Wanna see what $40 can get you?

Geez, I can't believe that this tub of candy was so stinkin' expensive! I had to have a little bit of everything though, lol. Thank the Lord I had a $65 gift card from Walgreens to use on it. It's too bad that Halloween is 2 days away because hubby and I can't keep our hands out of it. We are huge candy fanatics so I may have to run out and get more before the trick-or-treaters begin making their rounds on Friday night. We have a humongous neighborhood with tons of kiddos so I know we need to have a lot on hand. Last year I never even got to go inside so I ended up sitting on the porch with all the loot beside me. I froze my butt off. I hope this year won't be so chilly.

We got boo'ed by some neighbors tonight. Last year I was the one who started it on my street so I am glad that someone else took the initiative to start it this year. Now I am going to have to head out to Target tomorrow to gather up the supplies to boo 2 households that haven't already been boo'ed. How fun!

Our 2008 Christmas Cards

This year I decided to go with some cool cards from Anna Griffin (who I love because she went to NC State's design school, lol). I have 3 different designs because I just couldn't make up my mind which ones to buy. I love each of them. If you are on my card list, you can expect to receive one of these just after Turkey Day. ;)

Finally uploading a few Disney Photopass photos

Clayton and me standing out near the bridge to Tomorrowland

Aunt Judy and me hamming it up (notice my little baby bump?)

More Photopass pics...

How freakin' cute is this?!!

Emerson's face totally cracks me up in this one, lol.

Still more Photopass pics...

I am so mad that Photopass photographers don't understand the concept of focusing on the people rather than the backgrounds, sheesh! The above photo and the Epcot one down below are both prime examples of this. I tried to sharpen them as much as I could but they still look bad. Oh well.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

It was way too windy and cold when we took these pics so I made the photo shoot go rather quickly.

This one is the winner. It goes so well with the Anna Griffin cards that I bought. She has a vintage-y look so the sepia tone works well with them.

Do you really want to know? lol

Every year I have an OCD habit of finishing all of my holiday to-dos early. This year I seem to have outdone myself.

-The Christmas cards were all signed and addressed back in August. I am picking up the photos for them tonight and I will slip them into their envies. I am still waiting on holiday stamps for them.

-We bought the kiddos big ticket items back in February (Nintendo DSs and accessories). All of their other gifts have been bought too including their stocking stuffers. I just need to get them some Christmas candy. My parents bought them a Wii 2 months ago (along with a game, extra controller and extra nunchuk) and it has already been shipped here. It is all wrapped up and ready to go just like everything else we have purchased. In addition, the boys' birthday gifts have been bought too since E's b-day is in November and H's b-day is in January.

-I have already bought and wrapped gifts for almost everyone on my list. I only have about 5 people to buy for and they are all little things.

-Christmas jammies (yearly tradition) for the boys have already been bought as well as mine and my Mom's. Clayton and Dad's are the only ones I have left to find. In addition, this will make you roll your eyes but I bought the boys' jammies for next year too, lol.

-Christmas ornaments from Hallmark (yearly tradition) have already been bought for all of us. I still need to wrap them though.

-My recipe cards that I send out are almost complete. I just need to type up a few more recipes to finish them.

Sheesh, I think that is about it. I am so glad that I am this far ahead because I don't like to rush during December to get it all done. I much prefer to relax and enjoy the holiday season. ;)

If only...

I could have eyelashes like Hayden. It's insane how long and thick his are. What a lucky little guy he is!

Almost 18 weeks

These pics were taken yesterday at the pumpkin patch. The sun made it really hard for me to not squint.

This surrobaby bump seems so much smaller than in my previous three pregnancies. I predict this one to be a girl. Here is a comparison of all 4 pregnancies:

Baby Boy #1-Hayden
I was huge!! I gained 47 total pounds with him. My appetite was completely insatiable.
Food aversion-grilled foods (the smell of a grill was nasty to me)
Cravings-horseradish and McDonald's
Never sick. No nausea whatsoever. I always felt good.
Totally clear complexion. Being pregnant actually cleared my face up.

