Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Laughter is the Best Medicine

All the videos are essentially the same but I couldn't resist posting them all because it's so darn cute!



Oh and I almost forgot this picture of Grandpa giving horseback rides.  The girls miss him already -- they keep asking me if we can go to Grandma and Grandpa's in Michigan next week.  

Last night we had the same idea as probably just about everyone else: carve pumpkins for Family Home Evening!  We tried glow sticks inside, not the greatest effect but the girls love glow sticks.




Sunday, October 28, 2012

Cowboy Day!

It's nice to do something fun with everyone when the grandparents (both) are around but it's always hard to find something that's also fun for 3 children under the age of 5.  I think we hit the jackpot yesterday!

There is a small area in Frisco with a heritage museum and several old buildings that hosted Cowboy Day yesterday.  The cost was $5 per person (over age 2) and included everything!  The price was nice, the activities were so kid friendly, and it was small -- we saw everything in about 2 and 1/2 hours and left feeling like we had had a great morning but also that we didn't run the girls into the ground.  The only downside is that it was surprisingly cold -- for Texas anyway.  This is now going on our list of fun things to do in the fall.

We started with pony rides.  Abby only of course.  Megan refused.  The ponies kept stopping for a snack too but Abby had a great time.


We went for a ride in a stagecoach -- again Megan refused -- is there a theme here?



We watched a cowboy shootout show by the Texas Legends.  It was a great little show with a sheriff and his bumbling deputy: 

And the bad guys:

Who got killed.  The shooting was LOUD and Megan didn't want to watch but once the "bad guys" got up again and they realized it was pretend, both girls were fine.


A quilt show -- Hooray!  Quilts by the Frisco Quilt Guild.  There were a lot of really pretty ones but I didn't take many pictures this time.

Armadillo races!!!  Apparently you blow on their tails and they run from you.  It was fun to watch and they brought the armadillos up close.  I think that was the first time I had seen one up close that wasn't dead on the side of the road!

They had some people with dress up clothes taking pictures.  My parents did a great job -- mom demanded a gun too!

This is ours in the poster format that they printed.  Megan refused (again) but Abby wanted to be in it too (but no costume).  She's the only one who really looks dangerous in this picture I think . . .

They had a "life skills" area with everything from toys to cooking and cleaning

Animal skins and hunting

Spinning ("hey that's Sleeping Beauty's spindle!"  Apparently we have too much Disney and not enough history in our house!)

A schoolhouse with a yearbook of all the original schoolhouses in the area -- that was cool.

And a petting zoo.

Plus a church handing out snacks, a cupcake walk, blacksmith demonstrations.  It was a great, great little festival and a really nice last hurrah with my parents since I'm pretty sure they won't be back for a little while.  And we miss them already.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Fun With Grandma

I don't love how far away we are from the grandparents, but I do love that my dad does come to Dallas on business occasionally.  And about 1/2 the time that he does, we're able to talk him into letting my mom come too!  It's worked out especially well for her to be here this week since Chopper has been out of town -- I haven't had to single mom it!  Wahoo!

Funny how things change though -- we've spent a lot of time just doing our thing: preschool, playing, shopping.  As the kids get older there will be less special attractions and more just taking care of business.  And in between times Grandma has played, chased, and subjected herself to some interesting commentary . . . 

Two days ago Grandma was about to get in the shower and Abby walked into the bathroom when she was, well, exposed.  It took a little coaxing on my part to get her out (I was nursing so I couldn't just grab her), but she finally came on her own and closed the door and then said, "that was gross."  I kid you not!  I laughed SOOOOO hard and thankfully, Grandma laughed too when we told her. 

Megan is also becoming more body conscious.  On Tuesday afternoon we had a playdate with the kids in her preschool class and so we talked about her friends.  She says to me pretty matter-of-factly, "Jack is a fat boy."  I don't think she's being rude -- I realized yesterday that we talk about how fat William is ALL THE TIME.  And he is a chunker!  It's just a fact and we love him for it -- it's all loving and kisses for those chubby legs and cheeks.  But maybe we need to be more careful so that she just doesn't start saying that all the time.

Of course we took Grandma to the Arboretum -- it's my favorite place in Dallas!!  And it was a great day for it.

 I'm working on being in the picture more.  Am I doing a good job?


 

 I think this is my FAVORITE picture of the whole week.  Look at that Chubster!!!  I just put him in 9 month clothing today -- 9 months!  And he's not even 4 months old.  Everyone who asks about him gets this surprised look on their face when I tell them how old he is.

LOVE this picture of Megan.  It's definitely going on my magnet board.  I have too many pictures for my magnet board . . . 




 I love these little pumpkins strung on the trees.  I wish I had a tree to decorate that way!


So little bench + little girls + trying to get good pictures = very funny faces:
 


 

 
 Oh yeah, and the girls got hair cuts.  Abby's in particular looks really cute because it's not a wild fuzzball anymore.  

Anyway, great week so far and we'll see what tomorrow holds!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Happy (Early) Halloween!!

This was going to be the girls' Halloween costumes this year.  But I tell you what, I don't know how people get their families to all do the Halloween theme.  After I made their colonial dresses and they posed for a few pictures, all bets were off!





So we went to plan B for our ward Halloween party.  Ok for Megan it really was plan B although we had gotten up to plan D (Twilight Sparkle pony, tiger, Tinker Bell, colonial girl) before going BACK to plan D.  So for Halloween this year the lineup was:

William was Superbaby!  Super powers include sleeping through the night (8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and I love it!) and defeating his enemies with the power of spitup.  Apparently, I am his enemy most of the time!  His kryptonite?  Ceiling fans.  He's completely mesmerized and powerless in when there's one spinning.
 

Abby was Abigail Adams!  This is mostly due to the fact that you ask her who she is and she says (all the time) "I'm just Abby".  So we made it easy on her this year.
 

Megan refused to pose for pictures (of course) but she did go back to being a tiger.  And I look at her know and realize just what an "interesting" tiger she was.  Every part of her costume is a different color and stripe . . . I guess that's what you get when mom can sew dresses but nothing else!  Incidentally, the initial plan B was to make her Hobbes and William Calvin.  But when she went to plan C (Tinker Bell), I went with Superbaby.  Yesterday she was pretty mad that she was a tiger after all and William was NOT Calvin.  Sigh.  The sad life of a 4-year old.



Chopper and I were gold medal Olympians in the sport of . . . rhythmic gymnastics!  Specifically ribbon dancing.  I came up with the idea but . . . 

Chopper came up with the routine.  I kid you not.  And we performed it at our party (without music).