One Very Spooktacular Halloween

This was by far our best Halloween yet!!!  Then again, how it could it not be with these two cuties??? :)  Really, we've been celebrating Halloween since last Sunday but yesterday was definitely our favorite celebration.  G had to go into work in the morning so the kiddos and I decided to get out of the house for a bit too and stopped by to play with Ducky Gramma and Papa.  Then it was home to get ready for our Halloween party with the playgroup (we were hosting so there was some cleaning to do!)  In the middle of lunch, Alli announced that she wanted to go "night night".  I, of course, assumed she was just trying to get out of eating so I told her that she better be sleeping not playing and fully assumed I would her that lovely little voice singing up there.  Guess what, the little turkey slept for 2 hours!!!  She's been hit or miss with naps this week so I guess it caught up with her and she zonked.  Worked well for me.  G got home not long after she went down and was able to help entertain Eli, allowing me to get ready for the party.  Alli was so excited when she woke up to get into her Tink costume.  Not long after, the friends started arriving and all the kids had a great time playing.  Alli even did pretty well with sharing.  She loved having her friends over and keeps asking to have them back over "tomorrow."  The kids played with every toy in the house and had the chance to decorate cookies if they wanted.  Even the food was a huge hit ~ tough to go wrong with pizza and Capri Sun ;-)  Would you believe that Miss Alli wound up eating almost two pieces????  Not all at once but throughout the evening.  When the friends left so everyone could go TOTing, Alli was a bit sad, especially to say goodbye to "Lellanor", who she idolizes ;-) 

Alli Tink was a bit wild before we went TOTing . . .

Luckily, Barbie Gramma and Pop Pop showed up shortly after to hand out candy so we could all go TOTing as a family, well, Eli was only allowed to go to one house before we took him home to snuggle and snooze.  Alli loved TOTing and even said Trick or Treat and Thank you at the houses.  We decided to skip any house that simply left candy out in a bowl since we don't need that much candy and Alli didn't know the difference at this age.  Something tells me it won't be that easy in a couple years!

Here are a couple shots of our little pumpkins from last night . . .

Needless to say, Alli was WIRED after all the fun and sugar and since it was "Fall back" we decided to let her work out some of that energy before going to bed a little after 9.  It worked since she didn't get up until just a few minutes ago ~ woo hoo!  Even more impressive, Eli slept for 11.5 hours last night.  Talk about a very happy (yet slightly uncomfortable!) Mommy :)  Not only that, he woke happy as could be ~ he sure is E. Z.

Here are a couple comparison pictures of our 'lil pumpkins from each of their first Halloweens.  For perspective, Alli was 9 months old, Eli is 3.5 months old . . . wearing the exact same clothing for their first Halloweens! ;-)  Can we say Skinny Minnie and Chunky Monkey?!?!?! 

Alli is on the left, Eli is on the right . . .

Tinkerbell & the 'lil Fish

Gosh, that sounds like it would make such a cute story ;-)  We had our McCormick Woods Halloween party yesterday afternoon and a great time was had by all.  Both kids looked adorable in their costumes and Alli thoroughly enjoyed all of the sweets!

How cute is this little pumpkin???? 

 This is the same shirt and same costume that Alli wore on her first Halloween,

of course, she was 9 months at the time ;-)

 Although there were many little Tinkerbells at the party, Alli was by far the cutest Tink

with her petite frame, blond pony tail and light up wings!

Pumpkin Time

What to do on a cool, Sunday afternoon?  Carve pumpkins of course!!!

Not just any pumpkins.  No, for the Fishers, they must have a theme.  Can you guess what it will be????

G is hard at work . . .

Eli is wondering what this is all about and if it might taste good . . .

Alli looks pretty happy so far.  Any guesses???

Fish of course!!!  G is quite talented at making the Fisher Family of Four out of pumpkins!

Reflections

This has been a challenging week but God seemed to know that and gave me a some time to read a very helpful book and look at some pictures. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the moment that I forget the big picture. It was not so long ago that I spent every moment praying and begging God to allow us the joy of having children.  Anyone who has ever suffered with infertility knows those prayers all to well.  My prayers were answered in ways that I could never have hoped.  He sent us two angels.  It's funny how quickly you forget the pain and forget to be thankful for the gifts.  Being a parent is the hardest, most challenging job I have ever had, yet it is also the best job in the world.  Yes, my children can be challenging.  Yes, I lose my temper and wonder "why me" at times.  Yet I realized something very important today, I wouldn't change a thing.  This is not so say that I won't have days where I feel sorry for myself but I think I have a better perspective now. . . Just look at these little faces.  I am so blessed!

Cauliflower chips???

