Last week in review :)

So, last week was CRAZY! Alaina had Nutcracker rehearsal every night from 5:30 to 7:30 or later and then a 7pm performance Friday and a 2pm and 7pm performance on Saturday. It was a tiring week for Alaina, even though she loved it - being with the "big ballerinas" and wearing make-up and seeing all the beautiful costumes. But let me say again, it was a tiring week for Alaina. A week later, we're still recuperating!

It was well worth it! :)

We so enjoyed watching Alaina perform in the Nutcracker! She was so sweet - her little mouse head was so big (as seen below) and it didn't get pinned in very well, so it was falling off and she was trying so hard to not mess with it. She was just grinning from ear to ear and was really off in her own little world the whole performance.

As an angel, she was "squinting" (her word) into the crowd trying to find us. She's so dramatic. This was right up her alley.

I used to think she was ballet crazy before the Nutcracker - now I know! She told me (so dramatically and seriously) the other day on the way to school that she just can't think of anything else now and just keeps "remembering the Nutcracker in my head all the time! Mommy, I just keep dancing it in my head!"

What have we transformed her into?!?!?!

Advent

The girls opened a special early Christmas gift this weekend from their Great Aunt Laura and Great Uncle George. They actually received the gift over Thanksgiving, but couldn't open it until Dec. 1st.

It was a beautiful Advent calendar! The girls both love it. My Aunt Laura made it for the girls and it is so sweet! We've wanted to get an Advent calendar for a couple years now because Adam's mom has one that Alaina really enjoys. So when Aunt Laura asked if that would be a good gift, I said YES!!!

The first day Alaina got to chose a "marker" and place it on the calendar, and the next day Cami did. We'll alternate days until Christmas. Both of the girls are really excited and I'm looking forward to talking to them about Christmas and the birth of Jesus.

We have a crazy week coming up - Alaina's going to be in the Nutcracker this next weekend so she has rehearsal each night this week for 2+ hours in the evening. She will be a baby mouse and an angel in the Nutcracker. She's excited and so are we. She keeps pretending to be scared (truly, pretending in every sense of the word - the girl is SO dramatic!) and then laughs and then goes back to pretend crying and nervousness. She's a nut!

We also have been under some "renovation" in our home - a new kitchen! Adam and some friends (Brian Shaffer and Scott Rodgers) have been putting tons of time into our kitchen over the last 2+ weeks and we're almost done! Here are a few pictures of the progress...

Before:

After demo:

After fixing demo:

Getting closer:

I'll post a few pictures of the final results. It's truly amazing how different my kitchen in already! It's actually a kitchen with purpose now! I can USE it effectively and there's ROOM in it with cabinet space and counter tops!!! Thanks so much to Adam, Brian and Scott!!! Now you can all come to dinner and see my new kitchen. It's beautiful. :)

Ghosts say:

Boo!

Cami has learned some new words this week, including "boo" - it's pretty funny.

Our Halloween started off with a parade at Cami's daycare. All the kids dress up in their costumes and parade around the daycare to show off. It was always so fun when Alaina was little and definitely was fun this year with Cami as well!

We then went home to wait for Daddy to get home from work so we could go trick or treating. Even Boomer was antsy! :)

We decided to go out this year with a bunch of families from our neighborhood. It was CRAZY. Absolutely crazy.

Cami loved being in the middle of things (except for the group picture!) and so enjoyed walking, while holding her little spider candy bag.

Alaina had a blast being with her friends and getting candy. We walked too far north, so the walk back was long and it was late. So Alaina rode in the stroller -

And I chased Cami - until she lost it and just sat down in the middle of the sidewalk, about 2 blocks from our house.

We got home just in time to hand out some candy and take some more pictures.

And we can't forget about our carved pumpkins! I did the funny face and Adam did the spider. He likes to be challenged. :)

ZooBoo!

We have always gone to the ZooBoo each year, so that the girls get to wear their costumes an extra time. It's always so fun, seeing them dressed up for the first time!

And the zoo is a GREAT place to go - somehow the weather is always perfect and the animals are so lively when the weather is just a bit cooler. Cami is finally getting to the age where she runs from one animal exhibit to the next because she gets so excited!

Here's a cute picture of the girls together - or should I say my witch and my tiger kitty?

Cami wore Alaina's tiger kitty costume - and dang it, she looked just as cute as Alaina did!! We got LOTS of compliments, just like we did when Alaina wore it. I wish you could see her tail - it's so cute! I'll have to make sure to get one showing her tail on Halloween night.And little Miss Witchy Witch - she LOVED spraying her hair with streaks of hot pink to match her costume. She is really looking forward to Halloween this year!I'm really looking forward to Halloween - we're going trick or treating with a bunch of neighbors. I'm excited to spend the evening walking our neighborhood with other parents and kiddos. I just love our community of friends - nope, family. They're our family. It's just so cool.

Pumpkins galore!

As most of you know, we historically have grown our own pumpkins - great, big, huge pumpkins! Well, this year, the weather messed with our poor pumpkins a bit too much and they weren't so great or huge. We kept them of course, but felt we needed a nice, good pumpkin to carve as well.

So we headed to the pumpkin patch! It was our first time and the girls enjoyed it so much - as did we! :)

The first think Alaina did was run up this HUGE pile of hay - she sank pretty quickly!

We then took a hayride to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkin. Cami didn't like the hayride too much!

Wow! So many to chose from!!!

Um, a little help here please!

Finally, we agreed on one...I think we may have started a tradition of growing our own AND heading to the pumpkin patch. :)

sixteen months ago

cami was born. wow. 16 mos. already. it's so crazy how quickly time goes. and even more so with the second child!

see the difference?

i'm truly and completely taken with her. she is the sweetest little thing. the way she smiles at me all the time. the way she looks at me from across the room and just stays put and says "mama, mama, mama" like she's saying "i love you." she's a great balance to the attitude of a growing 5-year old.

god is good. he knew i would want cami once i had her. he knew he had to make her extra special. extra sweet. extra loving. extra snuggly.

extra cami.

i pray for her heart. that when she's 16 years old, rather than 16 months old, that her heart is as loving, sweet and snuggly as it is now. that it is as much in love with god then, as she is with me now.

cami. alaina. my girls. then. and now.

Yea!!!

I found it! It finally came to me late last night. I realized the last pictures we took were of a recent family jaunt to Holiday Park. Then it dawned on me! It had to be in the picnic backpack!

And it was. Whew.

Here are a couple pictures from that trip....

So thankful!!!!