Fall Fun

I LOVE fall...it's my favorite season by far! I love the weather, I love all the festivals, the State Fair, Halloween...I just love everything about it! This year we've had so much fun with the girls. They're both at the perfect age for all of the activities and they can not wait until Halloween!!!

Their favorite part about the fair...the cotton candy!

Making a Haunted House. They were a lot more serious about this than I expected. I expected Alice Anne to sit there and eat the candy the entire time...regardless of what I said, and Hannah to sit there and beg me to let her eat the candy the whole time, but neither one of those happened. They LOVED decorating it...and then they each got to eat 2 pieces afterwards!!!

Decorating their "Crazy Pumpkins"

The finished products! Hannah wanted a ponytail on hers and Alice Anne wanted pigtails on hers!


This picture makes me laugh. Our favorite thing to do around here is to dress-up like princesses, turn some music on and dance. As they were dancing, Alice Anne fell down. Hannah ran over to her and started screaming very dramatically, "The glass slipper, the glass slipper!! It broke!!!" Alice Anne looked at her like she was crazy and said, "It didn't break...it's right here!" Hannah got real serious and started explaining to her that she was pretending and said, "Alice Anne, when I pretend, you have to pretend with me, because I'm the big sister. If I say the glass slipper broke, you say OK." So, of course, just like everything else, Alice Anne went along with it. It was hilarious to hear the conversation!!!

We played "Beauty Parlor" with all our babies. They looked through the American Girl catalog and picked out how they wanted each doll's hair fixed. We even brought Sarah and Mary's American Girl dolls home to give them a makeover!

Hannah started gymnastics this fall and is loving every second of it! We're so impressed with her gymnastics class and she's really learning a lot! Her sweet little friend Lucy is in her class and it's just the 2 of them, so they get their teacher's undivided attention. She loves dance, too, and when I ask her if she likes gymnastics or ballet better, she says that she can't decide :)

Hannah is getting too big too fast!!! She is counting the days until she turns 4...and we've been counting EVERY SINGLE DAY for 250 something days!!! In her mind, a LOOOOT is going to change when she's 4 years old!

Alice Anne is such a mess and seriously cracks me up all day long! She is so funny...and SUCH a little toot at the same time! She does NOT like being the only one in her class at school that wears panties and she makes sure that I know it by asking for a diaper everyday after school. When I tell her that she's a big girl and doesn't need a diaper, she simply spreads her legs out and pees all over the floor. Strong willed child?? Seriously...this happens twice a week at the same time every Monday and Wednesday afternoon!!! I keep thinking that if I ignore it, clean it up and act like nothing ever happened, she'll stop doing it...but it hasn't stopped yet ;) She always hugs me after I clean it up and makes up for it. I swear, she gives THE BEST hugs ever!!! They will never get old!!! And she loves to give them out, which I love!

My sweet little toot!

Zombie

I have never been one that does good on little sleep. I need a good 7-8 hours of sleep at night to be happy. It's been a while since I've had babies that are up all night, and I've tried to put those days behind me. I don't know what was going on last night, but I think someone was playing a not so funny joke on me.

Here's how my night went:

11:30 p.m.-Guess I had too much caffeine, and I was having a hard time winding down

12:30 a.m.-Trying to sleep, but I had a husband and 2 dogs that were snoring louder than ever

1:00 a.m.-Earplugs helped a little and I think I dozed off

2:15 a.m.-Alice Anne starts crying...I go up there and she's upset that she dropped her blankie

3:00 a.m.-I finally go back to sleep

3:23 a.m.-Hannah is at the side of my bed tapping on my back. Says her boo boo hurts. I give her some Motrin and take her back upstairs

3:55 a.m.-I'm still awake and Hannah comes BACK downstairs and says, "It's taking too long." Don't know what was taking too long, but trying to be patient, I take her back upstairs.

4:20 a.m.-I think I've just dozed off and Hannah is at the side of my bed AGAIN! I'm losing my patience and I tell her to go back upstairs.

