Halloween

This past Saturday the girls went to Papa and Gogo's for a fall/costume party.  Madi chose to go as a ladybug and Taylor chose a pirate.  They had a fun night.  They went for dinner, played some games and even did a craft.

 On Sunday afternoon I decided to set up some carnival type games.  The girls had SO much fun.  We bobbed for apples (the kind of bobbing that did not soak the girls!)  Madi thought it was funny to chase around the apple but Taylor very quickly got mad because she couldnt do it!  Even Eric and I got in on the action- yeah, we couldnt catch our apples either!  (Madi thought she better dress up as a flapper for the day- gotta love after Halloween clearance to help fill their dress up box)

 We played a handful of other simple games, but the girls favorite was the toilet paper dress up! 

 Eric did a much better job of wrapping Taylor than I did on Madi.  The girls thought it was pretty funny to be able to wrap up Eric and I too.

After the games Eric helped the girls carve their pumpkin.  What a fun afternoon!

A little more updating

Both girls are in preschool this year (2 different schools).  They both go 2 days a week, but Madi's is a longer day.  They are both so happy and LOVE school!

 In September we went camping for the first time since Madi was a baby.  We just went to a local campground/lake. I used to go camping every summer with my family and after going this time I realized how much I missed it!  We had so much fun!
Hiking and looking for treasures.  I decided that I need to make little backpack totes for our camping trips next summer that they can carry their treasures in because my pockets got way too full!:

 Taylor walked around with the tin foil dinner she assembled for herself for about 20 min.  She was so excited to put it on the fire!  Can't you just see the excitement in her face!

 The next day we took the boat out on the lake and Taylor caught her first fish!  Doesnt she look thrilled about it? Ha!  We took it home planning to eat it along with the big one Eric caught, but when Taylor realized what Eric was going to do and didnt seem too excited about that idea Eric told her we could put it in our aquarium which was currently empty.  Its still alive almost 2 months later!  We love that Taylor caught us a pet and she is really proud of herself!!  The funny thing is is that she didnt even realize she caught a fish.  She was bopping her pole in the water, playing while Eric and Madi did some serious fishing! :)  After a while she said she was done and wasnt able to reel it in so Eric took her pole, started to reel it in and was like, Taylor you caught a fish!!  It was pretty funny!



Our Trip to CA- Finally!!

We did so many fun things while we were in CA.  My grandpa celebrated his 100th birthday this past July!  It was a wonderful celebration and so good to see everyone again.

 We spent a few days at my parents house doing lots of fun, relaxing things, just enjoying being together.  Then we headed to Disneyland with my family. 

 We also stopped for a great visit with my cousin and her family.  And even squeezed in a stop at the beach.  So glad we did!  It was a first for the girls and they LOVED it!

This was a super condensed (and late!) version of our trip, but we had a great time and the girls decided they wanted to live in CA so they can go to Disneyland everyday!

Tangled Party

My girls hadn't seen Tangled yet and so when they FINALLY got to we did it up big! :)  I came across some really fun craft and party ideas for Tangled on Disneys family fun site.  I decided we would do some of them when we got the movie and thought it would be more fun for the girls if we had their two girl cousins over to join the fun.

We started the afternoon by turning each girl into Rapunzel!  I made them each a Rapunzel braid and they decorated some beautiful crowns. 

We had a Rapunzel tower cake. 

 Of course we watched the movie.

Then we had a simple dinner.  I made a ham and cheese bread braid!  And served up some fruit and chips in frying pans. 
I thing it must have been a hit because on the way home the girls were busy planning the next princess party that Dee gets to host!  Get ready Dee! :)  And Madi has been wearing her braid almost non stop since the party!

The past few months

Here's a few highlights from our past couple months:

In May the girls scrubbed the streets before the Tulip Time parade in Pella with Papa, Gogo and some cousins.  Can you spot them?  They loved dressing up!

 A few weeks ago we headed over to Omaha for the weekend.  We went to the Henry Doorly Zoo.  It was such a nice zoo and we had a great day!

 It has been so warm here the past couple weeks. It has been wonderful!  We have been enjoying many days in the water. 

 Madison continues to catch and torture play with every frog she can get her hands on.  She discovered that if she put this little tree frog in the water it would kick it's little legs and swim to the nearest edge, including her!  What fun!  She must have made that poor frog swim at least 100 times!! :)

 In July we will be going to Disneyland with my family.  In preparation, I have been getting a lot of different Disney movies so the girls will actually recognize the characters and rides, other than the princesses, like Peter Pan and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Today we got Aristocats from the library.  After swimming we turned the girls into little kitties while they watched the kitty movie!  Of course they had to add a little bow like the one on the movie. 

Chicago Trip

Eric surprised us with a trip to Chicago last week.  It was such a fun little vacation!  It was really fun to be in a big city again and the girls were just awestruck by the tall buildings and loved staying on the 14th floor of our hotel.

We went to the Shedd Aquarium one day.

Scattered around the aquarium were fun "kid" things to do like this penguin habitat, a submarine to play in, a canoe to "fish" in.  The girls favorite thing was a Dora 4D movie experience.  A huge hit!

The next day we went to the Childrens Museum on Navy Pier.  Another hit!  We spent many, many hours there! :)  I was a little surprised at the stations that were their favorite.  They loved the fire truck, hose and pole.

Their other favorite was this 'construction site'.  Madi spent a good hour building this little chair with the help of daddy.  Look it even works!

And Taylor was more than content to sit and twist the screws in.  Although she didnt have a bolt on the other end so they never actually did anything, just around and around and around.  Every once in a while she would say, "Its almost done, Mommy!"  Ha Ha!  She was happy and didnt want ANY help!

Waitress Aprons

Madi loves to play waitress.  Whether it is upstairs at a tea party in her play kitchen or during dinner when she serves us all our plates, drinks, etc.  Eric loves this and uses her love of waitressing to turn her into his personal little slave to get him drinks and snacks! :) 

About a year and a half ago I had made the girls full aprons to wear while helping me in the kitchen.   But a waitress needs a cute little half apron, don't you think?  We hit up Wally Worlds clearance fabric and the girls each picked out some cute material.

Madi went with the super adorable, and pink!, strawberry material.  Such an apron classic right?  The darlingness of it just screamed for a dainty lace edge topped of with a cute little strawberry button on the pocket that I had left over from an apron I had made for myself back in home ec in highschool, which I still use today. 

 Taylor chose a more modern and bold print.  Love the colors!  (She picked it b/c she thought it had basketballs on it! Ha!)  So of course I had to go with more contemporary accents.  The pink ribbon at the bottom and a tiny fabric flower by the pocket.  (oops, didnt realize I cut the pocket sideways until I saw this picture on the computer)

 Here's a close up of the fabric flower:

I had so much fun making these little aprons.  I loved that they were both so different.  And the price couldnt have been better!  $.75 for Madi's and $1 for Taylors!  WooHoo!