Trick or Treat 2013...

Trick or Treat!!!

While I don't love Halloween and all of its spookiness...I do love that the girls get to celebrate it by dressing up in fun costumes and spending time with family. This year for Halloween we went trick or treating with Todd's older 2 brothers and their families. We had  yummy taco dinner and then headed out for some fun!

Todd and I had some Disney princesses on our hands this year...as Maggie dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast...and Sadie dressed up as Ariel the Little Mermaid.

They loved their fancy costumes!

Cousin time...Lincoln, Davis, Sadie, Maggie, Lucy, Faith and Claire.

Great night out...

Love my little family!

We had brought along our little wagon for Sadie...

She loved riding in it and would sprint back to it after collecting candy.

Cousins Lucy, Faith and Mags...aka...the Dragon fly, Minion and Belle.

Dora Live...A Pirate adventure!

D-D-D-D-Dora! Dora, Dora, Dora...the Explorer!

Well unless you have preschooler...you probably don't know that tune. But my girls sure do! They are both Dora the Explorer (from the NICK jr. cartoon) fans.

At the end of September, Dora and all her friends came to town...Casa Manana town that is. She took all the audience on a Pirate Adventure. It was Sadie's first stage play, Maggie's second...and Sadie's first time to be at Casa. Such a fun thing to do with my girls, since I grew up doing the same. We went with my sis-in-law Jenny and two precious nieces, who area also Dora fans. We had an early dinner at Chili's and headed to Casa for the show at 7.

Lucy (7), Maggie (6), Claire and Sadie (both 3)...cousins and friends!

Sweet girls...

If you are going on a Pirate Adventure, you must dress the part, right?!

What a cute pirate crew!

It was a super fun night out with all the little girls! 

Pumpkin Patch 2013...

The changing of the seasons from Summer to Fall is always a great time, marked with one of my favorite days of the year. PUMPKIN PATCH day! This year we returned for a 4th year to our favorite patch. The Blackcreek Pumpkin Patch in Decatur (my old hometown), is a locally owned and operated little farm/patch. 

It always has a lite crowd, happy sweet animals, tons of pumpkins and photo ops and endless fun for the kiddos.

This time it ended up just being my bestie Sarah and I. We almost ran out of time to go this year. Between sickness, school, work and church activities...we could hardly find a day for our usual crew of 4 best girlsfriends+kids to go. So Sarah and I ran out to the patch one afternoon after naps. We had not been there in the afternoon before, but think we may have found the best time. The lighting was great for pics and there was no crowd at all. In fact, we only had 2 other families there with us. The kids loved practically having the entire place to themselves. 

Love, love, love pumpkin patch pictures!!! Warms my heart...

We always love seeing the animals at the patch...this year they had some new bunnies. So sweet!

Checking out the chicken coop...

Our whole crew was able to hold a little chick...

And the goats were so tiny and sweet...and hungry!

I sure do have some animal lovers!

Some serious goat LOVE!

Man, look at my blue eyed girl!

Fun on the playground...

Face painting...Maggie is so into Peace Signs right now. Seems like such a big girl thing. :-(

And my little sweet heart, got a heart.

Best of friends...Clayton and Mags.

Time for a barrel train ride...

Or a ride on the school bus...hehe,

Or a hayride?!?

A sunset hayride to end the day...

Love them so, and pray they will always be close!!!

Thank you Lord for new seasons, and for revealing your Glory thru nature and all that you have made!

Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Tiny Dancer...

Now that our darling little Sadie-Bug is 3, we decided she might enjoy a little dance class. We signed her up for the 3-5 year old ballet/tap class at one of our local Community centers. It is a small little class of 10 girls that meets each week for 45 minutes. She was very, very excited about it. I let her pick out a tutu and we practiced a few moves that Maggie could remember from her dancing days. So fun to have something that is just for her!

Our little tiny dancer!!!!

OMG, it doesn't get any cuter!

Lined up on her mark ready to go. She did really well that first class. She only got distracted once, with herself in the mirror. She may or may not have given herself a kiss in the mirror...hehe! Funny girl!

What a joy she is!

Big kid milestone!!!

October 1st marked a big, big, BIG kid milestone for our Maggie. She learned to ride her bike with out her training wheels. She had tried about a month before with no luck. 

After that, we had heard about a certain technique. And it worked! We had heard of taking off the pedals...completley. We had already taken off the training wheels and then also took off the regular pedals. All she had was her legs/feet to get her bike moving. It totally taught her how to balance and glide. After 2 weeks, she was begging Todd to put her pedals back on. So he did. 

While he was replacing them, he was giving her a few pointers. She stopped him in mid sentence and said..."Daddy, I got this. Just let me do it." AHHHH! A foreshadowing of days to come, I am sure. But the crazy thing is. She did do it. She hopped right on that bike and took off and rode over 100 ft the first time. We were sooooo impressed! Shocked and excited! 

Last time with training wheels...

Both the girls LOVE to ride bikes! 

Concentrating so hard...

Getting some pointers...

And then zoooooommmm....there she went! Love her big grin.

A video from her first day of bike riding success....

Love to all...thanks for celebrating in the small (big to us) things!