Halloween Fun Part 2

So Thursday I switched the costumes up a bit. Gianna went as Tinkerbell (um, its an 18 month size, used for the 3rd consecutive year!) and Elia went as a Giants Fan. They were dressed up for Elia's pta playgroup. There were quite a few naysayers, as the Rangers were slaughtered by the Giants the night before. (11-6?) But we still had a good time.

Giants Fan. Mid- teething tantrum.

Tinkerbell. Sweet new sparkly shoes.

Friday was Gianna's last cooking class. Gianna was a cat this time, and I think she looked just adorable. She actually sat there and let me draw on her face unlike squirmy Elia.

And of course Fiday came to a close with pumpkin carving time.

Can't wait for Halloween night!

Halloween Fun Part 1

I know I have said it before, but I just love Halloween! This has been a great week. (Well minus the whole 2 nights in a row scream-fest from Elia-that has been no fun. I checked her mouth this morning and not only does she have 2 molars coming in, but also a tooth on the other side coming in- its like the perfect storm of teething!) On Tuesday, Gianna had her little preschool playdate. Jo Shabo was the teacher, and she blogged about their little date. She didn't talk about this, but one thing I thought was SO cute- orange jack-o-lanterns! Literally, they made an orange look like a jack-o-lantern, hollowed it out, and drank juice out of it. We brought it home and drank out of it for the rest of the day. Gianna loved it.

Then on Wednesday, we had my church's playgroup Halloween party. All the kiddos came dressed in their Halloween costumes. Elia was a cat, and Gianna was a witch. We listened to Halloween stories, did a pumpkin craft, and played pin the tail on the cat. We still have 4 more days until the actual holiday, so there is definitely more fun to come!

Journals

A few weeks ago I purchased a small notebook for myself. I planned to write my to-do lists, addresses of places I need to go, meal plans, shopping lists, etc. Before I bought this little book I was writing everything down on a long pad of paper, ripping it off and tossing it in the trash whenever I was going through one of my de-cluttering frenzies. Well, for whatever reason, it was just the coolest thing ever for Gianna and Elia. Elia liked to turn the pages and take the pen in and out of the spiral. Gianna liked to draw in it and look at my lists and ask me about them. It was sort of turning into their little notebook.

To remedy this, I bought each of them a little notebook at the dollar store, and I swear it is like Christmas come early! Gianna takes it with her EVERYWHERE (I make her leave it in the car). She just loves to doodle and draw in it. Last night she started making a letter for Aunt Jenny.

Elia likes hers as well. She doodles a little bit but still likes to do the whole pen-in-and-out-of-the-spiral thing. Gianna has already asked if she can bring it to school next week. I'm thinking it will fit perfectly in their backpacks for church this weekend.

Its nice to have my notebook all to myself now!

Worst Night Ever

I am writing this at 5am which is pretty dang early for this SAHM. The girls usually wake up between 6-7am. Elia decided to wake us up, SCREAMING, at 3am this morning. I tried to bring her into bed with us, but she just screamed some more and banged her head against the wall a few times. So then we let her get on the floor and she walked into the kitchen and right up to her high chair. Once we put her in it, she screamed some more. We tried different foods- bananas, yogurt, her favorite- marshmallows. More screams, and then she was sticking her fingers in her mouth while rocking back and forth and trying to throw herself out of her chair. I tried to give her some Tylenol, she refused it. Mixed it with juice and gave it to her ina sippy. Refused it. Chris put some Orajel on her gums- he felt 2 molars coming in. At the same time, oh JOY! We put Nemo on. Small distraction, but not enough. She has been crying off and on since then. If I try to comfort her- rub her back, hold her, even talk or whisper to her, it makes things worse. I turned off Nemo, put on Clifford, and that helped a little more. As I was checking fb and my blogs, I came across this and played it. Not sure if it is a coincidence, but I think she is finally passed out on the couch. Now I am wide awake. I am going to crash and burn by 8am. Its gonna be a great day...

This is what she looks like when she cries. SO sad!

Ridiculous

Our neighborhood is crazy about Halloween. The girls love to walk around our block and look at any Halloween decorations up. This house is particularly ridiculous:

You can't really tell from the pics, but they put clotheslines up everywhere and then hung up dozens of bats and spiders. There is a whole graveyard, its just too much!

So we spent 2 hours at the park today and the girls were playing nicely together, so I snapped a few. I love that we finally have bearable weather!!

