Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

We spent our Thanksgiving at Nanny and Pa's house enjoying our family and good food.  We really have so many things to be grateful for that I don't think I could ever name them all.  But most of all, we are so thankful for our Matty and Gracie.  They makes us laugh and smile all day long and bring so much joy with their sweet little faces.

This and That

Today we had Thanksgiving craft day at Grandma's house!  It was so much fun, but it didn't go quite as planned (as usual).  I have been doing handprint turkeys since Matty's first Thanksgiving.  Gracie did it last year with no problem, but this year she freaked!  She hated, hated, hated having paint on her hands!  I did torture her just so I could get at least one print for my collection, but sorry... nobody else will be enjoying a Gracie handprint turkey this year!

She was more than happy to paint a picture which we turned into a pretty wreath...

Leave it to Matty the Working Man to use his construction vehicles to make a craft.  He loaded up his dump truck with little scraps of paper then dumped it to make Indian Corn.

Matty has been bustin' a move lately.  He gets down to just about every song he hears. 

His version of breakdancing...

AS part of his preschool, Matty takes swimming lessons every week with his classmates.  He looks forward to every Tuesday because he knows it is swimming day.  This week they got to ride in a little boat as they learned about boat safety.  My camera phone is horrible, so these are the best pictures I could get.  I heard Santa might be bringing me an iPhone...there will be good mobile pics soon.  Thanks Santa :)

These are a few pictures from the beginning of the Fall which I never shared, but I love them.  The kids were in their party clothes celebrating a good friend's birthday.

A Big (and stinky) Milestone...

This little girl?

What was she up to today besides jumping in leaves and torturing her crazy doggie Brady?  She was pooping on the potty!!!  I never thought that poop could bring so much joy to me, but I am one happy mama right now.  She was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, looked at me and said, "Potty! Potty, Peeeaase!"  We rushed her up to her little frog potty thinking all along that it was just another false alarm, but this time we hit the jackpot!  We are so proud of our beautiful little girl!

And just because I could not write a blog post without posting pictures of my handsome little fella...

He got a haircut today... doesn't he look extra cute?!

Lots of Leaves!

Matty was so excited for our usual mid-week trip to Grandma's today because he knew what was waiting for him and Gracie... lots of leaves!  There is a huge oak tree in their backyard which drops tons of big leaves - the best for making piles and jumping in!

Grandma has so many pretty flowers in her yard which she is pulling out in preparation for winter.  Matty helped her by digging up some huge impatiens.

The working man at work fixing something...

Grandma ran Matty and Gracie through huge piles of leaves while they were in the wagon!

Matty picked "a pretty flower for mommy" - that is what he says everytime he gives me a flower :)

Best Halloween So Far!!

We had the best Halloween this year!  Every Halloween is fun, but this one was just extra fabulous!

I mean, how can it not be when we started our day with a monkey face visitor?!?  (It's just silly Grandma)

We headed out to Millburn Orchards for apple cider donuts and some fun. 

Then things got a little silly....

I mean really silly...

Gracie didn't love the monkey mask from the moment she saw it, but she didn't cry until Grandma busted out her monkey moves and sounds.  Then poor Gracie Girl lost it...  And, yes, I am an awesome mom that lets my kids cry so I can take pictures to tease them with later in life :)

We had a lot of fun getting all dressed up again for trick or treating...

Matty told Daddy, "you have the right to remain silent"

We had a little Halloween party with our neighbors then went trick or treating.  Here's our crew...

Gracie wanted to go see the ghost with the big kids which surprised me.  When she got about half way there, she turned around and ran back.  ha!

Nanny and Pa were nice enough to stay at our house and hand out candy, so here are the kids trick or treating at their own house :)

We went to the neighbors for a nice post trick or treating get together.  The kids had a blast and stayed up way too late and ate way too much candy.  When we got home, Mike set our cupcakes down to unlock the door and Matty dug right in :)