'Tis the season!

This year I was more excited than last to decorate for Christmas. The girls know who Santa is and LOVE Christmas trees, Christmas lights, and really anything Christmas! When I told them that we were going to put up our tree, they were super excited. They even helped decorate! I made sure to put the tree up in the front room where I can close the door. This was a good decision... the girls would be in there all day decorating and redecorating, over and over again if they could! Each night we plug in our tree and sit and look at how beautiful it is. It's one of my favorite things to do before we all go to bed. We also started the Elf on the Shelf tradition this year. Our elf's name is Rosie. The girls named her after Rosie on Caillou (of course). They know that Rosie is watching to make sure they are good girls. They enjoy looking for Rosie's new spot each morning when they wake up. The holidays just keep getting more and more each year!

Rosie!

We ventured out.

Over the last couple of weeks, it's been too cold to play outside. We all were getting a little stir crazy. We had exhausted our trips to Target (believe me... the cashiers know the girls), so it was time to get a little more creative. I had looked into different indoor play areas and came across the Brooklyn Park Community Center Tot Play. I emailed dad and he was on board (if you know me, I don't like to try new things alone, lol). So off we went. I had checked, checked again, and triple checked to make sure that the playtime would be in session (it was Thanksgiving week). The website stated that it was in fact going on. When we got to the playtime, it was CANCELLED! WHAT?! There happened to be a National Guard Coat Drive going on and they cancelled the playtime last minute. Ok, plan B. I had been wanting to check out the Maple Grove Maze, so we piled into the car and headed that way. A little more expensive, but well worth it. The girls loved running free, climbing and interacting with strange kids (there were a couple of real strange ones...).

Papa photo-bombed this one

 Our next adventure took place at Chuck E. Cheese. Cory has been dying to go there for the last 4 months (that is an understatement). So we called up some friends and asked if they wanted to bring their little girl Lucy to meet us for dinner and playtime. We each assigned ourselves to a kid and followed them around the joint. Both girls were a little nervous to ride the rides, so that didn't last very long. They were actually very pleased with just roaming around and checking everything out. You know what that means... left over tokens! Susie (Lucy's mom) and I headed straight for the ski-ball! We figured we would play until our tokens were gone and donate our winnings (tickets) to the kids to get a prize. Turns out I'm not as great as I thought I was at ski-ball. Izzy and Ava ended up getting a Chuck E. Cheese tattoo (which they LOVED!) and a roll of Smarties.

Classic photo booth picture to end the night! We're saving this one!

Kiddie Halloween in a barn.

Over the weekend, we went to our first Halloween Party, in a barn! Izzy was a bumble bee and Ava was lady bug. We were going on no naps the prior day and a 10 minute "catnap" on the way there. This mama was a little nervous! Surprisingly, the girls did great! There were a lot of activities to keep them busy. They started with a yummy lunch consisting of hotdogs, fresh fruit, baked potatoes, and chips. The chips and fruit were their favorite part :) After lunch, all of the kids went to the park to play and burn off some energy. Ava of course did not want to leave the park. It took a little convincing, but she finally caved when she heard she got to paint a pumpkin. We headed inside and while the painting was getting set up, we all got to make a bat craft. Cory and I did most of the work. They turned out pretty cute. Next up, PAINTING of the pumpkins! This is what the girls were excited about. Cory on the other hand, was the least bit excited to let the girls dive into a plate full of paint. I was amazed at the control the girls had! Hardly a mess at all! And their pumpkins are absolutely beautiful! I wish I could keep them forever. After we painted pumpkins, we watched the big kids fight over pinata candy and then we all got really nice treat bags. It was the best Halloween party ever! I'm so happy that we got to be a part of it!

The barn at Trout Brook Park

Who said bugs weren't cute?

Balloons are always entertaining...

And so is a huge beverage tub full of ice!

Daddy and Ava crafting

Park time!

Painting pumpkins

Artist at work

Bat craft... can you tell which one Cory made?

Izzy crafting

Group shot of all the kiddos

Twin Cities Corn Maze

Wordless Wednesday

October is here...

Time to start with Halloween fun! Today the girls decorated their own pumpkin cookies with orange icing and black and orange sprinkles. It wasn't the cleanest activity, but they loved it! To my surprise, they both ate their ENTIRE cookie. (NOTE: the cookies were as big as their heads.) That may have led to the lack of napping going on right now.

It's been WAY too long...

 I just looked back at the last entry and it was from August 22! Wow, sorry! I guess going back to work has kept me pretty busy. The girls started daycare for the first time in early September and they absolutely love it! Some days I go to pick them up and they don't want to leave! I must say that I have the best daycare provider. She sends almost daily photo texts and keeps a cute, up-to-date website with photos and videos of all the kiddos. It's fun to be able to see how the girls' day is going while I'm at work. Along with daycare came the never-ending running nose. I may as well just get used to it. The house is now fully stocked with Kleenex. Here are a few "newer" pictures of the girls...

Izzy

It's just more fun to stand on the lego bucket

Ava

One last time playing with the water table