Two and a Half

My big girl Chloe got a big girl bed last week. This was a tough one for me. I had to take the crib down for good and we're getting rid of it. That is really sad for me! However.....she LOVES her bed. She is so excited to be in it and get out of it. The first night she was in the bed she was soooo excited that she could get out of bed on her own that she woke up at 4:16am exactly and turned on all the lights. Then she came into our room and hit Justin in the chest and said LOUDLY, "I awake!" She was so happy that it just broke her heart when we told her it was still night time and she had to go back to bed. You can probably guess that she didn't go back to bed. She slept a few minutes on Justin's chest on the couch. She knows now to get out of bed until its light outside.

She's my cutie and my new buddy. Since she has recently stopped taking naps she is my shopping buddy when I drop off Charli at school. Now I can grocery shop and run errands after 1pm! She especially LOVES to shop.....for clothes, Christmas stuff, all of it! She asks me everyday if we can go shopping. She has become my newest little helper and friend. I remember having fun with Charli at this age and just going everywhere together......its a good stage. Love it!

And my newest favorite things she does is pronounce the word "gloves" as "glubbs," and she sings the Little Mermaid Ariel song. She knows the whole thing and its adorable to hear her sing it. She and Charli decorated their pink tree together a few days ago. It was very exciting for them (and me). Charli helped me do our tree too, and I was thoroughly impressed with her. She was such a good helper and really made it fun and easier. I could really tell she's growing up.

Daphne, Minnie, and Some Hillbillies

Here are my cutie pies on Halloween. Charli started out with this wig........

Then we had to paint her hair orange....wig wouldn't stick.
Minnie Mouse was adorable and LOVED Halloween. She talked a lot about "scary people being pretend."

We went to a costume party for lunch on Halloween. All the adults had to dress up as well. Everyone looked great....we had Dora & Diego, a couple of sleepy heads still in pjs with coffee, one couple swapped outfits (the husband dressed as the wife and vice versa), hunters, punk rockers, and Justin and I were hillbillies. It was such a fun party, lots of food and games.

Trick-or-treating with our friends.....

Chloe held Gavin's hand.....so sweet.She LOVED to ring door bells. By the time she rang the bell about 5 times and all the other kiddos knocked and rang, I bet it was a dozen times each door!

After our marathon trick-or-treating in two neighborhoods, the girls camped out at the front door to hand out candy themselves. In hindsight, not such a great idea for Chloe. Late at night is when the big kids with "scary costumes" come to the door. She would peel off that chair running as fast as she could to me or Justin. We finally had to shut this operation down due to the scary costumes.
Was a fun night. Loved it all. The next morning, Charli woke up and said, "Mom, you said after Halloween we could start watching Christmas movies....let's watch one." So tonight we are watching the Grinch. It has started.....we aren't skipping Thanksgiving....just mixing it all together to enjoy it to the fullest. Best time of the year!

Pumpkin Patch

Can I just say that I love our community group?! We had the best time at the pumpkin patch with our friends last night. It was perfect weather, and no rain. Charli rode a camel, we took a hayride, took way too many pictures, and fed lots of animals. I love fall and am having fun this week!! Looking forward to the rest of the week!

(Chloe putting the moves on Asher....way too cute!)

Pumpkin Week!

We are having some pumpkin fun this week. This weekend Justin carved a jack-o-latern with the girls. Chloe had never done this before (last year was Charli's first). So they both participated. They helped scoop out the goo from the inside of the pumpkin and watched Justin intently. Afterwards, they got to paint the little pumpkins they found in our pumpkin hunt and place everything outside when they lit the jack-o-latern.


Tonight we are supposed to head to the pumpkin patch with our family community group.....but we might get rained out. Whenever we get to go, there will be more pics coming. This will be a fun week. Lots of fall birthdays to celebrate and then trick-or-treating. Hopefully I will get to keep up with putting the pics on the blog!

Happy Birthday Charli!

My little Charli turned 5 on Monday. I haven't blogged yet because it overwhelms me a little to try to put into words these milestones my little girls have. I am having so much fun with the precious little girl she is becoming, but miss that tiny little Charli so much. The older she gets, the less I remember baby Charli. Ugh.....

Anyway, we had a blast celebrating her this past week. She had a brownie sundae birthday party. Thanks so much to all our friends and family that came to celebrate. It was a GREAT birthday for her. We had pizza, balloons, a tinkerbell pinata, and a pumpkin/candy hunt. So many of her little friends came and made it so much fun. After all that, we had the kids make their own brownie sundaes. That was so fun to watch. We had everything you could think of to top those sundaes....marshmallows, cherries, m & m's, chocolote chips, oreos, sprinkles, syrups, whipped cream....yummmm! The adults liked it as much as the kids!! I totally thought the kids would pile on all this junk and then not eat it, but they did eat it.....every last bit of it! What a sugar high.

