It’s Beginning to Look a lot like …Fall!

Yep, it’s Fall in the Masterson house.  I love to decorate and Fall is one of my favorite times of year!  Fall starts off a busy 3 months for us, October, November, and December.  And I think everyone is the same way, right?  We have the carnivals and Halloween parties and then we move on to Thanksgiving.  Some of us start shopping for Christmas in November.  And then there’s December, the busiest time of year for us.  Decorating, shopping, cooking, parties, etc.  Well, like I said, its a busy 3 months for us. 

But I start decorating for Fall in September!  Yep, I love it!  The earlier the better!  By September, I am sick of the heat, and ready for some cooler weather.  Oh, and don’t forget college football! 

So, to celebrate Fall, I make the IT Guy get out all of the fall and Halloween decorations. 

I start with the Halloween village.  We use to start putting the Halloween village up at the end of August because it takes us a couple of days to get it completely set up with the trees, moss, and leaves.  So, I put it up early to enjoy it for a month or so.  What?  I like my Halloween village, ok?  Gimme a break!  It’s not like I put my Christmas tree up in August!!!  Not that I haven’t thought about it but I haven’t!

So here’s the Halloween Village in the beginning stages of setting it up: 

As you can see, it’s a process!  And Miss Emma loves to help!

This is the broken down Manor, and the ghost flying around on the inside!  OOOH!  Spooky!  Not really.

This is the fun house and the costume shop!  And the pretty barn on the left!

This is what the finished project looks like.  The trees and the fences are up.  The hedges edge the houses.  And a few leaves sprinkled around! 

I love all the little people on their way to trick or treat!  

  

 

All finished!!!

So, we’re ready for Halloween in this house!  But I still have some other things that I have done to decorate my house for Fall.  More on that later!

I heart Etsy

It’s true, I love it!  I find all sorts of cute stuff.  From scrapbooking to clothes, and everything in between.

Etsy is an online store where people sell their handmade items.  I mostly look at the girls clothes, and scrapbooking supplies.  And trust me, I found some great stuff.  Some stuff can be expensive but most of it is really quite affordable.  Like this:

Cute eh?  Yeah it’s all handmade.  Well, I mean the pants and shirt weren’t made by the lady but the ruffles on the bottom and the appliqué flower with her name embroidered are and the little touches of ribbon were made by her.  And to top it off she had a black and white polka dot bow to match!  Uh hello?  Total cuteness! 

You know what the first thing out of Emma’s mouth was?  Those look like the pants off of Mamma Mia!  I couldn’t believe it!  I was hoping to get “Mamma I love it”.  But oh no, I got “Mamma that looks like the pants in the Mamma Mia movie”!

When I took her to school, every teacher almost had a heart attack.  Some even asked if they could have them so they could wear them!  Of course, Miss Thing was enjoying the attention, and was showing off! She loves clothes and shoes as much as her mother!

But wait that’s not the only outfit I bought!  I bought this cute little outfit by another vendor.  I love Amy Butler fabric and this was made out of one of her gorgeous patterns.  Loved that too.  But these pants are called Samurai pants.  Too precious!  And of course Emma looks darling!

So, now I am addicted to surfing sites on Etsy!  This has been a favorite past time for me for the last couple of weeks.  But with so many cute clothes to choose from, is it any wonder? 

So, I think the IT Guy is going to have to put a limit on what I can buy and when I can buy because I have no self control!  None!  Whatsoever! 

I know this is what you really want

Yeah, I know the reason that most of you read my blog is to look at pictures of Emma….that’s ok. Because I won’t be posting too many pictures of myself!  I hate pictures of myself!  And really, who likes pictures of themselves anyway?  So don’t get all holier than thou and berate me for not posting pictures of myself, because it ain’t gonna happen!  No matter how much you gripe at me!

Ok, moving on!  Emma lost her first tooth!  Yay!  I mean at least for her it is!  The tooth fairy totally out did herself.  I mean $2!  Wow, I was lucky to get $1.  I mean, by the time I was in first grade, I had most of my permanent teeth!  I looked like a freak in Kindergarten.  So, the tooth fairy was out a little money that year!  I don’t hold it against her! 

We didn’t even know her tooth was loose, but apparently Emma didn’t either because when it came out, she looked totally freaked out!  She was holding her tooth in one hand and a cookie in the other!  She had this bewildered look on her face, like how did this tooth get into my hand?

