No-Show November

 my blogging has been non-existent lately. I wrote more in the week after Emma was born than I have the past two weeks. 

No serious excuses for this, I just haven't made it happen. 

So let's play catch-up with the Holding Family:

We took Lexi (and only Lexi) to a family wedding in Lawrence a couple of weeks ago. She loved the 'prince and princess' getting married, the dancing, the cupcakes (which she and her cousins pre-tasted for everyone), and the photo booth.  

Oh the photo booth . . . . 

We set up our Christmas-ness last weekend. 

The small children love it. 

Emma points at everything that lights up and says "Please" extremely loudly until her demands have been met. 

She is insistent but so cute.

When I was little, it was a big deal to get to put the tree topper on, We had to take turns. Scottie had odd years, I had evens. Kelly was too cool; she didn't care about tree topping. I tried to get Lexi excited about being the tree-topper-helper this year, but she was not all in. She like the idea in theory, but she ended up being scared of heights. I guess there is a difference between being 6 feet in the air (when my dad would hoist us up to crown the tree) and 10 feet (we have a large tree and Paul is part-giant).

 I guess Daddy gets even years.

 Our finished product:

 IF I sent out Christmas cards - this would be the winner. 
But I don't send out Christmas cards, so  . . . . .

Other happenings:

 - Emma has 4 teeth coming in. It's painful and sleepless and cranky. And that is just how I am feeling. She is less than pleasant right now, also. 

 - I got my haircut. Finally. 

 - Paul submitted a request to participate in Movember (similar to No-Shave-November, but the boys grow mustaches instead of just beards). Naturally, this was denied. Mustaches make Paul look like a serial killer.

 - We hosted Thanksgiving here for our little family plus my parents. It was pretty good, but I still managed to burn a pan to it's black black death. 

 - I tried to go early black Friday shopping (Thursday night) to find an $8 crock pot and a new pan to replace the one that died in the Great Gravy Armageddon of 2012. Mom and I drove to Target, saw the line wrapped AROUND THE WHOLE BUILDING, laughed a lot, then said 'no', went home and drank more wine. 

 - As a diocesan teacher I have to take religion classes the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving. This year I chose a class about exorcism. I haven't slept in 6 days.  

 - My Etsy business is keeping me hopping. Which is great - it allows me to keep shopping! Coincidentally I am 3 gifts away from being DONE with my holiday shopping. What the what?

Let's Go Wildcats!

 Lexi is a HUGE K-State fan! 

She was taught (mostly by Nana) at a very young age to love Wildcats and only Wildcats. 

She is disgusted by Jayhawks. 

She for real actually watches the games on TV. 

She bleeds purple. 

Willie the Wildcat came to Wichita on Thursday 

(probably just to meet Lexi-Lulu) 

and Nana and Papa took my girls to meet him. 

Lexi loved it, of course. 

K-S-U Wildcats!!!!

Thank You

I've been seeing a lot of people posting on Facebook about their thankfulness today (must be November or something) and it got me thinking about what I am thankful for. This might seem a little odd, but hear me out. 

Things I am Thankful For:

1. Paul's Business Trips
      I know this seems selfish, but keep reading. Paul has traveled more for work lately than ever before. It used to be one 5 day trip, once a quarter. He was gone almost 2 1/2 weeks in October and he will be gone again at the end of November/beginning of December. I hate when he is gone - but it has taught me that I can be more independent. Most importantly, when he comes home I appreciate him so much more. It's not just the gross things, like crunching the bugs either. When he is gone, I realize how much he does to make my life run more smoothly - the coffee is ready in the morning when I wake up, the trash magically takes itself out, and the ironing actually gets done (confession: ironing scares me - I just throw stuff back in the dryer to get wrinkles out), just to name a few things.
I am thankful for Paul's business trips because they make me appreciate him more.

