November's Random Ramblings

ABIGAIL:

• Abby is really into spelling these days.  She reads us the letters on everything and asks what they say.  She has been sounding out words as well when she is in the mood and we have to be careful when spelling around her because she has picked up on more than a few things!  Andrew and I are no longer Mom and Dad, we are M-O-M and D-A-D and we are to answer her with A-B-I-G-A-I-L.
• Afghanistan = Assganistan

OLIVIA:

• I told Olivia to stop picking her nose and she turned and looked at me very seriously and said, "But there are boogers up there!"---Hard to argue with that logic!!
• Olivia was playing with a new necklace I got.  Grammy Susan asked her if she thought it was pretty and she said, "NO!!!" very loudly and then added very sweetly, "it's bufeeful!"
• Andrew asked Olivia what she wanted for Christmas and she said, presents!
• Olivia spent months calling Abby only sister or sissy, never using her name.  Lately she has been saying Abby a lot and sister and sissy are not as frequently used.  I miss hearing her say sister, it was so cute!  But, I love hearing her say Abby, she has so much respect and admiration for her big sister and you can hear it in the way she says her name.
• Olivia loves to sing....she is constantly singing the Wisconsin Badgers song "If you want to be a Badger", the ABC's and she is also always counting.  She can count to about 16 but often goes from 1-11 and then starts over at 8 again.  Its cute to listen to and reminds me of how Abigail would always skip 15 when she was counting!  

***Edited to add the following per Grammy Susan's reminder (thanks!)***

• We took Abigail and Olivia to see Tangled over Thanksgiving weekend.  This was Olivia's first movie theater movie and she did pretty good.  She did get bored after a while and even though she was still being good, she started talking a lot and not using her "inside voice".  Andrew decided to take her out and as they were walking out of the movie, she very loudly said "movie ova, movie ova"  It made most of the theater chuckle a bit.

                                                                

Dayton Gems

The Dayton area has a lot to offer as far as sporting events go.  We went to a few Dayton Dragons games (minor league baseball) this summer and decided it would be fun to check out their minor league hockey team as well.  The great thing about the minor league teams is that you get to experience the sport without the huge price tag which is key when you are bringing a 2 and 5 year old with you.  The bonus on this night was that they happened to be playing a Colorado team AND it was kids night so the girls both got a free hot dog, popcorn, drink, and cookie!!!

Daddy and Olivia enjoying the game!

Our friend Erik was in town from LA so he came with us too!

The Big House

The weekend before Thanksgiving we drove to Michigan to visit Andrew's brother, his wife Laura and our cute nephew Tyler.  We had tickets to the Michigan/Wisconsin game and Laura's mom so generously offered to watch all the kids so we could go to the game.  It turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day weather wise for football, and Wisconsin pounded Michigan on their home field which was fun to watch!  The Michigan Stadium is known as "The Big House" and for good reason, it holds over 100,000 fans.....it was definitely an experience!

Josh, Laura, and Andrew

When we got home we found the girls all decked out in their Badger gear!

They watched and cheered on Wisconsin from home!

Some time away...

Andrew and I had the chance to sneak away for a few days after Halloween.  He had a TDY in Tennessee so I went with him and then we went to Ashville, NC for a few days.  Grammy Susan and Grammy Lo were kind enough to fly in from Wisconsin to take care of the girls while we were gone.  We had a very nice, relaxing time.  It was so nice to go out to dinner and be able to have an uninterrupted "adult" conversation with my husband.  We ate out, took a nice long drive through the Smoky Mountains on Blue Ridge Parkway with hot cups of Starbucks, we moseyed through the town of Ashville, we even had the chance to go to the spa for a much needed massage.  It was so relaxing, and just what the doctor ordered!!

On our way out to dinner in Knoxville, TN

We spotted the Oscar Mayer Wiener-Mobile

This is in the lobby of our hotel in Ashville, it was absolutely gorgeous.

I would have been happy staying in our amazing hotel room for the whole time,

 but that just wouldn't have been right!

One of the beautiful views along our drive 

At one point during our drive through the Smoky Mountains we stopped and did a little hiking.

The mountains were beautiful with all of the leaves changing.

We had a wonderful dinner at our hotel one night.

The menus lit up when you opened them, Andrew got a kick out of it!!

After a delicious dinner we decided to go see a movie. 

 A luxury that doesn't happen very often!!

