Halloween Party

This is Olivia at school with her two teachers dressed up for the party.
This is the loot Olivia brought back from class. I wondered what was going to happen with the milk jug. They painted them on Tuesday and decorated them today to hold all their goodies. Ms. K's just full of ideas.
Ava is exploring the world of blue fangs. Scary!!
Olivia's turn.
Take a real close look here folks... Olivia is sharing her toys from class without having to be asked. This is a BIG deal.

My Ava

is doing great. She's been weighed at 37 pounds and she is 39 inches tall. This puts her BMI at 81% which falls into the NORMAL category. WhooHoo Ava! She's back on track.

We will still keep her on her modified diet and encourage her to eat healthy. But overall, I am elated to know Ava is back in the right BMI and she is getting plenty of exercise. What a relief. Phew.

School Art

The Butterfly Fairy and Tinkerbell Princesses

My Princess

Ava-isms

Ava's dialogue while sitting on the potty waiting to be wiped, "Mommy, are you on special assignment?"

Me: "Yes Ava, I am going to attempt to wipe your bum."

Ava: "Did you finish the job? Did you complete your task?"

Me: "Yes Ava, you are wiped."

Ava: "Thanks Mom, you did a good job."

She then runs out of the kitchen yelling, "Olivia, guess what? I made a giant poop!"

This has been the basis of our day. Mission complete.

Early Halloween

This weekend the city put on a Harvest Festival complete with petting zoo, bouncy slide, and an arts and crafts table. The girls made some pretty cute leaf magnets for our refrigerator, fished out rubber duckies from a pool of water for a treat, and ate some cotton candy. Everything was free so it was fantastic.

Later that night, the city put on a safe trick or treat for the local businesses to advertise and the kids to get clean candy. We actually got there early with one of our neighbors and the streets were already filled. The girls fluttered from booth to booth in their fairy costumes and acquired quite a lot of loot. They even were given free ice cream coupons so when we finished we headed to the ice cream shop with the neighbors and ate our hearts out.

Yesterday, I set out the BBQ to cook some chicken while the kids were napping. I told Dave we would eat later but I wanted to get the cooking over with. Well, once the BBQ was hot and I had just put the chicken on, Olivia comes outside to announce her awakening. So much for cooking while she slept. A few minutes later one of the neighbor boys and his mom ran over to play with Liv. We got out some lawn chairs and within minutes our whole family, their whole family, and the family next to them were sitting in lawn chairs, kids playing on the lawn, and the grill was overflowing with chicken, tri-tip, and ribs. We had corn, asparagus, BBQ beans, hot dogs and drinks for the kids. So what set out to be a 15 minute job for me ended up being a 4 hour party with the neighbors and it was great. The kids had fun running and playing basketball. We had fun because the kids were having fun and since dinner was cooked on the grill there wasn't anything to clean up. Once darkness fell we went inside and bathed the girls, put on their jammies, and we all watched a movie together. It was a fun family weekend and it cost us nothing. Why can't everything be free?

Six Flags

Dave had the day off...need I say more?
Tall enough to ride the rides...scary!
The family freebie

Kiddie rides for Ava
Ava caught a butterfly
The gang on the jumbo-tron watching the killer whale show
Dave and Olivia brave it through the splash zone

Does the seal look somewhat like Dave? Great day today and very few people. Wonderful way to spend a day off.

Silly Girl

Looks like Olivia had a fun day at school...

Just Plain Cool

A real Catfish... Apparently only the girls would touch it!

Octopus...yes it is real and dead too. She's not afraid little Miss Toughy.

The shark hat.

Pictures are taken by Olivia's teacher Miss K.

Liv & School

Today Olivia's class made spooky finger hands to scare the parent's with. I was very impressed and scared when the hand came running out of school yelling boo to me. It was great. Really it was. To see your daughter beaming with pride as she races out to show you her work. I love it. Every minute of it.


At home she couldn't wait to get her other work out of her backpack to show me what else she did in school.

This pumpkin actually has a song attached to the back. It was cool. We sang it a few times so that Ava could learn it too.

And yes we have reached the letter "H" which reminds me we need to put a share toy in her backpack that starts with "H"...

