I love this girl

I just love this little girl. Here's why:

1. When you play chutes and ladders with her, she never gets mad when she has to go down a chute, even if she is on #97.
2. She's all about quality time. One day recently I was sick in bed and she brought me a rag. "Come on Mama, let's go clean the kitchen cabinets." So we did.
3. She sings a very lively rendition of "Jesus Paid it All" which involves Jesus painting all and washing a lot of snow.
4. She has no idea how to play with toys, but can make a mean chocolate croissant by herself for dessert.
5. Apparently, at preschool, when asked to draw a picture of anything she wants, she draws math problems.
6. Often in the middle of the night she wakes up screaming from a bad dream. Most of the time this bad dream involves Mama saying she can't have any ice cream.
7. I've never met anyone more task oriented. All day long I hear, "What can I do next?" She's happiest when she has a job to do.

Thankful to be home

But seriously, ya'll, this is not funny.

A Cheerleader and a Ballerina Princess

We had a great time celebrating Halloween at church. It was definitely a fun family time for us. And despite having purchased costumes for the girls, they both decided last minute just to wear something from their dress up bin! Oh well. So our little pretties dressed as a cheerleader and a ballerina princess.



Face painting was one of our favorite activities!

Mary Claire was tired after a long day at school, and she enjoyed some cuddle time with Daddy Bear.

We got there early, which was a good move. While we waited in line for the pony ride, the girls got to go down the slide (over and over again) with no wait! Ellie loved it!

PS--We miss you, Daddy!

For KKMcP

So I should be blogging about Halloween, etc. etc., but this picture just seemed so much more interesting. While visiting my aunt this week, I was given a few photos of when I was about Kindergarten age. This was one of those photos. It's for you, KKMcP, since you shared yours!

Pumpkins

This week we had fun carving pumpkins. Well, at least Daddy did (note the drill). At least the girls were responsible for cleaning out their own pumpkins!

Little Bo Peep

Yesterday was Nursery Rhyme Day at school for Mary Claire. She decided she wanted to be Little Bo Peep! And believe it or not, she recited all 5 stanzas of Little Bo Peep. I bet you didn't even know there were 5 stanzas, because I sure didn't. I must say, she looked adorable!

Mary Claire, waiting her turn...



Little Bo Peep, looking for her sheep

No stage fright for this girl!

I'm gonna miss this...

My sweet girl. Lost her first tooth, and then lost it again. We can't find it anywhere. So we took a picture of the place where the tooth should be and put THAT under the pillow (didn't that happen to me once, mom?). Along with the note of course.

I'm gonna miss this one day.

Ladies...do NOT try this at home!

Today, I was reminded by Mary Claire's kindergarten teacher that Wednesday is Nursery Rhyme day and all moms needed to have their assigned goods turned in to school by tomorrow. I'll begin by telling you that mom-help sign up was emailed out back in September. By the time I had emailed that I wanted to help, there was only one task no one had agreed to do: the cupcakes. So, I agreed to take on the ever popular task of making the cupcakes. Easy, right? Yeah, not so much.

First let me begin by reminding all of my friends that I am not a planner aheader. I am not type A, but rather B or C, or whatever letter you assign to a person that hates to have a letter assigned to them in the first place. Pretty much this tells you that I do things last minute. In fact, I do just about everything last minute. This little factor includes making cupcakes for Nursery Rhyme Day.

Now, because I have put these cupcakes off to the very last minute, and have not planned ahead to make them, I found myself in the strange predicament of not having one single box of cake mix on hand. And, with Bennett at Bible Study, I am at home with two sleeping kids, a car, keys, and money, but no babysitter. No biggie, I thought to myself. I'll just make them from scratch.

Before I go any farther with my story I know that I have some readers who have never ever ever used a boxed cake mix and would call that cheating (you know who you are!!!). But I LOVE a boxed yellow cake like you would not believe! It is my favorite! Mmmmmmmmmm......

I digress. Anyway, on to the scratch part. So I started pulling down my every-recipe-known-to-man cookbooks to find a yellow cake recipe that calls for ingredients I actually have on hand. What the heck is shortening anyway? That one threw me for a loop. But after skirting the shortening recipes, I found one that called for plain ol' butter that looked good. And easy.

HA!! Yeah Right!!

45 minutes later, I have yellow cake cupcakes for Nursery Rhyme Day. 45 minutes later! Like I have 45 minutes to spare the night before LAMBS. And that 45 minutes didn't even include baking time. Puh lease!

