Stalling at bedtime is at an all time high!

Riley converted to a twin sized bed with no problems. She went right to sleep for naps and at bedtime. That was then, and this is now. This is her bedtime routine. 1. brush teeth 2. go pee 3. read books 4. go to bed. Simple and easy and no surprises. Well, she now goes to bed just fine and then 20 minutes or so later she sits on the edge of her bed and says she needs to go pee. "Mommy pee peeeeee!" She will not leave her room, or get out of her bed for that matter without my approval which is nice, but also annoying. I still have to go and get her out of bed in the morning when she wakes up. She either says "Mommy I'm awake," or "Pee pees Mommy." It would be nice if she would just hop out of bed and go pee herself without me or Frank having to get out of bed in the morning...but then again we also do not have a roaming kid either. I think I would rather it this way. I just need a walkie talkie to tell her to get up when she needs to pee. So this brings us to 20 minutes after she goes to bed. We are typically in the loft watching a movie to TV so I will quietly call her to go herself when she yells. She usually does and then goes back to bed. Recently she has been doing this every 10 minutes and NO she does not have to pee. She just wants to get out of bed and fart around. I personally allow her to go once after she is in bed and then not again. I told her not to get out of bed and not to yell for us. It seemed to work until another 10 minutes later she was calling again. We ignored her and she eventually quieted down. I went to tuck her in at night and this is what I found....a sleeping little pipsqueak who was sitting at the foot of her bed and had given up and just fell over and went back to sleep. She brings her blankie and her "B" to the foot of her bed with her. Sweetest lil thing there is.

Her pajamas she is wearing were a hand me down from her best friend. Riley insisted on wearing "Olivia's" pajamas to bed and not Riley's. Its cute and adoring, but hopefully she is not as jammie specific as the winter goes since that means I will be doing a lot of laundry to keep up. You can see in the picture that she has about 4 pink blankies surrounding her pillow. I have NO idea why she likes that many, but its every time she sleeps she likes to be engulfed by her pink blankies.

Today we do not have much going on. I have to go run 10 miles and Frank may take the kids to the gym with him while I run. I am going to prepack today for NJ....YAY! Love to prepack. That means our trip is right around the corner and we will be with family and friends before we know it. We booked this trip back in June and it is finally here. Just three more days and having Halloween tomorrow makes it go by even faster. I cannot believe the snow back home got. My girlfriend from college got 22 inches in one day at her house in Concord, NH! Crazy for Oct. Hopefully the snow in NJ will melt before we get there so the kids can play in the leaves and whatnot.

Devin tossed his woobie! ...nuts in a bowl on the bar...

So Devin sleeps with a blankie Kelly gave to me when I found I was pregnant the first time. I saved it and of course gave it to Devin as one of his baby blankets. Devin rotated between 3 or 4 blankets as a baby and was not particular until about 14 months. He then decided this Pooh blankie was the one and slept with it every night from then on out. Around the beginning of this past spring I told Devin that he is not allowed to bring it out of his room and after he turns 4 the "blanket fairy" will take it away if he does bring it out. I really did this to minimize the chewing he did on the blanket since it was getting very nasty very quickly. He listened well and we never had an issue. Two weeks ago I told him he was going to need to get rid of his blankie after he got back from San Diego and he again did not fight me on it. I told him it was stinky and dirty and needed to go. He would smell it and agree with me. On Monday I washed it again and realized there were holes all over it and showed him. This happens since he twists it up and chews on it when he goes to bed. He was helping me clean and pick up his room yesterday and grabbed his blanket and walked downstairs. He told me it was time to get rid of his soft blankie. He hugged it and said goodbye to it. I took his picture and grabbed it out when he walked upstairs so I could do something with it. He went right upstairs and grabbed his back out one I bought years ago. I made sure I had an extra one just in case he lost his first one...so yes he was fine last night with no hitches. He did tell Frank when he got home from the gym and was OK with it. So proud of him.

