Carving our pumpkins

I picked Bai and Zoe up yesterday, and Zoe had a fever (Uh Oh!).  I gave her some Tylenol and she seemed ok the rest of the night, although still pretty warm.  I'm not sure what the deal was, maybe teething?  Anyway, we had planned on carving our pumpkins and since she seemed well enough, we decided to do it.  Bailey (my little cougher lately) was soooooo excited!

Rich has never been one for carving pumpkins and all the Halloweeny stuff (me either really, at least all the creepy stuff).  He doesn't like the oooey goooey orange stuff inside the pumpkin (wimp) :)  Sooooo, I'm the scraper and seed parent and he's the carving parent I guess!  

First, he made some faces and Bailey picked her favorite

Then, Bailey and I scooped out the oooey gooey stuff.  Well, I did.  Turns out little miss Bailey takes after her daddy.  She didn't want to get her "hands yucky."  It's ok, I've got years to work on her.  And something tells me Zoe's gonna just dive right in!  She did help me separate the seeds as long as there wasn't too much ooey gooey stuff. We had fun :)

Then we did the seeds.  I remember that growing up, and that's what I look forward to every year- I'm a salty girl. It was cool to show Bai and share that with my own kiddos now :)

Rich and bailey carved the faces she picked out.  He carved, she poked out the pieces.

All done! Our masterpieces.... (We don't get very complicated around here).  They turned out so cute!

Zoe slept ok, but was up a few times with a little crying (something was bugging her).  Bailey woke up around 10:30 with a croupy cough, and a fever.  I slept in her room and she and I were up about every 20 minutes throughout the night. Rich got up early and ran to the store for us for some medicine before work.  We're all pretty tired!  

Bailey is better today, her fever is gone now, but her throat still hurts and her cough is pretty nasty.  We're home getting some rest and we'll be ready for Trick or Treating tomorrow. 

Go away sickies!!!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Feeding the Ducks

We went to the lake tonight to feed the ducks.  It's been harder and harder to go, since we get home, have to do dinner (blah!) and it's getting dark so much earlier now.  But tonight, as soon as I got home with the girls, we headed on over.

It's so peaceful by the lake.  It's sooooooo nice to be there.  We are really blessed to live here!

I was so excited to grab my camera since we had a little daylight left.  Going for walks by the lake is one of our memories that I'll hold forever, and I NEEDED pictures! But every time I think of grabbing my camera lately, it's already getting dark. Yay!  Finally got our lake pictures :)

This one in front is the one that Bai and Rich always look for.  They call it the one with the hairdo :)

Zoe gets a kick out of them

When Bailey was this age, we lived in apartments near a pond and we always walked over to feed the ducks.  I guess this is our thing!

We really should try to go to the lake every night just for a couple minutes.  It sure does alleviate some of the  day's stress and make me feel grateful.  We don't deserve to live in this beauty.  God is Good. :)

This a previous post on feeding the ducks. Bai was just 2 months older than Zoe's age now.  It's crazy how fast Bailey is growing!  But Rich and I are staying the same, right? Ducks!

Happy Birthday Sean!!

Sean, the Sean who was 3 years old when I met Rich, turned 19!!!!  I feel old!  It was so fun celebrating his birthday at the Smallwoods.

Hanging out with family- love :)

Baskin Robbins cake.  Zoe says "MMMMMmmmmmmmmm!"

Dancing with Daddy! Ring around the Rosie is the fav! out of no where Zoe will start spinning around and "singing."  Then we say, "Ashes, Ashes, We all fall DOWN!" and she drops and starts laughing.  It's so cute. She does it at Peggie's with the kids. :)

THIS is priceless to me.  They LOVE our girls.  That blesses me more than anyone could imagine.  Bailey and Zoe have the best grandparents and unlces (and an auntie!). Bailey was the "teacher" and Justin and Brett were the students.  Not sure how brushing Brett's hair fit in to that, but they are so sweet to her!

Oh man.  Poor Sean.  And us!  The Smallwoods are known for funny cards and lotto tickets on birthdays.  Sean got a couple from Justin and Jenn, scratches one... and it's a WINNER!  $5,000!
After we are all excited, Sean figured out that it was fake.  Nice one, Justin!

Winding down.  Auntie Jenn was tickling Zoe's feet.  :)

Happy 19th Sean! Hope it was awesome! :)

Happy Birthday Rich (again!) and Bridgette!

Sunday we celebrated Rich and Bridgette's birthdays at Mom and Dad's.

 In addition to "official family party host," my mom is becoming quite the cake decorator these days!
Papa had some time with his girls!

My family hanging out, and a pic with my grandmas!

We now have a couple new additions to the iPhone club, so everyone had a tips and app-sharing session! It cracked me up seeing the whole table with their screens (kinda like everywhere you look these days), so I had to get a picture!
Mindy's not doing too well these days.  It's basically a matter of time.  My mom is heartbroken but enjoying the time she has with her.  She's such a sweet dog, and such a part of the family.

Bailey gets more excited than anyone to celebrate birthdays, and of course she helped Daddy blow out the candles! Wahoo's, iTunes, and he's all set! Spoiled this year. :)

Happy Birthday Rich! 

Happy Birthday Bridgette!  

You two are VERY loved! :)

Let the Birthday Celebrations begin!

Rich turned 31 on Thursday! I worked late with parent conferences, but his family met him at Islands with the girls, and we had a little cake and ice cream at home. :)

Rich's family came out yesterday for the official birthday party!  We all met at Texas Roadhouse for lunch. It was sooooo good, and a fun place.  Also, it's loud there, so good for us with our sometimes not-so-quiet toddler. :)

We made Rich sit in the saddle since it was his birthday.  He was a good sport!

Then we went back to our house for some cheesecake and ice cream! (even though we were all stuffed!)

She's tired and runnin on sugar at this point!

It was a fun afternoon, and so sweet of his family to drive all the way out to us.  :) They are such a blast and we always have so much fun with them!