Ladies, do NOT try making cupcakes from scratch. Use a mix. Save yourself 431/2 minutes. You're worth it.

Sisters...

I was totally suckered in by these shirts. How blessed they are to be sisters!

Oh What a Night...

This week we did what every other red blooded Raleigh resident did: we went to the North Carolina State Fair. It was truly an evening of firsts for the girls:

First time on a ferris wheel




First time on a roller coaster...



First time eating cotton candy...

First kiss from Daddy on a Carousel

First trip to the fried everything smorgasbord

Although I would love to tell you we tried the fried mac and cheese or fried pb and j, we settled on a funnel cake. Next year we'll be a little more brave.

More Mountain Memories

Mary Claire in the fire trance...

Fireside with Daddy...

Fun with Daddy!

Forgot to get an apple picker but no need with Aunt Christina around!

The happy, good looking couple.

This, believe it or not, was a follow up to an impromptu "I love you, Ellie!"

Just the right size for the girls!

Back to Carolina

Are these girls beautiful, or what??


Can I tell you how much I love track out? Since Mary Claire has been reunited with Ellie and I again we couldn't wait to get back over to the UNC Chapel Hill campus to visit with Kelly and Emily. Once again, we were treated by Kelly to a delicious meal in the dining hall, and since it was a nice day we decided to take a walk around campus. I was thrilled at this idea, but if you know my girls you know that they were not (are they seriously going to be age 8 and 10 and STILL riding around in the duoglider stroller? you bet!). Since I forgot the stroller, though, they were left to tour campus in their pink sparkly shoes.

It was really fun being on the UNC campus. The girls were so excited to see real live squirrels (how sad is that?) and we hit all of the major UNC landmarks: the preacherman outside of the student union place, the arboretum, the bell tower, and the old well. We even got to see the football players as they were leaving the field after practice.

Ellie was impressed with the size of the trees. As soon as she saw this one she ran over and threw her arms around it! My little treehugger...

While at the old well, Kelly and Emily suggested Mary Claire and Ellie take a drink for good luck. Maybe this will help them get in some day!

Ellie says, check out the cute football players behind me! I came pretty close to asking some of the guys to lift her up on their shoulders for a picture, but thought my shy girl might not like that too much.

It was a Grand Ol' Party

.

So while we were driving around this sleepy little town on Saturday morning we noticed that literally EVERYONE had a McCain/Palin sign in their yard. No joke. And then we saw a sign that said "GOP Pig Roast Tonight" and we immediately made plans to attend.

We showed up ready for the party. It was great. Dried cow patties littered the picnic field. The crowd of bearded, mesh hatted farmers sat around the grand McCain/Palin RV clapping as the good ol' boy republicans shouted crowd riling political one liners from the podium. Kids were thrilled to get stickers, balloons, and fake flowers. All in the name of politics.

The highlight of the evening of course was getting our pictures taken with McCain and Palin themselves. Bennett, aka Todd, was beaming with his lady. Uncle AJ and Aunt Christina looked great next to John.

This little guy cracked us up. I wish I had gotten his autograph because one day he will without a doubt be a name we know. While we were eating our pulled pork sandwiches he was working the crowd, making sure everyone was registered to vote, and even stopped to flirt with Mary Claire. I think I even saw him hold a baby or two. What is he, nine years old??? Check out the pen in his pocket!! This guy was so serious yet so personable and I loved him. Now I know literally what it means to be a born politician.

Below you'll find Mary Claire's favorite spot--on the lap of Aunt Christina!!

It was a very 4th of July feeling party--we all felt very patriotic!

The Fantasy Hideaway

On Thursday we left for a four day adventure in the VA mountains with Uncle AJ and Aunt Christina. Have you ever heard of Standardsville, VA? Neither had we. Turns out Standardsville is a sleepy mountain town right on the edge of Skyline Dr., just west of Charlottesville.




Our lodging for the weekend was none other than a charming log cabin on it's own acre of land on a mountain named "Lydia Mountain." The cabin, or shall I say the "fantasy hideaway," was equipped with a full kitchen, outdoor hot tub, and bon fire area.

If you ask the girls what their favorite part of the trip was, they will tell you it was the "hot pool," the aunt and uncle,

and the smores.

We had lots of exciting adventures, which I will write more about later when I am not so tired!