Run run run as fast as you can!

I got this Gingerbread cookie decorating kit on clearance and I knew these two would have a ball. Sure enough, they decorated into the night, all 10 cookies, and notice their little black lips from eating icing!

James and the Giant Fish

Jim was here and he and Jesse spent all night on the boat. They came home a little sleep deprived, but it was worth it! Check out the giant fish Jim caught, on that tiny little rod he's holding. Big ol' catfish too.

Catch Up, Reprise

A while back, Grandmother sent the girls a box full of goodies, including costumes, puzzles, popcorn, and 3 pairs of these adorable striped tights for dress-up. They spent all afternoon "skating" on the hardwood in the tights, and working the puzzle, over and over, playing and sharing like angels. Some things just don't happen everyday, so I had to snap some pics! ;)

Aunt Joey sent the girls (among other things) a *huge* jar of art supplies for Christmas. Natalie followed me around the house for days holding the jar and saying, "Mom, can we do art supplies? PLEEEEEEEEASE?!" So I finally let them dig in and they had a ball. Natalie usurped both giant fluff balls (which reminded me of Warm Fuzzies when I was in Kindergarten) right from the start, but Madeline didn't seem to mind. Notice her lower lip, puckered in deep concentration, as she tries to squeeze glitter glue onto a button above.
Natalie positioned the glider in front of the TV to watch a movie, and fell fast asleep in this pose. I had to take a picture - but looking at it makes my head hurt! Can you imagine sleeping upside down?! My brain cells are screaming just thinking about it.

Jesse and I saw "I Am Legend" tonight - not bad. We were a little miffed though, that the movie was listed by the theater as having a run-time of 2:10, but 30 of that was commercials and previews. The movie started at 7:00, but the MOVIE didn't start until 7:30, and we were back in the truck on the way home by 9:00. We liked the movie but we wished they'd developed it a little more, maybe done something more with the ending. I mean, Pirates of the Caribbean was 3 hours long, for Pete's sake! Overall though, it was a good movie, if somewhat disturbing. I used to love End-of-the-World thrillers before I had children. Now my stomach does herkies during them, because all I can think about is our girls in a scenario like that. Makes me wish for World Peace. Or want to learn my way around an assault rifle.

The Great Cupcake

Jesse took Big Ben out on his fishing boat the other day. Before they left, Jesse put Ben in one of his long-sleeve thermal shirts, and then a Steeler jersey on top of that. The big weenie was still cold, so by the time they got home, he had him bundled up in his work jacket. Jesse said he was shivering, but then when he put him in the jacket he stopped and started trotting around the boat woofing at birds onshore. Hilarious. He really seemed to enjoy the coat, which is *super* soft and warm. Perfect for a Giant Cupcake.

Miami on my mind

Looks like Jesse is really starting to prepare himself mentally for living in Miami.

Jesse's Fishing Trip

Jesse spent the day on the lake fishing with a guy who grew up around here. This is his catch! That big guy was about 7 pounds. We kept trying to get the girls to stand next to him for scale, but Madeline was a little scared of him - he was huge!

Slow dancing, swaying to the music...

Their evening of slow dancing ended abruptly when Ben made an inappropriate grab for Jesse's rear. Love is in the air...

Had him at the vet last week, and he was around 140 lbs.

Halloween

We have this *massive* local church, Cartersville First Baptist I think with about a zillion members. It's really close to our house so I took the girls to their Fall Festival and it was SOOO nice. I loved it because I knew they were surrounded with (comparatively) safe people, and they had so much for them to do. The minute we got there they handed them glow-necklaces and a goody bag, and then we headed straight for the bounce house, which they had all to themselves for like 10 minutes. Then the giant inflatable slide, which was like a clown car of kids, they were trying so hard to keep them in line but it was a total melee, arms and legs sticking out everywhere. Natalie hesitated a little (and I had to teach her the concept of standing in line) but then she went for it. And the surprise of the night, Madeline saw Baby do it once, and jumped right in behind her. Much older kids everywhere, and she just got in line, threw elbows when she needed to, climbed the ladder by herself (she didn't even look at me!!) and only hesitated for a sec at the top, then Cowabunga!! Down she came, with eyes the size of dinner plates, and I won't lie, she wasn't smiling, but she did it. Then it was off to pet the animals, they had a petting zoo!! I couldn't get any pics of that, but there was a pot belly piggy (I've discovered the world's softest nose, sorry Ben) an alpaca (sp?), baby goats, and a horse in full saddle with a guy in boots and a hat riding him, (which they must have hired from Dorky Cowboys R Us, you had to be there, I was just waiting for him to call me 'Mam.)

So then we "Trunk or Treated" and that was so much fun, everyone had their trunks decorated in different themes, and some of them were so clever. They got loads of candy, and then they had their faces painted. By that time it was dark and getting cold, (and I told them they couldn't eat any candy until we got home and I could look it over) so we "cracked" their glow necklaces, and they came around with glow bracelets too, and those were so much fun through the dark parking lot (which has to be 6 acres, this is a huge church) and in the car on the way home, I might add. They slept with their glow necklaces as "night lights," they love those things. I was really impressed by the Fall Festival, we will definitely do that again.

Natalie's Birthday

More than a little late, I know, but better late than never. I actually have some time so I'm playing blog catch-up today, maybe I should make that this blog's title, playing catch-up. Anyway, Natalie turned 5 on October 1st (FIVE, YEARS, MAN!!)


She didn't know she was getting a "Mommy make me better" baby doll she had seen in a commercial. She asked for it every time she saw the commercial, and I played it cool. Mom found it and sent it, so I didn't even have to figure out a way to buy it for her and hide it (try that when she's in the shopping cart with you. May have worked when she was 2, but not anymore.) Anyway, this was the look on her face when she realized what she was opening.


She had to use scissors to open everything, because she's a big kid now, we were curtly informed, and basically letting her use scissors is akin to letting you or I drive the Space Shuttle.


I loved the reaction from Madeline when she opened this puzzle. She *loves* puzzles and she reacted with her whole body, "OOOOOHHHHH!"


Jesse had all sorts of little things for both girls after Natalie opened her big presents, things like nail polish (I made that disappear post haste) markers, and new princess cups with straws. He made them close their eyes between each little surprise, but Madeline never quite got the "wait til I say open 'em part.) She would close her eyes for just a sec, then totally peek, then yell out the next surprise, while Natalie obediently has her eyes covered waiting for Jesse to say open 'em. It was so cute.


Here's her cake. It was an ice cream cake from DQ, and the *WHOLE THING* was made from ice cream. I thought it would have a "cake layer" you know? The writing on top was supposed to be purple? But we let Natalie put the princess candle and the little pink candles on, and she had a blast. And the cake was *so good.*