Monday, November 7, 2011

Happy Fall







We have been so busy already this fall.  Pumpkin patches, Halloween parties, pumpkin carving.  Emmie has really been into it this ear making it so much fun.  Anabelle has been right there along side and really started to get it.  She loves to say Boo

Emmie and Anabelle had a special trip to the pumpkin patch planned with Mimi and Papa.
Anabelle loves "punk-punks"
Emmie working her way through the maze
Here we are carving the masterpiece



A big birthday season begins for our family in October.  We have a break for November and then the madness begins in December.  Mimi started it off on October 14th.  Connor had a big birthday and the girls had a chance to go celebrate with their cousin.  Nana happens to share the same birthday as Connor.  So we wished Nana a happy birthday too!

Helping Daddy with some yard work.



How cute is this group of cousins? We are thankful for older cousins who can manage our two twerps in situations like this.  They make these pics possible.
Aunt Shannon gave her the biggest piece of chocolate cake at the table.  Clearly she knows my children are deprived!

Anabelle and Emmie have loved every second of Fall.  Anabelle calls pumpkins "punk-punks".  It is really cute.  I hear Boo! nearly all day and any time we see a ghost.  It has been so much fun. 



Poor Emmie had such a fever she missed her Halloween party at school.  Anabelle made it and was a cute kitty! Anabelle and Will are in the same class.  Will's mommy and I went to preschool together too! How cool is that :)





Pumpkin patch with the family.  We made the trip to Kinsey Family Farm again this year.  It really is a great pumpkin patch and the have the petting zoo and hayrides too.  






Pumpkin carving time!









Approaching 3

Emmie, Emmie, Emmie.  She is a character.  Her 2nd year has been a true challenge for us.  We have dealt with a year of tantrums.  They have gotten better, fewer and further between.  This has been so hard.  There have been times when I thought her head was going to spin off into another dimension.  Honestly, I wasn't sure if exorcisim was out of the question.  They have improved and luckily we don't have to deal with them as much.  Time out has become a mainstay in our house.  I even catch Emmie putting her animals in time out.  It is funny to see teddy bear or Lolly in the corner, every corner on some days.
The tussle over potty training was difficult.  But we came out on top.  Emmie was fully daytime potty trained by about March.  And she has successfully been sleeping in regular panties for atleast 2-3 months now- we just did it cold turkey.  I was tired of buying pull ups and throwing completely dry ones away.  We have very rare, if any accidents.  And now she is becoming so interested in trying to teach Anabelle how to use the potty.  I am so thankful to have atleast one out of diapers.

Sharing is such an issue and will be from here on out, I am sure.  Oh man. The fights these girls get in over toys and not sharing is ridiculous.  Drives me bananas.  I still do not know the best way to handle it.  Anabelle has some fight in her and is learning she doesn't want to to give stuff up as quickly anymore.

I have really started rewarding for good behavior and I believe it is making a difference.

Emmie loves to color and play with stickers.  She is very much into pretend play.  She loves to play hide and seek.  Although we need to work on her strategy.  She wants to go go go.  All the time.  If we are out and about she constantly says.. "lets go someplace else".  There are only so many places we can go before Anabelle falls out.


She wants a snack 24/7.  Her eating is not very good.  I have tried to get her to eat some things Anabelle eats, like chicken or rice.  Simple things.  You should see the faces she makes. And when she eats it... "I did it".  Like it is an accomplishment.  Instead it looks more like torutre.  She doesn't even want to eat fruit very much anymore.   I try to refrain from sweets unless we are doing something fun.  Or if I am bribing her.  I am still working on vegetables.  She loves pepperoni, bacon, and PB&js.

She wants to help do everything!!!! Such a good helper.
Learning the months of the year and the days of the week. Singing all the time.

She has recently gotten a little sassy and I am really trying to deal with it.  Not sure which is worse, tantrums or a sassy toddler.

First haircut at Pigtails and Crewcuts
But my favorite part of her getting older is the cute little girl laughs and giggles I hear non-stop.  Something is changing, for the better.  But I love listening to her and her friends or her and her sister giggle and laugh more than anything.  I hope it continues to fill my house for years to come.

 


Go Dawgs, Sic 'em! Woof! woof! woof!


Brent and I attempted the Homecoming game with both girls on Saturday.  Emmie did great.  It was her third game.  She should be a pro by now.  SHe can cheer pretty good and barks with the best of them.   It was Anabelle's first game and that proved to be a bit  more difficult.  We did pretty good for the first quarter and things started spiraling out of control.  Anabelle had had it.  We kept moving seats to change the scenery, but ultimately she was ready to go home.  WE headed down to the hedges.  The cheerleaders gawked over the girls and we got a close look at the "really big guys playing football". 





Not a happy camper.  Emmie is playing with her football necklace.







Go Dawgs, sic em



Family Funday!


So stinkin cute


Taking a break on the walk back to the car


I hope this picture can be reincarnated someday.  How lucky would she be to cruise North Campus as a  "college girl"!?