While Juliana's birthday has been dutifully documented, it seems as though I've dropped the ball on the last couple of months. Here's a quick commentary so try to keep up.
1) We went to the zoo with our friends Brigette, Alex and Ellie. Brigette and her family moved to St. Louis shortly after we did and we have kids right around the same ages and gender. A match made in heaven! Unfortunately for Juliana and Giselle, I neglected to check the weather before we left for the zoo. So while all the other folks were dressed in pants, long sleeves and jackets, my girls and I were dressed like it was summertime. It was cool, the girls were freezing and to add insult to injury, it started to rain as we were leaving. Mom fail.
2) The kids love to take random pictures with the camera. They also love to "play" in the car. I found this beauty as I was scrolling through pictures on the camera and thought it was pretty cute. Too bad I had to delete about 72 of J's other "artistic" photos.
3) I got called as the Personal Progress Leader in Young Women's at church (which means I work with the girls ages 12-18 and help them set and accomplish certain goals). We had our Young Women in Excellence night in October and our theme was "The Worth of a 'Sole'". It was all about shoes and following in the footsteps of Christ. We decorated with footprints (along the back in the picture), sang "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" and even had cobbler to go along with the shoe/foot theme. We gave the girls a shoe charm as a little gift. I only got a few pictures of the set up, but I thought it was pretty cute. The girls did a great job and it was really a lot of fun. I get to work with an awesome group of leaders (and girls), so it was easy and fun to put this together.
4) My sister, Paula, and nieces, Lydia and Camille, came to visit us! They came during a week when Will was out of town, so it really worked out perfectly. Two adults, five kids. The kids had SO. MUCH. FUN. Seriously. They still talk about it on an almost daily basis. "Remember that time? When Lydia and Paula and Camille came to visit? And we went to the Arch? And the zoo? That was so much fun!"
Juliana and Lydia ran into each other's arms at the airport. It was precious.
These two were pretty funny to watch interact. Camille slept in the Pack-n-Play in Giselle's room and they actually did well at not waking each other up from naps. Camille is six months older than Giselle, but G is taller and heavier. What can I say? Will and I don't breed 'em small or petite.
We went downtown to the Arch one day while they were here. The girls claimed they had fun, but that was not obvious to me while we were there. I just remember Giselle having a hard time, being really hot and having loads of fun trying to wrangle four young girls through crowds of people. The girls were cute looking out the windows at the top of the Arch though. They were mesmerized.
After we were finished viewing we had to wait for the "elevators". That's pretty much where my girls started to have serious issues. Giselle especially. Food, drink, cuddles - nothing seemed to do the trick. You can see how sweet their cousins were trying to be with them, but my girls are stubborn and would have none of it.
The next day we waited until after school to go to the zoo. Everett was thrilled.
5) We've been grocery shopping! It's a blast! I love it! Favorite part of my week! I especially love it when I get to take all three kids with me and they argue over who gets to sit in the dumb "speciality" grocery buggy! I like it even more when one of them chooses to pout about it!
6) Will and the kids carved our pumpkin. The carving part was fine, but my beef with the following pictures (as well as the ones on Halloween) is that Everett seems to have forgotten how to smile normally for pictures. He either gives me a) a whole "lazy eye" look or b) a "deer in headlights" look. Let's have a look, shall we?
Exhibit A: Not a full DIH, but well on his way.
Exhibit B: Total deer in headlights/crazy eyes
Exhibit D: Followed quickly by deer in headlights
Exhibit E: Believe it or not, this is the best look of the lot.
On Halloween night, our Bumblebee and Tinker Bell were uber excited to go trick-or-treating. Bumblebee loved the mask and Tink was thrilled to be wearing make-up. Also Exhibit F: deer in freakin' headlights. Everett, I'd say you're killin' me, but I know what's coming...
Exhibit G: OH MY GOODNESS EVERETT! Seriously.
Exhibit I: I give up.
Darling Giselle. Yes, I'm a bum and didn't get her in her flower costume for trick-or-treating. She was still cute.
An action shot. We only did our street, which isn't terribly long, but they still got loads of candy and I'm a Halloween Scrooge and wanted to get them in bed relatively close to their normal bedtime. I know. I stink. Boo on Mom!
Happy Halloween 2011! Next time, Everett's birthday recap. I know you're on the edge of your seat.