Last night we lit the jack o lanterns at dusk and the kids loved them. Had to take this picture of them. They were super cute and nice to one another while helping me! Devin was very excited to see them all lit up and of course how to tell Riley how hot candles were and not to touch them. He was concerned the pumpkins would catch on fire too. You can see my two dogs through the front window too! Yesterday was 86* but the rest of this week until Halloween should be below 79* so they shouldn't be too rotted by Monday. Today is only 69* and I am LOVING every moment of it. Another reason why I would totally move to SF in a heart beat. LOVE cool fall weather. Love it everyday....sigh.

OK, so I forgot to add this story in when I wrote about the other night...Frank and I are waiting for our table at the bar. This restaurants bar is about 5-6 barstools long (very small) and there is one lone bartender. We sat down when another couple got seated. The bartender brought over some wafer crackers and two freshly made cheese spreads. There was also a bowl of mixed nuts on the bar in front of us that I wanted to eat from but would not since, well who knows what could be in that bowl and it was almost empty so I know for sure 'stuff' could be lurking it there...The bartender kindly filled up the bowl with fresh nuts and I started picking a cashew or pecan out one by one and snacking on them. Yummy, super salty nuts are awesome especially when we only buy salt free ones from Trader Joe's. Frank and I are chatting away with the nuts in front of me and the cheese spread in front of him sipping wine and hanging out. A man walks over to the bar with his female friend and she sits down two over from me leaving the middle seat empty. The man reaches over my shoulder and grabs a nut! OK, now this is not polite-but I can handle it....it was one nut that he grabbed with two fingers not contaminating my bowl. He then reached back over my shoulder and dug his dirty gross man hand into my nut bowl and walked back over to his lady friend with a handful of nuts. SO NOT OK! Being a bio major I know what the hell could be on his hand...and now in the nuts...and anywhere for that matter. But, umm excuse me-these nuts are sitting in front of me! Not between us in one of those tall things that you pour a few into your hand....it was an open snack bowl that only holds a cup or so total. WTF! Frank was laughing out loud because apparently I had the most horrified look on my face. Do you blame me? I mean the gull of this guy? Ok fine, he may have been hungry-how about a, "Mind if I have some?" or "Mind if we share?" and I of course would have just given him the bowl because I am not sharing with a stranger...but nothing. Just plain old fashioned rude, reaching over my shoulder, dirty man fist manhandling my yummy salty nuts. After I gathered myself and wiped my horrified look off my face, I slid the nuts two barstools down to where the lady friend was sitting (never making eye contact). GROSSER THAN GROSS. Oh and not being judgemental-but I can tell you this man was not dressed like Frank and I were, and I can guarantee that he thought it was totally fine to reach over me and breathe on me while stealing my snack. No couth and no manners....and scraggly and unkept.

Only in Vegas......and some pumpkin carving

Frank and I went out to dinner Saturday night at Fremont Street. Those of you who are not familiar with what Fremont street is....its Old Las Vegas. Think Rat Pack, old Vegas movies with gold lights out front and old poker tournaments. It is neon sign central and lots of chasing gold light bulbs on the exterior of the casinos. Super old school and very dated-but that is what makes it Fremont Street. Not the huge mega casinos that take up acres of land like down south on the main strip now a days.



Frank went to Nordstrom and picked out my dress
as a surprise. Pretty good choice :)

