Holy Cuteness Batman!

Oh my gosh.

I couldn't STAND it.

Jen in a butterfly costume nearly sent me over the edge.

Nothing but her little chubby face and cheeks poking out.....it was a recipe for disaster.

I couldn't stop myself.

I wanted to EAT HER FACE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here.....take a look and tell me you wouldn't have done the same darn thing.






Then there was Steph in her last minute costume change.

For weeks all she wanted to be a karate girl and wear her karate uniform (they have both been going to karate classes for about 6 weeks now). Just 2 nights ago she informed me that being in her karate uniform "wasn't cool" and that she wanted to be something scary.

A mummy was her scary costume of choice but I had to make the executive decision that there wasn't enough time for that.

Her second choice was a vampire.

A cape, some fake teeth, and a bit of fake blood were all that was needed to make her happy.






Oh....and just for future posterity sake: it RAINED on us this Halloween. I'm pretty sure it was the first time that's happened in the almost 11 years I've been living in PA. Ron and the girls came back after just an hour of trick-or-treating.

Soaked.

And Steph was balling and telling me this was "the worst Halloween EVER".

Oh well. At least her costume was cool.

We can't forget about Jen!

After seeing her big sister zipping around on her new bike without training wheels (see previous post for WAY more pictures than necessary on that subject) Jen decided that she needed to try this whole bike "thing" out for herself. We went out and got her a new big girl bike and let her have at it. All I have to say on this subject is:

1. No bloody incidents. Thank GOD for that.

and

2. Dang if this kid isn't the cutest thing E-V-E-R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

Still behind on Summer pics.....

Let's do some more catching up!

Without a doubt one of the biggest accomplishments of summer 2009 was when Stephanie finally decided that she wanted to take the training wheels off of her bike. We had been asking her since last year if she wanted to try, but she was content with the security of always having the wheels there - JUST IN CASE. We didn't want to push her and we figured that at some point she would want to give it a try. I think I know the EXACT moment it happened too.

We were camping with friends of ours in May and their daughter Macy (who is slightly younger than Stephanie) and their son Jack (who is YEARS younger than Stephanie) were zipping around the campground like crazy on their bikes. Sans training wheels. Poor Steph had a hard time keeping up, they were literally lapping her around the loop. On the way home she commented that she wanted a bigger bike and that she was ready to do away with the training wheels, so that very day we went out and got her one.

We quickly realized that for learning purposes the smaller bike was better, so that's what she learned on. Here are a few pics from the first real day of trying.






That's Steph's Uncle Chris helping her out (one of Ron's brothers). Daddy was a bit too....shall we say...impatient (and would just let go expecting her to ride off into the sunset, then be stunned when she would crash into the bushes or a trash can), and mommy needed to take pictures (DUH!) so Uncle Chris kindly offered his services.

This next shot is a terrible blurry picture, but I love it. It shows her excitement after the first time she was able to pedal herself straight for a few seconds with control over where she was going. She was thrilled and so proud of herself.




Let me just stop right there with the cuteness and be real. This was not AT ALL fun. She was very frustrated that she couldn't just hop on the bike and ride like her friend Macy. We had to do lots of practicing for 10 minutes, then break time for an hour to cool off. Then practicing for 10 more minutes, then tears because she would scrape her leg or her hand, then break time for another 30 minutes. The good news was that she was always excited to get right back on the bike. Thank goodness. As for me, I was a nervous wreck. Each time she would panic and be headed for doom I would tense up like crazy and forget to breathe. I'm sure I was traumatized. Poor Jen....she may never get to try this. I don't think I can take it a second time around......

Let me also say that we did not come away without a few really nasty bloody "incidents". Her legs were so badly scraped up from her knees down to her feet because she refused, or kept forgetting, to use her breaks. She would put her feet down to stop and the pedals would scrape into her. Poor thing looked diseased for a week. At one point she literally bounced off the pavement, and at another point she ran into the corner of the camper WITH HER FACE. Yep. Bounced off of it like rubber and had a nasty gash on her bottom lip that was "this close" to requiring a doctor's visit.

These last few shots are from the next day (before the face-meets-the-camper episode).





After a day or two of more "incidents" she finally got her confidence and was off and running. Now, she's a pro and rides her big bike. We're so proud of her, GO STEPH GO!!!!

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

My sweet little "babyhead" (her nickname since she was tiny) is turning 8 years old today.

8 YEARS OLD!!!! Where did the time go!?

She is growing up into such a beautiful person, so sweet and loving and really the best big sister a little girl could ever have. We are all so lucky to have her in our lives and I feel blessed every day that I get to call her my daughter. These past 8 years have been nothing but wonderful and I'm excited to see what the next 8 years will bring.

We love you Steph, happy birthday!

A big announcement

I just posted a big announcement on my sewing blog funsize creations.

Click on the link to go check it out.....

:)

A flashback.....

Steph and Jen have those toothbrushes that sing a song. The point of it is that they are supposed to brush the entire time the song is playing (I believe it's either 2 or 3 minutes) to ensure a nice long brush time.

This morning Steph came in to me and said that she was upset because Jennifer was playing the song on Steph's toothbrush while she brushed her teeth instead of the song on her own toothbrush.

It gave me a flashback.

A few months ago Jen was supposed to be brushing her teeth and she was being WAY TOO quiet. I snuck over towards the bathroom and peeked inside and saw her cleaning the counter and nozzle with Stephanie's toothbrush. As soon as I said "What are you doing?" she jumped out of her skin, threw the brush down, and said "nothing". I can only imagine how many times she had done that before and what else she decided needed a good scrubbing courtesy of Steph's brush. *shudder*

Clearly I didn't tell Steph what I saw (in order to save my ears from the inevitable whining), I just replaced her toothbrush.

Flash forward to this morning when she was complaining about Jen listening to the song on her toothbrush. I couldn't help it. I blurted out, "Well....at least she's
not cleaning the counter with it."

To which Steph replied, "Yeah. That would be GROSS."

Yep Steph, I concur.

:)

Ocean City, NJ - post #2

On the second day of our Ocean City trip we woke up in the hotel room with every intention of having another wonderful beach day, but Mother Nature had different plans. It was raining buckets. And it did so nearly all.day.long. Instead of heading home and letting the weather ruin our trip we decided to spend the day at Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey.

It was our first time there and we had a great time. The girls really enjoyed touching the sharks, the sea anemones, and the starfish. My favorite part of the entire day came during the 3D Spongebob Squarepants show. You don't know this before the show starts but they have sprayers in the backs of all the seats which spray a mist of water from them. There's a part in the show where a sailor takes a BIG drink and spits it out towards the camera. At that exact moment a mist of water hits you right in the face. Steph, who was sitting next to me, yells out "He just SPIT on me!" She's wiping the water off with this disgusted look on her face and I am trying my hardest not to laugh at her. It took 3 or 4 sprays from that thing for her to realize that we were all getting wet and that it was coming from the back of the seat and not from the movie!

A few shots from the day.....











Thanks for looking!!!