Pass the Sugar Please

OK, so what's the best way to approach my 2 week long hiatus... I'll just avoid that white elephant in the room, and act like I've been updating regularly... So here goes... I'll just jump right in!

Two wonderful years ago, we were celebrating the birth of baby Chayse. 

 She was born October 19, and became the most adorable, precious, lovable, beautiful little baby girl.  She's always been sooo easy sleeping through the night, never crying, and taking her sister's abuse like a champ. 

As the months passed, she has pretty much stayed the same ol' sweet, innocent, little girl.  She's super easy, almost constantly smiling and laughs at almost anything and everything! To put it simply... She's just absolutely ADORABLE! She bobbles around and makes everyone fall in love with her within a second.  She does what she's asked, and if not, she is extremely easily persuaded with a little food, which she has grown to have an enormous affection for.  

I always told myself, if I knew another one would be as easy as her, I would definitely try for a third...  OK- fast forward until now and my how things change! 

How in the world have the 'terrible two's' crept up on us so quickly?!!  I never thought this would happen to my little angel! Its like a disease that has completely taken over and entirely transformed her! There has to be a fix- an old ancient remedy or something!? But, until I find it- I'll stick with what seem to work best. Give her some lipstick and let her go to town!

She reminds me a little more like an old cat.  99% of the time, she's loving and enjoyable, but if you push her to her limit... oh brother! watch out! Hold on to your hair, put on some shin guards and run away! She hits, smacks, pulls hair, yanks things away, throws things, and pushes and will not- I repeat... WILL NOT stop her tantrum until she is absolutely sure she is going to get her way! And even then, she is so mad she doesn't even realize we have given in, and she has gotten her way...again... Or perhaps she's on to something?...hhmmm....?
But then again... I can't get too upset with her because she is just standing up for herself! I mean she has taken quite a beating from that sis of hers! Chayse has been bit, pinched, hit, smacked... you name it! Poor thing! So... now what do I do? Any ideas?

* not really the best picture I could have dug up... but it does show the torture she endured... you can count all of Sloan's 12 teeth on poor little Chaysie's leg!

So, basically- here are my options:

1~ let her be a Diva for my own sanity until this phase passes (and possibly make matters worse)

2~ own up to the duties of being a mom and discipline her (over at our house that's just a good beat-down to show them who's boss  only a time-out...) - ok, please don't send CPS... I'm only wishful thinking! kidding!

3~ let them duke it out, and show Sloan a taste of her own medicine!

Or perhaps there are some better ideas? anyone?

Ok, so on a much lighter note... her little birthday shin-dig went over smoothly! Her 'terrible two-itis' was very well managed! And fortunately the cute little baby Chayse we all know and love was in full affect! 

We also had an amazing day on her actual birthday when I took the day off and concentrated only on Chayse and my family! The best day I've had in a very long time! I told myself I was not going to do anything other than play and concentrate on them! Nothing too out of the ordinary, since I obviously don't focus on my house, dinner, or to-do list! So, from now on, I'm not going to act like I'm any kind of home-maker... I'll just keep hanging out with them, instead of trying (and being unsuccessful) to balance everything! How does everyone else do it? Please let me in on the secret.

Anyway, aside from my tangent... back to our amazing day...

*I mean, the picture is so much more important than getting burned!*

After breakfast, (and luckily preventing a burned finger), we took sloan to Pre-school, and headed off to Target for her pick of a present, and then to the Library.  I was greatly reminded of my love for the library! I have not been there in years, and I don't know why I have let the joy of searching for books slip away.

We then went to pick up the three other members of our family: Sloan, Daddy, and of course Chick-fil-A.

We headed off to Keenland for a picnic under the direct line of departure airplanes - (a favorite of Chayse's).

LOVED IT!!

It's not a great birthday unless you can get away with a good nose pickin!

Is it obvious I was threatening Sloan for a good picture?

Since she put in some effort, I followed through and we were able to swing by the stalls and see the horses.  I don't know if we were suppose to be there- so I left the camera in the car to avoid any curious onlookers!

After nap time we finished the day with one last hurrah!

Before...

 During...

And after...

Definitely a lesson I learned the hard way- so, if you take anything away from all this rambling... please just take away this... USE WASHABLE PAINT... no, no, don't worry... the rain won't wash it off! Once they see how gorgeous their work is, THEY DON'T WANT IT OUTSIDE!!!!??? WHY DID THEY WAIT TO TELL ME THIS AFTER WE STAINED EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!!?? Now, if anyone knows a way to get acrylic paint off clothes (especially a particular favorite orange polka dot Halloween kitty shirt)- I'm all ears!

OK- so it's not a birthday without a little more sugar right before bed time! I mean, what's the harm?... as long as their teeth get brushed!

Please notice, Sloan can blow out Chayse's candles... but no way can Chayse blow out Sloan's... even though it's not even her birthday?