Off And On

The rain can't seem to make up it's mind today whether it is going to continue sprinkling which makes us trapped indoors or stop completely so we can get out of here and play outside.

In the meantime we've read books, watched a library movie, and now we are...



coloring our fancy Dora books. We still have A LONG time to go before nap and I'm running out of ideas fast.

Yesterday, Ava and I made a banana pie complete with a homemade graham cracker crust. It musta been pretty decent tasting since it is gone already. We could bake again today but I have a good feeling that Ava will saddle up right next to me when it is time to make lunch. She is becoming quite the cook with a knack for stirring. So that again leaves us with art projects, games and puzzles, and whatever else pops into my brain soon. It's not looking too good for us.

Woops

Ok so I admit I take ALOT of pictures of my kids. Why wouldn't I? I am their mother.

So last night as we geared up and put on our costumes to go to our first haunted house this year I forgot to take the girl's pictures. Doh! Ok I guess that was a trial run last night since we still have Liv's costume party at school, another haunted house and a place to trick or treat next weekend, and the ever official actual Halloween.

And Dave did such a good job matching their clothes underneath their outfits.

Anyway, the games and prizes last night were great but the haunted house scared the beegeezes out of Olivia. She cried and ran away but after a few minutes she was ok. Ava for the most part liked it. We'll see how we do at the next one.

We Now Call It The Pumpkin PATCH

Last year Olivia only referred to the pumpkin patch as a HATCH so it's cool that this year she's got it right. And just in time for her first field trip. FIELD TRIP- she's 3 years old. Man. When I was a kid I don't think I went on a field trip until at least first or second grade and then it was to the convalescent home down the street from my Catholic School. It was so fun to smell old people and urine. I'd say I almost forgot the smell but now I live with young people and urine so it's really all relative.

So since the kids are young parents can come on the field trip as well as little sisters. "Wahoo," exclaimed Ava in the truck on the way there. Followed by, "Can I have a donut daddy? P-l-e-a-s-e???"

So we got there and met with Olivia's teacher. Olivia was sooo excited to see her teacher. She stood by her and smiled so very proudly. Then we entered and went to the barn for some songs and festivities. Dave got in the mix and played the washboard while the leader played the guitar. Olivia stood up in front of everyone and asked to play the scary witch song. Her teacher prompted shouted out that she did not teach her that song.
Olivia then asked the leader another question, "maybe we could...something." This is the question that Olivia should be famous for. Whenever she wants something it starts with, "maybe we could....eat some cake, have some candy, go outside..."
Here's Olivia shakin' her buns to the tunes...

Ava got into the lineup and danced too.

Then we went outside and she danced in twirls with me.

And then Ava tried to kiss (why you ask???) a baby chick and got pecked.

This is the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Olivia, her teacher, and the teacher's helper.

Ava's scouting out "The Big One."

Liv's getting her pic taken by her teacher for her teacher's web page.

The maze.

Ava's jump from one hay stack to another. She was practicing her jumps all day.

Never seen these two busy bees in my life.

Petting the livestock.

And we are finally ready to leave. Awesome. And then we went to the library...

It's The Little Stuff

Today when Ava went down for her nap I forgot she was wearing socks. (Neither Ava nor Olivia will sleep in socks for whatever reason.) So when I came up to check on her, this is what I found.
Her little socks crumpled up on the floor outside of her door. She does this every time I put her to bed with socks on her feet. She takes them off, places them outside the door, and puts herself back to bed without making a peep.

I never want to forget these little things that when they happen seem insignificant but then one day while thinking back on the girls' childhood it's one of those, "remember when we'd put Ava to bed with socks on and we'd find them outside her door???"

Back To School

Here's Olivia's brand new ghost necklace. She surprised me by having it hidden under her sweatshirt.

Olivia needed to take my picture wearing the ghost too.

This is a spider hand...made by the creator herself. Awesome!

Some other Fall fancy artwork. All the art is displayed on our front windows for all the passerbyers to see. Olivia was so proud to hang it there.

Thursday's our fieldtrip to the Pumpkin Patch. Hopefully the rain stops Wednesday night so we can go and it's not too muddy. I'm thinking maybe we need to purchase rainboots...can't go wrong with mud and boots.