10/31/11 - Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, all! I hope everybody had a safe and funfilled day!

Today flew by, it was over before I knew it! Work was good. I feel like I'm somewhat catching up, finally. I have a ton of stuff to do still, but I'm pretty much through all of the "rush" stuff that kept coming, and coming, and coming. Most of the new work I have to do now doesn't have the tight time frames I've been working under for so long, which is a really nice change.

I left work a tad early so I could pick up the girls and get them home with enough time to change, eat and all that jazz before our co-trick or treaters showed up. I got the girls in their costumes (and took some pics before too many distractions showed up) and made dinner. Christian arrived home right when dinner was ready to go, so we ate quick and finished up just as people arrived. My BFF's family, along with one of her sisters and her family came over, like usual, to trick or treat with us. I made some cider for our walk, and we took off. The older kids took off like a bolt of lightening, leaving the poor little ones in their dust. It worked out pretty well though.

Olivia did REALLY good this year. She was still a little apprehensive of going up to the houses, but she said "trick or treat" at every house, and was pretty good about her "thank you's" too. She was SO cute! Her little witch costume fit her perfect. She kept her hat on the whole time and actually lasted a lot longer than I expected. Amelia was surprisingly all about it. She carried her pumpkin around like a pro. She went up to the houses with no fear, actually trying to go in most of them. She dug into her candy pretty much right away, and she also lasted much longer than we expected. We ended up putting her in the stroller, more because we were tired from carrying her than anything.

Another year down. And, as you can see below, we have an obnoxious amount of candy. We have a 1 year old that can't even eat most of the candy, and it would take the 2 year old until next Halloween to eat it all. Seriously, why do we go to so many houses?!?

10/30/11 - Halloween Activities, Part 2

Today, our Halloween Weekend Extravaganza continued. Yahoo! We started off the morning with the typical breakfast and a little hanging out. Then, it was on!

First up, we worked on our Spooky Gingerbread house. I bought it on super clearance last year after Halloween, so it was really cheap, and it actually turned out pretty good. amelia was not very interested in it. She took a little finger scoop of frosting and took off. Olivia actually helped with it, and thought it was super cool. She then decided that the finished house should sit right in front of her stop at the dinner table. I wonder if she'll notice when we throw it out...

We ate a little lunch, and then it was time for naps. Glorious nap. Christian and I settled in to watch the Vikings (they actually won, YAY!). I wasn't feeling too hot...apparently I was more exhausted than I thought last night, because I completely forgot to take my contacts out before I went to bed! Oops. It's only the second time I've ever done that, and my head was pounding all day thanks to that little mistake. Of course, genious that I am, I just left them in all day today, instead of taking them out after realizing what I'd done. WOW.

After naps, we were off to the Fall Festival at a church down the street from us. We went last year and it was such a blast. However, they had much better weather last year. This year, it was quite a bit colder, so they had everything crammed inside, and didnt' have quite as much for the kids to do. But, Olivia had a blast anyway. Amelia was kind of overwhelmed with all of the people I think, but she did pretty good too. We played some game, ate some treats, pet the animals for a bit and just hung out. My mom and Christian's parents met us there. His parents couldn't really take the crowds, so they didn't stay long. Just long enough to see the girls in their costumes. My mom stuck around through the whole thing. The extra help navigating the kids and our stuff through the crowds was definitely helpful.

After the festival, the girls and I went home to settle in and relax, while Christian ran to his parents to help with some stuff for a while. By the time he got home, we all just ate a quick dinner and the girls were off to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a pretty chaotic day with work and trick-or-treating, I can feel the exhaustion already...

Here are some pics from today's events.

10/29/11 - Surprise!

Today was a really great day. The start to a SUPER great weekend.

We started the day off....late! For a change. The girls slept WAY in this morning, and it was definitely welcomed. I jumped in the shower and got ready for the day as soon as they woke up. We ate some breakfast, got the girls ready, and finally Christian got ready (such a slow poke, seriously!). I managed to get a load of laundry done (and have many, MANY more to do).

