Anna's Ladybug Birthday

Anna had a wonderful party this year. The cake was quite the effort, well not so much the cake, more the tinting of the frosting. So instead of a nice deep red ladybug, we had a flamming flouresant pink one. And believe me, that icing had it's fair share of food coloring...

Me and My Girls

Everyday I feel so blessed to have such wonderful children. They are a light to me in my most difficult times. This past week I burned my hand pretty badly on the curling iron (long story, I blame it on pregnant mushy brains) the minute I screamed (and boy did I scream) Anna came running in saying, "mommy, mommy are you ok?" I'm sure everyone expecting to see me severely maimed (which my hand kind of was). But Anna was just the sweetest. She said, "don't worry mom, i will get you a band aid." And brought me all her favorite toys and stroked my face as I lay on Brandon's shoulder and just cried.

Katelyn is incredible as well. This past week was parent/teacher conferences and Katelyn took me around to all her teachers. Her music teacher said if the school was full of student like Katelyn she would be the world's happiest teacher. Katelyn has a talent for obedience, she always has and I'm sure always will.

Funny things they do/say that I am grateful for as well...

After I burned my hand I commented to Brandon that it hurt so bad that I just wanted to cut it off, immediately Anna said, "Mommy! Don't cut off your hand!" She was so worried that I really would. Later that day we were driving to the mall for trick or treating and we saw an SUV with one of those plastic feet hanging out the back and fake blood all over it (gross yes!) and Anna said, "Mommy I want that for our car." When I explained that we didn't have anything like that and probably never would Anna wanted to know if it would be okay to just use her leg. Uh...NO! but we had a good laugh anyways.

Anna is always telling everyone, "my mommy is really sick b/c she has a baby in her tummy." And Katelyn is still telling everyone, "they think it's a girl, but they aren't positive" with an emphasis on them not being positive.

I also have to say how grateful I am for Brandon. He is such a hard worker. This past year he won an award for being BUSINESS PARTNER OF THE YEAR. I think he should also win in the following categories: FATHER OF THE YEAR and HUSBAND OF THE YEAR. Since I've started in on this pregnancy things have been really rough. I haven't felt good the majority of the time so things in the house have really slid off balance. Brandon has never complained about no dinner, no clean socks or ironed shirts. He has taken the girls to all the fun places I usually love to take them to and has even gotten them excited about fishing. And taking Anna fishing deserves an award itself. He has also been extremely tolerant of my rantings, emotional outbursts and downright rudeness. I'm sure he is thinking, "where is my wife and when will she return?" Anyways, not to carry on too much but he is WONDERFUL!!

Trick or Treating at the mall

Anna opted for the cheerleader look @ the mall trick or treating. We had a great time and the girls collected way more candy then they'll ever need.

Katelyn's Halloween Party

Katelyn had been begging me for over a month to have a halloween party. I just haven't been feeling particularly well so I didn't want to commit to something I couldn't follow through with. I was giving her the wonderful answer of "we'll see." A great out for any mom. Well the week of Halloween Katelyn was out of school (I'm sure it was planned so they didn't have to face the NO PARTY rule at school--see my fall festival post) so we decided to have a few friends over for a party. We ended up with 4 girls plus my 2. We had borrowed a little bounce house and set it up in the backyard. It was a really fun afternoon. We decorated cupcakes, played pin the nose on the pumpkin and just had a great time. I think it will become a tradition.

Our Annual Playgroup Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We were so excited to visit the pumpkin patch this year for the following reasons
1. It wasn't 98 degrees outside, it was actually a quite nippy 58
2. Us parents weren't having to force or bribe our children to wear their long sleeved Hallween shirts in the blaring sun
3. We actually didn't melt or have to find an ice cream shop after we were done
4. Hay Maze
5. "Hay"tona Parkway on tricycles...
I can't wait for next year!!!

The Girls always love to feed the animals

Anna and her best friend

The "Hay"tona Parkway

Katelyn was so fast she was lapping Anna and Anna wasn't too pleasant about it.

Fall Festival

I love Halloween!!!!

I'm not sure if all school districts are similar in the "no holidays" thing. It really drives me nuts to a degree. I feel badly that Katelyn will never come home with holiday centered crafts, or be able to have halloween, christmas, easter, or even valentines partys. I'm sure it differs from school to school and teacher to teacher.

This year her school celebrated by having a "fall festival" It was a great activity, only it was so funny b/c everything was basically "Halloween" themed, they just renamed it.

Katelyn went as a witch and Anna as a ladybuy. It was a blast!!!

Fun with Lizards

A few days ago Anna and I were outside cleaning out the baby stroller and we found a friend living inside the stroller. It was this cute little baby lizard. We caught it and had a wonderful time letting it crawl all over us.

This was also Anna's 3rd birthday, so she felt like she got quite the prize.

I will post pictures of her Ladybug Party soon.