Todd's 30th Birthday!

This year Todd FINALLY turned 30! I had to hear how "old" I was for the last 1 year, 3 months and 14 days because I was in my 30s and Todd was still in his 20s. Well, no more of that. I guess I will have to deal with his antics once again when I turn 40, but that's not for a LONG time. For now we are BOTH in our 30s!

I really wanted to have a big party to celebrate Todd's 30th birthday. I am so thankful to have Todd in my life. He's a wonderful husband and great father. He works hard for our family so I can stay at home with our girls. He does so much for us, so I wanted to do something special for him. You only turn 30 once, so I wanted to be sure to celebrate this milestone birthday! I had planned for quite some time that I would throw a bowling party for him. Todd and I used to bowl monthly before we were blessed with our children. I thought this type of party would be a fun way to celebrate with our friends and family!

Happy 30th Birthday Todd! I love you!

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A Thanksgiving Blessing

Thanksgiving dinner has been held in our household for a few years now, however, this is the first year that Todd and I actually cooked the Turkey ourselves.

Usually, my parents are here and they do most of the work. Okay, maybe they do all of the work. This year, Thanksgiving timing didn't work out so that my parents could be here. They sold their house in NC and are moving to OH and had too much stuff going on to make a trip up right at that time. Although we aren't much help to them when they are here for Thanksgiving, at least they know we must have been paying some attention to what they have been doing in years past, because this year we pulled off the entire dinner all by ourselves AND we did it well.

There may not have been homemade turkey gravy, but there was homemade stuffing and mashed potatoes. The turkey was cooked in time, and was a pretty good one if I do say so myself. The entire family got here on time and we were sitting down at the table eating by 5:15pm. A Thanksgiving miracle!
This year was the first year Reagan could actually enjoy the food at Thanksgiving. She liked the broccoli and cheese, the corn, and the roll best of all. The turkey was her least favorite with the stuffing a close second. She didn't touch the mashed potatoes.

And Jocelyn said the Blessing! She was adorable!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving...wish you were here with us Mom & Dad!

Light-Up Night 2011

The Holiday Season has officially begun in Pittsburgh! We went downtown for Light-Up night, as we try to do every year. Last year only Todd and Jocelyn went because it was too cold to take a 4-month-old Reagan to. This year was Reagan's first year!

Jocelyn has no problem sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what she wants for Christmas. She told him she wanted Bake Pops for Christmas and he said he's throw in a Dora doll...Thanks Santa! That one WASN'T on her list!

Reagan was not thrilled with Daddy placing her on Santa's lap. Polar opposite of Jocelyn! I guess she doesn't want anything for Christmas this year. ;-)
After we saw Santa we went outside to visit his Reindeer! Very cool!
It was a fun night in Downtown Pittsburgh!

The Circus!

Today we took the girls to the circus at the Consol Energy Center! It was a great time & we all really enjoyed it!

During the Pre-show, the clown asked Jocelyn to come up and do a trick with him. Boy was she nervous!!! Just watch...

Halloween 2011

This year Jocelyn wanted to be a witch for Halloween. I thought we should try to stay away from the typical green-faced witch and stick to a little less scary storybook style witch. I loved her costume, and so did she! We added some last minute make-up on Halloween. Make-up always makes the day a little more special and fun!

Reagan was the witch's black cat. She got a little overwhelmed with the rushing to get ready for trick-or-treating and wasn't very cooperative with her make-up. Grandma basically had to hold her down while I tried my best to give her a nose and some whiskers. She wouldn't cooperate for a picture either. One day when she wonders why there are so many more pictures of Jocelyn than her I will have to remember to tell her that it wasn't because she was our second child--it was because we didn't want to embarrass her with a variety of pictures that look similar to the one below.

She was, however, much happier when she got home from trick-or-treating and saw how many lollipops she had in her basket!

And here is a better picture of Reagan in her costume, taken on an earlier date. She is minus a nose and whiskers, but it will have to do!
And Jocelyn minus the make-up. The cutest little witch I have ever seen!

Pumpkin Carving

Is it Christmastime Mommy?

Today we experienced a very-early-for-snow snowstorm! It wasn't Reagan's first time in the snow, but it was the first time she could walk around and play in it! She liked it until her hands were too cold to move. She just wouldn't listen to me when I told her to leave her mittens on.

Jocelyn wanted to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

Todd had to bang the snow off of the tress which hadn't lost their leaves yet! It was really weird playing out in the snow while there were still leaves on the trees.
Then Todd realized the wet, heavy snow was perfect for snowman making! In all of the snow and winters Jocelyn has experienced, including the Blizzard of 2010, Jocelyn has never built a snowman--we never had the right kind of snow at the right time.

This snow was perfect!

I'm glad I got the girls outfitted for winter a little early this year! Who would have thought we would get to wear snow boots before it was even October? When we were done playing in the snow and Jocelyn was enjoying a cup of hot chocolate, she asked me if we skipped Halloween and were having Christmas instead. I asked her if she thought Santa would be ready this early and she said, "No, and we don't have a Christmas tree!".

