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This is going to be really special.

You should be sitting for this.

You are?

Fabulous!

We are moving!

This week!

This will be the EIGHTH move in FIVE AND A HALF YEARS for Dale and I.

Packing sucks.

Honestly though, we are super excited for this move.

Lots of good things are going to happen.

That's it!

Aren't you glad you were sitting?

Halloween in Pictures

Here is our Halloween in mostly pictures.

 Riley loved carving her pumpkin this year. This girl has a thing about her hands being dirty ( just like her mom...) so I was really surprised when this is the reaction we got after she started pulling pumpkin guts out...

 She did so good at preparing the pumpkin for the carving. She poked every single hole for that cat pattern and even helped me carve out the moon shape. 

 Mak just stayed in her highchair, ate food and was cute.

 She is very proud.

 Dale figured out that if he turned his weird pumpkin upside-down that it would stand up and he could carve this crazy one-eyed thing into it. We both thought it was the perfect pattern for this particular pumpkin!

 After nap time we got the girls all dressed up and TRIED to take pictures. I am not good at it... 

Bu either way they are cute!

This was the best shot i could get of her cute bunny behind!

We had fun showing off our costumes and  going "Trunk-or-Treating"

Witch is Witch

Riley had her preschool Halloween party and parade yesterday and she was so excited to be able to ACTUALLY wear the costume that I have been teasing her with the past month! I was not going to let her ruin that outfit that I had shed blood sweat and tears over until it was time! Yes there was literally blood sweat and tears. The blood and the tears coincide very well. not to mention the tears of frustration that the stinkin' skull and cross bones with the bow caused me...

I am having flashbacks, lets move on...

She was adorable!

I tried to give her a little bit of a witch face but she wouldn't let me do much, so I just used some black Halloween makeup around her eyes. If I had my way and she wouldn't have been scared of her reflection in the mirror (yep...) I would have painted her green!

It was so cute watching them walk around in a circle singing all the fun songs they have learned in preschool this month.

They were all very cute!

I can't wait to get both the girls in their costumes and take them trick or treating!

"Pumpkin Patching!"

Dale and I, in the 5 years we have been together and the four years we have had a child with us, have never bought a pumpkin. Unless fake pumpkins for decorations count, which I am sure they don't. Its very sad, I know! But this year with Riley Bug being 4, I decided to make it fun! Something maybe she will remember. We packed up the girls and went to a pumpkin patch! We told Riley Bug what we were doing and she got so excited and said

"We are going pumpkin patching!"

So cute!

I tried to take pictures of them together but they both just wanted to run around and play! Mak tried to lift a few pumpkins and Riley just climbed over all the hay bails and after we let them run around a little my parents came and we picked our pumpkins and left!

This is the face of a happy child who just picked out her first pumpkin!!

Welcome to the land of the misfit pumpkins!

This is how the Whipple's buy pumpkins! Dales is the one in the front that will only lay down Riley Bugs Pumpkin is the perfect one in the back on the right and mine is the slightly misshapen one on the back left! Dale and I, apparently, love the pumpkins that no one else will look at!

*Thank you Jamie for helping me get these dang pictures on here!!!

Is it me?

Blogger wont let me add pictures to put up a new post.

Very frustrating

The Other Side

Sure we are cute

But sometimes things happen...

Yep. :)

October

Dear October,

We like you a lot over at the Whipple house. 

we open all the doors and windows that we can and let your breezes circulate through our house. 

The girls love to do this...

They love when I can leave the door open and look outside and watch the cars go by and feel the cool breeze first hand! 

October brought us an amazing rain storm that shooed in the cool weather to stay! 

Thank you October. This is why you always have been and will continue to be my favorite month of the year!  

Because

Because I needed something different to look at and I really have nothing to blog about lately....

Trick Or Treat?

I LOVE Halloween, I always have. I have always thought it was so fun to dress up and get free candy from people. 

