Pumpkin Patch

Every year we take H to the pumpkin patch. She loves it, I love it and it's cheap entertainment. We always go to Motleys. It's funny looking back. The first time we took H I spend days picking out her outfit. Cause you know it's all about the pictures you take at the pumpkin patch.

 

 

This was my favorite from the first year

 

 

Oh the cuteness, I know I'm a little bias but my word I loved me some one year old H.

 

 

Second year

 

 

 

Isn't it amazing how much they change in one year. Love my little sassy girl....

 

And then we have this year. They year where SHE decided what she's going to wear and how she's going to wear it. help me.

 

 

 

Here favorite part of the pumpkin patch, like always was the huge pile of hay/straw (like I know the difference) with the slide. I'd like to note that I didn't have to nonchalantly  give a kid the evil eye for pushing H this year.

 

 

we fed the farm animals again this year. H always thinks she likes doing this until she gets slobber on her hands or when the chicken scares her. The entire feeding the animals gross me out, especially when the Billy goats just decided to poop randomly. It reminds me of the candy Whoopers. I just don't get it? I digress

 

 

 

Mom got to go with us this year, we just love having her here, I know she'll be headed to STL soon. We are going to miss her.

 

Eckert's Country Farm

Our last trip to St. Louis, we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and went to Eckerts. I highly recommend it if you’re ever in the STL area.

Eckert’s, when I was a child was just an old time restaurant that had a janky wagon that took you on a 2 minute ride to the apple trees.

Now, it’s so much more. There’s still the old people restaurant and the apple picking, but they have added pumpkin picking, hay rides, bonfires, petting zoo, a country store, and let’s not forget the kiddie carnival.

Hannah was in country heaven.

I was a little concern about the rides. I thought H be a little hesitant once she saw what the rides did. Boy was I wrong!

At one point I looked up and H was swinging in this thing yelling weeeeeeeee!

Then she got to ride "Pumpkin" the horsey.

Of course we had to go pick apples and pumpkins. I think H really enjoyed picking the apples the best. She's pick an apple and say "look mamma, this is good. Then take a bite out of it. ugh, we had a bag full of apples with one bite out of them.

We were spent after riding rides and apple picking. So we sat and ate fair food and listen to an old man play the banjo. (for real) My sister kept giving me the side eye roll. I'm country...she is all city girl. We laughed, when we saw H getting down to the banjo music. She can't help it, country runs through her veins.

Weekend Recap

This morning I got to work at 4am. To close payroll, only to find out the system was down. Womp womp womp. So instead of making the best of my time, I thought I’d share my weekend with you. #employeeoftheyear.

Friday, M and I went to a going away party at The Butcher Shop. I’ve wanted to try this place since we moved to LR. I had “saved” my calories all day so I could indulge a little bit. Indulge is just what I did. Remember the no drinking during the week? We’ll I had 3 glasses of wine and I was white girl wasted in no time. REALLY AMIE? I didn’t partake in the delicious menu (probably my first mistake) and stuck with a salad. By the end of the night (which we were only there 3hrs) I was drinking water and eating bread.

But enough about me.

The going away party was for a friend’s daughter. She fell in love with a guy about a year ago; she had enough of the long distance between them 1796miles to be exact. She packed everything into a moving truck and set out to be with her one true love. The things we do for love.

Saturday morning I woke up with the birds and set out for my group run. I learned a great lesson about running that morning. It’s nearly impossible to run long distance when you fuel your body with wine the night before. It was horrible. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. I just wanted it to be over. And to make things worse, this “course” was nothing short of Hospital Hill. It had hills for days. Note to self. No wine on Friday nights. PERIOD.

I spent the afternoon rehydrating. We watched the Razorback game at a friend’s house. I use the word “watch” lightly. I go to these things to chat with the wives, eat the yummy food and drink. Let’s just be honest.


I tried to stay away from the unhealthy snacks and for the most part I did.


Sunday and Monday we didn’t do much but hang out at the pool. It was a nice weekend. With lots of running.

Hope everyone had a great holiday!!

Oh and did anyone see Big Brother? Did you love Amanda’s face when she found out she was put on the block?! LOVE IT!! #BYEBYEMCRANDA

Hannah's Birthday Take Two

You know living in a different state than the rest of your family really has its benefits.

