Just a little ray of sunshine : October 23rd - 26th, 2020: Weenie roasts, Pumpkin carving, & Hibachi

I have alllllways loved the Fall. Adam loves it too and it's kind of awesome we got married in the Fall because now there's even more reason to love it. There's nothing like the crisp weather, the leaves changing colors, pumpkin EVERYTHING!, and the fact that you've got Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! It's a whole lot of fun and traditions packed into a short time. And for us, our anniversary is in the mix too - which is tomorrow! That being said, it's been a fun few days around here. 🙌

Friday was pretty low key and even more low key than usual because we had to skip out on our weekly Friday movie with popcorn and candy. Maeve handled herself VERY poorly at Old Navy last week after school one day and she took the lack of respect was taken so far despite my warnings to reign it in that her consequence was no screen time for a MONTH. Call me crazy, and maybe that's harsh, but I'm really hoping it teaches her a lesson about respect because it's going to a saaad month for her without it. We've had lots of talks about respect recently because boy, does she have a lot to learn. There is nothing that gets me more fired up (in a bad way) than when my kids blatantly disregard what I say. 🤬 Hopefully we'll turn a corner soon given the fact that I'm being real serious with the consequences associated with disrespect. So yeah, not too much exciting to mention about Friday otherwise.

Saturday we had our annual weenie roast at my Aunt Deb's house. My sister and her family drove in for it, so it was all of us plus my Aunt and Uncle and cousin Chuck and his wife Trish and son Cam. The kids were soooo excited to see their cousins again plus Cam and all had a great time fishing and playing together outside. Nolan got lots of love and was the star of the show, but with that sweet nearly constant smile, who could expect less!? We had lots of great conversation and enjoyed hot dogs, brats, and chili as well as smores by the fire. I love going to my Aunt's house out there because you really feel immersed in nature there. It's a quiet area nestled into the trees. It was a great day!

Sunday was a bit hectic in the morning since Adam had meetings and was also trying to finish up his talk for church that day... 😅 I was flying solo getting the kids ready and had also decided to make some cream cheese stuffed french toast in our air fryer, which maybe was too ambitious given it was my first time making it - I always forget that recipes take longer the first time you're making them. 🤦‍♀️ It was delicious and totally worth it, but by the time I got the kids all ready to go, I had like 20 minutes to get ready myself. Soooo my make up wasn't quite up to par and my hair ended up in a wet braid, but such is life sometimes... 🤷‍♀️ I also find it a little sad that out of anyone, I am always most interested in hearing talks by family members, so of course Adam is at the top of that list -- but when you're in the pew wrestling the children on your own because they're giving said talk, you can't even fully listen. So I can't fully report on his talk, but I'm sure it was great, cause he's great. 😂😅

After church, we carved pumpkins together. Ironically, the kids were BEGGING to do it, and while we were cleaning up and getting set up so we could do it, they would not stop asking if it was time for it yet, but then once we were actually doing it, they turned into wimps and were basically no part of it. Neither of them would touch the guts to save their lives, so Adam basically did all the work for their pumpkins. Sooo they basically decided they hate carving pumpkins, but luckily we've got many more years ahead of us to change their minds about that. 😜 Although truth be told, I was whining myself while removing the guts in mine cause I really do find it quite nasty. I also don't trust myself with a knife and a pumpkin, so Adam ended up doing most of the carving of mine for me, but I did enough before he stepped in to totally botch it, so not to worry -- my flare was still put on it. 😂 The eyes were meant to look cooler, but I screwed them up so I had to leave them both as bare holes... 🙈 Oh well. Adam does great work though (he even pulled out the power tools for Nolan's), so when all was said and done, our pumpkin line up was pretty cute.

