101th post!

This is my 101th post- I think I will celebrate with some funny kid sayings 'cause their have been a lot lately...

• Whenever we drive to the city Zanna yells, "Mom, there's the ENTIRE State Building!"
• When she says the first Article of Faith she says, "We believe in God the INTERNAL Father
• Today in church the speaker said "...this was back when President Hinckley was still the prophet." James was actually listening and said, "Mom, STEAL the prophet! Why did they steal the prophet?"
• I told James to listen to his body so that he knows when to go potty and he said, "but mom, my body doesn't say anything."
• I asked James how he knew something and he said, "I just learned it up."
• At dinner James said, "Mommy, when can you kick me out of this house?" (where is this coming from??)
• Before naps James asked, "when we do naps can I wake up?" I said no :)

Hope these made you smile... I got a kick out of 'em!

fall festivities

are these cool or what? we turned the lights out, ate roasted pumpkin seeds and admired our amateur carving job- we were so proud!

James hates getting his hands messy, so this was the extent of his pumpkin cleaning- 3 fingers.

Zanna's all about the mess-- she dressed for the occasion.

the kiddos and their cute blue eyes

Dave had another day off and we headed up to the Bronx to Stew Leonard's (I posted about this place before-0ne in CT- and I know it's just a grocery store, but it's the coolest one I've ever been to) This pumpkin was 490 lbs.!

the have singing animals and a petting zoo...

and they make their own ice cream and have great sprinkles and dipped cones!

On Sunday afternoons we like to walk to this park down the street from us and this past Sunday there were a ton on leaves to play in...

it was a great day for a dive in

little posers

Our latest adventures

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

first visitors: Ashley, Jackson and Grady (my cousins and her kiddos)

• Arrival: Monday night late
• lots of playing, feeding, cleaning!
• great time to chat with my "twinner cousin" 
• a meltdown for me one morning
• an 8 hour drive home by herself with the two little ones- brutal
• Departure: 2:00pm Friday afternoon                   
  

second visitors: The Heaston Crew- Dan, Mandy, Cadence, Cami, and Holly

• Arrival: Friday 1:00pm
• playing at the park on the beach
• not so hot/really bad service Mexican food for dinner in Port Washington
• eyebrow "threading" and a little trip to Sephora :)
• FAO Schwarz- "the really big piano show"
• "Serendipity" for Frozen Hot Chocolate and Huge Sundaes
• Playing in Central Park with Dan the "Manny"
• Dan and Mandy seeing "Wicked"while I parties with the little ones
• Departure: 8:30am Sunday morning

little excursion to Hershey, Pa for Me and the kids

• Departure: 1:00pm Sunday after Church
• met Caroline and Owen at Mandy's for dinner and COOKIES!
• made hair bows late into the night
• a trip to Sharp Shopper
• Fun picnic to Cocoa Castle to see lots of friends- thanks for coming!
• Chocolate World- of course!
• Dinner at Mr. Sorrentos
• A visit to the Manor and Briarcrest
• A late night drive to NY and great view of the city at night- beautiful!
  

last visitors in NY: Caroline and Owen McCann

• Arrival: Monday night 11:00pm
• playing in Central Park
• lots of Subway rides
• Staten Island Ferry to the Statue of Liberty
• Vietnamese dinner in China Town
• Toys 'r Us and Times Square
• Spiderman sighting
• search for a McD's cone late at night
• laughing at Brian Regan and "the Office"
• a beautiful drive around Long Island and the North Shore
• Long Island pizza- yummy!
• An awesome, awesome beach day at Nickerson Beach (in October!)
• Departure: 6:45 am to the airport

What a fun, adventurous, exhausting couple of weeks! Thanks for coming to party with us- we love you guys and invite anyone else who wants to come stay and play with us in NY! 

my sad story

So, here's my big announcement- I AM NOT PREGNANT! But, listen to the comment I got the other day... I was at COSTCO and I saw a friend I hadn't seen for a long time (since the beginning of this past summer) She is about 30+ years older than me and from another country-- not sure which one-- and very open with her thoughts. 

Anyway, she said, "oh, Melanie, how are you? we haven't seen you for such a long time...(small pause) you've put on some weight."   

 I think "uh, yeah a little, but nobody is supposed to talk about it..."

so I say, "um, yeah, but not for any good reason."

the other friend she is with says excitedly, "Oh, for a GOOD reason?"

and  I sadly have to reply, "no, I said, not for any good reason."

this is the first time this has happened to me and it was not fun or something I would recommend to anyone.  as if I wasn't already a little self conscious about this and then this happens- great! So, I went home and had some pizza and some mini twix's- it was an awesome day in my life.

the coolest McDonald's by far

It has hardwood floors, a sun room and pillars- it's beautiful!

We finally bought some plants to fill our pots that have been sitting on our shelf for 13 months!

the kids had a great time gathering some dirt and rocks outside to help fill the pots and have loved watching them grow.

Zanna planted some sugar snap peas and James helped plant our "basil in a can" and they are actually both growing really well already. We had lots of pots in Hershey and I was really missing that so i am happy to have the green around again :)

We bought the plants at Hicks Nursery a couple of weeks ago and had fun seeing all the pumpkins  

and eating the roasted corn on the cob. It was a really nice day and Dave actually had the Saturday off so we lived it up- pumpkins, plants, mexican for lunch and a McD's cone!

This is a peanut pumpkin- cool huh?

BEARS ANYONE?

     

                                                 Last week the kids were out of school so we headed up to Bear Mountain State Park with our friends the Hartricks and the Guymons.  It was only about an hour northwest of us and such a great, beautiful hidden secret of a place. It has two beautiful big mountains, a lake, a pool, a zoo, and playground- I think you can even camp up there.  The best part is that everything is FREE and they really have bears. The worst part was that my kids are probably some of the most fall-prone kids I know and they both biffed it at least twice and Jonah- the cute little guy I watch- fell twice too, so needless to say there were a lot of tears and band-aids goin' on.  Despite all the first-aid, we had a great day in the "mountains" and want to go back up when the leaves are changing- it's gonna be GORGEOUS!

just thought I'd share...

This is my new favorite make-up product. 

It is Calvin Klein's Infinite Matte Oil Free Foundation.

I didn't even know Calvin Klein made make-up until I went into Sephora and saw it amongst the overwhelming rows and isles of fabulous products.  It was recommended to me by a friend and I love it! It is really light, has great coverage and doesn't feel like I'm wearing a foundation. (does that sounds like a commercial, or what?)  I have been wearing Laura Geller's Balance-n-Brighten for the last couple of years, and I still really like it- especially the bronzing effect- but I think I am making the switch. My skin feels so good after just 2 days of using it and I'm learning that somtimes paying a little more is worth it (it was $32). 

Laura Geller's Baked Foundation

check out both of these products at 

www.sephora.com

4 going on 18!

Should I be worried about this girl?? 

She's only 4, but is already the life of the party!