Another pumpkin patch

Well, Boo at the Zoo was a success. We arrived about 5pm in the parking lot, which was already full! So we had to head over to the overflow lot. The gates didn’t open till 5:30pm, but we were able to buy our tickets and then wait in a holding pattern for 5:30pm for them to let us into the zoo. It was crowded! We ended up going through their new sky ride entrance. Most people went through the main entrance. Our friends were in the mass of people waiting at the main entrance.

Once the gates opened, we were able to meet up with them and head off in a direction away from the main flow of the crowd, so it wasn’t bad! It worked out pretty nice. Of course we did meet up with the main bulk of the crowd in front of the carousel.

Courtney wanted to ride the carousel. We couldn’t believe it! She has always been afraid of it in the past! So, we got in line, and got on. She was always scared of the horses that went up and down, so I asked her if she wanted to sit on a bench. She said yes, but once we got on the carousel, she wanted a horse. I explained that it would go up and down and she was okay with that! She actually laughed for about the first 30 seconds once it started moving. So, I guess we finally have a carousel rider on our hands!

Courtney wore her costume the WHOLE time. She is a puppy. I think she was super adorable!!! To end the night, we fed the giraffes. Courtney and Hubby found a very social giraffe and fed him crackers.

Hubby was off again on Sunday, the next day. He was gone all week to New York City and got home late last night.

We got our first snow Wednesday night. We only got about an inch on the grass at our house. Some places got up to 4 inches. It wasn’t too bad, a few icy spots the next morning while driving, but overall pretty mild for the first snowfall. It certainly feels like it changed the air from fall to winter though. No more short sleeves, no more light jackets, its long sleeves and heavy coats from here on out.

Courtney and I had a typical week. We did go over to the Z’s house for dinner last night. Courtney had been asking to play with Hailey and Kinsey for 2 days. We had plans to go to a pumpkin patch today, but getting together for dinner would allow the girls some play time. So, we headed over to their house for dinner and the girls got some quality play time together. Courtney and Hailey are really starting to play together. Last night, they sat down and colored right after we got there. Hailey got them each a piece of paper and then the box of crayons, it was so cute. And they have conversations back and forth now also. After dinner, and dancing, and playing, I brought her home and put her to bed. She crashed FAST!

This morning was a big morning for her. Not only was Daddy home, but we were heading out to a local “farm”, more like a ranch. The farm that brought her the pony to our house set up a little pumpkin patch for Halloween. They had a hay ride, pony rides and you could feed the many animals. Plus you got to pick a pumpkin. The farm has a camel, many sheep, pigs, alpacas, donkeys, ponies, horses, cows, rabbits, chickens, ducks, goats, and probably some I am forgetting.

With the admission price, kids got a pony ride, a hay ride, a pumpkin, and a cup of feed! So, we started off feeding the animals. We then went for a hay ride, and it was a long hay ride! After the hay ride was straight to the pony ride. After that the girls went and chose a pumpkin. We let them play around a bit after that. It was quite windy, with a slight chill in the air, but not too bad. We finally left to head for home. Courtney and I both took a nice long nap after lunch.

She is looking forward to Halloween. I am not sure she grasps the concept, but she keeps mentioning Trick or Treating when we tell her Halloween is coming. So, she knows the two things go together. I will take her to a few houses on Friday, but not many. I am sure she will probably enjoy handing out candy too. I remember last year she got a kick out of watching the kids come to the door.

And that is what we have been up to!

Sinus Infection

Sorry it has been so long since the last update. Hubby was gone to Japan for 8 days. During that time, I got really worn down. Towards the end I just felt burnt out, and then I got sick. I am not surprised I got sick, since I felt so worn down (and I am pregnant). It has since turned into a sinus infection. I was at the doctor’s office Thursday getting a prescription for antibiotics. I have been sick over a week and I still feel really run down. With Hubby’s travel schedule, it may be a while before I can get completely over this.

So, yes folks, I am pregnant. I did find out on 8/8/08 at the Riviera hotel in Las Vegas at 6am. You can’t make up memories like that! I am 14 weeks now, which means I am into trimester 2. And this time so far (knock on wood) it has been a bit better! I have had some morning sickness, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was the first go round. And I think I am already coming out of it!

I have switched doctors from my last time. I like me new doctor a lot. I have already seen him a few times of course, and he is a really nice guy. Hopefully I won’t have to see him more than normal!

I can’t remember if I have mentioned before or not, but I use the website babycenter.com. You can enter in your due date and it tells you week by week what the baby is up to that week. And each week it tells you how big the baby is, in approximation of course. For some reason each week, they compare the baby to food. I am not even kidding. For 13 weeks, they said the baby is about the size of a medium shrimp. At 14 weeks, the baby is about the size of a lemon. I just find it so humorous that they compare the baby to food for a pregnant woman. Looking ahead I saw that at 37 weeks they compare the baby to Swiss chard. I didn’t even know what that was until I went and looked it up, and it’s a plant that looks kind of like rhubarb. Where do they come up with this stuff?

Accounting is still going okay. I just took my second test and I got a 93%. Not too shabby. Looking back at my test after it was graded, I made some stupid mistakes. But I probably did that because I was pretty sick that day. So, getting a 93 isn’t bad when I think about how awful and rotten I felt!

Courtney is changing so fast every day. Her little mind just amazes us. Some of the stuff she says! The other night she had a toy Nana gave her a LONG time ago. She said, “Nana gave this to me”. We said “yes she did”. She replied “that was nice of her and Papa”. Amazing! And occasionally she will say ‘I love you’ without prompting. And somewhere she learned that her sneakers have a tongue! I am guessing daycare taught her that one because neither Hubby nor I did.

The big thing for Hubby was that she actually wanted to sit on his motorcycle yesterday. She has been so scared of it for so long she didn’t even want to touch it. She loves to watch him come home when he rides his motorcycle to work, so we sit outside and wait. And when he comes home she sits and watches. But she would never get near the bike or touch it. She always said it was too loud, even if it was off. And she said it scared her. Well, something changed because yesterday we almost couldn’t get her OFF! She wanted to sit in the back seat and have Daddy sit in the front! And then she wanted to sit in the front seat. She was so cute.

Tonight we are taking her to Boo at the Zoo. Our zoo sets up all kinds of lights, and has trick or treat stations, etc. I went once years ago, prior to Courtney. It will be different this time with a kid; I am looking forward to it. She will get dressed up and get to practice her trick or treating! This year she is going to be a puppy. She has a super cute costume that Nana found for her. We are going with our friends, so she will be able to follow Kinsey’s lead for what to do. Otherwise, she hasn’t quite grasped the whole trick or treat thing yet. But we are working on it.

Well, Hubby is making us a delicious breakfast. I better go pay the few bills I need to get paid before its ready! Hope everyone is well!

Harvest Festival

I miss my mommy. She has been in Ireland for the past 2 weeks and won’t be home for another week yet. I finally spoke with her on the phone the other day. She informed me she is having a GREAT time and misses Courtney. (You can see where I rank).

I just got my furnace cleaned and serviced. I feel much better, knowing that it has been done, and just in time! A cold front is supposed to be moving in tonight. I don’t think it will bring us our first snow yet, but it won’t be much longer!

Greg came over last weekend to try to fix a light in our back yard. Hubby installed a motion sensor flood light and it hasn’t worked since he put it up. Greg is good with wiring and electricity, so he came over to take a look at it. There is an issue with the light for sure, and possibly the light switch. I have to purchase another light and have him come over to install it.

I also want to put a motion sensor flood light on the other side of the house. There is no light over there currently. So, I need to either get a solar one, or we will have to run power from somewhere. I am going to look at the solar ones when I go to purchase the other light.

So, why all the lights? The last few times Hubby has been gone, odd stuff has happened. It started with that scare with the guy on the porch. The next time the door from our backyard to our garage was open one morning. Then last trip one of our deck chairs ended up placed against the fence, like someone used it to crawl over the fence out of the yard.

So, I am going to be very careful about letting people know when he is gone, and I am doing all I can to prep the house. I need to get some deadbolts installed too.

Today Courtney and I had a super fun day. We went to the Fall Harvest Festival at the Rockledge Ranch. The Rockledge Ranch is designed to be like an old homestead from Little House on the Prairie days. They only open up for special events; it’s not something you can visit at any time.

They were open today for the Harvest Festival. We hadn’t been before, but our friends have gone several years and really enjoy it. Courtney is finally at that age where she would enjoy it. So, we met them there right at the opening time. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. The weather was perfect.

We started by going right to the Pumpkin Patch. Each girl picked a pumpkin. At first Courtney wanted the first one she came to. I was able to talk her into venturing a little further. Then she found the one she wanted. She found a really nice one. Of course, these pumpkins were carted in from somewhere, so they were all pretty perfect.

Next we headed to the pony rides. She had asked me first thing this morning, before we even left, if she was going to ride a horse. I hadn’t even told her there was going to be ponies!

After the pony ride we went and did a “Candy Scramble”. There was a pen of hay, and they put candy in the hay and let the kids go in and dig through the hay to search for candy. Courtney went in, but it took her a while to grasp the concept of what she was supposed to be doing. The helpers on the outside would throw candy into the hay right in front of her, so she didn’t have to search very hard. So she “found” a few pieces of candy.

From there we went over and waited in line for the tractor pulled wagon. Once we got on, we went for a little ride around the park. It was a nice ride.

After our ride we went to the face painting. Courtney wanted a ladybug on her cheek. Kinsey wanted to be painted as a princess, with a crown on her forehead. And Hailey got a ladybug on her hand. The girls were all so cute!

From there we went to Old Chicago for lunch. It was already a bit past lunch time and heading towards nap time. The service was incredibly slow!! By the time we got home it was almost the end of naptime. But I put Courtney down for a nap anyway, but she didn’t sleep.

While I was making dinner, Courtney did some redecorating. She colored on the wall for the first time ever! I couldn’t believe it! I guess it’s just about inevitable that kids will, at some point, color on the walls.

After dinner and a nice long bath to remove layers of dirt, pizza and face paint, it was bed time for a little sleepy girl. She was asleep almost instantaneously. But when she has days like this, she usually doesn’t sleep well. She has already been up crying once or twice, so we will see how the whole night goes. It may be a very long night.

What a great day! You can’t ask for a funner way to kick of October, fall, and the Halloween seasons! I am really looking forward to Boo at the Zoo and the other fall festival we are going to hit later this month.