Quinnie is going to give Mia a run for her money

See for yourself:

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner over at my mother-in-law's house on Saturday evening. We also were celebrating Kevin's brother, Ryan's, engagement to his new fiance, Monica:

The 3 older girls (there are 5 girl cousins in all!) decided to have a talent show. Mia went first, then Katherine, my niece. Then it was Chloe's turn and Miss Q decided that, no, it was actually her turn. Too funny... I do wish that Chloe had gotten her turn to do her cartwheel, but she just became really shy after Quinnlan went (and stole her turn, in her words).

Then, the funniest part of all was that Sheila gave all the girls Thanksgiving gifts. So sweet. The first gift was a set of classic Christmas DVDs. The next gift was...wait for it...The Elf on the Shelf. No, I'm not kidding (even though Chloe wishes I was). She did OK, but she did come to me and (standing sideways being 5-year-old-inconspicuous) say, "She's not going home with us, right, Mommy?"

"No, she is not coming home with us. She's going right back up to the North Pole. Don't you worry."

She may kill me for this, but...

Quinn has an obsession. No, it's not Elmo. It's...underpants.

Kevin's and my first baby, Abby, our little mutt (that we had and then had to give to our sweet neighbors in Duluth because she just did not adjust well to having 2 "new kids" in the house when Mia and Chloe were born) had this same obsession. Hence, Quinnie's new nickname----Abby.

Meet Abby

She thinks it's fun when Daddy puts the undies on her head...haha

Oh, and Abby also likes to wear them over her clothes, if we'll put them on her, as well as carry them on her arm like a purse.

These are the things that will be SO fun to bring up at her rehearsal dinner :)

My baby has lost a tooth!

I know when I say "Baby" I'm usually talking about Quinnlan, but this "baby" is my Chloe. She has been talking about her loose tooth for over a month and finally it was so loose that she could push it forward all the way with her tongue, so I convinced her to let me try and pull it last Wednesday. I really pulled, but it was not budging! Ugh! So, Thursday, I had Kevin try (don't worry, Chloe was fine with us pulling on it), and it still was not moving. Then Friday morning, she and Mia were watching Noggin as I was cleaning the kitchen (they both stayed home because of colds) and I heard her say, "Mia! My tooth just came out!" and I think I was just as excited as she was! So here's the before photo:

And here's the after photo:

That night, the tooth fairy showed up and took her tooth and left 2 dollars! (Picture a grandma rocking on the front porch with no teeth here) In my day, we only got a quarter and we were happy...darn inflation! The tooth fairy also sprinkled pixie dust from the window sill, where she came in, all the way up the bunk bed ladder and all over the comforter and all over Chloe's hair and face and pillow! Wow! (After the Elf on the Shelf debacle, she wouldn't even look under her pillow without me being there...she thought the tooth fairy might be hiding under it!)

Oh, and we can't forget...here's Sissy Mia who is having a hard time watching Chloe get a lot of attention:

Photos from a fun week/weekend

Here are some pics that go with the previous post:

The mantle all lit up---minus the pine boughs that I plan on adding when we return from our trip...anyone have any ideas for making a big TV look like a pretty Christmas wreath???

Don't you love when you unpack decorations and find things you forgot you have? I bought this to take to a Christmas party last year as a white elephant gift (you know, where you "steal" gifts?) and I strategized well enough to bring home my own gift! Merry Christmas to me! The girls love taking turns each day and opening the little doors to see what (leftover Halloween) treat is inside!

The girls love the snow globes the best...

I promise Mia has on undies, but, honestly, she is our resident (semi)nudist

Ready to see the Rockettes! Mia is wearing the little dress that we made :)

I still haven't figured out the indoor wreath for the windows... :)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

OK, I know I'm a little early here, but I am sort of taking my cue from the malls with this one.

I normally hit the ground running the day after Thanksgiving ready to take on the Christmas season, not wanting to miss a minute. But this year, because we are headed to Mexico on T-Day and missing 10 days of the holidays, I have to start early...makes sense, right?

I dragged down all the boxes from the attic on Tuesday and got myself organized and decked the halls. It was so fun...I made a Christmas playlist on my Ipod last year and I forgot how much I love all the songs on there. My 2 favorites so far are "Mistletoe" by Colbie Caillat and "River" by Joni Mitchell (until I wear them out and have to move on). An oldie but a goodie is "Heirlooms" by Amy Grant---the words can move me to tears. That whole album is one of the best Christmas albums ever.

