Thoughts for the night

1) When you bend over, watch where you're going because it really hurts when you slam your head into the countertop at a high speed.  Ouch.

2) Put your keys away before you try to put your purse on your lap, otherwise you might almost gouge your only working eye out.  Seriously, be careful.

and

3) Embry turns 4 tomorrow! 

Halloween

I took all 4 kiddos to the Trunk or Treat that MOPS hosted in the church parking lot.  It was a lot of fun, although, hard to keep track or 4 little ones while trying to take pictures too.  However they really seemed to enjoy themselves, so it's all worth it. 

 My friend Diana who is another discussion group leader at MOPS hosted a playdate with me for both of our groups to hang out.  We did a Halloween candy hunt, then decorated some magnetic foam halloween picture frames, then ate some yummy food.  It was a really good time and I'm looking forward to our Thanksgiving playdate later this month. 

 We had a lovely Halloween this year.  My friends Anna and Kim came over with their kids and we all went out trick-or-treating around my neighborhood together. The kids got a ton of candy, but Nola decided she was scared of EVERYTHING around house #10 so she stayed in the wagon after that point.  Tony was at our house handing out candy and we had a total of 212 trick-or-treaters stop by. 

 We carved pumpkins a few days before halloween.  I didn't have one since the grocery stores had already sold out, but Embry needed help carving hers for the first time instead of painting it.  Nola was hesitant to smear the pain on her pumpkin at first but then dove right in and ended up painting herself too.  She got a bath.  After Halloween, we noticed that half of Embry's pumpkin was missing and it had been moved down our walkway.  We found the culprit this Friday night as there was a plump javelina hanging out in our front yard.  

Nola is 2!

Nola turned 2 on Oct 26!  She's such a big girl now!  She's saying so many new things and doing some new things too, like jumping.  It's her favorite thing to do and she says, 'I jumpining!' while she does it.  She's a little stingy with her kisses, but if you act like your feelings are very hurt by her turning you down, then she'll pucker up and not leave you alone until you kiss her on the lips.  Also, she thinks that a hug is a kiss as well, so when you want a hug, you need to ask for a 'cuddle' and she'll rest her head on your shoulder.  She's oh so sweet and her new favorite thing to say is 'OKAY!'  It has become very helpful for me when she's whining and I want her to understand something like having to wait until Mama is done with x,y,z before we can do whatever Nola wants and she'll just go, 'OKAY!' and the drama will be over.  Of course it doesn't work all the time, but if it even works 1 time out of 100, I'm OKAY with that! 

On Nola's birthday, Tony got the day off work and we decided to go to the zoo!  We haven't been for a really long time (and I don't think Tony's ever come with us) and since we'd visited they opened a new, large elephant exhibit called 'Expedition Tanzania'.  It was pretty cool and had a lot of interactive things for the girl's to play with which kept them interested in everything.  The monkeys were going NUTS that morning and it was pretty fun to watch them swing around and hoot and holler for a while.  We got a video which I'll have to try to upload later.  It's really something!  Then we took the girls to Chick-fil-A where we had lunch and they played in the toddler play area.  The whole day was a lot of fun and both girls had a really wonderful time.