 Like for instance:

No Aunt Betty we can not make your cookies with Santa, we are six hours away or No, (insert friends name) we are not able to help you move...we are six hours away. I kid I kid, we are totally up for cookies for Santa. Have you ever been to a retirement home? They serve booze!

I digress

One of the major down falls of living six hours away with the ONLY grandchild, it birthdays.  We normally make the trip to STL for H's birthday but this year I decided it would be a good idea to throw two birthday parties. one in AR and one in MO.

Who was riding safety when I made that decision? I must have been out of my mind.

I will be happy to announce that M didn't serve me my walking papers and we lived through the LR birthday party, a 6 hour drive to STL, a STL party and he's even ok with me totally leaving him the next two weekends for a girls weekend. #WINNING

So back to STL.

We loaded the car Friday after work and set out for STL. M took the first shift, while I sat and  watched movies played with H in the back seat. Next thing I knew we were at my parents doorstep. H and I were all bright eyed and bushy tailed and M somewhat resembled Shrek, a very tired Shrek. We made it to STL around 1am.

since I slept 5 out of the 6 hour drive I was wired for sound. I couldn't go to sleep.  Next thing I knew it was 6am. I jumped up and immediately put my running clothes on. My parents live less than a mile from Tower Grove Park. This park is beautiful (we'll minus the night life, occasional fights and random homeless people that like to hang in the bushes) just don't go there after dark and you are good.

So I laced up my shoes and hit the pavement. it was 70 outside. 70. I couldn't believe it. LR weather has been set on HELL for the last month. I was happy as a clam.

I headed straight to my now local sole sista's house and woke her ass up, along with a few of her neighbors. I couldn't remember her house number. Ol' girl just moved and I had to see her house. It's beautiful by the way. AND I'm pretty sure her new boyfriend thinks I'm a few fries short of a happy meal.

Off we went for a quick run with the hounds. Running in my old neighborhood with my bestie really give me a good home feeling. pure happiness.

I had 503,232 things to do before the birthday party started at 2:00pm. Pick up cake, balloons, decorate, bathe H. cook, drink a glass of wine etc etc.  oh did I mention I thought it would be a great idea to take H's 3yr old pictures before her party at the Botanical Gardens.

again, who was riding safety when I made these decisions?

H's pictures turned out wonderful. I'm actually really glad I had them done.

By the time 1:30 rolled around. H was dressed, cake and balloons were picked up, house was semi decorated and I had my happy ass on the back porch with a glass of wine.

I love H's STL party. It's really a "Mike and Amie are in town everyone come over and bring your kids" it's great. we sit and laugh with all of our friends and family.

H had a great time. and by had a great time I mean she passed out super early and slept like a ROCK.

And, I have no pictures because my super awesome friend who is a photographer was in charge of all that. So I'll have to update those later.

All in all it was a great time. Next year, I'm thinking one birthday party will be plenty.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Circus

The circus came to town a few weeks ago. We'd thought we'd take Mike back to his true family! HA, Me so funny!

 

We always went to the circus as a kid. And when I say "we" I mean my family always went while I was out of town on a sports trip. They would always say "hey, we can't help that you travel so much" They didn't even bring me any cotton candy back. I think I'm still a  little bitter.

 

So when the circus was a coming to LR, I was so excited. You should have seen M's face. He   personally thinks the "carnies" are a little weird. But what ev, we were going and we were getting cotton candy!

 

 

Isn't she sassy...We are in trouble!

 

 

I have to tell you, the hour before the show was the best part. We were able to walk around and see the animals up close.

 

 

It was so much fun, they sang crazy circus songs and played jump rope

 

 

We had fun, we sang,  we laughed at the Corny jokes, we oohed and aah when the guy juggled fire, we bought our $12.00 cotton candy and left intermission.

Memphis Zoo

Memorial day weekend, we'd thought we'd take full advantage of the extra day off. We loaded the honkey tonk truck and set out for the Memphis Zoo.

Has anyone ever been?

It was our first time going. We were pretty excited about the day trip. Plus we went to the Little Rock Zoo previously and let me just tell you to save your money. It's was piss poor. like bad. Like the poor giraffe was chained up to a pool on the black top. I mean really? It was sad. I give it a two and that's only because the parking was super close.