I am a little bummed that we will not be having our Christmas tree in our family room this year---Kevin is so happy, he has wanted to put it in the front room (playroom) every Christmas since we moved here, but my whining and complaining about how my favorite thing is to stare at the tree has won out in the past. Not this year, though. We bought 2 chairs for our family room last winter and if Kevin thought the room was too crowded with the tree in there before, he is definitely right about it now. No room in the inn...I mean family room (smile). It will be in the playroom. I just have to figure out a way to gate it off so little Quinnie hands don't pull it over. To compensate for no tree to stare at, I have lit up the mantel. That is working ok for me, but I need MORE. I am thinking of hanging a large wreath (or maybe 3 normal sized ones) from our curtain rod that goes across a set of 3 windows behind the couch so it can be more festive...hmmm...we'll see how that goes. Time's a-tickin'.

My mom and I (mainly my mom) made these precious little Christmas A-line shift dresses for the girls. They are so cute, I must say. I found the pattern on etsy.com and it was pretty easy! My new favorite fabric store has been within walking distance the whole time I've lived here---Intown Quilters (on Mistletoe as you are entering North DeKalb mall's parking lot). It is a goldmine of amazing, fun, beautiful fabrics---if you're into that kind of thing :)

I wanted to start off this holiday season with a new family tradition of The Elf on the Shelf. We have always talked to our elf (called Cindy) and even written her letters in the years past, but she was always invisible. I could call out, "Cindy, do you see how Mia is not sharing with Chloe? Make a note of it for Santa!" or "Cindy, did you see how Chloe took her dishes to the kitchen without being asked?" and it worked wonders...even better than the old "Santa's watching, you better be good!". So, this year, I asked my mom for the book and elf doll set because I thought the girls would LOVE it. Um, no...not so much.

I hid the doll in the playroom and wrote a letter to the girls from Cindy and then I knocked on the door and "answered" it and brought in the letter and the box to them. Basically the letter said that Cindy was so happy to finally meet them in person and that she couldn't wait for them to find her. We read the book and then we were off to see where she might be hiding. When we found her, I told her hello and so did the girls. I could tell that Chloe was a little nervous, but she did talk to her and she was smiling, even if it did look a little fake. Then Quinnlan woke up, so we told Cindy we'd be back later (you can't touch her or she'll lose her magic and she can't fly back and forth to the North Pole every night to report to Santa). When we got up to the nursery, Chloe is pacing and she comes to me and here's how it went:

C: Mommy, is Cindy coming to Mexico with us?

Me: No, she'll stay here, we wouldn't want someone to accidentally touch her and for her to lose her magic.

C: OK (chewing her fingernails)

Me: Is everything ok? You know she's very nice, right?

C (whispering in my ear): Cindy is kind of scaring me.

Me: Hey, if we whisper, she can't hear us, so let's go talk about it (I totally thought I could talk her into having this little elf live with us for the next month---boy, was I wrong)

So, we go to her room and she begins to cry and is whispering saying:

C: I don't think I want her to be here. She is really scaring me.

Me: What is scaring you? (Like Kevin said, a little freaky-looking elf that just stares at you and watches everything you do and hears everything you say and you can't touch is pretty scary...ok, maybe he's right, but scary can be fun sometimes, right?)

C: Her face looks like rubber and her cheeks are so red! (all of this is being said in a near-hysterics whisper)

Me: Do you want her to go back to the North Pole?

C: Yes, please, please have her go away and never come back.

So, we wrote Cindy a letter asking her to leave and we had to tell her goodbye (Chloe's smile was trembling and fake again) and she is gone.

The poor child was so relieved.

Mia was a little bummed. I can handle that, though. Mia asked if she could come back next year when they are six and I told her that sure she could and Chloe came running down the stairs bawling and whispering, "NO NO, I never want her to come back into our house...she is so scary!" So, we decided that if she did come back, we'd have to invite her and we can talk about it next Thanksgiving if they want.

I think she may need therapy for this one. Way to go, Mommy.

