happy halloween

Happy Halloween! Just a few pictures before the weekend arrives. The picture above is a sample of the craft project we put together for L&K to take to day-care. And by "we" I mean my sister. I did a little gluing and cut out the pieces for the owl, but she did all the rest. And they looked great ... thanks Dolly!

Here is a preview of our Hulk:

A preview of our Purple Fairy Princess:
And a picture of our buddy Ryan from our cookie making play date last night:

picture time

This weekend we had high hopes for a photo shoot with Dolly. Unfortunately, between the rain and the cold, we didn't have more than 20 minutes of time to try to accomplish this ... and neither Leah nor Kaden were willing subjects. Here are the few that I was able to capture while Dolly tried to work her magic.

Kaden "hiding" from Dolly.

Leah jumping in the leaves.

Don't you love her new boots?!?
Kaden again trying to avoid Dolly
while she tried to coax out a smile.

The whole gang on the slide.

pumpkin patch

On Thursday, I was able to take the day off work and go with the kids to Beasley's Pumpkin Patch. I had a blast with Leah, Kaden, and their friends from school. We were also lucky enough to be joined by Cole, the love of Leah's life! Although the weather was quite cold, we had a great time.

where's papaw?

Let me start by saying that the party at Chuck E Cheese was actually quite fabulous. Leah had a wonderful time with Cole, her best friend ever-ever, and the crowd was not too unbearable. I have had 3 successful CEC trips, which means that I am sure to be doomed on any future attempt.

Mike & I had to take Kaden to the Emergency Room on Saturday late afternoon. Poor little guy just gets hit SO hard with every cold, and this time the "emergency plan" of breathing treatments was not providing the necessary relief. I am pleased to report that he was seen and released, and is doing well today. Let's hope for a speedy recovery from this bug!

While we were with Kaden at the hospital, the other 3 kids got to spend some time with Papaw & Totsie. Here are some great pics of the kids & Papaw playing in the leaves:

weekend

Have to go shopping for a birthday present tonight ... to take to the party at Chuck E. Cheese tomorrow. Yeah, I know you're jealous, but try to contain yourself. Who could imagine more fun than a birthday party at NOON on a SATURDAY at CHUCK E. CHEESE? With all those little kids running around. All the noise. All the games that don't work and there's no man in a referee shirt to fix it when you need him to so the kids start fussing. And the melt down by the time you're ready to count up the tickets that leaves your child laying on the floor screaming and crying while you try to feed the tickets into the "ticket muncher" while trying to keep your child from rolling into the path of traffic and getting trampled. And this is when, of course, the lovely woman that you work with on a consulting basis appears with her very well behaved, non-snotty, non-stained child. And she offers her assistance in keeping your child out of the path of foot traffic. And you accept the offer, for how could you not? And from that moment on, you are forever blushing when you see her in the professional sphere. For though she must have had similar moments with her own children, you are ever so slightly ashamed that she bore witness to your child's public melt down. What, I ask you, could be better than that?

molly princess aurora & totsie's birthday

Here are a few pictures of the kids with Totsie's new dog, Molly.

Or, more accurately, Molly Princess Aurora.

Yeah, Leah's in a princess phase these days.

And here are Leah & Kaden's gifts to Totsie.

We were going to paint blank canvas, but the kids spied the

ceramic shapes and decided they would rather work on those.

wheeeeeee

Here are some pictures from our last trip to the park with Ryan & Jennie (thanks Jennie!).

The kids had a blast, even when it started raining.

Then it was back to Ryan's house and fun with the train table. Kaden was getting frustrated because he couldn't walk the trains all the way around the table by himself, so he improvised.

stink-eye and fashion terminology

Tucking Leah into bed last night and Brody the cat was curled up at the foot of her bed. Usually, she's a little panicky about the cat, but when I asked her if I should move Brody she said no. So I looked at Brody and patted his head and said something like "Brody, are you going to stay here and keep Leah company?" The cat looked up at me and sort of squinted his eyes (he'd been sleeping, folks, I woke him up).

Leah burst into laughter. What's so funny? "He just gave you the stink-eye!!"

This morning, I bribed her out of bed by pulling out some of her Halloween shirts from last year. She very excitedly chose one and paired it with the black and orange striped leggings. (Her FAVORITE. In fact, little mommy secret here, I hid them because she wanted to wear them SO much. Now, now, it's not a MEAN mommy secret. She never asked where they were or cried because she couldn't find them or anything. So stay calm.)

Anyway, when I dropped Leah off at the sitter, Amy said to her "Leah, you look beautiful today. I love your Halloween outfit." Disdainfully, Leah looked at Amy and said "It's not a Halloween outfit. It's Halloween clothes."

Clearly there's a difference.

another weekend wasted

Yup, that's right. No new pictures, for there was no activity this weekend. Sigh ... the weekend is closing, it will be dark soon, and I've nothing to show for it. Is my depressing tone seeping through the letters on the page?

Took the kids to Dolly's house Friday evening for some fun, and woke up Saturday morning with grand plans for a play-date and picnic at the park with Karlie & her kids .... First clue something was wrong? Leah saying she didn't want to go get breakfast. That she wanted to "stay here a little bit longer." Um, this is my child that doesn't sleep. Ever. Wanting to stay in bed? So I got up to feed Kaden. Started some laundry. Straightened up in the kitchen. Went to check on Leah and she was fast asleep.

Sick.

Fever going up and down for the duration of the day Saturday and Sunday. Otherwise no complaints, and this afternoon she loudly announced that she is "NOT sick. Sick isn't fun. And I'm NOT sick." But honey, you still have a fever. "NO, I don't."

Kaden was lucky and was able to escape the house for several hours with Dolly and kept his play date, but Leah and I have not been so lucky. So much for nice weather ....

slacker

"Why aren't there any new pictures on your blog?" my sister asks.

Because I am a slacker. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend, and I have some crafty projects in the wings for the wee ones to work on, so perhaps there will be more photos forthcoming. We went with Totsie to pick out Halloween costumes last night, so perhaps we'll have a modeling session and practice our make-up tricks.

In the mean time, I shall again direct you to The Painted House. Angela has some of the most interesting stories and her blog always makes me smile. Check out her fun phone number trick today!