There is one main reason we went there for dinner....Bananas Foster. Frank did some homework and found a place that makes bananas foster flambe table side-which is my all time favorite dessert. I have made Brennan's recipe at home before and it is delicious, but there is something said about a waiter in a tux doing it next to your table. The restaurant we went to was called Hugo's Cellar at the Four Queens Hotel and Casino. It is literally in the basement of the casino and has an old feel to it. Similar to that of The Library on 73 in Marlton but more secluded and private. This is definitely somewhere a famous person could dine and still have privacy. We were seated in a little corner space and there was only one other couple in the space. Now this is what brings me to the title of the post...Only in Vegas can you over hear another couples conversation about clits, blow and limos. Yes that is right. I heard the man (after they had a few martinis) ask the lady he was dining with what type of pressure/speed and so on she liked on her clitoris and if she liked it when he sucked on her labia? I mean really? At the dinner table? and loud enough for the table next to you to hear? He then told her she needs to become more familiar with her clitoris and labia?! SO....once the oral talk was done, he suggested they go get a limo and find some blow! I almost choked on my Chilean sea bass. They made a few calls each and in one hour from their meal completion they were on their way to pick up their bag of blow at Heart Attack Grill. Hmmm....at least he was "smart" enough to get a limo instead of try and drive after snorting some coke. Yesh. The dinner was fantastic and the bananas foster was Brennan's recipe and it was delicious. Funny because I like grabbing a banana and a bite of ice cream while Frank likes all the rich caramelized syrup and ice cream...We went into Pawn Stars pawn shop on the way home. Nothing to write home about. Some cool stuff, but most of the super cool stuff was not for sale.

We carved pumpkins last night. Devin did a fantastic job. He was not too keen on hollowing out the inside, but I told him that comes first and he has to do it before he gets to carve the face. I had him draw a jack o lantern on his first and then I carved one triangle eye and one rectangle tooth (per his request instead of a jagged mouth.) He then carved the rest with one of those little sawing tools the kits come with. He kept his left hand on the pumpkin for leverage and cut away with his right hand...he was so proud of himself. It turned out great! Riley drew on the back of my pumpkin with a marker and I let her try and scoop some insides out while I helped Devin empty his.



what Dev picked out for me
to carve



Devs first solo carving



Final product. My skull and cross bones, Frank's web and Devs jack o lantern. Yay Halloween is almost here!



Just one of those days...pumpkin patch with 12 toddlers!

Staying home from errands, playdates, parks etc on non school days is great but it is also stinky at the same time. That means I am home with two yappy dogs doing chores and playing referee all day. I love not having to run errands, but at the same time it is a headache to be home with two toddlers and two dogs all day. I am trying to clean the whole house, finish the laundry and the ironing, cook dinner and lunches for tomorrow as well as maintain the house after I clean it and the kids start to tear it up again. Moms who work can come home to a clean house since the kids were not home to mess it up. I know that day will come eventually for me, but for now it is an ongoing battle to stop the hurricane and tropical storm from occurring in my house daily. Just when you think you are on top, you walk into another room and see the new mess. Devin has gotten really good at putting away everything but Riley is 2 and creates disasters like a 2 year old does best.

Thankfully today has been great weather wise and I have been able to send them outside to play while I finish cleaning the kitchen or sweeping/mopping the downstairs. The dogs are actually being pretty tame and only barking now and then when birds settle in the yard or someone walks by the house. Riley is napping now and Devin is building something with Legos. A little quiet is always nice and I am thankful for it. I am not sure about other people, but I feel like laundry and dust never goes away. I thought living in the woods in Medford Lakes was dirty and dusty until I moved to the desert. I keep a pretty clean house, but man that dust NEVER goes away. I always want to have all white furniture so I cannot see the dust as badly as I can on the cherry and mahogany finishes.

Devin and Riley played with a bunch of Devin's classmates and siblings yesterday at a "pumpkin patch" by Devin's school. There were 7 of his classmates and a few of them brought younger siblings to play too so Riley had some kids her age there. We attempted to feed them lunch before playing but of course that was not successful taking into account what they were anxiously waiting to do. These places have a few "rides" for the kids to play on but charge for each one. For example it was $17.80 for 20 tickets and "cost" 3 tickets per kid just to jump in the bounce house. Total rip but the kids had fun and thankfully the place was understaffed and didn't have enough workers for the activities and our group was large that when they spread out some kids could play for free. I have a lot of pictures, but I have other kids in them and I am not sure on their privacy rules with shares pics of their kids online so here are just a few to see with my two. They had a blow up slide, bounce house, trampoline with harness, blow up obstacle course, little train ride around some hay stacks and a double swing ride.

