Playin' in the Rain

Finally an opportunity to put those raincoats and umbrellas to good use, even if it is just in the driveway... Those boots are way too small, but she insisted on squeezing into them to complete the look- such a girl!
Daddy's home!!!!

If you live in the SA area and are wondering when it rained- I just found this post as a draft from a while back that had apparently never been posted so it's a little old.

Three Forever

Just had an amusing conversation/meltdown with Alli before nap time which is now "rest time" 'cause she rarely actually sleeps anymore.
She saw a toy for an older kid in a magazine and I told her that she was too young for it. She got a little upset, but then I explained to her that she was about to have a birthday and that she would turn 4, hoping that would let her know that she is on her way to being an "older kid".
She promptly began crying and getting all upset saying that she didn't want to be four. "NO, I want to be three everyday. I don't want to be four!" over and over.
She was very adamant about it, had real tears and there was no calming her down. She truly does not want to be 4. She has even been talking about her Ariel party that she wants to have, but I guess she didn't realize that means she wouldn't get to be 3 anymore. I know I want her to be 3 forever but had no idea that she felt the same way.
I thought turning 30 was bad, but apparently turning 4 is worse.
We'll see how she feels tomorrow :-) You never know with a 3 yr old.

Fall Fun!!

Lots of pictures from our fall...

Jack and Alli pretending to be pumpkins and saying "boo" for the camera at the pumpkin patch
Posing with baby Davis, the adorable little turtle. I just love how Alli is so gently helping him hold his head up- that mommy instinct kicks in early.

The Mother's Day Out Fall Festival...

The shirt says it all- and the hair too!

This was such a fun little event. Six stations set up with simple activities like hooping the pumpkin with a hula hoop or sweeping fall leaves and a treat or prize at each one. So perfect for this age.

Showing off some of their prizes from the day.

Picking out pumpkins with mom and dad at the pumpkin patch. Determined to carry them herself.

Doing his best to pick up that big pumpkin but it just wasn't going to happen.

The pumpkins they each picked out says a lot about the difference in personalities.

Alli doing her new girly pose by the pumpkin patch sign. She told Dwaine with a little sass in her voice after striking that pose one day "I stand like this 'cause I'm a GIRL!"
Not sure where she got that from.

The little pumpkin decorators at work.
Pumpkin guts- YUCK!

Showing off the pumpkins after all the decorating and carving. Daddy picked the biggest pumpkin he could find at the pumpkin patch. He's such a kid!

And "Bob" playing in his costume after Halloween story time at the library.

Halloween Night

Once again, we had lots of fun trick-r-treating on Halloween. Getting dressed up in fun costumes and lots of candy- I mean what's not to like?
Oh, well I guess there is head wear. TJ thought he could get away with just letting the pumpkin wear it instead. But, everybody knows that Bob the Builder is just not complete without the yellow hard hat. In fact, people might even mistake him for a farmer- not terrible, but not what we were going for.

TJ happy and smiling for the camera with his hat sitting next to him.

Not so happy after dad insisted that the hat be worn. Alli mad at dad for making TJ upset. A good start to the night. Not to worry- it got much better.

My beautiful little ballerina. Much much better than the "scarecrow pumpkin" (think Spud from Bob the Builder if you have any idea who that is) that she originally wanted to be until mom convinced her otherwise. We already had the tutu after all.

We may just have to start ballet classes again. Mommy misses them (oh and Alli has started asking about them too). But when asked her preference, she says she wants to take gymnastics so we may do that for a while first. See- I do let her make some of her own decisions :-)

Finally- a smile from Bob with the hat on!

Mommy loving on the little ballerina.

So we convinced TJ that people wouldn't give him candy unless he had the hat on and that seemed to work. It often came off between houses, but he would promptly put it on when it was time to knock and would sometimes hold it out to be filled with candy. It didn't fit perfectly so he felt like he had to hold it on with his hand the whole time.

I was so proud that I actually got Alli's hair into a bun. She has very difficult hair to work with. Very smooth with no texture for stayability and naturally falls to one side. It does not like to be pulled straight back. VERY much like her mommy's hair. I foresee many frustrated mornings in her future.

Waiting for Nana Pam- always our first stop of the trick-r-treating evening. And it usually comes with an extra surprise like a book! Thanks Nana Pam and Mr Harry Dean!

After visiting our neighbors and hitting a few houses with super cool Halloween decorations, we headed over to gather more candy with Ironman and a little turtle (Jack and baby Davis), before heading home to fill our bellies with junk and crash! Now that's good family fun.

Daddy's Girl

Just too cute not to share...Both Alli and TJ just love when it's time for daddy to mow. They take turns riding with him or they follow him around on their Gator. Too bad we don't have to mow that much around here, but I guess it makes it that much more exciting when it does happen!

The Sno-Globe Towers

An abstract art sculpture by Alli in which she very creatively placed her subjects atop perfectly constructed and balanced cardboard brick blocks. A beautifully artistic use of materials, color and space. Wouldn't you agree?

The artist posing by her prize winning piece (the prize of course being words of praise from her somewhat biased and proud parents).

TOO WOUD!!!

We have recently discovered that TJ apparently has some very sensitive ears. He hears every little noise and will ask "wa dat?" He also very often exclaims "TOO WOUD!" and is sometimes found watching TV like this even when it is at a very reasonable volume...The funny thing is that the volume of his voice is actually much louder than most of the things that he complains about. Go figure! Dwaine says that he can remember not tolerating loudness as a child also (his older brother's rock music for example).

I just love the silly little oddities of their personalities that make them unique.