Thanksgiving: The Festivities

The main highlight of the weekend for me was watching all of these little cousins playing together.  They all camped out in the same room each night and were inseperable during the day. Their days were filled with swimming, playing dress-up, riding bikes and running around the house.  We as adults played a lot too.  We went to a huge warehouse that had wall to wall trampolines, swam, shopped, had a kicking contest (which I clearly dominated), the dads took all the "big kids" to see Madagascar 2 at the Imax, and last but not least we had a dance-off.

We called it the "Turkey Trot".  Each couple had to come prepared with a dance choreographed to music complete with a costume.  We made it a "safe-zone" and PROMISED no pictures or videos would end up on any blogs.  I am keeping my word, but boy do I wish I could post those photos!  All I can say is that I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time.  It was an amazing weekend and I can't wait until we can all be together again.  I sure love All Of You!  XOXO

Family Pictures

One of my best (and favorite) friends, Elizabeth, is an amazing photographer.  I asked her to take our family photos this year.  I love that she captured this magical time in our little girls' lives.  Here is a sampling of a few of my favorites (the family shot I am saving for our Christmas card).  She has an amazing talent and I am so grateful she shared it with us! 

Dress-Up

Elle and Gwen emerged from the playroom just like this.  I love having girls but more importantly, I love that they have eachother.  

Sparkly Feet and Zebra Stripes

It's official.  I am completely and totally in love with this little one.  The best word to describe her is 'fun'.  I love, love, love being with her.  She is a performer!  Her latest antic is to yell, "mom, mom, mom" while I am driving.  When I glance back at her in her carseat she does a funny dance and makes a silly face.  She just wants to make her mama laugh.  I bought her these cute sparkly shoes today and she fell in love.  I was sitting on the rug with her helping her put them on and she just grabbed my neck from behind, gave me a huge hug and kissed my head.  So, so sweet.

My Little Baker

Elle LOVES to cook.  Whatever I am doing in the kitchen, she insists on helping.  She climbs onto the counter and does whatever it is I ask of her.  Her helping usually means that whatever I am doing is going to take longer and there will be a much bigger mess to clean up but it is totally worth it.  It is something fun we can do together.  Last week after preschool she hopped into the car and said, "mama, we made this chef hat because my teacher knows I am a chef"!   She wears that cute little paper  hat with pride along with her own apron.  Well, today she was my little baker.  And just like when I was her age, her favorite part of making cookies is getting to sneak a little pinch of brown sugar for herself.  A girl after my own heart.

Gwen the Black Cat

Gwen LOVED her costume.  She has been crawling around our house for the last two months with those cat ears on saying, "meow".  Elle loved Gwen's costume too because she knew that any proper witch needed to have her own black cat.  

Elle the Witch

Happy Halloween!

The girls had a really fun night.  Elle was a witch and Gwen was her black cat.  Grandma and Grandpa came over and took the girls trick-or-treating around our neighborhood in the wagon.  It was so cute to see how excited they both were.  Gwen loved passing out candy.  She would take candy from her pumpkin and give it to anyone passing by that would take it.  Elle practiced saying, "trick-or-treat" all day a so she could be ready for the big night.  I loved passing out candy at our house.  Our neighborhood was swarming with excited little kids all dressed up.  A really fun night.  Happy Halloween!

Preschool Halloween Party

Today was Elle's preschool Halloween party.  I had a friend watch Gwen so that I could go and be a parent helper.  She is a witch this Halloween.  She was able to wear her costume to school which included a witch hat with attached hair (her favorite costume accessory) and broom.  Her hat and broom were a little much for the games outside but she still looked adorable.  It was so much fun to see Elle  interacting with her friends and teachers.  The party was super fun and Elle had a blast. One of her favorite games was where they put a bunch of pumpkins out on the grass with the kids' names on them and let the kids run to find their very own pumpkin.  Elle was sooo excited when she found her pumpkin.  She said, "mama, this one says, E-L-L-E...that's me"!  I also love the picture where she and her friend Stella are nose to nose. So cute.  It was so fun to be a part of her day and to have a glimpse into her preschool life.  I sure love my little witch.  

Gwendolyn and Mama

It's very rare for me to be in front of the camera.  I am usually the one behind it.  I have lots and lots of photos of my girls but very few of us together.  At the wedding, Jon got his hands on the camera and insisted on taking a few pictures of us.  Looking at these now, I am so grateful!  I am with my little girls all day but never am able to document our interactions with eachother.  I begged Elle to get in these with Gwendolyn and me but she was having too much fun running around with her cousins to be bothered (I don't blame her).  So here we are...Gwendolyn and her number one fan.