OK, so after looking at these pictures again I have been greatly reminded how adorable Chaysie is (and Sloanie too of course), and how I'm fortunate her 'two-itis' only comes out every now and then... And, in reality, deep down, I can't help but crack up at the Jekyll and Hyde I am so in love with and hold tight and kiss every chance I get!

I love you Chaysie! I hope you had a wonderful birthday!

apples, apples, and more apples

hello hello blog! It's been so long! And for no other reason than I just have not been able to find the time to escape and update.  But, nonetheless, it has been lingering in the back of my mind... (amongst other things!)

Especially since my friends have told me my blog was actually helpful to them!

They were inspired to go to the Orchard and buy their cheaper pumpkins there, verses the unexpected, expensive Krogers! Hopefully they did the math aside from trusting my figures! (Thanks Becky and Bryan for the feedback- and for reading my blog for that matter!) And please say a little prayer for them on the 7th with their induction! - We can't wait to meet baby Kennedy!

OK, back on track from my little side note.  So, here is just one of the millions of things we have been up to! (Don't worry, you'll be hearing about the other stuff too! - Sometime at least! - I'm sure you can't wait!! right?!)

Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy, and perhaps make some apples for yourself (or for someone else)!

So, as promised... here is what we did with our orchard apples!

The girls were in charge of unwrapping the caramels and putting them in the pan.  You can tell, Chayse didn't want to wait for them to be unwrapped before she ate them!

  

 (and don't worry, the stove was not on yet.)  Although, I did realize this is a great way to keep them occupied! I might need to start doing this on a regular basis!  They sat there concentrating and playing together for a good 45 minutes! (I should have taken advantage and gotten some things done around the house, but instead I just stood there snapping away at the photo ops!)

After the bag of caramels were unwrapped, we added 2 tbls of water, turned on the stove and stirred until melted.

We placed the apples in the sticks,

Cut some out for fun dipping,

added the caramel...

which sloan decided to wash off... (I mean who wants to be healthy and eat an apple without anything extra on it!? - what kind of mother am I, for forcing the caramel on her over the healthy plain version!?)

Now, Chayse on the other hand... the more food the better!

Moving on with the dipping...

and of course decorating... 

and leave it to Chayse for picking, playing, and licking the caramel!  She's so precious!!

And the long awaited for, beautifully decorated, much anticipated, final product!

But of course, we bypassed the directions of waiting a couple hours for them to harden in the fridge.  So instead, we opted for taking them out back and devouring every last drop!

Well, at least that was what I had planned, but I should have known it was just going to be disastrous! Just after the first bite we had a sequence of questionable events... 

1. How do you even tackle eating this apple? 

2. How do we prevent it from sticking to everything?

3. How do we clean this off our face?

 4. Can we just pick off the sprinkles instead?

5. Forget it! This is just too much work!

The next day the chocolate covered apples went over much better!

They were much easier to master!

and much more enjoyable!

Good thing Sloan's only 3! Otherwise, she would probably have a meltdown if she were older and I put this picture of her on here! How hilarious is this one!? I couldn't resist!  (and not to mention the picture of chayse chowing down too! but, then again, I have several of her cramming food in her mouth!! That girl loves to eat!)
Anyway, let me know if you all decide to tackle the sticky mess of caramel apples this fall, or if you do anything else with your apples!

*Just a tip - if you go the caramel route... make sure you have a spatula on hand to clean up the mess! Water doesn't do anything but create more of a disaster!

OK- so now that updating the blog has been crossed off the list... its time to move on to the next thing...

1- Chayse is turning 2 in less than 2 weeks! What am I going to do!?
2- Sloan has new bedroom furniture finally (we found at a garage sale!) So, now, I only need to decorate those bare walls... in princess pictures...
3- I want to paint my cabinets, paint the walls, make drapes, and slipcovers for the couch, chairs and cushions in the kitchen all for under $100...
4- Fix the 'death valley' slide on our new swing set, so the kids (and I) will not be afraid to fly down it and continue tumbling down the Mount Everst of a hill we have!
5- and, of course, not to mention the daily 'to do tasks' that I only tackle every other couple of months or so...
for instance... vacuuming my house! (I think I actually heard my carpets crying out for my help! It's so bad, I had a dream about it the other night!!)

But of course, blogging, taking care of kids, husband, house, packing snacks, lunches, groceries, putting away laundry, and of course, finding the time to go to a CBT meeting that Jim has been wearing everyone out about attending, are much more important than my kids eating 5 month old food off the ground!

Aside from all this chaos I sort through on a daily basis, you obviously now realize only the fun things take precedence! (Especially when it comes to sweets!) So, needless to say, vacuuming will continue to be pushed to the backburner!
Maybe one of these days I'll be able to have a live in nanny, chef, maid, butler and pay them from the money tree in the back yard!