Traumatized!!!!!

snake #1

So about a month ago Aaron went out on the patio to get something and as he was standing there looking around for it he heard a rattle but wasn't sure what it was, he started looked around then looked down at his feet and saw a rattlesnake like 6" from his foot. I was in the house and wasn't sure who was in our backyard all I heard was a voice that didn't sound like Aaron yelling "get back, get back!!" to the girls. He bolted into the house and said there was a rattlesnake out there. It was hiding under our grill right outside the door that we pass through about a million times a day, lots of times the girls just run out there, including Olivia. Ohhh,!! I was soooo freaked out (even talking about it now I'm getting the chills)! We weren't sure what to do, cause Aaron didn't want to kill it since it didn't bite him when it had the chance, but the thoughts of him catching it and carrying out to the desert to release it didn't sound like a good idea either. One of our neighbors came over to help Aaron take care of it. I was so nervous for them. We actually got this part on video but couldn't figure out how to download it, but the video is pretty funny because I am so freaked out the whole time, I repeat everything they say in a high pitched scared voice. So, they walked out there with shovels, brooms, rakes, and a big tote to put the snake in (the plan was to catch and release in the desert) while all us girls are glued to the sliding door watching everything from a safe distance. They didn't see it right away but then Aaron says "there it is, it's perched up" , of course I repeated in my scared voice "it's perched up" then they just stand there for what seemed like forever saying "it's coming towards us", I couldn't see it but I could hear it rattling it was making me crazy that they weren't doing anything about it. Then Nick (our neighbor) grabs his broom and slams it down on it's neck so it can't move. Then Aaron tells the girls to come have a look, I hate that idea but they do it anyway, so I decide to venture out and have a look myself. By this time the snake is really mad, it tries to jump and bite and move all over the place, but luckily Nick had a good enough hold on it that it couldn't move other than it's mouth and head which still freaked me out. They decided it was too mad now to try catching it so Aaron cut its head off with a shovel and it continued to rattle. It was so gross!!!!

I was so traumatized the next couple days, I really didn't want to even go outside, I was so jumpy at the littlest bug or anything I saw moving. We still had our tomato plants that were like a jungle (the perfect hiding place for a snake) and our little playhouse was a nice little spot I was sure a snake would be hiding in there and Olivia would go in and think it was a fun new toy and try grabbing it. My mind was just racing with the possibilities. So my paranoia was pretty bad for the first week or so, but then I got brave enough to pick tomatoes and let the girls go out without me scoping it all out first and then our friends come over about 2 weeks later . My friend looked soo freaked out when she walked in and then I hear her husband say yep its a rattlesnake! He told her to just keep walking and don't look down until she got in,. There right under our front door a rattlesnake was totally coiled up in the corner ready to hibernate for the winter. AAHHHH!!! I couldn't believe it. 2 within 10 days, it was so unbelievable. We were having dinner and I couldn't even enjoy it I was so sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe it, we were surrounded. I really felt like my life was ruined. Our backyard is like a sanctuary to me, I love sending the kids back there and I just love being outside but now I didn't even dare to. I already feel like Arizona's got a million of the weirdest looking insects and creatures around, plus there all on steroids, really they are all triple the size of normal things, like the grasshoppers and spiders - HUGE! So, by this point I am just beyond freaked out, I really didn't even dare go in the garage that night. Then the next day I am telling my neighbor about it and she says have you ever seen a gila monster? I didn't even know that was a real thing, well she informed it was very real and my neighbor actually has one in his garage. She told me he found it just walking on the road not too far from here and she told me that they kill people by latching on to them and just injecting poison until you die. GILA MONSTER!!!

That just put me over the top. I cannot believe we live among so many crazy, deadly creatures. I decided we've got to get out of here, I can't handle one more rattlesnake encounter or whatever other creatures are lurking about.

It's been a couple weeks now since the 2nd encounter, but the blood on the front porch remains there, at first I thought it would just be a cool Halloween decoration since it was just a few days before, but since we haven't had any more snakes I think maybe it is scaring the other snakes away cause they know what will happen if they come to this house. Then again maybe they want revenge.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

The girls already love acting out Peter Pan, but now that we have the costumes it is that much better, I'm sure Aaron will end up getting more use out of this costume than just Halloween.
These girls had lots of happy thoughts and plenty of pixie sticks tonight to help them fly.

