apple picking

we took the girls apple picking last Saturday. i had envisioned an hours worth of us frolicking amongst trees heavily laden with ripe red apples, just waiting to be picked. i would take pictures that included lines of apple trees, bright with pops of red & green. we would fill 2 bags & happily crunch on fresh fruit as we went...damn. that sounds freaking incredible.

instead we got to the orchard only to be informed that the trees were running low & we may have to haul ass to find some.

...ok. we can still make this work.

10 minutes later: tons of trees. no apples. a squeaky wagon full of 45lbs of toddler. a sweaty mom. an annoyed dad. a vision shattered.

stupid.

but we prevailed & eventually found a few trees with apples....at the top. so the husband grabbed a ladder & got his climb on. the girls really had no interest in picking- so we did the work:

 while they hauled each other around in the wagon.

once we got going we actually filled up our bag pretty quickly. the girls humored me & picked a couples apples each:

then i decided that 20lbs of apples was probably enough. we wheeled our 60lbs+ of precious cargo back to my jeep & called it a day.

then i gave my kid a squeeze pouch filled with applesauce...it seemed wrong somehow.

i've since made 2 massive pans of apple crisp & coax the girls into eating at least 3 apples a day, & i still have 15lbs of apples left. 1st world problems.

happy birthday alex

so, this kid is 3 now. as of 09.24.12.
i'm actually doing a pretty good job accepting this fact because she's greeted her 3's like a champ.
& by like a champ i mean, like a crazed bear. complete with roaring & ground slapping. it's pretty incredible to watch.
sometimes i really want to ask her what she'd like for dinner, but i hesitate because, what if this is the wrong thing to ask?! maybe she doesn't want dinner....maybe she's not actually alex, but Princess Jasmine & if i call her by her God given name she'll flip the eff out on me. or maybe she's actually a puppy & "OMFG MOM PUPPIES DON'T EAT DINNER!!!!"
...but maybe, just maybe, she's actually hungry & if i don't ask her if she wants dinner then i've failed at my parenting duties.

..."hey alex, hon, do you want dinner...?"  ::wince::

we still love her though, just in case you were wondering. because when the bear hibernates she's pretty freaking awesome. & hilarious.

and demure:

clearly.

& then she's got this insane love of band aids. everything requires a band aid. brynn touches her? band aid. she gets food in her hair? band aid. a legitimate injury? 3 band aids.

a butterfly could land on her head & she'd insist it knifed her & she needs a band aid. which is why 95% of the time she walks around looking like this:

oh, hey Rambo.

i could go on & on. there are so many unique & interesting things about alex.

- she loves all things Disney Princess. ALL THE THINGS!!!
- she pretty much lives on mini bagels with cream cheese. & apples.
- she says things like, "oh mom, that's hysterical." & "i think you need to calm down."
- she loves to sing. sing, sing, sing.
- her memory is crazy good & i can no longer trick her because she's sort of a genius.
- she loves shoes, dresses & clip on earings.
- sometimes she's so sweet to brynn that it hurts & other times she's 2 hand shoving her.
- she adores her grandmothers.
- she's super outgoing, fun & loves other kids.
- she can count, knows her letters, knows her animals, knows her colors, etc etc etc.
- she's still tiny. 18month-2T stuff still fits. shoe size = 7.
- she doesn't like to color but she'll sticker the crap out of anything.
- she can recite entire movies. awesome or incredulous?
- she calls cupcakes "pup cakes" & asks for ice cream but really only want the cone.
- she likes to refuse naps but still needs them.
- she wakes up like her father: angry at everything
- she knows all her body parts & is fascinated by boobies.
- she's just great.

happy 3rd birthday alex. we love you. & we really can't wait to see what your 3's bring us. seriously- we're stoked.

what we wore

after much searching online & going to the mall (on a freaking weeknight at like, 8:30) i scored the perfect, in my opinion, chambray shirt.

i wore it yesterday & one of my best friends told me she had the same shirt....in 1995.

i told her that chambray is in & that she could shut her mouth. she told me to stop using the term chambray because, dude- it's a denim shirt. then we both looked at the Olan Mills portrait picture of her on the living room wall. the one wear she's wearing her denim shirt. in 1995.

we're still friends. & i'm still going to wear my denim shirt.

 alex & brynn

dresses: Old Navy

brynn's shoes: Livie & Luca

alex's shoes: boc by Born

me

shirt: A&E

shirt: F21

shoes: Bass

locket: kharaledonne

hair: Diana Ross

linked up with the haps

take me fishing

alex & daddy.

hullabalu

i want to give a quick shout out to hullabalu - they've supplied my child with a magical unicorn that she will. not. put. down.

it started with a friendly email from the folks over @ hullabalu asking me if they could send a little gift my way. my first instinct was to say, "no way jose."

i simply don't need anymore stuffed animals in my life. ever.

but i scrolled through their site & seriously? the cutest stuffed animals ever. so i caved.
a few days after my unicorn selection, a lovely blue box showed up on my doorstep:

why yes, that is my child walking around outside sans clothing & clutching a purple unicorn. yes indeed.
she was also giving me & her sister an incredible amount of attitude in regards to touching or even daring to look @ her unicorn. "MINE! NO TOUCH!"

...i swear we're working on sharing. it's going...well.

thanks again, hullabalu.

if you're in the market for a nifty stuffed toy- i'd suggest you give start with them. they open their doors on Oct 1st.