Pumpkins!!

Surprisingly already.......its that time of year!

PUMPKIN TIME!!!!

Crazy to think Halloween is just around the corner!

We carved pumpkins last night, and the girls loved it!

Granted, its been pretty warm here still, 70's, so our pumpkins might be sludge come Halloween night, but at least we made the most of enjoying them for a while!

 Abby posing with her sculpture! She requested eyebrows and hair on the sides!

 Being silly with the pumpkin lights on their heads.

 Abby's Pumpkin

 Maddy's Pumpkin

 Our front porch Fall decor

(My black homemade burlap wreath and Pinterest thumbtack monogrammed & spray-painted pumpkin, and the girls pumpkins!)

Little Miss Board Game!

Abby received "Monopoly JR" from a friend at her birthday party and is now a HUGE board game lover!

Until now she's really only played Candyland with Mike here and there.....and some Memory....but this is her first true board game where there is interaction at so many levels. Her favorite part.....of course.....when I land on her "Parties" (in this version you buy birthday parties instead of properties; and then everyone that lands on your party has to pay up!) she LOVES when I have to pay her money! 

We've played almost every night so far! Maddy tried to play with us too, but just became too much of a nuisance :) She was throwing dollars, and messing up the board. She's banned!!

This really gets Abby's little brain turning!

Our Life these days......

Biking and Jeeping is our new favorite evening pastime!

 And boy do they love to be goofy while they are at it!

This is them giving me their "CHEESY" faces

 And Maddy trying to escape from my photo op!

 Abby on her big girl bike!

And Maddy on her trike! She rides this better than Abby ever did at this age! I think she is just stronger!!

Abby's 5th Birthday Party- Magic Show & Balloon Artist

 This is one SPECIAL girl!

On her birthday on Thursday, she received TWO special balloon bouquet deliveries to the house!

The first from her Daddy!

The second from Aunt Amy!

These made her day that much more special, and she LOVES them (plus they doubled as great party decor today!!)

And I got some gorgeous flowers from Mike too!

I had to laugh......when Abby got out of quiet time and saw that I got a delivery of flowers, she says "Who are they from?", I replied "Daddy", she says, "Awww how sweet, that means he must love you too! He really loves me because he sent me balloons!" KIDS!!! Good thing I'm loved! Guess I play second fiddle to him in her mind!

 

 PARTY DECORATIONS!  Luckily for me it was a gorgeous 68 degree sunny day, so we were able to eat pizza and cake outside, and let the kids run off some steam too! My house is NOT sized for 19 kids running around aimlessly, so the weather was just PERFECT!

Let the magic show begin........

The kids (ALL 19 OF THEM!!) were sitting quietly on the couch as the magician began her show.

Abby was called up after the magic show since she was the birthday girl, and had her special birthday girl balloon hat created in front of everyone!

Her heart hat! Colorful and fun. Kind of reminded me of Hello Kitty

 Abby's friend Jack in his big-top twisty hat!

 Maddy in her Pink Kitty hat

 Casey's heart hat (NOTE: No two hats were alike!)

 Fiona's duck balloon animal (each kid had a different animal/object too! Some of the boys opted for swords of course!)

 And each kid got to choose a large tattoo! Nice ones too!

 CAKE TIME! 

This birthday will be memorable for sure! Its our last one here in Virginia with all her wonderful friends she's become so close with over the last 3+ years. Prime years of great bonding with wonderful friends her age that all play so well together. She doesn't know it now, but she will miss them dearly once we move! The reality of military life will hit her in t-minus 7 months!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS ABIGAIL!! You are my sunshine EVERYDAY!

(Now mommy is very tired and needs to go to bed early.....THE END)

This is what 5 looks like!!!

Happy 5th Birthday to the first of two kids who changed our lives forever!

Where did 5 years go....oh wait, I have gray hairs to show for that time period :)

But she is the sweetest, smartest, and most fun kid to be around!

She makes us VERY proud to be her parents.

FIVE is apparently the perfect age for enjoying your birthday to the fullest. She is soaking up every minute!

This morning I took the kids to IHOP for a special breakfast and she told me:

 "Mom, this is the best birthday ever"!

(More photos to come after her party this Saturday!)

Another great shot!

Had to share this shot I found today! A great view of how they plunged into the sea from the hangar elevator platform!

SLEEPOVER!!!

A few weeks ago Abby had her first true sleepover at her friend Alyssa's house!

(Alyssa's daddy is deployed too, so its nice for them to have fun weekend things to look forward to)

So this time it was our turn to host, and Alyssa came here for the night!

 They each made their own pizza for dinner

 And got in plenty of playtime.......

 I put the two big girls to bed at 8:30, and they stayed up til 10:30 chatting and giggling in Abby's room!

That's when I heard silence finally, went in to check on them, and this is how they fell asleep!!

(They slept together on the queen air bed in Abby's room!)

Lucky for me they slept ALL night with no trouble!!

Just the girls.....

 I ALWAYS used to sit in front of the TV like this as a kid....with my butt up in the air....

Is it genetic? Or does every kid do this naturally?? I've seen Abby do it too!

 Snuggling together on the couch

 Maddy and her new computer habit

CHEESE!!!! Finally she smiles on cue and its not too bad! 

