Joy, Gratitude and Thankfulness

Today was a great day for us. After being busy for a few weeks, we took today off. We watched a little TV, played in our backyard, met Daddy for lunch and napped. It was a beautiful day outside to play and just be present.

We are at a stage where the girls are understanding so much and we have some really fun conversations. Lizzie and Gracie love to give kisses and tell us they love us all the time. Its so sweet. They have also been really affectionate. We get lots of snuggle time. I love how they play and love on each other. It seems they are always thinking about sister. Its not always hugs and kisses, but it helps us remember that there is good times with some of the challenges.

Today, I was just feeling thankful for my husband, my girls and my family.

Playing in the leaves

I loved both of these pictures so I posted both

Grandma's Birthday

This past weekend was Grandma's birthday. We headed to Oklahoma to celebrate. We had a blast as always. Its so fun to see all the cousins play together and have fun! November is full of birthdays for our family, it starts with Nana's, then Aunt Betty, then my cousin Angie, then my mom, then me and then my sister Laura. Whew! By the end of the month, we are almost all birthday out.

The girls always wake up Grandma and she feeds them cereal

If its a birthday (even Grandma), Lizzie thinks we should go to Chuck E Cheese

My sweet sister Laura and Lizzie

All the sweet cousins

Angie, Gracie and Betty. Gracie made Angie shell peanuts and then didn't eat them.

Waiting for our table for Grandma's birthday dinner.

Nana's In Town

Nana came to stay with us a few days. We had lots of fun and were pretty busy. We played, read books, shopped, went to the zoo, and played some more. The girls made Nana read a ton of books. Several every night before bed.

Nana also celebrated her birthday with us and we went to Babe's for dinner. Yummy chicken!

Eating lunch and shopping.

Nana reading books

Love this of a daddy and his girls. He is holding them up to see the rhinos.

Nana and daddy helping the girls feed the birds

Feeding the birds at the zoo. They loved it.

Minnie Mouse and Fancy Nancy

Today was Halloween. This year, you could tell it clicked. They got everything about it. We practiced our trick or treating today before going out. One girl would go inside our Dora tent and the other would stand outside and say "trick or treat". Then the one on the inside would put a toy in the bucket. They were really good about taking turns.
As an extra treat, Nana came today for a few days and was able to go trick or treating with us. As we have done for the last 3 years, we have gone to the Sher's house and had a yummy dinner and then went trick or treating. This year, we had Fancy Nancy, Minnie Mouse, a pink bunny and 2 Rapunzels join us. The kids were so excited they could barely sit still for this picture.

A gaggle of girls

Where's Waldo? He's leading the girls to their trick or treat fun!

The first house, it didn't take long for the younger ones to catch on.

Sweet Minnie, she was always bringing up the rear. You can't hurry her.

Energetic Gracie was running from house to house.

 Every time we went to a house, all the girls would run up and then Gracie would come back and say "look at my trick or treats!". Then toward the end she would say "Happy Halloween". So cute.

Lizzie showing us her haul.

 After we had been up and down one of the streets, we hit two houses that ran out of candy. The first house didn't answer the door and the second the woman was really apologetic to the girls. They just kept staring at her with their pails out. They all finally got it and turned away. They actually all took it well and want to go to the next house.

Checking the stash!

After we were done, we went back to the Sher's to eat a little and get really cute treats from Jill. We then headed home. Before we called it a night, we had to trick or treat at our neighbor's house, Rocky and Amy. After that, the girls were really tired and Gracie told us she was ready to go home.

We all had lots of fun and the weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. Everyone that we meet was really nice and polite. All the other trick or treaters waited their turns and the people giving candy were really nice.

Busy Week with Fall Activities

This week was busy with Halloween activities. The girls really love Halloween and want to wear their costumes all the time. Its so fun!

Wednesday was the Halloween festival at church. The girls were so excited that when they took a bath before we went, Wes asked who wanted out the tub first and they both said me. Usually, Lizzie says Gracie. They both love staying in the tub. So, we got them dressed, realized Gracie's costume was a little big and made a Walmart run for a tank top to put underneath it. When we got to the church, we saw all our friends all dressed up. We ate our hot dogs and waited for the parade to start. Our friend Drew led the parade dressed as Where's Waldo. All the kids followed him all over the playground and into the church. It was cute but reminded me of the Pied Piper.

Minnie Mouse aka Lizzie

Fancy Nancy aka Gracie

Next up was a Halloween party at our friends house. This is our third year to go and we had a blast. The girls love playing with all the big kids. We enjoyed our time with the adults.

Lizzie decorating cookies

Several of the girls came down the stairs dressed up. This is how Gracie came down.

 Today was the last of the pre-Halloween activities. It was our annual Fall Festival for MPOM. It was at the pumpkin patch at the Lutheran Church. It turned out great. Amy and I were in charge of planning and organizing. The only hitch was my cute craft. It was suppose to look like this, but all the cookies kept breaking. Fortunately, 2-4 year olds don't really care. We had about a dozen set of multiples show up! So great. The girls were so happy they got to see Reese and Riley and Anna, Issac and EJ.

Multiple Multiples!

Next up is Nana coming and Halloween! It should be really fun!

Making Our Tree Scary

As we were driving around yesterday with Grandma and Papa looking at some Halloween decorations, Lizzie informed us that we needed some scary ghosts in our tree. I remembered that I had some white plastic bags and markers. So, we got to work. We all decorated our trash bags and tied them with twine. Then put them in the tree.

Both girls were really proud of their tree and Lizzie told us that she wanted all the neighbors and her friends to see her "scary tree". This is the year for them to really start understanding the holidays. If they are this excited about Halloween, I can't imagine how Christmas will be!

Notice who is doing all the work? Of course its Grandma.

Pumpkin Patch with Grandma and Papa

Grandma and Papa stopped through town this weekend after a trip to see their good friends in Wilmington, DE. We picked them up at the airport and headed to Babe's for some yummy chicken.  For a week now, Lizzie has talked about going to the scary Target. She likes to look at the Halloween decorations and that's whats so "scary". She wanted to have Grandma and Papa go to Target with her to show them how scary it is. So after nap and dinner, we all headed over to Target to have a look.

This weekend turned out to be about pumpkins, for breakfast Grandma and the girls made us pumpkin muffins. Then later, we took Grandma and Papa to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. Grandma was going to help the girls decorate their pumpkins. So of course, we had to get pictures. We came home, the girls napped, and then got to decorate their pumpkins. The used Dora and Diego stickers and markers to make their pumpkins "pretty". I couldn't tell who was having more fun, the girls or Grandma.

We asked Grandma to take a family picture for us.

Grandma and Papa with the girls

Sitting on a little bench in a sea of pumpkins

With their pumpkins they picked out

My sweet momma and daddy

We had a really great time. Grandma and Papa both took turns reading the Fancy Nancy Halloween book that Nana sent. The girls loved the book (it was read a zillion times). Wes and I even squeezed a date in while Grandma and Papa watched the girls. We will be sad when Grandma and Papa head back to Oklahoma.