Catch-up Post!

The little girl I watch got her ears pierced about a month ago and Bella has been asking to get her ears pierced as well.  I talked to her about how it would hurt but she insisted she wanted it done.  So we decided with her Christmas money from Grandmom she could have it done.
We went to the mall and looked at all of the earrings.  They had a ton of cute ones but when she saw the "princess crowns" there was no changing her mind.
She was able to sit on my lap

Thankfully they do it where she gets both ears pierced at the same time

About a minute after she was done she began to cry which broke my heart a little.  But it was nothing a slushy could not cure!

A better picture of her earrings

They had a sale there so Jack ended up getting a watch and he was so excited about it.  

 There was a little mishap with the earrings though.  Some how the one earring was not latched so it came out while she was sleeping.  We tore her room apart and finally found it and she had to go get it repierced.  I felt bad for her at that point because she did know what to expect but wanted it done.

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Princess and Super-Hero day at school

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Bella came out one morning and kept saying it was "too bright" so she put on some glasses, haha!

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They came to my bathroom while I was getting ready and they were so proud because they were wearing our shoes

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They have their moments but they really do love each other

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Our Christmas Tree!

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And I just wanted to wish my most wonderful Grandmother a very Merry Christmas!!  I love you very much and I was just telling the kids today about how much I loved going to your house and church every Christmas Eve        
 

An Early Christmas...

Two weeks ago we went to go visit family in NJ for an early Christmas celebration.  It ended up being a smaller version, both Bella and Mom were sick and we didn't want to bring germs with us.  While we missed having them there with us it was still a great time.  
Jack was showing Grandmom my Iphone.  I think he took about 100 pictures, all kinda like this

 Yay!  Everyone is looking at the camera and smiling

Don and Jason did not make it in this picture

I do have more pictures on my other camera but I have not had a chance to upload them yet... the wonders of technology - it is so much easier if you have them on the phone!
Before we left NJ we stopped by the boardwalk and it was a very humbling site.  

We then stopped by to see Aunt Cindy and Uncle Kep and then headed on home.
I think Jack had a good day!
  

My Favorite Part of Disney World...

I loved Disney.  We spent the first 3 days in Disney World before we went on a cruise.   I just wanted to show 3 pictures before I get back to more laundry and more unpacking  (good times!)
I made appointments for the kids to go to the Bippity Boppity Boutique.  It is a little salon for children to get made over into Princesses and Knights.
Jack was a little leery at first when he saw how pink everything was in there.  He warmed up though and really enjoyed himself.  He was able to choose the colors for his hair.  He was excited to have the "pirate's treasure"  (AKA confetti) in his hair as well.  It was really cute.  They did everything and then turned him around for a big reveal

Notice the Mickey on the back of his head.  
Then came Bella... It is very sad how excited I was for this.  Bella just loves all of the Disney Princesses.  She also loves to get her nails done and play dress up, so I just thought she would love this and she did.  She got dressed first and then they did hair, nails, and make-up for her.  She sat so quietly and loved every second of it. 
Here she is as Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

and them together outside of the boutique

I have more pictures (TONS more pictures) that I will post as soon as I can.

**On a side note in case anyone was wondering the auction through my Peanut and Pumpkin site raised $230 (and that was before weather.com matched it all dollar for dollar!)  YAY!     

Auction items to benefit the Red Cross!

I know most of you who read this blog are probably not able to read this entry as you have no power but I am putting this up anyway on the off chance another reader catches this.  I am running an auction for two lots of items purses, bracelets, mug cozy, etc.) on my Peanut & Pumpkin FaceBook page.  So if you have FaceBook could you please check it out and bid if you are interested or share so others may bid. 
Here are two pictures but all of the details are up on my page.
Check it out!

One of my fondest memories...

One of my most favorite memories was when we went to Grandmom's house and she would have the Sears Christmas catalog for us to look through.  It was SO exciting to circle items and put my initial on them.  I was reading the Sunday paper this morning and there was the big Toys R Us catalog and just showing it to the kids brought back so many memories.

Jack pretty much wants everything.  He is also picking out things for me - because what I really want is a stuffed Elmo and a Batman video game.

**On a side note SO many of my wonderful memories of childhood are because of Grandmom... I can't have an english muffin or see a Totino's pizza and not think of her.  Same thing with egg salad - who else in the world would make me an egg salad cake for my birthday??  Going to the arcade and her teaching me to sew.  Going with Grandpop to the garden to pick tomatoes.  Going to church and helping to count the money.  I could go on and on but to this day I still know how blessed I am to have had such wonderful grandparents!  I think I get so many of my fun qualities from her - I try to make Jack and Bella's lives as fun as she made mine!

Birthday Recap.... (only 2 months late)

The kids LOVE getting things in the mail so they were so excited to get cards and gifts in the mail.
Bella wearing her Birthday crown she got from her Birthday card from Aunt Jil.  She wore that crown for days upon days.  (sorry again - for some reason I can not some of the pictures to turn, they are "locked".  I am sure there is a way to do it but then it would be another 2 months).

