Halloween!

So, this year I was no longer aloud to pick the girls costumes, they knew months in advance who they wanted to be. Luckily, I approved of their choices and I have to say they were the cutest Sleeping Beauty and Snow White around. It also worked out nicely that they chose princesses so they can take their new dress-ups with them to Disney World and we won't have to buy more. The girls were excited to have Noni and Papa (Regan's mom and dad) here to celebrate Daddy's Birthday and Halloween with them. They were also happy cousin Braden could do some trick or treating with them. On a side note, Happy Birthday to Regan on the 30th, he always gets overshadowed by Halloween, especially now that we have kids. I told him sorry, but don't blame me blame his parents for poor planning (ha! ha!). Anyway, here are some of my favorite Halloween pics.

We also started a new tradition with my family this year of doing a cousin halloween party the weekend before Halloween. It was getting too hard to try and get together on actual Halloween, so we decided to start doing a fun party where the kids can show off their costumes and we can get pictures without all the other craziness of Halloween. This year we did it the Friday before Halloween, unfortunately Kent and Jamie's kids came down with crupe so they were unable to come and with Carl and Amy in California it ended up just being us and my sister's family at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the party. Nonetheless, the kids had a lot of fun and we were able to get some cute pictures of all the kids.

London liked Gradma's costume so she borrowed it to be the Sleeping Beauty Witch.

Pumpkin Patch

The Monday before Halloween I was able to get together with my high school friends for dinner, it was a lot of fun to catch up with everyone and have a night out. While I was out, Daddy took the girls to a small Pumpkin Patch by our house and out for ice cream at Artic Circle. The girls had a lot of fun on their "date" with dad. They were also very proud of the BIG pumpkin they picked out. Don't worry Halloween pictures are coming shortly.

A Day at the Farm!

On Thursday the girls and I went to lunch and to the Thanksgiving Point Farm with one of our new neighbors, Jocelyn and her little girls Ani and baby Maicy. The girls had a lot of fun together. The girls have already made quite a few friends in our new neighborhood and Ani is one of their favorites, her and London are only a few weeks apart in age.

Visit with Papa and Noni!

We went and visited Regan's parents in Indiana at the end of September. The girls had a lot of fun with their Noni and Papa, we wish we could see more of them. It was also fun to see Uncle Ryan, Aunt Heather, Taylor and "Parker Boy", we can't wait to spend more time with them at Disney World. Unfortunately, I didn't get very many pictures because it was such a busy trip, but here are a few.

Since, we got in the car accident the week before we left, Regan's parents were nice enough to set up a massage appointment for Barb and I. While we did that Regan and Papa took the girls to a nearby shopping center to play on some toys. They had a lot of fun.

Another highlight of the trip for the girls was taking bathtubs in "Noni's big tub". I tried to pick a very G rated picture, plus I love London's face in this picture.


London has become quite the photographer and you have to watch out because if she gets a hold of the camera, she knows how to use it. Here is a great shot of Papa that London took.

Noni and Kennedy having snuggle time. Thanks to Papa and Noni for a great trip! The girls can't wait to see you at Halloween!

Regan's Ten Year Reunion

A couple of weeks ago we went to Indiana to visit Regan's parents and were able to go to Regan's 10 year high school reunion in Ohio. Here are some pictures. Justin, this is for you, you made the blog! Let me tell you, it was fun to catch up with Regan's high school friends, but it was everything you would think a reunion would be. . . karoke and all.

Happy Birthday Kennedy!

Our baby turned two on September 14th, it has been so fun to watch how much she has grown up the past few months, but also sad as a mom that she is not my baby anymore. Unfortunately, with getting in the car accident the day before her birthday it wasn't quite as exciting as we had planned, but we tried to still make it fun.

Regan and I gave her a Barbie ATV for her birthday. She is so excited to be able to keep up with London in her jeep. They follow each other around and it is so cute, but as you can see from the picture of Kennedy on the grass, she hasn't got the hang of steering yet.



We took the girls to T.G.I.F. Fridays for dinner. Kennedy was a little weirded out by the strangers singing to her, but the ice cream sundae was a hit. Kennedy shared with London and I think more ended up on their faces then they actually ate.

For those of you who know Kennedy, you know how much she LOVES Barbie. So, when I heard they were doing a sneak peek of the new Barbie movie at the zoo where kids could meet "Barbie" the day after her birthday we had to go. She wore her Island Princess nightgown that Noni and Papa sent her for her birthday and thought she was very special. Then we spent the day wondering the zoo and riding the train.

On Sunday we had a princess party with family and one of her little friends. We did a princess pinata and the kids had a blast trying to break it. However, after giving all the kids multiple trys we had to let the adults at it. Uncle Kent was the hero when he finally broke it. Here are some pitures of the girls taking a swing.

After presents and the pinata it was time for cake. The fingers go straight in the cake and then to her mouth, then she looks up to see if she is in trouble, but is all smiles when she realizes it's my party and I can get away with anything. Happy Birthday to our BIG GIRL!

I

Car Accident!

