the happy times that weren't. and then were.

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Is it just me? Or did it seem like the entire world had a bad case of PMS last week? It felt like every one I saw/read/bumped into was having a rough week. Just on edge; not quite themselves. I was definitely not immune to it. For my own reasons (or lack of), I just felt uncomfortable. Irritable. Sad. I lost all inspiration to blog, take pictures, form a coherent thought. I did everything I could to snap myself out of it. We went out for froyo as a family. Enjoyed the lazy rainy days. Got excited about all my favorite shows coming back. I lit some fall scented candles and baked some cookies. I even printed out some free Christmas planning printables. All of this should have made me all festive and happy. And at times, I was. But for some reason, I just felt out of sync.
Consequently, I decided it was best if I didn't blog much last week. And if I did, to keep it all surface-y and light. Because otherwise, it just would've come out as whiney and gripey and annoying. I'm still not quite over myself, but I'm getting better.

Anyway.

Moving on.

As you know, The Lion King came out in theaters again recently. Brad and I have a special place in our hearts for that movie. It's both our favorite Disney film. I mean, I know people say things like that, especially when it's the cool thing to do at the moment. But it's always been "our movie". Brad saw in the theaters 13 times. We can both recite the entire film by heart (it's not annoying at all). Our first dance song at our wedding was "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Cheesy? Yes. But did it have meaning? You bet. Brad took a couple of dates to see the movie when he was younger (all while I was secretly dying for him to take me). I wasn't allowed to go on dates yet (obviously, since we were like 13), so we never got to go together. I got over it... or so I thought. Once I found out it was coming back out? I was SO excited! We finally were going to get to see it, in the theater, together.

Obviously, this meant we HAD to take Noah. I wanted so badly to be able to say his first movie was The Lion King. We took him to the regular non-3D version. Unfortunately, it didn't go quite as planned.
I purposely planned on going during the week when all the other kids were in school. I knew he probably would't last through the whole thing, nor would he sit for long. I kept my expectations low. I just didn't realize how low I needed to go. He thought the actual theater was awesome. He watched a couple of the previews and walked around before the movie started.  However, once the movie started, it was old news. He was too excited and wanted to run around, make noise, and just be... well... a toddler. The glowing lights and the long aisle down front made it look like a runway at an airport... and Noah was the airplane. Had we been the only ones there, I would've let him have at it. But wouldn't you know it, there was just one group besides us. A mom with 2 older kids (either homeschooled or sick?), and I didn't want to ruin the movie for them. So yeah. He lasted all of 3 minutes into the movie. We paid $15 for 3 minutes of running around the theater like crazy people.

Believe it or not, this is the best picture I got out of them. And I took like ten. It was probably doomed from the start.

My mom had agreed to watch him for us the next night, so Brad and I could have our first Lion King date (and ours is cooler than his other ones, because it's in 3D... and he's with me. duh.). So Wednesday came along. Noah and Brad both went down for a nap. Our movie started at 5:30pm. Brad was passed out around 12pm... and didn't wake up for 8 hours. Apparently, he'd caught a little of Noah's cold and was sleeping it off. Noah didn't wake up from his nap until... you guessed it!... 5:30. I was really bummed. Maybe "bummed" doesn't adequately describe it.
I had a nice hormonal girly moment all to myself that went something like, "my life sucks because I can't see the Lion King with my husband who took all these other girls to see it and he probably made out with all of them during it and didn't even see it because his face was plastered to some other 12 year old girl's and where were their parents?? and we're never going to get another chance EVER and why didn't he care enough to want to take ME? LIFE IS JUST SO!HARD!" Yep. Super attractive. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating just a tad. I'm not normally that dramatic. But it was not one of my proudest moments.

I had forgotten the release date info and thought this was our last week to see it, and this was the only night of the week we were going to have a babysitter. Fortunately, I was wrong. We're going to see it on Tuesday. And I will proceed to make out with my husband in the back of the theater. Because I'm 28 and married and no parents are going to tell me I'm not allowed.
Ok, maybe not. But we'll probably share some popcorn.

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I also wanted to take Noah apple picking. I thought it'd be a fun Fall tradition to start. See, I have this problem with getting these happy, all-is-right-with-the-world pictures in my head of perfect moments with our family. The kind where Noah picks apples in his overalls and bare feet, and the lighting outside is perfect, and we go for the most picturesque picnic imagineable in the mountains underneath a canopy of yellow/orange/red leaves... and of course, most of the time these are unattainable. Which leaves me frustrated.
The closest apple orchard to us had extensive hail damage this summer, so they had to stop the pick-your-own thing early. The next closest is way too far to bother. Plus we're planning on going to the mountains to get pumpkins later on. Oh, and it rained almost every day last week. It's been raining ever since. Hello, reality. You're not as pretty as the picture in my head. Fyi.

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Our town had an "Autumn on Main" event this weekend. The whole idea was great, and I thought it'd be fun to take Noah. They'd have a fire truck and music and an area for kids. Unfortunately, it was hot. Very un-Autumn-like. In fact, about 2 minutes into walking around, Noah turned around and asked me to carry him. He was hot and uncomfortable. I didn't blame him. I was too. So we left.

But. In between all the less-than-happy moments, we had some good times last week too.

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Indoor Playtime.
We made a couple of trips to Discovery Place Kids. I typically avoid that place during the summer. It's packed to the max with kids, and since Noah is still a little guy, he gets shoved to the side and can't play with anything. But once school starts back, it clears out. Happy times are here again. He was so stinkin' excited to play there again. And he discovered areas that he had previously ignored, like the little diner (where kids can pretend to cook and serve) and the gymnastics area.
(sorry, I was also having a "I suck at photography" moment last week and took a break from my camera. Hence, no pictures for this. I think we just needed some time a part to reexamine our priorities. We've since been reunited and are going strong.)

Outdoor Playtime.
Now that the weather is cooling off a little, it's so much nicer outside. We can go for walks, wagon rides, and run around in the back yard without passing out from heat exhaustion. The pups are glad to have us outside with them more too. And Dodger always turns into a goofy puppy again once the weather cools off. He wants to go on walks, play fetch, and follow us around everywhere. The poor guy is so hot during the summer; I don't blame him for turning into a different dog once it's nice out.

This is Noah trying to put a mosquito bracelet on me

(my mom is a QVC queen and ordered these. They actually work!).

Noah found a really great rock pile in someone else's yard. It's now a stopping point every time we're on a walk. He's such a boy...

And even though it rained buckets last week, the sky gave us an awesome show afterwards.

Baking Fall Cookies
So we made some pumpkin cookies over the weekend (which are amazing, I'll be putting up the recipe this week on my food blog). While that in itself isn't all that exciting or unique, what took place towards the end is. It's no secret that Noah's going through a picky-eater stage. He still eats his lima beans and peas and grapes and all that. Just doesn't want to try anything new, which I'm pretty sure is normal. So you can imagine my surprise at this...

Here we are eating cookie dough, like usual...

(please ignore the baking disaster area)

Noah decides to check out the veggies on the counter.

He proceeds to grab a green pepper and start noming on it.

Um? Who is this kid?

Had I handed him a green pepper, it would've been tossed across the room.

Toddlers are weird.

And there ya have it.

Hope yall had a great weekend!!