four of us. It was so sweet. Both kids were in total awe initially. They were smiling and touching them and Callie even kissed Minnie Mouse on the nose. It was so cute. Goofy was giving them high fives. Callie cried when we had to leave.

This morning they came storming into our bedroom and handed me their Mickey Mouse right away. So fun. I still haven't moved though and I've been up over an hour. I'm sooooo tired. Help.