Baby Boy #2-Emerson
I looked pregnant fairly early on. I gained 31 total pounds with him. Food was my friend, lol.
Food aversion-grilled foods
Cravings-none really
Very minor nausea but overall I felt very good. It was smooth sailing.
Perfect skin.

Baby Boy #3-Surrobabe "M"
I gained weight quickly in the beginning and showed very early (it was twins originally). Gained 31 lbs. No problems eating.
Food aversion-grilled foods
Cravings-California rolls with wasabi
Minor nausea but nothing I couldn't handle.
Perfect skin.

Baby #4-Surrobabe
I am tiny at 18 weeks (I wasn't with the others). So far I have gained 6 lbs. Don't care to eat. Meat is yucky, lol.
Food aversion-anything meat related (I don't hate the smell of a grill this time)
Cravings-spicy foods (which I normally hate), Mexican food, pineapple, ice cream
Horrible bouts of nausea throughout the first 13 weeks. Had to get Zofran to feel somewhat normal.
My skin took a turn for the worse in the 1st trimester. Ugh, stupid clogged pores.

It's that time of year again...

Every Halloween we make a trip to the local pumpkin patch to pick out what will be Clayton's future Halloween creations. He likes to pick certain pumpkins based on their size, shape and appearance. Yea, he can be picky but he does fabulous work. We picked up 5 big pumpkins this year and I can't wait to see what he does with them.

Hayden walked us into a maze that he claimed he could "lead" the way through for us. Yea, right. He walked us through some of it in a haphazard way and then took us right back out the entrance rather than the exit, lol. Goofy kid.

He sure seems to be studying that one, huh? lol

Hee hee...

Farm Boys

Hayden insisted on standing behind the girl head, lol.

Harvesting potatoes

Hayden's tomato loot

We went with E's pre-school recently (October 2nd) to the local farm and had a great time harvesting fresh veggies. It was cool to actually pick carrots up by their tops and jerk them up out of the ground. I have never had that experience before. We brought home tons of potatoes, carrots, green beans, pumpkins and tomatoes.

Veggies for me...

Hey guys, sorry for the long break. I am still recovering from our vacation. You wanna hear something weird? I haven't eaten meat (with the exception of eggs) in 10 whole days. I kinda like being vegetarian. Who knows how long it will last though. Thanksgiving will be the death of me because I LOVE roasted turkey on T-Day. I told Clayton yesterday that I was going to cancel the turkey this year and make a Tofurkey instead. His response?

"The hell you will". LOL

Stay tuned for some farm pics that I took last Thursday on Emerson's school field trip. :)

Disney Trip-Day 1 (September 19, 2008)

The view from our balcony

Dinner-'Ohana (Polynesian) 9:00pm

On Friday we flew out of Denver at 9:50AM (Mountain time) on a full flight to Orlando. It was kinda weird because last year our flight wasn't even half full. I didn't mind though because at least we all had a seat. The 3.5 hour flight seemed to last forever because we were all so excited to be visiting the mouse again this year. We touched down at MCO just before 3:30pm (Eastern time) and quickly proceeded down to Magical Express. Thank God that they picked up our bags and delivered them straight to the room for us. That was one less thing for us to have to deal with and I am ever so thankful for that service!

On the bus ride to the Polynesian Resort, we had to endure a hellish bus ride with the grossest family we had ever seen. For starters, I wish that the parents and 3 kids would take a bath. Seriously. They looked so dingy. Their hair was straggly and greasy. The 2 boys had hair down to their shoulders and it was not a good look for them. Clayton said that he would love to chop their mops off, lol. Their annoying girl keep running up and down the aisles. I would love to have stuck my foot out in the aisle but I refrained, lol. Anyway, I am not trying to pick on this family but they really didn't seem to give a flip about their appearance. I am not one for staying in fashion or wearing the newest trendy haircut but I do at least try to be clean. The parents also didn't care how annoying/loud their kids were and I have no tolerance for that.