It was sooooo windy!

The Dallas Arboretum

This morning I met a friend at the Arboretum, and we had a blast! Gianna got her face painted, but Elia freaked out when we tried to get her to do it. We spent the rest of the morning picnic-ing and walking around to see all the fun exhibits. Such a fun day!

Play Room Mini-Makeover

I feel like I am nesting knowing that I am going back to work in a few months. I have reorganized the playroom and added a few things as well. I got a lot of our pictures developed and hung them around the house. I haven't put up pictures since G was a baby, so it was time to do it. I bought a shelf at ikea to help organize our family's chaos, and I also bought some frames to display G and E's artwork. We painted with apples and sponges this weekend so those went up in the frames.

The master bedroom has not been put on hold, but the progress is slow and not very picture worthy. This weekend Chris taped and mudded the drywall, scraped the popcorn off the bathroom ceiling, and ripped up the carpet in the bathroom. New tile and carpet is not war away, so the end is near...ish?

Wibble Wobble

Elia's favorite word has been any form of mom (mama, mommy, mom momomomomomommom, etc.) for a while now. She calls Gianna and Chris mama as well. At one point when Dad would come home from work she would run to the door saying dada but lately its just mama. And even though she is still calling them mama, she is finally expanding her vocabulary! She has learned hot, up, hi, apple, ball, dog, and moo. Chris and I's favorite is wibble wobble. We were at Walmart a few weekends ago and Chris was steering the cart with Elia in it. He was moving the cart through the aisle in a zigzag, all the while saying wibble wobble. So she started saying it too! Whenever I make a sharp turn in the car, she sings those words. So cute. And today as she was playing in her crib before she fell asleep for her nap, I heard her singing wibble wobble. I wonder what she is doing in there?

Butterflies

Yesterday was my day to teach, and the main subject was butterflies. We had a lot of fun acting out the hungry caterpillar, making 3d butterflies, and matching wings with numbers to wings with corresponding dots. I think my favorite activity was "painting" apple butterflies. I cut apple slices to make a shape of a butterfly and then the kiddos got to paint the apples with water and food coloring. Even Boom got in on the action. It was a fun day!

Notice G's jersey. She is refusing to take off the Giants jersey for good luck. Daddy is brainwashing her!

Columbus Day

Reason #87695 Chris' new company is great- he gets Columbus Day off! So we went to a pumpkin patch. Well actually we went to the Farmers Market in Carrollton. It was perfect. We didn't want to haul over to Flower Mound so we just popped over to this place since we had seen a "get your pumpkins here" sign driving past it the other day. We were the only people there, so we got some great photos. The girls had fun in the hay-maze and walking on the pumpkins.

Chris' aunt and uncle were in town for their 20th UD alumni reunion, so we were able to visit with them at Aunt Deanna's parents house. Then we were home for nap and we spent the rest of the day outside playing. Good day.

Hiding

Elia has gotten the hang of hide and seek thanks to daddy and sister. She will stay really still under a blanket or behind some pillows until someone finds her. Then she gets really excited when someone finds her. So cute. Their current favorite is the linen closet:

Last night, I was vacuuming and Gianna and Elia ran into their room and hid. They sat like this in there for about 20 minutes until I was all done!

Rugby Alumni Game

Saturday was the annual UD Alumni Rugby game. I made t-shirts for the girls to cheer Daddy on. I used spray paint to put UD on the front of the shirt and rowles on the back of the shirt.

As usual, the Alumni crushed the undergrads. It was a fun game! We saw lots of friends and family that go/went to UD.

Playoff Fever

Chris is really excited the Giants are in the playoffs this year. Its a happy coincidence that the Giants colors are also Halloween colors, so Gianna and I went to town on some cookies for Daddy.

Pablo(Sandoval) Giants (Buster)Posey Tim Lincecum

(Andres)Torres Go Giants (Matt) Cain baseball Giants

And then Elia had her own fun with them. Chris posted some on facebook after he smeared it on her face to make a beard for Fear the Beard.

Disclaimer: This does not make me a Giants fan. I am excited for Chris. Maybe next fall I will have some leftover decorations from Valentines day so I can make cookies for the Cardinals getting to the playoffs. In fact, last night, Gianna asked Chris if we could write a letter to the Cardinals to make sure they go to the playoffs next year.

It would be awesome if the Giants and Rangers played against each other in the World Series though!