Halloween...better 2 months late than never

This blog thing is just not working out right now. Instagram is killing my blogging. So much easier to upload a quick photo from my phone with a one-sentence caption rather than devoting 10 minutes to blogger.

BUT

I will continue to blog. I love it. I blogged before blogging was cool. So I'll keep going.

Anyway...

Here's what our Halloween looked like (I guess I'll post about Thanksgiving around Valentine's Day and about Christmas around July 4th...).

It was warmish, so we got to play outside some.



Here's my monkey climbing and goofing off.



At our church, we went to Trunk or Treat and I decorated my car like a big giant open mouth. It was awesome, if I do say so myself. Thank you, Pinterest, for the inspiration.



Here's what my girls dressed up as:



Eden was Princess Thomas the Tank Engine and Winnie was a witch that I sewed up a couple of years ago for Eden. Eden even got to wear Mommy's make-up. Ooo la la.

And Winnie wasn't the happiest posing for photos, but Eden doggedly held on like a big sister and did not let Winnie escape.

When Eden told me she wanted to be Thomas for Halloween, I decided she needed to be a girl version of Thomas. So after scouting Pinterest and googling "Girl Thomas costume" I decided to make my own. I got a regular t-shirt and some felt, freehanded a picture of Thomas's face onto some tracing paper then cut felt pieces to fit all his facial features and appliquéd Thomas's face to the shirt. (Sorry, that was probably way more than you wanted to know.) Then I made the skirt, cape, and boiler hat to go along with it. She was happy. So was I.





Overall, it was a great Halloween season, so to speak. We got to use the costumes several times and attend multiple Halloween functions so we had a blast.

On a separate note, Kevin is trying to come home for Christmas so he will try to get on a plane on Friday (this coming Friday) to come home and stay till Dec. 30. Cross your fingers that there is a seat with his name on it on the flight!

Small Hello

Hello.

I'm still here.

Haven't forgotten about part 2 of the Halloween plans. Maybe I'll get that posted by 2014? Maybe?

Who knows?

It's just been very busy around here lately.

Pardon my negligence.

Here is something I've been working on (i.e. the shirts) as part of all the busyness.



And this:



I promise an update soon...ish...sorta.

Toodles!

Family Photos

I know I told you in the last post that the next post I wrote would be the continuation of the Halloween one, but I'm going to interject a quick post about our family photos that a friend from church took while Kevin was here in September. Which one is your favorite?











Enjoy!

P.S. We are not going to find out where we are going to move next until the end of January. Kevin just found this out on Friday. And he isn't going to be able to come home in January because the conference he was coming for was cancelled. So I guess I'll let you know where we are living next next year.

Halloween happenings and other spooky occurrences: Part 1

Well, we've had a Halloween filled month of October. Eden and Winnie were able to wear their costumes three separate times this month (besides Eden wearing parts of hers for everyday play).  We decorated our house on October 1st and slowly continued adding more as the month went on.

I'll confess I've been hyper vigilant about making sure I'm not a scrooge when it comes to holidays while Kevin is gone. When he was in Afghanistan in 2009, I basically threw my calendar out the window and moved in with Ebenezer pre-ghosts-of-past/present/future. I knew I didn't want to be that way around my children so I have embraced all (major) holidays with the enthusiasm of a 10-year-old. Hence, our month of Halloween.

So anyway, we went to the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch twice and the Dream Field Farms pumpkin patch once. We also went to the Maxwell AFB Fall Festival, my church's trunk-or-treat, Publix's (a grocery store) trick-or-treating, and then did our own mini-version of trick-or-treating on Halloween night. We lived it up big time.

First, our adventures at the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch in Clanton.


Sister photo...oops.


Enjoying some goldfish while I gorge myself on really nasty, greasy, ruined-my-desire-for funnel cake.


The fields of sunflowers were beautiful.


Winnie loved the horses. Meeeeeeehhhh, she says. (This is a combo of "moo" and "nay" that she says when she sees a horse.)


And Eden's favorite part of any festival: bouncy castles.


I got to "help" Winnie go through a couple of them (meaning chase after her/drag her through tunnels).


Eden had no fear of the tall slides. Afraid of swings, this one, but will she slide down a two-story slide (that even freaked me out a little)? You betcha.


Then we went to Dream Field Farms with the Skarda family. This place had a bunch of fun kid activities, like sandboxes filled with corn kernels...

(Word to ya kernel, dawg.)

Nothin' like a little CRACKed corn (punny I am).


Watched some pigs race.


Rode a very bumpy cow train.


This is pure glee, no?


My pumpkin patch cohorts, Mike, Jess and Charlie.


Military members received a free small pumpkin, so Winnie had a great time picking up pumpkin after pumpkin.




It was all too relaxing on the wagon ride back from the pumpkin picking for Mr. Charlie.


And Eden even made friends with a goat. Who then nibbled her fingers and scared her off goats for good.


And I'll end part 1 here. Next time I'll share the costumes I made for the girls. Eden was Princess Thomas the Tank Engine (yes, you read that right) and Winnie wore the witch costume I made for Eden 2 years ago. I'll also explain the "spooky occurrences" reference from the title of this post.