I digress.

The Memphis Zoo got a solid 5. (what can I say, the St. Louis Zoo is the BEST) It was a lot bigger than the LR ZOO. It didn't cost us an arm and a leg to get in. The animals seemed pretty happy...we'll except for this guy

I'm pretty sure he's talking himself off the ledge...poor little fella...he just wants to run wild and free. Instead he gets to hear bratty kids hit the glass all day.

The sting rays were pretty cool. Of course H and I were too scared to touch them. Shoot...we heard about Crocodile Hunter...mamma didn't raise no fool.

 

 

 

Seriously, This picture makes me so sad. H looks so grown up.

 

This little fella..was a huge hit. We recently found a turtle in our back yard. H fell in love with it. She loved seeing this turtle walking around the zoo. She of course wanted to take it home.

 

We had a great time in Memphis, we'll defiantly go back.

 

After the zoo we ventured to Tunica. M gambled and H and I hit up the outlet mall. We enjoyed our weekend away. Hope everyone had a safe Memorial Day.

That Silly Leprechaun

Happy St. Patrick's Day.
I hope everyone enjoyed their green beer!

The Lassen's went without Green Beer this year...womp womp.

We did enjoy all the treats that the Leprechaun left us Hannah.

SOURCE

I found these cute guys on Pinterest. I can't take full credit for the idea but I did change it up a bit. I wanted to get the full effect of the rainbow BUT I didn't want to send H in a sugar shock.

These were super easy to make:

• One bag of skittles. Which did you know they got ride of that nasty lime skittle? It's now Green Apple. YUMMY!
• One bag or Rollo's
• Twine
• I found the "buckets" from Michaels and the tubes from Hobby Lobby
• Print outs were found  HERE

Of course I had to die EVEYTHING green.

M and I hid buckets of Gold aka ROLO's around the house. H's face was so funny when she saw that the "Silly Leprechaun" left her buckets of gold.

 

 

Of course I had to make St. Patrick's day shirt (please excuse the wrinkles. Who has time to iron?). I'm trying to show M that I can be frugal.

Shirt: Hobby Lobby $2.99

Iron on $1.99

I printed a shamrock from Google. Traced in on the iron-on, cut it out and iron it on the shirt. The iron process was a little annoying.  I guess I was a little impatient. There was a thin line between enough heat and burning the T-Shirt.  Needless to say, my fingertips were numb. I should have just bought the dang St. Patrick's day shirt from Old Navy.

 

Tuesday Thoughts

Happy Tuesday Ya'll!

Can I just say how nice it was to have a three day weekend, cause it was nice. I defined laziness. True story. I had 302,633 things to completed and I finished 1/2 of one. I know, my house looks like an episode of Hoarders but what ev. I got in some good quality time with my wonderful hubs (who went to Jared's for Vday) and my sweet H.

Friday, I ran like it was my only way into heaven. 8 miles on the dreadmil. KILLED IT. Did  I mention the LR half is 2 weeks away.

Saturday, we got up bright and early and got our taxes done. I don't know why but I love finding out how much money we will be getting back. We weren't five steps from the door before the sentence " let's book our vacation" came out of my mouth. M laughs, he wants to save and put away for a rainy day. I want to splurge on a beach vacation and umbrella drinks. You only live once! I skipped my run Saturday.

Sunday, was absolutely gorgeous. We spend the day outside playing with neighbors, feeding the birds, and of  course bubbles. When we got bored with our house we went to the park. M played with H while I got my miles in. I felt very blessed that day.

Monday, I sat on my butt all day like it was my job. I had the house all to myself. I could watch my shows without re-winding it 30 times. It was beautiful and relaxing all at the same time. I skipped my run. I didn't want to over exert myself.

So, I have to share. H is 99.9% potty trained. I don't even want to say we haven't had accidents at night because I don't want to jinx myself (but we haven't) I really have to say she was really easy at potty training. Mostly because she was super excited about "princess panties" to match her "princess night gown" I mean we are all about "princess" these days. So we made a huge deal about H's pretty princess panties. (oh note: We have princesses aka Cinderella and Angelina the ballerina and we also have Barbie who is a princess, basically any girl that dances is referred to a "princess" in our home)
H loved having her princess panties on. I mean she was BIG TIME.

