And One More

Also at the duck park are two really cool playgrounds--we only visited this one, but the girls had a lot of fun, and so did Cory and I... until he called me fat, that is.  Or not.  Whatever. :)  My favorite photos in this collage are of Janey--this was her first time in a real swing, I think, and she LOVED it.  She was laughing the whole time.  So cute.  Also of note--I think there is a picture of Breanne standing in front of every slide at the playground, yet she didn't go down a single one.  For some reason, she just wanted to climb up the stairs and yell at us, but not slide down.  Funny girl.  One last thing--Breanne is pumping her legs while she swings, something Cory taught her to do back around the time Janey was born.  It doesn't do anything for her yet, but she is understanding the concept.  I am loving that she is more and more able to express her desires to us with words! and understand what we are saying in return, and how it can actually help her when she listens to us.

Feeding the Ducks

Last Saturday we went to the duck park.  We figured it'd be getting cold pretty quick here, so we wanted to take advantage of last week's nice weather.  I'm was glad we did as we watched the snow fall this morning.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics of the family, and the ducks.  

Just glad that it's me...

...that gets to hang out with these great girls all day, even if they have had tummy bugs lately.

Just glad that it's not me...

...that has to pick up all the messed up pieces that this country seems to be in.  Good luck, President Obama.

I Need Your Help.

Yes, I mean you.  All you lurkers out there, time to step into the light and give me a hand.

5 Minutes for Mom is having a contest for $500 in free groceries for the best photo related to "family, food and fun."  So I'm trying to decide what photo to use--these are the two that I've narrowed it down to, but Cory and I can't decide which to use.  I'd really appreciate it if you'd all weigh in and leave me a comment with which photo you think I should use.  I'll accept answers for the next couple of days, but then I'm going to enter (last time they were giving away a free kids bedroom set and I totally forgot to answer because I didn't do it right when I was thinking about it... very frustrating).  Thanks for your help, and if you're a mom or dad yourself, feel free to enter, too.  

Here are the photos.  (I have better, bigger, cropped versions of them that I'll post for reals later--blogger is being retarded and won't pull up my newer versions of these pics, so these are stolen from the original post at the beginning of October.)

Carving Pumpkins

As promised, the pumpkin carving photos:

Breanne wanted to make her own face, a "miley-face" she kept telling us... so Cory let her draw what she wanted him to cut while I scraped out the guts.

What Breanne's face came out looking like--there are definitely two eyes, a nose and a mouth there, so that's what Cory cut... with a little artistic license, of course.

Janey's big job was to sit in her high chair and be happy, which she did well up until the end, when she was getting hungry. She was lounging a bit, putting her feet up, as seen in the photo below. Funny girl.

Sorry, apparently we missed pics of the actual carving--my hands were too covered in goop to take pictures of Cory. But believe me, he did a good job. Or just see for yourself:

Cory's Pumpkin:

Breanne's Pumpkin (turn your head a little sideways... isn't she a creative genius? :):

I love silly traditions.  They just add so much to the simplest of holidays.  I was worried we wouldn't get to the carving this year, because we seem to stay so busy, but we really had a lot of fun with it all.  The two pumpkins we carved were purchased, btw, if you were wondering.  I grew a TON of pie pumpkins, but they're much smaller.  My jack-o-lantern vines did wonderfully, but I didn't get a single pumpkin off of them.  Weird.  Next year I'll have to use a different brand and see how they do, I guess.

Trick Or Treating

It doesn't seem like Cory ever gets too excited about holiday festivities.  Food yes, festivities not so much.  So when he gets excited about Halloween, I am more than happy to let him get as involved as he wants... which means he gets to take the girls trick-or-treating while I stay home and pass out the goods.  I love when he tries to make the holidays so fun for our girls.  I'll post more about the pumpkin carving and other festivities later, but for tonight, here are a couple cute ones of the girls ready and a raring to go:

Shot of the whole porch, so you can get some idea of what our home looked like...


Cute little kitty-cat. Cory thinks she did better with the trick-or-treating thing last year... this year she was scared of some of the other kids (lots of masks around here!) and the decorations, and more easily distracted... maybe next year will be better.


My happy little chick, not that you can really tell, she looks a little upset here. By the time they got back, I think she'd definitely had enough.


Aren't they cute?

P.S. I love Old Navy's costumes. So warm, and reasonably priced, especially when they're on sale, and you know you'll use them for several years each. I was planning on making costumes for the girls this year, until I realized I'd spend more $$, and they still wouldn't be as cute or warm.

To Remember for Next Halloween...

If the pumpkins are still green next year, put them out anyway.  Actually, they're even better green, apparently.  The kids all think they're awesome, and will tell you so.

More with pictures to come tomorrow.  November is NaBloPoMo, which means a post every day for the month... we'll see how well I do at that.  Wish me luck.

Goo Goo Dolls

I love the Goo Goo Dolls. They're in my top 5 rock bands, for sure, though I'm not even really certain who else is on that list. So naturally when my buddy Ashley told me that she was going to their concert on Saturday, I told her that if for some reason they couldn't make it to the concert, we'd gladly take their places. To which Ashley responded that actually she'd just see if she couldn't score us some tickets instead, since it was a concert being sponsored by Nu Skin, her husband's employer. And sure enough, Josh, her hubby, was able to get us some tickets! So Cory and I went to the concert while my parents watched the girls (thanks so much!), and had a really great time. I took a few pics, but they're from my phone, so you'll have to excuse the poor quality. Oh, and they're mostly pictures of the screens on the walls, because that was the only way I could really see what was actually happening up there.  Anyways,  Cory and I knew all their songs but 3 (I think all 3 of the ones we didn't know were new), so we really enjoyed singing along with almost the entire concert.  What a great night.  Thanks again Ashley, Josh, Mom and Dad for allowing us a great date night!

The Stage/Lead Singer, John

Did you know they had a saxophonist?  Neither did I!  But I'd like to point out that he plays tenor, by far the most superior sax.  Or at least the most versatile.  He also played keyboards in the back.  Sweet!

Because it was a convention crowd, people were filtering out throughout the concert, allowing us to move up and get better seats... in this one you can actually see the performers!

Singing "Name," my favorite of their songs.

Proof that they do in fact have 2 singers... I'd always kind of figured they did, since they have 2 different sounds, but had never researched it.  Turns out their bassist was the original singer, but then they started having the guitarist sing, and that was when they made it big.  I much prefer the voice of the guitarist, but the bassist was a pretty entertaining guy too, so... whatever.  I'll take it all.  Like I said, I love the Goo Goo Dolls.

Seriously, such a great concert.

Things I Love To Find

So the other day I left Janey and Breanne in their bedroom for a minute while I went to do some laundry or something, and when I came back upstairs, the girls seemed to be happy in their room, so I left them there to do a few more chores. When I finally peeked in on them again, this is what I found:



I helped Janey sit up, and they continued to play for another half hour or so--I love that they are such sweet sisters, and that Janey is getting old enough to play with Breanne. I just hope that they will continue to be friends as they grow up--I know nothing about keeping sisters happy... but I'll do my best to do so. I want more of these sorts of pictures.