Panhandling

Halloween is nothing but legalized panhandling. Our neighborhood has no street lights, so it isn't exactly ideal for trick or treating. We headed out tonight at 6, trying to catch the last little bit of daylight. However, most of our neighbors closed their blinds and turned off the porch lights. A few left bowls of candy on their doorsteps--a welcomed opportunity for Avery to hoard extra sugar.

Nevertheless, we ended up with too much candy. And, of course, since the local kids have figured out that our neighborhood is sub-par for trick-or-treating, we didn't get many visitors. Therefore, we have tons of candy left over. I have exercised restraint and avoided it so far. I'm still holding onto a few pregnancy pounds and Halloween candy would be the death of me.

We let Avery stay up a little late to watch Little Monsters, but she seemed to get a little freaked out by Howie Mandel in costume, so we switched over to a little Dora On Demand before bed.

By the way, Stuart was a chicken. He had already outgrown his size 9 months lobster costume, so we let him borrow Avery's costume from 2 years ago. And Avery was a pink dog -- again. She has been begging to wear the costume again ever since she took it off last year.

I leave you with a few sweet pictures from our fun family night.

Up to no good

My little fashionista has a newfound interest in hair curlers. We found these soft ones at Target. They roll like a sponge roller, but they twist closed so they are easy to sleep on. (We haven't convinced her yet that she should sleep in them. Stubborn.)

Another favorite pasttime is dressing herself. This kiddo can be caught in all types of getups. Never a dull moment in our house!

Monday Night Football

We spent Monday night cheering on the Titans...from LP Field! Normally we'd be planted on the sofa, but Bob and Shannon Barrett invited us to share their tickets. We dressed in our Code Blue apparel but prompty covered it up with layers of sweaters, coats, hats, and gloves. It really wasn't as cold as I expected, but I think the cold spurred on my cold. Yep, I've gotten Avery and Stuart's colds. We've been practicing the art of sharing with Avery, but she hasn't quite figured out that you don't share everything -- namely, germs.

Ideally, I'll rest today and get plenty of fluids and then be back to my old self in no time. We're going to try not to pass this cold in circles.

A special shout out to Becca and Nathan Daniel for inviting Avery to sleep over with Fenley and to Jay and Melanie Brown (and Tori and Abby) for giving Stuart his first sleepover! We couldn't have a life without you all. We owe you a big one for our NFL date night! Thanks!

Becca, the saint

I had an appointment this morning that I wasn't exactly looking forward to. (Ladies, can I get an "amen"?) Avery has school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I make all my appointments on those days so I'll only have Stuart in tow. However, today, she was on day 5 of a cough and I felt pretty guilty about exposing her to other vulnerable kiddos.

My precious friend Becca had offered to meet me at the doctor's office to hold Stuart in the waiting room. She also got stuck with Avery. Not normally a big deal, but today Avery was bound and determined to wear her big girl panties. Before we went into the office, we stopped off at the restroom. But the kid doesn't perform under pressure. So I warned Becca that she might need to make a quick trip out to take her to the potty.

When my appointment finished up, I came out to the waiting room to find Avery in different pants. Becca told me that Avery had made a face, so she asked her if she needed to "go." However, she'd already peed into her shoes. Poor Becca. She is a true friend for putting up with me and my potty training child. I love you, Becca!!!

Diaper woes

I just made my daughter change her own diaper. Not kidding. I just sat on the edge of the tub next to her for an hour and 3 minutes waiting for her to go to the potty. She gave up and asked to put on her diaper. Then she promptly peed in it. So I sent her upstairs to change herself. Tough love.

Family night out

Normally on Wednesday nights we go to church. We are blessed to be part of an amazing church family and look forward to meeting with that community multiple times each week. However, last night, our plans changed at the eleventh hour. We took the kids to a rock show!

Our friends Alex and Erik are in a band called FLOREZ and they had a show at Belmont last night. We found out that the show was going to be fairly early, so it was a prime opportunity to let our little ones see them live. Avery loves to listen to FLOREZ music in the car and she's constantly hounding me to let her listen when I'm on the computer.

