Apple pickin' + this past weekend

The last few days have been exactly what I've been needing, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

On Saturday night Chad surprised me with tickets to the Blue Man Group followed by appetizers and drinks {well, you know, a water with lemon for me!}, and then yesterday morning Chad took over, allowing me to sleep in {truly a lost art}, then we went on a brisk walk {which was much needed, let me tell you}. THEN we went on a little trip inland and into the mountains for some apple pickin', all followed by a MOVIE NIGHT with my sister! 

Yep, it was a good weekend and exactly what the doctor ordered: some time outside of my house with my favorite people.

Here is how our little family date went at Oak Glen!

{where the apples are ripe for the pickin'!}

{even though we bought ours....from a barrel....inside a general store....but we felt like we picked 'em, and that's what counts!}

 Hooray! We're in the car and ready to go!

IT.WAS.FREEZING.

Completely unbelievable. As soon as I opened my car door at our first stop I sort of freaked out. Holy moly.

 Once we dashed inside and I stopped shaking, I found this precious tapestry!

 And this fella!

 Then, after a nice lady told me how to make the PERFECT apple pie, she gave Carts a little treat!

{SECRET: combine 2-3 different types of apples together, and you will surely get compliments. A standard pie can handle about 6 apples.}

 The loot for Thanksgiving dessert!

 My Babe, chomping away at his favorite fruit.

 Then we decided to meander over to Apple Annie's and grab a bite to eat. Ahh, it was precious. There was a picture of John Wayne on the wall and everybody was friendly. Hi, I love small towns.

 The goods!

 I will never get sick of these sorts of vintage-like signs. My next dwelling is going to be covered in them, that's for darn sure.

THIS.WAS.MY.CHICKEN.POT.PIE.

It was humongous! I couldn't believe it!!

Insanity....And probably not the healthiest of choices on them menu.

But hey? It was DE.LISH and well worth the extra 10,000 calories.

Plus, it satisfied Babe #2's insatiable appetite, so win-win.
{and for some odd reason my stupid computer isn't letting me upload Chadly's chicken fried steak, but it was along the same lines as my pot pie: outrageously large.}

Honestly, such a great couple of days. Now I feel rested and ready to go for the next few weeks! Yay!
{and trust me, in this rested state I shall surely report on Breaking Dawn AND the Blue Man Group}
{woohooo!}

And remember that TUESDAY is Small Business Day,
so link up ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that has to do with that SMALL BUSINESS!
promote yourself, like a madwoman, is what I always say!

<center><a href="www.threesforme.blogspot.com"><img border="0" src="http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g471/nicolecisneros1223/nicolesbd.png"/></a></center>I can't wait to see what you've got, especially because last week's updates BLEW ME AWAY!so awesome.
linking up with:

US at 33 weeks!

Shame on me for being such a lame mommy archivist!

I mean, that's my job!

Okay, here is where the Cisneros children are at right this very minute:

Babe #2:

{you never want to give us a profile view, little one!}

* Today, Saturday, November 19th, you are 33 weeks old.

* You have been making mommy ultra exhausted lately, but that's okay, because I know that once you're exploring the world with those precious little hands and feet, I will miss these days.

* Carter now comes up to you regularly and "scratches your back," all while saying, "Hi, baby! Hi baby!"

* We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago {when you were 28 weeks old}, and it took EVERYTHING I had not to just look at the screen and try to determine for myself whether you are a boy or a girl.

* I can't believe that in a few short weeks you will be here with us!

* Mommy feels like we have TONS of things to do before you arrive, a few of which include repainting your big brother's room, organizing your "bottle cabinet," buying a lulu wrap so mommy can keep you warm and cuddly all while holding big brother's hand when we go on outings, figure out a way to purchase a stroller which normally costs upwards of $1,200....sorry, kiddo, that's not going to happen, and lastly, become more excited than we already are!

* You are now 17 inches long, and weigh 4 pounds, according to babycenter.com! {My little pineapple baby!}

* You are jumping around like a hot tamale right now!

Carter:

{this cracks me up, you little munchkin!}

* Today, Saturday, November 19th, you are just shy of 1 year and 11 months old.

* You have fully entered the "NO" section of your life, but that's okay because Mommy knows that you really DO want that orange juice, you just want to prove to me that you're independent and can decide for yourself!

* You have figured out that if you say, "sorry, mama" in that way, you can inflict a feeling of guilt so powerful, for the briefest moment Mommy considers this whole "discipline" thing to be a bunch of mumbo jumbo nonsense.

* Mommy thinks you're definitely smart enough to start potting training, but has decided to wait a few more months until after the baby is born, not because I'm a masochist, but because it will give us the one-on-one time I know we will BOTH be craving at that point. It will be our little thing.

