Happy Halloween!

There was some Halloween magic at work today - Leyna woke up feeling so much better! It was a miracle! One happy little kitten was able to go to her Halloween party at school today.

She had a blast with her friends and came home with quite the bucket of booty:

We tried to rest this afternoon but excitement was high. Then, about 1 hour before trick-or-treat time, Leyna decided being a kitty wasn't cool. She wanted to be Mulan. Mulan??? Seriously? First of all I was worried that she wouldn't be warm enough and second of all - Mulan? I'm not even sure Leyna has seen that movie all the way through. But, after trying to talk her out of it for 20 minutes, I finally let it go and dolled her up. And she looked adorable. And I told her she was right and she told me she told me so ;)

Cora Cat

Mulan

My Halloween project is finally done!

Trick-or-treating with Nana and Pee Paw. It was COLD.

Leyna was struggling a bit by the end so Pee Paw covered and carried her :)

The girls ate more candy that I could count but it didn't keep them up one bit! HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

Rockin' Robin

I feel  like I've been blogging about sickness a lot lately but here I go again. Leyna was down for the count today and both of us put all of our energy into getting her better. Smoothies, honey, low-key activities, lots of cuddles, and a long nap were all on the agenda. Tomorrow is her Halloween party at school AND trick-or-treating and we are going to have one devastated little girl if she can't go :( Poor girlie has been battling coughing and an on-and-off fever and is starting to feel hopeless. She was telling me today that it feels like the sickness will just keep going and going and that nothing I was doing was helping her get better. Serious bummer. I'm praying hard that she will be fully recovered tomorrow morning when she wakes up.

And little Ms. Cora-Belle was just all over the place as usual today. Talking NON-STOP about anything and everything. She was quite flustered to discover that her snowman was melting...

And she was quite ecstatic that I introduced her to to the song "Rockin' Robin." Leyna was loving it too but I tried not to let her overdo it. I really should have gotten the crazy, hilarious dancing on video. It was great. Maybe tomorrow!  That's all for now. Hopefully tomorrow will be more exciting!!!

Snow???

Guess what we opened the door to on this frigid October morning?

SNOW!!! It snowed ALL day long. Pure craziness! (Pure joy and excitement for the kiddos!)

That snow couldn't stop these little kittens though. They had some Halloween festivities to attend!

Meow!

Cookie decorating... (Cora used almost all of the sprinkles)

Pumpkin decorating...

And then home for some snow ball fighting...

And snow man building with Daddy

By the end of the day this little beauty was a bit under the weather so we had lots of down time in the family room in front of the fire. And I had the best view in the house. Does hair get any more gorgeous than this???

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

Leyna had her first field trip today! And I got to go with her! Leyna's class went to the pumpkin patch today and it was such a blast. We did a class picture, hay ride, picked out a pumpkin, and then had lots of free play in a gorgeous, Autumn orchard setting. Leyna said over and over how much fun she had.

The whole class!

River, Darby, and Leyna. River is such a gentleman - he already knows "ladies first!" And Darby is a little cutie who is totally obsessed with Leyna's hair. They are all so cute together :)

She knew exactly what kind of pumpkin she wanted. Round with a long stem.

Picture perfect.

While we were field-tripping, Cora and Pee Paw had their own fun a the playground and then the library. After an afternoon of rest we washed up our 7 pumpkins that we've accumulated and set to decorating and carving. And dancing and snacking :)

The girls wanted to decorate their pumpkins instead of carving them.

Cora loved dancing to the "Monster Mash"

Recognize the kids in these pictures on our fridge?

Scooping out Mommy's pumpkin. Gross!

Popcorn, gingerbread cookies, and fresh apple cider. YUM.

As Cora blurts out about 50 times a day now, "Happy Halloween!"

R&R day

Today was just what the doctor ordered. Leyna was down with a fever and barking cough last night and Cora and I are still sniffling so today was "get better" day. We made immune boosting pancakes for breakfast and immune boosting smoothies for our morning snack. We had soup for both lunch and dinner and spent the day doing puzzles and puppet shows, drinking lots of fluids, and watching a little too much TV. I'm happy to say that Leyna's fever broke mid-morning and we all feel on the mend. Some days you just have to chill!

Smoothie makers

Cora put her smoothie in time out. She's a mess!

Puppet show.

And I've been meaning to share this family portrait that Leyna did all by herself one morning. Clockwise from top left: Daddy, Leyna, Cora, and Mommy

Just the two of them

Today we treated Nana to an early birthday present and Leyna took her to the petting zoo! I kept it a complete surprise to both of them until we pulled up at the front gate. Leyna was so excited and repeated the phrase "just the two of us" throughout the day as she talked about her fun time. I only got pictures at drop off and pick up time but I hear there was a private hay ride (just the two of them!) , a 2-day-old sheep, a horse named "Rusty," lots of animal petting (including a wallaby!), and lots of fun. They even got to pick out a pumpkin to take home!

Meanwhile, Cora, Pee Paw and I did a little early Christmas shopping and played at the park. Later we all met back up for lunch at the Chinese buffet. At that point Leyna started looking super sleepy and proceeded to fall asleep on the way home and take a whopping 2 hour nap. She  now as a low grade fever and a barking cough. We just can't seem to beat the sickness these days :( But despite that it was a fantastic day and I know she made lots of great memories with her Nana.

Fashion Sisters

This morning I got the girls dressed and while I was getting dressed they did a few touch-ups:

And this is what they actually wore to the library for story time:

Is that enough cuteness for one post? I hope so cause I have more Halloween project painting to do. Gotta run!

Cloud Watching

Today was a rather uneventful day. Leyna had school this morning, Daddy had minor surgery for an unknown object that was embedded in his arm (okay, that was a little more than uneventful but he's fine!), we hung out, Daddy worked, I continued my work on organizing all of the closets in our house (which incidentally makes your house completely UNORGANIZED while in the mean time), and we kicked off Soup Week for dinner. By far, my favorite moment of the day (and I think 3 others would agree) was some cloud watching on the deck during that lull in the day between nap time and dinner time. Daddy and I drank some hot coffee, we relaxed (well, I tried but I'm not very good at it!) and the girls discovered that lots of clouds look like lots of things. These are the kind of moments we definitely need to remember :)

The Blizzard and Uncle Poopy

We had a few plans for today but cancelled them in favor of more rest and recuperation. We did some light winterizing in the yard/clubhouse this morning and the girls enjoyed the brisk morning air. This afternoon during Cora's nap Leyna and I ran a few errands and got Blizzards from Dairy Queen. It was Leyna's very first Blizzard and she chose to have rainbow sprinkles and brownie pieces mixed in. She raved and raved and then I told her that it really wasn't her VERY first Blizzard, because she had about 20 of them while she was in my tummy :) They were Daddy's and my favorite pregnancy treat the first time around.

And that's about all I remember from today. My brain is kinda stuffy and nothing else notable is coming to mind. Here's a cute picture of Uncle Steve, Leyna, Daddy, and  Cora swinging this afternoon! Oh yeah, and Cora's new nickname for Uncle Steve is "Uncle Poopy." I DO remember that, LOL.