Happy Halloween

For those of you who know me, you know I'm not a big Halloween fan . . . mostly because of the stress of coming up with costumes.  If I can come up with costumes, then I can enjoy the holiday . . . especially if there is a lot of candy involved.

So, I've been planning the girl's costumes since last year.  And they turned out just how I imagined they would . . . and even better, the girls were excited to wear them - Yeah!

Trunk or Treating was a success too . . . and even though this isn't a great picture, you can see my very elaborate costume ;)  Thanks again, Lisa, for the hat :)

Rest in Peace

Joy Irene Irish Thornley

Dec. 25, 1930 - Oct. 25, 2013

We love you and will miss you.

God be with you 'til we meet again.

Pumpkin Patch & Other Misc. News

• Ken had Monday off, so we headed to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out some pumpkins for Halloween.  Both girls had so much fun picking out "their" pumpkins, but ironically, we took pictures of everything, except of the girls with their pumpkins.  Here's a few of the good ones.

 Sophia is wondering why the reindeer aren't with Santa.

Just being silly . . .

• The other day I saw a recipe for pumpkin rice krispie treats.  They sounded so good, I couldn't wait to try them.  I hate it when something highly anticipated doesn't live up to my expectations.  The flavor was good, despite the dash of nutmeg I put in instead of a pinch, but the pumpkin puree made them kind of soggy and stale-like.  I think I'll just stick with traditional pumpkin treats, like muffins, cookies, and pie.
• The girls liked the pumpkin rice krispie treats, but since Sophia hates getting her hands sticky, she ate hers with a fork ;)
• About a week ago, I accidentally dropped one of my favorite sauce pans onto the floor.  I quickly inspected the wood floor to make sure it wasn't dented or anything, but didn't even bother to check the pan . . . until a few days later when I went to put the lid on the pan and noticed that the pan was dented.  Ken saved the day by fixing the dent so that I can still use my pan - yeah!
• In another week, Sophia will be 2.  Unbelievable!
• I started a counted-cross stitch Christmas stocking for Sophia back in February or so, thinking I'd have plenty of time to finish it.   But as we are only about 2 months away from Christmas, I'm hoping to have it done in time.
• Amelia is so excited for Halloween.  And I'm excited that my Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes turned out so well . . . but more importantly, that the girls are excited to wear the costumes.
• The other morning when we were running errands in the fog, Amelia asked me if it was raining and I said no, "it's just foggy".  Amelia then turns to Sophia and says "that's when you have cereal and put too much milk on it.".  And then we had a mini-lesson on rhyming words ;)

It's Autumn Time

I'm not sure how Amelia learned about it, but she has been looking forward to jumping in a big pile of leaves for what seems like months.  Usually Ken rakes and/or blows the leaves while the girls are sleeping or with me, so Amelia hasn't been able to jump in them.  Today, I decided to help Ken . . . and therefore Amelia . . . by raking up some leaves in between rain showers.  Amelia was so excited.

 And of course, Sophia is happy to do whatever Amelia is excited about.

Their pattern of playing in the leaves is exactly the same as the way they play in puddles - they run back and forth laughing and having a great time.

Amelia tried to make a leaf angel.  I think she liked it, despite the wet leaves sticking in her hair.

 Sophia wanted to try it too, but almost as quickly wanted to get back up.

After I gathered up leaves in the garbage can, the girls liked helping me stomp down the leaves to make room for more leaves.  Sadly, by the time Ken gets home from work today, he won't even be able to tell I raked . . . except for the full garbage can of leaves.  Oh the joy of living surrounded by oak trees.

Photo Shoot

My friend, Pam, did a photo shoot for us.  We were blessed with perfect weather - overcast skies for better lighting and no rain.  The girls started out smiley, but Amelia didn't want to have her picture taken.  Despite that, Pam got some great photos of the girls.