Out of all of the gifts they got though they were the most excited for the ones from Grandmom.  She gave them the most amazing gifts.  It started out perfect because they each got their own big box in the mail (which is huge to them)
Jack just loved his "man" from the moment he saw it ( he still is banging the"nails" with the hammer :)   )

Both of the kids love them

Then of course the box got played with

For their actual birthday the poor kids spiked really high fevers and has some sort of virus.  We had a big camping weekend planned and this is how we spent it

By the end of their Birthday we were able to take them out for a little bit but nothing too exciting

We had their birthday party the following weekend and thankfully they were better for that.  On the crummy side though was that a nasty storm came through and knocked power out two hours before their party.  Thankfully we got Jason's parents generator running and got some electricity about 15 minutes before the party started.  Just enough to have some lights and some water.   It did not phase the kids one bit though :)
It was a princess and pirate party and all Jack wanted was a "treasure chest cake" and Bella wanted pink cupcakes.  I was happy with the way they came out

I got very few pictures with all the hustle and bustle but here is Jack as a Birthday Pirate

ARGH!!

Time Flies....

The other night as I was leaving the grocery store parking lot.  There is a clock at the light and for some reason it was just flying through all of the numbers.  In the span of about 30 seconds it went from 10:00 to 9:00 and kept going.  Not that you really needed to know that but it just made me think of life.  I feel like time is flying that quickly.  I can't believe that it has been over a month since my last post.  There are just not enough hours in the day.  We are all busy but all good so I am not complaining.
The kids are in "Little Kickers" soccer and I am helping coach them.  I love it and most days they do too.  Here is Coach Tim with the kids.  They all look so small.  Their team color is hot pink... Bella was excited, Jack... well, not so much


The other REALLY exciting thing is that the kids started Preschool this past week.  I was very unsure of how they would do and I was basically a nervous wreck.  Once again I didn't give the kids enough credit they did awesome.  They are doing really well.  It makes me tear up seeing how big they are getting and how well they are doing.
Here they are on their first day

I think Bella was done with me taking pictures

I am so proud!

The end of September Jason and I actually got away for 3 nights!  That is the longest we have been away since the kids have been born.  We went to Cape May.  
(For some reason the computer won't rotate this picture so you just have to turn your head)


Speaking of me - I finally hit the 50 lb mark with Weight Watchers!   I still have more I want to lose but I am happy with how far I have come so far.  Here is a picture Bella took of me when we were out to dinner the other week.  Not the best but you get the idea - again just tilt your head - sorry!


This past weekend we went camping - our last camping trip of the season.  Of course it happened to be the coldest day so far this Fall.  We had our nephew, Connor along with us

It was Halloween weekend and the kids had a ball!
Here is Bella as a well bundled up Ballerina

and Jack saying "ARGHHHHH" as a pirate

I was surprised at how much candy the fellow campers were giving out.  The kids got way too much candy.  We headed back to our camper so we could give some out as well.  The problem was that most of the campers had already went past us so we did not have many trick or treaters - and that really was a problem for Jack.  He LOVED handing out candy.  He was in the roadway yelling to the campers, "Come eat my candy!"  He was hilarious and reminded me of Vanna White.  He would say, "Come pick what you would like, there is soooo much to choose from" and then he would wave his hand over the tray of candy like Vanna does with the letters.  When the people stopped coming we decided we would go to the campers and see if they would want some.  He did great.  He was so polite and people were just smitten by him.  He totally melted my heart that day.  
here he is on his walk back to the camper.

We ended up walking over 20,000 steps that day - I was ready for bed that night!

More pics...

We are finally on the upswing and just have a little cough and cold left.  We were able to have the birthday party for the kids and I will post a couple pics later but I wanted to post some more of the old ones while I have 5 minutes:
Our first camping trip of the summer:

Bella is still in Speech Therapy and has issues saying "fish" and it comes out as "shit".  Now I don't normally laugh at my children but Bella was so excited when she got her first fish that she kept yelling, "I gotta shit!"   Then she would yell things like "Jack got a big shit" and so on....
Bella with her first "shit"

At the same campground they had a Princess Story and craft time.  This was right up Bella's alley.  She even dressed the part

She then decided she needed a nap... I just love this picture.  My very own sleeping beauty

They had pony rides there that Jack loved (and Bella would not go near)

Next we went to Yellowstone Park where they have a big waterslide and pool area.  The kids loved it but the only issue was that the water area did not open until 11 so the poor kids just looked on


Yogi Bear and his pals are at this campground so we went to go see them to raise the flag in the morning.  I don't think Bella liked it very much

Jack was leary but did go up with Jason


Random day at the park


Jack always gives Jason a big hug before work... he just loves him!


Apparently my 5 minutes on the computer is up and I am being called upon :)