Toy Story on Ice & Snow!

Last week, I took the kids to see Toy Story on Ice. We were lucky enough to win tickets from a new local mom website, Triad Moms on Main. We had to use our tickets for a Thursday show and Phil was afraid he wouldn't get off work in time to go. So my dad was brave enough to go with me to help with the munchkins. As you can see, they were really glad he was there! I took this picture of them during intermission. Megan is too busy watching the Zamboni down on the ice to look at the camera. :)

Makena and Megan love all of the Toy Story movies and they loved seeing all of their favorite characters on ice! It was a really great show!

This past Saturday, we were just lounging around the house when we looked outside and saw it snowing! Needless to say, the girls were excited! Everett and I stayed inside and finished decorating the Christmas tree while Phil and the girls played outside.

Megan's Birthday, Thanksgiving & Little Dribblers

Megan's actual birthday was the day before Thanksgiving, so the kids were out of preschool. Makena and Megan both got to help make her birthday cake from scratch. Megan chose red velvet and it was delicious! The new Disney movie, Tangled, was released in theatres on Megan's birthday so I took the girls to see it. It is such a cute movie! The girls wanted to wear their "party dresses" and plenty of dress-up jewelry. Megan also wore the Happy Birthday crown most of the day. :)

For dinner, Megan chose our favorite local restaurant (Westown Restaurant and Cafeteria) which the girls call the cafeteria. We took the birthday cake we had made to the restaurant to share with everyone. Phil's dad and brother, Zane, were also there to celebrate with her.

This year, we asked Megan's birthday party guests to bring donations for our local Ronald McDonald House instead of gifts. Megan and Everett got to go with me to drop them off. We donated a little over $200 and quite a few items from their wish list.

Phil was on call for the entire Thanksgiving weekend, Thursday-Sunday. He was able to come home to eat Thanksgiving dinner but he was very busy every day he was on call. At least he has Christmas off! We hosted this year and all of the grandparents and Phil's brother, Zane joined us. Since Phil was on call, I ordered a turkey (that would just require heating up) to save me a little time. I wasn't sure when my help would be arriving and was fearful of cooking the entire Thanksgiving meal with 3 kids running around. Other family members, and myself made the sides and desserts. We had so much food! But It wouldn't be Thanksgiving otherwise! Here are the girls at their kiddie table.

I mixed some turkey in with Everett's puffs and Cheerios. He had tried chicken before and like it but didn't really care for the turkey. He made a face every time he tasted it. :) He did look awfully cute in his sweater vest, though!

Makena and Megan decorated their gingerbread houses the day after Thanksgiving.

Last week, the girls started Little Dribblers at the YMCA. They're learning basic basketball skills and will hopefully work up to scrimmages or games at the end of the season. It will be a very interesting game if they ever do get to that point! Even though we need to really work on their skills, they are both really enjoying it. The first time they went Megan would look over at the bleachers where I was sitting and yell, "Mom, I got a basketball!" or "Hey Mom!" She thinks she's all grown up now! They're going to get basketball jerseys and medals at the end. They're going to be so cute! I'll be sure to post some pictures of them in their jerseys once we get them. They both wanted pigtails for the first day.

Here they are doing the triple threat...

Festival of Trees

I took the kids to the Festival of Trees that benefits our local Children's Hospital. We enjoy going every year. But this year we decided to go to the Gingerbread Cookie Party that happened the Friday afternoon before the Festival opened to the public. It was a lot of fun and the lines for Santa, face painting, etc. weren't quite as long as they would have been during the weekend. This year I helped make ornaments for one of the trees at the Festival. I made quite a few puzzle piece ornaments for the Charity Chicks tree. It was a pretty cool tree and the theme was "We're dreaming of a green Christmas..." All of the ornaments were made of recycled or re-purposed materials. That's why the ornaments I made were made from old puzzle pieces.