One of the gross boys sat in front of my 2 kiddos and would not leave them alone. He was a horrible influence with the things he said and the way he behaved. Clayton and I thought that he was way too old to playing around with our kids. Why was he so interested? We ended up yelling at our kids several times because they were emulating his bad behavior and so he finally turned around in his seat. That's when we saw him do it. You know, the grossest thing that kids do. He picked a booger from his nose and proceeded to play with it. Ugh. He rolled it around a good long while and then turned back around to stick his hands near my kids. I about freaked. If he had touched them, I swear I would have caused a ruckus. He was old enough to know that picking your nose is a private affair and he should never have done it as we watched. Gross.

Our bus stopped at the Poly and much to our dismay, the gross family got off the bus with us. I couldn't help but think that they would end up in a room next to us but thank the Lord that they didn't. We only saw them once more while they we going to the pool but that was it.

Our room was 3216 in Aotearora. If you are standing in front of the Poly, this is the farthest room to the left on the top floor (third floor). The monorail was right in front of our balcony. That's a cool sight to see first thing in the morning. We loved watching them whizz by throughout our stay. The only bad thing about this longhouse was that we had a longer walk to the TTC to catch the Epcot monorail than last year. That really wasn't that big of a deal though so we managed.

Mom and Judy rented a car and met us at the Poly later that evening. We then took off for dinner in the Ceromonial House at 'Ohana. 'Ohana was just okay. I am not a big fan of the skewered meats and that is the definite highlight there. I am mad that they took off the yummy Maui potatoes that they had last year but at least the replacement was good (noodles). The salad and dumplings were yummy too. The best part was the dessert though. That was the whole reason we even went there this time. I HAD to have it, lol. It is bread pudding a la mode with a banana foster sauce. Oh my, that dessert is exquisite and it surely didn't disappoint. We had a great table in a secluded corner and we watched Hallowishes while eating. They even piped in the music for us to hear. We enjoyed ourselves but we won't be booking dinner there again. Instead, we will opt to do the character breakfast there from now on.

Disney Trip-Day 2 (September 20, 2008)

Today's destination: Magic Kingdom

Breakfast-'Ohana (Polynesian) 7:30am
Lunch-Cosmic Ray's (MK-counter service)
Dinner-Cinderella's Royal Table (MK) 4:25pm

Today we had a character breakfast at 'Ohana. We got to see Stitch, Lilo, Mickey and Pluto. The food was simply wonderful! Everything was served family style and the food was on the table rather quickly. I particularly loved the Lilikoi juice. It was super yummy. It's a combination of orange, passion fruit and guava juices (I think!).

We made it to rope drop for the MK at 9am. I had to make a stop at Town Hall because I had left my Halloween party tickets at home. Darn it, they were the only thing I forgot and yet they were the one thing that I absolutely needed. I didn't tell Clayton at first because I knew he would pick on me. The tickets were pretty pricey and the confirmation sheet that I had said that Disney wasn't responsible for lost or stolen tickets. I thought for sure that I would have to re-buy them but Disney took care of me by giving me another set of them. Thank the Lord! If I would have had to buy more, I don't think that Clayton would have ever let that down.

Anyhoo, we shoved off to Fantasyland. Clayton & the boys headed off to ride Goofy's Barnstormer and Dumbo while Judy & I went to ride It's A Small World and Snow White. I am glad we previewed Snow White without the kids because that one would for sure give Hayden nightmares. Mom met back up with us and we did a few more rides before lunch at Cosmic Ray's.

I can't really remember what all we did that day but I do remember that the crowds were horrible. They were much worse than last year. I expected there to be a lot of people since it was a Spectro night but it was ridiculous how many people were there.

Dinner was spent inside the castle. We got to meet Cinderella (who was amazingly cordial and believable enough to be the real thing). The boys were both charmed by her. After that, we headed up the winding staircase to the dining room and it was so pretty. I didn't even bother taking photos though because the windows were facing us and the light was way too bright to show up correctly on camera. I had read many bad reviews of this place so I knew that we were just going to be paying for the experience. Boy, was I in for a treat as the food was fabulous! I had a great BLT salad followed by yummy prime rib/potatoes au gratin/asparagus and then a wonderful dessert called chocolate cream cheese buckle. I highly recommend dinner here. It is a bit expensive but oh so worth it. :)

That night we went to the Spectro parade with Sage, Sandy and her parents. We had a great time catching up. It was a great end to a long day.

