Happy Halloween

OK, so the decided costume was the Cabbage Patch Kid... minus the box!  Taylor was not in the best mood tonight, so she didn't last long in the "costume".  We ate pizza at the neighbors' house, got the kiddos ready, and sent the dads off with the kids while the moms manned the candy-delivery.

Here is a picture of my sweet Taylor tonight.

Sydney had fun getting ready with her friends. 

Sydney got scared at a house where a dog was barking, and she totally went to the bathroom all over her costume.  I'm talking, she had on tights and everything.  ha!  So, luckily, they were heading to our house after that, so we did a little wardrobe change into a Tinkerbell outfit.  Later, when Sydney got home, I was filming her and asked her why she changed outfits.  Her response?  "You know what?  I peed." ;)  So, there you have it! 

Happy Halloween, everybody!

A Tale of Three Costumes

Ahhh, the joys of finding Halloween costumes.  I went in this year thinking that it would be harder to find Sydney one that she would want (and would stick with!) and that Taylor would be a cinch.  It was actually quite the opposite!

With Sydney, I had found pictures online (of reasonably priced costumes from local retailers) to see if she cared for any of them.  She narrowed it down to a couple (mainly Ariel and Cinderella).  Then, when we saw them in person, she said, "No... I want to be Dora Princess."  She was given a Dora princess outfit for her birthday- just a dress-up dress with some accessories- and she was stuck on that.  She never waivered.  So, Sydney's costume was very easy- and free!  Cha-ching!

Taylor, on the other hand... a little harder.  My original plan was to dress her as a Cabbage Patch Kid.  Check out this inspiration:

Isn't that adorable??  The little girl almost looks like Taylor.  So, this was my plan... until time just got in my way.  Oh, and the fact that we couldn't find a big enough box to fit over her stroller.  Apparently computer boxes aren't made as big as they used to be.  So, I nixed that idea. 

Plan B was the pumpkin costume that Sydney wore when she was one.  We went to a neighborhood gathering for the kiddos Friday night and Taylor wore that... and she was so not impressed. 

In fact, she just wouldn't smile until I took the big kool-aid pumpkin-face top off of her. 

This morning, the girls were supposed to wear a costume to school... something easy for the babies to wear... that pumpkin was so not easy, plus she hated it, so I had to come up with a plan C.  I thought, hmmm.... pink shirt, check.  Orange pants, check.  Tennis shoes, check.  Brown bob, in place.  Why, Dora, of course!!  So, I had Dora Princess and Dora herself.  Done.  She was even able to carry a Boots doll and a purple trick-or-treating bag (instead of a purple backpack).

So, now the dilemma for tonight... the Dora outfit is done from a full-day at daycare.  Pumpkin outfit?  naahhh.  I'm still thinking on it.  Stay tuned...

Corn Dawgs

We have this really awesome place near our house called Corn Dawgs.  It's kind of a fall-themed activity park.  They have a huge corn maze, hay rides, hay slides, a corn pit where kids can play in the corn kernels, ziplinging, bouncy houses.   They have probably 20 other things to do which are harder to describe- a bunch of other mazes, corn hole games, rope swings, big slides you can go down, etc. 

I have never been there, although my former commute to Covington used to take me by it twice a day.  I wanted to wait until Sydney would really enjoy it... so we gave it a shot today!

It was a BLAST!  It literally has so much to do that you could spend a whole day there.  We topped out after about 2 hours (and a tired Taylor), and I feel like we only did about half the things... if that.

Here are some pics from our day:

Going down two of the slides.

Climbing the hay mountain.

Swinging.

A bouncy thing... Sydney had fun until she and another kid bumped together and she hurt her nose.  She was back to normal in about 4 minutes. :)

The bumpy hayride.

The corn maze!  It was hard.

We made it! (with a little help from the nice worker guys.)

The corn pit.



A good time was had by all!  We will definitely have to head back here again soon. :)

Go fly a kite

Can't think of a better way to spend a sunny, fall morning.

Flower Girl

I was lucky enough to come out of high school with three girls that I can call my best friends... Ashley, Jackie, and Erica.  We all live in different places, but when we get to be together, it's like no time has passed.

So, this past weekend was Erica's big wedding weekend!  I was blessed to serve as Matron of Honor, and Sydney was blessed to serve as the flower girl.  I must admit that I was very nervous as to how the day would go... a black-tie optional, country club wedding, 6:30 PM, and a newly-turned 3 year old who normally goes to bed at 7:30 (and fights taking naps on the weekends).  I was sure it would not go as hoped.  At least, I was setting myself up for that... and Erica, too (who had to have been the most laid-back bride ever.  Her attitude was, whatever!)

Sydney and I had watched some YouTube videos ahead of time of what flower girls are supposed to do.  Of course, it didn't help that the 4th clip we watched was a little girl picking her nose all the way down the aisle.  So, we started playing a game of what flower girls shouldn't do, and Sydney would critique all the videos we'd watch.

Ok, so the day of the wedding... I leave early in the morning for festivities in Atlanta.  Stephen has both girls and I have insisted that he makes sure she goes down for a nap.  Which he did.  But, she never actually went to sleep.  She did "rest" for an hour and a half, but no zzzzzz's.  Stephen calls to tell me and I am thinking, great... this will be great.  Luckily, she falls asleep in the car on the way to the wedding (45 minutes!!  Woohoo!) and she seems to wake up pretty refreshed. 

Once she gets her flower girl dress on, she is a happy camper.  She got to open her Wedding Barbie gift from Erica (her first Barbie doll!  She loved it). 

Then, Erica asked Sydney if she wanted to hold the ring bearer's hand.  Sydney enthusiastically nodded yes, and went over to hold the adorable boy's hand.  The wedding wasn't for an hour.  I don't think Sydney let go of his hand for that whole hour.

Sydney and the sweet boy walked down the aisle together, perfectly.  Sydney even sat in the boy's mom's lap during the wedding and was perfect.  I couldn't believe it.  Sydney was just the sweetest, cutest flower girl.  She had a ball hanging out with her little crush (I have never seen Sydney look at a boy in that manner before!  Stephen said he doesn't know what to think of it!).  It was precious.

To tell you how good Sydney was, a nice guy came up to me and said, "Is your daughter the flower girl?" and I said yes.  He told me that he has a little girl on the way, and he could only hope that his daughter would be as well-behaved as Sydney was.  It was such a sweet comment, but part of me chuckled because Sydney is just a typical 3 year old... maybe one that was just caught up in the glamour of a beautiful wedding.  Whatever it was, Sydney was a doll. 

And Erica was beautiful. 

And I love my best friends.