Happy Halloween

It's Beginning to Look Like Halloween

Well it should be because it is tomorrow.  We have not been overly into Halloween this year.  We did trunk or treat at the girl's school for the first time and that was a lot of fun.  Audrey's puppy mask had not yet come in and I had not sewn all of her white fur patches on her outfit so we had to quickly pull together a costume out of our dress up bin.   Celia has had her costume for a long time, she is Annabeth from the Percy Jackson book series.  Not sure if many people will know who she is but that is okay, we love that she is a character from a book.

If you press the nose it barks, her teacher is going to LOVE me!!

We carved pumpkins with our friend Maria as we did last year

We had a lot of fun.  Auds had laid out her rubber gloves in the morning in preparation

for handling the inside guts.  She ditched them after about 2 minutes and tackled it without "protection".  The first year we carved pumpkins Auds ran across the room when I asked if she wanted to touch the inside of the pumpkin.

Celia and Maria did these two pumpkins, Celia even helped carve this year!

Audrey picked this hatchet carrying scary guy.

We have been enjoying the Y pool again.  The girls will stay in it for hours.

One of the times we were just about the only ones in the pool and Audrey asked if the water mushroom could be turned on and I explained that I didn't think so.  I guess the lifeguard heard and with in seconds it was on and both girls were ecstatic.   I love that it is a warm water pool.

Celia's orthodontist rented out a local bowling alley for a Halloween party and we were encouraged to bring a friend.  I thought it was going to be smaller and a push for those friends to come see her but honestly the only advertising done was on a small piece of chocolate on the way out.  2 hours of free bowling, pizza, cake, drinks, dancing, and photos to take home.  No braces for Celia yet, just a retainer to wear at night to keep her from biting the roofing of her mouth due to her overbite.

Auds and I have spent several days at our local orchard.  We picked out seconds apples for applesauce and went twice for pumpkins.  She loves the goats!

Gymnastics observation day, she is on the end in the pink and blue. 

She is by far the straightest!!  She is the oldest in the group this year and her teacher says that she is a great model for the rest of the kids.

I don't have any pictures of Celia but she is really enjoying her Praise Dance classes and is practicing for her performances in December. 

Life Lately

So Mom's been feeling the stress of work, life in general, and a long run of insomnia, and I have not been getting to the blog.  Luckily for my kids, especially Audrey, my biggest stress relief is spending time with them.  So on Audrey and Mom afternoons we have been busy either going somewhere or just playing.  I have neglected house work but we have had fun.  That is what is important!  On Friday we did tackle some outdoor work and we had the best time.  I introduced Audrey to wooly bears and she tried to feed one of them.  I cleared out a large bed in our back yard that was completely over run with weeds.  I also took out the out of control ornamental grass, boy to they have large roots!!  Audrey helped with one shovel and I helped with the other.   Celia and I had a wonderful Saturday morning last week going to a consignment sale, hobby lobby, getting hair cuts and going out to lunch and then to the book store.  A book store is like a toy store to Cecelia and it was hard to drag her out of it.  Barnes and Nobles has a big fan.  Oh yes and we have a new pet!  We got a fish named Beta Max.

Celia wants to be Annabeth from the Rick Riordan Percy Jackson series for Halloween.  The costume required a dagger and Amazon had a 2 pack.  So they came this week and I have used the phrase "stop stabbing your sister" a little too much.

Audrey seems to be adjusting to Kindergarten but does not provide a large amount of information.  Her teacher did let me know that "Audrey is awesome and such a good student" so theres that.  Cecelia started taking violin and praise dance.  She likes both of those activities.  Audrey likes the praise dance because the two of us play on the preschool playground together while Celia dances.  She especially likes me to crawl through the itty bitty tunnel and laughs if I get stuck.

Celia helped me out at our church rummage sale and got to stand outside to advertise the sale.  She was a pink cow!

Auds made a fairly impressive dinosaur hat the last time we went to the Natural History Museum

Celia

At age 9 you have a lot of opinions about many things.  

Okay, let's face it from the moment you could talk you had a lot of opinions that you expressed with a large vocabulary.  You don't like tight clothes, in fact they are very offensive and you will squirm and pull at them until you make them loose.  That makes leggings under dresses HARD.  