So, one night H picked  these panties for bedtime:

 

Well Mother of the year award, says "Don't potty on Princess" I noticed H gave me a confused look but I brushed it off. Well that night she fought and fought going to bed. Then she woke up screaming and trying to pull her panties off. It really didn't click until days later when she saw these panties in the laundry basket and she said " Don't potty on Princess, She's mean"

 

oh boy.

 

So then we had to have a talk about how there are only nice princess, she just doesn't want to be pottied on.

 

VDay

aaahhh... Valentine's Day... You can just smell the love in the air.

This morning I was awaken by the fresh smell of coffee that awaited me on my breakfast tray that was filled with pancakes lightly buttered with syrup just like I like it. He knows the way to my heart.
Then BEEP BEEP...the alarm sounds and I wake up from dreaming. Looked over and M was sawing logs and there were no pancakes. womp womp.

But that is neither here nor there, it's Vday!

I got up and finished H's Vday cards.

source

Yes, I know she doesn't really go to school but she has (one) buddy at the sitter's and by golly these things were too cute! Someone was getting them for Vday.

I don't know what it is about Vday. It has always been my favorite holiday. I remember coming downstairs as a kid and seeing cards, candy, and a random stuff animals holding hearts on the kitchen table from my dad. So of course I had to get up this morning before everyone left and lay out Vday stuff on the table.

 I just love all the candy, pink, flowers, and just about anything that screams M it's vday shower me with your love. HAHA.

Happy Valentine's everyone!

Sometimes Small Towns are the BEST

We all know the culture shock I experience in the move from St. Louis to Benton, AR.

 

I mean for the love of God I went from this:

 

To This:

 

 

lol...I kid I kid... I love it here!!

 

Anyways, Benton always does a small town Fall Festival for the kids around Halloween. H loves it and  I love it because it's close and it's FREE...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just love the small town feel that Benton gives us.

 

Everyone was so nice and H really enjoyed herself.

BOO at the Zoo

Friday night we took little Hannah Banana to Boo at the Zoo. I am pretty sure I was more excited than Mike and Hannah. Any reason to dress her up in this little costume..I was in!

 

 

oh and any reason to hand out with little Riley Roo Rat.. We are also in..

 

 

Is that not the cutest little duck you've ever seen. Look she even has a bow!

 

There was tons of stuff for the kiddo's to do. Rides, Fortune teller, games, bounce houses, etc... The only down fall was little H was a little too short to any of it.

 

 

She was able to do the slide with her dad. Every wife should witness their child going down one of these slides with their husband. HILARIOUS! I guess the slide wasn't slick enough. Mike and H bounced most of the way down. She loved it.

 

 

She loved the train! Minus the part where the dinosaur jumped out and scared the bajesus out of her.

 

So we went to the carousel and called it a day.

 

 

 

 

It was really ok that she was too short to ride most of the rides. she really enjoyed running around her dad more than anything.

 

 

 

Can we say wrapped around his finger daddy's girl

 

 

The more the merrier

GO CARDINALS!!!!

Awesome game last night!

I had a pretty productive weekend. Friday I had the afternoon off. I planned on taking H to see the dinosaur exhibit but when I realized it cost a arm and a leg to get into. I went home. I don't mind paying the money when she is older and can last longer than 1 hour. Plus it was nap time and we all know how two year old act when it's nap time. MAKES A GIRL WANT TO DRANK!

I headed home and cleaned out our closets. It was time to go through H's clothes and mine. I am normally not this motivated but my mom was coming Saturday and she needed the closet space. YEP closet space. Why you ask? Oh you know home girl got transferred to ARKANSAS!!!

*WHOOOOHOOOO!!!!* HAPPY DANCE* HAPPY DANCE*

So we all know the big hoop la and how AT&T Yellow pages got sold. Mom has been with the company 30+ years. So when yellow pages was sold she freaked and then prayed. Mom has put her sweat and tears into that company. Of course they offered a "Thank you for your time but we are done with you" package that she missed by the skin of her teeth. She was so stressed. It's pretty crappy that she has been so loyal to this company and one day they walk in and say oh by the way we sold you to a different company. Mom kept the faith and didn't get discourage. We all know that GOD is our provider not AT&T.

Long story longer, She put in for a job down here and she got it. Yes she put in for jobs in MO but the wail was dry. So of course her next pick was Arkansas.