It reminds me of when she freaked out about sock monkeys at Nana's when she was 2 and when she freaked out seeing Cinderella at Disney World ("her big fat blue dress is so weird, Mommy") when she was 3. I have so many "Parent of the Year" awards :)

Tomorrow, my mom, my grandmother, Mia and I are going to the Rockettes at the Fox. I am very excited. I wish Chloe was going, but, she didn't want to go. In her words, "I already saw it on DVD and I'd rather go to the Nature Center with Daddy." Really?!? Who are you? Anyway... So, Chloe and Kevin are going to her fave, Raging Burrito (the Nature Center is closed that late) and we'll be heading out for a fun matinee show.

I'll post pics later with pictures from tomorrow and maybe some of my Christmas decorating if/when I get those wreaths up!

So many reasons to LOVE this time of year. But, by far, the best reason is because it is my Savior's birthday. Now that I have children of my own, I am in awe of a God that loved me so much (being the pitiful mess that I am) that He sent His only son to this earth as a baby to live here among men, to touch lives and to teach us how to live, then to die (how did his mother, Mary, bear that??? Can you even imagine watching your precious child die on a cross???) so that we can live in Heaven with Him forever. Unreal... I am so very thankful.

Here's to The Reason for this Season...(clink clink)

A Change in Plans

Well, there has been a change in our November travel plans. In the summer, we had planned an 11 day trip to New Zealand for this month. You can link to that whole process here.

As the time got closer to begin planning our itinerary, we just weren't passionate about what our trip would entail. And passion is something that we thought that we should both feel about a trip that could possibly end up in an international move, right??? Also, I was having some anxiety about leaving our girls for that long period of time...I have never been away from Baby Quinn for more than 2 nights...So...long story short, we made a change and now we're headed to Mexico!

We are very excited about this family vacation...I am extremely excited for Kevin to be getting 10 days away from his job. It has been especially busy for him with all of the rain that we have had this year and he has been working so much that he really deserves a break! I am thrilled about the Kids Club for Mia and Chloe as well as the Baby activity center for Miss Quinnie. Woohoo...I can't wait to sit and read a magazine or (gasp!) a book by the pool...that is pretty much a thing of the past since having kids. No offense, girls...

The Heimlich

Kids can literally give you a heart attack. Especially when they are your own kids and you love them with every ounce within you.

With that said, I was showering and getting ready for Kevin's and my weekly Wednesday datenight while Kevin started dinner for the girls before our sitter arrived. I came bounding down the stairs excited that a) I didn't have to cook OR clean tonight and b) I was getting to spend an evening out to dinner with my main squeeze.

When I came into the kitchen everything looked normal...then Kevin said:

"I just had to do something I never thought I'd have to do."

Me: What?

K: I had to perform the Heimlich on one of our kids.

I immediately turn to Quinnlan who is sitting in her highchair to see if she is ok when he clarifies:

"Not Quinnlan, Chloe"

Me: WHAT?!?!?

Then he proceeded to tell me that she was having a pre-dinner snack (appetizer?) of pineapple when she comes into the kitchen where Kevin is at the sink and is spitting on the floor. Kevin tells her to stop---thinking that she is doing that because she doesn't like what is in her mouth (gross), but then she looks up at him and is waving her arms around and he realizes she is choking. He grabbed her from behind and had to do the Heimlich 3 times before the chunk of pineapple flew out of her mouth "just like in the movies" (he said).

My. Heart. Stopped.

I could not stop thinking about it for the rest of the night and the next day and truthfully, I keep thinking about it.

How quickly things can go wrong and our lives can take a turn that we never would expect.

I am so so so very thankful that God protected our precious child that evening. I am so thankful that Kevin was there and able to help her. I always wonder if I would react in the way that I should in those situations.

I remember when the Mia and Chloe were maybe a month old, my mom was over and I was walking down our stairs holding Mia and I slipped on a step and slid down about 5 steps. All I could do was cry thinking, "What if I had thrown her or dropped her?" My mom was there, thankfully, and she kept reassuring me that, no, I would never have done that. My motherly instinct would be to hold tighter.

I want to believe that I would immediately do what Kevin did, but I am also afraid that I might panic and do something stupid like pound her on the back. I guess that is where we just have to trust our instincts that we would do what we would need to do to protect our children...Mama Bear Style.

Halloween 2009

This year, Halloween was especially fun! It reminded me of when Mia and Chloe were Quinnlan's age at Halloween (2005). I remember being at Babies R Us and having them try on costumes and dying laughing at seeing my babies dressed up. I felt the same way with Little Miss Quinnie this year.

The past 2 years, Mia and Chloe have been princesses...Belle, Snow White, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty. This year I was SO over the whole Princess thing. I was thrilled when Chloe told me she wanted to be Wonder Woman---my childhood idol. Yes...

Mia's favorite book is Pinkalicious, a story about a little girl that turns pink when she eats too many pink cupcakes. She decided she wanted to be Pinkalicious.

Quinnie didn't really have a choice, so she was a ladybug.

My friend, Jennifer, and I got crafty and made tutus for our littlest ones (her daughter was a black cat---precious) to wear as part of their costumes.

Because Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, it coincided with the Georgia-Florida game. Some great friends and neighbors, the Shokats, are big Florida fans, so we invited them and some other great friends, the Hickeys to come and watch the game and then go trick-or-treating.

It was so special to see our children play all day with their good friends. Here are some pictures from the fun-filled day...

We FINALLY carved our pumpkins on Halloween Day---better late than never!

Heartstrings...

Chloe and I have had a rough week or so. It's hard for me to even write about because I don't like to voice my kids' difficulties (until we are past them and have learned something from them, etc...) because of the whole "self-fulfilling prophecy" thing. That probably doesn't make any sense because everyone has issues and troubles along life's way, but I guess I just like to be positive.

For instance, I refuse to let Chloe utter the words, "I'm shy." I know she has heard it from other people as they try to pigeon-hole my twins as The Outgoing One and The Shy One (among other terms to tell them apart---when people get them mixed up, it cracks me up to hear them say what we've rehearsed: "No, I'm Mia/Chloe. Get to know me"). But, I don't see her as shy at all! If anything, I see her as cautious in new and different situations. Too politically correct? I don't think so. I think that if she hears herself being described as shy, then she will become more so, if she ever was in the first place.

See...it's hard for me to write about.

So...here's what has been going on. I know I've already written about Chloe's needing a lot of Mommy lately. Well, she also has been having a tough time with her emotions. She has been getting overly angry when she gets in trouble or is reprimanded. I saw it first occurring with Mia when they were fighting over something or another and she has lost it and is shouting at her like crazy and Mia is just in tears. Granted, Mia may have done something to really bug her, but let's have some self-control here. Then when I was giving them a bath, she is very meticulous about washing her body. She doesn't miss an inch. I poured water over her head as she was washing and a tiny bit of suds got in her eye and she started screaming for a towel and so I gave her a dry washcloth and she lost it. She threw it at me and started screaming that she didn't want a washcloth, she wanted a towel and when I wouldn't give her one (I refused because of her reaction) she got so angry that she was just screaming and yelling like, "AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH." So, I pulled her out of the tub and threw a towel around her and sent her out of the bathroom and told her to go to bed. Then she's crying and crying. I went and talked to her after I read Mia a story and she was finally calmed down and she apologized, but I told her that she had to figure out a way to not lose it when she feels angry.

That was the 1st incident.

She had a temper tantrum with Maggie, our standing Wednesday night datenight sitter, that sounded very familiar to the situation above.

That was the 2nd incident.

Then a couple of days ago, she and Mia started fighting over a game on the computer and so I told them that we would close the laptop if they couldn't figure it out, and so they kept arguing and so I went to close the computer and she is pushing my hand away and so I go to remove her from the chair she is sitting in and she is fighting against me. When I stand her up, I get down on her level and tell her that she needs to calm down. She is giving me the biggest Evil Eye look I have seen out of any of my kids. So, I told her that she is going to time out and she needs to stop looking at me like that because she is being very disrespectful. If it was possible, the look got worse. Oh my...Lord, keep me calm! So, I told her that she was going to get a pop (aka a spanking) for being disrespectful and as I get the wooden spoon and spank her 3 times on her backside, she doesn't even flinch! No tears, no nothing. She is straight as a board standing there.

What?!? Who are you???

Then I sent her to the Time Out step to think about it and that is when the water works began.

