Pros and Cons of Halloween

So, the pros? Let's see... 80 degree weather, fresh lemonade, pumpkin patches, sunflowers, throwing hay, baking yummy bread, festivals & carnivals, trips to the park, carousel rides and train rides.

Grandma Wood came over again this weekend for a trip to Schnepf Farms! Friday was the day to go, for sure. We pretty much had full reign of the place and the weather was gorgeous. It was a ton of fun. Then Saturday morning we had breakfast at the Chandler airport. Quincy loved the planes! Here are some photos from the weekend. (See below for the cons...)





















The Cons? Carousel rides & train rides that are run by SCARY MONSTERS as Quincy would call them. Ugh! You try to expose your kid to all the fun of the holidays and you end up traumatizing them for life. With the intentions of going to the Gilbert Halloween Carnival at Freestone Park Saturday night, I first had the bright idea of letting Daddy take Q on a ride on the carousel before we entered the carnival. BAD IDEA, mom. I was too busy snapping photos and messing with my camera to realize that I had just set them up on the ride from Hell! Well, maybe that's being a little dramatic, but on the other side of what I thought was a harmless little spin was a haunted cave from which there was no escape. All of the sudden I realized Quincy and Daddy weren't smiling anymore. Her face was buried in his shoulder. I felt so helpless and sorry for the poor dear! Nice mom, nice. To make it up to her, I thought, "Hey! Let's all go on the train! That will take her mind off of the torture chamber!" As we stand in line, the "conductor" walks up in a crazy serial killer mask. Here we go again. I tried to shield her face as we entered, as our family quickly ushered ourselves to the very back of the train, as far away from the murderer as possible. All she could say was, "I don't like scary monster" as she kept staring at him. We were seriously blind-sided. Seriously people! These are little kid rides! Now she may end up a HUGE baby like her mom when it comes to scary movies and such. So sorry Q! Oh the guilt I feel! The only good thing that came out of it was that Marshal took us to Grimaldi's Pizza afterwards. That always makes it all better!

(Before the ride began)


(After the ride began - and by the looks of the horses, I'd say they are either possessed or just as terrified as Q)

Fall Preparations

Quincy is finally at the age she can appreciate the holidays! Yay! That makes things so much more fun. We've been busy getting ready for Fall. First things first, decorate for Halloween! She was already dressed appropriately and believe it or not, her attire in the photos is her usual wardrobe. It was not planned... she really believes she is a princess. Maybe she can dress up as Quincy for Halloween! Thanks to Grandma Wood for all the Halloween decorations throughout the years!

Vacation's Over-Update

And, finally, here's the rest of the photos from the camping trip. It was warm, but that's a small price to pay for quality time with the family. Quincy loves camping and she had so much fun. Can't wait until the next trip. Hopefully it will be a little cooler though! What is up with the 100 degree October weather?!



Uncle Mike and Gradpa had more fun with the play dough than Quincy!


Quincy finally learned how to drive her jeep, all by herself! (although she prefers to be chauffeured)









I am getting spoiled with these long weekends. I have been off work since last Wednesday and it has been so much fun, but it's back to work tomorrow. It's late and there's a lot of fun stuff to share, but I think I'd rather hit the sack! So, I'll just post one sneak peek into the weekend adventures and promise more to come! I do have to say that my favorite part of the weekend was probably when it was late, I was driving home in the dark from the desert and Quincy out of nowhere said, "mama, you cwazy dwivaw". Had me & Grammy cracking up!

A Friday in Heaven

On Friday, Quincy and I had a fun, fun day since the weather decided to be nice for once. It was such a fun day spent with my love bug, just her & I. We did our typical errand running, but the highlight of the day was Freestone Park. We rode the carousel and the train, watched the ducks and played on the playground. It was so nice to get out of the house and enjoy some fresh air. I am totally looking forward to more outings now.

The rest of the weekend followed suit. We didn't do anything too spectacular, but we spent the whole weekend as a family and it was awesome. There is nothing better than just hanging out together. My cell phone finally bit the dust for good, so we finally had an excuse to upgrade. My only requirement was a keypad so I can text faster since I am the slowest text-er on the planet. While I took Q to McDonalds (her favorite hang out), Marshal was left with the task of picking out my phone. Much to my surprise, he decided to get us both Blackberries! Yay! Yeah, yeah, I know, everyone has a blackberry or iPhone these days, but if you've seen our old phones, I think you'd understand my excitement. Anyway, I'm pretty sure he got them only because they were buy one, get one free, which meant, he got one too ;) Regardless, thank you Hun, for the phone AND the great weekend!

Other than that, I'll just note for my own information that Quincy's favorite things in the world at this moment are still her pink bear, Cinderella, Tinkerbell, Mac & Cheese, and her birthday dress. Her potty training has gone BACKWORDS. Gulp. She pretty much refuses to sit on the potty now. I am in denial and hoping it's just a phase. I have a nail polish that is supposed to curb her thumb-sucking but I can't bring myself to use it just yet. I just don't want her to grow up. As long as she still sucks her thumb, she's my baby! She's super polite (when she's not hitting or screaming!) and she says "Danks ____" all the time. She's still swimming like a champ. Her eating habits are getting so much better, this week at least. And, she still loves to look at herself. It's no wonder with a camera in her face at all times and a mom and dad constantly telling her how beautiful she looks as she prances (yes, literally) around the house holding out her skirt. "I love YOU, Q"!!!!



Deep thought on the carousel... "I'm on the orange pony but I really wanted to ride the pink one. If the acceleration of the spin can act as a catalyst to create a chain reaction, then the diffraction will cause an electromagnetic wave, changing my equilibrium, thus breaking my gravity and causing the perfect amount of inertia, forcing me onto the pink horse." OR, she may have just been thinking, "I just peed."

Watching the ducks.


Walking like a duck.

Bribery at its Best

Ahhh, the art of bribery. I have had my eye on a plot of land near my house with a pecan tree grove that I had been dying to take photos in (at least I think they are pecan trees). Anyhoo, while I was on my way to check out a gym that I have spent more time talking about joining than actually going, I threw Quincy and her new rain boots in the car, lollipop in hand and headed first to the trees. Funny how kids will do almost anything for sugar. Even Q stood still for oh, about two seconds! I wasn't able to plan anything out. I pretty much had to run after her with the camera, hoping to catch her looking in my direction at least once. That was just the beginning of a FUN day with my girl....

I am so happy and lucky to be able to have the best of both worlds, working part-time at a job I love and spending days off with my kiddo. With the weather finally cooling down, I am so re-energized. I love Fall and I can't wait to share all the upcoming holidays with Quincy, Marshal and the rest of the family.

Below are some of the photos from our mini photo-shoot. It's too hard for a mom to sacrifice photos, so there are a lot here!

My favorite (above): Her latest quirk is covering her mouth and giggling. I have no idea where she learned that one, but it cracks me up.

Above: Here she is fussing about her boots being D-I-R-T-Y. She's such a girly girl... that or she's got OCD!



Thanks for the boots Grandma Wood!

Can't you feel the love?

This is for the Saunders family...finally! It's amazing how many photos you can take in a matter of a few hours. It was a fun morning. Thanks for all the practice :) Some previews are here, but the bulk of photos are in the slide show. Hope you like!