Olivia's Halloween Party

Today we went to Olivia's house for a Halloween Party.  Katie and Allie were super excited to put on their green princess dresses again and party it up! It seems like we have been celebrating Halloween for weeks and it still isn't here.

I hope Halloween is always this much fun for my little cherubs!  We have one more party to go before Halloween which is the costume parade and party at New Horizon on Wednesday.  Afer trick or treating Wednesday night we will be able to put this holiday in the books!

Halloween fun a couple of days early

We had so much fun today doing Halloween stuff.  This morning we went to the zoo and learned about how animals celebrate Halloween.  It was fun watching  a lot of different types of animals eating pumpkins and  Katie and Allie really enjoyed watching the snow monkeys feed their babies pumpkin.  After lunch we came home and painted pumpkins.

Then off we went to Emily's house for a Halloween Party.

As you can see by the above picture Allie was not in a very pleasant mood while getting her picture taken.  At the party Katie won the prize for most glittery.

And Allie won the prize for most glamorous.

We took time to take a group picture. (Now Katie didn't want to be in the picture.)

Then did a bit of limboing.

And ended the party with a parade where Allie played the drums and Katie had the pom poms.

It was a great day.  Now on to tomorrow where there will be more parties and Halloween fun!

Kaitlyn the knitter

I think Kaitlyn might be the next knitter in the family.  She now has to teach me how to knit!

A very "fitty" week

I remember an ECFE parent educator explaining the cycles of childhood development and how some experts say during the 1/2 years of a child's life is when children typically undergo growth and lots of changes to make their lives out of sync and somewhat difficult.  I am thinking that this might be the cause of Kaitlyn and Allison's bad behavior ever since they turned 4 & 1/2.  This week has been somewhat difficult and tremendously crabby.  Today on the way to gymnastics I actually pulled the car over and threatened to take Allie back home if her fits didn't stop.  She seemed to snap out of her bad mood but then Katie got super snippy.  Hoping that this is just a phase!

This afternoon we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to Moeller Park for a quick outing.  We had fun picking leaf bouquets.

And had lots of fun on the playground equipment.  What are we going to do this winter when we can't go to parks anymore?

Corn Maze

For the last 3 years we have made an annual fall trip to Shakopee to play at Sever's Corn Maze.  We took advantage of the beautiful weather on Sunday and met Karen and Emily there for an afternoon of fun.  The weather was perfect with highs in the 70's and I would have to say everybody had a fun and fabulous Sunday. We started at the corn pit.

Then jumped on the trampoline pillows.

We took a hayride.

Then we went down the giant slide.  We had lots of fun being detectives and finding letters in the corn maze and then climbed up the observation tower.

We had more fun in the corn pit and pumpkin patch before we left.

Katie and Allie made it home without falling asleep but were hot little messes by the time 6:30 rolled around.  After a much needed bath (Katie and Allie were terribly dirty from all of the corn and dirt) they both fell asleep before 8:00.  Thanks to our friends for a fun filled day!

Flu Shots

Usually Kaitlyn and Allison fight all of the time about who is going to be first.  It gets quite overwhelming at times and I am really trying to work hard to let them know that it is so not that important to be first for everything.  Today I brought the girls to Metro Peds to get their annual flu shot.  On the way to the clinic I told the girls that it was flu shot day and Allison immediately told me that Kaitlyn could be first.  Kaitlyn didn't want to be first and said Allison could be first.  What a change in attitude!  After I told them that actually I was first to get my shot a few days ago, Kaitlyn agreed that she would be the first one for her shot.  She was brave but cried a bit after.  Allison started to cry when Kaitlyn cried and had a more difficult time getting her shot.  They both recovered quite quickly when I told them we could stop at Fairview Pharmacy and get a lollipop for their bravery.  They were happy to hear that there would be no more shots for a while!

Swimming lessons

Every Thursday afternoon Katie and Allie have swimming lessons at Wise Swim School in Apple Valley.  Allie has always been a bit better at swimming than Katie is.  I think that some of Allie's spunk helps her be a bit more competitive.  Katie also had a bit of a bad experience with a somewhat aggressive swim teacher at the end of summer and ever since that experience she has not wanted anyone to let go of her in the water.  So last Thursday as we were leaving the house to go swimming, Katie told me that she was not going to get in the water and swim that day.  I was a bit miffed and I told her that she needed to swim but she told me over and over that she was not going to get wet.  I asked a lot of questions like if she liked swimming and if she wanted to swim like all of her friends and she said that she liked to swim but she only wanted to swim with me and not anyone else.  I think as a parent this was probably one of the most difficult parenting decisions that I had to make.  I didn't want to force her in the water and really scare her yet I wanted her to know that at swimming lessons we swim and not sit on the sidelines.  I also know that I have days where I am just not in a mood to do things, so maybe she was having one of those days, who knows?  Needless to say, she did not swim on Thursday.  Allie did a great job!  There was a substitute teacher at lessons that day who was very aggressive and Ms. Allie did superb!  She swam at least 10 yards on her own, floated on her back for about 20 seconds with no help and jumped into the pool and swam about 5 yards on her own.  I was so proud of her!  I am hoping that Katie swims this week.. We have had numerous conversations about how she needs to swim and she promises that she will.  Maybe she was just having an off day? Let's hope it is as easy as that!

Here are some pictures of awesome Allie in the pool!

2 Naughty Little Monkeys

Yesterday I was trying to get my girls going in the morning when I heard, "Oh Mommy come up stairs."  They happened to be in my bedroom perched on the headrest of my bed.  What was even worse were the flying somersaults they performed dismounting from the headrest.  I guess all of the gymnastics skills they have learned are now being practiced in naughty ways.  As I proceeded to tell them what they were doing was not safe they became very naughty and started jumping and squealing like 2 very defiant little monkeys!



Purple Room

Kaitlyn and Allison are in the Pre-K "purple" room at New Horizon.  It seems like every time I drop them off at school there is so much chaos in that room.  When I dropped the girls off yesterday, I counted and there are about 30 kids in that room, along with 3-4 teachers.  Kaitlyn doesn't seem to mind all of the noise, but Allison just always seems to be a bit overwhelmed.  From the moment in the day that Allison knows she is going to school, she tells me, "Mommy please make sure you tell the teacher that I want my cot by Kaitlyn and I want to sleep by her."  I always reassure her that I will communicate that but I also tell Allison that she can also tell the teacher that.  So yesterday when I dropped the girls off I found Miss Ashley and told her that Allison wanted to be by Kaitlyn during quiet time.  After Allison and Kaitlyn finished going potty I noticed that Allison and Kaitlyn's cots were not by each other.  Allison started to freak out and cry, so I told Allison I would fix it and I moved their blankets so they would be by each other.  Kaitlyn then took Allison's hand and they started playing with some toys.  I am so proud of them when they take such good care of each other.  It always breaks my heart when I see Allison so sad but it warms my heart knowing they always have each other in this big, big world.

Silly Glasses

Today after gymnastics we went to Target to buy some things to decorate our house for Halloween.  While we were shopping, Katie and Allie snuck into the candy aisle and each found about 6 bags of candy that they really wanted.  As I was standing there explaining to them that we didn't need all of that candy I ran into a pharmacy colleague of mine who was shopping with her kids.  Donnelle thought the whole incident was hilarious!  After lunch we decorated our house before some of our ECFE friends came over for a play date.  While our friends were here we shared some of our Halloween items with them.

It is truly amazing how a $1.00 package of 4 pairs of silly glasses can turn any ones frowns into smiles!


Allie



Katie

We had fun with our friends Madison, Leah, Leif and Reed.  All of the kids enjoyed making their own treat bags to bring home.  My girls are so excited for Halloween!

Silly fever

Yes, it is true.  Katie is wearing underwear on her head.  My girls caught silly fever today!

Snippy and yippy

I felt bad for Allie today - she did not have a stellar day. It all started this morning when she woke up. I gave her a green glass of milk, but apparently she wanted an orange glass and she threw a big fit. She then got frustrated when the blanket she was using didn't cover her feet and her hair got in her eyes. As I was trying to tell her to use words and not to get so angry, she started yipping and snipping at me. In the car she got mad at me for because she dropped a sticker and I couldn't reach and pick it up for her. During her yippy fit, I opened the window and told her that she needed some cold air to cool off a bit. (I remember my mom telling my sister the same thing!). This afternoon when we went to Lifetime to swim, I brought along 2 swimsuit bottoms for her and no swimsuit top....so glad that Lifetime had extra swimsuits available because the pool was empty and we had the entire pool to ourselves. At least we had a happy moment. By the end of the day my patience about ran out and I am so glad she feel asleep early. Hoping that tomorrow will be a better day!

Baby Jesus

This has to be one of the cutest things my girls have done.  Katie and Allie love to play with their babies and tonight before their bath they decided that their baby dolls needed to be wrapped up in their blankets.  Katie then gave me the wrapped up doll and said, "Here Mom is my baby."  So I asked her what her babies name was and she said, "Baby Jesus."  Allie added that her baby was named Baby Jesus too and said, "Mom you have twin Baby Jesus's."  Then I asked who their babies Mom was and they said, "Mom, God is their Mom!"  I know that my Grandma Irene and Grandma Laura are definitely smiling in heaven right now.

Our fall hike

This weekend we had fun doing lots of different things, a kind of hodgepodge eventful weekend.  Saturday we were invited over to Ellie, Lucy and Lily's house for a play date.  We have not seen these adorable girls in a while, so it was so nice catching up with them.  Their mom, Katie, went back to work full time in April, and it was so nice to see all of her kids adjusting so well.  Ellie is 4, one day younger than my girls, and Lucy and Lily are 2 & 1/2 year old twins. My highlight of the day -  playing the memory game with Lucy!

