Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving is something I was always in awe of, but it was one of those things we never got around to doing. So, this year was a first for us! I know we did a few growing up, but I'm sure my parents were nice enough to do the oh so fun "gutting" of the pumpkin as I definitely don't remember that part. I wasn't going to let that unpleasant chore ruin the fun though! My original intent was to do a Mickey Mouse and a Minnie Mouse. But, since these were for the kids, it only seemed fair for Daniel to get to pick his design. And he picked.....Buzz Lightyear (to Infinity and Beyond).

After gutting the insides, Tony and I went to work on tracing the patterns to the pumkins. That of course was a lengthy process that the kids soon lost interest in observing. Buzz proved to be a little tedious with all of the small cutouts. I think that we managed to do a decent job considering it was a first for both of us! Once the cleaning out was done, I really enjoyed working on these together. In the picture of both of us carving, I was holding Arianna at the same time to keep her happy which turned out to be a funny picture-looks like she's inside the pumpkin! Once completed, I lit the candles and turned out all of the lights.... the look on Daniel and Arianna's faces was very rewarding!! This is definitely something we will do again next year!

Happy Fall!!

I am very behind in posting and have tons of vacation pictures I need to work on, but I wanted to take a minute to wish you all a "Happy Fall". Living in Texas, it's a little hard to get full force into fall when it's in the 60's one day and 80 the next! I took a few pictures of the kids before we carve the pumpkins tonight. Yes, I am well aware that 2 pumkins do not constitute a "pumpkin patch", but you use what ya got- especially when you procrastinate! I will defnitely get them to a pumpkin patch next year though! I love that they can make me smile and feel at peace with smiles on their faces. Daniel is my poser- well you'd expect that after ALL of the pictures we took on vacation (more on that later). Arianna is showing off all 6 of her teeth in her beautiful smile- just melts me every time!

We hope that wherever you are, you are enjoying your Fall weather as we head into Winter! Now...onto the baking! (And I promise to get caught up from vacation very soon!).

Shopping Links

Check out the new shopping links section I put on the right hand side of the blog. These are some tried and true sites that have great products to send to your loved ones or yourself! They often have great sales and reduced or free shipping! Next time you are in need of a gift to send for a special occassion or "just because", come on over and check out these sites! I will update it from time to time when I find new great sites!

Where does the time go??

Really...where does the time go??? I find it hard to believe that Daniel is almost 4 1/2 and Arianna just turned 10 months (on Daddy's Birthday)!

Daniel amazes me at the things he learns every week! His brain is like a little sponge soaking everything up! He loves learning new things everyday which is great! He is very excited about our Disney trip and is already planning out what we are going to be doing each day! It should be a lot of fun!! He says that he wants to ride the "Tower of Terror" and although he is actually tall enough this time, I don't see that happening- there's always next time! He loves having a little sister and is turning out to be quite protective of her- his Daddy should be proud!

Miss Arianna just got 2 more bottom teeth. So that makes 2 top and 4 bottom at the moment. I find it interesting that her teeth come in pairs where Daniel got one bottom, then one top, then one bottom, etc. She has abandoned the "army crawl" completely now as her full crawl is pretty speedy at this point. She regularly pulls up to her knees and is starting to pull up to her feet on occassion. It doesn't last too long, but she's definitely building up that strength. Daniel is very excited at every new development. He even told me in the car this week that she said "I love you" to him...and I have to admit it sounded like it to me too!! She mostly says Mama with a few Dada's thrown in. She's pretty long and her weight has slowed down now that she is becoming more active.

Balancing Act

This week's class was about "Music". They played games and pretended to play with different instruments. They really practiced the balance beam which Daniel loves. He really can do it on his own, but his confidence isn't quite there just yet. He has made great improvements in all areas though- which is awesome! At the end of class they played duck duck goose and hide 'n seek, both of which he loves.
Next week's class is "Picture It", however we'll miss that one as we'll be in DISNEY!! He'll actually miss 2 classes (shhhh..don't tell him yet), but we'll make one up the day after we get back. Daddy will get to go watch that class too....hmmm how will he in a room of all Mom's???

Tumble Wednesdays!

It was a busy week and I failed to post the Little Gym pictures from this week! This week was "Bring a friend" week, but none of us brought friends...so it was just 4 of the kids. The instructor commented that she really likes this class because it is so small and all of the kids are very well behaved! As usual, he had a lot of fun and learned a few new things. The balance beam is still his favorite thing at this point. They got to play on the air track this week which they all love. At one point, the 3 other kids went to get a drink and she told Daniel that the air track was all his. He had fun running and jumping by himself for a few minutes! At the end of class, they played hide and seek and Daniel had fun looking for all of the other kids. I noticed that they are starting to hide a little better too! Next week is...MUSIC week!

Happy Birthday Tony!!!

Well, today is my wonderful hubby's birthday...so Happy Birthday to you!!! Daniel was very excited about preparing everything for his Daddy! He of course helped make the cake and cookies and picked out balloons. He was thrilled that we got him the "Batman Lego Blocks" game. We wrapped it this morning and he carried it around with him, hiding it whenever Tony walked into the room. He also got a Texas A&M shirt that I'm not sure he'll wear unless they start winning a little more! I think we can count his Playstation 3 as a birthday present as well. We had a nice lunch and dinner out as well. We sent him some chocolate covered apples from Mrs. Prindables and it is to die for! Arianna was intrigued with the balloons and candles- she didn't know what to think of them, but didn't care as long as we were all there! All in all, I think he had a nice low key birthday- just like he likes.

Happy Birthday to you....Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday Tony...Happy Birthday to you! I hope to celebrate many more birthdays with you!

As Tony keeps pointing out...the best part of his day is that he is currently married to a "younger woman"...well at least for another 2 months and 2 weeks.