How do you get Alli to eat tons (and I do mean handfuls!) of raw vegetables?  Tell them they are chips . . . tonight, we had "cauliflower chips" ;-)  She loved them!!!  The girl is too funny.  She is very much like her mommy in that she is quick to tell us she doesn't like food, long before she sees, smells or tastes it.  Unless it is chocolate that is ~ the girl has a major sweet tooth!  A lie, yes but there are some battles I just don't want to deal with and eating is one of them with Alli. 

We were on our own this evening since G has class Tuesdays and Thursdays so I never quite know how dinner and bedtime will go but both kids were extremely cooperative.  After Eli was down and Alli and I were watching Bedtime Praise Baby, she actually asked for a NutriGrain Bar and proceeded to down it in about 5 minutes.  I swear, some mornings, it takes her an hour to eat one.  Guess she was a hungry gal!

Eli had a fabulous day as usual ;-)  That boy is such a little angel and I feel so blessed to have him in our lives.  He is cooing, smiling and giggling up a storm these days, all of which warm my heart.  Today was another first for him . . . he picked up his lion and hugged it before putting it in his mouth.  This was the first time he ever picked up a toy and stuck it in his mouth.  What a sweetie!!! 

I just love being a Mommy!  These two are the most demanding "bosses" I've ever had but I don't think I have enjoyed life more . . .

My little helper :)

Alli LOVES to help in the yard or with decorating.  We had so much fun planting mums last year that we decided to do it again when it was nice out last weekend.  Hard to believe our little girl has changed so much in a year!

Here's our big girl this year (2009) . . .

And here's our little peanut last year (2008) . . .

Time is going so quickly!!!

Our Happy Boy :)

On Sunday, Eli decided to be a lazy little bug and sleep in so we had to wake him for church ~ it is so hard to wake a peacefully, sleeping baby . . . especially when they look as cute and snuggly as Eli did!  He looked so darn cute that I had to get a few pictures of our sleepy boy before getting him up for the day.  I truly thought he would be upset but as you can see from the progression of pictures, he woke up very happy and gave lots of gummy smiles in between coos :)

Have you ever seen such a happy little guy in the morning?!?!?!  Too cute!

My Garage Sale Finds . . .

So I have always enjoyed "having" a garage sale but wasn't actually one to "go" to another person's garage sale.  Well, we are hosting an auction to raise funds to assist with our nephew's kidney transplant and I was hoping to find some baskets we could fill so when I got an email from a friend at church about a garage sale that was happening this morning, I decided I would go.  My wonderful MIL loves garage sales and goes all the time, finding many great things.  I called her this morning to see if she was going ~ of course she was :)  Eli and I met her there and we found a ton of great stuff, including tons of beautiful baskets ~ woo hoo!!!  I spent a whopping $15 and walked away with 6 baskets, two packages of unopened candles, a cupcake tin (we need lots of those around here!) and a brand new, tags still on, brown leather bag from Coldwater Creek (I'm keeping that one!) for $1.  WOW!!!  Maybe I will be willing to go to garage sales more often from now on . . . ;-)  Even G can't get upset by that spending!

Two great kiddos!

We have the two best little ones!  Alli has finally started pooping in the potty ~ woo hoo!  So we are fully potty trained and she even helped get rid of the pull-ups :)  Eli is on day three of sleeping for 8-9 hours at a stretch at night, which makes for one very happy (and well rested!) Mommy!  Last night was the best so far . . . he went down at 8 and woke up at 5 a.m. to eat, the little stinker is still sleeping now.  Now we just need to figure out the naps during the day ;-)  Really not counting on this being an every night occurrence but it is so awesome when it happens.  Of course, I wonder when I will actually start sleeping through the night again . . .

The "trying" twos!

We refuse to say "terrible" as nothing about our sweet little Alli is terrible but she is definitely "trying" these days!!!  Her favorite word is "no", usually said even before she knows what she's saying "no" to ~ talk about fun.  She, like most kids her age (I hope!), thinks the world revolves around her and likes to demand rather than ask.  She also loves to whine ~ our LEAST favorite thing of all.  At this point, we're ignoring when she whines and she usually changes her tone and remembers to say please but it is like nails on the chalkboard to hear that whiny voice.

This afternoon, we hit another "trying" milestone . . . she got out of bed during nap time.  This is not like her at all.  She knows that she is not allowed out of bed without asking first and this has not been a problem at all since she's been in her big girl bed (we made the switch in May!).  G and I were down in the living room when he heard her running around upstairs.  I really thought he must be hearing things because Alli certainly wouldn't do that.  We go upstairs and saw her bedroom door open and then she came running down the hallway, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw us.  Her look was priceless and seemed to say "Uh oh!  how did I get caught?!?!?!"  It was all we could do to stifle our laughter, put on our serious faces and let her know that was not okay.  We had to get out of the room pretty quickly because we were both ready to explode with laughter.  Really, not okay but way too funny!!! :)  Gave us both a great chuckle this afternoon, always good on a crisp Autumn day.

Any advice on how to survive this age?????