I would have blogged last night, like I normally do at the end of a weekend, but Adam wanted to give me another massage, so course I couldn't turn that offer down - so after the kids were in bed I enjoyed another nice and relaxing massage from the comfort of our living room. 🙌 That massage table might go down in history as the best surprise gift ever, considering he is the one that offered the massage, instead of me asking for it, which is how it normally goes. It's a total game changer! 🤗

Which brings us to today. It's kind of tradition (at least I think we've gone every year... 🤔) for us to do Hibachi for our anniversary. We love it so much that it also gets thrown in sometimes for birthdays, but usually we just go for our anniversary. Since it's tomorrow and I have youth activities tomorrow night, we decided to go out tonight. It was a total disaster with the kids last time we went for Adam's birthday in January, but I prepped Maeve for it enough that she agreed as long as we could step away for the part when the fire goes crazy, she would be fine. And she was! 🙏 Rowan freaked out at the beginning, but calmed down pretty quickly and took enough comfort in Adam's shoulder while he was scared. Nolan on the other hand was mesmerized and thought it was awesome. 😂 The chef was the CUTEST and so fun for the kids. He asked their names and was totally catering the whole show to them, which was so nice of him, especially since they were nervous. Maeve was actually having fun before long! My favorite part was that whenever he threw the butter he would say "butterfly!" 😂😂 - I can't believe they don't all say that! Usually the chefs all do and say pretty much the same time, so it was our first time hearing that one. Adam gave him a really great tip because he was so awesome. I was worried it would end up being a disaster again, but relieved and so pleased that it was so fun this time. 🙌🙏 Maeve was even cracking me up when I took her to the bathroom while we were there and she heard the music playing, said "Oooh, good music" and proceeded to bust out all these crazy dance moves accompanied with crazy facial expressions. She had me laughing more and more with each one. 😂 I just love her and her silly personality!

Other than that, we also took a trip to Walmart today and Rowan walked next to me for the whole trip and did so great. 🙌🙌 Normally it ends up a struggle when I let him walk, so that was a pleasant surprise. He did fall asleep on the way home from running that errand and picking Maeve up from school, so I transferred him to the couch and he peed on the couch in his sleep, so that was fun... 🙄 Also, Nolan discovered the Wii and pulled that down and threw it on the ground a few times today, which was also fun! 😰 Yaaaay for dangerous babies. Those boys are always keeping things interesting around here - at least I know there's never going to be a dull moment. 😅 Not sure how I will protect our Wii moving forward though... that's a tricky one. We've got a destroyer on our hands and he's not going anywhere...! Heaven help us all. Luckily in addition to their trouble making, the boys made up for it earlier in the day by being so cute with each other - Rowan was basically pouncing on Nolan over and over and he was just cracking up. He'd do his best to crawl away from him every time, but before long Rowan was chasing him and pouncing on him again and he just looooved it every time! 😂😍 Rowan also did some flips over him too and he thought it was all hilarious. Luckily there were no injuries to be had, only some close calls. 😜 Rowan is loving his baby bro more and more everyday and it is pretty cute to watch, but also a little scary considering the love makes him want to act like a wild man with him. 😂😅 They did have a really sweet moment in my bed together on Saturday morning where they were basically laying and hugging each other for more than just a few seconds. It was kind of miraculous, considering Nolan usually will not stay still for more than a few seconds, so it was a pretty legit cuddle session and I really wish I had had my phone right next to me to take a picture!

The only other thing I will mention is that we had a video call with the sister missionaries over FB after putting the kids to bed tonight and that was fun. They were telling us tonight that since they basically did their missionary training online instead of going to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) due to Covid, their goal is to also start doing some missionary training for us members moving forward to teach us how to be better member missionaries. I really have been wanting to be a better member missionary, so I think that's a really cool idea and we will see how it goes!

I think that's about it!! Here's some pics:

Sistas. Love that Nolan is looking up at Rach. 😍 He sure loves his aunt!

Some of the group!

😍

My cousin Chuck with Maeve and her beloved bowl of popcorn. She was cracking us up all kicked back and relaxed munching on her popcorn. 🤣

We let Nolan suck on some ice and he was loving it!

She seriously cracks me up that she will squeeze herself in there to get Zoey's dog food. She will stay like that for 5 minutes straight! 😂😂

I had to beg them to act happy and come take pictures and they sure did deliver. Total fakers! 😂

😂👌

Love these three doggies 😍. All popping their heads up waiting for me to let them in. 😂

From tonight's Hibachi dinner. First time I've let him sit in a high chair! I usually just keep him in his carseat to avoid the germs but I knew he wouldn't last 2 seconds in there tonight. He needed to be free. 😂 He loved it!