Emmy did not like all the walking, by the end she could care less about the candy, Maile on the other hand was her usual chatty self talking to nearly everyone she got candy from.

When we got home and Emmy realized she had a whole bag full of candy, she decided it was worth the long hard sacrifice of walking around the church parking lot! then she was happy.

Halloween Sunday

I know sometimes I go a bit overboard dressing the girls up, but it is just so much fun plus who knows how much longer they will be willing to let me do what I like with them. Maile already can be stubborn when it comes to clothes and hairstyles. I thought they looked so cute in their Halloween dresses, so of course we had to have a photo shoot.

( picture like this make me think Emmy's thumb sucking is giving her the bucky beaver teeth)

A fun week

Maile and Emmy with their best buddy Katie

This was Livy's favorite part....all the treats. She is such a treat monster these days.

This past weekend was busy, but super fun. Our stake has an annual fall family fun festival with face painting, cotton candy, bounce houses, games, balloons, yummy homemade doughnuts, and tons of other things, it was really fun for the girls.

This was the first year I took on the challenge of making most our costumes (not sure that I'll do it again) way more work than I planned on. I can just be so retarded when it comes to sewing. My goal was to finish them for this weekend so we could wear them more than just one night. I finally got them done Friday, so we made the journey up to Tuscon for trick or treating at the zoo. We didn't realize that all of Tuscon would be there. Seriously if we didn't already drive an hour and 20 minutes to get there we would have gone back home. It was insanely crowded. It took us like 20 minutes to find a parking spot, then we stood in line for over a half an hour before we made it in by that time it was past bedtime and we were wondering if it was really worth it (although, it was fun checking out all the costumes while waiting in line). Once we got in we didn't wonder any longer. There were themes all along the way with pirates, Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars, Nemo, Disney villains and princesses. There wasn't a ton of candy but I don't think the girls were disappointed. The only disappointment was that our camera ran out of batteries so we missed tons of great picture spots, this was the best one we got. At least we have next weekend.

I forgot about some of the park pictures we took earlier this week. We are loving the fall weather.

Sweet Revenge

About a month ago the girls started calling each other "stupid" and using it on a regular basis. No matter how many times we told them not to say it or threatened a consequence we still heard it. Until one day I told them if I heard it again I would put soap in their mouth. That did the trick for Maile and it seemed to work for Emmy for a few hours, but she soon forgot. When she said it Maile was sure to remind me of her consequence Oh, sometimes I hate going through with my threats, but this time I could tell was a test to see if I would really do the unimaginable. Actually, I wasn't even sure how most people carried out the soap in the mouth punishment. my parents never did that one or maybe I was just so good they never had to use it on me. I asked Aaron how it was done, he said his mom stuck a bar of soap in his mouth for however many minutes. So, I got the soap and Emmy was freaking out, I had to hold her down and stick the bar in her mouth while she cried and screamed for 30 seconds. Since that first round she's had quite a few more including one where she came out of bed, admitted she said stupid and needed soap in her mouth. Aaron sat her on the couch for 5 minutes and she didn't say a word (just goes to show they will do anything to get out of bed).

Well the other night while playing games, I couldn't roll what I wanted to and ended up loosing even though I clearly should have won like 10 minutes earlier so I was mad and said "stupid". I immediately realized what I said and looked at Emmy. She was in awe and looked at Aaron then me and back at Aaron. She couldn't believe what just happened then Aaron snapped her out of it when he said "uh oh does Mommy need soap in her mouth?" Of course the girls were all over that. Emmy has a hard time doing what we ask but as soon as Aaron told her to get the soap she ran off as fast as she could. She came right up to me and said open your mouth Mommy and shoved that soap right in. She loved every minute of it!

Apple Annie's!!!

Yesterday we had our first preschool field trip. We went to Apple Annie's. It was even better than last year, mostly cause we weren't so cheap. We decided to spend a little money to go on the hay ride and corn maze, but it was totally worth it. The girls had such a great time. I loved it too. It was a perfect fall day and as always it was just so fun to get out of town and do something different.

This place is loaded with picture taking spots, so this post is totally picture overload,. Wilcox is a farm town, so there are fields and fields as far as the eye can see. I loved all the sunflowers and rows of corn, I promise after going there I kind of want to be a farmer with a ton of land to cruise around on in a tractor. I think the girls would love that life too. They LOVED the hay ride!For some reason Emmy was more thrilled about finding #5 than any other number and asked me to take a picture of her by it (I can't remember her ever asking me to take a picture of her, so obviously we did as she said even with her goofy smile and gum hanging out, I'll take a brib free picture any chance I get.This was an eye opening experience for Maile. She loves corn on the cob so she was very observant and attentive to the farmers talking about how they grow the corn, she was fascinated to be surrounded by it throughout the maze.

The favorite activity - the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch

Emmy found her perfect little pumpkin. I kept encouraging her to find the biggest one she saw (to get our moneys worth) but she had her heart set on the littlest one she could find and was thrilled with this one, so I guess that is all that really matters, right?

Maile also found her perfect pumpkin.

If I wanted Olivia in any pictures I had to be in them too otherwise she was screaming bloody murder even with a sucker in her mouth.

Maile and Cannon (Laurel -just thought I'd get some pictures of the beginning stages)

I know I've overdone it with this scene but I love Emmy's little tough girl look with a stick hanging out of her mouth and all.

I love sunflowers, they make me feel so happy. There was something entrancing about the rows and rows of them. I didn't get one picture of the girls focusing on taking a picture, it was like as soon as they were surrounded by the flowers their little minds went somewhere else. I kept telling them to do things like look at me or smile, but they were zoned out in their imaginations. But no matter what the girls looked like in my millions of pictures I kept snapping I loved them all because the rows of sunflowers made it feel so magical and dreamy.We couldn't drive all the way out to Apple Annie's without picking some apples. I don't think Maile would let us leave until we did. That was her favorite memory from last year, so we stayed and had a great time.

Fall first's

Finally Maile is old enough to play soccer! She missed the cut off by a month last year, I was so sad cause I knew she would love it! So, this year Aaron and I are coaching her team. It has been so much fun! Seriously we have a great time. Maile is loving it! Poor Emmy practices with us but wants to play in the real game, at least she gets a treat afterwards, that always makes everything all better. It is hard to get some video and action shots with both of us coaching, hopefully we'll get some good ones to share. Last Saturday was the first game, Maile got the first goal and immediately shot her hands up (like a touchdown) and just stood there looking at all the fans in complete shock. Once she snapped out of it she came running over to me then to Aaron jumping all over us. That really flipped a switch for her, now she is more aggressive and is only concerned with scoring! She is constantly talking about soccer and is really concerned with who won. Yesterday she kept reminding the coach of the other team of the score and how many more goals our team had.

This year Emmy gets to join Maile at preschool. The first day I dropped them off Emmy seemed so surprised when I went to kiss her goodbye. Now she always reminds me that she gets to stay and I have to go. I think she loves that she is getting to do more and more big girl stuff.

(with mullet)

Little Livy is getting so big! She got her first hair cut, well basically we just chopped the mullet off and she got her first pebbles dew on Sunday. She is starting to play so good with Emmy and Maile, it is fun to see them all interact.

without mullet

Maile's Royal Ball

Maile has been planning this party for almost a year now. She invited everyone she saw and told everyone about it as we were shopping for the supplies. She started counting down the days to her big royal ball about 2 months ago. The morning of she woke up like 2 hours earlier than normal. This day was to be the pinnacle of her 5 year old life.

The Royal Ball started with the princesses getting makeovers and decorating their tiaras while the knights did some knight challenges to earn their swords and shields to decorate.

Time for the royal feast:

Then came the quest for all the knights and princesses. A witch turned Kamaile into a ghost, in order to break the spell they had to find the sleeping dragon and throw water balloons at him until he dropped all 5 of his eggs, then they had to find all the eggs and bring them to Kamaile to turn her back into a princess. They had to dig through the witches hair to find an eye ball that would give them special power to defeat the dragon.


They woke the sleeping dragon........
!


He was very fierce.

The kids were terrified! ha ha

The eggs were found and Princess Kamaile was no longer a ghost. They were so happy she was back they showered her with gifts and had cake!!!

I'm glad we had her party the day before her real birthday cause then we were able to have fun all day on the real day. We went to her favorite place to eat - McDonalds, played with all her new toys - including a new trampoline, had 1st soccer practice, went to sonic for slushies, and had a campout movie night in the family room. I think her expectations were met, but of course she's already talking about birthday number 6 in 361 days (she asked me today how many more days until her bday). oh boy!