2 Weeks in Review

I have friends who do a Week in Review every week, but I'm lucky to post once a month these days! So here is my "2 Weeks in Review." :-)

Justin and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary on November 18. We had a great lunch date that day (we couldn't go out that evening because it was a Wednesday!). Unfortunately we didn't take a picture together that day.

London's 3rd birthday was November 20. That day we went to Build-A-Bear, Chuck E. Cheese, and McDonald's! What a day!

The next day she had a princess party. She dressed as a princess of course.

the princess cake

blowing out the candles

Marley has just started having rice cereal and a little baby food recently, but at the party she decided she wanted to upgrade to Coke. We didn't let her of course. :) Notice her tutu--she and Hannah had to dress as princesses too!

the three baby cousins--Marley, Grayson, and Hannah

Daddy and his princess

On November 22 (my 32nd birthday) we had our parent commitment service at church with Marley. This is a picture that my mom took of the screen. We got a really good family picture but I'm not posting it because I might save it for our Christmas cards!

If you get my mom's Christmas card, you'll probably see this picture or one like it on her card this year! Sweet kiddos! (Those are London's feet in front of Marley.) :-)

Big Week at Our House!

This weekend we worked in the yard. I planted some pansies and Justin picked up all of the pine needles that had fallen so far. With the rain and the wind yesterday, there are already a lot more on the driveway and in the yard. Poor Justin! While I planted some of the pansies, Carter and London made a "garden" with the rest of the flowers and some of their stuffed animals. Then Carter asked us to take a picture for me to put on my blog! So here it is.

Marley had her first taste of real food this week, if you want to call very-watered-down rice cereal "food." We've thickened it up a little more the last few times, and she seems to be enjoying it.

London will be turning 3 years old on Friday, so we have been warning her that it's time to put her pacifiers up. (Way past time, but you know what I mean.) Anyway, last week we told her that she just had a few more days with it. So Thursday night was her last night to sleep with it. Here is a picture of her with it before she went to sleep that last time with it.

On Friday morning, she put it in a baggie with Marley's name on it and we put the baggie at the top of Marley's closet. She wanted it back for nap time that day, but we didn't give it to her, and she went to sleep without it. She's been paci-free ever since! She hasn't even mentioned it except to say that she doesn't use it anymore. She's very proud of herself (as she should be!). Tonight she decided she wanted to put her duck up in the closet too. For those of you who know about her duck, this was a huge declaration. I told her she didn't need to do that, and that big girls can still sleep with ducks. But she wanted to, so we put it in a baggie too and put it up there with the pacis. We were all sad except for her. But not to worry--the duck is back where it belongs in bed with her! She only made it ten minutes in her bed without it. :-)

And a few more pictures of my sweet girls (not sure where Carter was for all of these pictures!):

That brown thing in London's hand in the picture below is her duck!

Halloween Celebration--Part 2

After we left the pumpkin patch (see that post below), we headed home so the girls could take naps and we could eat lunch. Then we all headed to Boo at the Zoo! You're supposed to wear your costume, but the horse costumes would have been too cumbersome to have on while they walked all over the zoo. So we improvised! London wore this pretty princess costume that my mom just bought her to wear for her birthday.

Carter wore this Superman costume that Shelly got him for Christmas last year. This is his best friend, Caitlynn. I didn't notice when I took the picture, but they're holding hands! How sweet! They have big plans to get married one day. Caitlynn said that London can be the flower girl. What do you think London would think about being a twenty year old flower girl?! :-)

After Boo at the Zoo, it was time to go trick-or-treating! The kids decided they just wanted to stay in the same costumes they were in, which was fine with us. We stopped by the Barrets' and the Winegearts' houses, and then we headed over to Sissy and Wesley's. Shelly had cooked a big meal for us. I told her I didn't know there was such a thing as "Halloween dinner," but now I was going to expect it every year!

Marley was a ladybug. We put her on this chair, and she was slipping and sliding all over it. We were laughing so hard! We barely got a picture of her--this is the best we could do.

sweet little Hannah

We tried to get one of the babies together, but Marley just couldn't stay sitting up in her costume. She was kicking Hannah in this picture, and Hannah doesn't look too happy about it!

The Hayes clan

We don't normally do so much to celebrate Halloween, but there were just so many fun opportunities! Hope you had a great time with your family too.

Halloween Celebration--Part 1

We did 4 different things for Halloween, so I have too many pictures for just one post! So I'm going to do a Part 1 and a Part 2. On Thursday, Carter and London had their Halloween parties at school. I didn't get a really great picture of London in her pink horse costume, so here is a picture of them trying on their costumes when I first bought them in September.

This was London's first school party, so she didn't seem to really know what to expect. But they went trick-or-treating around the church, and then she got to eat a cupcake and a cookie, so I think she realized pretty early on that this party thing was a great idea! :-)

It was kind of hard for them to sit down in their horse costumes, but they managed.

Here is London getting some candy from one of the church staff members.

Marley and I walked around with London's class until Carter's class caught up, and then we walked around with him for a little while.

It was warm that day, so I put Marley in this cute outfit from my mother-in-law. It was too big for her this summer, but it fit just right last week. And look, Mom, Marley has on socks!!!

On Friday we loaded everyone up and headed to the pumpkin patch, but when we got there, it was closed due to weather! It was a beautiful, dry day, but we think the ground must have been too wet from earlier in the week. The kids were disappointed, especially London, because she had big plans to ride in the princess car. But we went to Sonic to play on the playground instead, and they were fine. I thought they would forget all about it, but I was wrong! When I woke up on Saturday morning, Justin said they had been talking about it since they woke up. He had a guitar lesson that morning, so...I loaded them all up and brought them myself.

Here is Carter in the Lightning McQueen car. It's a fun ride behind a tractor.

And here is London in the princess car that she just had to ride...except that she didn't ride it. She decided it was TOO scary, but she did sit in it for this picture.

And my beautiful baby Marley...if this sweet, happy girl doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will! :)

Sweet kiddos

October 25, 2008--What a difference a year makes!

Check back soon for Part 2!