Pumpkin Patch 2011

I love that we have gone to the same pumpkin patch for four years now.  Four Years!  Adulthood has been so consistent and stable; I love having traditions.  That being said, this wasn't our best year.  Despite going after her nap, Mae wasn't all to cheery.  I think next year she will be better and we will have some real fun.

Cry Me a River

I am not sure why but I have felt quite lonely lately.  Fairly sure that it is not post par tum depression, but instead a combination of losing a few friends and it seems like everyone in my life is really busy right now.  Or at least busier then me.  Or too busy for me.
     I feel as thought I have been dumped by a friend of mine whom I haves spent a lot of time with this past year.  I was warned by a mutual friend that this other friend was one of those flavor of the month friends, you know the type, they get all excited when the first find you but then after awhile they lose interest.  Well I am not longer interesting.  We had an incident this week.  When I got pregnant with Spike she gave me all her maternity clothes, (Not you Katie,) because she could no longer have children, or so she thought.  Much to her and her husbands surprise, she got pregnant this last summer.  I told her I would get her the clothes back, I had no problem with this.  She face booked me and told me she was too busy to see me so I should have Jeff take the clothes to her husband who works with Jeff.  Ummmm....It is not like I was obligated to give her the clothes, so the least she could have done is arranged a face to face.  I don't think she is mad at me, I think I am just not interesting enough for her anymore.
   One thing that I find impossible to do is play hard to get.  Impatient and blunt, I find it difficult to hide my feelings, (Yes, big surprise to all of you.)  Lately I have felt a bit neglected with my phone relationships.  I try not to call, to hold out until someone wants to talk to me, but I never last for too long.  Oh man this is a really sad and depressing post.  No worries I am not going to start crying or do anything rash.  Just throwing a few feelings out there.  I am sure that very soon I will say something stupid that will cause quite the stir and get me riled into quite the self righteous fit and all this weepyness will be forgotten in a seething rage.

p.s. do you cry in movies?  I find it so difficult to let others see me cry in movies.  I have no problem with others crying in movies, but cannot allow myself to do it.  I feel all the emotion but do everything in my physical power to not cry so as to avoid any possible embarrassment or shame.  Man I can be such a poser.  This also makes me HATE movies that manipulate people into crying.  I hate Titanic because it was like James Cameron was personally testing my resolve not to cry.  "What you're not gonna cry over the dying children well let me throw some old couple in each others arms at you.  Still not crying let me show you the band.  Emily Jeanne if you don't cry at the preacher giving last rights then YOU HAVE NO SOUL!!!"  Seriously though James and I are deadlocked in a battle of wills.

"And if you have to kill anyone,

make sure you eat their heart to gain their courage.  Their rich tasty courage."- Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, Futurama.

Apparently Mae is a big subscriber to this philosophy.  With the Binky gone, she has not only started talking more but making other noises as well.  Blowing raspberries is fun for the whole family when Mae is around.  I thought that I'd surprise her with a whistle.  (I am an above average whistler.)  Her world was rocked to say the least.  She desperately tried to figure out the action.  Attempts were made to study me and hands were shoved in my mouth.  My lips were poked and prodded.  Finally she decided that the best course of action was to kiss me and steal my whistling power for herself.  Whenever I whistle now, she kisses me on the lips and then makes an imitation of whistling.  It is pretty darn cute.

Smile Time

Spike is a cheery guy.  He has got huge grins to spare.  I have never seen such a smiley baby.  The other two smiled occasionally, but not frequently and only when provoked with a tickle or amusement.  Spike's default setting is contented.  The kid just loves to grin.  With all the drama the other two have brought recently it is a really appreciated blessing to see these smiles all day long.  It is like living in Hawaii or passing a beautiful piece of artwork, it enriches the soul.

On the cheap and easy

So for Max's birthday this year we went a little cheap and easy cause I could get away with it.  We didn't make it to the pool much this summer because of the pregnancy, the excessive heat, and cause Mae kept trying to drown herself, so it was special for Max to go to the pool for his party.  We got a sitter for Mae and Spike to stay at home then took Max and his entourage to the pool for about two hours.  It is nice that we have a pool just one minuet from our house.  We invited Max's best friend Andrew and his girl Claudia to go swimming.  Pizza was ordered and we got spider man cupcakes from Sam's Club.  I was so cheap that I even used a mix of Spider man and Star Wars cups/plates from last year.  The one benefit of having such a small group is that I was able to buy a small toy for each kid and we had a 1 adult to 1 Kid ratio at the pool.  Max had a great time.

Absolution

I am posting this to absolve myself of the minor twinge of guilt I have felt about not posting recently.  It is not so much that I feel guilty depriving all my readers, (yeah all two of them,) of my greatness, but that I do use this as a journal and thought dumping ground and therefore I like to post frequently to record events and empty out my extra musings.  I am feeling a bit ca put and overwhelmed.  Life with the kids, mostly Mae, is draining enough that I have decided to absolve myself of any extra responsibilities.  So expect a dry spell here for awhile.  I will still throw up pictures of the kids at least once a week.  Any other musings will probably be shelved for a later date.  Hmmm while I am here I am also going to absolve myself of my unwritten Thank You cards.  As an adult I have been AWESOME at Thank You cards.  During my engagement I was working at a bookstore and the manager gave me a book on Thank You card etiquette.  I cranked those suckers out and am proud to say I excelled at getting them mailed for the first two kids.  Besides the kids and wedding I have also sent many out for kindness, service, and other various gifts.  Well this time I am gonna take a pass.  I am tired.  I got out a whole stack before the baby came to those who gave me shower presents, but then the gifts kinda trickled in.  I am embarrassed to say that I have actually forgotten a few.  There is one for my grandma cause hey, she's my grandma, and one or two others but if you don't get a card, please know that I do appreciate the lovely gifts and kind thought that have come my way recently.

A few random musings before I go....

We had another family move into our ward that doesn't immunize.  Are you kidding me?!?

Mae has started saying a few more words since we have taken away the Binky...Spider man and Star Wars.

We are going on week three of no nightly pull up for Max, so week three of washing the sheets EVERY NIGHT FOR THREE WEEKS!

It is that lovely time of year again when the water here smells and tastes like dirt.  But of course they say on the news that it is still safe to drink despite the odor. Comforting.

Runoff elections are a stupid waste of time and very un-American in my opinion.  If someone wins more votes then the other candidates then they should win the election.  It is insane that I have to go vote again for school board when less then 1500 people voted in the first place and the guy won by over a hundred votes.

I am assuming that my last blog contest was a bust due to an unexpected death in my family and the precarious health of Jeff's father.  Although neither of those absolve my friends.... but forget the Thank You cards that I owe you and we'll call it even.  I did get one post so Meg will be getting a pumpkin pie very soon.

Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches are exceptionally tasty

Five Guys Burgers and Fries is ridiculously overrated.

If you have Netflix streaming you need to watch the new Sherlock series done by Masterpiece Theater last year.  It is set in modern times and is the best program I have viewed in years.

Jeff has been crazy busy at work.  It is impressive how many times he is called in to some project cause they know that Jeff will save the day.

I really hate breakfast....there is probably a whole post about this that will come out eventually...also one on how I tried to go running this week and how after running three miles I thought my uterus was gonna fall out and I lost control of my car on the way home cause my legs were so heavy and numb.

Happy Day to Miss Mae

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAE!