Remembering Reggie

Yesterday was a very rough day for us. My family dog and truly one of the girls best friends, Reggie, had to be put down. Reggie has been the most amazing, loyal and patient dog I've ever come in contact with. Even non-dog lovers love Reg. I don't know that the girls really realize that he's gone for good yet, but no doubt, there will be tears shed once they know. Addalyn took care of her crying mommy yesterday by wiping my tears, Macey made her crying mommy laugh by jabbing my crying eyes with soaking wet pieces of toilet paper.

We have so many amazing memories with Reggie. May he Rest In Peace.

"Happy Birthday, Dear Poochie"

Addalyn has asked me more times than I can count when Poochie's birthday is. I always tell her that it's right before Macey's birthday (for those who don't know where she came from...a few weeks before Macey was due, my dad took me to the hospital because I was having lots of contractions. Addalyn was only a year and a half old at the time so dad walked her around the hospital to keep her entertained. They went into the gift shop and Addy picked Poochie up and wouldn't put her down, despite Papa's efforts to guide her towards a cheaper stuffed animal--haha!) Anyway, over the past few weeks, I can't seem to talk to Macey about her upcoming birthday party without Addalyn reminding me that Poochie's birthday is first. Sooooooo...yesterday we celebrated Poochie's 3rd birthday! Addalyn put bows in her hair, brought all of her stuffed animal friends out and took SO many pictures (over 30!). We ate pizza, made cookies and sang happy birthday. Pretty silly, huh? The funny thing is, I did everything I could to make Addalyn (and Poochie) feel special on this big day and Addalyn loved it...up until she apparently got concerned and felt the need to remind me that Poochie is NOT a real dog, but just a stuffed animal. Hahahaha!
*side note--this is actually Poochie the 2nd. The original Poochie started falling apart a few months ago so Gigi somehow found her twin online and ordered it and told Addy that she took Poochie to the groomer and they made her like new! We saved the original to show her when she's a little older.
Sheesh...this is a really long post about a stuffed animal! Sorry!

Fall Crafts

As it's started to get colder outside, we've had to get creative with our indoor activities (hence the indoor skating party last weekend). One thing that the kiddos love to do is make crafts. Macey is kind of squirrely during craft time, but she has fun nonetheless. We've made Halloween wreaths, a jack-o-lantern and a lovely haunted house (the girls clearly haven't heard the saying "less is more"!).

TOO MUCH SUGAR!

I have nothing to say here...the title says it all.

Fabulous Fairies!

Happy Halloween, Everybody!

Trick-Or-Treat!

Precious little fairies needed a break

Macey walking like a "grown up" according to Addalyn

The ninjas and the fairies

Trunk-or-Treat with Camryn, Addalyn, Emma (the fabulous sitters' daughter) and Macey (a.k.a. Hollywood with those sunglasses on!)

This was our 1st year actually trick-or-treating door to door and not just doing trunk or treat. It was actually pretty perfect because we only had to go about a block and a half around the neighborhood before they wore out. Macey was so funny around the bigger "scary" costumed kids. She wasn't shy about hollering down to me from the front porch "mama, him is scary!". She also walked 3/4 of the way with her arms crossed for some reason. Silly girl. Addalyn later asked her, "Mace, why were you walking like a grown-up the whole time with your arms like that?" Macey's response was the usual "MOOOOOOM, Addy said a bad word at me." Little stinker didn't realize I was within earshot and heard what her sister asked.

Playing In A Danger Zone

Our sidewalk finally got repaired! Hooray! Buuuuuuut, on both sides of the sidewalk there's a gaping hole that's over a foot deep that believe it or not, Macey managed to fall into. All of the leaves have filled it up so it's easy to forget it's there, but as Addalyn and Mace were raking up leaves and jumping into the piles, Mace went right down into the hole and hit her little face on the ground. She busted up her lip a little and had a good portion of the front yard stuck in her front teeth, but a little TLC from mommy is all it took and then she was all better.

Table For 7, Please!

Macey, Me, Jetta, Addalyn, Gentry, Hannah and Harlow

A dear friend of mine from middle school and part of high school drove all the way from Colorado to KC with her 3 little girls, just to have lunch with us! Okay, okay, that's not entirely true, but she did in fact make the drive with a 3 year old, 1 1/2 year old and 12 week old and we were lucky enough to get to see them. The girls ran around and played while Hannah and I caught up on the past 14 years and reminisced about being the last 2 chairs (that means we were really bad!) in our orchestra class and using the bows to our violins to scratch each others backs instead of practicing. :-) I am so grateful for our visit and our pretty hectic lunch (imagine that!).

Macey, Gentry, Addy

Macey and sweet baby Jetta (both of the girls sweetly/naively asked me for a baby sister after our visit)

But clearly I need some practice on how to hold a 12 week old baby! :-) The girls all took turns taking pictures.

Me, Hannah and Jetta (poor girl was dressed so cute but had a major accident--luckily her Mama had a spare onesie to put on her!)

Roller Girls

The girlies decided to have a skate party inside the other day. Addalyn was pretty thrilled that she can do it by herself now but Macey made it very clear that "I tan't do it by my own, mama!" so I held her hand as she slowly picked up her little feet and carefully walked around in her skates. Which to her, was apparently skating!

Sponge Rollers Rock!

So maybe the sleeping part didn't "rock" so much, but waking up to curly hair sure did. I did this last Tuesday night so the ladies could have curly hair for their Halloween party at the sitter's on Wednesday. I just thought they looked so stinkin' cute so I had to share.
PS--I had an AFTER photo, but my laptop died so I lost many pictures. I'm so heartbroken over it...thank goodness I have this blog and Shutterfly to store so many wonderful photos, videos and memories though!

Punkin' Patch

We just didn't bundle up enough for the pumpkin patch today. I think we (Papa and I--the girls weren't so bothered by the chill) only lasted 45 minutes with that cold wind. In that short time we fed some goats, slid down a few slides and saw lots and lots of pumpkins!

Bittersweet 8-)

A few days ago I was washing a few pots and pans and darling little Macey in her darling little relentless way, repeatedly asked for a drink. My answer of "give me a minute, Mace, mommy's washing dishes" was not good enough so she started to throw a fit. As I was rinsing a pot, I asked if she wanted a squirt of water in her mouth. She said yes, so I gave her a spray from the faucet. She got angry and screamed at me and ran off to her big sister for condolence. Which Addalyn was happy to provide. It's so sweet that her big sister took care of her, but I may be in trouble if they gang up on me!

What's On Macey's Mind?

The answer is, a little of everything! I have so many videos of conversations like this that I love to watch over and over. She has the sweetest little voice in the whole wide world, and quite the imagination!

She's Got Moves

This girl has so many talents. I'm sure she's woken up the neighbors by now with her concert she's been putting on for nearly an hour now. She's a huge Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood fan. Here she is rocking out to Carrie's "Cowboy Cassanova". I had a hard time keeping a straight face. She's so passionate during her performances! The darn sun kept slipping behind the clouds so it kept getting dark, but I think you can see what she's doing.