The girls visit...Dr. Dave

Okay so my kids LOVE LOVE LOVE the dentist. It is the coolest place ever. Last week we visited "Dr. Dave" for Elle's first dentist appointment and Mary Claire's second. They were so excited! The office is decorated in a fish theme, and as soon as you walk in there is a huge tropical fish tank with....you guessed it....all of the fish from NEMO!!! The girls get so excited. There's Nemo, Dory, Scar, etc. A very clever idea although the dentist in that movie is so creepy. Anyway...

The dentist took the girls at the same time and it was precious to see them all laid back together. The hygenists are so sweet and Ellie wanted to go home with hers. I was really surprised Ellie relaxed and laid back in the chair, but she had a ball. We also came home with a goody bag that was better than Halloween! Definitely the highlight of the month.

Can I put my pumpkin in a stroller?

It's almost November and FINALLY fall weather is here. All of the maple trees are turning red and we actually have to wear long pants now. The girls were thrilled to wear a jacket to church this morning! Last weekend we decided to have a picnic dinner along the Greenway in our neighborhood (the girls insisted after I brought them home each their very own lunch box...they were so happy). We walked along the paved path littered with leaves of all shapes and colors, and the girls collected fall's trinkets and place them in a baggie they brough for their finds. Mary Claire was so excited to do this after a few days of "No don't touch that!" during a bout of pink eye. So we meandered through the paths soaking up the sunshine peeking through the leaves. Glorious...

After we had dinner we went to the "pumpkin patch." Yes folks, the little white things you see all over the pictures are price tags (so unauthentic...how pathetic I know!) I even had to take the pictures just so or you would see the cars whizzing by on the busy street the "patch" sits on! It made us really miss Frederick and Larryland farms and Mayne's pumpkin patch. But the girls didn't really mind, they hopped from pumpkin to pumpkin saying "Let's get this one! No this one!" Most of all, however, they fell in love with the little pumpkins. Mary Claire picked one up and said, "Oh, it's so cute! Can I get this one Daddy? I want to wrap a blanket around it and put it in my stroller!" You know, 'cause it is a baby pumpkin. Please see the picture of her holding the "baby." Also check out Elle's smile...looks just like a little Jenny picture. Talk about spooky.

Does anyone remember this place?

Bonus points if you do!! A couple of weekends we took a trip back there to show the girls...to have lunch...to reminisce...

Two Blonde Butterflies...and a Koozie

So the Halloween costumes arrived today...and of course there is a revolt in the house and they are refusing to wear regular clothes now. They are the most adorable little blonde butterflies I have ever seen. We spent the afternoon dancing on the sleeping porch.

Funny story--last night, Mary Claire was noticing that her milk was not as ice cold as she would like to to be. So she looked over at Bennett and said, "Daddy, I need a Koozie!" We laughed hysterically...we do own one Koozie Bennett was given by a contractor. They've seen it around the garage and I suppose we've told her what it is used for, but it was so funny to hear her apply it! I'm going to search ebay for a monogrammed Koozie right now.

Back from the beach...

So we are back...from the beach...for the third time this summer! Yes, the Wises can't get enough of the Outer Banks and it never seems to get old. Even after being there for almost 2 weeks all Elle kept saying on the drive home was, "I want to go back to the beach house!"

We had a ball. For the first week it was just me and the girls along with Grandma and Grampa Wise (or Grampie and Grammie as Elle has decided they should be called), as well as Aunt Christina and "cousin" Maverick. Every morning Grampie would feed the girls breakfast while Christina and I would go for a morning run, then we would head for the beach and stay until about noon. Lunch, of course, was served poolside. The pool was AWESOME because it was heated and warm! No flinching necessary. It also turned Mary Claire's hair green, but that problem was nothing that a little haircut wouldn't solve.

Graciously God gave us beautiful weather, a week as good as any during the summer! Perfect beach weather! Bennett, of course, made friends on the beach Day 1, so all week Mary Claire played with her new friends Ben and Morgan, and it was almost like Grampie adopted two more grandkids (see pic)! They had trucks and Mary Claire thought that was the coolest thing ever. I love the picture I snapped of her telling Ben a story, and how he was intently listening...

The rest of the family (minus Bobbycakes) showed up at various times over the weekend that was crazy! It was nice playing Scattergories and eating Holly's delicious chocolate chip cookies and watching movies. AJ turned out to be the family motivator/bonder and got Neil and I hooked on horseshoes. Not to mention the pool edge badmitton game he invented, which was hysterical.

After most everyone left, Neil and April along with Patience, Charity, and Neilson stayed for the second week. A cold front pushing in from the North created not-so-great beach days and the roughest seas I've ever seen at the outer banks, so we spent the days at the pool, taking walks, walking up Jockey's Ridge (see pic of Elle dancing in the sunset) and visiting the Roanoke Island lost colony mock up. That was fun and my girls loved visiting the "pirate ship" which was not a pirate ship at all, of course.

Overall, it was a great trip. It was a long time to be away from "life" so I think it has literally taken me up until tonight to recover. For a week straight I took 2-3 hour daily naps with the girls which is so unlike me! Today was the first day I felt back to normal. I think it is an official sign that I am getting old...er...