Finally, we were off, to the Mall of America, for a BIG surprise for Olivia. The mall opened up a new "Disney Store", and in celebration of that, Mickey and Minnie Mouse were making appearances at the mall today. Of course we HAD to bring Olivia to meet them. We didn't even mention it to her until we were there, waiting in line. The look on her face when Mickey came out was priceless. I actually teared up a little I was so excited for her. They had one come out, then rotated every 3 hours. Just as we got to the front of the line, Mickey finished his shift, which worked out well because Olivia really wanted to meet Minnie. She was extremely lucky though, and just happened to be right there as Mickey walked by to leave, so she did get to meet him. Unfortunately, we did not have the camera ready, so we missed the cutest moment. She ran up to Minnie and gave her the biggest hug. It was seriously the cutest thing in the world. I was so overjoyed that she got to experience that. She was just over the moon.

We got a decent coupon from them, so we stopped into the new store and bought her Rapunzel doll. Then, grabbed a bite to eat and were on our way home. Both of the girls passed out on the way home and proceeded to take a nice long nap. Christian did a little cleaning up outside while I ran to Target for a few weekend necessities and did some cleaning around the house.

Next up, Kari and her family stopped over for our annual pumpkin carving fun. Olivia and Andrew pretty much just watched movies and ran around the whole time. Amelia sat in her high chair and watched us like it was the most exciting thing ever. And we ended up with some pretty cool pumpkins. Christian and I had to do pretty boring designs this year now that we have to do pumpkins for the girls too. I think next year we'll have to do theirs one night, and our own at the carving party.

We ate some pizza, brownies, pumpkin seeds and other junk food, laughed and chatted the night away. Eventually, the kids were just driving us too crazy, and bed time was fast approaching. So, Kari's clan headed on home, and we relaxed for a while before calling it a night. Halloween is definitely upon us!

10/28/11 - Lovin' Life

Today was the day I've been attempting for a long time. Today I was finally able to work from home and do some much needed catching up. I had a ton of write ups to do and just can't get them done when I'm at work. Too many interruptions, phone calls, e-mails and distractions. So, I brought it all home with me and got to work. I only got a third of them done, but it's better than nothing! And, working from home, in my PJ's, with my shows on in the background is my idea of perfection (well, work wise anyway). Hopefully I can find a day next week to do it again and make a bigger dent in my pile.

At "quitting time" I was off to pick up the girls from my mom's. They had tons of fun playing at the new place, with all the fun new toys they haven't played with forever. I think they were a little sad to leave with me when I picked them up! The three of us stopped into Target on our way home to pick up dinner and a few extras. I finally got Olivia some long sleeved PJ's and I got her a new pair of black dress shoes (specifically to wear with her costume, but they'll last her through Christmas and all of that fun stuff). The girls love shopping, so it's a nice way to pass some time...other than trying to distract Olivia from all of the things she can't have, of course.

We met up with Christian at home and I did the dishes and some cleaning up around the house, made dinner, we watched some movies (specifically, "Tangled" for the 500th time) and hung out for the night. Once the girls settled in, Christian and I made some popcorn and watched "Scream 4" - none of them have been anywhere near as good as the first, but I actually thought this one was decent. After the movie, if was off to bed. Why I choose to watch scary movies, right before bed, when I know it's going to give me serious nightmares, is beyond me!

We have a weekend of fun Halloween plans ahead of us, and I'm very excited about that. LOVE this time of year!

It rained a little today. I took the girls out to play in it for a bit, and they thought it was pretty hilarious. Oh, to be so young and so easily entertained!

10/27/11 - Pumpkin Patch

Today was another pretty successful day at work. I got a few more rush projects done, tied up some loose ends and, since I'll be working from home tomorrow, I packed up some work to bring home. I love when I end the work day feeling accomplished...really accomplished. I even managed to work a break into my work schedule today so I could run and renew the tabs for both vehicles (ouch, but it's nice to get it all done in one shot). The truck tabs FINALLY went down, after all of these years. They are still expensive, but nothing like they were. And, my car tabs are super cheap, so that's nice.

