September/October 2019

I'm way late in posting this....yet again!  I've been subbing a bunch and the girls have been busy too.  Can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving.  Where did fall go?  We've had wacky winter weather in Texas too, so it really feels like I missed out on fall.

So what have we been up to you may ask?  The girls are still loving school and learning lots.  They've had some fun dress up days, the favorite being book character day.  We've also done Field Day and I got to go with Hannah's class on a field trip.  Both girls have also been chose as Star Student for displaying the character trait of the week.  So proud of them both.

We've spent TONS of time at church lately....even more than usual.  The girls got to sing a special quartet part on Sunday with the adult choir and orchestra.  They are also part of the select ensemble for our upcoming Christmas program.  And the kids choir just did their yesterday.  Hannah was part of the drama cast, though she didn't have any lines.  Lots of rehearsal hours put in and they both loved every minute.

This blog is mostly about the girls but I have to mention my silly kitty every once in a while.  Hannah got a loft bed for the birthday almost 2 years ago. We've put Domino in it before and he never seemed to care.  He just recently decided it's a nice place to sleep.  It's hilarious to watch him climb the ladder to get up there.  Silly silly kitty boy!

We had SO MUCH FUN with our Halloween costumes this year.  We've done a family theme for the last 4 years but I think this one is my favorite.  We chose Wizard of Oz.  I must give my mom all the credit for helping make costumes and taking the amazing photographs.  Yes the yellow brick road was created in Photoshop, but it looks amazing!

Stay tuned for more updates....maybe even on time. 😋

October 2018

We have several new staff members at our school this year so that means a few new activities.  We had some fun dress up theme days for book fair week and Red Ribbon week.

 Decades Day

 Tacky Tourist Day

 Twin Day

Super Hero Day

We also did Field Day in October (instead of May).  It definitely wasn't hot this year, but we did have some rain.  We only had to wrap thing up about an hour early so most of the kids got to play all the games.  All in all a fun day!

We wanted to do family themed Halloween costumes again this year.  So my mom and I started hunting on Pinterest at the end of the summer.  We decided on bee keeper and honey bees.  Thanks to my mom for all her hard work making costumes and for taking our pictures as well.  We were lucky to get any pictures with all the rain we've had, we took advantage of a 30 minute break in the rain to do a mini photo shoot. The ground was squishy and we had to avoid mud....yuck!

October 2017

We had two days off school for Columbus Day and parent/teacher conferences.  Love getting to hear about all the progress the girls are making and hearing their teachers brag on them.  So proud of all their hard work.  Auntie Kara was off one of those two days as well so the girls and I met her for lunch.  Then we went back to her apartment to play with her kitties.  Her beloved kitty passed away in Aug at age 13. =(  After visiting many shelters she decided to get two 5 month old kittens.  They are not siblings but they seem to be getting along.  They are SO cute and we enjoyed getting to play with them, even if only one cooperated for a picture.

Nathan and I decided to "graduate" ourselves upstairs for church choir this year now that we no longer have anyone in preschool.  We are having fun and so are the girls.  Abigail LOVES being upstairs with all the big kids.  The kids choir sang a song in big church one Sunday this month.  Our church has an awesome photographer that takes pictures so here's a few he captured. Photo credit: Jack Hess

The city of Plano put on a Family Safety Fair a few weekends ago.  Sadly it was the day before the cold front came through so it was 90 degrees.  But we had fun.  Hannah was especially excited to get to see some of the fire clowns.  They had just been out to their school to do an assembly about safety.  Abigail was to shy to get in the picture.

We decided to go with a super hero theme for our Halloween costumes this year.  My mom found super cute and reasonably priced costumes for the girls on-line so we did not have to make anything, which was nice. We did splurge on the ADORABLE bows, but they TOTALLY make the costume and we may wear them individually upon occasion if we have clothing to match.  My mom did a costume photo session one weekend and I am so pleased with what she captured and all her editing work.  So much fun!! 

This jail idea was all my sister.  I think this is my favorite series of photos we took.  They make me laugh every time.  LOVE the cute thought bubbles my mom added!!

We hit two fall festivals over the weekend and then trick-or-treated around the block in our neighborhood on Halloween night.  More than enough candy!  We also got to wear our costumes to church choir one night so yeah for getting extra use out of them.

Sadly the tummy bug made it though our house at the end of the month.  NOT FUN!!  It was short lived, but brutal.  It it Abigail first and she actually missed one of the fall festivals.  We thought we were safe after several days and then Hannah and I got it.  So far Nathan has escaped and we pray that continues.  Being immune-suppressed means getting sick is really not fun for him.

October 2016

I swear time keeps moving faster each month.  Totally CRAZY!!