4:33 a.m.-Brett says that since he's awake, he's going to go ahead and go to the office, so he gets in the shower.

4:50 a.m.-Brett can't find heartburn medicine. I get up and turn all the lights on to find it.

4:54 a.m.-Brett leaves

4:55 a.m.-Brett comes back inside. He can't find his keys. I get up again and help him find his keys.

5:08 a.m.-Hannah is back downstairs. I tell her to go back up and don't come back down until it's "wake-up time"

5:30 a.m.-I'm worried that Brett got mugged walking into the office at such crazy hours so I call to make sure he's OK.

5:58 a.m.-Last time I looked at the clock. I think I finally went to sleep!!

6:37 a.m.-I hear, "Good Morning, Mommy!!" It's Hannah!!!!

7:00 a.m.-Guess I better get up and start my day...

What in the world!!! Wish I was a napper...

On a sweeter note, we took the girls to the Botanical Gardens in Ft. Worth last weekend. It was beautiful!!!

Sleepy Baby!

Drill Sergeant

The girls went from my parents house, to Brett's parent's house, to a weekend alone with daddy, to Disneyland and the beach, and back home where Carter came to visit and then we started school...all in less than 3 weeks. To say they have been "off," would be an understatement. So I have spent the last week being a Drill Sergeant and trying to whip everyone back into shape. It hasn't been fun, but it was definitely needed. I think we're all getting back to normal. The girls have both been awesome the last 2 days. Today they were both so lovey and came and gave me so many unsolicited "I love you mommy!" hugs. Love days like that. Guess it's so true that kids really do like structure and discipline...


My sweet little Hannah has had a hard few days. She fell really hard at the restaurant on Friday night and a high chair fell on top of her. It was scary!!! That's where the forehead bruise and black eyes came from. Yesterday she fell HARD while she was running up to the ice cream store and then last night she busted it again out on the driveway. I hugged her and told her that she has had a hard time lately. Today she told me about 20 times, "Mommy, I'm just having a hard time!" Poor thing!

If you're wondering why there have been so many Hannah pics and not many Alice Anne pics lately it's because Alice Anne runs as fast as she can the second she sees me pull out the camera...and Hannah poses and tells me to take her picture all day long!!!

DISNEY!!!!

A couple of weeks ago, we took the girls to California for a fun end of summer trip! We went to Disneyland and played at the beach. I took SO many pictures, I'm going to do 2 post...one for Disney and one for the beach.

The girls were literally in heaven at Disney. They were up at 4:15a.m. ready to "go see the princesses!" That was all they talked about for weeks before we went and they were not disappointed! Brett and I had the best time just watching their faces and seeing how excited they were. I was afraid that they might be a little too young, but they were at perfect ages and they really thought that the princesses were the "real thing!"

The second we pulled up, they both asked where Ariel was (their absolute favorite princess), so we headed straight to the princesses castle. They were just about to start a "Royal Ball," and one of the princesses helpers came and took the girls hands and led them down to the "Ball." Their faces were priceless!!! They got to dance with the princesses helpers and then they were front and center as 3 of the princesses came out on stage.

Waiting for them to come out...

She was in disbelief...this is how she stood as all the princesses were coming out! This is really funny. Alice Anne was potty trained the week before our trip. She only had one accident on the whole trip and it was as soon as we walked into Disneyland. She was so excited she literally wet her pants!

Snow White came down for a dance!

And there she is...Ariel!!! Hannah gave her the biggest hug and said, "I haven't seen you in SOOOO long!!"

And of course she got a big hug from Bally!

Cinderella!!!

Sleeping Beauty!!!

Princess Belle!!!

Princess Tiana!!

And the 2 Belf Princesses

They LOVED the parade, too, and getting to see Mickey, Minnie, "Gonald Guck" (as Alice Anne says) and all of Mickey's other friends!

They got to go out and walk in the parade and they thought they were so cool!!!