The show was fantastic. They even threw in a couple covers that were awesome! The guys really put on a great live show.

We got to see Alex's sweet wife Michelle (who is expecting their first baby in January) and Erik's fiance Jaime (who he met on CBS Survivor: China). Erik and Jaime are in the final days of a wedding contest. They're hoping to win a dream wedding in Charleston. Go online and VOTE for them!

Can't be mad

I needed to be talked off the ledge this afternoon. My stubborn kids didn't want to take a nap. This is nothing new for Avery, but Stuart is usually out like a light as soon as I put him in his crib. Not so today. So he's in the living room with me.

Avery begged to go to the potty. She's been getting better. She went last night before bed (after sitting on the pot for 10 minutes -- no exaggeration) and did the big #2 this morning after about the same amount of time. However, this afternoon, it was simply stall tactics. She sat for a good 20 minutes with no activity, just so she didn't have to be in her bed. I finally forced her to put the diaper back on and put her back in bed.

Every few minutes, she'd be at the door whispering for me or jumping off furniture in her room. I heard her moving around in there a couple of minutes ago, which obviously means she's not in the bed I told her not to dare get out of. I headed upstairs to tell her to get back in bed, but she was huddled in the corner by her nightlight reading her picture Bible. Can't be mad at her for that! At least she's quiet!

Night of the living dead?

Yesterday, the kids and I met Becca and Fenley at the Edmondson Pike Library to play on their playground. It was a REALLY HOT day, so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. There was a large tree nearby shading a picnic table, so we grabbed a seat.

We let the girls run around (sweating their little tails off) while we caught up with each other. One of Becca's friends was there with her two girls and we offered to keep an eye on her infant in her carseat carrier while she ran inside to let the older one go to the potty. A small girl approached, obviously very interested in the baby, and climbed onto the table to look at her. Her mom was fairly close on a cell phone call. The girl sneezed on the baby's foot and the mom ran over (still on the phone) to tell her to get down. She moved the child to the playgound mulch and dashed off so the person she was talking to on the phone wouldn't hear her daughter cry. The little girl went straight back to the picnic table to check out the baby. Mom again grabbed her by the hand and dragged her over a concrete curb and into the mulch and dashed away so her conversation wouldn't be interrupted, leaving the girl lying on her back throwing a fit. I wanted to grab the mom's phone and toss it. Bizarre.

We stayed in our spots under the tree for quite a while, periodically jumping up to make sure the girls didn't venture too close to dangerous playground dropoffs. Finally at one point, Becca looked down at her feet and said, "I KNEW I was feeling something under my feet." I thought she had been referring to an anthill or some sort of bug. But I looked down and didn't see anything. I thought Becca was nuts. Then I realized that she meant not just under her feet, but under the ground, too. The ground was moving. Something was under us crawling around.

We got a stick and started digging in the dirt. Our behavior seemed a little odd to our girls, so Avery and Fenley came over to investigate. When we started digging, the bumping moved a few feet over. We backed away and watched as it moved back to the spot where we'd been digging. Would it come up through the hole? We were freaking out! Periodically poking at the hole, we couldn't take our eyes off the spot where we expected to see a paw or claw or snout (or zombie!). Nothing. The little booger (whatever it was) wouldn't break through the surface. We must have scared it off. Deserves it. It scared the daylights out of us.

The Beach!

I know you haven't been waiting around for my beach post (except you, mom), but I apologize for the delay. I've just had a few things that were higher on the priority list.

We had a great time at the beach. We stayed in the same place as last year--Mediterra in Perdido Key, FL--and were very pleased with our accommodations. We had great weather, beautiful sand, an indoor pool to die for, and awesome seafood.

My only complaint was the bugs! On our way down, as soon as we got through Montgomery, we started hearing them splat on the windshield. It sounded like rain. Yuck! The wind one day took care of them for a while. Then they reappeared. I think it was mating season. Gross.

Nothing else really exciting to share, but I'll leave you with some pictures of our trip:

Our bathtub was fantastic!!! Avery loves a good bath, so this was a dream for her.