Meow ... Woof Woof!

Daddy was gone all week for work and got home late Friday night just in time to celebrate Halloween with the girls. Maddie was so excited to see her Daddy on Saturday that she talked his ear off at 6:30 am. :) She loved showing Daddy her decorated pumpkins. The girls had a blast playing with daddy during the day while Mommy ran some much needed errands. We spent Halloween evening at some good friends' house where we ate lots of yummy food, the kids played like crazy, watched some sad Georgia Football, and then went trick or treating. The kids were SO excited to trick or treat. Everyone got all dressed up and looked so darn cute! Madison decided a while ago that she wanted to be a kitty for Halloween and that she wanted her sissy to be a dog. Madison's costume was pretty easy but every dog costume was so heavy, and with it being a heat wave down here I didn't think Hailey would really appreciate me putting her in a sweat box of a costume. So I ended up pulling her costume together with a white onesie, felt, fur, ears and a tail. Kitty and Puppy joined their ladybug (Lana) and bubble bee friends (Olivia and Mara) for trick or treating. The girls got to wear glowing necklaces which they thought was very cool. Madison was a little hesitant about going up to people's doors but after a few homes she warmed up and was ready to go. Unfortunately the bugs were HORRIBLE and poor Hailey was getting swarmed so several houses into trick or treating I took tired Puppy and Daddy home, while Madison continued trick or treating with her friends. When I got back to our friends' house Madison was so excited to show me all her loot and tell me about a very scary house. She said scary house was not nice. Poor thing! I think some people get joy out of scary the crud out of little kids. It was getting late so we headed home to hit several homes on our street. Madison enjoyed spilling out all her candy and see what she could eat real fast before bedtime. It was a perfect Halloween!


Our pumpkin family. I didn't want our pumpkins to rot from the heat so we did Mr. Potato style pumpkins. Madison enjoyed deciding on what each pumpkin would look like.


Miss Kitty

Meowing for the camera

Kitty's favorite friend, Puppy


Hailey looked so darn cute with her tail on!


Mommy's favorite kitty and puppy




She was having a blast in her costume!




Best of Friends! (Olivia, Madison & Lana)


Showing off their costumes


A pooped little puppy!

Check out all my candy!

Fall Festivities

Even though it has been unusually hot here (in the 90's) we did not let it ruin the fall festivities we had planned. The week leading up to Halloween, we went to a corn maze, several pumpkin patches and attended with Maddie's Fall festival. We have been busy busy but are having a lot of fun!

Long and Scott Farms' Corn maze is the place I talked about last year that I really wanted to do but the kids were too small. So this year we thought we would give it a try. We only did the 1/2 acre maze because it was SO hot. It was plenty for us! Madison loved being able to direct which way we should go and find all the different stops along the way. At each stop she got to mark her finger a different color and at the end of the maze you could have your fortune read (which was based on the order you painted your fingers). Pretty neat! Once we finished the maze we went to their little market and picked our family pumpkin and got to buy some fresh vegetables! I forgot how cheap fresh food was! Hailey loved looking at all the pumpkins and putting hay in her mouth. She decided she did not want to add that to her diet. :)


Tunnel to enter the corn maze


Lots and Lots of corn!

Following the leader


Madison showing us her colored fingers

The market/pumpkin patch area

Mommy look at all this hay!


Me and my girls

During the week we met some of our friends at a local church pumpkin patch. It was so nice because there was know one there so the kids could run and play without worrying about others. Madison loved the little pumpkins and would pull them out of their crate and place them with the big pumpkins, almost like she wanted them to all be a family. It was really cute! She tried to get me to buy five but we settled on three. :)


Madison in search for the perfect pumpkin


Look Mommy, they have baby pumpkins!


Madison picked out a bumpy pumpkin for her sis


Maddie and her friend Mara.

We finished the week with Madison's fall festival at school. Their were cute games for the kids to play, a bounce house (which Madison LOVED) and a tiny pumpkin patch. The festival ended with a nice luncheon in her class room. Of course there were lots of fun goodies to eat and candy to bring home :)


Madison and her friend Emily


Fishing for ducks in the sand pit

Madison's class with the scarecrow!

Pretty Pretty Princess

This past weekend was birthday party weekend. We had a two parties! One was at Birthday World and the other was a pirates and princess themed party. Maddie dressed up as a pretty little princess. Since we didn't have an actual princess costume I put several pieces of clothing together to make her look all cute and dolled up. Madison decked herself out with a crown, LOTS of rings, a pretty little necklace, a wand and flashy high heels. What do you think about our pretty pretty princess?!?


All ready to go to the party


What a pretty princess!

I guess this is what a princess would look like if she had to walk the walk of shame after an exciting night out on the town ...


Leotard unsnapped on the outside of the skirt, sideways skirt, messy hair and most of her jewelry missing! Ha!


