Happy Halloween!!!

Cali fell asleep and I never got a pic of her in her Halloween outfit, but y'all have seen it already. If you can't remember what she looked like, scroll down:-) Here she is all snuggly warm in her jammies, trying her hardest to get into this sucker.

The kids went trick-or-treating on our street, and then came home and helped pass out candy. We had a little more traffic this year than last. Still not a lot and I still ended up with candy left over! As you can see, Wesley did indeed stick with the Ninja Turtle gig for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW! lol Aubrey is a Halloween Princess. She considered wearing a Woody costume we have (yes Danelle, the one Davey wore). But changed her mind last minute.

This is our friend Celia. She spent the day with us. She is a sweet person and loves to play with the kids. We enjoyed having her today. We went shopping at Khols, and just hung out. We had pizza and snacks with our neighbors and sat outside until it was to cold and the mosquito's had eaten us all up.

TRICK-OR-TREAT? They got the treat:-)

Wesley's pumpkin. The other two did not get carved this year.

Aubrey dressed up like a puppy for school on Monday. She thought about wearing Wesley's Ninja Turtle costume, but went with the puppy. Good choice. She makes a cute puppy:-)

This morning, we had a photo shoot. Here we are attempting to get the kids dressed. They were to busy watching the birds outside our front window. The other day, Wesley "planted" bird seed all over in the front flower bed. So, the birds were up close today, instead of out in the tree.

Say Cheese!!!

My friend, Melanie, did our family pics and pics of the kids. I am really excited to see how they all turned out. She took close to 1,000 pics today!!!!!! Take a peek at her work at www.photographybymelle.blogspot.com

Thanks Brett and Mel!!!!

Fun Stuff Happening At Our House

So, the pictures are not in any order at all....I am to tired to put them in their proper sequence, so just bare with me.......:-)

Aubrey turned 3 this past week! We were very happy to have Grandma Tingey here to celebrate our birthdays (our= mom, dad, Aubrey). Besides the fact that the girls were sick and Grandma had her purse stolen (which as all women probably know, contained pretty much her whole life!), it was a great visit. Really, it was fun to have her here and to visit. She treated us all for our birthdays, and that is always fun. Hopefully next time she comes, the trip won't be so eventful. Thanks Grandma Tingey!!!

One thing about sick kids, we didn't leave the house much so we were able to work on some projects. Grandma crocheted, which she does very well. I worked on nursing cover-ups. And Aubrey worked on my curtains (you will see a picture below of her work).

Aubrey with all of her Birthday goods!

Even Wesley got to pick out a toy. He even shares it with Aubrey, sometimes.

It took Aubrey a few tries to blow out her candles. It was so cute to watch. She'd fill those cute little cheeks up with air and then blow.....but nothing would happen. lol She did finally get it. It was so funny. All she wanted was a "pink" cake. She was very pleased with what she got.

Brady had his own personal cup cake, Black Forest Cake (with out the chocolate shavings.....ooops!) I was hoping to take him climbing on his birthday.........but that was the day of the whole purse theft incident. I owe him!!! We did have a nice Chinese dinner that night though at one of our kids favorite places to go, Chef Chan's. How sweet is he? He chooses to go where the kids want to go and will eat on HIS birthday. ;-) That's my man! Always thinking of others.

Here is a little peek into my lovely curtain!!! There are seven cuts total, the longest being about 3 inches long. Lets just say I freaked out a little over this. I screamed and scared the poor girl half to death and then grabbed her and took her up to her room and told her, for her own safety, she better stay put for a while. Drawing on walls and furniture, and now this???!!! Honestly, I was upset about my curtains, just like I get upset about her art work on my walls. But, it is just stuff. I want her to learn to take care of things, and not destroy them. But I also realize she is probably just curious. She sees me cutting and sewing, and she wants to try it. I don't want her to feel like my "stuff" is more important then her, but I want her to respect me and the things we have in our home. So, she did get in trouble. And then I had to make sure she knew I love her, I just don't love that she cut up my curtains!!!! *sigh* My mother-in-law took me to Wal Mart last night and we got some stuff to patch them up....so hopefully they will end up okay!!!!!!!!

We've Been Workin' On......

We have been workin' on very important things, like teaching Cali to crawl. She has it down now:-) It is so cute. I tried to upload a short video clip......but as you see, it did not go through. So, you just get pics and have to trust me that she really is moving now. She still hasn't figured out she can go exploring. But can get around to what she wants to play with at the moment. She is growing up so quickly!!! *sigh* She is such a joy. We all just love her to pieces! She is almost always happy and smiles at everyone.



I've been workin' on other things as well. Like this nifty bow holder my friend showed me how to make. She even found the frame for me. I am very appreciative for her thoughtfulness, because this turned out soooo cute!!!

I painted the frame ivory, added the black dots and ribbon, and then we just hot glued straight lines of ribbon down the frame to hook the bows to. You can see in the above pic how we did it. You could decorate the frame however you'd like. Even do a few smaller frames and stagger them on the wall. I used a bigger frame. I have lots of bows, even more than what is pictured. Easy. Cute. Love it!

I wish I had a before picture for you.....this lovely little cabinet use to be part of the decor in Wesley's bedroom. It was dark blue and said TOYS down the front with letters from the alphabet on the sides. I have been trying to find the perfect little cabinet to fit in my half bath. The ceiling is slanted, and the space between the wall and sink really isn't very big. So, one day it hit me that I could totally paint that toy cabinet and the kids would never miss it. They never used it, except to knock over and use as a ship or something clever like that. So, I saved this poor little cabinets future by painting it and turning it into my toilet paper cabinet:-) (I modge podged the cute fabric into the squares). And Wesley didn't even really care that I took it until his dad opened his big mouth and said, "Hey, he got that for Christmas!" and of course Wesley heard him and pouted for about 2 minutes and then moved forward and hasn't missed it at all. Phew!!! Anyway, I think it turned out really cute. And now I am going to paint the slanted ceiling orange! (like burnt orange, not bright orange.) I think that will look fabulous. I am excited about it anyway.

So, now it is on to a few other projects I have started and need to finish. Like painting "the blue room", finishing up curtains, and preparing baby gifts for my sister-in-laws! Hooray!!!

Ready For Halloween:-)

Finished the skirts, leggings, and bows; now the girls are set!

ADORABLE!

Wesley is going to wear his Ninja Turtle costume for the THIRD year in a row. Except it should finally really fit him this year.:-) Here he is posing in his Halloween Ghost socks:-0

The bow.

I love the little ghost tights. Isn't she a pretty little ghost princess??

3 Little Pigs and Potty Talk

My kids love the Silly Symphony by Disney, 'The Three Little Pigs". Tonight, they built a "house of brick" out of all the couch cushions. Brady decided to play along as the big bad wolf and grabbed a fluffy animal skin we have over his back and said, "Little pigs let me come in!" to which Wesley replied, "You can't fool us with that old sheep skin!". I about wet my pants laughing. If you have never seen that cartoon, you won't get it. If you have seen it, you will realize that my kids had to have seen that cartoon a zillion times. They have the whole thing memorized.

On to Potty Talk.......

I have to confess that I have become desperate for my almost 3 year old to get over her 'poopin' in the pants' issue and just do what she certainly knows how to do; GO IN THE TOILET!! I finally became sooooo desperate that I did a horrible thing. Are you ready? *sigh* Well, I told her that if she didn't stop poopin' in her panties she was going to get a terrible rash which would most certainly result in a trip to the doctor to get a shot..........yes, a shot on her little bum cheek to get rid of the rash. Phew! I feel much better having admitted that. Now, the great thing is, she has gone two days in a row with almost no accidents. I say almost, because today she had what some would call the "hershey squirts". lol She was up watching a sing a long, when I hear her yelling for me to help her get some new panties. I asked what happened and went up into the bathroom where her slightly soiled panties lay on the floor. However, she did make it mostly in the toilet. I asked her, "oh, do you have the hershey squirts?", to which she replied, "yes, I have the fartie farts. I sorry mom." LOL Once again, I about wet my pants laughing. I told her it was okay, she tried to make it to the potty. So, we cleaned her up and went on with life. So, hopefully we will make it through the "farty farts" and she will continue to go in the toilet!!!

Cooler Weather = More Park Days

Now that it is FINALLY beginning to cool off, we are enjoying more and more days at the park. It has been fun. During the past couple of weeks we have been able to finally introduce Cali to one of Aubrey's very most favorite things to do; SWING!! Cali has always really enjoyed her baby swing, and she enjoys swinging at the park just as much. Aubrey has always loved to swing, and is finally getting to the point that she enjoys the slides and climbing, which is nice for me because she still can not figure out how to pump the swing and make herself go. She loves us to do "under swings" and get her going super high.

Dad had the day off, so he got to go to the park with us.

Cali liked watching the pigeons, ducks, geese, turtles, and nutria.

These little guys are called Nutria. They are amongst the ugliest creatures I think I have ever seen, however it was very cute to watch these little babies be fed (I think it is true that all babies, be they human or animal, are just cute in one way or another); they would reach their little hands up and take the food and then quickly back away and sit and gobble up the food, and then were back for more. Nutria remind me of the R.O.U.S's from 'Princess Bride'. 'Cept they aren't as big.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I love Aubrey's little giggle. It is so cute.

I couldn't get a smile out of her on camera....she was totally engrossed in watching the guy next to us swing his little boy. He was very loud and dramatic. She was very interested in him. I promise she was having fun. ;-)

I made the kids hats with my hat looms my Mother-in-law gave me a few years ago. They may never need to wear them down here, but they were excited about them. Cali was hungry and in no mood for picture taking. I still think she looks so darn cute!!!

Wesley is doing well in school. He needs to work on cutting and his hand writing a little, but that does not surprise me.

Just a cute picture of Cali........Still TRYING to crawl.