Thanks (for the) giving dresses

In honor of my 7th Anniversary with the man of my dreams, for church today my little girls wore the flower girl dresses that 2 of my nieces wore to my wedding.

I recently got a tub of girl clothes from my sister Ronda and in it was the dress Livia is wearing. Then I called Leesa and Jill to see if either still had the baby size dresses so that Annie could match her on our special day. They were both so kind to send them! Hence the matchiness. :)

Here's a photo of them at my reception. Aren't these kids so adorable?

Were then... and still are today. :)

super readers....

Last year my sister, Ronda, told me about this little event her kids look forward to every year. So last year, we did the necessary work to be able to go as well.

The event was last January... Sam is still asking when we get to go back! I'm so glad it's almost that time again, he keeps reminding me of the same few things he remembers!


It's called a Reading Marathon. PBS puts on this event to encourage kids to read or be read to. Each age level has a certain amount of time within a 3 week period they need to read. (The 3 week period began yesterday Nov 14 and goes until Dec 3) Then you log your hours and print off your invitation. (You need the invitation to get into the party in January.)

At the party there are several booths set up that kids can visit. Since I've only gone one year, I don't know if it is mostly the same each year or not. But last January, there were several booths with activities and crafts for the kids to do and make, the Zoo had some fun critters there that the kids could pet (chinchilla, tortoise, snakes, etc.,) there's some entertainment and snacks, some characters from PBS shows, like Dinosaur Train, Cat in the Hat, Super Why, Curious George, etc are there and you can take pictures with them. Many booths hand good coupons to the parents. It's all about learning, exploring, science and such. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other fun stuff, but like I said, my kids have been asking when they can go back since January when they were there. You can click on the link above to find out more info if you're interested! It's so much fun and the best part is... it's FREE!! And the kids get tons of free stuff! Like a free book among other things. So they're happy and you're happy because it didn't cost you anything!

And when they're happy... I usually am too!

octoberness

The last few weeks of October were nice and mellow.

Annie turned 1/2.
6 months


Sam learned how to blow leaves.


And of course there was Halloween!


The kids were several different things. For school, Sam was a power ranger. For Jason's work, Liv was a green butterfly. On Halloween day Liv and Annie were both Minnie Mouse. And for trick or treating Sam was a knight, Livia was a sword-holding purple Hershey kiss, and Annie was a very bundled up half-Minnie Mouse/half naked baby.

Sorry for the upside-downishness, it was turned before it came onto the blog...

Now we welcome November. And apparently winter. Brrr. It's cold outside.