Halloween

Princess Lauren and Pegasus Paige ready to go trick-or-treating! Getting your children to both look happily at the camera right before venturing out to snag all kinds of sugary treats is nearly impossible!


This was just the sweetest little costume with the detailed wings and jewel on top. Too bad no one could enjoy it since she spent the majority of the night in the stroller!


Sparkles and pink from head to toe!



Paige was a great sport about her costume! Just went along with it and never broke her stride!

Pumpkin carving

Not sure why we didn't get around to carving our pumpkin sooner, but today was our last chance, so we made sure to squeeze it in!


Lauren got to color on her little pumpkin with markers while M&D prepped the big pumpkin.


She started out as quite the princess when it came to the pumpkin guts...


but after a few handfuls she was into it and eager to make sure we got every seed out!

The finished product. I think they did an awesome job!!!

How on earth..?

Kids amaze me! The same child that can get up early, refuse to nap, and stay up late one day, will happily nap the next. And then there is their ability to sleep wherever and HOWEVER! Yesterday I went to get Lauren up from her nap and found this:





Stifling my laughter I ran to get my camera. It is a horrible shot because I was afraid to wake her before I got the picture! Silly me! If the kid is sleeping like this, there is little you can do to wake her!

I will spare you the gross explanation for why she was trying to get out of bed half asleep, but let's just say that Lauren's tummy issues are still with us.

Makes the picture not so funny to me anymore.

Payson Day Trip

We went up to Payson with the Swope family for a day this weekend. It was really nice to just relax with friends and enjoy a *little* cooler weather, though it was still quite warm! Here are some shots of a last minute outdoor time!

Lauren was having some tummy issues this trip and was TIRED and crabby. But, our outdoors-girl wouldn't let that stop her from finding lots of treasures!

Paige checking out the leaves!


Lauren inside a "tree cave". I had to drag her away with promises of going to the creek.

The Swope family trekking down to the water.

Porter looking at the fish.

Bradley "Monkey-Man" Swope. Lauren was whining excessively to be allowed to climb this tree too.

The babies! You would never know Harper is three months younger! They were very sweet to each other this trip!

This is how Paige gives kisses right now - no puckering, but she's getting the idea!


Lauren and Porter reluctantly posing.


Paige LOVES anything that feels like she's falling! She's gonna be the wild one, I fear.

Paige's haircut

Well, it was finally time to give Paige her first haircut. She is now to the stage that she pulls whatever bow, hair tie, clip, or headband I choose out of her hair and then tries to eat it. After several weeks of watching her crawl around with hair over her eyes, I gave in to the bangs. As many of you know, I am always going back and forth with Lauren's bangs - but bangs are in this season! ;o)

The before shots:

She was not too happy about all this. Tail. The #1 reason Justin was ready to cut her hair.

After:

Not TOO crooked on the bangs... And the tail is gone!

Now, if you are thinking the bangs are TOO short and kind of crooked - I agree! However, cutting a ten-month-old's hair is no simple task! And, I think I did much better than Lauren's first haircut! Exhibit A:

Yeeeeeeaaah... MUCH better. Seriously, was I cutting them blindfolded?!?

And in case you are wondering - Lauren is NOT ten months old in this picture. Our sweet pea was born with a crazy amount of hair and had to have her first bangs cut in at six months old. For comparisons sake, I will end with a picture of Lauren at the same age Paige is now - 10 months, 3 weeks.

Yeppers, the child had a BOB at 10 months old! But it looks like I'd gotten the hang of the bang cutting thing by that point! ;o) Hopefully Paige will have this much hair by her second birthday!

Blowin' bubbles

While Justin was at softball last night, the girls and I had some quality bubble time on the back porch.


The bubble blowers from Gymboree are the best! So simple to use, too!


An attempt at a group shot of girl time. I took about 20 of these and one of the girls is looking away or down in every one of them!


Doesn't she look like she's playing a trumpet?


And this would be why Paige doesn't get to be outside much. That IS a chunk of granite she's putting in her mouth. She was much more interested in doing that than playing with bubbles. *sigh*


Lauren would have done this for hours, if Mommy could stand it. I just loved this shot with the bubble stuck on her hair!


In an effort to get Paige to play with the bubbles, Lauren blew some right into her face. Hard. At least she looks concerned about it!


Paige was no worse for the wear! Look at all those teeth! Yikes! She cut her seventh one (top right) on the 20th and the eighth is not far behind. Another week and she is eleven months old!!!

So yesterday I tested out my craftiness, and it turns out I am not completely un-crafty! My girls have SO much hair, we have accumulated a multitude of clippies and other hair accessories (not to mention my OBSESSION with them!). But I am never able to find the clip I am looking for, even though we have these little drawers to put them in, and a basket for the big bows and hairbands. Every time I am in a kid's boutique I see "bow holders" and drool over them. Wednesday was one such day. I loved the idea of hanging something on the wall that would hold the bows in plain sight - BUT I was not thrilled at the idea of spend $25+ on said ribbon attached to a giant flower.

Then, while perusing the clearance end caps at Target (which I highly recommend), I found this little princess wall plaque for five bucks. It's missing one of the sequins - but I decided that was well worth the 50% off. I must have been channeling Martha Stewart (er, maybe her slightly less crafty younger sister... Molly Stewart?) because I suddenly had a vision of this:


I already had my ribbon at home, purchased long ago on a whim that I would find ways to be crafty with it. Turned out pretty good for five bucks and ten minutes of my time! Maybe there is something to this crafty thing after all, it feels quite rewarding! Side note - my girls have waaaaaay too many bows and clips. I mean they each only have one head! Three ribbons were required?!? Those $25 things only had ONE. Maybe I should start making my own bows. Maybe not...

Well, if you read all of that, you deserve at least one shot of a cute kiddo. So here's Miss Paige helping Mommy sort through the bow basket:


Never mind that she is surrounded by twenty headbands that Lauren won't leave on for more than fifteen minutes. I am hopeful that Paige will be my headband girl!

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. In an effort to track down some fall weather, we drove to Chino Valley. It was quite the blustery day - but we made the best of it! It was such a bright day that the girls were looking down in almost every picture. Grr!

Lauren and Daddy checking out the Game and Fish exhibit. They actually released a rehabilitated red-tail hawk (in the top left corner) that afternoon.

Paige and Mommy lost in the HUGE corn maze.

They had "Mammoth Donkeys" that were very interested in nibbling whatever was in reach.

Sleepy Paige - she did really great considering we planned our day with no regard to her schedule! ;o)

The girls with our chosen pumpkin - don't they look happy? That darn sun!

My punkin' in the pumpkins.

Lauren's choice of pose with the pumpkin. Very ladylike! You wouldn't hear me complaining, she smiled for the camera!!!

Paige and Daddy having a sweet moment.

Her very first pumpkin... it means the holidays are upon us!