Sunday after Sunday School we decided to go on a hike at Lebanon Hills Park.  The weather was a bit cool, at about 45 degrees, but we all dressed warm and headed out.  Katie and Allie were so excited to walk, running the first leg of our journey.  We were able to stop along the way and enjoy the fall day and Katie even found a huge mud puddle where she managed to get one of her boots stuck in the mud. 

About 30 minutes into our journey we had to make a choice if we were going to turn around and head back or follow the trail around the lake.  Being that Todd and I had never been on this hike around Jensen Lake before we decided to continue on the trail. It couldn't be that much farther back to our car right?  Well we made the wrong choice, and as Todd would describe it the hike from he_ _, we found out that at that point in our journey we weren't even a 1/4 of the way around the lake.  I would have to say that Katie and Allie did remarkably well, walking over a mile on their own , but there came a point in time where we had to carry them.  We ended up carrying them over a mile up and down many hills.  We later found out that we hiked about 2 & 1/2 miles.  I think we learned our lesson to always check the map before we start!  Todd and I were pretty exhausted Sunday night!

Sunday School

Kaitlyn and Allison started Sunday School last week at Shepherd of the Valley and this year Emily is in their class.  This summer I received numerous emails from the church desperately seeking Sunday School teachers so after much praying, I volunteered to teach Sunday School this year with my friend Karen, who is co-teaching with me.  It seems to be a perfect mix,  teaching every other Sunday.  Last Sunday was my first Sunday to teach and it went very well.  There are 4 girls and 6 boys in the class and everyone seems to be a good listener. I was a bit nervous to see how Kaitlyn and Allison would react to me being their teacher but things went very well. I will be hoping and praying for a very successful God Zone year! 

Dress Up

My girls have become obsessed with playing dress up!  Thinking back to my childhood I also remember quite fondly my sister and I getting all dressed up in my mom's shoes and jewelry and parading around the house.  Today we went to Emily's house for a play date and all of the girls had fun pretending to be princesses and fairies.  Emily greeted us at the door in her Cinderella dress and all of the girls changed their outfits at least 8 times before we went home.  I am thinking that a trip to JoAnn Fabrics may be in store for us today so I can make some more dress up clothes for the girls!  4 years old - what a delightful age to be!

Leaves

On Wednesday it felt like summer here in Apple Valley with highs in the upper 70's.  As a cold front moved in Thursday morning the weather quickly changed from being summer like to almost winter like.  Here is a picture of Allie enjoying one of the simple pleasures of life - jumping in a big pile of leaves.  I tried to get Katie to jump in as well but no such luck!

Park fun

Tuesday we went to Farquar Park for a little hike and play time.  Kaitlyn was super crabby all morning so I thought a trip to a park might cheer her up but her mood did not change much at the park.  Sometimes my girls revert back to when they were 2 and refuse to walk.  On most of the short walk Kaitlyn stood in the middle of the trail, her head hanging low, and refused to walk or move. Allie was a dream and scooted off and ran, thank goodness.  After a bit of coaxing Kaitlyn finally walked but at a very slow pace.  When we got to the play ground she finally got her groove on and had fun with Allie for a bit, but as soon as we decided to go home she became Miss Crabby Pants again!  At least I got a few smiles out of her!

When Todd got home for supper Allie was the crabby one.  It was nice that they both weren't crabby all day long!

Cuddle Bug Time

Both Katie and Allie decided to wake up this morning at 4:45AM.  I heard Katie open her door and say, "Oh Mommy."  The moment that I got Katie back in her room I heard Allie's door open.  All 3 of us snuck back into Katie's room and cuddled on the couch and the girls actually fell back to sleep for about an hour. Here is a picture of them cuddling with their favorite afghan:

This mama was very tired by the end of the day!

Weekend fun

Saturday was a busy day for us.  I worked in the morning and had an interesting time to say the least.  We had no internet or phone service at our clinic so we could not fill any prescriptions and had no working phones the entire day.  Lucky for us that we had our cell phones!  It made for a horrible morning with some customers not very understanding.  My day got better when I left work.  The weekend weather was superb with sunny clear skies and highs in the 70's so we took advantage of the weather and made a trip to Lebanon Hills park with our bikes. Our bike ride ended by the beach where the girls had fun swimming in the lake (with their clothes on) and catching tiny sunfish with their hands.

Sunday after Sunday School we went to Afton Apple Orchard in Hastings.

The girls were very excited to ride on the cow train, which they had remembered from last year.

Here is Allie riding in Dolly:

Here is Katie riding in Misty:

The train takes off:

After about 5 minutes of fun the train came back and we hopped on the wagon hayride to pick some apples.  The apples were hard to find, with most of them being rotten.  After we picked apples we headed to the playground where the girls had fun climbing the tire tower.  The day ended with feeding the animals at the petting zoo.

Here is Katie feeding a llama:

Here is Allie feeding a llama:

So blessed to be a mom to these 2 beautiful little girls!