Halloween!!

Halloween was interesting this year. It is my favorite holiday next to Christmas, which I just naturally assumed the girls would follow with me too. Taylor - yep, loves it! She's all about dressing up and the trick or treating. Allie, not so much. I can't believe it...it's just not right. The first issue was costume. She could NOT decide what she wanted to wear. Every suggestion we had was a "no". Taylor LOVED the "poodle skirt" idea. Allie couldn't decide, so I got her that too. She was NOT a fan. She humored me and wore it, but didn't love it.

Time for trick-or-treating and Allie seemed onboard. Grandma Julie, Jackie and Jodi came out to go with us. We went to one house and Taylor couldn't get the doorbell. Allie dropped her bag, went up to the house, rang the bell and knocked, and goes "there Taylor...I did it for you." And walked away! Wanted nothing to do with the candy. As Allie was leaving the next house, a little boy came from out of nowhere and knocked her down! She was beside herself. She cried and cried, and the boy didn't say one word. I, being the protective mom, hollered at him and said, "You could at least apologize for knocking her down. And slow down - there are little kids all over." He didn't even look at me. Come to find out, his dad was standing at the end of the driveway, saw the whole thing and didn't say anything either! Nice! Anyway, the fun was over for her. She told me, "Mom, maybe next year I'll just stay and hand out candy with daddy." Oh geez...

Taylor was all over it! She wanted to just keep going and going! She loves it.

First Day of 4-Year Preschool!!

Well, first day of 4-year preschool:( Not sure how this came so fast. But the girls are very excited and love going! I hope it keeps up for the next 12+ years! Allie told me she was NOT going to like this new room because it doesn't have a piano! Somehow I think she'll be ok and love it anyway:)

Hey, hey -- here we are!!!

Ok, shame on mom! I know, I'm TERRIBLE at this but I'm going to make a great effort to keep up. Probably not nearly as good as the Skram's, but we'll try. At the rate I'm going, the girls can probably just do it themselves!

Since my last post..in May (yikes!), obviously a lot has happened. I journal for them every day, so the "funnies" and not-so funnies are captured there, thank goodness.

Couple highlights, and then I'll just begin with now. Maybe I need to show dad how to do this..that may be the answer and then we can keep up!!

The girls went to my mom's place over 4th of July in Hinckley for a WEEK! It was too long we decided. Not even so much for them, but for grandma and grandpa and MOM! I did not like them being gone that long. The first couple days - yeah! Then too quiet. I think we'll stick to a day or two!

Spent a lot of time at the cabin this summer, which they LOVE! Dad put the slide on the end of the dock and the girls slid down into the lake...loved that. They are "little fish"... Allie and dad "chillin".....

We went to A'mazen Farm with Lisa and the Skram's which was so much fun! The kids had a great time and we probably could have even stayed longer. There was so much for the kids to do there. We will DEFINATELY go back next year!!

Random Stuff Today....

It was our last day of "nim-nastics" a.k.a. gymnastics. Miss Kathy was wonderful and we found out she lives right behind us by the "red park". The girls had so much fun and learned a lot from her. We didn't sign up for the next session, but we may look at the fall again. Now that spring is here, need to do the outside activities.

We went to an Open House at St. Andrew's Catholic School today. It was fantastic! The kids went to the kindergarten room with the teachers and the parents met with Father Joe, the principal, different parent volunteers and then the kindergarten teachers as well. It's wonderful! And the kids colored a picture, played in the room and....went on a school bus ride! Taylor and Allie thought that was the best thing ever! We left after 2 hours and they each got a little container of bubbles as well.

On our way home from the school, Allie was telling me about "Allison". Who is that you ask? Well, she was in Allie's tummy for 18 minutes. She then came out her mouth; per Taylor, that must have been "slickery". Allison drives a red car (because that's mommies favorite color), has red hair and her middle name is Johnny-O. She also likes to eat french toast sticks but with no syrup. She doesn't like to go to the bathroom, wears flip-flops and likes to sleep late. Allie is "hoping" Allison doesn't wake her up tomorrow morning so she can sleep in. I learned all this in a 4 minute car ride home from the school!

New Trees from Preschool

Preschool was giving away tiny, little bareroot Norway Pines. So we took two of them and planted in the backyard. The girl are now responsible for them! They need to water them two times a day!! The director at preschool said when her youngest daughter was 3 and went there, she got one. She's now 18 and the tree stands 20 ft! I think that is really great and hopefully ours will grow just as good!!!

Mom's Lovely Hair!!

No more going to get my hair done, I've found I have two little professionals right her at home! Not quite sure how many pieces were in my hair, but it sure took them a while! LOVELY!!

Conferences

We had conferences today for the girls for the final time. Makes me sad...this year is coming to a close and so fast! But, time moves on. The girls had a super year and had SOO much fun! Mrs. Kyle told us that Allie ALWAYS has something to tell them and tells them her schedule every day! She said Taylor is not quite as talkative, but is very outgoing and friendly to all the kids. She said both girls even pick up all the toys at the end of class, without being asked, and the toys they didn't even take out! She said Taylor is quite particular where the toys go -- that they go back where they are supposed to. We had a great report and it was sure fun to hear details.

The attached pictures are ones the teacher had the kids do, freehand. They asked for them to draw "one" person; they said our kids drew the whole neighborhood!!

This is Taylor's from left to right:

Aunt Lori, Mike, Lisa, Mom(green), Dad(orange), Mom(purple), Owen, Ashley, Abby(yellow)!!

This is Allie's from left to right:

Mommy, Taylor, Allie, Owen, Great Grandma, Puppet, Daddy (large purple one!), Ashley