Lizzie's Birthday Celebration

Happy Birthday Lizzie!  In her own words, "This was the BEST birthday ever!!"

That quote might have had something to do with the fact that we took Lizzie to the Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate her birthday.  She got to play in the water, stay in a hotel, and play a second day with her sister and cousin, June.  The girls absolutely loved the "Great Wolf" AND the best part was that there was hardly anyone there.  We got to go down the slides over and over with NO lines!  They even had some trick or treating going on inside the hotel.  We really had such a good time and the three girls were so brave to go on the big slides so many times!  

 The Great Wolf Lodge was the big celebration and gift, but we also had a little party with just the family.  We had some princess cupcakes, presents, and a ghost pinata.

 They loved their homemade gifts from Grandma: Hello Kitty Painting smocks!  Plus, they were super excited to open all the crafts that Grandma and Great Grandma had sent.  We have been very busy with them these days.

 We are so lucky and blessed to have Grammy and Papa so close by!  They gave Lizzie a Lalaloopsy Doll that she insisted on bringing to show all her classmates at preschool the next day.

 Liz got to have one more day of fun at preschool.  It was her very special day PLUS the Halloween pajama party day.  I loved watching her interact with her peers.  She is very well liked and gets along with all the kids.  It was funny to see how the girls and boys stick together at this age already.

 Liz is very good at hitting up all the craft stations that are available that day.

 I got to witness what a day of preschool is like for Liz because I was the parent helper. I love that she still loves to sit on my lap and read books, even at school!  The other kids slowly gathered around til we had a big crowd.

 Part of her "special day" is getting to beat the drum and tell everyone, "5 more minutes of play" and other announcements.

 At one point all the boys were playing with blocks and Liz didn't hesitate to jump right in too.  Her Daddy  is always playing blocks and building things with her at home.

 She also got to be line leader all day!

 We brought the healthy snack that day.  Nothing better than pumpkins and ghosts!

Liz's teachers Mrs. Amanda and Michelle are so great!  They are great at their job and Liz loves them.

 During circle time Liz got to have a turn doing show and tell (her Lalaloopsy) and lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and other activities.

Two Little Pumpkins

Two little pumpkins sitting on a gate....oh wait.  It's actually FIVE little pumpkins sitting on a gate (soon we will have 3 but never 5!)...Liz and Jewel have been obsessed with the 5 Little Pumpkins song this season.  Liz learned it in preschool and then taught it to us.  So we always sing it for fun, especially when we are in the kitchen making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (probably my favorite food in the world!)  Here's how it goes:

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.

The first one said, "oh my it's getting late."

The second one said, "there are witches in the air."

The third one said, "but we don't care!"

The fourth one said, "let's run and run and run."

The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"

OOOhh OOOhh went the wind

And out went the lights

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Trick or Treat!

 Dorothy and the Wicked Witch have invaded our home this Halloween!  That little tiny wicked witch has so much fun chasing Dorothy around the house, trying to steal her little doggy out of her basket.  These two girls make the holidays the best.  They got to do some Trunk or Treating at the church, trick or treating at the Great Wolf Lodge, and then have one more night of neighborhood trick or treating!

Heading to the pumpkin patch is a Halloween activity must so we headed to the patch with the best activities: Tractor rides (big and small), corn maze, petting zoo, and hay maze.

More tractor rides! (of the swing variety)

Liz and Juju are SO into Hello Kitty right now that we couldn't resist these matching outfits!

Then, later that night was the pumpkin carving.  These girls are not afraid to get their hands dirty.  They loved cleaning out the pumpkin and carving them.

 Julie's, Mom's, Dave's, and Lizzie's

Julie and I had fun making these banana spiders for snack during our preschool time!

And then....we went to the pumpkin patch AGAIN with the preschool!

 The kittens were the favorite.

Julie came along for the ride with all the preschoolers which had both girls elated!  This is a part of the class that has a total of 15 kids.

Halloween Party 2013

Yes, I swore we would NOT do a Halloween party this year.  I am one month away from my due date, but somehow got roped into another party.  Well, take a look at this 1920's medieval style mansion and tell me if you could say no to planning and decorating for a big Halloween party in that bad boy. The place was already complete with dimming chandeliers in almost every room, statues, and antique paintings.  We had a great time preparing everything with friends: The Hjelms, Watsons, Pages, McGiffins,Van Woerkoms, and Mortensens. 

My belly says, "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS."  (Let's hope we open it sooner though.)  Santa Clause got me a great present this year!  Since baby will be making an appearance in Dec. and halting all normal activity, it was only fitting that we combine all our holidays and celebrate Christmas at the Halloween party too!

 I love seeing all the costumes people come up with.    The VW's had a great pregnancy costume too! The classic milk man scandal.

 This was the only room that my pictures turned out in...lost so many in all the other rooms due to the lighting and messing up my camera settings!  Oh well, at least I got some.

 Linda was so funny in her cave woman costume!!  I hardly recognized her!

 This was the dance floor pre-party.

 Celeste gave out the awards for best costumes and appetizer/desserts.

 Steve was pretty scary due to the fact he kept hiding in the dark and jumping out at people as they came in!

 These guys were the awesome music DJ's who had the room set up with "Scare-E-okee" and everything!

 We would have been partying out here too if it hadn't been so cold!

 Mitt Romney/Obama and cave woman made quite the pair.  If only the girls could have seen their Grammy and Papa!

 

 This costume won scariest award and she definitely deserved it!  Creepy! Any yes that's her real baby sticking out of her stomach.

 Spider rooms are my favorite.

Probably because I'm a huge arachnophobe!

 Love the depiction of the movie UP!  These guys were so nice to let everyone into the mansion for Halloween!

Another Halloween party...it was definitely a good one! Would have been better if I hadn't come down with a cold that night but that is my personal Halloween tradition (being sick every year).  Next year will really are taking a break and leaving our decorations all packed up....I promise!  ;)

Julie the Fashion Bug

It has taken me forever to post these pics from summer but it has to be done so we never forget this funny little stage she is in.  Lizzie has never cared much about her clothes, but the complete opposite is true with Juju.  She is our fashion bug.  First of all she refuses to wear pants-ever.  She loves dresses and skirts only!  Her clothes are very exciting to her and every summer morning the first eager question on her lips is, "Can I get dressed and wear my Hello Kitty Dress?  OR wear my Halula dress?"  If I somehow talk her into not wearing one of these so they can be washed she can often be found sneaking into the dirty clothes mid day and changing into it anyway.  It's a bit of a battle at times.  When I told her I wanted to take some pictures of her in her favorite dresses she was SO excited.  So here they are:

HELLO KITTY DRESS

"HALULA" DRESS

Julie is still wholly and completely in love with her favorite stuffed animal, Mimi.  Mimi is very much a part of all of our every day lives.  She usually plays the part of Julie's daughter or baby and is often getting into mischief.  Mimi is a bedtime pal MUST.  I dread the day we lose this stuffed animal.  It will surely be the end of the world as we know it.  Julie occasionally sucks on this cat's nose for comfort.  The other day she she brought her to me and I saw she had worn right through the fabric on the nose and some stuffing was coming out.  "Can you fix Mimi?" she asked, anxiously.  So of course I stitched her nose back up.  While doing so I commented, "almost done with the surgery!"  (not thinking she even knew that word).  Apparently Julie does know the word surgery somehow( despite the fact that no on in the family has had surgery in her lifetime) because she burst into tears and shrieked in grief for her poor Mimi.  "SURGERY??!!  POOR Mimi!" I quickly finished, though and she was good as new.  All is right in the world again.