They had a great time playing and were starving and sweaty by the time we went through all their tickets and got in the car to head home. It is amazing how worn out they get after playing in the sun for an hour and a half. They of course want to go back today and play some more. I was able to get out of going again since we have pumpkins here at the house to carve and talked Devin into the fact that he can carve a spooky ghost or monster. I am guessing we will do those Sunday day. We have a birthday party Sat am and Frank and I are going out for dinner Saturday night so we will not have time then.

I have to run 9 miles this Saturday am and to be honest I am nervous. I ran 8 miles with a sinus infection and was fine cardio wise---but for some reason 9 seems so much further than 8.  I will use energy snacks for the first time running and will have to do it at 5:30ish again since Saturday's high is 85* so I have to start before the sun comes up that way it is only warming up for the last half hour of the run in the full morning sun.

Fall activities help it feel more like fall even though Las Vegas isn't acting like it!

 

Two weeks ago we went apple picking at Gilcrease Orchards. It is the only orchard/farm here in Las Vegas that allows to pick your own produce. It is nothing like NJ orchards, but it will suffice for our kids ages. Granny smiths were available when we went and we allowed the kids to pick the apples they liked. We ended up with about 26 pounds of apples. Needless to say we have been eating apples daily and the last two bbqs/functions we went to I made apple crisp. The kids loved to be able to pick their own apples and they are nice and tart and crispy. Some of the apples do cook right on the tree if in the one spot facing morning sun, but for the most part they were nice and ripe and big.

They also had pumpkins available, but in years past the pumpkins have always been picked over (even if going opening weekend) and they are usually rotted or too small to pick. The farm is so small that you literally park at the side of the sandy pumpkin plot and walk into the patch to pick out your pumpkin. Lame. We skipped that all together this year. They also had other veggies available, but they are right next to the pumpkins and we wanted to avoid the kids seeing that area all together. Although it is nothing like what I grew up going to, it definitely serves its purpose. ;) I cannot wait until next fall when Devin and Riley will get to go to Johnson's Farm and take a hayride to the patch where they can pick their pumpkin off the vine in a field over flowing with bright orange pumpkins!

The kids decorated two different "spooky" gingerbread houses so far this fall. I bought one from Smiths which is our local Kroger and it was the traditional self assemble house and decorate...then I stumbled over the BEST creation for gingerbread houses at Walmart. Pre-assembled house that you just have to decorate. Good heaven was I excited. Everytime Frank or I try and assemble the gingerbread houses, you are stuck holding the walls together. Once that dries, you then have to hold the roof on until the icing sets. This came all in once piece and for only $9! SCORE! I had to pick one up for my friend Tina and her 3 year old to do since it was such a great deal and her daughter loves crafts like my two do. Walmart started to put out their Christmas stuff, and if I see a preassembled Christmas gingerbread house kit; I am buying it now. Frank piped the first house and let the Devin help a little bit with the icing and let him decorate it, and the second one (preassembled) we let the kids pipe the icing and decorate it. I gave Riley a little Tupperware smidget with icing and a paint brush. She took turns painting the roof then painting her tongue with the icing. She then had the icing bag and piped it into her mouth. Devin did a great job decorating it and being creative. Riley did stick some candies on it, but really wanted to eat it all.



A frame was the one from Kroger we had to assemble. one on right was from Walmart that came put together



I bought three huge pumpkins to carve this weekend. Walmart had this super sharp serrated spoon to carve the inside of the pumpkins out. That should help big time as that is the hardest and messiest part. In Las Vegas you cannot carve them too early since they will rot right away. This whole week's high is in the upper 80's and the lows only are in the mid 60's so we need to hold off until a week before Halloween. Frank wants me to get the mini sawzall they sell to help us carve. I may have to considering the size of these pumpkins I bought. I will upload pics after we are all done.