After taking the girls to the water park over the summer, Nathan and I started talking about taking them to Six Flags.  We looked into ticket prices and they were nuts.  Then we saw the Labor Day sale on season passes.  We're not going to renew our zoo membership this year because we only have so much time to go do things.  We'll see how it goes and re-evaluate next September.  We did our first Six Flags visit at the beginning of the month.  There were a few tears, we had to force the girls on a few rides, we learned a little about which lines to avoid....but overall it was a fun day.  We mostly hung out in Loony Tune land, but that was the plan.  Here's just few pictures I took with my phone.

The city of Plano had a Family Safety event one weekend.  It was free and the weather was nice so we decided to check it out.  We had fun and will go back next year if they do it again.

 posing with the Plano East high school mascot

going up in the observation tower 

My mom and I started talking about and planning Halloween costumes over the summer.  We often like to DIY and we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time.  We saw this adorable idea on Pinterest http://www.thehairbowcompany.com/minion-costume.html and decided to copy.  Then because Nathan and I also enjoy dressing up we decided to go with the Despicable Me theme.  Nathan's aunt graciously agreed to make Nathan a scarf and I set about finding pieces for my costume.  Thank you Amazon for the orange wig and sunglasses.  Then I found the dress on sale at NY&Co.  It's so cute I have worn it alone as just a dress.  =)

 minions are silly

Even Hannah's doll got a costume

We tried to hit as many Fall Festivals as we could so we could get lots of use out of the costumes.  We managed 3 this year and then I took the girls around the block last tonight while Nathan is at BSF.

We also took the girls to the Arboretum for pictures in the pumpkins.  We were disappointed that they only had pumpkins in the designated Pumpkin Village and not everywhere in the park like in years past.  But we still had a fun.  

October 2015

Wow October is already over....time flies!  It is finally starting to cool off a little so we've enjoyed much more time outside this month.  We've visited several parks and even the zoo.

One Friday we took a walk to the college by my parents house to feed the geese and turtles.  Abigail had lots of fun!  The last photo was taken on our walk...she loves sitting on that little rock.

My mom and I also took Abigail to the Arboretum to see all their pumpkins.  Lots of fun, but the actually pumpkin village was swarming with people.  Thankfully there were some other less popular spots to get some pictures.  We were sad that Hannah didn't get to join us this year.

Speaking of Hannah....she is still enjoying school.  We had our first parent/teacher conference and her teacher only had good things to say.  My favorite was "Hannah is helpful and kind!"  Just what mommy and daddy want to hear.  =)  She had her first illness and missed almost all of this school week.  Glad she is feeling better. Hannah is also doing a puppet class as part of choir at church.  They are learning how to operate a puppet and will "perform" one song at their program in November.

I was super excited not to have to come up with a Halloween costume this year.  Our Minnie (and Mickey) ones still fit from last year and the girls wanted to wear them again.  I was ALL over that!!!  We went to my sister's church Fall Festival last weekend and hope to trick or treat our neighborhood tonight if it doesn't rain.  No new costume pictures this year...but here's one from last year to enjoy.

October 2014

Wow October seemed to fly by...where did the time go!  It was a fun and busy month.  We had some cooler weather so we enjoyed spending time outside.  We've gone to several parks, taken lots of walks, and made a trip to the zoo.  Speaking of the zoo, the last time we were there, we got to feed a flamingo.  SUPER COOL!!  They nibbled bird seed out of our hands which tickled, and we could feel how soft their neck was because it brushed against us.

My mom and I also took the girls to a small church pumpkin patch.  It happened to be HOT this day which is the reason for the sleeveless summery dresses.  LOL!  The girls were fairly cooperative to take pictures, and had fun looking at the scarecrows and picking a pumpkin.



My MOPS group also took a trip to a different pumpkin patch in McKinney.  It was just the right size for preschoolers and both girls had fun.  Hannah even surprised me by getting her face painted.  =)





This post would not be complete without Halloween costume pictures.  I love the idea and look of homemade costumes so I began searching for ideas back in August.  I knew if I let the girls pick the would join the masses of Anna's and Elsa's.  =)  I finally settled on Minnie Mouse for the girls and me and told Nathan he was going to be Mickey (poor guy never gets a choice either).  I ordered 8 spools of red tulle and my mom and I got to work making 3 tutus.  You'll be glad to know that we found our way out from underneath all of that tulle and the costumes turned our REALLY cute!



Lots of fun at our church's Fall Festival this year, but no good pictures. We didn't find time for my mom to take pictures of the whole family this year. So Nathan created a make shift tripod and we tried to snap a few Friday night before heading out to trick-or-treat.  We went to a few more houses this year than in the past and Hannah was actually tall enough to reach the doorbell.