Thursday Night I was coming home from picking some things up at a friends house with the kids and was rearended. I was about a mile from my house and I started to slow down for a red light at an intersection and some guy behind me slammed into the back of me going about 45 mph. He then swirved to the left and hit a truck that was stopped in the turn lane. Of course, he was uninsured & driving on a suspended license, he claims his brakes went out, but witnesses told cops he was on his cell phone and he had his music blaring and wasn't paying attention. Plus, the cops said there were skid marks like he tried to stop last minute and nothing appeared to be wrong with his brakes. So, luckily we have uninsured motorist coverage on our insurance that will pay for the damages, we just have to pay our deductible. But, I just have to say I HATE STUPID PEOPLE! My only consolation is that he was then handcuffed and sent to jail because apparently he had $40,000.00 in outstanding warrants. Ironically, the other lady that he hit husband's a cop. LUCKILY, the girls seem to be fine except for being a little shaken up and London is very concerned that "our car is broken", although when dad brought home the rental (a suburban) today after taking our car into the body shop they were excited that we got a "new car" they may be disappointed when ours comes back. I didn't fair quite as well as the girls and seem to have a very bad case of whiplash, but I went to the hospital and there doesn't appear to be any major damage. For now I'm just very sore and stiff and can hardly move my neck. Hopefully, in a few days I will be back to normal with a little help from 800 mg IBProfin. I'm just so grateful that it wasn't worse, especially considering the circumstances. Here are some pictures of the cars. The piece of crap jeep of course was his, the Pilot is ours and the truck is the other ladies that he hit.

Kennedy's First Day of Ballet!

Anyone who knows Kennedy very well, knows that there is nothing she loves more than to dance (well, that and Barbie but I thinking the love of dance came from watching the Barbie movies). London took dance this summer with one of her friends and everytime I drove them, Kennedy would cry the whole way home from dropping them off, stand at the garage door and cry and cry the whole way back saying, "me go too, me go too. . .". So, when our neighbor opened a dance studio in her basement and told me she was doing a 2 year old class, I knew I had to enroll Kennedy. So, last Thursday was her first class. It is a ballet/tap class and for weeks Kennedy has been talking about going to Ballet. We bought her shoes and she has been wearing them around the house "practicing". When the day arrived she was so excited and looked so cute in her outfit. Her are some of the cute pictures from the day.

London's First Day of Preschool!

London has been anxiously awaiting starting preschool for weeks. She received a letter and activity in the mail from her teacher a couple weeks ago and has asked everyday since then, "this day do I go to school?" So, finally last Monday I was able to tell her tomorrow you start school. That was a MISTAKE! I remember when I was a kid I could never sleep the night before school however, I didn't think that would be the case with a preschooler. I shouldn't have been shocked since London will use anything to get out of sleeping, but that night was a nightmare to get her to sleep. We have slowly been making progress with her and her sleeping, but I still sit outside her door until she falls asleep which then lasts until sometime in the middle of the night when she quietly sneeks in our room without waking us up and lays on the floor, she has learned not to wake us up since we send her back to her room (we still have a long way to go but for now I'm just so grateful that I am no longer getting up with her multiple times during the night). Anyway, so I was sitting outside her door waiting for her to fall asleep and all she could do was talk about preschool and what she was going to learn and "what is my teacher's name again?" and "who is going to my school with me?" and "is sissy coming with me?" at which I replied "no, she is too little" and she assured me it would be okay to send Kennedy because she would, "look after her". So, finally after about two hours of questions (the last hour of which I ignored) she finally went to sleep, only to wake up multiple times in the night each time with a new question about school. Midnight: "Are you staying at school with me?" 2:00 am: "Who's taking me to preschool?" 4:00 am: "Is it time for school?" (anyway, you get the picture).




Once she was in bed I was the typical first time school mom, I picked out a cute little sun dress and made sure it was washed and ironed and set all her clothes out. So, I wake her up (she is not an early riser especially after the restless night she had) and inform her it is time to get ready for school. I have daddy get her breakfast with cereal and toast and juice so she won't get hungry while at school. Then, it is time to get dressed. I tell her I set her clothes out in her room and to go get dressed. She goes to her room and comes back with a disgusted look on her face and says, "That's not what I'm wearing to school, I want to wear my brown polkadot dress". After trying to convince her that the dress I picked out was much nicer I finally caved and went to her closet and pulled out a brown dress she has with little dots on it. She says, "No, not that one, my new school one with the blue and brown dots on it, come her and I'll show you". So, she takes me to her closet and points out a new outfit that I had bought her back in July for fall, it is really cute, but not quite in season. I tell this story so you know that I do not try to abuse my child by sending her to school during 90 degree weather in long sleeves, but those of you who are moms just know that sometimes it is not worth the fight. There was no convincing her that she would be too hot or that she could wear that next week, she had decided probably weeks ago that that was what she was wearing for her first day of school and no one was going to convince her otherwise.




So, finally after all of that, it was time for school. Daddy, mommy and Kennedy all took her and dropped her off. She didn't even look back. It was a hard day for me to see my little girl looking so grown up and Kennedy missed her and kept asking, "where's nondon?", but overall we are just so proud of what a big girl she is.

Luckily, the next day I did convince her to wear the cute dress I had picked out. However, being the observer she is she said she needed a jacket because some of the kids at school took jackets (probably kids whose parents dress them appropriately for the weather). She said, "there is one big girl in my class who could do her zipper on her jacket all by herself so I think I can do mine too". So, I gave her a cute pink jacket to put over her dress, but it never did get zipped (maybe she'll ask the other girl for some tips). I guess that's the hard thing about being one of the youngest in your class. Let the peer pressure begin!

The Things Kids Say!

So, quick post to tell a funny London story. So the other morning London wakes up, comes in our room (amazing she wasn't already in our room sleeping on the floor) and climbs in bed with me. I, of course, am barely conscious and roll over to try and get a few more minutes of sleep and Regan is getting ready for work. London shakes me with her hand and says, "Mommy, I have a hole in my bum" Regan of course being the third child in our home starts laughing hysterically and replies, "don't we all". I sit up ready to give my daughter an anatomy lesson and she has her finger sticking out of a whole in the bum or her pajamas. The things kids say!

I am having mommy anxiety because London starts school tomorrow! I will post the dorky first day of school photos shortly.