Everything is easier when you only have one toddler around...weekend of firsts

Devin and Frank flew out to SD on Friday evening. Riley woke up from her nap after they had left and asked where Devin was when she came out of her room and saw his door open. I reminded her that he is away with Daddy. The first thing out of her mouth was, "Go out front and ride Devin's bike?" I smiled and said sure. She realized she doesn't have to fight with Devin to share his bike and she can do anything she wants without having to share or take turns with her brother. She was in seventh heaven. She rode his bike around the island out front of our house for a good hour with switching to her little motorized quad she has.

Riley and I went to Gymboree yesterday to get some clothes for the kids. I spent $114 (including tax) and earned $50 in gymbucks. After I tallied up my total for full price items it was $396 worth of clothes. They are all in season fall clothes and I got a few Halloween pieces to throw into their dress up box. They LOVE to play dress up so I got the peacock skirt (one piece was only 2-3t and I was afraid it would be too small too quick,) a dragon costume in 5-7 and two candy corn witch hats. If you need a costume or just dress up stuff go to Gymboree. They are super cheap and great quality. Much better than the surgeon costume Devin picked out from the party store to wear for the actual day. The kids still need a few things clothes wise, but they are pretty good for now. Selling their stuff on EBay lets me shop a little bit without budgeting clothes into our normal budget. I still shop sales and use coupons (yesterday 25% off) when I can. Everywhere offers additional percentages off if you are patient and stay on top of your favorite stores.

At Gymboree Riley sat in the stroller and watched Toy Story 2 on the DVD player and was a super good girl. She did get out of the stroller about 45 minutes in and tried on a bunch of shoes. We left there and I asked her what she wanted to do for lunch. I offered pizza at Whole Foods, picnic at home and then she blurted out Sweet Tomatoes. Both kids love Sweet Tomatoes so away we went. I had such a head ache at this point and my face had so much pressure, but I thought it may help if I hydrated and ate. Nope. I have been sick for a week and a half and I finally went to see a doctor yesterday. I not only have a sinus infection, but I have double ear infections. It hasn't been the most relaxing time with Frank away, but at least I only have one toddler to take care of. We went to CVS to go to the minute clinic after lunch and that process took about an hour and a half by the time I signed in to when I got my meds. She was such a good girl. I definitely would not have gone had I had both kids with me. It is actually why I did not stay Friday afternoon when I tried to go to my PCP. Running errands with a 4 year old and 2.5 year old is NEVER fun especially when you're sick. I took a nap when Riley did and again would not have been able to do that if he was home since he does not nap.

Riley had an ice cream cone when she woke up from her nap, and to be honest I think that was her first hard ice cream cone? She has had soft serve at Sweet Tomatoes but never hard ice cream. She loved it and ate the entire thing. For dinner I ordered a Bobbie from Capriottis and she ate 1/3 of it. She loved it. I must say that it was her first "hoagie" if a Bobbie counts as a hoagie. Funny the things you remember...I remember the first time I ordered a chicken cheese steak for my little cousin Louis. I remember his little hands trying to grab it and squish the bread down enough to fit a bite into his mouth....and now he is 15! And now this is Riley's first. Riley also ate her first bowl of cereal Friday night. I know that sounds strange since she is 2.5 but wet cereal is super messy and Devin could never eat it since he is allergic to milk and soy milk just is not good in cereal. Since the boys are away I was not making me dinner. I made Riley dinner, but she wanted what I was having. Super fancy bowl of Cheerios. I made her a bowl in a Tupperware snack cup and she ate the whole thing. She then had it again Saturday morning since that is what I had for break fast. She is getting so big so fast. Sigh.

So today I feel a tad bit better, still have a headache, still have congestion but at least I do not feel like I want to smash my face in with a sledge hammer. Riley slept in until 6:57 am which was awesome and I love that she just wants to snuggle and watch a little bit of Sunday morning cartoons. I guess I will make something to eat and maybe some coffee since I haven't had caffeine in a few days. Riley is the kind of kid that does not want when she first wakes up and needs a good hour to wake up before she wants to eat. I do have some errands to run, but I have a feeling they will have to wait until tomorrow. The grocery store is a must since we are out of so many things....but other than that we are going to have a lazy day I guess. Riley does want to play out front so we will have to do that soon since today's high is 93. Gag! Time to get my tired ass motivated to get rolling with our day. Come on Fall, come to Vegas-2.5 weeks until we fly to NJ. Hip Hip Hooray for that!

