The reason I will never be a kid photographer...

We had a play date over at my house today. I made the insane suggestion of getting a group picture. We all grabbed our kids, put them on the roller coaster, and tried to get them all to look in one direction. Luckily I have a fast flash camera, so I put it on continuous shoot and took about 20 pictures in 30 seconds. This is the best shot I got-a somewhat decent picture. I still don't have all the kids looking directly at me, but 6 out of nine isn't bad.

As I was reviewing them, I had to laugh. It's amazing what was happening in that 30 seconds and the personality of all the different kids, inparticular my little Bella. Notice in this one she's trying to grab Kiera's hair.

I guess Kiera was too far away, so she grabs Victoria's hair instead.

What is this? Bella's playing dead?

The kids were waiting for Ms. Patti to show them how to make the cutest little pumpkin pies. She showed them how to measure milk and whip the pudding.

I had such a blast with all my friends.

We also created turkeys and Fall hand trees. The turkeys were made out of marshmallows, goggley eyes, feathers, pipe cleaners, and foam beads. Bella's and Victoria's birds had small bites taken out of them- yummy marshmallows.

Bella enjoys her pumpkin pie!

Happy Thanksgiving friends! We are so thankful to have you in our lives! You are amazing friends! Thank you!

Weekend Road Trip

We decided to take a road trip this weekend. Jer's been really wanting to go to Vicksburg after we went to Gettysburg this summer, so... we loaded up the family, stopped for Jer's Mom and Dad and drove to Mississippi. Jer had said it would be about 5 1/2 hours, however, I believe it was closer to 7 hours. Carol, Victoria, and Bella wait patiently to be checked out of our room in Shreveport. This was our half-way stop. We got in on a Friday night at 8:30. Jer and Dick did some gambling that night. The next morning I walked into the casino, but quickly walked out- it looses its flare in the morning lights. We were up 20 dallors until Jer made me play Roolet (seriously, he sat me down and said we're not leaving until you gamble some.) We lost 15 dollars at that table, before I finally got up and said, let's go. All in all, we were up 5 dollars.
This is the way to travel in style. Daddy totes Victoria on our luggage.

Bella wants in on the act. (Whatever sister has or does she wants.) Dick totes Bella on the luggage.

The gang in Shreveport.

My daughter has a fascination with canons.

Victoria and Bella play Ring Around the Rosie in the gift shop at Vicksburg. Grandma ended up buying this hat for Bella. She reminds me of an old fashioned Holly Hobby that I had as a child named Betsy. Too cute.

Vicksburg was awesome! We bought a CD to listen to in the car as we drove around the battleground. They had a ton of elaborate monuments that were breathtaking.

Can you believe this is a November day in Mississippi? The wind was blowing, but it was about 65 degrees. Leaves were falling all over the place. Carol remarked that they looked like gold falling.

The Lunn's climb the trenches.

Grant leads the army into battle. The moon was actually out in late afternoon.

The Texas monument was located on a giant hill. It was one of the last we saw before the afternoon turned to darkness and we left the museum before it closed or closely thereafter.

The Mississippi river at sunset as we take a "scenic detour" that Jer insists is not that far. (Need I say more.)

On the way home we stopped at the antique shops in Forney. (Like my driving glasses and squirmy kids?) They were closed, so we went to Chili's and had a feast. A great weekend!

Victoria dresses herself

I told the girls I was going to go get dressed today after breakfast. As I'm getting ready Victoria comes into my bathroom as proudy says "I'm ready to go Mom." She had dressed herself completely! A first, especially without being told. Although her shirt is on backward and she's wearing her shiny church shoes (her favorites), I'm extemely proud of her.

Halloween is in the air!

My kids have been going crazy. We've been doing Halloween related things this whole week. Jer thinks its the candy, but, truthfully, we haven't given them that much. I think it's just the air of Halloween- it's just so much fun! We went to Patti's house for our playgroup and dressed in our costumes. She had a scavenger hunt that the kids loved. They ran from one place to another in her backyard, learning clues, getting candy, and having a blast. Later, we had these neat Mummy hotdogs and put icing on Halloween cookies.

Victoria wanted to be a cat for Halloween this year. However, the weather didn't quite cooperate. It was 70 this day and her warm costume came off very fast.

I found a really cute bee costume for Bella. Once again, it was too warm.

Mommy was a hippie. The wig was even too hot for this weather. Peace out.

I love this picture. Her eyes and mouth are too precious.

So I went to Toys R Us to buy diapers on the night before Halloween and they had all their costumes 50 % off, so I bought "cooler" costumes for the girls. Bella was Abby Cadavey from Sesame Street and Victoria wore her Butterfly Fairy Princess costume from last year. I made her a make shift wand out of a plastic spoon and fabric after she saw Bella's wand and wanted one of her own. Jer even dressed up as my hippie man. He wanted so badly to put a Vote Obama sticker on his outfit- Ha.

This is the gang we went with- Kate, Abby, and Brealyn. What fun we had!

Bella figured out fast how to Trick or Treat. She was always first at every house walking to the next one as soon as she got her candy. She had so much candy that her container was hard to carry and I dumped some out into our wagon. I think a bunch of neighbors gave her extra because she's so little and was saying all the punch words- Trick or Treat, Thank You, and Happy Halloween.

They were so excited to be getting candy. They ran to every house and did that high pitch giggle when they dropped the candy into their buckets and bags.

Awe, friendship!

The loot!

Dallas Arboretum

We went to the Dallas Arboretum today with our great friends!

Let's give it up for my homies!

It was so beautiful there- colors everywhere.

Pumpkins everywhere too!

They had a giant house made out of pumpkins!

My kids really weren't cooperating for pictures (yes, we got a couple of good ones, but only because I had it on continuous shut and Chris was taking some pictures too.) Here's one of the few of us all together having fun.

Victoria loves her stick.

This is my favorite one of Bella.

Bella started laughing in that high pitch goat sound again. (She started when she was a baby, but grew out of it.) So in the pictures where her mouth is shaped like an "O", you'll know what is going on.

All of the kids loved scaling the fence and walking on pumpkins. I kept thinking, I wonder what would happen if I did that- would the pumpkin splatter into a million pieces?

In this picture Victoria looks so long legged- which is the only height on my body, wonder if she gets it from me?

The girls had so much fun today. I did too, but it was stressful fun- there was a ton of kids at the arboretum and my kids were on stimulation overload. Thanks friends for the marvalous time!

Jer tells me a funny story

I went to a camera class last night while Jer watched the kids. When I got home, Jer told me a funny story about Victoria that I had to share and write down. I need to preface the story- Lately, we've been having Victoria fill out a daily chart on her tasks and if she gets all smiles that day then she gets to stay up an extra 10 minutes at bedtime with us. It's been working really good so far. She makes her bed, gets dressed, buckles her own seat beat, uses her manners at supper, and cleans up the toys at bedtime all on her own with us only reminding her once (ok, maybe twice). Anyhow, appearently Victoria hit her head on the table right before cleaning up at bedtime. When Jer was filling out the chart with Victoria, he said, "Should I put a smiley face for cleaning?" She said, "Yes, I tried, but I couldn't help with cleaning because I got a bump on the head." So Jer drew a smiley face for cleaning and then drew a bump on the smiley face. Victoria started rolling with laughter. Jer was so happy that our daughter understands jokes now.

Fall

I love Fall- the changing leaves, the cooler temps, the excitement in the air. I caught Victoria making up a song this morning about Fall. She must like it too. She was playing with the window decorations of leaves, if you can't tell what this is.