Charli got this tinkerbell pajama gown from my Papaw and immediately put it on after the party, with her new crown and fuzzy ball gloves and began to hammer away with her tools! Too funny! She has been asking for tools for a year or so and one of her friends got her a set and Justin and I got her a tool/work bench. I felt a little weird buying her a tool bench, but as you can see.....she 100% princess working with these tools.

This is the first year she understood completely that her actual birthday was on Monday and her party was Friday. So she got to drag out the birthday. We had a special day on Monday and I even got to go to her class at school and bring a treat for the kids. Monday night she got her gifts from us and then Tuesday off to the dr. for her 5 year check up. She is still limping (for real) from the FOUR shots she had to get. It was a sad experience and she has always been so dramatic about the shots. Never been able to walk afterwards. Justin has ALWAYS had to carry her to the car since she was two. Chloe cries one minute and never mentions it again. Charli drags her legs, limps and can't walk. Too funny. And still won't take the bandaids off. We took her to build-a-bear for her last bday present after the horrific shots ordeal. Its been a fun week. Fun to look back at our baby Charli and fun to watch her grow. She a fantastic little girl and I love her.

Family Campout

I have had great goals of several blog posts this week, but I am just now getting around to the first idea. This week is a big week for my family. Charli turns five on Monday. I had so many ideas and thoughts about my first baby turning five, but that will have to wait until later. She is on fall break now....which is weird for me....this is the first time the school calendar affects my life. We spent the day playing together and I am enjoying this milestone week with her of turning five.

Now to the campout. Our families community group had a family campout over weekend. It rained all before and got really cold, but we still had a fantastic time. The weather really didn't hamper the campout at all. We have some great friends with the perfect house for a campout. They even have a small "island" with a fire pit. We had tents, campfire, roasted hot dogs, smores, and even had fireworks! It was the best time! All of the older kids and their dads camped outdoors in the tents overnight. The kids LOVED it. Charli will never forget her first sparkler and first campout in a tent! Great fun. Here are many pics of the night.

Too Much Fun

That is how I describe this past weekend....too much fun. If you can have a "fun hangover" I definitely did yesterday! This was one of the busiest weekends I have had in a long time, but all fun! Just need a few days of sleep to catch up from it!

We had our first ever Foundations ladies' weekend on Beaver Lake. We had 14 ladies and it was totally fun. Very laid back....easy going weekend. We drove up to the lakehouse, ate dinner and then hung out in the house baking cookies and playing games. So great!! It was very cool to get to know new people......ladies I see all the time, but haven't gotten to know. And boy do you get to know people playing games and eating cookies late at night. :)

Then Saturday night we had a small gathering watching the OU game....lots more eating and more fun.

Sunday......church, lunchtime birthday party and then off to Disney on Ice at the fair. By this time, I was running on coffee fumes. The girls (and us too, to be honest) were so excited to be at Disney on Ice. It was extra special for the girls because since they went to Disneyworld in the spring they feel like they "know" each Disney character. So they got to see their "friends" again. As soon as it started and Mickey and friends came out, Chloe started yelling and waving, "HIIIII MICKEY! HIIIII MINNIE!" So cute!! Charli just smiled ear to ear. The whole thing was great. Chloe let me hold her the entire two hours, which is a treat for me. She's not the cuddling type like Charli. So I never get to hold her. And Charli was cold and snuggled up with Justin the whole show. Justin and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. Great weekend. We are very blessed.

One cute note.....I wasn't the only one worn out by this weekend. The girls spent Friday and Saturday with Justin, so that means "GO, GO, GO" for them. He always does so many fun things with them to keep them occupied. Then after church, bday party, disney on ice and school the next day, Charli crashed. Charli NEVER takes naps...even when she needs them. But yesterday she came home from school, sat down on the couch while I was making dinner and then crashed. Chloe and I were not quiet either! Bless her little tired heart. And the saddest part to me is my FOUR YEAR OLD takes up the whole couch.....so loooooong. My big girl.

Coming soon....we have a family campout this weekend with our community. I really love our church and the community God has built. The ladies' trip, family campouts, mom's group....love it all. This weekend our community group is actually having a campout. Roasting hot dogs, smores, tents, sleeping bags....the works. How fun is that?? Can't wait! Let's pray for no rain!