Yeah there’s that fake smile that I love so dearly.  Hours upon hours I see this smile when trying to get her to pose for me, and usually this is the smile that I get.  Geez!

Here’s something else we’ve been doing a lot here lately:

Yes Emma is playing soccer.  And I can’t wait for the season to be over.  Seriously, I don’t like it.  Now I played soccer when I was little and Robert played too, but oh my goodness, this is so boring.  Emma told Robert the other day that she like T-Ball better than soccer, and secretly I was glad.  She was an awesome T-Ball player, but not so much with soccer.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that she has no direction from her coach, or the fact that he doesn’t teach them any of the basic skills that they need to play.  But regardless, I can’t wait for the soccer season to be over with. 

But she looks cute in her uniform, though, doesn’t she?

She looks really intent and very focused.  Too bad she was thinking about going to the bathroom, instead of what was going on in the game!

Emma’s first day of school!

I know, I know, it’s been a while!  But hey, I’ve been a little busy around here.  Emma started school, dance, and soccer within the first two weeks of school starting.  So yeah, I’ve been a little busy.

Emma started school on the 24th of August.  She loves it!  Me, not so much!  I hate that she’s not here everyday all day.  I just want her to be a little toddler again, wanting to be with Mommy all day long.  Sigh.  I know she has to grow up but as a mom I want her to stay my little baby. 

So here’s her first day of school pictures.  I found this Ralph Lauren dress at Dillard’s one day and fell in love with it.  Then I found the shoes and fell in love with those too.  Man does she look cute! 

She was so excited that morning.  She ate, got dressed, and put on her backpack waiting for us to take her to school. 

 

She didn’t hesitate when she got into her classroom.  She found her name on a table and sat right down.  This was when I started crying.  But I got myself under control and waited until we left the classroom.  

All day, I kept thinking about her.  I must have looked at my watch all day long.  That was the longest day of my life.  Dad and the IT Guy took me shopping, you know to keep my mind off of Emma and what she was doing.  I was wondering if she was being taken care of, if she ate all of her lunch, or if she was still hungry,  when she went to the bathroom did she wash her hands?  The typical stuff that a mom usually worries about. But you know what? At the end of the day, she came out of the school and she was fine.  She had a great time, and couldn’t wait to go back the next day!  I, on the other hand, was not ready for her to go back.  And 3 weeks later, I still hate the fact that she goes to school every morning.   I hate the fact that she’s not with me every day.  But I’m getting use to it.  We have a routine and it seems to be getting a little better.  Of course, I can’t think about doing this for 8 more months because if I do I might scream!

Day Three in San Antonio

So day three in San Antonio.  We went to Sea World again!  Like you didn’t know, right?  Well this morning we were moving pretty slow and instead of going out for breakfast, the IT Guy went down to the lobby and got us some muffins, coffee, and fruit for breakfast.  Nothing special!

So we headed to Sea World again, and this time the IT Guy remembered to bring the tickets!  yeah!  Well, since we did most of the kiddie rides the day before, we decided to see most of the shows on this day.  But we made it in time to feed the dolphins.  And I have to say this was my favorite part of our trip.  They were the sweetest animals!  Of course, I had dead fish in my hand and that probably helped a lot too, but hey I like to think that maybe they liked my cheery disposition…okay maybe not!  But look at this sweet baby!  Doesn’t it look like its smiling?  

Emma wasn’t quiet sure about sticking her hand down there for them to eat out of her hand, but after the first time, she was really excited, and I have to say so was I.  They had no fear about coming right up to you and letting you feed them right out of your hand.  I declared then that I needed a dolphin.  The IT Guy wanted to know where I was going to keep it and I told him that we could put one in Emma’s wading pool.  Problem solved!  I really don’t see the problem with this.

Look how close it got!  It was so pretty, and the skin was so soft yet rubbery too.  They were the sweetest creatures and Emma and I wanted to stay in that section for a while.  I think I was more impressed with them than she was.

This guy was the biggest dolphin there and he was darker than the smaller ones, and he/she would push the smaller ones out of the way and get as close to me as he/she possibly could.  And even though I didn’t have any food left, he/she wanted to be the center of attention.

Then we went to Shamu’s Happy Harbor/Splash Zone. As you can see we were smart this day, and dressed Emma in her bikini and a pair of shorts.  I knew she would love this and I was right.  We were waiting for another show to start and we had about an hour and a half to kill, so we let her have at it.  She had so much fun and for about 45 minutes, she didn’t gripe (about anything)!  