You love to read, in fact reading is quite hazardous for you.  If you have a very good book you will walk around the house or from the bus or anywhere reading while I tell you to look out for certain things.  This does get frustrating when we are in a hurry and you believe that you can read and get ready at the same time (you can't).  You love graphic novels and you are Rick Riordan's number 1 fan. You love anything about greek mythology.  You love Calvin and Hobbes, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and The Far Side.  You aren't too big yet for a good picture book read to you.

You antagonize your sister A LOT.  In fact I think that sometimes you wake up with the goal of making her furious.  This is new.  But… you are also a very good big sister and the two of you are best friends.  Your other best friend is Vanessa and I hope that continues for a long time because she is an awesome friend to both you and Audrey.  You think your sister is the funniest thing on earth and she can make you laugh harder then anyone else on the planet.

You are now in Junior Choir at church and you love to sing.  I love to listen to you sing too.  In fact I mention songs that I want you to memorize and often you can sing it for me the next day.  You are a great little swimmer and had an awesome summer swim season.   You continue to love legos and there are still Saturday mornings in which we wake to the "swish, swish, swish" of you sifting through your lego bins.  The tweenage years are approaching and sometimes you are not as agreeable.  But even when you are emotional you are always quick to give a hug.  You are compassionate to others and if someone is not feeling great, you are right by their side.  

For your birthday you got a Kindle e-reader which you really wanted.  I love that you also got toys, Calico Critters and a Ken Doll.  You are also into the game Clue and your Aunt Susie got that for you.  You love to draw and are quite the little artist.  Aunt Vickie gifted you with a doodle crate box and Mom Mom gave you a gift cards and a box full of sewing items.  You actually used the Joann gift card to buy some fleece and sewed an entire blanket which you have been dragging around the house.

Here's to another year little girl.  

The Parking lot baby turns 9

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Back to School Cuteness

Both girls seem to have had a good but tiring first week of school.  Celia was at least exhausted by the end of the week.  Audrey has liked school and I think she is talking?  So that is good.  I did have an interesting conversation with her Thursday though..  She has not gone to "school" on Fridays since she was 2.  She said to me "Tomorrow is Friday and I don't have school".  I agreed because the district was closed but then I thought about it.  I said "Well you know that normally you will be going to school on Friday, right?"  She looked at me and said "What?"..  So we had a little talk and she reluctantly agreed that she remembered the conversation we had over the summer and in the spring about the fact that school is 5 days a week.  I think she was hoping that had changed.  But for the most part she is enjoying it, just not as much as she enjoys having some freedom.  Who can blame her!!

The pink converse..

Pink kitty backpack, thank you Mom Mom

Celia is rough on back packs and Audrey's stuff usually lasts forever.

Let's see how her Target back pack holds up to Lands End this year!

Celia's Lands End back did not hold up so we took them on their word of 100% satisfaction and had it replaced.

I don't know if it was the bag's fault or the child's fault.  I sort of love her for that, it makes her Celia.

When the two of them go off to middle school and leave her is when I will shed some tears.

Or maybe their teenage moods will leave Audrey more then happy for some alone time….

Kindergarten

I have to say I know that a lot of Mom's get teary eyed about their youngest (or oldest) going off to Kindergarten but for me it was a lot harder dropping 1 year old Audrey off at daycare.  Even 2 year old Audrey in which I had to run quickly away as she started screaming was so much harder then this.   It also helps that it is a 2 1/2 hour day, the least amount of school she has ever had.  I feel like with the help of our amazing daycare, our church, or family, and our friends I am sending this amazing and funny child off to Kindergarten with all the tools she needs to succeed.  Audrey has them, she just needs to find the confidence to use them.  Shyness might win at first but I know in a few weeks she will be the "Sonbeam" that her pre-k teacher taught her to be.

Pete with his Mini Me.

I know that you will make great friends this year.

Have fun Audrey and show your crazy sense of humor in class

You are all about play at age 5 and I love that so much.

I don't want that to change.  You have strong academic skills so I have no fear about that.

Remember that your sister is right down the hallway.

Here's to an awesome school year.

Your back pack was blessed and you are ready little girl!

Here's to an awesome school year.