So we are slightly turning into these people:

But we look more like this version of Mama's family:

lol...I kid...I kid...

Of course all of this is temporary. BUT Mike and I love having family with us. So our family of three has grown to a family of six. I'm sure it's going to get crazy. I'm sure I've just written off any ounce of "quite me time" but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  You only have one family and you only live once.

So I guess every house has to have a MaMaw, a MIMI and a Uncle Neil and don't forget this adorable guy.

If you like to talk to tomatoes....

I have been singing that song all night....

We took Hannah to see Veggie Tales last night. SHE LOVED IT!!!

I'm not sure why I'm the only one not mean muggin in this photo?

Love me some neck hugs...

Of course dancing was her favorite part. (why won't my kid keep shoes on? Born and raised ARKANSAN...ugh)

Of course she made a friend. They were really sweet playing together. Her mom was super sweet too. AND she made me feel a lot better about myself when she also left at intermission. (who takes a 20 minute intermission at a children's function? Someone should have just yelled "20 MINUTES OF CHAOS")

So we went to a near buy  Mexican restaurant and ate our weight in Cheese DIP!

AND mommy had one of these...Isn't it pretty?

It's was so nice to have a night with just the three of us.

What's going on in our life these days

Nothing too exciting to write about these days.

My running has been slacking due to my lack of motivation and my obsession with the Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat Beer. It's my weakness and I feel the need to indulge every night.

That's what potty training will do to you folks...true Hollywood story...

I am happy to say we are 99.9% percent potty trained!!! WE are even leaving the house with no diaper and no accidents!!! ( I hope I didn't just jinx myself)

BUT No more beer after Sunday. (even though I said that last week..I MEAN it this time!)

I am 9 weeks away from St. Jude's 1/2 marathon and it's time to get serious.

I ran 7 miles this  Saturday morning. It sucked big time. The weather was perfect, my music was right on key but I was bored...just plain bored. I need help. My sweet bestie Marcia suggested that I add some hills into my run. WOW...I found some hills and I cursed the entire time. HORRIBLE.

My sweet bestie also got me hooked on the showtime series Homeland. I seriously watched it all night Saturday and ALL day Sunday. Like got up at 6am and started watching it...for reals!

My sweet bestie also sent me the best card this morning: This is why we are friends

I can't wait to run the GLOW RUN this weekend with her.

IT'S OCTOBER FOLKS!!

I'm super pumped! The house is decorated, the pumpkin candles are lit, the windows are open. Our Pumpkindoodle (yes, that's what my family calls H) is going to be a dinosaur. (thank you very much Allie Grace for getting her hooked on Dinosaurs.)

I can't wait for the Pumpkin Patches, Boo at the ZOO, and Taking H trick or treating!

84 days until Christmas folks!! YIKES


ugh...Holidays means lots of good food and drinks...I MUST RESIST!!! IT"S TOO EARLY FOR WINTER WEIGHT!

St. Louis Zoo

Because I just didn't have enough of the 6 hour drive when we went to STL for H's birthday on August 9th. I thought I throw the kid in the car one week later and head to STL....again...yep...I'm crazy.

 The 6 hour drive at night...was just shy of misery...but totally worth it. I don't know why I thought getting up at 5am-working-then hitting the road at 6pm would be a good idea. Guess that's how I didn't realize H was painting her toes with a magic marker in the back seat #mommyfail.

Anyways, I purposely accidentally woke my prego friend Stacey and convinced her to meet me at the St. Louis Zoo, before 9am so we can run around like banshee to the free stuff before they started charging. YEP. WE DID.

Our first stop was the Sting Rays & Sharks

The girls loved looking at them. One even "jumped" up and splashed.

This ginormous guy..made me a little nervous...If my memory serves me correct...someone was killed by one of these guys...#callmecrazy

Then we headed to the Children's Zoo..which is AMAZEBALLS

I told my self to not freak out about the nasty rat Guinea pig and let H pet it. She loved it.

Madi and Hannah played in here for quite a bit. It's so nice. There is so much to do in he children's zoo. It was amazing that how much they loved this:

Best Buds....

The STL ZOO is by far my favorite zoo. Not only is it free but they have added so many new fun things for kids and adults to do.