Halloween Time!!!

I know, it has been a long time since Halloween, but we have been really busy and honestly, I thought I had already blogged about it. Guess not!! So... time to catch up!!

Madison chose to be Barbie Mariposa this year. She loved the outfit and we already had the book for the school's book parade. We made the flower headband and she was set. This is a picture before she went outside into the horrible wind for the parade.

Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Scott, during the parade. It was really windy and pretty chilly, but she had so much fun!!

After the parade the class party started. Here she is at her desk ready to chow down on some yummy treats.

After the treats were gone, they decorated a Halloween bag and played some fun games. I enjoyed just hanging back and watching for a change, which was very nice!!

Lily wanted to be a ballerina this year. Certainly not an elaborate costume, but very cheap and since she is taking ballet, it can double as an costume for that as well. Here she is before her parade at Prince of Peace.

A quick shot during the parade around the gym.

After they parade around the gym they all gather in the middle and sing all kinds of Halloween songs that they have learned. They are really cute and Lily loves the music!!

Once the music was over, it was time to attempt a class picture. That was interesting, but I think we got most of the class half-way looking at the camera.

It ended up Halloween day and we still hadn't carved our pumpkins. So, we opted to just carve one. Don and the girls headed that up and I just snapped pictures. I love the look on Lily's face!!

They sure look like they are having a lot of fun!! (And don't ask me why they are both wearing tank tops on such a chilly day and sitting on my kitchen table too! I have no idea!! Apparently it seemed okay at the time.)

Here is a shot of Don helping carve the pumpkin after it was clean. He may look a little funny - he was attempting to be Larry the Cable Guy, but I don't think you could really tell. =)

Here is the finished pumpkin all lit up that night. They really did do a great job since it was so quick and now I get to save the other pumpkins as decoration until Thanksgiving!!

After carving the pumpkin, we quickly got changed and fixed the girls hair. I LOVE this picture, I just wish it was a little brighter. They really do love each other, even if I don't see it all the time!

Taegan wasn't in the best of moods when we were preparing for trick-or-treating. So, here is a picture of him once we got to a friend's house and we were ready to begin. He really got into then!! He looks like Bob the Builder, but it was really just a costume Gymboree was selling. It wasn't anything I was out looking for, but we couldn't find anything else I liked and once I saw it on him, he looked so cute! But, as I told Don, I think you could put a paper sack on him and he would look adorable!!

Here is the big group shot before the madness began. What a bunch!!!

We all went trick-or-treating around Sherwood Park for a while. The kids didn't walk door to door. They RAN!!! They didn't even take the time to go on the sidewalks. Nope. They just ran through the grass to the next door. You would think we never let any of them have a single piece of candy!

It was really cold, but they all made it through. Here is a shot mid-way through. They look so cute!

Once we got back home, Don wrangled Jack into a dog Superman costume and we attempted to get a picture of the kids and him. Not an easy task!! Here is one of the pictures. Not the best of Jack, but a better one of my kids (and really who is more important)!! Don then took the kids and Jack around some of our neighborhood. Apparently our "Superdog" was a big hit!

We had a great Halloween and I hope you did too!! I can't believe we are so close to Thanksgiving!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!!

Lily's preschool recently took a field trip to Gary's Pumpkins. Lily was SO excited for her first field trip! It was the perfect day for it and we had so much fun!! Once we were there we got to ride on a "train" according to Taegan (by far his favorite part) out to the pumpkin patch so they could choose their pumpkins. They both found ones that had really long stems that they liked. (Since then both of the pumpkins have lost their stems - long story.) Here are Lily and Taegan after "picking" their pumpkins. I tried and tried to get a picture where they are both looking at me, apparently that's not going to happen.

I finally get Taegan to look at me and Lily looks away! Oh well...

Before snack time we stopped to get a big group picture. Here they all are.

Lily's best friend at preschool is a little girl named Riley. Lily talks about her all the time and draws pictures for her too. I'm so glad she is making new friends. Here they are playing together.

Lily is trying to see how tall she is this fall.

