Haircuts

I got a wild hair the other day. I bought some shears from Sally's Beauty Supply to give Nolan his first haircut. I guess I thought baby hair would be easy to cut...a few snips here, a few snips there. I may have gone a little short on his bangs. After feeling pretty confident with Nolan's do, I decided to "trim" Ansley's hair. Well, she got more than a trim! My blood pressure increased quite a bit when I saw how short it was! I put the kids in the bath immediately after the haircuts to wash their newly chopped hair. The bottom of Ansley's hair was very blunt. I was hoping (more like praying) that it would lay better after it had been cleaned. I was relieved to discover that the ends looked more soft & round after bath. In the end, I really like Ansley & Nolan's short hair. The great thing is that hair grows back really fast!
I see in the photo of Ansley that she's got a long hair on the front left side...I'll go get my shears right now!

Happy Halloween

Boy, Halloween was so much fun this year! We celebrated by decorating our house. Madelyn even drew Halloween pictures & hung them with paint tape on my walls. Matter of fact, Madelyn just noticed today that I took them down. I told her Halloween is over dear! We went on a couple of hayrides, one with RSA & the other with MOPS. We went to a couple of trunk or treats at friends churches. The best was trick or treating Halloween night! Our neighborhood was packed with kids. I left a bowl of candy outside our house so both Jon & I could trick or treat. There was candy left over when we got home...what an honest bunch of kids we have here (or maybe there's a larger percent of parent participation;). Either way, I was impressed!

Milk & Bookies

A new friend of ours organized Milk & Bookies at Barnes & Nobles. Madelyn, Ansley, & Nolan donated a book to the children's hospital. In return we heard some awesome stories read by some awesome characters! For instance, Belle was the Cinderella at Dinsey World for many years. Matter of Fact, she is the Cinderella used in Disney's media! How cool is that. Pretty cool in our opinion;) She was defiantly impressive & very animated. One of the ballet dancers who read happened to be Ansley's ballet teacher. The pirate read in an oh so cool pirate accent. The kids (& Jon & I) enjoyed milk & cookies between stories. Ansley was stuck to Snow White like glue. It was the cutest thing. Ansley thought she was pretty cool. Nolan sat through stories in the Adirondack chair. Don't know what it was about that chair, but he liked it! Maybe we should get one of his own.

Soccer

Well, soccer is over for the season. Madelyn had a GREAT time. Coach Jessie & Jason were awesome. Madelyn played on the 3-4 year old team b/c 1) Madelyn & Ansley could play on the same team. Yes, I signed up Ansley too but she showed no interest so she sat out this season. 2) Madelyn was technically 4 at each game since her birthday fell after the season was over for us. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Madelyn play. She was not scared of the ball in the least, nor was scared to take control of the ball & score! I am so proud of her. Watching her soccer games was seriously the funniest hour of my week!

Vacation without Daddy

My sweet husband arranged a Destin, FL trip for my mother-in-law Barbara, the kids, & me. He worked a ton of overtime hours that week. He feels incredibly guilty about not spending time with the kids. Sending us away for vacation helped him focus on work & not worry how we were doing at home without him. With that said, we had a great time. The weather was in the mid 80's. I took a long walk every morning then would take the kids to a playground while Barbara exercised. While Nolan napped, I took the girls to the beach to play. The water was chilly but after playing in the hot sun it felt nice. The girls did not mind the cold water temps. After playing at the beach, we'd get cleaned up & grab some dinner, then off to Baytowne or somewhere to play. I had fun shopping at the outlets. I get the bulk of the kids clothes at the outlet shops there.

Madelyn's 5th Birthday

Madelyn had an awesome birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year. I would totally recommend having a party there. This is coming from someone who has hosted every birthday party at our house. Having a party somewhere else took the load off me & allowed me to enjoy the party. They did a great job making Madelyn feel incredibly special for her birthday!

Madelyn's dinosaur cake

Madelyn in the ticket chamber. She had to try to collect as many flying tickets as possible.

Friends!

Us...I love Nolan's expression!

I love this picture of Madelyn. We had a photo shoot in our backyard.

Family in Town!

My little brother Brian, my sister-in-law Lea Ann, & nephews Travis & Gavin drove down from Louisville a few weekends ago for a visit. The girls loved playing with Travis. My mom flew in from Louisiana Saturday night & stayed until the following Sunday. It was great catching up with my family!


Travis, Madelyn, & Ansley made their own dinosaur costumes. As you can see, creativity is strongly encouraged around here:)

Kids hanging with Grandma

Nolan passed out at the fair.

Madelyn helped make a wooden bowl & watched an ironsmith make an iron leaf for her at the fair.

We went to Reynolda Village on my birthday. Madelyn took this picture.
Some of the other fun stuff we did with my mom was going out for sushi, shopped, strolled around Old Salem, played at the Children's Museum, toured the Reynolda House, & introduced my mom to the IKEA store.