TRICK OR TREAT!

We had a great halloween this year, the kids both loved it and just went to bed after indulging in probably too much candy! About 5 o'clock we began getting some trick or treaters and Maggie thought it was time she began as well. So I got them ready and took them out to go to just a few houses since I knew we were going to the church at 7. Well, once we got started there was no stopping them so we ended up going to every house in the neighborhood.















Maggie was always about a house ahead of us and Owen wanted to hold all his candy as opposed to putting it in his bag ...which meant it took he and I alot longer since he kept dropping it all. Once we got home I fed them a sandwich to hold them over for the evening and we headed over to the church which turned out great. There were tons of cars lined up around hte parking lot giving out candy, hotdogs, smores, hayrides, 4 bouncers, clowns, etc.













I let Joe take them around and hung back at the van to hand out candy. He said Owen was wild and wanted to get his own candy from people which resulted once in him spilling their whole bowl. Maggie was a perfect little trick or treater and loved every minute of the whole night. After they got their candy Joe took them on a hay ride which Owen loved since the firestation dog was on it with them.











He spent most of the night chasing this dog around and just laughing. They had a costume contest for the kids and Maggie was not happy she didn't win...but they gave all the kids McDonalds coupons and Joe told her she had won and gotten the coupon so that seemed to please her. Lots of our friends were there so the kids had fun playing..my friends Shannon and Al, who are both also pregnant were there so we took a pic together.

















Al is pregnant with twins and due a month after me, Shannon is 34 weeks, so about 6 weeks ahead of me. Shannon and I both are having girls, Al doesn't know what her babies are though...but I am sure they will all be buddies being so close in age.

We got home around 9 or so and they wanted to check out all they had gotten.












Maggie of course only eats 1 or 2 types of candy so Joe and I will have plenty...if we can keep Owen out of it! So our halloween turned out great, the kids had a blast, and we are so done with costumes until next year!

I took the kids to get pictures done this morning and they turned out cute. Owen was not so cooperative....he smiled and all, just would not stay put. Maggie worked the camera as usual. I know she is mine, but I think she would be such a great little model. She loves the camera and does whatever they ask her to and her pictures always turn out so cute. I am sure all parents think this as well, but as cute as Owen is, I can admit he would not make a good model! Not unless they were wanting motion shots! They haven't sent me the pics yet but when they do i will post a few.

More Fall Fun

So we have had a week of parties and candy....and it's not even halloween yet! Sunday I took the kids to the Summit halloween night and they had alot of fun. Radio Disney was there and had lots of games for the kids to play and stations set up where they could get candy. Since the stations were set up around the mall I also got to shop a little....although I only really returned stuff. Maggie was a little bummed that she didn't win any of the prizes they were giving out though. They went through the kids and let them say whatever they wanted to add to a halloween story that the DJ had started. The kids were saying "halloweeny" things like mummys, bats, blood, etc. When it came to Maggie she says, "and they lived happily ever after." Everyone thought it was really cute and I was glad my child didn't partake in the guts and gore of the story!

Monday was the library party and mainly consisted of halloween books being read and a few games....and lots of treats.
















Maggie decided to take a break from being Dorthy for the day and wore one of her new princess gowns and went as sleeping beauty.
















Owen wasn't about to wear anything but Superman though. He was in heaven as they had a long table set up with chips, candy, cookies, popcorn, juice boxes, etc. right at his level.


















This is Owen's idea of a party and boy did he party. No matter what was on his plate he was racing back for "just one more" treat.





When Joe got home from work last night we decided to carve the pumpkins...or should I say, let Joe carve them!















I knew Maggie would opt out of this...aside from watching and giving instructions. But I thought Owen would jump right in at all the gooo......I was wrong. Joe would ask him to help him get out the seeds and he would say, "nope, too yucky. I can't." So we all sat and watched Joe carve the first 2. They really liked when Joe would pull out the goo and say "yuck".
















Owen cracked up everytime.










We told them we would do the other 2 tonight and Maggie got a baby pumpkin at her preschool party today so I guess we will be making 3.



I got Owen's haircut this morning after we dropped Mag off at preschool. She cut it alot shorter than I wanted...but it grows so fast it won't matter. Here he in his halloween shirt today. Isn't he cute!

























Today was Maggie's preschool Fall/Harvest party. They didn't dress up, which was fine by me. Maggie got to wear her cute pumpkin outfit and looked adorable. Owen and I got there at playtime and Owen had a blast playing with Maggie at her school.






















Maggie spent alot of her time riding on the cute bikes they have there but was really good about showing Owen all the slides and toys to play with. We headed up for the party and the kids sang some songs they learned at school.

















Maggie I must say was the star of this, she sang like.....well, the way maggie always sings....LOUD. She usually puts alot of moves in with her singing but seemed to calm it down some today. Owen enjoyed himself, but I will definetly try to find someone to keep him for the next party since I spend most of my time keeping him under control and don't get to focus much on Maggie. Once they had snacks and I found him a seat (he was not happy about not having a seat at the preschool table) he was pretty happy with his cookies and cheetos.




