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

I never had a problem with squirrels before, but now I do. A serious one--Especially when they are trying to ruin my kids' holiday fun!

Meet Peter.

He is an unwanted porch guest who has decided to feast on the pie pumpkins the girls got on their playgroup field trip to the pumpkin patch.
He really seems to be enjoying himself, doesn't he? Maybe if he were skinny and starving I would feel bad for him, but Peter is most obviously not starving--he's actually making out very well this season. I have heard he is making his way around various porches in our community, ruining other pumpkins as well.

Todd wanted to buy a BB gun to cure our community of this squirrel once and for all, but when thinking about it, I imagined eyes shot out and innocent bystanders injured, so I didn't think it was a good idea, however, when I saw that the rodent was also digging up my bulbs, I almost went out and bought one myself.

Gone are the days where I swerve while driving to miss a squirrel. Swerving may still happen, but not to miss the squirrel, that's for sure! Isn't it time for hibernation anyway?

What a mess!

New Ears!

Today was a big day for Jocelyn!

She got her ears pierced!

People have been asking me since she was born, "When are you going to get her ears pierced?" I just didn't want to, and couldn't do it when she was a baby. I didn't care if "people would know she was a girl (especially since she is bald)." I always told them, when she is old enough to ask and wants it done, I will let her do it.

So the day came. Yesterday when Jocelyn asked what we were doing today and I told her we needed to go to the mall, her immediate response was, "Oh, maybe I can get my ears pierced." I said I needed to talk to daddy about it and told her a few things about it, including that it was going to hurt a little bit, but she still said she wanted to do it. The morning came and she hadn't forgot. We watched a video online that showed how it was done. I told her that we would have to clean them a couple times a day, every day. I told her again that it would hurt. She still wanted to do it, so we went to the mall, did what we needed to do, and then got to the piercing place where I gave her one last "out". I was hoping she would change her mind. I really don't care if she has her ears pierced and I really don't like doing anything that is going to hurt her, but she was relentless. She picked out little pink flower earrings, then she got into that chair, held the stuffed animal and was "ready".


Or at least she thought she was! I guess ready turned into "a little bit scared".

I didn't take any more pictures after the one above because she was crying and I was across the counter trying to console her without hugs while preparing her for the worst--she had to do it one more time!

She seemed shocked when she felt the pain! I told her it was going to hurt! Poor baby! I shouldn't have let her do it! She's too little! There's a hole in my baby! She has to do it again---The things that go through a Mommy's head while watching her baby experience unnecessary pain!

But, the crying ended quickly. She got a sticker and a lollipop, and a ride on a carousel. I swear a lollipop will cure anything for Jocelyn!

She posed proudly for her first pictures with earrings in!

She's really excited to go to school tomorrow and show her friends too, but I'm still a little sad to have put 2 holes in my baby, even if she does look adorable!

My Kids in a Pile of Pumpkins!

My last post had me going through the picture files of pumpkin piles of years past!

2008
2009

2010

2011

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Fall and pumpkin season is one of my favorite times of the year! I love the excitement of Halloween as well as the beautiful colors, smells and tastes! I especially look forward to our family trip to the pumpkin patch.

In years past, we have always gone to Trax Farms to select a pumpkin and participate in the fall festival, but since Jocelyn and Reagan had just been to Trax for their PALS field trip (and because of the $8/person hayride price tag) we decided to see how Triple B was this year. Jocelyn and Reagan seemed to enjoy themselves there:

The hayride was MUCH more affordable at Triple B ($2.50/person), and we really wanted to do a hayride with the girls this year!

The pumpkin patch was full of beautiful pumpkins! Too bad the one we ended up picking had a soft spot that we did not see and has already been put out for the trash!

Reagan really enjoyed walking around the "obstacle course"!There were lots of other fun things for the girls to do as well, however the set up for them was a little undesirable and I was not able to take pictures (as we only purchased one $7 adult wristband for activities, which left me unable to go in with the girls along with Todd). We have learned from our experience and will be more ready if we decide to return to Triple B again next year!

I can tell you one thing for sure. The piles of pumpkins at Trax have to be the best photo opportunity for the kiddos and must be the reason it gets so packed during the weekends of their fall festival. I have to admit that I missed the piles of pumpkins. I just have to have a picture of my kids on these pumpkin piles every year. I just have to, so we will make a trip to Trax each year, whether it be on the weekend with the crowd and the expensive hayride, or maybe just a quick trip on a weekday to let the kids climb the pumpkins and pose for pictures. We already got one during the PALS field trip, and we have one more opportunity since our Triple B pumpkin is already rotten. We will be going to Trax again--not for expensive hayrides and activities--just for a pumpkin to carve and hopefully some more pictures of my girls on a huge pile of pumpkins!