Pumpkin Patch and Chocolate Dreams. Oh yeah.

Hey team. So, I meant to blog this afternoon while the chilluns were sleeping. (Well, the boys . . . not Katie.) But as soon as the men were sleeping I got taken by a crazy urge to clean my ENTIRE house. I'm not kidding. First of all, with all the shenanigans we had going on my house was kind of . . . a disaster. Like, picture a place that had been hit by a tornado. So, I went nuts. I tidied the . . . everything. And cleaned it, too. And vacuumed and mopped the entirety of my house. And then I made real dinner and cookies. I think I was feeling domestic or something.

Anyhow, moving on. Also, this is going to be a long one, guys. Stay strong.

First, the notepad. (Because the notebook was too big and inconvenient but the sticky note was just too small.)

After I let Katie put on some lotion, she needed me to help her turn the doorknob because she had "spicy hands."

We had to get a new plunger because we chucked our old one in Boise and Katie has . . . a thing for toilet paper. She and Mike went to the store and got one with cool colors, which Katie calls her "silly green plummer."

"Want to hear a secret? I . . . love . . . bananas!" "Want to hear another secret? I . . . love . . . pants!"

"If you didn't have any bones, you would be dead like a jello!"

(I put in a movie for her, then walked away during the previews to do something. Then I heard the menu music.) "Mom! It's the recipe! I need you to start the movie!"

Katie has confused a couple of words. And she does it regularly. And one game she likes to play on Daddy's computer on occasion is "Nervous Birds."

Whenever we're telling stories and/or Katie is doing my hair, we take on special nicknames which Katie has given us. Especially when I'm wearing every hair clip she can find. She is Princess Rainbow-Dash-Katie, and I am Princess Twilight-Mommy. I look awesome. But I'm not going to put up a picture. So don't ask.

A couple of weeks ago, I went over to a friend's house for a REALLY AWESOME craft night. It was at 7:30, so I put the boys down and then left Mike to put Katie to bed. And he was successful, but the rest of the week, whenever we were getting toward bed time, Katie would stop and look at me all pitiful, and ask, "Are you going to a Mommy Party tonight?" And make her little pouty face. And then I want to cuddle her. And then I get kicked in the stomach.

Recently, Peter has taken up a new method of communication. When he is very happy or when he is EXTREMELY mad at me, he does the same thing: he gurgles. Like, the same thing I do when I'm gargling water, but he just uses spit. Copious amounts of it. And I know he's super angry if I hear a furious, "ggggggggggg!!!!"

Another of Peter's oddities is that he DOES NOT LIKE PEAS. Okay, so maybe that's not an oddity. Mashed up nasty-looking canned green peas might not be super delicious. Joshy thought they were cool, but then he had a sore tummy. I think we're going to stick to sweet potatoes for a while longer.

Joshy is such a cuddly kid. He's had a really hard week with his teeth (or, you know, soon-to-be-teeth), so he doesn't have anything funny to put on the list. But I do have to mention how cuddly he's been. When I bring him up to burp, he sticks his face in my neck and hugs me. It's super warm and sweet and he loves me and this is the reason we have babies. Cuddling.

Last weekend, Katie woke up and had a rather . . . smelly disposable underwear. And, of course, she and Mike started bantering about doing surgery. They decided to do a "poopectomy."

Speaking of Mike, guess what! He got a white coat. He went to a ceremony and everything. But it's just a short white coat. So he convinced me not to go. But he's got a white coat! Oooh!

Also, it turns out that Mike and I are totally old people. Last Friday (which is designated no-studying day) we got the kids all to sleep in a timely manner, so we were like, "Wahoo! Let's pick a movie that is for grown-ups! And stay up late and talk to each other without having to pause to change diapers! It'll be great!" So we both stayed awake for about . . . 40 minutes? And then Mike woke me up when he woke up at about quarter to one. And we zombie-walked upstairs and fell asleep there.

Now for the news!

Last Wednesday, I had my very first turn ever of TEACHING PRESCHOOL. AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!! I think it went well. We made bumblebee letters and sheep and played a significant amount. There were no tantrums. It was awesome.

Today I dropped Katie off and then didn't do anything productive until after I picked her up again.

And now, for the pumpkin patch. I'll let the pictures explain.

SLIDE MOUNTAIN!!!!

ISN'T THIS THE COOLEST BOUNCING PILLOW EVER? (Also, see my beautiful friends? Hi Katy and Jessica!)

There were an abundance of tractors.

They said pumpkins, they meant pumpkins.

Also an abundance of tire horses.

Katie was particularly excitable about feeding the goats. I didn't have quarters for goat food, so Katie took to asking the other moms. Little panhandler.

See what I meant? Abundance of tractors.

Porter's such a trooper.

It was a pumpkin patch/apple orchard/food place/AWESOME playground/corn maze/lots of other stuff. It was so cool! And when we got home, Katie was offended that she didn't get a patch for picking out her pumpkin. Also, we came home bearing apple cider and apple cider donuts (!!!!!!) and now we're trying to coordinate a return trip with Mike. It needs to happen.

Now, to finish, I will make you all jealous. It's called Sogno di Cioccolata. (Translation: chocolate dream.) (And I'm fairly sure it's not actually an Italian dessert, I just got it from my Carrabba's cookbook.) (I love my Carrabba's cookbook.)

I'm currently drooling. Maybe next time I'll do an exhibition of Katie's photography. That might not make you drool. It might make you dizzy instead. So maybe take some motion sick medication before you read my next blog.