Pictures that made us laugh this week!

The girls had just gotten out of the tub and were being their usual crazy selves, running around everywhere with no clothes on when they came across Dave's cowboy hats. They were pretty cute in them and it was hard not to laugh out loud! Thought I'd share them with you- We sure do love these girls!

Pumpkin Carving!

Look at all these pumpkins! Our porch will surely be lit up nicely on Saturday night!

On Sunday we spent the majority of our day carving pumpkins! In the past, Dave and I have always done pretty much everything....the scooping, the faces, the carving, etc. However, this year, Taylor got very into the carving and she carved and she carved and she carved some more- we looked up at the clock and she had been carving pumpkins for over 3 hours!

Maddie "helped" Dave do a few pumpkins but quickly found that doing puzzles was much more her speed!

The girls worked together to scoop out the pumpkins...they were very excited by Maddie's HUGE pumpkin!

Halloween Party!

This past weekend the girls and I (Dave was home sick with a cold and pink eye) went to a Halloween Party hosted by Dave's Aunt Sandy who lives in our neighborhood. She threw a fun party for the kids! The girls wore their costumes, although, Maddie ended up not wearing her costume that she plans on trick-or-treating in as she wanted to save it and it apparently was too scratchy! They played musical pumpkins, had a parade in their costumes and Taylor even had a few of her classmates at the party which was fun for her. It was nice having the party the weekend before Halloween because we didn't have to try and fit it in this coming weekend and it gave the kids a chance to get excited before the big day! We will have more pictures to come of Halloween night. We are planning on having homemade pizza and walking the neighborhood with the Glock family. One of Taylor's good friends from school asked her if they could walk together while trick-or-treating and Taylor informed me that she told her no because "I always walk with Ellie every year". It made me smile because kids Taylor's age just don't get it that they can have more then one friend at a time!

Maddie minus her costume, looking very worried that the music has stopped while playing musical pumpkins!

Taylor collecting her prize after the costume parade!

Taylor and her friend from school!

Introducing HANNAH MONTANA!!

Cinderella!

Has anyone else noticed that Maddie is going through her cute yet funky smile phase?? :)

Maddie's Field Trip!

Maddie got to go on her first Preschool field trip on Friday to the local pumpkin patch. I took a half day to go with her and the two of us had the best time! Mind you, it was pouring down rain but I think that really only bothered the adults; the kids were jumping in the mud with their boots! Maddie rarely gets to do anything just for herself (she usually is tagging along to Taylor's events) and you could tell she was so proud to be on her field trip- and with her mom. She was pretty funny with her teacher (who she adores!). Miss Sandy was wanted by all the kid- "Miss Sandy, sit by me" "Miss Sandy, hold my hand". At one point she had done something with all the kids except for Maddie. She came up to Maddie and asked her if she wanted to hold her hand as they walked to the barn and Maddie replied: "No thank you, I am going to hold my Mommy's hand". Miss Sandy told me later on that sometimes she has to ask Maddie to stop telling stories so that other kids can share with her so she almost felt faint by Maddie's reply. Made my heart feel full though!

Maddie loved all the animals she got to pet. Her favorite were the pigs!

Maddie and Kaylin. You would think I was hurting them while taking this picture by the looks on their faces :)

Maddie and Mom!

Look how tall Maddie girl is!

Conference

Dave and I went to Taylor's Fall conference this evening. Wow! What a different experience that was being on the parent end instead of the teacher end of things. Taylor's teacher is amazing and I was really impressed by her kindness, organization and her thoughtfulness (she let Taylor pick a book to keep at home). We honestly were not surprised by anything Ms. Ott had to say- which is a good thing right? Taylor is moving right along in all areas. She is doing especially well in math and writing. She got to show us her pattern journal and we were quite impressed by it- she had labeled her patterns and everything! Her writing journal was amazing to me- especially when I compare her to some of my first graders. She started out in early September labeling words here and there and in class she is now writing sentences! (can you feel how proud we are of her yet?) In reading she is doing well. She knows all her letters and knows 19 of her letter sounds. They are slowing introducing sight words and Ms. Ott let us know that Taylor picks up on these things quite quickly and has no concerns for her in this area. She told us that she is a great listener, good worker and kind to others. An overall GREAT conference. We are so very proud of her!

All Smiles!

Miss Maddie and her friend Kaylin had lots of fun putting on very red lipstick! How can you not love this girl??

Pumpkins and Gourds!

In the past, we have always gone and done the whole pumpkin patch thing with all the bells and whistles...train ride, hay ride, maze, games, petting zoo- you get the idea. This year though, Jerry asked us if we wanted pumpkins (free ones, I might add) from a friend of his who grows them in his backyard. I didn't have the heart to say no and so we went today and his "backyard" was more like a huge farm with too many acres to count. Although it wasn't filled with people and there weren't any train rides it was actually quite simple and nice. We were the only ones at the farm, they had tons of huge, bright orange pumpkins to choose from and the girls didn't seem to notice or care that this wasn't the usual pumpkin patch that we go to. Our front porch is now filled with 8 pumpkins waiting to be carved! The best part of the trip for me was before leaving we drove to another part of the farm and I got to pick out as many gourds as I wanted. They are gorgeous!