The IT Guy and I just found a shady spot and just enjoyed watching her.  Knowing that she was having such a great time made us smile.  I mean come on, look at this face.  This my friends, is the look of pure joy or maybe she was just happy that she was cool and not sweating to death.  Who knows.

After having so much fun, Emma was hungry and wanted pizza!  UGH!  Hot pizza in a 104 degree heat?  I don’t think so, but hey its what she wanted, and plus the line was short and the IT Guy didn’t have to wait 20 minutes to get her food, which meant she wasn’t griping at me, telling me that she was hungry and she wanted food.  Got that?  Good!

After Emma ate lunch, we went to the Dolphin show, which was also very cool, but we were so high up in the bleachers, I didn’t get good pictures!  Sorry!  Photoshop can only do so much people!

And after the dolphin show we went to see the sea lion show.  Oh my!  This was hysterical.  If you go to Sea World, make sure you see this show.  It was great!  Emma laughed through the whole thing, as did her parents. 

And once again, I saw their cute little faces, and wanted to take one home with me.  We did get to feed them but you couldn’t get up close and touch them like you could the dolphins.   

 

Again, Emma had a hard time picking those dead fish up and throwing them over the edge.  Especially when she saw the dead squid!  Which I gotta say, I was a little grossed out about that one too! But she did it!

And look at this little guy, when I looked at it, he reminded me of someone or something.  Then it hit me, he reminded me of our dog Oreo, our little stray Schnauzer with that impossibly cute face begging for attention.  Yeah, I could have taken him home in a heartbeat.   

After the sea lion show, we went to see some of the fish aquariums and like the day before Emma was ready to go by 5:30.  And again, we went back to the hotel and took a nap before heading out to dinner. 

But that night, we went to the market downtown, and ate at La Margarita’s.  We had been once before with some friends when the IT Guy was on a business trip.  We remembered that they had great margaritas and the best Mexican food.  We sat outside and just enjoyed being with each other.  Then I caught sight of the two Chinese or maybe the were Japanese guys at the table next to us.  They had no idea what to order or how to eat it!  Oh Lordy!  The IT Guy almost peed his pants.  They were so cute, and I felt so bad for them but they just smiled and picked up that fajita beef and went for it.  And one of them had a big ole Nikon camera and I really wanted to smash his little face in my big ol’ margarita glass and high tail it out of the restaurant with that camera. They had no clue how to eat fajitas, but they looked like they were having fun!  So who was I to judge, plus I had had a large margarita and could have cared less what anyone was doing. 

After dinner, the IT Guy and I wanted to walk around the market but Emma said she was really tired, so we headed back to the hotel, and went to bed.  It was such a fun day and I hated it to end!  Check back for our last day in San Antonio!

Day Two in San Antonio

So, day two in San Antonio starts with us waking up and heading down to a little dive on the River Walk, named Rita’s.  It was fabulous, and cheap!  Robert and Emma both got two scrambled eggs, two pieces of Texas toast, and two stripes of bacon for $2.99!  I on the other hand, got the breakfast taco, and that was $2.99!  We ate breakfast and drinks for under $10!  You can’t beat that!

As you can see we had a great time getting all fueled up for Sea World! And let me tell you, we needed it!

 

So we head out to Sea World, and Robert realizes half way that he left the tickets at the hotel!  Yes, he did!  So, we had to drive all the way back downtown to get the tickets.  By this time it was 10:30 and Emma is really ticked off!  She was so ready to get to Sea World. 

Let me give you parents some advice, rent the darn strollers by the front gate, it is worth every stinking penny or dollar.  But the first ride that she saw was the Shamu ride.  As you can see, its geared towards little kids.  It was like a mini roller coaster. Let me tell you, she rode the heck out of that thing.  I think she rode that stupid ride at least five times.  But she had fun and that’s all that matters.

Emma made Robert ride with her (over and over and over).

Then we headed over to see the Shamu show.  It was pretty darn cool!  Those magnificent creatures are so amazing.  Of course, we had no idea that there was a “splash zone”.  Yeah, you guessed it, we were sitting right in the middle of it.  And of course, Emma and I got soaked.  Robert on the other hand didn’t.  Emma was completely soaked and at first, she was a little upset about being wet but when she realized that she wasn’t the only one wet, everything was fine.

