Happy Halloween!

Hellllooo picture overload!

Halloween was a big deal this year since Avery was old enough to know what was going on this time around. We started the festivities on Friday afternoon at Avery's school...

Daddy & Cinderella (notice the gloves... according to Avery, they were a MUST to complete her costume. I got a daily reminder to buy some!):


Avery & her best friend, Campbell:


Lining up for the parade!

Pretty girl:

Somebody got shy in front of the crowd...


Cupcakes made it all better (notice the gloves were not as cool as she originally thought...)!!


Making a bag with mommy:


All done (look who spelled her name all by herself!!):


Sunday, we headed to our neighborhood Halloween party. Avery was very excited to dress up as Cinderella (again!), and Anna was planning to be her former stagecoach turned pumpkin. We had to move to plan B for Anna's costume since it was too hot to wear a fleece pumpkin (thank you, Cara!)!

Anna checking out the grass:


... and discovering that she's not a fan!


Anna & Mommy:

Avery & the inflatable pumpkin:

Dwight Schrute & Bret Michaels:


Notice how the bottle changes when Mommy's not around:


Lovely...

Avery & Finley... do they look 3 or 13?


After the party, we headed out to trick-or-treat with Deda & Joanne:

Here she is at door #1:

Avery's favorite part of the night by FAR was handing out candy. She would sprint to the door when the doorbell would ring so that she could hand out the candy ALL BY HERSELF. Cinderella decided that we needed to just leave the door open so that we didn't miss any trick-or-treaters... until I convinced her that bugs would get in the house and crawl in her bed, which caused her to close the door immediately. :)

Deda pretended to trick-or treat and surprised Avery at the front door:

Deda is HILARIOUS...

Halloween has easily become one of our favorite holidays now that Avery is old enough to really enjoy it, and we have another baby girl to dress up! I didn't think I was ever going to get my princess to bed last night, but thankfully the sugar finally wore off!

Pool Maintenance

How long do you think she'll be excited to "help"?

A Double Digit Birthday

Dear Anna,

You are approaching ONE way too quickly. Please stop growing up so fast. I would like to have my little baby for a while longer.

Love,

Mommy

So, as part of your normal photo shoot, we take no less than 30 pictures since you don't like to sit still! This time half of the pictures looked like this:

And the other half looked like this...

Here's what you are up to little miss...

- You are pulling up on EVERYTHING, everywhere! (including the stairs... which also involved your first trip to the ER - thankfully, everything was ok!!)

- You are starting to stand up with no hands for a split second, and just for the record I'm not ready for you to walk yet! (See my letter to you above.)

- You think it is fun to stand up in the bath tub, and it's also funny when I tell you "no, no!"

- You are finally, officially in 12-18 month clothes. I've squeezed your little hiney into the last 6-12 month outfit that I can. :(

- You have four bottom teeth now!

- You are very demanding at dinner time. When you are ready to eat, you are ready to eat NOW.

- You are still a great little eater, but you (like your sister!) are not a fan of mac and cheese. I think you are the only two children on earth who won't touch it!! Beans, however, are a new favorite!

Happy 10 Month Birthday, Banana! We love you!

Pumpkins!

This year we decided to try our hands at carving a pumpkin. Naturally Anna wasn't into it just yet, so she had some snacks and enjoyed the beautiful weather while daddy and Avery got their hands dirty...


More daddy's hands than Avery's hands...


So proud of their first pumpkin!


Fancy night shot:


Anna thought it was pretty cool too, so she decided to check it out...


And that was the end of the pumpkin...

Better luck next year!

Paranormal Activity

Yesterday morning I woke up and realized that my bedroom door was wide open, and the TV remote control that we always fall asleep with was in my bathroom. It was totally unsettling to me, and I could not figure out what happened. Ryan was quick to assume that it was Avery, but there was NO way... I am the lightest sleeper ever, and I would have woken up as soon as her hand touched our door knob. Then he accused me of sleep walking. No, not possible. There was a ghost in our house - THAT had to be the only logical explanation for the random events...

Until I got this text message:

Definitely not what she went to bed wearing... and for the record, I would not dress her in clothes that did not match.

A few minutes later, I received text message number 2:


That would be a can of Pledge in Anna's crib.

I guess I'm glad it wasn't a ghost, but I really hate admitting that I'm wrong. :)