So, I was thinking that maybe she is doing all of this to get some sort of attention? I have no clue! I took the baby and Mia to my mom's yesterday afternoon so she and I could go and run errands together and spend some good Mommy-Chloe time together and we talked about it all a little bit, but she doesn't like discussing her feelings. I could tell she was uncomfortable because she chews on the sleeve of her shirt when she is nervous.

Then last night, she just cried and cried before bed. She asked if she could go to sleep in our bed and we could move her back to her room when we went to bed and so I laid in our bed with her for a little bit and tried to find out what was going on and she just kept saying that she was sad. I was trying not to cry because my heart was breaking for her. She said she didn't know why she was sad. I asked her if she was nervous about today because it was going to be so busy (2 birthday parties and a sleepover at Grammie's) and she said, "Yes."

OK, now we're going somewhere.

She said she just wanted to be with me all day. So, I told her that she could do that if she wanted...we'd all go to the 1st party together and she could come home with me and Quinnlan for her nap and Daddy could just take Mia to the other birthday party. (She was excited about Grammie's, still.) She said that was what she wanted to do. The relief was written all over her sweet face.

So, she slept in our bed until we came up. Then this morning, she was all-smiles. I asked her if she was feeling better and she said she was and that she decided she did want to go to both parties. So, that is where they are now.

Huh...I don't get it. Is this just the drama of raising girls? Is it something to even worry about? Kevin says that she's fine and it's a stage and that she knows which buttons to push, or should I say, which heartstrings to pull.

I just prayed last night that Jesus would comfort her little heart and mind and give her peace within her little world.

Favorite Things Part 3

Since it is now full-on Fall, I have been thinking of some more of my favorite things...

1) Starbuck's Soy Pumpkin Spice Latte

This truly makes me SO happy. Smells like Fall, tastes like Fall...mmmmm. I only get 2 pumps of the syrup because otherwise it is pretty sweet. The only thing that makes this better is drinking it with one of their pumpkin scones. Delish...

2) Lavanila Pure Vanilla Fragrance

I have read so many magazine articles about perfumes and they all seem to come back to the same thing: Men love the smell of vanilla. I asked Kevin about this and he agreed. So, I was on the hunt for a vanilla perfume that didn't also smell like a whole bunch of other things and didn't make me smell so much like a bakery either. I also love the smell of vanilla and when I found this at Sephora, I knew it was THE ONE. Kevin gave it to me for my birthday and I love wearing it and he loves it too! It's scent feels warm and cozy. They also have other vanilla scents that I may look into for the warmer months (one called Vanilla Coconut smells like the beach)...

3) All things Etsy

I discovered Etsy.com this summer as I was searching for tutus for Miss Quinnie's Birthday outfit. Oh my...there are some super talented and creative people out there! I get the emails everyday of What's New and I love seeing all of the Fall/Festive things that people have created. I can look for hours at the children's things. It all inspires me...I just wish I had the extra hours in my day to learn how to do all of it! Or, I wish I had a million $$$ to just buy all of it :)

All she wants is to be with me...

And it's not necessarily a bad thing, but now she says she doesn't like school.

Me: Why don't you like school?

Chloe: I just don't.

Me: Well, is it your teacher? Is she nice?

Chloe: yes, she's nice, it's not her.

Me: Are there kids that are not being nice to you?

Chloe: No. It's not that.

Me: What is it? Why don't you like school?

Chloe: Because I am away from you for over 6 hours everyday (and she begins to cry)

...and my heart sinks.

What do I do? If she were on the state's schedule, she'd be in kindergarten and mandated to go, but since she and Mia are August birthdays, I decided to keep them in Pre-K for a 2nd year.

I don't think it helped to have her home sick with me for 6 days straight either.

So, I told her that there is no option here. She has to go to school.

Everyday.

And it breaks my heart to say it, but that is growing up, right?

I even tried to perk her up by telling her and Mia that we had some graham crackers (stale) that I found in the pantry that they could have as a snack when we got home if they said, "I LOVE SCHOOL!"

Here's how that went:

Mia: I LOVE SCHOOL!

Chloe: I love you, Mommy.