After work, I ran home to let the dog out and grab the camera, then met up with Christian at his mom's house. We got the girls ready and loaded up into the car, then were all off to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins for this weekend. The girls had a blast running around in the maze of pumpkins. They had a little goat farm and a jump house. It was a lot more exciting than I thought it would be!

Finally, it was dark and getting late, so we were homeward bound. We ate some dinner, hung out together for a while, and it was bedtime before we knew it. Time sure flies when you're having fun!

Here are some pics from our pumpkin pickin'!

10/26/11 - 15 Months

My sweet Amelia Badelia turned 15 months old today. It seems like just yesterday she was this tiny little baby that needed us for everything. Now she's this crazy toddler, doing whatever she wants, ganging up on us with her big sister.

Amelia is so funny and so entertaining. She goes with the flow and follows her big sister around EVERYWHERE she goes, whether she's allowed to or not. She now has 3 of her 4 1st molars, putting her at 11 teeth. Most days, she eats and eats like crazy. She's becoming quite the climber and is now learning the joy of jumping off of things. She thinks everything is funny, and still has the best, funniest smile I've ever seen. She sleeps great, naps and bedtime. We rarely have any issues with her. Couldn't be more different that the first year of her life! She is officially off the bottle, Hallelujah! I was worried we would never get her to give up her bedtime bottle, but I finally put my foot down and decided to just go for it. She puts up a little bit of a fight, but it's been a lot easier than I expected. So happy to be done with that!

She still isn't really talking. I have her 15 month check up next week and I'll be talking to the doctor about it. I mean, I know she's not supposed to be talking in sentences or anything yet, but I'm getting a little worried. She communicates well, you can tell she obviously knows what we're saying and she does try to mimic us quite a bit, but I just keep thinking that she should be able to say more than she does. We'll see what he says.

She has been growing like crazy these last couple of months. She is ready to move up to her 12-18 month clothes already, after being behind for so long. I'm very interested to see what she weighs in at next week.

And, that's about it. I can't believe how well the girls have been getting along lately. It's like night and day from a few months ago. They play together, they share, they laugh and have so much fun together. It's so amazing watching them together. It warms my heart, every day. I just love my life, my girls, more than anything!

10/25/11 - What a Dad!

Today was not a very fun day. Plus side, I got to start work a little late. Down side, I sad in a meeting...ALL DAY. I had 5 big projects out for "bid", all for this same group of people, and today just happened to be the start of their annual conference. Needless to say, they are not huge fans of our process or restrictions, so I spent a lot of the day getting "yelled" at whenever they didn't like what they were hearing. It was quite frustrating, and I couldn't wait for it to end.

The meeting ended pretty late in the afternoon, and I had a lot of "post meeting" organizing to do, so I ended up just heading straight home so I could focus on that without distraction. I was able to get through most of it by the time the rest of the house showed up.

Then, it was just our typical ending to the night. Dinner, playtime, a little TV. Just another day! I'm a little nervous about heading into work tomorrow...hopefully things didn't go too crazy while I was gone today!

Today Christian built a play house for the girls out of the car seat boxes. They were SO excited about it, and I'm quite impressed myself. Way to go dad!

10/24/11 - Nada

Well, it's another one of "those" posts. Today I don't really have much to report. Christian is still lacking in the OT department at work, which kind of sucks. With the Holiday's coming, that should pick up though. Things are still crazy and stressful at my work. There are rumors of a lot of changes coming up, which makes me a little bit nervous. I'm not a big fan of change...I mean, I'll do it, but I won't like it. I'm really hoping that I can make so good progress on my piles of work this week though. My goal is to work from home one day this week to catch up on some "put it off as long as I can" write ups that I really, REALLY need to get done. We'll see...

The evening was pretty normal. I stopped into Target on my way home to pick up a few groceries. They have princess dresses on sale right now, so I picked up a few for Olivia's birthday. I've been slowly collecting birthday and Christmas presents as I find things on sale. I think I'm getting pretty close to being done with the girls' gifts. Yay! After Target, it was home for dinner and the usual routine. Nothing pretty exciting, but a low key day once in a while is more than welcomed!

Here are a few pictures we got of the girls, briefly between getting home and it getting dark.