2. Emma's Peanut Allergy
   I know what you are thinking: "What the what? Why is she thankful for Em's allergies? Wasn't she having a breakdown and stuff about this back in March?"
    Emma cannot have peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish, or coconut. Do you know how much stuff has coconut oil in it? Almost all Halloween candy is processed with/near/around peanuts. Even though keeping Emma away from this list of stuff is difficult, it has helped me be a more conscientious consumer. A trip to the grocery store takes twice as long because I am checking labels and ingredients on EVERYthing, EVERYtime. 
Subsequently, I have started cooking with more basic ingredients, which in turn makes me feel better about the nutritiousness of what I am feeding my family.  Eating out is pretty much a nightmare, though there are a few places with special allergy menus. But I would rather not run the risk of needing to use the epipen, so we rarely eat out. 
I'm thankful for Emma's allergies, because they have made our lives more nutritious. 

3. Lexi's timing
   There must be something magical about the grocery store. No matter what, every time I take Lexi with me she announces that she needs to go potty. It's Pavlovian at this point, I think. She always waits until I am about halfway through - too late to just walk away, but still at least 20 minutes until we get home. If you have ever seen us at the grocery store, you would notice that I have a look of panic on my face as we dash from aisle to aisle trying to go as quickly as possible before Lexi declares her need to go to the bathroom. Sometimes she has already decided she has to go, but I really need to finish shopping and I am really moving quickly to get her home (I have germophobia, we don't do public bathrooms). 
  I am thankful for Lexi's timing because it saves me from browsing and spending unnecessarily. She makes certain I stick to the list, and only come home with what I need, nothing else.

Trick or Treat Sneak Peek

Lexi requested to be a Sparkle Witch this year. 

That's right, not just any witch, but a Sparkle Witch. 

Since that isn't exactly a costume I could purchase, I had to make it.

The tutu is awesomely massive, and thanks to Pinterest I was able to make it myself.

The tights and hat I found at Dillons.

The top is a ballet leotard.

The sparkle broom is a treasure we found at Hobby Lobby. 

 Emma is young enough that Lexi and I still get to dictate her costume.

Lexi said every good Sparkle Witch has a black cat.

I was going to put little whiskers on her face using eyeliner, but her skin is really sensitive and I just didn't want to deal with a rash on her face, so we skipped that step. Which of course means that if she takes her hood off, she looks like she is dressed as a gorilla (with a tail).

Luckily, Lexi was a cat for Halloween a few years ago, so I already owned that adorable costume.

Happy Halloween from the Holdings!

disclaimer: I'm not wearing makeup. My costume was Tired Mom.

Camera Catch-Up

The following pictures are somewhat random, but all from the last week or so. 

I'm playing camera catch-up today.

Lexi at a birthday party for one of her friends from school.

"It was pretty awesome," said Lexi. 

"Very cool party - it was just right!"

 My girls, like most small children enjoy a game of Hide-and-Go-Seek.

 Can you find Lexi?

 Emma did!

 Ok, seriously ladies? 

Someone needs to teach these children about silhouettes.

  

The middle picture was taken when Emma was about a month old. She is 18 months old now and still loves to lay on her Daddy.

 And a few more to round this out:

 Emma wants to give you all the What's Up.

 Lexi is sad. 

That's all until our Halloween pictures!

Falling for you

We had a gorgeous fall day yesterday! Paul wanted to rake up the leaves in the front yard, so I volunteered two pretty little helpers and deemed myself photographer 

(because I don't do outdoor things - not in my job description). 

Lexi has always loved playing/helping Paul with the leaves (Exhibit A and Exhibit B), so naturally you would think Emmy-Jo would love it too, right? 

Wrong. So very wrong. 

She wanted nothing to do with that leaf pile. We tried to place her in it to get a cute autumn picture of the girls, and this happened:

Oh yeah - that cute bottom lip popped out and she could only be consoled by her most special favorite person: Daddy.

So Emma walked around a lot. 

Lexi played in the leaves a lot. 

Paul got not a lot of work done. 

I took a lot of pictures.

 

 Aren't they good helpers?

