Spooktacular Halloween Week - 2010

Despite the girls (especially Quinnie) being petrified of anything Halloween (besides pumpkins, black cats and ghosts that have smiles on their face), we had a fun filled week of Halloween activities and birthday parties. Shockingly, the girls stuck with the costumes they picked out 2 months ago. Maema got her monies worth out of the costumes because they wore them three times in one week.

Jessie & Woody from Toy Story

Hassie Clare makes her sister laugh like no one else can.



  

 FALL FESTIVAL @ OUR CHURCH

They had a plethora of children's games and activities, moon bounces and slides, treats and all sorts of cool stuff for kids inside the church. This was our third year and it has grown into a big event.  

They took pictures of the kids on the alter.

With our bellies full of popcorn, we took a hayride out to a field behind the church where they had a bonfire church service. We attempted to get hot dogs and snacks but they ran out about 2 people in front of us. So then we snuck out to our car before the service started and headed to Lonnie's for some pasta. Shh .. don't tell anyone:) God understands.

STURGEON'S ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY 
We were lucky enough this year to get to bring Jack and Josie. Thank goodness I had them with me because Jamie got a call out for work while in route to the party. Taking Quinn to an outdoor Halloween party takes a team. If Jack had not been with us we would have left the party after being there for 5 minutes. He reasons with them, explains things to them and comforts them. They trust him wholeheartedly.  He is such a good boy.




Quinn with my girlfriend Jennifer (the hostess). It took Quinn all night to get the courage to take a picture with her. What surprised the heck out of me was that HC would not get anywhere near her (I told her if she was really Alice she would at least take a picture with the Mad Hater).  

Goofy girls.



My new favorite pics. When I look at this picture my heart fills up with warm, mushy stuff.

SATURDAY - BIRTHDAY PARTIES

We started the day off with a delivery from Edible Arrangements. Maema sent the girls a Happy Halloween bouquet full of fruit and chocolate covered goodies. It was wonderful.

Normally we only commit to 1 birthday party a day. But we had 2 very special birthdays that we could not miss.  Unfortunately, Jamie missed the entire day because he got a call out for work. He was missed!

The girls have a BFF from school, Anna Peyton. They have been in love with this little girl for 2 years and the feeling is mutual.

After the party at The Little Gym.

 The party girls in between our dual parties. Thankfully we had a 45 minute car ride across town!

  

And last but not least, our very dear and special friend Riley Greer. These 3 little girls have more in common than what meets the eye. They will be bonded together for life because of their special birth stories and because Riley's parents are 2 of our best friends.

We ended the day with a trip to the mall. We could live in the Disney Store! Quinn talked me into purchasing Toy Story t-shirts for the whole family. She was so cute picking out a buzz Light Year shirt for daddy, Jessie shirts for her and her sister and a shirt with all the characters for me. I couldn't resist her!

HALLOWEEN

We followed normal Halloween tradition and spent the evening at the Hagel's home. Good friends, family and food. We broke tradition this year and decided not to go trick or treating with the big kids. Both of the girls were spooked and to be honest, Jamie and I just didn't fill like the drama. So we packed up at trick or treat time and headed to Nana's house. She lives in a neighborhood with street lights, sidewalks and the houses are close together. We trick or treated for about an hour and it worked out perfectly. The girls even went up to doors by themselves. We had practiced all day saying "trick or treat" and "thank you." I tell ya, I got teary eyed a few times watching them. They seemed so grown up. At one point Jamie looked at me and said "Wow. I really feel like a parent right now." All of the sudden we are parents of kids that can walk up to a house by themselves, converse with an adult, make decisions and return to us with smiles. When did this happen!!!!! 

  

Disney On Ice 2010 - Fed Ex Forum

Always magical. Always memorable. 

The girls got to pick out their own outfits so of course they picked dress-up dresses. Quinn went as Tinkerbell. Hassie Clare went as Dorothy dressed up as Arial but she asked us to call her Alice.



They really do love each other ... I swear! :)



Such a hotie ... even with Mickey Mouse ears on:)  Actually, I think he is more of a hotie because he will wear them just to get a smile out of his girls.

