Halloween Party at the Rec Center

After Sophia's Halloween show I took Lilly to the rec center for a Halloween party. I took Sophia to this party when she was two and three. It took Lilly a little while to warm up to the crowd of kids, but eventually she went on the slide and then she went on the slide again and again and again. She was really having fun. We eventually moved on to other games and she asked me to get her face painted a little too late. We were next in line when the director announced that it was time to begin the craft.

The craft was fun for the moms. Lilly sat there and watched me tie two tissues around a Tootsie pop to create a ghost. Then I drew two eyes and a nose.

Lilly really liked interlocking these puzzle pieces together and then jumping on them. She also got a kick out of her first Sit and Spin ride. Take a look at the rest of the pictures.

Sophia's school Halloween program was on Friday. Here she is standing with Adrianna, her friend from last year.

Sophia was dressed up in her Dorothy costume ...and she was the best Dorothy there. There was at least one other. (There was also a Raggedy Ann costume, but Lilly's blew that one away.)

Will ended up being a little bit late so he missed her class doing their 3 songs, but he was there in time for the group finale where they sang The Safety Song:

Orange/Halloween pictures

I've been desperately trying to get a good picture of the girls wearing orange this Halloween for a frame that I have. Each year so far I have a great one of the girls and, of course, want one for 2010. Here's all the photos I've taken so far. This is the one that I ended up putting in the frame. I will have several more opportunities to take photos since Halloween isn't until Sunday, but I wanted to share before the holiday.

Here's the other ones I took.

Lilly's Halloween Party @ School

Lilly had a fall festival at school yesterday. Since I'm on the parent/teacher committee I was in charge of 85 pumpkins, hay bales and corn stalks. Not to toot my own horn, but I have to admit that the decorations did look great. (smile)

Here's a picture of Lilly with one of her teachers, Ms. Brenda. I didn't see her other teacher, Ms. Tina, or I would have asked for a picture of her too.

Lilly really had fun playing some games, picking out a pumpkin (I think she picked the one with the biggest stem) and getting a pumpkin painted on her face.

There are a few more pictures to view. Click here.

Halloween Party @ My Gym

Last night we went to a Halloween costume party at My Gym. We met Haley & Carlie and Cameron & Trip (all kids) there. Afterward we went to Haley and Carlie's house for pizza and cupcakes.

As you can see, the girls are dressing up as Dorothy and Raggedy Ann. Lilly doesn't like to wear her wig, but everyone says she looks like Raggedy Ann without it because of her red hair. I disagree...I think the wig makes the costume.

The girls had a ton of fun in the ball pit and on the trampoline. Sophia played all the games they offered and Lilly hung out with Will in the background. It might have been a little overwhelming for her because she only had an hour nap instead of her normal 2 hour nap.

There are more photos...but they are mostly action shots of the girls. Take a look.

Here are a few movies that I took of Lilly tonight while Sophia was at soccer practice with Will. As you can see, Lilly has marker all over her mouth. She thinks it's lipstick.

In this video she is doing the Hokey Pokey.



In this video she is making animal sounds (and then I have no idea what she sings, followed by Pat-a-cake and Row Row Row Your Boat).



In this video she is singing/reciting all of the nursery rhymes in her new favorite book. They include: Humpty Dumpty, Pat-a-cake, Row Row Row your boat, Hickory dickory dock, This little piggy, Itsy bitsy spider, Ba ba black sheep, Jack and jill, Little Miss Muffet, Little Bo Peep and Polly put the kettle on.

Sibling picture day

Lilly got her school picture taken yesterday. She looked so darn cute when I dropped her off and I can't wait to see the photos. We practiced how she would smile at the camera and she showed me her pearly whites each and every time. When I picked her up after school her teacher, Ms. Brenda, told me she was a bit difficult and didn't want to smile for the camera. This doesn't surprise me at all because lately she's been pretty camera shy.

And today was no different! The school offered the chance to do pictures with a sibling. I dressed both girls in coordinating outfits and we headed to our 9:15 appointment. Well, Lilly absolutely refused to let me put her down to get her picture taken. She was screaming bloody murder every single time I attempted to place her next to Sophia. Even though Lilly didn't cooperate, the photographer still took a few pictures of Sophia (and her toy cat).

Even when we got home, Lilly still refused to have a nice picture taken of her. I tried. Oh, how hard I tried! Take a look....but notice that Sophia was also being pretty difficult too.

