Friday, October 29, 2010

Fun Times at School

The girls have had a lot of fun at school this week.  Gia is at a Christian preschool so they don't have a typical Halloween party.  They have a "Noah's Ark" party where all the children come dressed as an animal.  Here's my sweet little butterfly at school.  She had a great time with all her friends, special crafts, and pumpkin cookies!


Tia's school has a "silly dress" day just before Halloween.  She couldn't wait to dress up, as well as see what all her friends would be wearing.  Here's what she chose to wear for the special occasion.

Love those tights with orange socks!  She came home with a bag full of loot because they went around "trick or treating" to the school offices.

Both girls had such a great time in their classes. I'm glad they really enjoy school and look forward to going.  Great fun!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Books, books, and more books

Today was our day to steam clean the carpets.  We put it off until today because this was the first rainy weekend we've had in what seems like forever.  I moved all the family room furniture into the kitchen and crammed as much of the dining room into the hall as I could.  Then I cleared out the play room.  I wondered in the back of my mind what the girls would do while they were not allowed in the wet areas, and no TV all morning.  Once again, we don't give children the credit they deserve.  Here's how I found them, curled up together on our lounge chair which was shoved under the kitchen table.  Reading!

They thought this was like a grand new adventure.  They both thought it was hilarious that our furniture was in the kitchen.  They certainly weren't bothered by it one bit. 
This gave me the opportunity to go through the book box.  Our family loves to read.  We have countless books.  A couple years ago I decided that the books needed to be kept in one place, so we came up with the "book box".

Not usually this neat

These are just our 'family room books'.  We have more in the play room, and each of the girls has their own book shelf upstairs.  Tia prefers to keep her special Princess collection up in her own room where she can keep them away from her baby sister.
Anyway, I thought I could make a dent in the book box and bring some to the Good Will.  Not such an easy task after all.  It's not just that the kids don't want to part with any of the books, but I too have my favorites that I won't give up.
In most areas I'm the exact opposite of those "Hoarders" you see on that new TV show.  I get rid of just about everything!  I have at least one Good Will bag ready each week, and I often give hefty amounts of clothes to other friends who have little girls.  But for some reason I can't do that with books.  I'm a book hoarder! 
Since I was going through the box, I thought I'd share with you some of my most favorites.

I consider these to be the classics.  I can remember hearing "Harold and the Purple Crayon" when I was a little girls and I thought it was fantastic.  It's the first book I ever bought Tia as a gift.  "Where the Wild Things Are" is another one of my own childhood favorites.  I didn't become a Dr. Seuss fan until I became a mother.  Now I can't get enough.
So, after all that I only pulled one book out to give away.  The rest are with us for a while longer.  I'll live with the occasional book clutter because it means I have kids who love to read.  That's good enough for me.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sweetest Day Dance

D.R. and the girls went to the annual Sweetest Day Father-Daughter Dance.  This is a big event in our house, the girls look forward to it every year.  In fact, they've been talking about it for weeks.  They like to get all dressed up and pick out what Daddy will wear.  This year was the most fun because they had a few friends who were also there.  It's a special treat for them to stay up late.  Then after the dance D.R. drives them around to see the Halloween decorations in the neighborhood.  Good, clean fun!

All dressed up and ready to go!

Daddy's Girls

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Tia's Birthday (for real this time!)

1st birthday


2nd birthday

3rd birthday
4th birthday        
I know everyone says "Oh, they grow so fast" and "Time really flies", but I'm here to tell you it's true.  Just look at these pictures of Tia over the past few years.  I truly cannot believe how fast she has grown.

5th birthday
Five years ago today I was 41 weeks pregnant and VERY uncomfortable.  I wanted that baby out, and I can remember how badly I wanted to kiss her little toes!  Five years later, I'm still kissing those toes, and loving every minute.  She sure took her time getting here but was certainly worth the wait.  Having her in our lives has been a blessing, every day.  
So, to our big 5 year old, we say...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WE LOVE YOU!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Summer Weather in October

We've been having a heat wave here in the mid west, which means lots of outdoor activities for the kiddos.  On Friday we met some of our friends at our favorite park in the area and had a blast.  All the kids get along so well, it's refreshing. 
Here they are.

They all thought it was great fun to try to climb this tree.

Then yesterday the forecast was 85 degrees and sunny.  The girls wanted to go to the mall.  We managed to talk them out of that and took them to the zoo!  What a gorgeous day we had.  We packed a picnic lunch and spent more than 3 hours there.






The girls were both so good all day.  I think they were glad they didn't go to the mall!  They even got a sun tan on their cute little faces.  You gotta' love a little Summer weather in the middle of October!


Saturday, October 2, 2010

Fall Family Fun!


Fall is my absolute favorite time of year.  I love the crisp, clean feeling in the air.  I love the bright, changing colors.  Since we've lived in the mid west, I've loved Fall even more.  There's just so much for the kids to do around here, mostly because of the great number of farms in the area.  Today we ventured out, deeper into farm country and went to Royal Oaks Farm.  We were not disappointed.
Photo overload coming up!










As you can see, we had a fantastic time.
I love Fall!