Heading to the Kooky Canuck for dinner after the show in downtown Memphis

No idea what Jamie and my mom are looking at but I still love this picture. Quinn stayed glued to me throughout our dinner because of all the animal heads on the wall. 

Busy Beavers

I'm convinced that if I had an extra 2.5 hours in each day, or a sister wife, that my life would run so much smoother. Kidding about the sister wife ... kind of.

Here is a brief summary of the past few weeks:

- We are avoiding most retail stores because the girls are petrified of spooky Halloween stuff. After church, the girls and I went into Walgreens to get a 1st Communion card for Olivia. We walked through the electronic doors and there were about 48 skeletons dancing around and saying creepy things. Quinn bolted for the parking lot. Thank God no cars were coming. We tried to re-enter the store after I got them calmed down. I agreed to hold both of them but as soon as the door opened they both screamed so loud the store alarm went off. THE STORE ALARM WENT OFF! It was quite the scene in the Walgreens parking lot. Needless to say, we had to pack up and go to the neighboring CVS store to get our 1 item.

- Maema came down and spent a few days with us to help with the girls while our new nanny was on vacation. She also delivered all of the girls fall/winter clothes and shoes. We love having her here with us and we are all sad when she leaves.


Hassie Clare asked me the other night if she could live with Maema when she turns 68. I told here Maema would be really old (like 120ish) but she said she would take care of her:) Those girls LOVE LOVE LOVE their Maema. For the record .... she is just backing her car into the garage and they wanted to ride with her. (No we don't let our kids ride in the front seat and they are ALWAYS in their car seat.)

- The girls and I went to Cape and stayed with the Aunt and cousins again. Have I mentioned how hospitable they are? I went to a fabulous wedding (thank you Bruce and Ashley Smith for a wonderful evening) while the girls went with Maema and some of the cousins to a local pumpkin patch. (Pics courtesy of Maema.)

HC with cousin Hilton

The girls w cousin Kaylee

- The girls started a new dance class. This year they are doing ballet, tap and tumbling (or germnastics as Quinnie says) at a different dance school across town. It is a little more laid back then the ballet company they attended last year ... much more our style.

- Every year in October our Bunko group dresses up for Halloween Bunko. This year I went as Dog The Bounty Hunter's Wife. Her name is Beth. I was a trashy mess but had so much fun:)



Beth & Alice (AKA Aunt Jenny)

 - We headed to Union, MO for Jamie's best friend (AKA Quinn's Godfather) Benji Hammer's surprise 40th birthday party, thrown by his lovely and amazing wife, Paige. The best part of the night was when Benji and Paige pulled into Maema's driveway and saw us standing there waiting on them. He got teary eyed and was shocked. They are our soul mates and we would not have missed it for the world. However, I forgot my camera so I downloaded these pics off of someones facebook page.

We stopped in The Legion to have a drink with the birthday boy's sister ... or so he thought. The party was waiting on him.

 

Mendi, Me, Woody and Tammy

Silly boys. It took them days to recover:)

Me & Woody

 

The Thurman & Hammer girls playing in Maema's basement the day after the party. They only see each other 2-3 times a year but they insist they are BFF's!


- A good friend of mine lost her father to cancer. The service was beautiful and as expected, my friend held up like a rock star. But you could see that she was a mess on the inside. My heart hurts for her and her family. Hassie Clare and Quinn said extra prayers for Ella's granddaddy.

- The girls got their first homework assignment. This month they are working on writing the letters Ee, Oo, Aa and the numbers 3, 4 and 5. They looked thrilled!

- Sarah (our ever so smart, talented and pretty summer nanny) came for a visit while home from college on her fall break. She brought paints for pumpkin painting and dressed up as Dorothy. The girls were so excited to see her .... and super excited that she bought them Halloween kits to make their own candy jewelery! 

Mary Bo Peep (AKA Little Bo Peep, AKA Quinnie), Dorofee (AKA Sarah) and Cinderella (AKA Hassie Clare)

We stay so busy that sometimes I can't remember what we did yesterday, let alone a week ago. So what does any busy working mom in 2010 do ....I pulled up pictures off my iPhone to recall what all we have been up too lately. In fact, all of these pics (unless noted) are from my phone.  Thank God for modern technology.