Disney Trip-Day 3 (September 21, 2008)

Today's Destination: Animal Kingdom

Breakfast-Tusker House (AK) 8:15am
Lunch-Rainforest Cafe (AK) 12:00pm
Dinner-Kona Cafe (Polynesian) 5:00pm

Today was one of hardest days of the trip. Animal Kingdom is always such a difficult one to see in the hot and extremely humid Florida weather. I don't know why but it always feels like that park is the hottest.

We started off the day by getting there before the park opened at 9am. Our character breakfast ressies gave us a chance to get inside the park before opening so we had a bit of an advantage afterward. The food here was really good and the character interaction was fabulous. They also had that wonderful juice like 'Ohana had so that made breakfast even better in my opinion.

We did a few rides in the blazing hot sun and then decided to get out early so that we could go sit inside the wonderfully air conditioned Rainforest Cafe. We weren't really hungry and I knew that would happen when I made the ressie. We just had some cold drinks and a few appetizers while cooling down before our DVC tour.

Clayton and I were really interested in buying into the Disney Vacation Club before we left home so we decided to take a tour and ask some questions. They picked us up from AK and transported us over to the Saratoga Springs DVC Resort so that we could get more info. Our guide Paul answered alot of questions that we had and showed us sample accomodations for DVC members. Wow, we were really impressed. You wouldn't believe how nice the 1 bedroom units are. We thought that the AK Kidani Village Villas were nice but the Bay Lake Tower rooms were exactly what we wanted. BLT is being built right outside of the Contemporary Resort (you know, the one that the monorail goes right through) and would be perfect for our needs. Unfortunately, we came to the conclusion that joining the DVC would be a burden to use in the future though because we would have to pay alot of money every year for maintenance fees regardless if we went on vacation or not. We're talking 50 years of around $1000 fees each and every year on top of the $17,000 we had to pay upfront. That puts close to $70,000 in Mickey Mouse's pocket if we signed the dotted line. Yes, this could be a value if we vacationed multiple times a year but we don't. We were sad to not do it but we know that we will be staying DVC in the future by renting a member's points from them. That allows us to stay where we want without the lifetime obligation of paying hefty fees. I guess we can have our cake and eat it too. :)

For dinner, we returned to our resort for Kona Cafe. It was so good last year and this year was great too. I really liked the fact that I could order sushi this time (they didn't have that option last year). Emerson slept straight through dinner as I held him. He was pretty much pooped out and I can't blame him. It was hard to hold him as I ate but I cherished it at the same time because I miss having a little baby boy. They grow up so fast.

Disney Trip-Day 4 (September 22, 2008)

Today's Destination: Epcot

Breakfast-Capt. Cook's (Polynesian-counter service)
Lunch-Sunshine Seasons (Epcot-Future World)
Dinner-Teppan Edo (Epcot-World Showcase) 5:00pm

We slept in this morning and arrived at Epcot later than I had planned. That was okay though because we still got to do alot of things without waiting forever thanks to using fast passes. We were hot and tired that afternoon so we stopped at Sunshine Seasons at The Land for a quick bite to eat and some air conditioning. That place was insane. The food was okay but the way that they made you stand in many different lines was annoying. Naturally we all wanted something from a different station so that meant lots of waiting at one and then back in line at another. By the time we got into yet another line to pay, everything was cold. We won't be doing that again.