Here are the girls in front of the Charity Chicks tree. Someone make the tree skirt and garland out of old men's neckties. It was so cool! There was also a handout under the tree with Charity Chicks website so people could find out how they could make some of the ornaments they saw on the tree. I'm sure you can't see it but my name is on Santa's list!

We got to see Mr. and Mrs. Claus! Megan would only take a picture if I sat there with her. I really don't enjoy having my picture taken. But you got to do what you got to do!

 Everett was totally infatuated with Mrs. Claus. I think she was sweet on him, too.

 There was an awesome face painter at the Festival. She did an awesome job. Megan wanted a Santa...

 And Makena wanted a gingerbread man....

Megan's 3rd Birthday Party

I've gotten behind on the blog again and now I'm going to attempt to catch up. I had gotten lost amongst the children, the toys and the laundry. But I'm still here and have have a lot to blog about! We had Megan's birthday party a couple of weeks ago. I think this was our 3rd time having a party at Salem Gymnastics. Megan's birthday cake was awesome! We asked our friend Lindsay to make one and she did an incredible job! Lindsay makes Food Network quality cakes. Megan still loves her Pooh Bear so that's the theme she chose for the cake. The bee hive cake defied gravity!  

 Megan had a great time at her party. She loves Salem Gym! 

 Nice hug from her sister...

 Sweet Everett was entertained by Grandparents at the party.

 Parachute time!

 Sweet girl.

 Singing happy birthday to herself. :)

Check out that static!

 Little possum.

Megan was so pooped at the end of the party she fell asleep before we even left the gym!

She opened a few presents when she woke up.

 She was excited about the gifts we gave her. A puppet show theatre with lots of puppets.

Megan's looking through the wrong way in the next picture but at least you can see what it is. It can be a puppet theatre, a school, a market or a doctor's office. The girls have really enjoyed playing with it.

Phil's brother, Lindsey and his family came to visit us the weekend we had Megan's party. Makena and Megan always have a great time playing with Colin and Will. Here they are playing putt-putt together. 

Phil and I got to get away and go to the NC State/Wake game in Raleigh a couple of weeks ago. I had someone take a picture just to document the adult time since it happens so infrequently. Phil's niece Mallorie is a junior at NC State. It also happened to be parent's weekend so Larry and Shannon (Phil's brother) were there, too. We had a great time at the tailgate and the game despite Wake's loss. We're hoping for a better season next year. :) Some of my local friends may be familiar with the local radio personality Jack Murphy from Murphy in the Morning on 107.5. Well Mallorie is good friends with his daughter who also goes to NC State and that's who we were tailgating with. He's always fun to listen to in the mornings, although not always kid friendly. I usually get to listen once I've dropped the kids off at preschool. He was quite the joker in person as well. It was nice to put a face to the voice. Since Phil and I anticipated Wake getting severely beaten we wore neutral colors. We were the only ones at the tailgate not decked out in State red.

Trunk-or-Treat & Trick-or-Treat

Our preschool had a Trunk-or-Treat a couple of days before Halloween. The kids got to get candy and run around and play in their costumes. A lot of our playgroup friends were there and we tried to get a group picture. Our group has multiplied quite a bit and it has become a challenge to get a good picture of all of them. From L-R: Carly, Joiner & Bennett, Addison, Makena, Everett & Megan, Barrett, Ellison & Hudson. Little Ethan was there too but missed out on the picture!

 Sweet baby boys!

Makena and Megan were super excited to go trick-or-treating. They loved their costumes and have gotten to wear them quite a bit this year. Here they are with Everett before heading out to get their loot. Phil and I loved Everett as an astronaut!

 Sweet little Pooh Bear!

 Trick-or-Treat!

 Here is Makena saying Boo! with our jack-o-lantern.

We left our candy bowl out on the porch while we were out trick-or-treating. The girls were a little disappointed because when we came home we only had one group of trick-or-treaters. They were really looking forward to giving out candy, as well.

 But that's okay! They still had a Happy Halloween!