Beggar's Night

Trick or Treating was a completely different experience for us this year than any other year in the past. First of all, in Ohio they do not necessarily celebrate Halloween.  Oh sure, they celebrate and decorate with all of the expected Halloween traditions including trick-or-treating, but they celebrate Beggar's Night here. They designate a specific night (this year it was 30 Oct.) and time for trick-or-treating.  On Sunday the 31st most people had already begun to take down their decorations. It was just a regular ol' Sunday here in Ohio!  It was sort of weird, but nice at the same time!  On top of the Ohio tradition of Beggar's Night, things were different in our neighborhood as well.  People went all out with their Halloween decorations, putting them out in late September.  There was one house in our neighborhood that had every inch of lawn covered with Halloween decorations, we deemed it the "spooky house" and per Olivia's request we had to drive by it every time we entered or left our neighborhood.  Trick-or-treating was  a new experience in our neighborhood too,  it was CRAZY with trick-or-treaters!!  People drive into our neighborhood to let their kids trick or treat here.  Walking around with all of the ghosts, goblins, witches, and princesses reminded my of the Halloween scene from E.T.  It's really how Halloween should be!  At one house they had even set up a grill and were giving out hot dogs, brats, juice and hot apple cider along with the candy.  People buy bags and bags of candy and run out of candy.  A fire truck drives around the neighborhood handing out full-size candy bars to the kids.  It was unreal!!!  The weather was perfect, not too cold just a little bit of a chill in the air and it was nice and sunny when we started.  The girls anxiously awaited the designated time of 6 PM and then they were off.  Grammy Susan and Great-Grammy Lo were in town, so Susan joined Andrew, me and the girls while Grammy Lo volunteered to stay at home and hand out candy.  It worked out perfectly for all of us.  The girls had a blast and Abby met up with some of her friends from the neighborhood and they ran from house to house, checking out costumes, decorations and getting loads and loads of candy.  Olivia was always about 1 or 2 houses behind Abby and her friends but she didn't seem to care because she was having so much fun!  When all was said and done we ended up with loads of candy and 2 tuckered out little trick or treaters that talked about Halloween and trick or treating for days.  They are already talking about next year and planning their costumes!!

Our Halloween jack-o-lantern pizza dinner.

Dorothy and Toto all dressed up and ready to go.

On a side note I ordered Olivia's costume online after Abigail insisted she be Toto.   I was rather disappointed with costume, it just doesn't really look like a dog.  But, after I put Olivia in it, she just looks so stinking cute I couldn't help but liking the costume.  We fielded lots of questions about what she was, and many people guessed werewolf or bear but all agreed she was a cutie.

Olivia and Abby with their pumpkins

Abby leaving the "spooky house"

Daddy and Olivia also went to the "spooky house"

Olivia, Abby, Claire and Kyle

Abby sorting and counting her stash

Pumpkin Carving Party

We were invited over to Stephanie and Christopher's house for a pumpkin carving party and jumped at the chance to have the mess of carving pumpkins at some one else's house :-)  Stephanie went all out with fun Halloween themed food, yummy chili and pumpkin soup, and lots of yummy goodies for the kids.  I don't know who had more fun carving pumpkins, the kids or the adults.  I think this will have to become a tradition and we will have to taking turns hosting the mess!!!

Ok, the pumpkins are out, but where are the kids??

Ross introduced extreme pumpkin carving to the party with the use of his drill!

Of course Andrew had to get in on the drill action as well!

...and the kids make a brief appearance!

Olivia drew an intricate pattern for me to cut-out

I opted for an easier skull design.

Some of the finished products....the skull is mine, I mean Olivia's

Abby's is on the far left, but its hard to see in this picture.

After the pumpkin carving was all done and cleaned up, it was time to rock!!!

Kirkmont Fall Festival

Abigail's preschool held a fall festival complete with free food, games, a maze, crafts and lots and lots of candy.  Andrew was TDY so the girls and I met some friends and spent the entire evening there.  They were packing up the games as I was dragging 2 very tired little girls home to go to bed!  It was a lot of fun and a wonderful way to spend the evening!

Dorothy and Toto!

Abby helping Olivia through the maze

Dorothy made her way back to Kansas!

My girls and the scarecrow!

Abigail and her friend from school, Miranda

Toto with a red sno-cone that went EVERYWHERE!!

They can be so darn sweet!  This is completely unprompted!

Abby did a good job showing Olivia around and making sure she was able to do the games.

Fancy Nancy Party

Abigail's friend Anna had a Fancy Nancy birthday party a few weekends ago, and it was lots of fun.  All of the girls were asked to dress in their "fancy" clothes and when they arrived Mary (Anna's Mom) gave them all a make-over complete with makeup and nail polish.  They also received some fancy accessories and then they took a walk down the red carpet and put on a fashion show for all of the moms!  The food was fancy; heart-shaped sandwiches, sugar-coated grapes, chocolate covered strawberries, and pink punch.  The girls had a blast and it was fun to see them all dressed up and acting very fancy!

My Fancy Abby

Abby and Jenna

Abby and Anna (the birthday girl) after their trip down the runway!

Pumpkin Patch/Farm

One of the weekends before Halloween we took the girls to a local farm for a fall festival.  It was advertised as having 100's of scarecrows to look at as well as the traditional pumpkin patch activities.  We were a bit disappointed by the amount and quality of scarecrows on display, but we had a good time anyway and it was a beautiful day. Even tough the scarecrow display left something to be desired we were not bored, they had a corn maze, some farm animals, story time, games, pumpkin decorating, and a playground. 

Abigail was the leader in the corn maze.

Which way now, Abby?

Olivia wasn't too far behind!

Looks like we've got a new leader

Almost there

The corn maze pumpkin head scarecrow.

The girls listening to "Mother Nature" tell a story.

Andrew showing the girls a duck

Pumpkin decorating

Here is one of the scarecrows.  

It was Abby's favorite since it was Dorothy and that is what she was going to dress up as for Halloween