Happy Halloween!

Our creative interpretations of Jesse and Little Bo Peep... Are they not the cutest?? More details later...we're pooped!

Halloween Morning

We had a busy Halloween morning roasting pumpkin seeds,
making "footprint" ghost treat-bags for the cousins,
and playing with a few surprises the girls found in their pumpkins.

A lost sheep, and...

Bullseye!

If you don't already know who the girls are dressing up as, these toys should give you a clue. They wore their costumes to school Thursday for the Fall Festival, and I've wanted so badly to post pictures but decided to wait until Halloween. I'll try to share some pictures tonight {but more than likely sometime tomorrow}.

Pumpkin Carving

School Pictures

The girls came home today with the proofs of thier very first school pictures. I must say I am quite pleased with how these turned out, and I can't wait to see the class photo.

{keep in mind I scanned these proofs...}

So Corny

Last Saturday, we found ourselves at the West Farm Corn Maze. I'd done some research on local corn mazes and among West Farm, Legare Farms, and Boone Hall, West was closer and cheaper, and did not disappoint {though I have nothing to compare it to}. Anna Claire and Mallory thoroughly enjoyed running {and I mean running} all over the farm! The corn pool...The hay bale maze...

Such a huge hit, I am thinking of building one in the back yard! ;-)

Hayride...

{Shhh...she's eating Doritos. I know, I know...}

Petting zoo...

OK, so we didn't actually go through the corn maze, but it was huge and I've heard it takes people hours to get through those things...not such a great idea with the girls.

The Princess and the Pea {updated}

After our first trip to the MUSC children's ER {in the wind, and rain, and thunder, and lightening no less}, the pea has been extracted.

Anna Claire was such a brave girl! I knew she was nervous in the waiting room when she kept saying over and over, "Mommy, I love you." So sweet. And I think she learned her lesson.

Anna Claire has a pea stuck up her nose. Right now. As I type.

She actually had one in each nostril, but my mom was able to get one out. The other can be seen with a flashlight if you tip her head way back, but it is just too far up there. We've tried everything the nurse suggested...using the suction bulb, having her blow her nose, and trying to flush it out with saline. The nurse seemed confident that the pea would work itself out and didn't seem overly concerned, so I was OK with it for a while.

Then, I googled "pea stuck in toddlers nose," and now I'm starting to feel a little uneasy. i think I'll be calling the pediatrician's office back in a bit.

Check back for updates...

Picking the Perfect Pumpkin from the Patch

Gone Fishin'

Last Saturday evening {so far behind...catching up slowly} we headed over to Aunt Pam and Uncle Rick’s for a yummy dinner. After eating, we all headed to the pond so Connor and Dylan could do a little fishing. Of course, the girls were not going to be left out. I guess we’re buying fishing rods.

Zorro??!!??...

The highlight, though, for Anna Claire and Mallory...two baby squirrels {chipmunks?} we found nestled in the pine straw {not a great picture at all}.

Collecting acorns...

Bedtime Stories

I've been trying to do a better job of keeping y’all up-to-date with all Anna Claire and Mallory’s shenanigans lately. With the girls and I having been sick most of September, I got out of the habit of updating often and rarely even picked up my camera. :’-(

Things are still busy as ever, but I’ve made a pledge to myself to do a better job posting here {which shouldn’t be too difficult since the holidays are right around the corner}. The girls are growing and changing and getting smarter and smarter by the day…there is so much I don’t want to forget, and since I haven’t touched their baby books in over a year, I’m going to spend some time here on the little things…like our current favorite bedtime stories. I am so thankful {I think I’ve said it before} that the girls love, love, love books. We have shelves and baskets of books all over our house {and even in the car}, but we have a few titles we specifically save for bedtime...

Llama, Llama Red Pajama
Quick as a Cricket
Goodnight, Gorilla
Goodnight, Moon
The Big Red Barn
Mary Engelbreit’s Mother Goose
Treasury of bedtime Stories {"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "Henny Penny"}
The Jesus Storybook Bible {"David and Goliath"!}

The rule is two books and then lights out, but don’t think for a minute the girls don’t try to trick us into reading more than just two books. And honestly, things do get a bit tricky because sometimes they are happy to sit and listen to the same two stories if they can agree, but other times they want different stories…so is that two stories total, or two stories per girl {totaling four books}? You’d think it would be as simple as Mallory choosing one book and Anna Claire choosing another {and maybe it could be}, but if you have ever had two-year-old twins named Anna Claire and Mallory, you know nothing is really all that simple.

And the only thing that will divert their attention from wanting one more story, mommy is our other bedtime ritual of singing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” Yes, the Toy Story obsession continues, though Mary Poppins has recently taken top spot {which I find practically perfect in every way!}

Woosh!

We spent a beautiful Saturday morning at the playground this past weekend. It's a very old playground, but it's my favorite.

I think this may be the same teeter-totter I played on as a child!

Much to my dismay, we decided to let the girls climb up the big slide and come down alone. Walter helped them up the ladder and I waited down below. Mallory is much more of a daredevil, but Anna Claire was not going to be outdone!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I see the cutest little class book ever...Mrs. Lori made all the children their very own Brown Bear book with a picture of each of their friends. I knew they had read Brown Bear, painted a brown bear, and colored a brown bear "puppet," but I didn't know the little book was in the works. What a cute keepsake for the girls to always remember the friends they made their very first year of playschool. Thank you, Mrs. Lori!

This was also our week to send in snacks. I wanted to do something "seasonal" and had grand plans to send in snack o' lanterns Tuesday, but after carving three, I realized this wasn't really a Monday~night~kind~of~project for me, so we took in yogurt and granola bars instead. Today, however, we did send in {semi} homemade chocolate chip~pumpkin mini~muffins. I let the girls taste~test Wednesday night. I think they liked the muffins...

These couldn't have been easier to make and the healthy pumpkin totally cancels out the chocolate, right? Try 'em...

1 box of chocolate chip muffin mix
1 cup of canned pumpkin
1/2 cup of milk
1 large egg
1/2 t pumpkin pie spice

Bake in a greased mini-muffin pan at 400 degrees for 10 minutes {for mini-muffins}.