my boys

my men and i have been at odds lately.

first- topher. when he was 2, he wasn't terrible, but when he wanted to be terrible- he was successful. and then when he was 3, he was better than when he was 2, but when he wanted to exert his will over mine- he was successful. and now he's 4. and he is a delightful 4! BUT, when he wants to be crazy- he is succesful.
but i am going to try not to dwell on the negative. there are negatives to be dwelt on. but not here. not today. my topher loves his legos, and he will play with them alone, quietly for hours on end. QUIETLY. ALONE. so great. his brain is so special. half the time he is actually just looking at the instruction manual again, studying it, whilst chewing on his breakfast, or lunch (no lego books at dinner though!). i thoroughly enjoy watching him do whatever it is he is doing. when he talks, i am engaged, even if i don't know what he is talking about (already a star wars nerd). his teeth. he has adorable teeth. they make his words come out so adorably. today while he was pooping, we had this conversation-
"mom, can you hold my hands? do you know who remind me of everyday when i look at you? Belle. because you are beautiful... do you know why i am staring at you? because i love you."
melting near the pot.
i love him. there are moments in our days that are painful. he's freaking out. i'm yelling. he's grumpy. i'm grumpier. he's acting like he's 4. i'm acting like i'm 4. it's bad. but man, when my boy wants to be amazing- he's successful.

one more thing about my topher that i don't ever want to forget!:
the other day he got a new pencil and he excitedly grabbed it and said: "where's the sharpener? i want to make my pencil come alive!"

well, i ran out of time, so i will have to save my story about chris for another day...

fall break

lily has been on fall break for the last two weeks, and last week was topher's fall break. what is a fall break you ask, my canadian friends? remember lily started school in JULY??

even though most of north america is enjoying delightful weather and scenes, we are still enjoying a lot of sunshine and dust. thus all the car washes ;)

 

anyhoo, here are some pics from last week. the pictures say 'fall' but it was over 90 degrees on the days these were taken.

 

mother nature's farm at baseline and stapley. $3 for adults and $10 for kids over 2.

kinda cheesy but the kids loved it.

 here's lily being freaked out by the animals were wanting to come out and play

farmer lily walking her sweet little cow topher :)

strong (yet not successful) attempt to take a pic of my three pumpkins and their adorable chauffeur

mia checking out all the pumpkins

 

the next day we went to the farm at south mountain for breakfast. pretty surroundings, yummy food, delightful company. and it was a magical 80 degrees. mia is shocked at how nice arizona can be.

lily and grace. beautiful!

my stud son/mummy

and then we went to bass pro and enjoyed lots of free awesomeness:

my red power ranger on a reindeer.

lily, aka ariel the little mermaid, on a moose

we also colored and got to trick or treat! check out their website to see the different events and activities they have going on until halloween :)

clean inside and out

today i got a free car wash at greenfield and baseline. i was over there cause i am a terrible mother and i have been waiting for mia's diaper rash to go away (not on it's own- i have bought 2 different diaper rash creams, used a vat of aquaphor...) and all i have to show for it is a baby with open wounds on her heinie. I KNOW! horrifying. my pediatrician says she really likes 'bag balm' which they use for cows with mastitis (a propos for my girl who i call moo.) but she actually prescribed this magic and random compound of some high cholesterol medicine mashed into aquaphor... strange. and don't try it at home. i waited at walgreens for a VERY LONG TIME cause a professional was making the strange mixture...

anyway, back to the car wash. it was free. always love getting free stuff. like a lot. and to boot- they gave me a free cloth to wipe down the interior of my car whilst getting the exterior nice and sparkly! bonus! so we get into the car wash and i start wiping down the dusty dashboard. we live in arizona, therefore everything is always dusty always. which is why i don't bother dusting. but if you give me a cloth and a moment to myself- i might just dust.

so i was happily dusting and the kids were enjoying the car wash. and all of a sudden water was pouring into my van! i had no idea what was going on as i was getting assaulted by water, soap, and those mop-like strands that were violently swishing all around. in all my dusting excitement i had accidentally pushed my window open. and every time i tried to close my window, one of the mop strands would get stuck in my window so i had to reopen my window and reclose and reopen and reclose. don't tell anyone- but i am pretty sure i was cussing the whole time. but the kids couldn't hear me cause the car wash is really loud. and all the louder with an open window...

so, that was my awesome day. in all honesty- my eyes kinda still sting from all the soap and water that was spraying in my face. and the one thing that i was SO THANKFUL for at the end of the ordeal is that chris wasn't in the car with me. cause he would have just straight up died. and i love him so much that i cannot bear the thought of living without him. so i am glad he was at work and that today's ordeal is my little secret.

mini sessions!

everyone is posting about mini sessions these days- so i thought i would too!

as in, i will post about other people's mini sessions, cause i have no mini- or full length sessions of anything to offer.

anyhoo, if you are looking to update your family pictures- now is the time! i have two awesome photographer friends, and they are both offering very reasonably priced mini sessions- so please check out:

my lovely friend jenny bishop. i have blogged about her plenty as she has taken a ton of our family pictures, and most recently (almost a year ago!!!! yikes. time has flown) took Mia's newborn pics.

jenny is up in scottsdale and has 3 different days to pick from:

and

my supertalented friend erin dezago will be serving the gilbert and chandler areas well- so check her out!!!!!!

• 30 minute mini-session at one of two pre-determined locations
• 10 images to choose from in an online gallery
• one digitial file emailed to you for printing as you desire
• (and the best part...) 25 custom designed double-sided Holiday cards with envelopes
• All for only $125
• Add-on options are all 10 images on CD with copyright release for $50 or extra 25 cards for $35.

Sessions will be available on these dates:

• Saturday, October 27th at 3:15, 4:00, and 4:45 pm at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert (Greenfield & Guadalupe)
• Saturday, November 3rd at 3:15, 4:00, and 4:45 pm in Downtown Chandler

I am happy to open more dates/times if you can fill them, which is why I am also offering an extra 25 cards for each referral you send my way that books a session! For two booking referrals, I will throw the CD your way for free! Merry Early Christmas to you!
And, because photos are always more fun than words, here are the cards available::


hope you contact one of these awesome ladies. they are both stay-at-home moms, so i am all about getting their businesses out there, and they are both ridiculously talented and professional.
i can't believe it's alrady time to say this but- happy holidays (pictures)!!!! :)