10/23/11 - Repeat

Today was another busy day around the house. I don't think you realize just how much stuff you have laying all around the house until it's time to put everything away and get ready for the snow to fly!

The girls had us up last night. They were both up screaming and crying, so there's no telling who woke who up, but they were both very upset about it. We got them calmed down and back to sleep, but once you get used to those quiet nights of uninterrupted sleep, it's hard to get up like that.

This morning we had a nice little family breakfast and relaxed for a little while. Then, it was time to work, work, work. Today's long list of tasks included, moving the deck furniture down underneath the deck, along with the two patio furniture sets, the kids' slide, picnic table and sand and water table. Gathering up all of the yard lights, tiki torches, hoses, sprinklers and the remaining yard decorations and packing it all away. Put down the winter fertilizer (so, YAY, officially done with yard work for the year!). And, cleaned up the garage one last time.

In addition to that fun, we moved the car seat from Christian's truck into my car, and installed the new seats in the truck. I'm anxious to see what Amelia things about her new seats. And, I'm kind of hoping that seeing Amelia in her chair, rear-facing, will make Olivia want to rear-face again...then Christian can't fight me on it! LOL. I folded a few loads of laundry and packed up the girls' "daycare" bag for the week, did the dishes and did a little general picking up around the house while the girls napped. Can I just say, I feel incredibly blessed that we have the girls on the same sleep schedule, and we get a nice 3 hour nap from them. More than enough time to get some stuff done and get a little down time in!

Mix in a little football watching, some cooking and a lot of playing and laughs with the girls, and with that, we ended our busy weekend around the house. Another good one for the books!

Here are a couple pictures for today. First, apparently we took too long to get the girls when they woke up this morning...we found Olivia in Amelia's crib, and they were just hanging out like it was play time. Second, Amelia's cute self outside while we were cleaning up.

10/22/11 - Crafts and Cleaning and Movies

Today was quite a mish-mosh of a day for us.

We were up earlier than usual, which I'm never a fan of. But, we did actually have to be somewhere, so I guess it wasn't SO bad. We ate some breakfast and pretty much were up and at em' right away. I took my shower and got ready. Then, we gave the girls a quick bath and got them dressed. Meanwhile, I did a few loads of laundry. As much as I hate doing laundry, it is the one chore you can do while doing everything else you need to do at the same time. So, it's not ALL bad.

Once we were all cleaned up and ready to go, the girls and I were off to my dad's house to do some Halloween Arts and Crafts with my stepmom and some of my nieces and nephews. Olivia was pretty excited to play with her cousins for a bit, and they were both pretty interested in their little art project (they made little Halloween keepsake boxes). After the crafting, some lunch and a little playing in the yard, we were on our way home. It didn't take long before both girls passed out.

We put then down for their naps when I arrived home, and I joined Christian in the yard where he was already hard at work on our weekend winterizing project. Today's jobs included deflating pools and beach balls, and packing them away along with sand box toys and other random outdoor toys, raking the back yard one last time (this ended up being my job, and I have the massive, painful blisters to prove it!), cleaning up the deck, scrubbing down the grill and picking up some of the yard decorations. It doesn't sound like a lot, but man, it sure kept us busy!

The girls joined us for while after their naps. Did some swinging, chased the dog and bounced in their bounce house for a while. Finally, we called it a day on the yard work and headed inside. We grilled some chicken for dinner (so good, it's going to be mighty sad packing the grill away pretty soon...), watched Tangled for the millionth time and just spent a little time playing and goofing around with the girls.

It doesn't matter how down you might be, how ill you may be feeling or what is going on in the world, those girls know exactly how to put a smile on our faces. They are so fun, and so thoroughly entertaining. It's hard to imagine what life was ever like without those goofy smiles, sweet laughs and pure chaos.

Once the girls were down to bed, Christian and I settled in for a movie night. I had grand plans of watching two movies....even though I'd already watched it, I wanted him to see Bridesmaids (which, he loved), and then I really wanted to watch Scream 4...but, I after barely making it through the first movie, I gave up and went to bed. I long for the day I can actually stay up late!

Here are some pics of the girls doing their crafts.