Trick-or-Treat

 This year the Mr. and I took the day off to attend all of the festivities – next year, I will be taking the day AFTER off because We. Were. Exhausted.

The girls were super excited about all of the Halloween festivities candy that was in store, so they were eager to go to school!  Here are the girls ready for school in their Halloween shirts – and, as usual, this is the best I could do of the girls together: 

The school parade and parties were great!  This year we had to divide and conquer, so I went to Anna’s party, and Daddy attended Avery’s.  Before nap time, Anna’s class “planted” glitter pumpkin seeds, and when they woke up, they found a row of little pumpkins! 

Anna and I decided to join Avery’s party where they were on a 20 minute rotation of cupcake decorating, door hanger decorating and picture frame decorating!  She loved it all…

We headed from school straight to our neighborhood party: 

This year we decided to rent a bounce house for the kids.  This was Anna’s first time in a bounce house, and it was hilarious to watch her try to stand up!

When it started to get dark, Deda came over so we could trick-or-treat:

Yet another attempt to get a shot of my girls together:

Anna headed straight to the “pump-in” at the end of our street, and Avery went straight for the candy:

The girls off to another house – this was one of the few times that Avery actually waited for Anna! 

Belle and Daddy:

Avery completely got the hang of things this year, and she was determined to go to every house in our neighborhood... and as fast as possible!  Anna started to lose interest, so she stayed back with Daddy to hand out candy. She was a huge fan of our neighbor’s spider hat though – she loved to point and say, “Mommy! E-Bii-Pider!!" 

I'm happy to report that the girls have finally come down from their sugar highs, and I'm ready to get the remaining candy out of our house... Any takers!!??

Renaissance Festival

Last weekend, we headed out to the Renaissance Festival with a few of our closest friends.  The weather is always great, and it always a good time.  This year was no different!

As soon as we walked in the gate, the kids wanted to get their faces painted.  Avery wanted a "rainbow fairy" - and she got one - complete with fancy glitter too!

Jack, Avery & Kyle showing off their newly painted faces:

We could not pass the swing without everyone screaming, so here we are... on the way up!

WEEEE!!  You have to zoom in and check out all the kids faces... Lily (far right) totally cracked me up...

Next up - the crazy spinning ride.  Mommy doesn't spin.  Thank goodness Daddy does!

Topping Anna's list was riding a "neigh neigh" or an "e-be-dah", so we went for the elephant.

She was not a fan. :)

So cute, Jack & Avery:

Daddy & Ian had to get in on the fun:

Time to eat! This picture was taken moments before Anna decided to drink the ketchup. :)  And check out the background... we take our kids to only the classiest places. :)

And what's better than a turkey leg?  A community one! Anna, especially loved it.  She grabbed it from John, took two bites, and then it hit the ground. It was the only time she cried all day. :(

The group: Delaney, Devin, Jack, Anna, Avery, Kyle, Lily & Nathan

Wearing them out before it's time to head home:

 Avery & the boys have been talking about having a slumber party since we mentioned it to them months ago. (Note to self - at age 4, they remember everything!)  So, we decided to have a kid & adult sleep over!  

Bath time bubbles were HA-larious!

I have never seen so much water in our bathroom before, but it was totally worth it.  And I think it helped clean up the nail polish from "the incident":

Daddy's bubble mustache was hilarious too...

The kids were ADAMANT that no mommies and daddies were allowed to sleep in their rooms.  So, Miss Carrie told the kids a very animated bed time story about Prince Jack & Prince Kyle rescuing Princess Avery, and the kids were off to sleep... eventually. :)

We checked on them around midnight, and they were all sound asleep. Avery had gotten a stuffed animal for everyone to sleep with, and the next morning we found a few random princess band-aids around the room. Apparently Kyle's finger and every stuffed animal had a boo-boo... So glad everyone is feeling better now. :)

Pumpkin Patch!

Last weekend YaYa and Boompa came to visit, so we headed out to the pumpkin patch!  This was Anna's first time, so she was excited to see all of the pumpkins!

The hunt was on for the perfect pumpkin...

Anna found hers quickly!

And Avery found hers!

I tried and tried to get the girls to take a picture together, but they were usually on opposite ends of the patch! 

Anna with YaYa - too distracted to smile for the camera!

Posing with the punkins...

Headed for the playground!

The see-saw was lots of fun with YaYa doing all the hard work!

Here's hoping we get our pumpkins decorated before Halloween!

10 For Texas!

Congrats to the Mr. on running TEN Miles!!  Your girls are so proud of you (even if Anna doesn't look like it!)!

Close Call...

In our effort to beat the heat, last Saturday we headed in town to check out the Children’s Museum for some indoor fun. 

Anna did not want to cooperate for a sibling picture as evidenced below…

So, Avery posed solo:

Headed inside – it got a little windy… Anna thought it was hilarious, and so did we!

Avery went right for the climbing exhibit:

And Anna went straight for the dancing one:

Avery got a little nervous inside…

So, she joined Anna for something more her speed:

The museum has an entire floor that was a city just for kids… a bank, grocery store, restaurant, city hall, news center, vet clinic… you name it, they had it!

Anna hit the forensics lab and was all business in the police car.  Sharing is not her strong suit at the moment, so taking turns with other kids who wanted to drive was a bit of a challenge:

I finally convinced her that she could push around a shopping cart if we headed to the grocery store.  She headed straight for the bakery, and I wish I had a picture of the giant loaves of bread that she insisted on cramming into her tiny basket.

Sis headed straight for the ice cream:

And Anna filled up at least three baskets with everything in reach:

We were totally enthralled by the fully functioning computer system at check out (Daddy gets totally distracted when computers are involved).  I pulled out my camera to snap a picture, looked down and realized that Anna was gone.  It seriously happened that fast.  If you look closely, you can see the bottom of her dress and her pink crocs strolling down the street, headed right to the ELEVATOR.  Yep, by the time we found her, she was stepping onto the elevator with total strangers.  Please don’t call CPS.

 

Let's move on...

The vet clinic was good times:

And since I almost lost one child while taking a picture, I took approximately one more photo the entire time we were there and only because everyone was seated and accounted for.  I snapped a pic of the static exhibit, which Avery thought was pretty cool. 

I’m sure most people thought that Anna had spent the day there (actually one lady did stop to ask me), but no, her hair naturally stands up that way.

 

Good times. 

Just Because...

19ish Months and A Big Fat Mess

So, I may or may not have skipped a couple of monthly updates lately... mainly because I'm too busy cleaning up things like this:

And this...

Thankfully that isn't blood.  However, it is nail polish - "I'm really not a waitress" by OPI in case you are curious... 

Messes aside, you have changed SO much over the past few months.  Your vocabulary has just exploded - you have more words now than I can possibly begin to count, and you will try to repeat almost anything.  You like to "sing" several songs too - we hear "Baby, baby, baby, oooooh" (Bieber Fever anyone?), and "Low, low, low..." (name that tune!) a lot.  You love pat-a-cake, ring around the rosie (mostly the ALL FALL DOWN! part), and Itsy Bitsy Spider.  You love reading books - we don't go a night without reading "Butterfly's Bath" and "Goodnight Moon".  You are obsessed with water too - we often find you in the toilet, at the sink attempting to wash your hands, or trying to drink out of a water bottle or big girl cup.  

You also love to wear my shoes around the house.  I catch you pulling shoes out of my closet daily!

You have also mastered throwing a fit.  Hello terrible 2s... a few months early.  It's really a good thing that you are so dang cute. :)