This kid LOVES to do play dough--Keeps her busy for 30-60 minutes (fun playdough accessories/kits welcomed for her 3rd birthday.....hint hint)!!

Mini Computer Whiz--3 years old!

So, just YESTERDAY the girls were in Abby's room, where her computer is. Maddy kept asking me to let her play the computer, I ignored her since she is too little to use the mouse and understand the process of clicking on the screen. I nicely explained how this is Abby's computer......

Minutes later after I've left the room, I hear Abby in there teaching her how to do it. Not that I expected much success, but still it was a nice gesture on her part.

To my surprise, I go back in the room half an hour later, and Maddy is doing it all by herself! Playing a Curious George game on pbskids.com, using the mouse properly, and successfully completing the game/challenge!!

I was BEYOND impressed and thrilled that she could do it, and that Abby taught her how!!

These sisterly moments melt my heart. So this is a video of Maddy doing the game "Fair Share". She had to divide up the dog bones equally to the dogs on the screen, then click the "whistle" button when she was done to check her work!

Time for a Checkup!

Maddy had her third visit to the dentist today, and third time was a CHARM!

She did excellent. No hesitation, no squirming. She literally sat there with her arms crossed like the girl asked, the whole time. She sat thru the cleaning, the picking, and the doctor's exam!

Finally, two kids that LOVE going to the dentist!! And she got a clean bill of health for her teeth!

Underway Aircraft Carrier......FUN!

Who says there's not a pool out on the aircraft carrier ?!?

The crew got a welcome break for "SWIM CALL" as they refer to it. They gather at a platform/elevator off the hangar bay, and jump into the sea (according to Mike it was a 25+ foot drop). They swam around to tread water for an hour (exercise....fun...challenge). Then they went up to the flight deck for a "STEEL BEACH BBQ", where they grill out on the hot deck and enjoy some staple barbeque favorites for lunch!

Mike said they were all exhausted and sunburned since they were all pale as ghosts from being in the ship for so long, away from the sun effects!

 The Admiral (center, green shirt) and Mike and some of the staff!

 This was just another great shot showing how they receive supplies/replenishment from a Helicopter

Some recent videos.......

POPPING AIR BUBBLES--Not as painful as it looks, but they loved it

MADDY LOVES HER "WELCOME TO OUR TOWN" BOOK--She is trying to sing the theme song to their new favorite show "Everyone, is big enough, big enough to do something" She LOVES singing lately!

ABBY READS!! Abby started getting interested in ready last week, and learned all the words of her "Bernstein Bears-Bears on Wheels" book! She was so proud of herself and it only took 2 days! 

We have since moved onto a new series of learning books (BOB Books) to progress the reading process!

THE GIRLS HAD FRIENDS OVER AND WERE PLAYING HORSIE!!

ABBY RIDING HER NEW BIKE

MADDY SINGING THE JEOPARDY MUSIC--Guess she knows mommy's favorite show!

SINGING IN THE TUB

Sleepyhead

Isn't she sweet when she's passed out??!!!

Last Sunday we had a lazy day and didn't leave the house. On top of that the girls woke up an hour later than usual, so I wasn't going to force naps because without activity, they rarely happen anyways.

Maddy wanted to lay in my bed and watch a movie......little did I anticipate that she would fall asleep!

Abby came in to tell me an hour later that she was out cold! 

And about half an hour after that, the light bulb went off in my head as I realized she is asleep in my bed, NAKED!!!! She naps in her bed without a pull-up on, but I always take her to the potty right before, and she never has accidents. But this time she fell asleep on her own, and I hadn't taken her to the potty at all!

YIKES!!!

So I fearfully reach under her and realize she is laying in a big pile of you know what.......so warm, it didn't even wake her!!!

So, I spent the rest of Sunday getting my bed back to working order.

Abby's new RIDE!

 Well, Abby's 5th birthday is almost here! 

And her big wish list item was a new big girl bike! She's been riding a tricycle since her 3rd birthday and she really deserved the upgrade. I'll wait til Mike comes home to teach her to ride without training wheels......he can endure some sort of suffering!! Heck, he missed Maddy's potty training, so he's overdue! I'll save that just for him. Maybe she'll be training wheel free by the time we are settled in CA?!?

Around each students birthday week, they are the "SUPER STAR" for the week at their class.

They bring in information about them, as well as photos to share. All of this is displayed in the hallway next to her class all week long to make them feel special. She also got to bring in special things each day.....Monday-Favorite Stuffed Animal, Tuesday-Favorite Book, Wednesday- Toy in her favorite color, Thursday- magazine cut out of her favorite food, Friday- show and tell for everyone!!

Meet HORTON!

Last weekends visitor was Abby's class pet, Horton, the hermit crab.

Abby was THRILLED beyond words that it was her turn to take him home and surprisingly doted over the darn thing all weekend, ensuring I was not feeding or watering him enough.

She especially enjoyed being able to show him off to all of her friends when they came by the house.

Gross.....I'm so glad he went back to school on Monday, and can now dread the next time its our turn to take him home again....

Lazy Day

Just hanging around and snuggling together in their PJs!

Engine.....CHECK!

Maddy is quite the character. Abby had her check the Barbie Jeep engine the other day, and now its part of her driving routine. She even pretend coughs and covers her mouth like there is smoke coming from the engine.....KIDS!!!