pleased as punch

After spending a day making caramel apples at a friends we spent the night carving our pumpkins. Fin thought it was gross, and Tucker thought it was awesome. Chad was really intense in his carving preparation. Everyone was happy in the end.

Music class in the morning with the kids, then a trip to the zoo with some friends. One of the last dry days of the season. The warmth of the sun mixes with the crisp fall air. Rust, amber, persimmon and the forest green of the pines color the hillsides. The energy of the zoo animals today matches that of my kids. Polar bears and sea lions swim right up against the glass. The baby elephant (3 months old and 450 lbs yikes!) teases his 1/2 blind "aunt". Shir Kahn the tiger paces and growls along the edge of his enclosure. And the giraffe comes almost close enough to touch. After the zoo we have lunch downtown with Chad at the Elephant Delicatessen. We eat mac and cheese, tomato bisque, a wood fired pizza and coconut macaroons. We talk about things that make us happy, our kids mainly. Then we walk back to the car under a cascade of falling leaves. It was a gorgeous fall afternoon.

This only happens about once a year because there are guaranteed to be tears, and unpleasantries exchanged. (see last years attempt here) Another guarantee is that not one single photo of the 4 of us together will turn out. This year proved to be no different. I even tried to simplify things by doing the "shoot" on our back porch. Well this is what we ended up with. The only photo with everyone smiling ended up being a little blurry to put it mildly. Callie do you want to come take a few of us for our posterity. With the bar set so low you should feel absolutely no pressure.

Our two little ones have been keeping things busy for us in the emergency department this month. At the beginning of the month Finley squirted Tuck in the eyes and mouth with Windex. Apparently it is more dangerous to have Windex in your eyes then to ingest it. A fifteen minute bath (rinsing out his eyes), a few eye drops and some milk from mom and crisis solved.

Then last night Tucker started choking right before dinner on what we thought might be a Hot Tamale (candy) and stopped breathing long enough for me to frantically scream for Chad's help. We ended up calling 911 and while waiting for help (which happened to be a fire truck and crew... wow) Tuck began to breath again. The firemen listened to his breathing and said that his airway sounded great and left. An hour later he was still choking so I called his doc who said to rush him to the ER. 3hrs, 2 x-rays, 1 pediatric Ear Nose and Throat specialist, and a lot of tears later, we had our happy and healthy baby boy back in our arms again.


* The culprit: He choked on a pine needle shaped object about 1-inch long. The needle lodged itself horizontally in his throat. It had tiny barbs on either end and every time his throat constricted the needle would squeeze tighter into the muscle. Poor guy.

Favorite lines from the night.

"He's gonna be OK. I know Amy because I am an Eagle Scout." (Chad's response to me calling 911)

Doctor: "Are his lips always this big and puffy?"
Me: "Uh, yes."

Finley every so often during our 3 hr ER stay would stick her head out of the curtain separating us from the nurses station and say;

"He really crying."
"He really choking."
"He really sad."
"He really dying."

She was a vigilant bedside nurse.

Note to self: Cut Finley's mullet.

I have been avoiding the unavoidable for weeks now. The truth is... Mullets really don't look cute on little girls. I have gone through emotional turmoil over cutting her golden locks. Last night I finally did it. I pulled her hair(s) back into a pony tail and then with one swift snip they were gone. Chad couldn't believe I did it so abruptly. To me it was like ripping off a band aide; the quicker the better. She looks so different now. It makes me sad that I had to do it.

Note to self: Never multi-task while making caramel apples.

We had friends over last week to makes some treats. I was trying to make Tucks lunch and feed him while preparing a pot of caramel for the girls. I am not a multi-tasker. I ended up burning the caramel. The caramel apples were as hard as a rock. We've got to try this again Amanda. I swear I can make a successful batch!

I love kissing his soft fat baby cheeks and making him laugh so hard he cries (happy tears). He says ma ma, and mimics a lot of the different sounds that he hears. He has become a lightning fast crawler, and climbs up the stairs with ease (coming down is another story). This week he has been sleeping through the night Hallelujah and in the nursery with his sister. I love that his whole world lights up when you walk in the room. I love being his mom.



Finley is in love with these boots. She calls them her Rupert boots (named after our neighbors white cat Rupert). They are a size too big for her so they slow her down a lot. That's good for me (because I can finally catch her with ease) but I can tell it's a little frustrating for her. Last night she was practicing running in them from one end of the main floor to the other. When her dad got home she was so excited to tell him, "I fast running daddy." And she really was.

I grew up anticipating this holiday more than the rest. I LOVED watching Charlie Brown and dreaming up what my Halloween costume was going to look like. What the heck was I thinking the year I decided that the most awesome thing I could be was a California Raisin. (they were totally awesome. I do remember now that I watched that little clip!)

Chad can vouch for the validity of my stupidity, he was there. (I was in 5th grade and he just so happened to be my boyfriend at the time.) I mean come on! Did no one see the folly of my thinking. How ridiculous did I look wearing a giant black garbage bag stuffed with newspaper.

I should have gotten the hint when the 40th person asked"So what are you supposed to be?!"

"I'm a California freakin' Raisin!!! Can't you tell!!!! Giant sunglasses, white gloves, black tights, sneakers, and raisin-like garbage bag!"

Try keeping up with all of your friends trick-or-treating when you are waddling around town in such an artistic getup! Were they embarrassed by me, or were they really just that much faster? Mom, why didn't you stop me?

I just took some pictures of the cutest little thing. He is the first baby (not my own) that I have taken photos of. I invited my friend over to my "studio" (remember...my studio the 2 foot gap in between my bed and the sliding glass door) to practice. I loved how they turned out.