Christina's visit

Christina came to visit us for a few days. She came in on last Wednesday and stayed through Sunday. We had a great time. It was like a mini-vacation for me too. We ordered pizza the first night. We went to a bounce house (see pictures) on Thursday for a few hours with Haley and Carlie. On Friday I hired a sitter and we went wedding dress shopping. Christina looked absolutely gorgeous in a few of the dresses. If I were her, I might have a hard time deciding on which one is the "most" perfect. We took pictures, but since Dear Uncle Rob is a follower of my blog I won't post them. (smile)

On Saturday Sophia had a soccer game. Of course, we were all dreading it because she usually doesn't play and sits on the sidelines crying. This game was different! Maybe it was because Christina was there or maybe it was because I was allowed to go out onto the field with her and play. You should have seen me running up and down the field holding her hand. She had some contact with the ball too. She got in there and kicked it a few times. I was so proud of her...and so was she.

On Saturday night we had our semi-annual neighborhood block party. We all attended, but it got cold pretty early so Christina and I headed back with the girls and called it a night. Of course, we stayed up talking until I fell asleep mid conversation. Sorry, Christina!

She had to leave on Sunday to get back to Northern VA to prepare for the new job that she was starting on Monday. When she left Sophia said I MISS AUNT CHRISTINA.

Silly girls

The girls were playing "Go down to the Bay" the other day so I just had to take their picture. They had a large blanket spread out on the floor and were pretending it was their boat. Cute.

More pictures from the wedding

Here are more photos from the wedding. Will's Uncle Rick took them.

Lilly likes to read

I found Lilly in her room the other day just babbling away, reading a book to herself. She loves to get cozy in her bean bag chair and look through books.

A fun-filled weekend for all!

Where should I start? Over the weekend Will and I went to his cousin's wedding in Texas and the girls stayed home with Nana and Poppy. Nana and Poppy arrived on Friday afternoon so Will and I actually got to see them. Our flight out was at 6 am on Saturday and our flight back into town arrived at 11:30 pm on Monday and they left at 4:30 on Tuesday morning so our paths didn't cross on the back-end of the trip. The girls had an absolute blast with them... you can tell by looking at the pictures.

They went to a fall festival on Saturday and went to a pumpkin farm on Sunday. The pumpkin farm has lots of activities. A petting zoo, bounce houses, amusement rides, pony rides, and much more. Sophia wouldn't go on the Ferris wheel this year even though she did last year. Nana said she spent most of her time in the bounce houses.

Will and I had a great time sans kids at the Lakeway Resort. It was a beautiful place and provided the perfect backdrop for an elegant wedding. We arrived in Texas on Saturday morning and left on Monday afternoon enjoying gorgeous weather the entire weekend.

In between we went to a rehearsal dinner, had lunch out with family, spent time at the outdoor pool, attended a wedding, and ate a breakfast brunch. Again, the pictures can tell the story better than I can.

Sophia at dance class

The last dance class of the month is open for moms to watch. Since Lilly is enrolled in a Mom and Me dance class, I missed the ballet part (which they did for the first half hour). When I joined them, ballet was wrapping up and the tapping was about to begin. My friend told me that during the ballet part Sophia turned around and announced that she was bored.

Just wait until you watch these two videos of Sophia in tap class. She's having an absolute blast. You have to watch the second one all the way through even though you might think it's a little long. The ending is worth it. On the way home she told me she loves tap class. So maybe ballet isn't her thing.

more pictures

Pictures from the Neptune Festival last weekend. Click here to see them.

Painting vanities

I found two really cute small jewelry box vanities on sale at Michaels. They each came with paint, stensils, a brush and a couple of stamps so the girls set up camp at the kitchen table and got busy painting. Incidentally, I found several crafts at Michaels for the girls thinking they would last me a two days. Well they ripped through them at the speed of light in one morning.

(With Will being out of town all week I was trying to come up with something a little different than playing Cat. When we play Cat, Sophia is the cat and I am the lady who doesn't know she has a cat! (Sometimes I have to pretend to call my husband and ask him if we can keep the cat. Other times I have to give the kitty a bowl of milk. And we play the same thing over and over and over and over.)

Back to the vanities. Sophia took her time and methodically painted hers all different colors. Lilly quickly blurred a few colors together on hers and then turned to painting something way more exciting (busted!).

There are a few more pictures. Click to see them.