(sigh)

She can't keep it in...she's gotta let it out

You know that Cat Stevens song, "Can't Keep It In"? Lately, when I am with Mia, I sing it in my head...and sometimes aloud, too. I have never met a child like her! One way to describe Mia is Full of Life. She is completely unafraid to show her emotions about anything and everything. The thing that she has begun doing over the past few months that just cracks me up is that she will just "woo-hoo" about anything:

Me: "Hey Mia, wanna go with me to get the mail?"

Mia: "Woo-hoo! Sure!" (as she runs out the door)

or

Me: "OK, girls, let's get ready for bed"

Mia: "Woo-hoo! Let's go!" (as she is bounding up the stairs)

or

Me: "Girls, why don't you go out back and play for a bit"

Mia: "OK, let's go, Chloe! Woo-hoo!" (as she is running down the back steps)

Cracks. Me. Up.

Can I please have some of that energy and enthusiasm for life???

She definitely can swing the other way, as well, don't get me wrong...because when she gets upset about something or gets her feelings hurt, she can all-out bawl her head off to the point where I've told her to "serve" her time-out in the bathroom in case she decides to throw up. You might say she has a tough time calming down once she gets in trouble and really gets going. The other day she sat in time-out for 30 minutes because I told her she could come out as soon as she was quiet for 30 seconds straight with no crying. It took awhile...

Good thing those moments don't happen too terribly often :)

Oh, I can't keep it in. I can't keep it in, I've gotta let it out. I've gotta show the world, world's gotta see, see all the love, the love that's in me...

What a Week!

Chloe has been home with me everyday so far this week. She was super sick on Monday and through Monday night...just pitiful, moaning and groaning while she slept with her 103.2 fever. I took her in to see a new doctor on Tuesday and she said it looked like the swine flu because of her horrible cough and fever and stomach pains (even though the flu test came back negative---she said that if it comes back negative, it is only 50% accurate). She also was diagnosed with strep (again) and was wheezing in her right lung. Poor baby. When Chloe gets sick, she doesn't mess around!

Mia never ran a fever, but just had this yucky cough, so the doctor said she could return to school yesterday (Wednesday), but then this morning, she is coughing like crazy and said that her neck hurt (throat?) and so after a trip to the doctor again today, she also has strep. I guess that's part of being twins and being in such close contact day in and day out.

The doctor thinks that maybe one of them is a carrier of strep since they have had it so many times. So, we will have another culture run after they both finish their antibiotic to see if it shows up positive even when they are well. Fun fun...

Oh, and we can't forget Miss Quinnie. She just has a pretty crummy cold. No strep, though---hooray!

I did forget to write about Quinnlan's big fall that she had a week or so ago---she was walking under the table (shocker) and she fell and hit her little mouth on the edge of the chair and her tooth went through her bottom lip---yes, all the way through. We rushed her to Scottish Rite and thank the Lord they did not have to use stitches. They did have to irrigate it, though, and that was not fun at all. Now you can barely see where she did it at all!

see the mark under her lip on the left side of the pic

Kevin is feeling under the weather too and came home from work yesterday wanting to just crawl into bed, but being the sweet wife that I am, I made him go to dinner with me because I HAD TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! (Our sitter, Maggie, said she didn't mind that Chloe and Quinn had a little fever--thank goodness!) Our datenight was the light at the end of my tunnel this week and I think I really might have started crying if Kevin had said that he didn't want to go. We did go and have a quick datenight over some good miso soup at the local Japanese restaurant that I know made us both feel good :)

So, I guess they will ALL be home again tomorrow and since they have no school on Monday (workday), it has really felt like a LOOOOONG week.

Is it next Tuesday yet???

Pancakes, Pumpkins, Party City and More...

This weekend we started off Saturday with a little pancake party. Mia was my sous chef and she had to wear her new Snow White apron that she received for a birthday gift.

My biggest challenge as usual was to keep her from eating the raw butter...yes I wrote "butter" not "batter". I remember eating butter from the giant brown Country Crock tub as a kid too, though.

Mia watching cartoons and stirring

Chloe chose to chill on the couch and watch "Max and Wooby" while Quinnlan played in the toy cabinet.

The pancakes were delicious even if they were a little overcooked on the edges.

After Quinnie's nap, we all headed to the gym and Kevin and I took a KILLER Pilates Sculpt class and I got so tickled doing all these funny moves next to him. I hope the teacher didn't think I was laughing at her or the class, but I literally thought I was going to start crying at one point because I was laughing so hard.

