{Spook-tacular Halloween}

Alright, folks.  I realize it's been since the end of August that I last updated my personal blog.  How disappointing.  I'm apologizing right now and letting you know I plan on being much more consistent with sharing anecdotes and photos of the girls with you all.  The photography thing has kind of taken off for me the past few months and I've been swamped with editing and blogging for The Sweet Life Photography instead of blogging about my own adorable children.  Well, that's all about to change.

Now that I've cleared that up, let's talk about Halloween!  Both Olivia and Brynn were Cinderella this year.  We went to the Disney Store to let Liv pick her costume.  She had been talking about dressing up like Cinderella for Halloween for months and months.  It was a no-brainer.  She went straight for the Cinderella dress and her face lit up when she tried it on!  The choices for Brynn were much more limited.  There was Tinkerbell, Rapunzel, or Cinderella.  Liv chose the Cinderella dress for her little sister.  I guess it's kind of fitting.  They were both Jessie the Cowgirl last year.  They were dressed alike this year, as well.  Maybe next year Brynn will be more aware and want to make her own decision about her costume.  Haha!  I wonder when they're older if they will look back on the photos of them dressed in the same costumes and give me hard time about it?

It must have been a Disney Princess kind of Halloween, because we even carved Princess pumpkins.  When I say "we", I mean Josh and I carved pumpkins while the girls played.  Neither of them wanted anything to do with digging out the insides of the pumpkin and they quickly lost interest in the carving process.  Josh carved a Cinderella pumpkin for Brynn and I carved a Little Mermaid pumpkin for Liv.  I think they turned out pretty awesome!

Trick-or-treating was a bit chillier than last year.  My mom and dad were here again this year to pull the wagon around the neighborhood, and take the girls house to house.  My dad had a ball!  I don't ever remember him going trick-or-treating with us when we were little, but I guess that's what grandkids do to you!  Olivia got cold pretty quickly, and Brynn was getting too heavy to carry.  We got a good haul of candy and headed home to greet the trick-or-treaters that were visiting our house.  

Josh put our chimnea in our driveway and we enjoyed a nice, warm, roaring fire and some hot cocoa with marshmallows while we handed out candy!  Perfect!

{1st Day of Preschool}

Today was a big day for Olivia.  It was her very first day of preschool!  She has been so excited to start school all summer, and today was the day!

I was pretty confident that I was going to be a big blubbering mess when I dropped her off.  After all, that's my baby I was leaving in the hands of others.  There's a certain amount of control I'm giving up, trusting her teacher to take care of her and give her the same kind of attention and care I've given her the past three and a half years.

The preschool we chose is a bible-based program at a local Christian church.  The staff is warm, friendly, and comforting.  They do yoga and art on Tuesdays, as well as have a quick Spanish lesson on Thursdays.  It seems like a great fit for Olivia!  She is one of only 2 little girls in her class, so we'll see how she fares in a classroom full of boys!  After all, positive social interaction is about 90% of what they will learn at this age.

Anyway, back to how I handled the whole morning.  I dropped her off, told her I loved her and I'd be back this afternoon to pick her up.  And I did not shed a single tear.  Of course, I may have welled up just a little when I walked out of her classroom, but I am SO proud of myself for getting through today without crying!  I read a blog post another mommy friend of mine wrote when she took her little girl to preschool on the first day.  She wrote "Why weep over such a great success in her young life?"  That sentence stuck with me as I prayed for peace and strength to be happy for Liv on her big day.  Today I was granted a "peace that passes understanding" (Plilippians 4:6-7) as I dropped my baby off at school.  Only Jesus could have gotten me through this day with smiles and happiness, and for that I am so thankful!

Oh yeah, and Olivia did great, too :)

She picked out her backpack all on her own.  She had to put her shades on to complete the look :)

Outside the Stepping Stones building.  Neither of them look too happy.

Her monkey hook with her name on it.  So cute!

Checking in.  She found the red circle with her name on it and she gets to put a sticker on it every day that she attends.

First day name tags, so the helpers know who all the little kiddos are.  

I must give credit where credit is due!

You can check out the blog I referenced by Leah Whitaker here:

http://thewhitakerswindow.blogspot.com/2012/08/noras-first-day-of-school.html

{RAIN!}

With the awful drought the country has been experiencing, it has been a while since we have seen any rain.  Last Wednesday we got a pleasant surprise when it rained here for almost an hour!

Olivia was itching to get outside and ride her tricycle, but it was another miserably hot day.  We knew some rain was on the horizon because the sky was slowly starting to darken.  I told Liv that if it did in fact rain, (we've had some close calls, where it definitely looked like rain, but we got nothing!) we could go outside and run around & play in the raindrops.  

She watched out the sliding glass window intently for almost 10 minutes until she started to see the first precious raindrops fall from the sky.  She excitedly pointed out that the ground was getting wet and we ran outside for her to play. Oh, who am I kidding, Josh and I were out there, too!  

You would have thought we had never seen anything like it before.  To our neighbors, and those driving by our house during this time we probably looked like lunatics!  Dancing in the driveway, soaking wet, but loving every sweet minute of it!

We thanked Jesus for the rain that night when we said our bedtime prayers.

She has her hands under her armpits in all the pics because she was pretending to be a duck in the water!