Pam pointed out a hole in the ground, and next thing we knew, Sophia was digging in the hole.  Amazingly, her dress didn't get dirty . . . just her hands, which Pam got a perfect picture of before we cleaned it up.

I have this cool steamer trunk, which I thought would be great for the photo shoot.  But by this point, Amelia had really had enough of her picture taken . . . so she climbed in and didn't want to come out.

But Pam still got some great pictures of her ;)

Sophia was nothing but smiley for the photo shoot.

And this one shows what my mind was like prior to the photo shoot.  I got Sophia dressed that morning and as I was cleaning up her room, I couldn't figure out where her pajama bottoms were.  I looked everywhere and finally concluded that Ken or the girls must have put them somewhere.  And then half-way through the photo shoot, Pam captured this picture - proof that I am crazy.  In my sleep-deprived state, I had put Sophia's tights on top of her pajamas.

Amelia loves sticks and after collecting some throughout the morning, she wouldn't set them down.  I love that Pam got such great pictures of our girls, that reflect their character.

Thanks Pam for capturing the "magic" of our family.

Random Ramblings

• I'm still adjusting to neither of my girls taking naps, but I do have to say that no naps certainly makes bedtime easier and earlier . . . and it doesn't hurt that it's getting darker earlier now.
• A few weeks ago I noticed that my children were hardly watching TV.  My guess was that it was somehow connected with the sunny weather we were enjoying.  I'm thinking my hypothesis was correct; the rain started back up and when it's cloudy and raining, all my girls want to do is sit and watch TV.
• And now that we're watching more TV, what do we watch?  If Amelia gets to choose, we watch cooking shows on PBS - she loves them!
• I've had a cold the last few days, and yesterday I experienced something my mom has been dealing with every day for over a month now - I couldn't smell, so therefore, I couldn't taste anything.  It sure made eating boring.
• I have confirmed that I love living somewhere that has seasons.  I'm not necessarily looking forward to the rain for the next 6 months, but I am getting tired of my summer clothes and am looking forward to wearing something else.
• I've mentioned before that I hate shoe shopping.  I've been wearing the same black pumps for at least 8 years - I loved them - but they were completely worn out.  So I bucked up and went shoe shopping; found a new/used pair, threw out my old shoes, and then unfortunately realized that my new shoes were horrible.  Gave the shoes back to the discount store and resumed my hunt for new shoes.  Bought a pair online, but when I got them, they were too big.  Sent them back.  The hunt continues . . . and meanwhile, I'm shoeless in Olympia.  Ugh!
• I'm getting a jump start on Halloween and am making "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" costumes for Amelia and Sophia (I'll be the Cat in the Hat).  Ken thinks I should call Amelia's "Mine 1" and Sophia's "Me Too" because that's all they seem to say lately.
• We have this weird phenomenon at our house - the girls and I get little holes in our shirts right about the belt line.  I originally thought mine were from wearing belts - but I haven't been wearing belts lately and the girls don't wear belts and our shirts are still getting the little holes.
• Today when I went to the meat market, I had to do a double take at their Weekly Specials sign.  It read "lion roast, $2.99".  They often have exotic meat for sale, but I couldn't even imagine where they got lion from . . . and then I realized they meant to say "loin roast". 

Children's Museum

Ken had Monday off, so we headed to the Children's Museum for a few hours.  Amelia wanted to make a bouquet of flowers, but was sad that she couldn't take them with her.  I told her we'd take a picture of it, and take that home, but she wasn't as happy about that idea.

Sophia liked the ball that goes up in the tube, spins around in water, and then comes back down.

 The girls love to color, but Amelia did NOT want her picture taken.

Amelia wanted to dress up and get on the stage . . . but only stayed there long enough for a brief picture.

And Sophia loved the vacuum tube maze that projected balls and scarves out of the tubes.

And we ended our visit by taking a "family portrait".  (Left to right: Ken, Amelia, Sharon, & Sophia)