Then that evening, we walked to our great friends and neighbors, The Shokat's, for an Oktoberfest family get-together. It was a blast for kids and adults!

Mia---Tattoos all over

Chloe and Megan and their tattoos

Besides Georgia losing to LSU, we had a great time and seeing all the kids (12!) playing so well together was so cool.

Walkin' all over the place

Caden, Anna and Megan

Naomi, Chloe, Megan and Mia and their root beer floats

Quinnlan especially LOVED Angus, the Shokat's bulldog

Each family had a pumpkin to carve with the kiddos, but it ended up being just the Dads...typical :)

Daddy had some great helpers

Ewww...Pumpkin Guts

Sunday after church, I took the girls to Party City to see if we could find any pink hairspray for Mia's Halloween costume. We got to do a trial run with the girls' costumes and they enjoyed running around the yard (Mia's pink hair and all) while I decorated the tree and bushes with Halloween decor and "spider webs".

The countdown is on...26 days till Halloween!

Rain Rain Go Away...

This whole Flood 2009 stuff is crazy! With Kevin being in roofing, he is always checking the weather online to see if they can roof or not. He was saying early last week that it would be raining everyday all week. I thought it was not the best for his business, but at least that meant that he would be doing work around here (mostly paperwork) and some appts, but a relatively easy schedule where we would see him a lot. And it just kept raining...and raining...

Sunday night the storm was so loud that we could not believe that no kids mysteriously appeared in bed with us! Mia said she didn't hear anything and Chloe said that she heard it but just crawled all the way under her covers "except for her eyes"---in her words. Quinnlan's sound machine worked wonders...not a peep from her either!

The girls had no school yesterday because of a work day, so for the past 2 days we have had to be indoors. The sun is out today (sort of) but when we went outside, the mosquitos were so bad that we just came back in...ugh!

While Kevin is going insane with roofing calls, I may be going insane (not really) with cabin fever.

My family room looks like a bomb went off...even though it is actually just New York City...Mia and Chloe's American Girl dolls are there on vacation.

Then they both decided that they wanted it to be my birthday again, so they have been choosing some of their toys as gifts for me---gift bag and tissue paper and all. They ran out of toy ideas, so Chloe's last gift was a bag filled with tissue paper and then she had wrapped folded tissue paper in wrapping paper...hilarious. Happy Birthday to Me :)

Then we did Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where Mia is the beautician, Chloe is the sales girl and I am the client. Fun, fun...I love Barbie makeup. The colors are fabulous.

Mia and her yellow (!) Barbie lipstick

2 manicurists---what great service!

Chloe adding up my spa bill

We've made necklaces, headbands and bracelets out of these little foam beads that I had conveniently hidden because of the choking hazard for Quinnie. I guess I should have "hidden" them in the garbage...I have been picking them up all day.

Along with all the fun we are having here (smile) there is not much fun in our basement. I keep looking at the news coverage where they show houses up to their rooftops with water and I count us as blessed to only have wet carpet in our basement. Kevin bought a giant wet-vac and so when Quinnie naps, I am wet-vac-ing. B-O-R-I-N-G. Oh well...

Some funny things we have discovered about Quinnie this week:

1) Quinnlan LOVES to be under our breakfast table. Kevin and I both died laughing when we caught ourselves saying, "girls, don't feed Quinnlan from the table" the other night when she had eaten earlier than the rest of us.

2) Our baby is now walking. She is so proud of herself and has taken about 5 steps at a time. I am in serious need of some baby gates now! She has also had her first taste of climbing the stairs. Now that is all she wants to do. She squeals the entire way.

3) She loves ALL berries. She has discovered blackberries ("blabla") and is in love.

yummm...

She also is a little obsessed with blueberries ("baboo"). I'm glad that she is on the path to eating more like Chloe (my fruit lover and child that will try new things) than Mia (who I hope will one day eat better...that's what vitamins are for, right?). She also LOVES Trader Joe's Spaghettios...mmmmm...the taste of my childhood (of course, mine were always good ol' Chef Boyardee).

One last thing: it always makes me smile to see how different my twins are. Mia loves to wear dresses and skirts (everyday) and loves to dance and twirl.

And Chloe loves to jump around---she really wants to do karate with Kevin. She does karate kicks all the time: