Darn Skates....

 Well we've had our first orthopedic "incident".  I took the girls roller skating last night.  It was Madalyn's second time but Mackenzie's first.  She was all over the place.  About an hour into our time, I stepped away to talk with another rmom and she pushed away from the wall and fell backwards.  She braced her fall with her wrists.  She and I called it a night and headed home.  I took her to a pediatric urgent care and they told me she had a fracture in her wrist.  So today, we headed to the orthopedic office where she got a cast...

She requested this gorgeous purple color.  The color is about the only thing she has found worthy of excitement.  She hurts but not too bad, nothing ibuprofen can't take care of.  This accessory will be with her for the next three weeks.  Oh and Madalyn is jealous and has asked me to buy her a sling.....

Strawberry Pickin'....

I went to the Strawberry Festival years and years ago but we've never gone as a family.  Strawberries are a staple in our house.  So we headed down to Plant City for some fair food, rides, and a flat of strawberries!

Each of them could pick 3 rides and the girls ran for the "strawberry tilt a whirl" while Matt and Mason watched a lumberjack show (grunt, grunt).

They also chose to do a fun house that turned out to not be so fun.  A room of mirrors and a big slide...lame.  What happened to the big rolling tunnel you had to walk through and the moving floor or the shot of air that would come up when you weren't expecting it????

Off to the swings.  These make me nervous and I frequently refer to them as death swings but the kiddie version was just fine.

They will tell  you by far, this was the best ride!

Of course Mason chose the race cars to ride.  Funny that he picked the Bud car since that's what we call him.  And no, I don't know who the little blondie is next to him.

Then he picked the "dumbo" ride.  When he realized his tickets were all gone, he then got mad because he hadn't chosen to ride the trucks.  No more money, no more tickets...hard concept for a little guy!  We moved on the strawberry shortcake and all was well again....

We all scarfed it down and I forgot to take the "before" pic.

Oh my....cowgirl has a look!  One of the things the kids still love doing is going to all the vendors to get the free stuff.  On this day, they got a Bluc Cross Blue Shield backpack bag thingy, a Geico pez dispenser, a car freshener, and these snappy cowboy hats....fun times.....

Christmas 2010...Better late than never I suppose...

We had a great Christmas.  We stayed home this year and it was so nice.  I loved being in our home.  We typically rotate between my parents house, our house, and my brother and sister n law's house.  With 3 kids, it is getting harder and harder to load us all up and we got to go to our home church for Christmas Eve service.  Tim and Jen were here till Christmas Eve night so we all exchanged presents with them that night.

Madalyn thrilled with her first pair of "danglely earrings".

So Matt started this tradition with the kids several years ago.  He takes them each to the Dollar Store and lets them pick out presents for all of us.  He makes a little dad date out of it and they look forward to it every year.  These are some pics with Tim and Jen showing their new treasures.  You never know who will get what.  There's been a rubber gorilla, a huge wood bead necklace, pot scrubbers, ceramic dolls, and santa hats.  This year, Mason picked gas pills for Miss Martha, Jen's mom.  I am confident she was thrilled.

Each of the kids got pillow pets from my parents

Kenzie asked Santa for a monkey sleeping bag and he obliged....

My sweet girl loves her dollies..

 

Mackenzie spreading reindeer food on the lawn....

HO HO HO....

All I Want for Christmas....

IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH, MY TWO FRONT TEETH, MY TWO FRONT TEETH.......

New Earrings Anyone?

If you're struggling to find that perfect piece of jewelry to match your newest outfit, try these. These little lizards are cheap and easy to find. You don't have pierced ears? Oh no problem....these are clip ons....

Crazy Girl......

Birthday Girls....

Time seems to be getting away from me...how can my girlie girls be 6 and 8? We had some fun parties over the last month. Kenzie asked for a monkey party. What? How am I going to do a monkey party? It wasn't as hard as I thought thanks to Oriental Trading. It was a very cute monkey theme and I made monkey cupcakes that she loved. This was the first time she really seemed to enjoy the attention as evidenced in the picture below. On her actual birthday, we let her choose where she wanted to go to dinner. She picked Chuck E. Cheese. We gave in. This was the first time the kids had experienced it. She had a great time. We spent about $50 and she came home with tattoos, a ring and some vampire teeth but her joy made it all worth it!


Enjoying the moment....

She was very specific about wanting a pinata.

Her posse....

Eight feels big to me. I don't know, Madalyn is definitely entering into a whole new developmental stage, just more mature and into different things...jewelry, nail polish, lip gloss. She requested a "Minute to Win it" party. For those not familiar, its a game show hosted by Guy Ferreri. The higher the level completed, the more money you win and you have 60 seconds to complete the task at hand. So Matt did a great job with the games and everyone got to pick out prizes.

Opening new bling....

She and I had gone a little shopping trip the week before to see what she liked and checked sizes and such so she was thrilled to see some of the things she had liked.

A game called Separation Anxiety. You have to separate M&M's, or in our case, gum balls into cups with the corresponding color and you have to go in order.

My Big Girl...

Happy Birthday sweet girls....we love you so much!

Fall Fun with my Boo Crew...

I'd have to say that my favorite picture taking of the year is at the pumpkin patch. Not sure why but I just love it. There is a favorite one we visit yearly at a Methodist church down the road. The church is known as the "pumpkin church". The kids love looking at the different types of pumpkins and try to see which ones they can pick up....

Last night we trick or treated with the other kids on our street. My kids don't yet have the desire to go and go till they drop so two loops around the block and they were done! Love that! This year we had.....

One handsome Train Conductor...All Aboard!

Dorothy (with the much coveted red ruby slippers)...

And my sweet Tinkerbell....

At the end of the night...Happy Halloween from my Boo Crew to yours!