Maggie's Birthday Party

Last weekend Maggie had her friend birthday party.  She was set on doing gingerbread houses.  We invited Lucas, the first person on her list, and then the girls in her class.  They came over Saturday afternoon.  We played a few games, decorated gingerbread houses, had cupcakes, opened presents and in a whirlwind it was done!  She had so, so much fun and got a lot of great things to keep her active now that winter is upon us!

Thanksgiving and Pizza

Thanksgiving was a little different than I am used to this year.  My cousin got married the weekend before which required family to travel down to Missouri.  Therefore, getting back into the car to travel again was more of a hassle.  We split time between my parents house and Andy's parents house.  We headed over to have some snacks and just hang out.  Then, in the later afternoon, we headed over to Andy's parents house.  Everyone was there which is always fun, especially for the girls because they get to hang with their cousins.  To be honest, its kind of nice for the grown-ups too because the kids entertain each other and we actually get to have some adult conversation.  We stuffed ourselves, did our Christmas name drawing, celebrated St. Nicholas day, and celebrated Maggie's birthday.  We jammed a lot into one day, but the entire family was there and December is such a crazy month it would have been tough to coordinate something again before Christmas.

Keeping some tradition alive, we did have Friday after Thanksgiving pizza, on a much, much smaller scale.  Being that NO out of town family was there it was definitely low key, but not something we could miss.  We were joined by the Ensign's as is tradition and the kids helped Papa make some pizza before he handed over the job to Andy and Derrick!

 

 

 Not exactly sure what was going on here, but I was not the photographer for this one!

Although it was different, it was still a time to spend together as family.  We are all healthy and happy and so thankful to have each other!

Naperville Marathon

As soon as it was announced Andy and his brother knew they wanted to tackle the challenge of the Naperville Marathon.  They both set out to train and train they did.  Chris ended up with a bum knee so had to sit this race out, which left Andy with an even bigger cheering crowd.  The girls and I were able to see him twice, about half way through the race and right towards the end.  Maggie said we should have gotten him a gift for all those miles he ran.  We didn't, but we were really proud of him.  He was excited too, he improved from last year's Chicago Marathon and ended in a time of 3 hours and 41 minutes. 

 

 

Pumpkin Carving and Halloween

We did all the necessary preparations to get ready for this year's Halloween.  One of many included pumpkin carving.  This happens to be one of the girls favorites.  They love digging out the "guts" and then separating them to gather up all the seeds for toasting.  Maggie had a plan for her face and drew it right on.  Molly knew what she wanted, but needed a little assistance with getting the shapes just right.  The big test was when we lit them up and they looked great. 

 

Both girls had Halloween parties and parades at school so they were able to dress up in their costumes.  This year the weather didn't exactly cooperate, but it didn't stop anyone around here from trick-or-treating.  The weather cleared up for a bit so we made around the houses on our end of the street.  We were joined by Chrissy, Lucas, and Layla and then the wind picked up and the rain followed shortly after.  They had to head back for some extra layers.  Andy and I switched places and he took the girls down to the Ensign's to trick-or-treat that way.  When the time had come to head home they both were excited to sort and sample some of their treats!

Fall 2013

Here I am again lumping all of our events into one post.  I looked at the pictures I needed to include and realized once again I am behind.  The fall is always busy with Andy coaching, then you add both girls doing soccer this year and the weekends just fly by.  We are squeezing in our regular fall activities in between all the other things we have going on...all fun...but definitely a little chaotic!  Since my last post Maggie has lost two more teeth for a total of three teeth in two weeks and one more is on its way out.  We have made it to the apple orchard, played lots of soccer and picked out our pumpkins to carve.  Enjoy the pictures!

Maggie Lost a Tooth

Maggie's top two teeth are more and more loose each day.  We thought it was strange that the top ones were loose before the bottom but didn't really think twice about it, the bottom ones were on their way, we could wiggle them a little bit.  Earlier this week Maggie was finishing a snack after school, pretzels.  She said one got stuck between her bottom teeth and her tooth really hurt.  She had gotten the pretzel out and it had made the bottom tooth really wiggly.  Well today that bottom tooth fell out at school.  Maggie had to go down to the nurse to get a little case and she is beyond excited for the Tooth Fairy to pay a visit to our house!  I think she is going to be toothless here in the next few weeks because those top teeth don't have much more to hang onto!

 

Molly's First Day of Preschool

Today I dropped Molly off at Little Blessings as a first time preschooler.  I didn't actually drop her off at her preschool class.  Molly is going to the before and after school extended care that Little Blessings now offers.  I dropped her off and she basically sent me on my way, I think I might have even said to her...just one more hug...please.  Another milestone hit, another reminder how they grow up much too fast.  Since Molly is there all day she basically only recapped the afternoon for us.  Her favorite part was lunch and playing outside.  She is excited to get to spend a little time with Lili tomorrow!