I have to say that the show was pretty amazing.  The trainers were really good with the whales, and the whales were spectacular.  If you go to Sea World, make sure that this show!

After the show, we passed a little stand that did face painting.  Emma about fell out of that stroller.  She HAD to have her face painted.  The little guy painted her face and as soon as Robert paid the little dude, she wiped her forehead and smeared the paint.  The poor little guy had to paint her face over again.  Then Robert threatened her not to touch her face. 

We then headed to the kiddie section where they have rides for small children.  And again, this was a big hit for Miss Thing. 

This one was a mini-ferris wheel and of course Robert was the sacrificial lamb!  I got to take pictures!  Yeah me!

This one, just went up and then came back down…not too impressed with this one, but again Emma loved it!

The rest of the day was a blur.  As the day worn on, the hotter it became.  We did do some water rides and that seemed to help with the heat, but by 5 pm, Emma said that she was ready to go, and so we did.  By the time we got back to the hotel, Robert and I had the worst headaches….lol.  We both took some medicine, and laid down on the bed and snoozed for about an hour. 

That day was pretty special because that was mine and Robert’s 9th anniversary!  We decided to head out and get some Mexican food on the River Walk.  We went to one of the oldest Mexican restaurants in San Antonio, named Casa Rio.  I had a big ole margarita and Robert had a big ole beer, and we just sat back and waited for a table.  We finally got in and we ordered and Robert said that he still wasn’t feeling good, and by the time our food arrived, Robert had a full fledged migraine, and we paid our bill and left.  We went back to the hotel and went to bed!  The end!  In all seriousness, it was a pretty darn good anniversary!

Stay tuned for day three in San Antonio!

San Antonio Day 1

So, we went to San Antonio for our vacation.  We wanted to take Emma to Sea World, the Alamo, the River Walk, etc…you know all that fun stuff.  Well, late Sunday night Emma said she wasn’t feeling well, and she was really tired.  Of course, I thought she just didn’t want to clean her toys up!  But at 6:30 that night, she made the announcement that she was going to go take a nap upstairs in her bedroom.  First off, there were several things wrong with that.  One, she never takes a nap without me, seriously, she won’t take one without me laying down with her.  Second, she never sleeps in her own room.  She usually sleeps in my scrapbook room, or in my bedroom.  Well, anyway, she took a nap until about 8 that night and when she got up from her nap, she was running about a 101.  Not good!  We were suppose to leave on Tuesday to go to San Antonio! 

Monday she woke up and she was running 102, so I made an appointment for her to see the doctor.  The doctor said she just had a virus, and that within a couple of days she should be fine.  Well, at that point we didn’t know if we should cancel or just give her Tylenol and prayed that by the time we got there she would be fine. 

Monday, night I checked her temp and it was almost normal, but when I checked on her that night before we went to bed, she was running 101 again.  So once again, I gave her the Tylenol and went to bed praying that we were going to go.  We woke up Tuesday morning, and she had no fever!  We packed up and headed out. 

We got a great deal on our hotel room at the Hyatt, and Emma thought it was way cool that the elevators were glass and you could see through them. 

After we got checked in, we decided to go to the Alamo.  It was right across the street from our hotel so, it was pretty easy to get to.  

Emma really didn’t get the Alamo, but the IT guy and I did.  But you know what’s sad?  Robert had never been to the Alamo!!  I know!

Went went into the courtyard and I took a ton of pictures of her, and as you can see she looked really thrilled about it!

The tree behind her is one of the oldest trees in San Antonio!  Cool eh?

And of course, I had to take a picture with her and her daddy!

After the Alamo, which by the way was a big bust with Emma, we went to the River Walk.  Which was not a bust with little miss thing.  She loved it!

I made her stand on a bridge above me and got this cute little picture!  And this is when the gripping started.  She was hungry!  

And she wouldn’t eat anywhere but the Rainforest Cafe.  We have one here in Dallas, and I got to say I really wasn’t thrilled by the idea of going but hey it made her happy and kept her quiet! 

After we ate, we went to ride the boats on the River Walk.  It was almost dusk and it was starting to cool off some, so it was a really nice way to end our first day!  Emma thought it was really cool to see all the buildings right on the water, and from that moment on, every time we were at the hotel she wanted to go walk on the River Walk.   

More later, on the first day of Sea World!