Happy Halloween

 Emma is OBSESSED with the color blue! She always has it on her mind. 

There was no doubt that she wanted to be the blue genie from one of her favorite shows 'Shimmer and Shine'. 

 There were a few options for Charlie but I went with a Subway sandwich. It was hard for me to even consider spending $40 and up for his costume when I know he wouldn't even wear it after taking a picture. 

Second child is showing its colors. 

Cami loved being a turtle...can you tell?!? 

Pumpkin Park

 Emma and I went to the Pumpkin Park last year for the first time. I was shocked how great this festival was, so I was so excited to come back this year. 

This year Mike was able to come along so it made it even better. 

 The festival is huge. It has so many things to see, buy, do. 

The kid area is awesome. Slides, rides, petting zoo, play area, crafts, shows... 

this was Emma's first horse ride. She had such a blast! I'm not going to lie. I was nervous. Not because of not trusting the pony..I was nervous not trusting Emma. She is a little antsy. 

 This right here...this is the first smile. 

I cant believe I caught it. 

 We had such a great time here. I am looking forward to next year again. 

West Virginia Living

Oh West Virginia...

I am not going to lie. I was not excited to move to you. From Hawaii to West Virginia :/  a land-lock state that you hear "stereotypical" rumors about. You are beautiful tho... (mountains)
We have lived here for a year and a half now. Another year and a half to go. We had a couple things happen that was a little disappointing since moving here. I'm not really blaming it on the state because it could happen anywhere but I am just jotting it down...just because.  

One of our quads were stolen.
Mike had put it on Craigslist because we were selling them. He had a buyer and was taking it to work the next morning to meet the guy. So we loaded it up in the back of his truck around 11:30pm. He was leaving for work around 5am, so he was going to be up around 4am. This was also when Bolo was still with us and Mike was sleeping downstairs with him. Feet away from our door, someone came and cut the ties, lifted the quad out and took it away. So let me just say how frustrating that is when you have a buyer for something and then boom...nothing. Insurance covered a tiny part just because it was in Mikes truck when it happened, but that's about it.

Mikes truck was paint balled.
He parks in front of our house. Along with everyone else that lives on our street. He noticed that it was hit with a paintball one morning. He checked the neighbors car too. They also had paintball on them so it wasn't just us. Stupid kids.

Everyone needs to retake the driving test.
There is not a day that goes by that I am not cut off by someone. No one uses there blinker. No one waves to say thank you. Its frustrating.

Livestock Trucks
I have never seen so many livestock being transported on the freeway. There was one day that I had gotten on the freeway and was driving along with two trucks caring hundreds and hundreds of baby pigs. I actually teared up. They were on top of each other in different layers of the truck. I still think about it to this day. That memory breaks my heart.

Carelessness
This actually happened just the other day. I was pumping gas, with my two babies and my dog in the back seat. A man comes out of the gas station, lights a black-n-mild and starts pumping his gas. I looked at him with the biggest "what the F are you doing". I stopped pumping, got in my car and left.

Uneducated
I am not one to judge anyone but when I have to look at a woman obviously 7-8 months pregnant smoking a cigarette, it breaks my heart. Iv seen it on numerous occasions.

Obesity
It is everywhere here!

Back in time.
Today its a online world. Not in West Virginia though. Craigslist is empty. Yelp is empty. Websites are non-existent. We are going to be looking for a different home to rent soon and will have to drive around looking for "for rent" signs instead of looking on the computer. People just don't advertise the modern way.

Weirdos
We had to call the police one night because someone was trying to break into the church across the street. They were hitting the widows with part of the gutter that they had torn off. It was making a ton of noise so we looked outside and sure enough, some guy was banging on the doors. It was around 11:00pm so he definitely should not have been there. The cops took him away in cuffs. We live in a nice neighborhood but that doesn't matter, you still can get nut jobs. We also live a hour away from the country's...yes I said country's biggest overdose city. Bigger than Detroit, La, Chicago, NY...ect.
Heroin is a huge problem.

Stealing
I walked to the dentist one afternoon (it would have taken me longer to drive there)  and saw a bike parked behind a gas station. I thought to myself 'wow, that person is brave to just leave that bike there'. The very next morning, I passed by the bike again, and as I am sitting at the light a man pulls up, throws the bike into his broken car window and speeds off. I watched it happen just like that. Then he somehow was behind me and proceeds to honk at me because I yielded at a yield sign.