After lunch, we headed over to Turtle Talk. Now I want to teach you all a valuable lesson about Turtle Talk. It is an awesome interactive show that has all the kiddos sit in the front of the room on the floor while all the parents sit in the multiple rows of benches behind them. As soon as the show is over, they simply open all the side exit doors and tell everyone to meet up. Let me tell you that is impossible. There are too many people exiting and in the way to actually see where your kid is. We found Hayden quickly but Emerson was gone. Hayden didn't even see where he went and he was sitting next to him. After scanning the remaining kids I knew Emerson was already out the doors. Unfortunately, the corridor as you leave is narrow and the people going through it move at a snail's pace. I had to push through everyone and get to the end quickly to find my boy. Unfortunately, he wasn't with the crowd either. I began to panic and yell for him. I ran to a cast member at the Nemo ride and told her that my child was missing. She asked me what he was wearing and I went blank. I simply couldn't remember. Thank God I dress my boys alike (and this is one of the reasons why) because I was able to point Hayden out to her and she then could describe his clothes. She got on a walkie and announced it to all the other cast members so that they could start searching. They had people at all the entrances to the building watching for him. It was awful and I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Finally, Clayton located him after about 5 minutes. We had no idea where he went but we were so glad to be reunited. Considering that my child was only missing for 5 minutes and I felt sheer panic that whole traumatic time, I would like to choke Casey Anthony in Orlando (she's a mom in FL that has a missing little girl and apparently doesn't give a flying flip).

After our traumatizing search, we headed to Teppan Edo in Japan for dinner. It was raining at the time so we had to brave the weather in ponchos. It was worth the soggy trek as dinner was fabulous. I rarely ever eat everything on my plate but I did this time. I had filet done hibachi-style with udon noodles and veggies. Yummy! The kids had their dinners served in awesome monorail plates.

Disney Trip-Day 5 (September 23, 2008)

Today's Destination: Magic Kingdom

Breakfast-Kona Cafe (Polynesian) 8:10am
Lunch-Pinnochio Haus (MK-counter service)
Dinner-Whispering Canyon Cafe (Wilderness Lodge) 8:50pm

Breakfast at Kona was really good. The pancakes were huge and oh-so-yummy. They had the yummy juice like 'Ohana and press pots of Kona coffee. I highly recommend this breakfast if you want something new and are really hungry (the plates were humongous!). We will warn you though that the bottled water there was $6.50 each (we found that out after we had ordered a few, lol).

Today was a fabulous day at the MK. We rode 9 rides before lunch. The kids rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 3 times in a row without a wait. After that, we somehow convinced them to try Splash Mountain because there was no wait on it either. They did so good! Considering that Hayden was big enough to ride Space Mountain and complete the MK mountain trifecta, we got him to do it too. He did so well and ended up riding it again in the front seat. Wow, I cannot believe that he was so brave!

Lunch was great at the Pinnochio Haus. The lines were easy to deal with and the food was good. We will definitely return there for counter service in the future.

Judy, Mom and me went to the Garden View Tea Room at the Grand Floridian around 3:00pm. It was fabulous even though Judy was miffed that they didn't let her sniff the teas beforehand. Last year, they presented each table with a box of glass vials filled with all their fragrant teas. You could smell them to help pick out what you wanted to drink. At least everyone liked what they chose. My all-time favorite tea is anything with jasmine in it and my tea here did not disappoint. The finger sandwiches, scones and pastries were also pretty tasty.

After tea, we went to the awesome soap shop that is located in the Grand Floridian lobby. I bought lots of pretty soaps and bath bombs for Christmas gifts. The soaps smell wonderful and come with neat designs in them. For instance, I bought my intended mother a bar that has a stork carrying a baby in it and my cousins are getting bars with Mickey heads in them. Cool, huh?

Dinner this night was absolutely atrocious. I knew that Whispering Canyon was rowdy but good grief. It was so loud that you couldn't hear anything and the waiters were obnoxious. A lady at the table next to me got called out for texting someone on her phone. I then got called out for being on my phone too. They said that we were texting each other. Ugh. Hayden got a bottle of beer spilled on him by our waiter. Poor guy began to cry when we were talking about how others would think he smelled like a drunkard, lol. They did some crazy antics while we there and I would have been mortified to have been any of those poor people. They made one couple run around the restaurant (riding stick ponies, mind you) with the wife singing "You Are My Sunshine". Egad. You couldn't pay me enough to do that, lol. I love the Wilderness Lodge but I will never recommend this restaurant. The food was just okay and the loudness was enough to make me go nutso.