Maggie had fun playing some games and was really good at them. Here are a few pictures of her with her friends,













she is about a head taller than the others in her class so I guess she's definetly got her daddy's height.


Here she is with Haley, who is also in her dance class, sunday school class, and plays soccer...so we see alot of her.
















And this is her best buddy, Kate, who we hear lots about. Kate's mom says Kate also talks about Maggie all the time.

















Here is Maggie and Mrs. Boyd, her preschool teacher who is great. I am hoping Owen gets her as well when he goes.














Well, that is what we've been up to. I am about partied out. Maggie has dance this evening and tommorow we are going to get their pictures done at the mall. I have a coupon that expires tommorow so I want to at least get my free ones. We are then headed to church tommorow night for "trunk or treat" after we hit a few houses in the neighborhood. Trunk or treat should be alot of fun, they have food, smores, and lots of cars with candy plus blow up jumpers and hayrides. We signed up to be a "trunk" and were told to expect about 200-300 kids so I am going to have to make a walmart run to make sure we have plenty of candy.
After all the parties and trick or treating, we HAVE to get started on getting the babies room ready and Owen moved over to his new room. We were going to move Maggie but she loves her room and it's already painted and set up for her while Owen's isn't so it will be alot less work for him to move than Maggie. Well, that is what we've been up to.

Let the fun begin

We have had a fun few days latley and will continue with the fun through halloween!
Friday Neila and I met up at Gallrein Farms with the kids to let them play once more since the whole "fall theme" is over there this weekend. It has rained like crazy latley so it wasn't as enjoyable this time since everything was still wet and mushy from all the rain so we just got some pictures and let them pick out some baby pumpkins before heading out to lunch.





















They had fun just running around a bit and then we had a great dinner Friday night over at Nick and Neila's. I worked Saturday morning and Joe and the kids seemed to have a good morning since when I got home at lunch the furniture had all been turned into one big fort. Saturday evening we headed to Lexington to a Halloween party at James, Kirsten and Carlyn's house. We had a great time and the kids had a blast. We got to see Judy, Josh, Tab and Emma which was great. There house is gorgeous and the party was awesome.....she even let the kids bob for apples which Maggie and Owen thought was too cool.
















They both gave it their best shot and both ended up with apples....although I think they got some help from their hands. :)
















Owen spent a great deal of his time trying to get his hands on more candy corn...he loved all the food she had and since his nap was less than an hour yesterday he was quite a handful for Joe and I to keep up with. Maggie had a blast playing with Carlyn and loved Emma. Emma liked Maggie too, although it seems Emma loves everybody, she is the most adorable, happiest baby ever.












The kids were glad to get a chance to wear their halloween outfits, I got a few cute pictuers of them but I am hoping Owen will be more cooperative on halloween night with the camera.













Joe and Nick headed to Cincinnati this morning as Joe got club seats to the bengles/steelers game today. They were both pretty excited to see the game so I am sure they will have fun. I am taking the kids out to the SUMMIT this evening to their halloween night. It's an outdoor mall and radio disney will be there and the kids can come dressed up and get candy. They will be playing disney music so that sounded right up Maggie's alley of a good time....and with the candy Owen will be pleased as well. Tommorow we have our halloween party at library, tuesday is mag's fall party at school and then wednesday we have trick or treat.

Owen's potty training is still going well. Yesterday while Joe had the kids he said he went up to find Maggie and Owen coming out of the bathroom....Owen naked. Maggie said, "Owen had to poop and pee." So Joe said, okay, let's go. Maggie said, "I already took him and flushed it for him." So I guess between the two of them he will get trained. Maggie is getting excited about her baby sister, who by the way is going to be named Josie. We are trying to decide on middle names so if anyone has any suggestions they are welcomed. Owen on the other hand has no idea what he's in store for.....I told him the other day we were goign to have a baby and he said, "yeah?" I told him it was a sister and asked him if he wanted a baby sister. He said, "ummm, nope. I want a juice box." haha. He has been really sweet saying his prayers at night. The other night we were all saying their prayers together and Joe prayed first then maggie, than Owen began his. He always thanks God for daddy first....ususally several times, then proceeded to thank God for numerous things around Maggie's room (maggie's books, maggie's table) Joe and I were waiting for him to close with amen, which he did...after he thanked God for "lord of the beans" , which is a veggie tales movie he likes. It was really cute. I then began my prayer and Maggie says in the sweeetest voice, "I just love your voice mommy." Joe and I thought it was so cute.
Maggie isn't crazy about the name Josie, she thinks it's a boys name (i guess b/c of the Joe part) She prefers to call the baby Belle....although we have informed her she doesn't get the say so in the baby's name. She was praying today at lunch and said, "thank you God for my baby sister, Belle, ...you know because Josie is a boys name." Their prayers are so cute and kids pray the way we all should......they talk to God as they talk to anyone else. Well, I am off to get things together so when Owen gets up we can head out for some candy!
Here are a few pics of Maggie this morning before church, I thought he looked so cute. Owen looked adorable as well, but I couldn't catch him to get a shot!