There will probably be a part two to this post with another year and a half to go.

Mommy Daughter Time

I saw that there was going to be a huge car show, a concert and fireworks that were going to be in our city and wanted to take the kids. 

I ended up taking just Emma and I am so glad it was just me and her. We needed some mommy daughter time. Plus, it was Charlies bedtime and it would have been hell getting him in the car seat. 

So, Emma and I headed downtown to check everything out. 

There were over 850 cars at this car show. A ton! When I saw the Cars movie cars I made Emma stand next to them. I knew she would love them.  Also, If you know my last name, you would know that we get the "Tow Mater" thing a lot. 

 I think this was probably the best band I had ever seen. They were playing oldies and were so amazingly good. Emma loved dancing and singing along. There were a ton of people here but I got lucky and caught a few pictures of just here with the band. 

 Fireworks were also really good. I am so glad Charlie stayed home with dad now that I am looking back on it. We would have had to stay away from the dance floor and the fireworks were super loud of course. Emma had such a great time and it probably would have been a little more difficult if it wasn't just her and me. 

 We had such a blast. I really enjoyed her company.

Pre-K

My baby....My first born...My beautiful little girl started Pre-K. 

 I just felt like it was time to get her into a place where she is learning with other kids. She was craving play time with others and could only get so much with our gymnastics class and the few people I know here with kids. She goes twice a week in the morning which is perfect right now. It gives me a little time with Charlie and to get some things done. I usually take Cami on a long walk...its hard to do that with two kids. 

When I pick her up she is so happy. She tells me everything that they did that day. Right now they are learning about dinosaurs. They have a snack midway thru the day and hopefully she will come around with being potty trained. 

I am loving my decision to start her already and its only been two weeks. 

Its been a month since she has started school and everything is still going really well. She has peed on the potty twice there...still not interested in doing it at home though. She can pour water in a cup and drink it without spilling. She is doing really well with her colors and counting. This is a Montessori school so everything is done with play and she is just having so much fun. 

Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to have a fun day and pick out pumpkins. Halloween is my favorite holidays so all the festivities are always my favorite. 

 This place has so many things for the kids to do. Tons of things to climb on, slides of hills, mazes, petting farm, the corn pit...and many many more. 

We spent half the day having fun and finally picking out the perfect pumpkins. 

We are now carving ready! 

Two Months Old

My little Charlie turned two months on the 9th. He has been such a blessing and I feels so lucky to be his mommy. 

This month he has started showing some personality. I am starting to get real smiles when I talk to him or tickle him. 

He sleeps a pretty good amount but I cant really put how long or how frequent because its hard to tell. He still wont let me put him down to sleep so he is in my arms pretty much the WHOLE DAY. So his sleep is very interrupted. With a toddler in the house and a CRAZZZZY dog, there is not much quiet time. I am hoping we get on a schedule soon so he can be a little more relaxed. I'm just not sure how I feel about the "cry it out" method some people do. Having him turn red to blue from screaming for so long just doesn't sound right to me, so as of now I will live with him attached to me through the day. 

Our night time routine is pretty set as for now. If he is not being rocked to sleep by 7:00pm he is pissed! He also loves to be swaddled. I never did it with Emma, but with him he is all about it. He usually sleeps from 7-12 and then will wake up for a feed. Then back down till about 2 and then again at 4 and 6. He is fully awake at around 7. I would of course love to sleep uninterrupted more but as of now this will do. Emma didn't fully sleep thru the night in till she 20 months, right when I stopped nursing so I have a ways to go. 

He had his 2 month doctors appointment today. The doc says he looks good. He is 11lbs 9oz and 22 3/4 inches.  He had two of his shots and that nasty stuff that goes in his mouth. I could tell he was really not feeling well after. I gave him a little Tylenol before bed to hopefully relive a little pain. I hate vaccines. I of course get them because I really hate the diseases, but they are still really scary to me.  I have been checking in on him more frequently tonight to make sure everything is OK. 

Emma has been doing so much better with Charlie this month. She gives lots of hugs and kisses and will try to help me with him. Which she is helpful in some aspects. 

With Halloween coming I am so excited to have two kids to dress up this year. Also, I am excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas coming so our families can meet him. 

Charlie is such a wonderful addition to our family. These past two months have been so amazing.