Been Forever. We are still alive. I promise.

I had someone ask me where we went since I have not been blogging in umm....almost a month. Yikes.

Yes, we are fine. Still chugging away. Patiently waiting for fall to come and stick here in Las Vegas. We had one great week of fall like weather and then back to shorts and tees until early next week. This weekend is forecasted to be in the 90s again. GAG! I am so ready for fall. I am thankful this is our last summer in Las Vegas. Yes you heard that correct. More on that later :)

The kids have been playing outside daily now when Riley wakes up from her nap. Devin took naps during the summer a few times a week and is now back to once every other week if that. Boo to that. I really would love to have that down time. Since he doesn't nap, we work on school work daily. He does work sheets with spelling and writing activities and most recently we started with math. He does VERY and enjoys doing it. He likes when I write down math problems as well as verbally quizzing. He is also very good at drawing and coloring. I am impressed with his skills when he brings art work home from school as well as when he does crafts and projects at home. On the negative side he is getting more physical with Riley. I do not mind a little wrestling, but he is just sometime down right mean to her for no reason. We work on it, but he has been spending some time alone recently.

Riley is a peach. She loves counting and singing and has a great time now working on her letters and sounds. She hasn't picked it up as quickly as Devin did, but she is also a lot more free spirited then he ever was. She is a true busy bee who gets distracted easily. She really enjoys doing art projects and using the glue stick. Today we made construction paper pumpkins and she did very well putting the glue on the face features and sticking them where they belong. She is such a great eater and will try everything at least once. She is very curious about food and textures when Devin was super picky from the beginning. Strange how they differ and we did nothing different with introducing food or offering new things...

Devin and Frank are headed to San Diego this Friday for a weekend boys getaway. They fly out Friday night and will be going to Legoland Saturday and then the San Diego Zoo Safari on Sunday and flying back in Sunday night. Its about a 5 hr drive to SD but the flight is only 50 minutes and was $39 each way so that is totally worth Frank not having to drive alone with Devin. Devin is VERY VERY VERY excited to be going on his first boys trip and he asks Frank to tell him about it every night at bed time. Dev packed today and included 6 pairs of socks, two outfits, a few books, a baseball hat, his Care Bear (to snuggle he said) and his loafers since he said he wants Daddy to take him to a "fancy restaurant" for dinner. He told me I need to go and get him a fancy outfit from his closet and he will be all set for SD. He is so sweet. We went up to his room and I helped him pack the other necessities of undies, jammies and sneakers.

It is amazing how busy one stays doing endless lists of non important things. Between pre-school, playdates, the gym, gymnastics, errands and housework my days are filled and before I know it bedtime has arrived. I cannot imagine what it will be like when the kids are in sports after school going different ways and whatnot! Speaking of, Riley will not be attending her gymnastics classes after this session is over. The instructor told me to sign her up for the 3 year old class since she excels in her 2 year old class, but the times did not work out with our schedule when Devin is in school. She will be signed up for a dance combo class starting the week we get back from NJ. It will be an hour long combo class of ballet, tap and 10 minutes or so of tumbling at the end. I think she will dig that class and best thing it will still be during the week while Devin is in school and its only 10 minutes away too! I cannot wait to see her all dolled up in her little outfit :)


Other than that....not much going on. We head to NJ in a few weeks and we are all looking forward to seeing family and friends. Kelly is coming out here the first weekend in December for the half marathon that I am running since she is now signed up as well! Yay Kelly! We will get the tree that weekend so she (and her bf) can help us decorate our massive 9 footer that we get. Maybe we will do some gingerbread houses too. Hooray for holiday festivities! Just 10 more weeks until Christmas...you ready? Haha, me neither but I have an idea what we will be doing for the kids.