He's Baaaccckkk!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for my first no kid/no husband ME trip.  I, quite obviously, have picked the worst time of the year for me to leave, what with all the holiday activities I like to do, but my first Dave love didn't consult me on when he should start his fall/winter tour and I have an extremely persistent BFF in Philadelphia who convinced me to do something for ME, so there you have it.  I'm leaving on a jet plane tomorrow.  {And despite the cold weather on the east coast and how much I'll miss my babies, I'm really excited about it.} And, thank heavens for our little scout Elf, Bunky, who will happily report all goings on to Santa and to me.  And, well, we had to celebrate his return with a little Elf on the Shelf Breakfast.

Sydney did not know what to think of the whole production!

But, she loved the powdered donuts!

Later on in the day Sydney was crying and Olivia said, "Oh no, Sydney!  Bunky is watching and if you are crying then you aren't being good and you aren't going to get any Christmas presents, so STOP CRYING!"  Love these girls.

A special thanks to Nana, Poppy, Uncle Rhino and David for looking after the girls while I am gone.  It is difficult for me to give up control of things, but I know that they are in the very best of hands!

My Littlest Turkey

I wanted to get some pictures of Sydney wearing the Thanksgiving dress on Thursday, but by the time we got home we were all ready to park it on the couch and watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  So, this morning, I put the dress back on her and we headed outside {in the soggy grass} for a quick photo session.  It is seriously ridiculous how difficult it is to take a picture of her.  She does not stand still!  She doesn't even sit still because she wants to get up and run.  This year's Christmas picture just might be the rest of us with a little Sydney blur passing through the picture.  Still, I could not love this girl more.

PS - Today is her 15 month birthday!  My goal is to get a little birthday post up this evening!

A Very Crafty Thanksgiving

You would think by the looks of many of these pictures that I have been a Pinteresting fool lately, but I promise that is not the case.  {My mom on the other hand, she pinterests like it is her job.  But, she is retired, so...}  I have been, however, missing getting my craft on and so I got inspired {pinspired?} to have some of Olivia's friends over to do some Thanksgiving crafts.  Mom helped me cut out some things so I could have everything organized and ready before the girls came over and she thankfully watched Sydney who would not have gotten much out of the afternoon.  So, thanks Mom.

This was my favorite...I cut out pictures of the girls and they glued feet and feathers on to become turkeys!

We traced their hands and they decorated them with dry noodles, beans and feathers.

I think the girls liked this the best...turkey fans.

While the girls enjoyed doing the crafts, I think their favorite part of the afternoon was digging into Olivia's dress up box and trying on all of her princess costumes and wigs!

Love these girls.  And I can't wait to do another craft day with them for Christmas!

On Thursday, we went down the street to have dinner with my cousin and his family.  We feel so very lucky to have so much family in such close proximity.  My aunt and uncle were there as well as my parents.  In all there were 13 of us and we feasted on ham, turkey and all the fixings.  My mom made a delicious pumpkin cake {that she found on Pinterest} and Shona made her best cheesecake to date.  Seeing as how our house was a complete wreck, I'm also thankful someone else was hosting!  {Plus, they had some great toys for our girls to play with!}

Did I mention these girls got turkey pancakes for breakfast??  Lucky girls.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We sure did.

Thanksgiving Feast

Today was Olivia's Thanksgiving feast at her preschool.  Her little 3 person class is just the cutest thing.    I'm so thankful that she loves school!

Y'all know I love a theme, so I got her ready this morning in her Thanksgiving dress.  She's worn that dress three years in a row -- and I think it's time to pass it on to Sydney this year. {Look back at her wearing it here and here.}

She wasn't big on eating any of the food they served -- chicken nuggets, corn on the cob, cornbread and pumpkin pie.  She picked everything off of her plate and put it on the plate for Sydney {who happily ate the nuggets and the corn.}  I asked Olivia what she wanted for Thanksgiving this year and she said a quesadilla {which is what she ate last year}!

{We didn't make the cut this year...}

Double fistin' those chicken nuggets!

She was so happy to be a part of the fun at school today.

After the party, I treated the girls to a little frozen yogurt because why not?!

Closer to Four

Well Olivia, this birthday brought us one month closer to four and it officially puts you in the age bracket where we round your age to four.  I can't even handle it.

Yesterday was a rough day for you.  As much as I wish I could give you anything and everything you ever wanted, I know that that is only a recipe for disaster.  Sometimes I have to say no.  And sometimes that makes you unhappy.  Yesterday I had to say no a lot.  So, it was a rough day.

But, we ended it on a good note.  You got to have a slumber party with me.  And we got to watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving before we fell asleep.  And we both loved it.

I love you my big girl.

Happy 43 months!

Catching Up

So, nothing like taking an entire week off from keeping you all in the loop of what's going on in our little household.  It's not exactly been a vacation -- I've spent the last week working on photo albums for  Olivia.  I can't remember if I've told you {but now I see that I have}, I am WAY behind on making photo books for the girls.*  I got on a kick a few weeks ago and have made four books since then.  I finally finished Olivia's photo books from 1-2 {even though I pretty much had to completely start over since they stopped making the books I had originally started} and then did a short Halloween book for both of the girls.  This past week, I thought I would do a quick book for Olivia's 2-3 and it took a little longer than I expected.  {Turns out, it's hard for me to not be a perfectionist.}

Anyway, here's what we've been up to during the day...

+  I took Sydney with me to a craft show with Mom, Aunt Patty and our friend Beth who was in town. Lord, this little girl is just the best.

+  On Sunday, we went on a little boat cruise around Saguaro Lake.  It was a bit chilly, but the views were great and it was fun hanging out with the Caldwells! Not to mention, Olivia loved the hot chocolate and popcorn!

+  Bedtime usually starts with my three babies snuggling together...

+  And the morning usually starts with this one in our bed...

+  Sleepovers at Nana and Poppy's mean that this one can enjoy a bath all by herself.

+  David and I took a Love and Logic course the other day.  It was really entertaining and informative.  David and I even got to enjoy a nice lunch together...too bad it was just food from Trader Joe's and we ate it in the car.  And, even worse?  David got seaweed chips.  Ohmyword, the smell.

+  We went to Target yesterday and Sydney fell asleep on the way.  Thankfully, I had a couple blankets in the car from our boat cruise on Sunday and so I made a little bed for her in the cart, and lord.have.mercy it was the cutest Target trip ever.  

+  And, to sum up the most boring post ever....we made cookies today!