Books

Most of the books in our house are pink and sparkly. 
They are about fairies, princesses, fairy tales, ponies, and other such ridiculous and wonderful nonsense.

Tonight, Lexi found this book: 

And this was the conversation we had: 

Lexi: MOM! Who brought this boy book into our house? (spoken with extreme disgust)

Me: I don't know, Lexi. I think it was Uncle Scottie's when he was little. 

Lexi: Ugh . . . why would he give this to me? 

Me: Lex, it just came with some of the other old books that Nana brought over. 

Lexi: Why would NANA give this to me? Doesn't she understand? (even more disgust)

Me: understand what?

Lexi: That this is a girl house, and this is a boy book. It doesn't belong in the pattern. 

Me: Well, I'm sure we can give it to a boy, maybe your cousin Trey will like it. 

Lexi: Maybe. But I don't even know anyone who likes boy books - let's just give it to him right now so it's not in our house anymore. 

The pictures we shared

 Paul was in one of the Carolinas this week for work. I don't know which one - is it really that big of a deal? My brother lives in one of them, and I still don't know which one he lives in. They really should just combine those two states.

I mean, really - just so you all know "the Carolinas" were only colonies because England was greedy and nervous that France and Spain were encroaching on their territory in North America so they wanted a buffer zone. 

When I teach this, I compare this to licking the Oreos in front of your siblings. You know you don't want those cookies right now, but you will later. So, logically, you make eye contact with your siblings and slobber all over the cookies you want saved .

I'm comin' back for those, ok? 

It's like staking a claim on dessert. England kinda did the same thing - not ready for it, but wanted to make sure no one else got it.

But, like I said Paul was in A Carolina for work. While he is gone I like to send photos (and share them on FB because my life is SUPER interesting). 

Here is the crop from this week:

 Oh Emma, sweet Emma. 

She wakes up this goofy and the silliness never runs dry. 

 Smiling for Daddy. 
Daddy is Emma's favorite person. 

I'm like 7th (behind Lexi, the babysitter, both sets of grandparents, and maybe anyone who gives her stickers). 

I asked Emma to pick up her toys and put them away. 

I found this. 

We don't normally keep toys in the kitchen cabinets, but maybe this is our million dollar idea. Kids love playing with everything in the kitchen anyway - let's just store their toys next to the pot holders and call it a day. 

See? - the silliness never stops with this one!

I think Lexi is trying to communicate the 

following message with her eyes: 

"Daddy - please come home soon. Mommy burned the waffles and her phone doesn't have any cool games."

And the last of the bunch:  

THIS BEAST parked next to us at Dillons this afternoon. 

His bark was louder than my car horn. 

Emma just kept saying 'Doggy' and wanting to pet him, but since his head was bigger than my college dorm room I wouldn't let her. Maybe if I had this guy as a pet,

 I wouldn't be so worried about burglars.

I'm a Crazy Person

It's totally true that I am not a normal, rational thinking human being. This is part of my charm. 

(FYI: pictures are totally unrelated to this post, and all taken from my phone)

I know I do not have normal thought patterns or use logical thinking techniques - I own that. Sometimes, it's humorous. Like the time I left a dead spider behind Emma's dresser because I felt like that was a message to all other spiders, "Arachnids: Ye Be Warned - this is what happens to creepy crawlies in this house." 

Matching sparkly shoes day 

Sometimes, like when Paul travels out of town on business, it is not funny. I have an intense and disproportionate fear of bugs, burglars, and barf. Not necessarily in that order. 

When Paul is out of town I live in fear that one of us will vomit. If it's one of the girls, I know that keeping them both separate but safe is pretty much impossible, not too mention exhausting. If it is ME that gets sick, the world stops turning. No, for real, the globe will actually stop rotating on its axis. Truth.