He's ready....

I am not. :) So Owen has been asking to go to the potty more and more and wanting to wear underwear. I usually move on to something else because honestly I am just not in the "potty training mode" so much. Diapers to me are alot easier...especially the way we run around. Well, I suppose today he just decided to take matters into his own hands as I was in the kitchen and realized I hadn't heard or seen him in awhile and then I hear him in my bathroom moving things around. I head in there just in time to see him standing on the scales with several magazines stacked on top of it, diaper and clothes ditched at the door, leaning forward as far as he can trying to pee in the potty. Well, pee he did....not so much in the potty though. But I have to give him credit for his effort. It was pretty cute. So after he was done he says, "no more diapys mommy." So I decided to agree with him for the moment and got his CARS underwear out for him. He has had them on for awhile now and we have spent most of the morning letting him got pee.....I guess it's just boys, I don't know, but he honestly pee's all day long. With Maggie I can remember sitting forever just to get a little bit of pee.....with Owen it's like a never ending stream anytime you ask. So....I am hoping he either drops this or gets it really easy and fast! I also have to go out and get a little potty as I refuse to spend all my time cleaning up pee off the bathroom floors, so although his daddy thinks sitting to pee is going to take something away from his "manhood", that is what he will be doing for the time being. :)

Of course when I took pics of Owen, Maggie couldn't be left out of the photo shoot!

Another Party

Today was Maggie's birthday party at preschool which meant she got to wear the birthday crown all day, be the leader, and the "helper" for the day. She loved it all. I went about 11 or so after dropping Owen off at Shannon's to play with Bella for an hour or so. They were having playtime in the "gym" when I got there and she was playing with 3 other little girls in her class. I knew one of them must be Kate since that is who I hear about all the time. She was glad to see me and introduced me to all her friends and then wanted to show me all the things there were to do there.











I had brought cupcakes for their snack so after they sang happy birthday to Maggie and she got to pick out a "gift" from the birthday box they had their snack. It was fun to get to go spend some time with her and let her show me all the things she does at school and of course to meet her friends she plays with. She seems to play well with all the kids there and they all seem very fond of her so that is nice for me to know. :) Owen had fun with Bella, Shannon said they spent alot of the time just laughing at each other which is what they ususally do....who knows about what?

It has been rainging nonstop (literally) since yesterday at noon which I guess is good for the grass but I am a little tired of it now. The kids and I ran errands yesterday for several hours and they couldn't have been better. Maggie wore her new outfit Mimi got her for her birthday and looked so cute.










She loved it and told me she loved the color of it.....:) like I wasn't aware of that. Well, Owen is napping and Maggie is playing up in her room so I am going to try and clean from the weekend some.

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY MAGGIE MAE!!!

Today is Maggie's 4th birthday and she had a fun weekend of celebrating. Her best buddy Amanda got her Thursday evening so she (and Owen) were so happy to see her. They got right into play mode when they saw her and she didn't let them down. While she kept them busy I got to working on Maggie's cake for her party yesterday. She picked out a tough one and I must say it took me nearly 3 days all together but turned out really cute and she was so happy with it that it was totally worth it!












Her party was alot of fun and it was great to have everyone there to celebrate with her. She of course insisted on dressing up like a princess so I gave her one of her new princess dresses since her other one is a 2 and way too small. She told me that it was okay, since Owen was 2 he could wear it and it should fit him. ;) Don't worry, Owen didn't dress up like a princess for the party...haha.















She had her favorite for her birthday dinner, soup....and I made chili as well and got chick fil a nuggets for those who don't prefer soup.
















After that it was singing happy birthday and digging into the cake which was a big hit with everyone....especially all the kiddos as you can see. I think this is the only time all of them were seated for longer than a minute.




















We moved right on to present opening which Maggie did in record time....Joe says it was the fastest birthday party he'd ever been to.









Maggie loved her party and the kids all had fun, as well as the adults. The guys spent a good deal in front of the TV watching the UK game since I had her party right at game time....Owen had 2 of his buddies there...Bella and Carlyn. I think they had fun together and get the feeling the 3 of them could get themselves into quite a bit of trouble if they hung out together for awhile.....They are all within a month or 2 of each other and were so cute to watch.












Here are a few more pics from her party.





(I love this pic of you Sis......you have GREAT teeth!)























Today I got a great day of "rest" from all the work of getting things ready for her party. Neila Susan and I headed out early and went to Indidana to the outlets and shopped ALL DAY. It was great to get out and hang out with her kid free and to stock up on clothes for the kiddos. We had a great time and decided we need to make this a quartly trip.....we just have to get Joe and Nick onboard that idea I suppose.

Well, tommorow is library and I begin baking AGAIN for Maggie's birthday party at school on Tuesday. We are taking cupcakes with pink icing....which Maggie is okay with although she really wanted to take banana bread muffins but some kid in her class is allergic to fresh fruit????(weird) I am going to go help with her party and my friend Shannon is going to keep Owen for me. I hope to sneak in before she knows I am there so I can see her in action at preschool.