I had these neighbors when I was little that gave out Dunkin Donuts Donut Holes as treats. They probably still do but I haven't lived near that neighborhood since I was 10. As long as you were in the first HUGE group to come they would have it for you. I was almost always in the top 5 and since they LOVED me I would get those choose the 3 donut holes I liked best. (almost always I chose two glazed chocolate and one regular glazed!) No one else had that privilege.

Anyway, We never really decorated for Halloween in my house growing up. We always got pumpkins but besides a couple decorations that was about it. I am not bitter about it I completely understand. I am the youngest of 10 by the time my parents got to the end of the line I am sure all their Halloween wind was GONE! :) (Although, I am not really sure my parents were ever huge fans.) I think though, that maybe my parents indifference to the "holiday" made it so that I had a greater love for it. Especially since I have children now I want to make it special for them and let them know this is the day to have fun! I think I have succeeded. Riley talks about Halloween year round. She is planning what she wants to be next year before she has even decided for this year. This is the trick or treat part....

Treat: I love how Riley gets so excited to get dressed up
Trick: She actually has to make up her mind about a costume. We go through four a DAY!

Treat: Riley gets to help pick out the costumes for Dale, Makenna and I.
Trick. Three more costumes she cant decide on and more time spent trying to come to a conclusion.

Treat: Being able and wanting to make all the costumes
Trick: Being able and wanting to make all the costumes

Treat: Decorating for something fun
Trick: Having no decorating skills and limited decorations.

Treat: Costumes
Trick: Costumes handmade or store bought both end up being TOO expensive!

I have to take the tricks with the treats because seeing my girls, mainly Riley Bug for now, getting excited about it all is worth it! I am trying to teach myself how to do Halloween on a budget and so far its working but I still have 2 costumes to START and 2 to finish...

Poser

Cling Fest 2010

Well, we finally had Makennas 1 year doctors appointment.

The doc was very impressed with her growth and her smarts!

(so am i of course)

She has NEVER been so clingy at a doctors appointment but I think, maybe, she sensed my tenseness and/or somehow knew what was waiting for her in the room.

Shots are never fun!

The stats were a little surprising even to me!

Height: 30 in 75th percentile

Weight: 21 lbs 8 oz 50th percentile

Head Circumference: 46 cm 75th percentile

Please tell me how MY daughter, the product of Dale and I ended up in the SEVENTY FIFTH percentile for height? 

The big head I understand... But HEIGHT?

She is always surprising me!

I couldn't help but think how chubby she might look if she was a couple inches shorter.....

:)

This is what happened when...

Riley 

was to distracted by her little sister 

 REFUSED to sit still in her chair, kept playing drop the utensil, and wouldn't finish her food!

She wasn't happy.

Cool Morning

Today was the first morning (that I was actually awake for) that was cool enough that I thought it was a PERFECT day to take Mak to the park for the first time!

So the second we dropped Bug off for her second day of preschool we headed to the park!

Mak loved it!! 

She went down the slide a couple times

She played on the swing

She felt the strange sensation of sand between her toes for the first time

Had at her first chance to eat sand and rocks.....

And she was super cute doing it all!!

(doesn't this picture just crack you up?) 

It Begins

My days of sitting at home enjoying my girls and being a lazy bum are OVER! 

Today was Riley's first day of preschool and I already have found myself making little routines for the day ahead. 

(what am i a mom or something?)

Really though, its all about this girl

 Little Miss preschool herself!

She has been talking about going to preschool with her cousins for 4 months and it sure didn't disappoint! 

She was ready to go and nothing was going to stop her!

My little girl is growing up so fast!

I wasn't sure how I was going to react today. When I would picture it in my head I couldn't help but feel a little sad that Bug was growing up. But today, when I saw her in her class, not caring if I was even on the planet at that moment in time all I could feel was pride with not a tinge of sadness that she wasn't going to be with me for parts of the day. Maybe I was even a little relieved that someone was giving her learning opportunities that I would have NO IDEA how to go about giving her. 

(not even a tear.)

My little girl is growing up. She is independent, social and crazy smart and I am so proud of her. 

Sun Kissed

The pool has been our getaway this weekend and we are grateful!

Fresh tan lines and sleepy girls are 2 of my favorite things!