apples and pudding on the kitchen rug

that was our theme song last night!!  it made david dance and emily smile.  i make up silly songs when i'm in a stressful situation...try it, it helps!

last night, dinner started off a little rough.  well, kind of...ALOT rough!  emily was screaming like she was being beaten, she was throwing herself on the floor--scary stuff!  contrary to her screams, she was NOT being beaten...she was mad because david was playing with his trucks.  so i decided to whisk the two of them up for a bath.  it worked.  no, the tub was not filled with holy water to excercise her demons...but apparently it did wash away her crankies!  it was a nice night after that.  we went down to the kitchen where we all sat on our little kitchen rug and, you guessed it, ate apples and pudding!  hey, whatever works @ this point!!  we played, watched cartoons, and the two of them even sat with me at one point for a snuggle--at the same time!  good stuff.
this morning, emily was happy as a clam!

progress

 so things have been getting better with emily.  we had a really great weekend.  i'm not sure who was watching over us, but for two hours we all played nice until david went down for his nap.  it was amazing. 

on sunday night, hubs gutted pumpkins.  at that point the weekend of being alone with the kids was swiftly catching up with me.  i wanted no part in the pumpkin carving.  so after the kids went to bed, and while i was pouting by myself, hubs carved both pumpkins. 

yesterday my mom took david for the afternoon...it was awesome.  when emily got home from school i took her down to my parents' house for dinner.  she didn't have her nap, and she was totally happy.  it was really a great night.

tonight i'll be on my own with the kiddos.  i'm going to throw some chicken in the crock pot, and keep my fingers crossed that tonight will go smoothly!  with the way things have been going, i'm confident.

so, this is about the only "scooping" that david did:

just a reminder, things are getting underway over at The Clumsy Spider!!  check it out!!

i smell cake

last night i made dinner and brought it over to my parents' house.  my dad is a hunter, and he got his first deer last week(his first one in a looong time! lol)  *please, no hunting haters!  anyhoo, i'm a big stew lover, so i made it with venison!  so yummy!  besides the stew, we had to have dessert, right?  right!  i have been eyeballing a recipe from my favorite site, allrecipes.com.  its the "too much chocolate cake", however, i was missing the chocolate pudding.  dang, i really wanted chocolate too!  ok, time to improvise.  i had strawberry cake mix and white chocolate instant pudding.  seriously, it is a winning combination.  while i didn't get the white chocolate flavor per say, the cake was so moist and delicious...and the smell, holy strawberries, did this smell good!! 
you'll need:
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
*keep in  mind, you can use any flavor combination you like!!) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan. 
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar. 

i know that i've been on a healthy kick, but really, when you need a treat, this is worth it!  i did opt to use light sour cream and sugar free pudding--because that's what i had!!    i can't wait to try more flavors!!! 

pumpkin picking

ok, so even though our family photo didn't turn out how i would have hoped(again), we did have a nice time at the pumpkin patch.  emily only cried when we got there because the hay ride(with no hay) was coming around.   david loved running from pumpkin to pumpkin and helping his grandpa put the winners in the wagon!

the pumpkin patch

we took the kids pumpkin picking with my parents yesterday.  its always an adventure!  emily always cries as soon as we get there.  david has to touch every.single.pumpkin he sees!  every year we try to get a family photo...every year, we fail!  hahaha 

the proof:

2006

we don't even have a "family" shot with emily because she only wanted grandma, and cried for just about the entire time!

2007

i'm about one month pregnant with david(although i look like i'm already 6 months!), my jeans are too tight, i had a growth on my chin, and emily hated it this year too!

2008

david was clueless, the sun was too much for emily and hubs, and i looked like i was trying to smuggle some pumpkins in my shirt(and my jeans were still too tight!)

2009

holy sun!  we were all blind! 

2010

this year was no different...except we had a screamer!  david just wanted to run around the pumpkins, and try to fit as many in the wagon as he could!  emily was the best she's ever been though!  this may be a contender for the christmas card... 

maybe next year we'll have a winner!

beatitudes for friends of special children

Blessed are you who take the time to listen to difficult speech, for you help me to know that if I persevere I can be understood. 

Blessed are you who never bid me to "hurry up" and take my tasks from me and do them for me, for often I need time rather than help. 

Blessed are you who stand beside me as I enter new untried ventures, for my failures will be outweighed by the times I surprise myself and you. 

Blessed are you who asked me for my help, for my greatest need is to be needed. 

Blessed are you who understand that it is difficult for me to put my thoughts into words. 

Blessed are you whom with a smile, encourage me to try once more. 

Blessed are you who never remind me that today I asked the same question two times. 

Blessed are you who respect me and love me as I am-Just as I am, and not like you wish I were. 

i have been having a hard time with emily again.  its really not good timing with hubs starting his part time job.  i just feel stressed and weak.  i found that little passage above in emily's school handbook this year.  sometimes we all need a little reminder to put things into perspective.

i know that this rough patch will pass, just as they all do. 

fire prevention success!

hubs had a blast doing fire prevention for emily's school!  he could not stop smiling when he got home!  the kids and teachers had a great time!
i thought everyone could use a treat, so i made cupcakes with chocolate fire hats!

i had ordered fire truck molds to make lolly pops, but they came one day too late!  dang it!  so i used the chocolate melts to "draw" fire hats!  i'm not sure i'd recommend this!  i was all out of whack from being hunched over these things!  i was so concerned with finishing them, that i forgot to take pics!   ugh.  in essence, i printed off a bunch of fire hat pics from microsoft word's clip art.  then with wax paper over a cookie sheet, i traced them with the melted milk chocolate in a zippie bag with a very small hole clipped in the corner of the bag.  next i filled in with the red, then the white.  it was seriously time consuming, but i like the way they turned out! 

mentally preparing...and its fire prevention week!

tonight my hubs starts his new part time job.  he'll be a sales associate @ walmart in the electronics dept.  he's excited about it.  i'm feeling a little overwhelmed.  i'm happy about the extra income...we absolutely, 100% need the money.  but his hours are 5pm-12am.  that means he won't have enough time to stop home after his full time job.  that means i'll be on my own with the kids.  emily is least tolerant of david from the hours of 4pm-bedtime.  and they both have colds.  not to mention he'll be working weekends.  this week its saturday and sunday, next week he'll have sunday off.  its scary.  maybe i should have gotten the part time job(we've both been applying, but he got the first call--actually, i haven't even gotten one call!).  i know that if i ask my parents to come over to help, they will.  i just feel like its my responsibility.  i wish i didn't worry so much!  this really is a good thing.  he's amazing for doing this...for taking care of us. 

anyway.  i'll be fine.  lol

did you know that this week is fire prevention week?  ok, so thursday is a little late to be reminding you, but better late than never, right?  hubs is taking a fire truck over to emily's school tomorrow!  he's very excited to be able to do it for them.  and the school is super excited that he offered.  for some reason they have not participated in fire prevention in a few years.  i think the old principal dropped the ball.  the new principal is awesome though, and very welcoming to fun ideas and suggestions.    hopefully we'll get some pics.  david and i won't be able to attend because we have his IFSP planning meeting for early intervention.  services should be able to start in about a week after we set is goals up.

talk to the kiddos about escape routes and stop drop and roll.  don't forget to check the batteries in your smoke and CO alarms ans test them regularly!

you can also check out the NFPA for more tips and activities for the kids!