Toodles!

Family photos

While Kevin visited in September, we had family photos taken so that I could make some huge prints and hang them in each girl's room so they could see Kevin every day while he is gone. There are definitely some cute ones. I'll share more later, but here's one for you to see now.

Sorry it's small, but you get the general idea (I think if you click on the picture though it'll pop up in a separate window much bigger). My friend from church took them and I think she did great considering we were just at our house and it was kind of raining and Winnie was not in a smiling mood (luckily Eden was though).  Even so, I like them. I'm glad we were able to have them done since I don't get many opportunities to actually be in the photos. (Ever the photographer...)

We're back!

Hello everyone!

Kevin left for Saudi Arabia yesterday on a rainy dreary morning. We had such a wonderful time having him home. It was a true stay-cation. I abandoned all cleaning/household responsibilities and we just hung out, had fun, and soaked up each other's company. It was a very short three weeks.

We didn't do a whole lot. Just visited the zoo, went out to eat, visited Birmingham, went apple picking, went to the park and splash pad, and I got to nap and sleep in. Like I said, vacation all the way.  I don't have many photos of his visit, but here are a few.

We couldn't have a daddy visit without a ride on the sled. We're getting pretty good at this redneck sledding. Even Eden got in on the mush-ing action.



The girls lived on afternoon popsicles. Eden insisted on "lotsa popsicle please."



Winnie went "swimming" in the sandbox.



Notice her outfit in the above photo. See those underwear? Those are Eden's. They are Winnie's new favorite accessory.

Eden showed off her awesome drawing skills.



Winnie showed off her amazing climbing abilities.



And of course, more sledding.







Eden learned the joys the feeding Winnie. (Score one for me! No more supervising yogurt eating.)



We also went pickle apping. What, you say? I mean apple picking. I was just repeating what Eden calls it.







I got to test out another sewing pattern and made Winnie a dress.



And finally we had one last Skarda/Pfeil/Lawracy game night. This was the last time we would all be together before Kevin left since the Skardas are moving to Omaha in January and the Pfeils are leaving town at some unknown point. (They're undercover CIA operatives -- ya never know when they'll disappear.) (Kidding.)



So that was our life in September. Hopefully in October we'll find out where we will move to next. Everybody cross your fingers for Germany!!

First Day of Preschool

Today is Eden's first day of preschool. I use the term "preschool" loosely, as it's a twice-weekly, three-hour long "class" that basically teaches them a letter of the alphabet each time they go, sprinkled among playing, snacking, running around, and more playing. But, I had to pack a snack in a lunchbox and an extra pair of clothes AND get up to an alarm this morning. That counts as school to me. (Don't you just love the first day of school ensemble? Dressed herself, this one.)

So off my little three-year-old went. She just plopped herself down at a table and started chewing on a block.



That's my girl.

Guess what...

KEVIN'S COMING HOME FOR A VISIT TOMORROW! AT 7:40 HIS PLANE LANDS IN MONTGOMERY! WOO-HOO!
(He leaves Sept. 25, so I may not blog till then. Just a warning.)

Look what I did...

I hate running.

Lord, help me.

More July

Okay, next up on our July calendar was a visit from my mom, a.k.a. Toto (hereto forth she will be called Toto). I had a client due in July and my mom came to stay with my girls while I went and doula-ed. Her one week visit turned into two weeks and luckily my client gave birth the morning of the last day she was here. Whew!

My mom is one of those grandparents that if you closed your eyes and didn't know she was an adult, you'd swear there were three children in the room, not two. She rolls around on the floor, plays chase, plays hide and seek, throws toys, makes messes, and...

...plays in the rain.


(Toto, I say all this with love and pride in your grandma-ing abilities. My girls couldn't ask for a better grandma.)

She showed Winnie the art of the splash.



Winnie had a blast getting wet.



She would rear back (kind of like so in the above photo) and make the following face while yelling "Ooooooooo!"



Love it when big sister "helps" little sister. (Me in the background: "Eden! Don't pull Winnie's fingers off!")



Toto also schooled Eden on how to style herself with various hats.



Attractive.

And of course, more prancing and playing in the rain.



I'd say our most adventurous activity involved dressing up as cows and going to Chick-fil-A for free food on Cow Appreciation Day. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I promised a photo of me dressed as a cow. So without further ado...

Moo.

(I am totally holding up the cow tail my mom made for each us that was pinned to my bum.)

Here's our herd.





Notice the tail?



Us at Chick-fil-A in all our bovine glory. (Please ignore the fact that Winnie is guzzling - literally - root beer as fast as she can from my cup. #momoftheyear)

After my mom left, things quieted down, and we returned to our daily routine.

Sitting in toys.


Closing ourselves into dog cages.


We watched our friends' dog Luna (a.k.a. Luna Tuna according to Eden) while they went out of town and I swear Winnie had more fun with the dog cage than the dog (although Luna came in a pretty close second).


(A shame they don't both fit in there - Whoops! Did I just lock the door accidentally...my bad...)



So there you have it. That wraps up July and it's only August 8. Go me for catching up!

Have a great week! Toodles!