Trick-or-treat

Handley had been talking about going trick-or-treating and fill her bag with candy all week.  She waited all day and when the time finally arrived she was super excited.  It was a little rainy and really cold, but she didn't care. Every time she would go to a house we'd tell her, "remember what to say" and as soon as they would open the door she'd exclaim, "thank you!" before saying trick-or-treat.  Then she would be so happy about the candy she just got and say, "let's go to the next one."  

Handley and Avery trying to stay dry

She wasn't shy at all about taking big handfuls of candy

Stefanie and Trey even came over to visit and see her all dressed up. 

Happy Halloween!

The farmer and the chicken

The girls were lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents see them all dressed up!

Today was our neighborhood's Halloween parade.  We all kept checking the weather and hoping for clear skies, but in the end we had to move the parade and festivities indoors.  The kids paraded around the porch of the clubhouse and didn't know any different.  There were plenty of cookies, sweets, and fun to keep us all entertained.  

Handley and Avery parading on the porch

Handley with some of her friends

Pre-school party

Yesterday was Handley's fall pre-school party.  I was excited to plan and organize this party for her class.  The party included lunch, cookie decorating, pin the nose in the jack-o-lantern, and hot potato with a little pumpkin.  The party was a success and I think all the kids had a lot of fun.  

Handley wore a fairy costume for her party

The class room decorations before the kids came into the room

Hard at work decorating her cookie

Pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern

Early Christmas gift...

Mimi and Dadaw are here for the weekend and they showed up with an early Christmas gift for the girls.  How cute is this little picnic table!?!?!

I've been busy sewing all kinds of things...Halloween costumes, crib bedding for a neighbor, baby gifts, and a few outfits for the girls.  

Check out these...can you guess where we are going next week? 

In case you need a close-up of the fabric...

If you guessed Disney, you are right!!!! We're tagging along with Robby on a work trip to Orlando and while we are there we'll get to visit with some great friends, see Robby's grandmother and aunt, and even spend a day at Disney.  You know I had to have outfits for the girls to wear for their first time at Disney. :-)  I can't wait!!!

Handley's job

Handley has always liked to help me feed Sydney.  Last week I noticed Syd's bowl was empty and I told Handley that after I finished changing Harper we would fill up her bowl.  Next thing I knew Handley had gotten her bowl, filled it up on her own, and put it back.  Now it has become her job to keep Sydney's bowl full.  

Filling up Sydney's bowl this morning

Carrying it back to her stand

All done with her job! 

Now if I could only teach her to vacuum!  :-)

Uncle Ryan

Yesterday we got to visit with Uncle Ryan (Robby's brother)!  He was in town from Colorado on business and we were able to sneak up to Gigi and Papa's house for the day to visit with him for just a little while.  

Handley was excited to see him and Harper was all smiles.  We can't wait to see him (and Rylan and Heather too) in a few months on our annual ski trip to Colorado!  

Harper's 6 Month Check-Up

Today was Harper's 6 month check-up.  She weighs 17 lbs. 5 oz. and was 26 inches long.  I had weighed her at home on my scale and actually thought she would weigh more.  She's such a chubby little thing, but I love it!  She was in the 75th percentile for both height and weight and the Dr. said she looked great, was healthy, and right on track for her age.  

While we were waiting Harper kept entertained with the paper on the table. 

Handley still loves playing with her her baby dolls and I love seeing her imitate the things I do with Harper. 

Today she told me her baby needed to go the dr. too.  After seeing the nurse measure Harper, Handley put her baby up on the table.  

As Harper was getting her shots Handley kept insisting that her baby needed a shot and band-aide too.  When we got home her baby got a band-aide.  Now that Harper is eating baby food Handley also loves feeding her baby.  She'll put baby's bib on, tell her she's eating her rice cereal and carrots, and help her with a sippy cup of water. So cute! I think I might try to find a baby high chair for her as a Christmas gift.  I had brought this extra booster seat in from my car to clean up and when I turned around I saw Handley's baby sitting in the seat eating Puffs. :-)  

This afternoon Handley brought baby to me and said, "Baby is being a fussy pants.  She's about to loose it."  Hmm...wonder where she heard that. :-) 

Office Re-do

Since we moved in our house, exactly 2 years ago, I have not been happy with our office.  It's one of the very first things you see when you walk in our front door. (Actually it's the second thing you see...the dining room is first because of the way the door opens and I LOVE our dining room.  I always hoped people would just look at that and not glance into the office - Ha!)  Anyway, we have furniture that I didn't love and I felt like it was just a lot of different stuff all mixed together and left over.  

Just after moving in...blah!!!

