Keira day

Since we were off of school today, we were available to help out Dan and Lacey with a babysitting need for the afternoon. All week, the girls have been counting down to "Keira day." We loved having her all to ourselves for a few hours!

Big cousin Camryn was a BIG help today!

She even got her very first diaper change in!

"Are you sure she can handle this?"

Yep, she's good!

"I'm coloring. What?"

"Oh boy..."

Holding hands.

Aubrey LOVES her baby cousin. She even cried when it was time for Keira to leave. :(

Give her a year or two, and these 3 girls will cause some serious trouble together...
Love you, Keira!

Aubrey-ism #472

A few nights ago, the candy fairy came (For those of you out of the loop, she swoops in a few nights after Halloween, and trades *almost* all of a child's candy for a fun, new toy, and then redistributes the candy to sad boys and girls around the country who didn't get to go trick-or-treating, thereby also eliminating the constant begging and blood sugar fluctuations and cavities associated with said candy being in the house. We love her.) ;)

In any case, she left the girls each a package of Squinkies. (Don't ask. Just Google it.) Aubrey's happened to be a variety of puppy dogs, which she has lovingly cuddled, played with, and bounced around ever since. As she played yesterday, I overhead her oohing and aahing over her tiny dogs, and heard her say, "I yuv dese puppies! Dey is such cute puppies inna wholest wowld eva!"

I think she likes them. (Grin.)

Harvest Party with Grandpa!

Thanks to my dad's new job, he has a lot more flexibility in his schedule. When Camryn figured this out, she immediately realized that he might be available to attend her Harvest Party at school. Man, was she excited to invite Grandpa!

And so he attended a first grade party with a bunch of sugar-crazed six year olds on the afternoon of Halloween(!) When I got there for the last bit, he was taking pictures, helping with crafts, and had even dressed up as the cowboy to her cowgirl. :)

I'm not sure how great of a time Dad had, but I know that Camryn LOVED having him there for a special afternoon. THANKS GWAMPA!

Pumkin bowling...

Keeping tabs on everyone else...

There's a spider on Grandpa's hat! :)

Happy Halloween!

We've done our fair share of trick-or-treating these past few years, but this was our first year experiencing a "big kid-style" Halloween evening. Instead of just heading out as a family of four, and hitting a few well-known neighbor's homes, it was a full-on celebratory event! We first trekked over to Skip & Connie's (our old next-door neighbors...now an annual tradition) and then headed to a chili-feed dinner with friends up the hill. The kids ran, squealed, ate, and played as the anticipation over the evening's festivities built to an ear-piercing volume.

After dinner, we hit the streets with our clan of kids (10 in all!) The parents tried desperately to keep up, as the kids (ranging in ages from 2-9) RAN from house to house, clamoring all over each other for the almighty candy. We finally made it to our house, just as Aubrey's little legs were about to give out (this was her first Halloween without a stroller for backup.) She was happy with her loot, and eager to warm her hands and rest her legs in the comfort of her jammies. :)

Soon after, cousin Keira stopped by to show off her costume, though she was none too excited about it. Such a sad little ladybug... Luckily, she cheered right up once the costume was off and she was enjoying smiles, tickles, and coos from her auntie and cousins. :)

Camryn was so tired by this point, that she did a quick sort of her candy, and then actually asked to go to bed, while Aubrey would have stacked, sorted, and rearranged her treats all night long (great, another OCD child!) We practically had to pry her candies out of her hands once we decided it finally time to enforce (a much belated) bedtime.

All in all, it was a FUN night. Tuesday morning, though? That was another story...

Halloween Preview

As per our tradition, I once again took the girls to the Fall Festival at Templeton this year. They were so eager to wear their costumes and get candy, that it really wasn't a question whether we'd go or not, once they found out about it!

This year, our friends, the Fryes joined us, and even with 3 adults in attendance, it was quite a chore to keep track of 5 kids amongst all of the candy-crazed chaos. It was so fun to share our tradition with them though, and we can't wait to join them again on Halloween!

Howdy, partner!

Rapunzel, in all her golden glory. :)

Our best attempt at getting all 5 kids in the same photo. Sad, isn't it?

Not amused...

I'll trade you...

Felicia drives the Mystery Machine!?

BFFs. :)

Shoe horse

Ever since she was tiny, Aubrey has always loved shoes. She will often raid my closet, or her sister's, (or even her Daddy's!) and try on any and all of our shoes. Tonight I finally received a pair of pumps I had ordered online a few weeks ago, and literally had them open for fewer than five minutes, when she had already stolen them away, and was prancing around my bathroom, bedroom, and closet in them.

As she watched her feet while she pranced around, she muttered, "Wow, dese are nice shoes! Dey are vewy pwetty!" And then she turned to me, very seriously and said, "You should get me some of dese!"

As I laughed out loud at her comment, I noticed the shirt she was wearing today. Which made me laugh even harder. Kind of appropriate, don't you think?

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Hay rides, a pumpkin hunt, kettle corn, face painting, climbing, jumping, sliding, and pumpkin bowling! What a fun, Fall, family day!!!