That was probably one of their best days yet...and to top it all of, there was a wedding right outside our window when we got back to the hotel. They stood there and watched the whole thing!!!

A cute little story. On the airplane on the way home, Hannah said she had a great idea!! She said that for her 4th Birthday Party, she wanted to get all of her friends and grandparents and get on the airplane and go to Disneyland and the beach. She said, "Everyone would think that was the coolest party ever!" Of course!!! Just what we need...a destination 4th Birthday Party!

Last Little Piece of "Baby"

Those of you that know Hannah well, know how attached she is to her 3 pacis...VERY!!!! She only has them in her bed and can only have them when she's sleeping, but she loves those things so, so much!!! Brett and I have tried to not push her to get rid of them, but would just casually ask her every once in a while if she wanted to give them away. Every time it was mentioned, she would stress over it for days and seriously panic at the thought of not having them. The last time it was mentioned, she very firmly looked at me and told me not to ask her that again, because she was going to keep them until she was 100!!!!

Saturday when we were driving, we over heard Hannah telling Alice Anne that when she turned 4, she was going to give her swim ring away and never use it again. Brett asked her if she wanted to give her pacis away when she turned 4, too. She agreed to give 2 of them away, but said she was going to keep her favorite one forever. I asked her if she thought it would be fun to go to build-a-bear when she turned 4 and put her pacis inside a bear's tummy and sew it up. She said she wanted to do it, but she only wanted to put 2 inside. I told her that if she wanted to do it, that we had to put ALL of her pacis in there. I didn't press the issue, I just told her to think about it, and let me know if she thought it sounded like a good idea. Yesterday morning, Hannah told me she wanted to go to Build-A-Bear and sew her pacis up after school. I explained it to her and made sure that she knew what that meant...that the pacis would be inside the bears tummy and that she would be able to feel them, but she wouldn't be able to put them in her mouth anymore. She agreed, and said she would just put her bears hand in her mouth. So off we went to get our "paci bear."

Hannah proudly picked out her bear (aka: Hello Kitty) and gave her pacis one last kiss and then dropped them inside. I'd be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear or two when she told those pacis bye. Silly, I know, but to me, those pacis were the last little piece of "baby" that she had left in her.

Last night when I put her to bed, she gave Hello Kitty's tummy a kiss and told her pacis "night, night."

"Hi School...Summer's Over!!!"

This is what Hannah SCREAMED as we drove up to school this morning!! Everyday this summer, we drove by the girl's school and they would say, "Hi School...We'll see you after summer!" This morning, Hannah was so excited to say, "Hi School...Summer's Over!!"

I have never seen 2 little girls so excited to go to school!! I honestly don't think they could sleep last night, they were so excited. Hannah was up at 6:09 this morning ready to go! I was a little sad to send my babies off, but we are all ready to get back into a routine.

This is Hannah's 3rd year at Good Shepherd and Alice Anne started last January. Brett and I couldn't be happier with their school and I think the saddest thing for me today was knowing that this will be Hannah's last year there...until she goes to the big kid school :(

Alice Anne was really excited that she got to go to school in big girl panties and her teachers said she did great! They went on and on about how sweet she is!! She was so proud to show me her picture that she made and she wanted to show me all of the toys in her room, too!

Hannah is in the oldest class there and her big excitement was that she got to take a big girl lunch box. She was SO excited about her princess lunch box that she picked out!! She was also so excited that she didn't have to have a rest time or nap time. Her teachers went on and on about how friendly she was and said, "this little girl has never met a stranger!" They also said that she was sooo smart!! They said she was the only one in the class that wanted to write her own name on her papers and that when they started singing the months of the year song, she proudly announced that she already knew all the months ;)

After school, we went and got ice cream and we were there forever because the girls sat there and told me every little detail about their day! You KNOW I loved that!!!!!!!

I tried to get a picture of them in front of the school and this is what they did. I thought it was cute anyway!
My sweet little baby!
My "Big Girl Baby" as she tells me when I tell her that she's my baby. She looks so big here!!!