* Daddy laughs at Mommy when I try to tell him to incorporate the words "big brother" and "leader," but I know he agrees with me. 

* I can tell that you are sensing that something big is coming, something that will change things around here for good, and it makes me sort of sad because it causes you to feel unsure, but you know what? It will make us all better people in the end, and will provide you with your life-long best friend. I am sure of it, baby.

Okay, tears.

I loved doing this. I think I shall do it more often.

Afterall, that's why I started this here blog in the first place.

:)

in a funk

Is there anything worse than being in a funk?

I don't think so.

Seriously.

I was raking through my last few posts, and man, I have become straight up depressing.

DE.PRESS.ING.

Thank you for even gracing my despondent-as-of-late blog with your hilarious comments and sweet words. 

I mean it!

I wish I was up to my old, crazy, blog-obsessed self where I was commenting like a mad woman, laughing like a psycho from my computer chair at other people's jokes, and just being an all around fool on the blogosphere.

But alas, I have slowed down, and it's sort of a bummer.

And I mean I have SLOWED down.

Almost in every aspect.

But guess what? That's life, and I need to stop being such a down-in-the-mud type of chronicler-o-my-life, because let's face it, there's not much to complain about over in these parts. I have two healthy kids {well, one who's almost two and one who isn't even born yet}, food is in the fridge, and my man comes home with good news almost every single day {yesterday's being that he stopped and got pizza and chicken fettuccine alfredo on his way home}.

Here are some other things I should be happy about, instead of focusing on my down-in-the-dumps 'tude:

* My mom is coming over tomorrow at 9:00 am to help me clean the blinds!

{words cannot describe the happiness felt by those simple words}

* Chad and I are POSSIBLY going on a date tomorrow night!

{what does one even do on a date nowadays? take a drive down to make-out point? drink milkshakes down at the diner? exchange lavaliere pins? maybe Chad will give me his class ring!! oh, wait....no, no we're already married and almost have two babies....hence me having no clue what one does on a date nowadays.....JUST KIDDING! sort of!}

* It's cold and gloomy outside! My favorite!

{who needs sunshine! I'm sick of it!}

* My sister and I have a Sunday night date schedule to see BREAKING DAWN!

{cheers to this fact for two reasons: a) GIRLS' NIGHT! and b) my favorite vamps are back!}

* I have thoroughly cleaned the sink in our bathroom!

{although this should be on my weekly TO DO list, it just so happens to not be, and it makes me ultra happy to see that facet shining away!}

* Tomorrow I will hit the 33 week mark!

{which reminds me that I need to document this pregnancy a little bit better!}

Okay, that made me feel darn good,

FUNK, BE DAMNED!

Instafriday

I'm at a major loss for words today. So, in response to this uncharacteristic black hole in my head, I thought, "Hey maybe I need a day off the old computer...That could be good for me, right??" 
So I decided instead to devote today's nap session to a good old fashion chick flick as opposed to my usual let's-dash-to-the-computer-as-soon-as-Carter's-head-hits-the-pillow routine, but once I broke out the iPad and got to meandering, I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a seat in front of the desktop, which then prompted me to carry forth with my head held high {newly found double chin and all}, and to write one of my weekly favorites, INSTAFRIDAY, where I just get to sit here and record life.

I'm really one of those I-stick-to-my-guns type of gals, wouldn't you say? 

Anyway, here is what we have been up to this last week!

 We took a little drive over to Downtown Disney and visited Darth in the Lego shop. Carter was not a fan.

 My poor baby got a bad cold this last week! Boo! But good thing Carts had his Charger's gear to snuggle up in, Thomas to watch Toy Story with {or Woooooooddyyyyyyyy!!, as we so fondly refer to the trilogy around here}, and mommy and daddy's huge comforter to get lost in, all of which was request by him. The guy knows what he wants out of life. Anyway, the only good news about tots getting sick? The medicine. Once my Babe believed me that he was in fact getting an extra few ounces of "juice," that child drank up the purpley goodness like it was nectar from the gods, causing quite the knock-out before nap time and bed time. Yep, I've been sleeping well.

 What we bought from one of our neighbors for his school fundraiser! You know, I've never been a fan of these sorts of things, but guess what? The pressure is off to make 29387429 cookies for just you and your man. I can now just pop 4 9 in the oven for us to consume. It's quite lovely, albeit quite dangerous for my ever expanding, used-to-be-there waist line.

 My $15 meal purchased at Nordstrom's Cafe. 

JUST KIDDING! Chad made that. He made that, and it was DE-LISH. Seriously, the man knows what he's doing.

Chad: working on a school report.

Carter: being a silly.

{Now Carter wants me to put on daddy's watches all up his arm. We start 'em young around here. It's the Wall Street look.}

I made this for my sunnies, and I love it!

Carter applying edible "choo-choo" to his "poooooooh!!!". The toothpaste has a picture of Thomas the Train on it, and his toothbrush is Winnie the Pooh themed. Seriously, that edible toothpaste tastes amazing. I mean, there's probably some toddler out there trying to suck it's pepperminty goodness straight from the tube.....ahem......

Step right up, parents, it's the new Tickle Me Elmo!
{These were found on a date Carter and I had together at South Coast Plaza. And look, you lucky kid, you! You can even remove Marie's dress! Yessss!}

Carter pushing his way through the toy store after we took a little ride on the merry-go-round at Southcoast Plaza.

The "deeeeeeerr?," as mentioned.

Ahh, Santa's workshop. I remember visiting you last year on December 23rd, and wanting to shoot my brains out. Note to parents: DO NOT, even for one second, think it will be cute to take your toddler to see Santa in such close proximity to Christmas, even if it IS his/her birthday. You WILL have to wait in the world's longest line, and your toddler WILL poop right before Santa is able to see him. Yep, it will happen.

And towards the end of our little date, we stopped and admired the "ballooooooooons?"
Happy, happy, happy!

So, YAY! I'm going to go reassume my couch position and press play on New Moon, all in preparation for Breaking Dawn this coming weekend! YOU KNOW YOU'RE EXCITED, TOO!


I hope your week's have been WONDERFUL, and that you have a SAFE weekend!

linking up with these fun gals:

and here!

Awkward and Awesome

ME LOVE AWKWARD AND AWESOME THURSDAYS!

Really quick though, I'm so darn tired right now. My body is ready to give out. How do people have twins? I'm not joking; that is a serious question. Forget triplets. How was I so spunky with Carter at the almost-33-week mark? It's just plain ridiculous at this point. The only reason I'm even sitting at my computer is because my brain is sick of the lame TV that is going on right now, and the hubs isn't here to give me a foot massage....something he WILL be doing as soon as he walks in that door.

And what's worse is that whenever my body hurts I get emotional. It doesn't matter what's going on. When I get a migraine, I cry. When I get the flu, I cry. When all of my phalanges swelled up last week, I cried. My mom always thinks something SERIOUS is wrong, but that's really never the case. It's just because I'm a wimp and I can't handle a few body aches. Is it embarrassing when I'm bawling my eyes out in front of whoever is unfortunate enough to be near me when my body has turned? Yes. But guess what? I can throw myself a little pity party if I want to because MY.BODY.HURTS. Hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts. Thank goodness I get a baby at the end of this marathon-o-joints-and-weight-gain, because if not, I would be turning to the bottle. Just kidding, of course.
{No I'm not.}

Anyway! Let's get going!

AWKWARD

* Me. {See above.}

* Calling the doctor in a panic because according to Babycenter.com, extreme swelling is a sign of preeclampsia. Apparently it's not.

* Explaining to a monotone phone nurse that my body has swelled up everywhere like never before....and I do mean EVERY.WHERE......Like, all over the place, sister.

* Having not washed my hair since Friday. Yep, that's right, you read that correctly. Today is Thursday. Lovely, eh? Isn't it a law, though, that if you curl your hair on a Saturday, it won't look dirty until the following Saturday?? That's what I'm going with. I still have two more days.

* Me literally trying my hardest not to cry on my way home from Babe #2's doctor's appointment, causing me to make a HIDEOUS face, and then looking over and realizing that some dude was staring at said hideousness when we stopped at a red light. Want to know why I was trying not to cry? Because my right shin has shin splints and it hurt to press on the pedal. Isn't that wonderful. I.HAVE.SHIN.SPLINTS.FOR.NO.REASON.

AWESOME

* The fact that my hair has maintained a less-than-grease-ball look to it, despite my shampoo hiatus.

* The meals Chad has been cranking out lately. That man has skeeeelz.

* The fact that I can barely think of anything awesome. Isn't that cool? Pregnancy has apparently made me a dummy as well.

* Meeting new buddies on this here blogosphere. I truly do enjoy it. I found myself telling multiple stories to the hubs about how funny a few posts were I read this last week!

* Speaking of the blogosphere, guest posting is fab.

* Carter's cold clearing up. Yay for my baby!

Okay, that's all I can scrounge from my annoyingly emotional brain. Thank goodness for this here blog or else I would be wreaking my emotional havoc on some sorry facebook recipient, so YOU'RE WELCOME, FACEBOOK FRIENDS! Anyway, here are a few things I need to get out there:

1. The guest post which was SUPPOSED to take place over at Sunny Vanilla today was rudely interrupted by a HORRENDOUS camera malfunction, so I'm bitter. But anywho, you should just head on over to her place anyway, just to admire her cuteness.

2. Remember you can still link up all your SMALL BUSINESS SAVVY-NESS here! It's fun and you get to meet other small business owners! WIN-WIN!

{linking up here because she's awesome}

The words that comes out of that man's mouth

{all photos are compliments of the dating days}

{Us in some blatantly obvious, college boys' dwelling}
Okay, okay. Every wife says that her husband is the funniest man on earth and she is the luckiest person in the world to have him as her man, blah blah blah.....but guess what? My man really is the funniest guy on earth and I really am the luckiest lady in the world to have him.

Proof?

Well, recently the guy has been busy. Busy in the morning, busy in the evening, busy at supper time....When busy's on the table, you can have busy any time! 

{okay, sorry.....Babe #2 is causing me to lose my mind.}

But really, Chad has been clocking some serious work/school hours as of late, and I think all the computer-staring has unleashed the beast that is HILARIOUS CHAD.

Anyway, back to that proof.

{Chad serenading me with some considerable intensity on the night we wore our awesome duct tape outfits}

Here are a few random blips that have come out of that man's mouth:

{1}

Last night, when we were both exhausted as all heck, we both said I love you right after I turned off the light, and out of no where Chad whispered, "AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH!" I was laughing my tired laugh, which can be likened to a hyena. 

{2} 

During one of the bajillion power points Chad had to finish within the last few days, I went in to see how the poor soul was doing. We struck up some lame conversation about whatever the heck was going on, and at the end of some irrelevant sentence I spoke, with unrivaled conviction, he looked me in the eye and informed me of a most important fact: "BABE, SERIOUSLY, SOMEONE SHOULD PAY ME TO DO POWER POINTS. AS IN I AM THE MASTER." Oh....Is that right, honey bunny?

{3}

When we stepped out of the car to start walking up to the wedding we attended this last weekend, IN THE RAIN, I asked Chad if he knew where we were going. {The wedding was at a beautiful University, so there were buildings galore around us.} Anyway, he said, "YEP! OF COURSE!" Hmm...Well, guess what? He didn't. So after dashing out into the rain multiple times from under our umbrella, he finally found a map and said, "SEE BABE? THE BUILDING IS RIGHT HERE!" in the most "duh" voice he could muster. And he wasn't even being sarcastic!

{4}
We have an ongoing conversation about the crazy names which make up the NFL. Really, it's like a Weird Name Convention every Sunday. How about Benjarvis Green-Ellis, easily confused with one of the many law firms found throughout the county? Enough said. Anyway, our favorite is Plaxico. PLAXICO! What sort of name is that? For a long time I was calling him Poltergeist because I couldn't remember what it actually was. The other day we got really into our Plaxico conversation, and Chad said, "OH, PLAXICO, WITH YOUR SORE BACK AND YOUR KIDS! HOW DUMB OF YOU TO SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE KNEE, YOU FOOL!" Plaxico has become our homeboy. And I don't even know what team he plays for.

{Ugly sweater party!}
See? Isn't he a hoot?
The guy can keep a gal laughing, that's for sure.

small business DAY is here!

Are you ready to promote yourself like a mad woman?

I THOUGHT SO!

Okay, here is what Small Business Day is all about:

- to promote the new products you placed in your shop this last week - 

- to network with other small business owners - 

- to celebrate the overall presence of your Etsy/Big Cartel/ANY online retailer shop with new groups - 

- to share advice you may be harboring, to get advice you may need - 

- to elaborate on those GOALS we wrote out last month - 

- to share the silliness that was you for those first twenty minutes after you realized you made your first sale -

- bottom line: the basic promotion of your sassiest, Beyonce-style, INDEPENDENT WOMAN, money-making self -

What makes a Small Business?

Where do I even start?

How about......your Etsy Shop??.....Or what about.....THAT BLOG OF YOURS!.....Or maybe even.......those delicious bake sale items you make a profit off of every weekend??

The list goes ON.AND.ON.

If you're still a little unsure, and are new to these parts, just link up WHATEVER YOU WANT, and then come back next Tuesday with inspiration out the ying yang about how you want to promote the overall awesomeness that is you!

{I started Small Business Month on October 1st of this year, and because of the several AMAZING relationships I fostered from that experience, I wanted to keep it going. I initially wanted a community of women who may not necessarily think of themselves as SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS because they have twelve kids and work from home, to have a forum where they can ask questions, find advice and basically to take themselves seriously as money-makers within their own home, and I'm happy to say that my initial want was met. I loved our little community during the month of October, and SMALL BUSINESS DAY is where I hope to see more growth and development in that realm. Bottom line: I can't WAIT to chat with you about your small business!}

Grab a button and link up, lady!

<center><a href="http://threesforme.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g471/nicolecisneros1223/nicole22.png"/></a></center>{we will be PARTYING ALL WEEK LONG!}{and a pretty pretty SMALL BUSINESS DAY button is coming soon!}