Eventually we painted, I made curtains, we rearranged the furniture and pictures, but I still didn't really like it.  We've been talking about wanting to get new furniture and really "do" the room right, but there are always more important things we'd like to spend our money on and the office kind of just got pushed to the back burner.  Plus, you know how when you live somewhere and see something everyday, you just sort of get immune to it.  Well that's what had happened.  I guess I just got used to the cluttered papers, unhidden wires, random furniture, and weird placement. That has ALL changed now and I couldn't be more excited. 

Take a look at our new office!!!

After the girls went to bed on Friday decided to try to rearrange the furniture once again to see if we could make what we have work a little better.  We moved the desks, book shelf, took down some pictures, switched the lamps, hid wires, totally reorganized the files and drawers and really thought it made a big improvement.  We had  big blank wall over the desk though and needed something to hang.  Robby glanced into the dining room and suggested moving the giant clock he bought me for Christmas from the dining room wall to over the desk in the office.  I had him hold it over the desk so I could see what I thought and voila!!!!!  It totally made the whole room look different.   It only took two years, but finally I LOVE our office and will be happy for it to be seen as guests first enter our home.  :-) And the best part of all, it didn't cost us a dime!  

Our Week

I feel like we've been super busy and going non-stop.  I also have lots of "projects" I'm trying to wrap up and complete so that is keeping all of my time filled.  I'll be sharing lots of pictures of some of the things I've been working on soon, but for now I do have a few pictures of the girls from last week. 

 

We bought new fall flowers for our pots. Handley was thrilled to help plant them because she loves wearing her gardening gloves and using her shovel.   

I had her bring pots from our front porch over to where we were planting and she took her job VERY seriously. :-)

While Handley and I worked, Harper just hung out in her stroller, chewed on a few toys, and watch what we were doing.  Handley kept giving her a commentary..."We're planting some flowers, Harper" or "This is our shovels, Harper."  So sweet!

On Friday, it rained most of the afternoon, but there was a little break in the rain so we decided to get out of the house for a short walk to the cul-de-sac with Sydney.  The skies still looked gloomy, but we made it down the street and back with no rain.  Handley asked to keep going and Harper was enjoying herself so we kept walking, down to the end of our street and onto another one in our neighborhood.  We were not close to home when it started to drizzle.  The drizzle quickly turned into a sprinkle, and then to a real rain.  Handley kept saying, "Run mommy, it's raining on our heads," but the girls were in the wagon, we were heading up hill, and I had our 13 year old Golden Retriever (who can not really run anymore) with us.  I picked up the pace, but we were still getting wet.  I was mostly worried about Harper and what this would do to her pre-dinner, fussy-in-the-evenings mood.  I kept expecting her to start crying, but instead all I heard was happy squeals.  She loved it and was having a ball!  

Burt's Pumpkin Patch

Today we made our annual trip to Burt's Farm to visit the pumpkin patch.  I seriously look forward to this day ALL year long.  We make a whole day of it and have so much fun.  Burt's is about an hour and 1/2 away from our house but worth every minute in the car. 

I think everyone else in Atlanta decided to go today.  It was packed, but we didn't care!  We loved the cool fall weather, eating boiled peanuts, seeing all the different kinds of pumpkins, riding on the hayride, lunch afterwords, and then a visit with Gigi and Papa on the way home.  

The pumpkins are really amazing.  Some of the huge ones can cost between $75-$100!  You have to really love pumpkins to spend that much.  We got two regular sized ones (only $5 and $6 each) and two mini pumpkins too. 

When we saw the line for the hayride we couldn't believe how long it was!  Harper and I waited in line while Robby and Handley went in search of the perfect pumpkin.  They found us in line and Handley showed up riding in the wheelbarrow, along with our pumpkins. 

We finally made it to the front of the line for the hayride and Handley couldn't contain her excitement.  She loves tractors and was so happy that a tractor was pulling us around the farm and through the woods.

On the hayride we stopped to see the talking pumpkins. 

Our family on the hayride

Handley showing off her mini pumpkin

Picking out more pumpkins

I couldn't take too many great pictures of Harper sitting with the pumpkins because every time I set her down she would grab the wood chips and start eating them!  I tried every distraction I could think of, but she wanted nothing to do with holding toys or mini pumpkins.  Nope, only the wood chips were appealing to her.  :-)  She was SO good today though, napped in the car on the way there and back, and was happy as can be all day.  As Handley was going to bed tonight (in her big girl bed!!!) she told me she wanted to go to the pumpkin patch again.  We are both so happy that she loved the day as much as we did. I'm already looking forward to next year!