Deck the Halls

Decorating the tree with Allison and Garrett is so much fun! I love watching their excitement as each ornament is unwrapped and recollecting the memories each ornament brings. In the past few years, I have went away from the themed tree I always loved to do before, and have taken pride in decorating our tree with ornaments of all sorts bought, given, shared or won. I love telling Allison and Garrett about each and every ornament. This year, Garrett was able to partake in the decorating more so than last year, making it an even more special holiday!

Getting ready to decorate the tree.

Helping mommy select just the right spot for an ornament.

Help from Allison and Garrett

Garrett doing the victory dance - guess he was finished before we were :)

Helping dad with the ornaments placed high!

Miley Cyrus Concert

Allison is a huge Hannah Montana fan, and for an early Christmas gift, she got to attend her first ever concert to see Miley Cyrus with two of her little friends, their parents and me. Allison counted down the days for weeks (actually months). She was so excited to get to see Miley. Her friends were surprised the day of the event, and Allison did a beautiful job not telling either of them about the special day. We met our friends, snapped a few pics, picked up a quick dinner, and were on our way to pure bliss for Allison. All three girls were so cute and super excited. They even all wore their matching Hannah Montana knot dresses for the event. Miley put on a great show, and even though it wasn't everything I'd thought it be, I still went knowing that it was Miley not Hannah and wasn't let down like many other moms. I do wish that there were more songs played from her Hannah world - Allison and the girls only recognized about 4-5 songs, and we even have the new Miley cd. Anyway, the girls and the mommies, not sure about the daddy, had a great time!

Allison and her friends before the show.

Mommy and Allison waiting for the show to start.

Lisa and Kailyn waiting for the show to begin.

The girls looking on in amazement as Miley enters the stage via a glacier!

Miley's big entrance - via a glacier!

Swimming underwater - illusion.

Rocking it out!

Flying through the air!!!

Watching with enthusiasm

Sneak peek for her new movie, "The Last Song"

My favorite performance - her rendition of "I Love Rock n' Roll"

Flying through the air on a motorcycle

Dancing to the music!

A fun-filled night with mommy, Miley, and

FRIENDS!

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet.....

 

I marveled in the idea that I would get to dress my kids up in matching Halloween costumes. Garrett's first Halloween, Allison and Garrett were the most adorable Wizard of Oz characters, the lion and Dorothy, and year 2, they were Raggedy Ann and Andy.... Then came year three; the year of Hannah Montana and trains, and opinions! So if a mommy can't have matching Halloween costumes, I guess the next best thing are costumes that reflect her children's favorites - and what better for Allison and Garrett than Hannah M. herself and a train conductor. Allison was the cutest Hannah M., I've ever seen, and thankfully we found a conductor smock of sorts complete with hands-on accessories for Mr. G, or we might not have had the opportunity to see him dressed up at all since he was strongly opposed to a full-out attire costume. He was the cutest conductor! We celebrated Halloween with trunk or treating at our church with many friends the night before Halloween, and then continued our tradition of visiting shut-ins and seniors mixed with traditional trick-or-treating on the actual day. The kids got a lot of loot and had lots of trick-or-treating fun!

Oh, and I couldn't resist this wonderful Halloween memory. This year, we taught the kids the rhyme, "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat, and if you don't, I don't care, I'll show you my underwear." Well that was Garrett's favorite for months, but one day Allison came to the car after preschool, shoulders sunken, spirit diminished, and said she had gotten in trouble. Turns out she had told Mrs. Teresa our new Halloween rhyme, and Teresa was worried that other children might catch on and repeat it. So nonetheless, we, including Teresa, got many a chuckle out of that, being her parents got her in trouble for the first time ever in preschool!

 

Allison and her friend Pirate E

 

Garrett and his friend T

 

Hannah and Taylor Swift

 

Getting some goodies

Trick or Treating Fun

Allison and Emmaline

 

Allison and Princess K

Allison and her sweet friends

Allison with her teacher

 

Allison with Thing 1, 2, and 3

Happy Halloween!

Wordless Wednesday

Pumpkin Decorating

Last year we decorated Jericka Membra, our pumpkin as named by Allison. This year, we had lots of fun decorating our pumpkins, one of which was named Ampe. Allison and Garrett were the most fun watching as they both loved to decorate the outside of the pumpkins with markers making silly laughter and fun along the way. Allison even pulled out the "guts" which was exciting for her and even got to help her daddy carve some of the face. They did a great job with their pumpkins!

Making the face

Look what I did!

More coloring

Playing with the goo!

Helping mommy cut out the face

Our Spooky pumpkins

Party Time Spookified

My children (not so much I) are blessed when party time comes along because they not only get one party with their preschool/Mother's Day Out classes they get four just with MDO by itself. So needless to say by the end of the holiday party week, I am worn out and the kids are sugared up! However, this year we let the kids dress up in their favorite costumes, which allowed Allison and Garrett to dress up many times which was a lot of fun. Allison dressed up each day, and Garrett, well it depended on his mood. We made popcorn hands this year as treats, well I should say Kevin made them, I owe all the credit to him as I was piled high with graduate work. They aren't the easiest things to make, so he was a trooper through it all. Allison and Garrett had a blast celebrating Halloween not one, not two, not three, but five times in all, not to mention Halloween day itself and trunk or treat. Anyone need some candy?

Cheerleader Allison

 

Handing out popcorn hands

Cupcakes (Day one)

Doing the Monster Mash!

 

  

Day 2 (morning party)

More popcorn hands

Garrett and his buddy B

 

Day 2 (afternoon) I guess cupcakes get boring after 2 parties, so Garrett added some yummy dum-dums!

Princess Allison

Pinning the mouth on the pumpkin

Happy Halloween x infinity