After snack we had time to go play at their playground. Lily wanted nothing to do with the big slides, but opted to just swing instead. (She's not my dare-devil.)

Taegan LOVED the playground and especially loved the bridge and smaller slide. I bet he ran across the bridge 30 times while we were there!

Lily pretending to be a scarecrow. How cute!

One final picture by the pumpkins. I'm so glad she is going to such a great preschool where they get to go on all these fun trips and experience so much! Happy Fall!!!

8 is GREAT!!

Wow! I can't believe my little girl is already 8!! And boy does it seem like she has grown up quickly (especially in the last few months!)!! We started celebrating the weekend before her birthday so all our family could be there. On Friday night we met Nana and Grandma at the mall and went to Justice. If you haven't ever been into Justice, it is pretty crazy, and in the words of my husband, your little girls become teenagers just walking into that store! Madison had the time of her life! We went around the store picking out all kinds of clothes to try on and then had a mini-fashion show to decide what we were going to purchase. Papa and Nana and Grandpa and Grandma went together and bought her a ton of new Justice clothes!! On Saturday night we had everyone over to our house to eat cake and open her other gifts. Here she is waiting to blow out her candles. I love this picture, you can tell how much fun she was having!!

She received a lot of clothes and plenty of money to buy more! This is a picture of her opening one of her cards and finding some money. She couldn't be happier!!

Her brother loved playing with her musical cards and obviously was just cracking up at them!!

Aunt Tiya took the tissue paper and constructed a new "dress" for Madison.

Great-Grandma was able to come and help celebrate. What a cute picture of her and 3 of her great-grandchildren! (Don't ask me what the crazy look is on Taegan's face. We just asked him to smile!)

On her actual birthday we had 8 girls come over for pizza and a sleepover. Madison wanted an 80's sleepover party. Here she is all dressed up with her sunglasses and gloves before the party!

And here is her father... He had to go all out in the 80's gear too. (This is why I went to Cici's to get the pizza!)

After dinner, we had a fashion show. All the girls' parents were such great sports with the 80's clothing request. They went all out and it was a lot of fun! I was the photographer... I hope you're ready!!

The birthday girl, Madison!

Ashlyn!

KayLynn!

Kayden!

Karley!

Jillian!

Alyson!

Emily!

Amanda!

Our group shot!!

Madison ready to blow out the candles!

Cake time!

Madison had so much fun! (Don and I were a little tired, but so happy she had a great birthday.) I still can't believe how fast time flies. It doesn't seem possible that Madison should be 8. I wish time would slow down sometimes. I'm afraid if I blink all my babies will be gone. Happy Birthday to my first baby, Madison!! Mommy loves you more than you will ever know!!!

Lily's 1st Day of Preschool!!!

Lily was so excited to start preschool! She couldn't wait to get ready and have her picture taken in the same places we always take Madison's 1st day of school pics. She is more than ready for preschool too. We planned on her going last year, but some unexpected car issues that led to us having to purchase a new car for Don pushed back her start. I know she is ready, but are Mommy and Daddy ready for her to move on to this new phase in her life? NO!!! I can't believe my baby girl is 5 and starting preschool. Time really does fly by way too fast! But it doesn't matter, ready or not, she is off to preschool...

Here she is on her first day ~ all smiles!

Out in front of our "first day of school tree".

A picture of her cute backpack she picked out. (It is a kitty cat.)

Of course, Taegan had to get in on some of the pictures.

We took all these same pictures of Madison on her first day and Lily remembered them. We had to take a picture by this sign and the Prince of Peace sign.

Again Taegan had to be in a picture with his big sister!

Here she is posing on the Prince of Peace sign. So cute and so grown up!!

After they opened the doors to her classroom, I walked in with her and she hung up her backpack and then we walked over to the table with her nametag on it. She got hers and then posed for this final picture before I left. She was SO happy and SO excited and it all shows in this picture. She is so cute and that smile just melts my heart! When I was walking away, she turned and started helping some other kids find their nametag - always so caring and helpful. That's my Lily!!!