Silly Silly girl

Day at the Zoo

Last weekend we spent the day at the Zoo with some great friends. The Young Lawyers Section of the Orlando Bar sponsored family day at the Zoo. They moved the date of the venue from June to October this year in hopes that it would be cooler but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. It was in the mid 90's and felt like 100 degrees. Yes in October! Though the weather was not our friend, we made the best of it. Madison enjoyed visiting with the animals with her good friend Avery. They were so cute together! They would run after each other and Maddie would keep calling for "Ave" to follow her. They loved the tigers, monkeys, elephants and snakes the best. After visiting with the animals, YLS provided us lunch in a VERY nice air conditioned room :) Lunch was very yummy! After lunch we ventured over to the splash pad. This is Madison's favorite part of the zoo. Both girls took part in the fun and had a blast! Maddie got a exciting surprise on our way out of the zoo - a ride on the choo choo train! Madison thought it was great and Daddy was a big sport to ride it with her. :)

Our cute little monkey!






Do you think she likes the water?!?




Love this picture!




Sweet Sister Moment


Maddie and Daddy ready for the train ride -- can you tell Daddy was a little big for the ride ;)

Several Firsts

Recently there has been several firsts in the house and they haven't been from Hailey. Miss Madison is now taking dance class and she absolutely loves it. One of the local dance academies has one of their teachers, Ms. Heather, teach at Madison's school in the afternoons once a week. There are about 8 little girls in the class and they are all adorable. I haven't had a chance to really get to watch Madison dance (because Hailey is usually taking a nap right up until I have to pick her up) but I hoping to soon. Even if dance is not a long term thing I am happy Maddie has found something she enjoys right now.









Another first for Madison is bowling! Several weeks ago we had a playgroup at the local bowling alley and it was a hoot to watch the kids bowl. Madison got to wear the cool little shoes and bowl with the bumpers up. After several times of throwing the ball, Madison got the hang of pushing the ball threw her legs. There were definitely times were I had to help assist the ball down the lane (thank goodness they gave us the end lane were I could run next to the lane and push the ball when it got stuck). :) The kids did not even care if they hit a pin they just loved throwing the ball. I will say the hardest part of bowling for the kids was waiting their turn. They didn't do so well with that. Nearly an hour and a half later and eight frames completed, the kids were exhausted. We finished the day with a yummy lunch at our favorite little tex-mex joint. Madison had such a great time she keeps asking me when we are going to go back. Until we can go back again, we have created our own little bowling alley in the house with dixie cups and a basket ball :) It works great until Hailey comes at smashes the cups! :)

Future Occupation???

Let's hope not!!!!
Maddie loves to get mail and even more, money in the mail! She recently received a dollar from Grandma and Grandpa and was so excited that she stuck the dollar in her panties and ran around like a crazy woman. I am so glad she loves money but she better not strip for it!!!

Happy Friday!

Well Needed Trip to Paradise

The Monday after Hailey's birthday party, Brent and went on a well needed trip away from the kids. This was our first trip, just the two of us, since our honeymoon (6 years ago).!We spent 5 days in paradise in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. We stayed at the Frenchman's Reef Marriott Resort and it was so beautiful! The resort sits on top of a cliff over looking the Caribbean Sea and the St. Thomas Harbor. Our view from our balcony was of the beautiful beach and Caribbean Sea. Several times throughout the week we were able to watch the cruise ships come into St. Thomas from our balcony. The hotel had a wonderful bar, outside on one of the roof facing the harbor, where we could watch the sunset and see the cruise ships depart. I could not believe how close the ship(s) come by the hotel. We could actually see the movie playing on the big screen on one of the ships. It was really neat!

The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there (The Weather man was lucky he/she wasn't fired for saying it was going to rain every day:)). We had decided before we went on this trip that we were not going to have an itinerary and that we were going to just relax and do what ever we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it. We spent most of our days relaxing down at the beach, sipping frozen drinks and enjoying the warm water. Once we were tired of the beach we would just head up to the pool and enjoy the music and pool bar. It was off season so it was not very crowded, which was VERY nice! We really didn't venture off in the evenings for dinner, just ate at the yummy restaurants at the resort (which had some spectacular views).

Mid week we decided that we are going to spend our last full day taking a ferry over to St. John Island and checking out Trunk Bay. Trunk Bay is one of several beaches on St. John Island and world known for its beautiful beach and great snorkeling. I would definitely have to agree! I am SO happy we decided to go because the beach was the best beach I have ever been too. The sand was soft and powdery white and the water was a beautiful turquoise. The water was so clear and clean that you could see a good distance out. We were one of the first ones on the beach and it was so nice and peaceful. We enjoyed panoramic views of other islands and the different shades of turquoise water. We loved walking up and down the beach, looking for coconuts, swimming and snorkeling through an underwater trail. We had a fabulous time on St. John and what a great way to end our vacation.

Thank you Nana and Pop Pop and Grandma and Grandpa for watching the kids! I am so happy they were so good for you guys and slept so well. Sorry Hailey was a little under the weather. Those darn teeth! Thank you for letting us enjoy a kid free vacation. We can't wait to go on another one (hopefully it won't take six years again). :)

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