3 weeks to go!

Baby Street is scheduled to arrive on December 2...exactly three weeks from today! It's so hard to believe that we are almost a family of 4! Since I rarely wear anything other than sweatpants and maternity jeans these days, I asked Paul to take a picture of me with a dressier baby belly before I went to a party tonight.

tip me over and pour me out!

Emma Jane was invited to a tea party at Kaitlyn's house. She had a great time playing dress-up with Kaitlyn, Addie, and Lily. Kaitlyn's grandmother, Nano, hosted the grand event and it was so cute! The girls enjoyed a yummy lunch of finger sandwiches and strawberries with whipped cream. They really had fun eating dirtcake complete with gummy worms for dessert. As you can see in the last picture, tea party manners went out the window with the dirtcake, but these little princesses remained regal regardless of the mess they made!

walker love

Emma Jane has not been very nice to Walker lately. We have been trying to teach her to pet him gently and say kind things. Since he weighs 107 pounds and is pretty clumsy, he accidentally knocks her over on a regular basis. Emma Jane doesn't understand that this is not something he does on purpose and she says things like, "No, no Walker! Leave me alone!" or "Walker, get out of my way!" He tolerates her and has never barked or growled at her, but she probably gets on his nerves just a tiny bit! A few days ago Walker hurt himself and has been struggling to get up. We told Emma Jane to be extra nice to him because he wasn't feeling good. Thank goodness our girl understands empathy! She has been loving on him ever since saying, "Walker, I sorry you not feeling good." Sweet girl!

trick-or-treat!

Halloween is loads of fun with a two-year-old! The night before the big day we carved our pumpkin with some teamwork. Emma Jane helped me scoop out the goop and Paul did the carving. To make it extra exciting, Paul lit up the pumpkin on the front porch and we walked Emma Jane all the way around from the backyard using her flashlight to light the way so she could "sneak-up" on the pumpkin. She was so excited to see the finished product glowing on the steps.

We had a great time trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood this Halloween. It's the first time in years that we actually had trick-or-treaters come to our house. This neighborhood is crawling with kids! Emma Jane dressed up like a fairy and had fun using her magic wand. Walker came with us this year, too. Paul wondered who would tucker out first...the two-year-old, the pregnant mom, or the 10-year-old dog. Of course, we have been practicing proper trick-or-treat etiquette all week and Emma Jane knew just what to say. Unfortunately, she froze at most of the houses and hid between my legs until she was enticed by the free candy. Most of the time she would remember to say thank you, but to our surprise, she would also exclaim, "Okay, I still got mo trick-treating to be doing! Let's go to next house!" So much for showing appreciation! After walking a block or so, Emma Jane was tired of the whole process and ready to go home. She had fun answering the door for trick-or-treaters and we were proud of her ability to "share" the candy we were giving out without any fuss!

6 little pumpkins

After surviving over 13 years of teaching and the countless classroom parties that come along with it, I was happy to be the mommy in charge of Emma Jane's Halloween class party rather than the teacher in charge of all the kids on a sugar high! For her party I brought cupcakes topped with pumpkin peeps. I also spent way too much time making tiny witch brooms out of pretzel sticks and fruit roll-ups, but they did turn out pretty cute! Judging by the mess they left behind and the pleads of "more", all six kids in Emma Jane's class seemed to thoroughly enjoy the snacks I provided. I even got to stick around for a little while to see what Emma Jane and her classmates do on a typical day in class. The kids were so cute singing songs and dancing together. Mrs. Bonnie also read "Five Little Pumpkins" to them which is currently one of Emma Jane's favorite books at home. Emma Jane definitely has fun at school and I had just as much fun watching her.

magic wands and lollipops

Emma Jane dressed up like a fairy for her preschool trick-or-treating night. At first she wasn't thrilled about wearing the stiff tutu, but when she saw her "magic wand" she decided that being a fairy would be fun. She took her wand, waved it in the air, and proudly declared, "I making pretty stars!" Before leaving the house, she wanted to take one of her special blankies with her and I delicately told her that fairies don't need blankies. Apparently, she disagreed since she slyly stuffed her blankie in her trick-or-treat bucket when I wasn't looking! Emma Jane had a great time seeing her sweet friends in their costumes and collecting candy from the stations they had set up around the gym. She was most excited about the lollipop she received and couldn't wait to eat it. Paul and I were not ready for her to dig into the candy, so she walked around the gym holding out her lollipop to anyone who would look her way and innocently ask, "Open?" We finally gave in and she and a few of her friends sat on the gym bleachers happily licking their lollipops. When it was time to leave, our little fairy handed her bucket and wand to daddy...after all, every good fairy needs a daddy to carry her valuables!

boo at the zoo...take two!

Our second year attending Boo at the Zoo was just as much fun as last year. Emma Jane was an adorable whiskerless kitty cat since she refused to let us paint whiskers on her face. We met Lily and her family again this year. I had to include a few pictures from last year so you can see just how much our girls have changed. It was funny to see how their personalities haven't changed at all in a year's time, but they were so much more independent and opinionated this year! There was so much to see and do and the girls didn't miss out on anything. They trick-or-treated at the booths set up around the zoo, rode the merry-go-round, roasted marshmallows, and boogied on the dance floor. At the end of the night, Emma Jane was NOT ready to leave. The final picture proves just how distraught our little girl was when it was time to go home.








Last year our little climber was a cave girl...



The costume has changed, but she still loves to climb!



Last year the girls couldn't say, "trick or treat" just yet!



This year they knew just what to do and remembered "please & thank you" too!














It's so hard to leave when you're having so much fun!