Trick or Treat

Cinderella

My version of Cinderella hair

Tinkerbell

My version of Tinkerbell's bun

My costume from a party earlier in the week. This one is for my mom. :)

Wow!

Schools were closed for three days this week due to a crazy "winter" storm. We got nearly 2 feet of snow in our town. Here's a picture of our backyard after a half day of melt.
This morning, Halloween, we played outside and let the girls sled in the front yard. Mike even built up a ramp for them with all the snow that was on our driveway. Aubrey was not a fan of the ramp and eventually found her own path.
Ainsley was a big fan. The faster the better for our little dare devil. And yes, the kids are not healthy, but we couldn't let an opportunity like this pass up by. It may be January before we get another storm like this! I realize this is most likely a sign of things to come, but last winter our sledding days were limited and it was a bummer to wait for the perfect storm.

Can't Fight It

Aubrey got sick too. Here's to hoping she recovers quickly!

Winter Cold

Ainsley has her first winter cold, in Fall, and I don't like it. She is battling a temperature of 103.6, is increasingly fussy, and we are both sleep deprived. There were about 5.5 hours that I attempted sleep last night. Ainsley was next to me the entire time. She woke up continuously, each time screaming at me, crying, or trying to bolt from the bed to go downstairs. I would wager that the longest period of uninterrupted sleep was 20 minutes. It turns out that lack of sleep makes me rival the Wicked Witch of the West. Aubrey refuses to play by herself and avoid exposure, and I am done trying to stop the inevitable. Meanwhile we are in the process of getting 10-18 inches of snow. I'm tired. Did I mention that?

Healthy Start to the Day

I tend to cycle through different breakfast foods. I used to be addicted to Special K cereal. There was also the oatmeal with raisins and sliced almonds stage that lasted through the summer. Last month it was whole wheat toast with cinnamon sugar. I know, not the best start to the day, but oh so yummy. Now I am on an eggs kick. I have been making egg sandwiches daily for a few weeks. I think I perfected it this morning, cutting out a few extra calories. Today it was half of a high fiber english muffin, a slice of warmed canadian bacon, and an egg over medium. That's only 135 calories, which leaves lots of room for coffee creamer. :) This week I plan on adding a side of fruit too. I am loving this combination and hope I can get my kids to try it out. What is your morning breakfast ritual?

Meeting Cousin Mary!

Here's Ainsley holding her newest cousin, Mary Lucille, a whopping 9 days old! I had to remind her that she is real, you know, since she is the size of some of our dolls. She is precious and slept through our visit while being passed around to multiple willing hands.
Aubrey was awe struck by her sweet cousin. She is actually playing "baby Mary" right now. She is swaddled in her blanket and Ainsley is tending to her care. I love having new babies in the family, especially knowing my sleep isn't impacted by their presence. Happy Auntie signing out.

How do you celebrate having a car again? Even if it is just a borrowed one...

We checked out a place called Monkey Bizness about a half hour from here. The kids were slow to warm up, but I joined in the fun and all of a sudden they were loving it and ready to explore the whole place.
Ainsley was all about the journey and loved to explore all the aspects of each jump house. Aubrey was more destination driven and just ran through the obstacle course to get to the giant slide at the end.
Ainsley was so willing to do this huge slide by herself. I love her daring spirit!
And here's the girls at the top of a wall that they jumped off of. So fun! Well, except for the part where I ended up going to the wrong location and missed out on a few hours of time with one of my dear friends.

Boo!

Here's Ainsley showing off her new Halloween shirt compliments of her Great Aunt and Uncle in California. Something tells me that she will still be wearing it come Christmas. She loves the kitties on the front and was so happy to put it on this morning. That's her "I'm so proud" expression.

Making Cakes

The girls took advantage of an abnormally warm Fall day yesterday by playing outside. They made Birthday cakes out of sand, used rocks for frosting, and leaves for decorations. I think this is our last hurrah with the sand box (turtle). It is just too small to really play in, and sand coming out causes lots of clean up drama. They had a blast and that's the main thing. There is a possibility for snow tonight, we'll see...

#1 Reason to go to a Barn Dance

To get pictures like this

and this

and this.

Mommy Daughter Time

taken at one of the last Rockies games of the season

Aubrey's class earned a pajama party earlier this month. All the kids wore pj's to school today and had a popcorn party while they watched Veggie Tales. Mike's not sure why we are paying for our kid to watch movies, but I assured him that 30 minutes of Veggie Tales doesn't negate all the good pre-school is doing for her!

When I picked her up (solo, since Mike and I are sharing a car and he was working from home) we had some Mommy Daughter time. I also brought a change of clothes so she didn't have to go all over town in fleece pj's. We went to Michael's, (not a great idea since she wanted everything) the Dollar Tree, (where she did get to pick one thing, a Halloween Poster Painting kit) Fantastic Sam's, (where she got a trim and I got some unsightly hair removed off of my face) and the grocery store. It's amazing how much I truly enjoy my kids when they are not together!!! It's also a pleasant surprise to see that Aubrey dropping her nap isn't the nightmare I imagined. She does very well with her quiet time and enjoys having time to herself.

Sadly, I didn't really have any quality time with Ainsley today. She watched The Never Ending Story while I paid bills and sorted through stacks of papers. She was thrilled though, for some strange reason she loves that movie.

Pumpkin Fun

We painted small pumpkins to get us in the mood for Fall.
I had envisioned cute little faces and perhaps yarn for hair. They envisioned something else.
Ainsley joined Aubrey's class on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. Here they are going through the straw maze. Oh, and it was kinda snowing and below freezing. Fun times in the Rockies!

Well, that wasn't on my To Do list!

Last Friday we were involved in a four car accident. I was in the middle, so I have damage to the front and rear of my car. Thankfully, it is getting repaired and should be back to us in a few weeks.
The Honda Pilot is a tank and was virtually damage free, not so much for my Odyssey. So if you are looking for an SUV, I would recommend a Pilot for sure. Thankfully my girls were able to walk away with nothing more than a slight burn from their seat belts and a healthy respect for cars and how dangerous they can be.

Costumes

Aubrey has told me with great conviction that she would like to be Cinderella for Halloween this year. I've made comments like "We have so many princess dresses, wouldn't you want to be something else?" and she has relented and discussed fairies, witches, and a cat costume, all with princess style dresses. Today I was convicted. There is nothing wrong with Cinderella. I just hate how expensive and poorly made Disney costumes are. I also seem to be pushing Aubrey to abandon princesses. Why? She's four. Their is nothing wrong with it. So today I picked up a Cinderella costume to surprise her with after school.

And for Ainsley... she was conflicted between Darth Vader and the Incredible Hulk. I totally played the gender card and told her those are for boys and directed her to the girl costumes. After some debate between a storybook witch and Tinkerbell, she choose Tinkerbell. Now we just have to get a warm day at the end of October to wear these. Chances are I will be pushing the cozy monkey costume for her on the actual day.