Lexi's Pre-K school picture

Bugs are disgusting. This is a known fact universally acknowledged by everyone. I hate bugs. When I was at K-State, I had a class in the entomology building and I had a small panic attack everytime I had to walk in the hallways because they had billions of (dead) bugs showcased. I mean, really, that is so unnecessary! But we digress - I hate killing bugs. Not becuase I am an animal rights activist, but because I hate that crunch sound they make when you smoosh 'em dead. I usually trap bugs under a cup, put a book on top of the cup and let Paul deal with it when he gets home. That doesn't work for more than a few hours though, so when he is traveling a lot (like he's been lately) I have to crunch the critters myself. I usually cry and whimper like a girl, but I do it! I think the bugs know when I am alone too, and that is when they send in their fiercest warriors. This week, a wasp snuck its way into my home and I had to kill it myself. I'm pretty inventive, so when I saw it in the kitchen sink, I flipped on the water (to wet the wings - I figured if Tinkerbell can't fly with wet wings, neither can a wasp) and sent it down the drain. Then I let the garbage disposal run for 127 seconds. 

Emma's game day face

So the fear of burglars doesn't stem from a traumatic incident, it's just a phobia of mine. My house is tightly locked up at night and lit up with outside lights, but I am just POSITIVE that someone is going to break in. So when Paul is out of town, I pretty much lie awake at night and wait for the moment when I need to pull the baseball bat out from under my side of the bed and defend my loved ones. The ice maker was on one night and I kept thinking that the noise of ice filling the tray was someone crashing their way into my house. I did not sleep. Another night, our neighbors were moving out of their house and every time they slammed the car door I was wide awake and on high alert. 

 Lexi's portrait drawing of Roxy (our dog)

Hello my name is Megan, and I'm a crazy person. 

Totally fitting that her shirt reads 'Scaredy cat'

Here we go again . . .

If you recall last year's trip to the pumpkin patch, you know that it was a horrific experience for Lexi. She hated the dirt and flies, the jumpy became a death trap of bounciness, and she had to sit by a boy on the train. 

This year, things went much much better, but the day was not without incident. Read on for more.

 So things start off nicely enough. Please enjoy my photography skills of Lexi in the 'HOLDING area' - get it? Her last name is Holding? Hahahaha - I'm so clever. 

 The girls of pre-K. 

Once we found our way to the patch of pumpkins, Lexi began a 27 minute search for her perfect pumpkin. 

It very specifically needed to be very small.

 VERY small - how small Lexi?

 this small, mom

 

 Ok - so we hunt and we hunt and we hunt until we found our treasure

Alexis is not impressed.

I know it looks like she's pulling a McKayla Maroney here, but I swear - she loved this pumpkin. 

 A little balance beam practice on a haystack. 

What? doesn't everyone do this? 

No? just my kid - ok. 

 Aren't they precious?

This slide is her favorite thing. She ranks it in her list of top 5 most wonderful things in her life 

(along with taco soup, sparkles, Christmas trees, and the color pink)

 On to the jumpy. I detest the jumpy. Who in their right mind decided that a massive inflatable pillow designed for 93 children to boisterously jump on simultaneously was an appropriate activity at a pumpkin patch? Honestly, people need to talk to me before they do things, because this is just flirting with disaster every second of it's existence.

 Ok, ok - my feelings toward the jumpy are somewhat irrational, but Lexi was nearly concussed 

(the verb form of concussion - I know you were wondering) 

on this thing last year. 

I'm allowed some contempt.

However, this year she found it delightful.

figures, right?

And now we find ourselves at the mini-zipline.  

Poor Lexi - I desperately underestimated her upper-body strength.

 she face-planted. 

Twice.

 BUT - she never cried and she wanted to try again.

 Of course, assistance was insisted upon.

YAY, LEXI!!!!

The train was a safer experience - all smiles.

The day ended with snack - as good days often do.

Overall, this year's pumpkin patch trip was much better. 

We came home sweaty, dusty, and a little bruised. 

We treated ourselves to cherry limeades from Sonic for surviving. 

But, seriously, Paul - next year it really is YOUR turn.