An Awesome Start to Autumn!

Our house smells like pumpkin spice, our porch is decorated with pumpkins and mums and the girls have been rockin' some pretty cute Halloween jammies.  It must be my favorite time of year!

The girls have been asking me since August to decorate for Halloween, so when that first week of autumn rolled around, we were hauling decorations down from the attic!  We've been having fun decorating, Halloween crafting and having spooky dance parties.

When we aren't at home, getting into the Halloween spirit, we were busy with plenty of other activities.  Our month recap: Disney on Ice, bowling, sleepovers with Kaitlyn, playdates with new kindergarten friends and old favorite buddies, fun times at St. Stephen's and St. Catherine's, field trips, 125th anniversary celebrations, ballet, football, rain storms and my birthday.  Phew!

It's been busy, but so much fun.  So far, we've had a awesome start to Autumn 2015!

Getting Ready for Halloween!

Three silly skeletons!

Pumpkins and leaves for the first day of fall!

Hailey wanted to see if candy corn would make good replacements for her missing teeth. Turns out, they were better in her belly!

Avery doesn't quite know what Halloween is and why her sisters are so excited...but she has enjoyed all of the extra excitement in the house! 

Busted sneaking some candy corn before dinner!

Halloween toothbrushes too!

Opening Halloween goody bags from Kaitlyn. 

Reading some of their favorite Halloween stories. 

Painting pumpkins.

Lainey wanted to see if the pumpkin decorations would fit her too.

Posing with the "before" pumpkins.

And the "after" pumpkins.

Disney on Ice

We had front row seats to Disney on Ice this year and since Daddy was travelling for work, Lainey brought her friend Ella.  The girls were starstruck!  We were almost uncomfortably close.  The characters were practically in our laps!

First Time Bowling

The girls went bowling for the first time with Daddy and some friends and LOVED it!  

Fun With Friends

"Spend the night" at Kaitlyn's house. 

After church Jason's Deli date with the Luck boys. 

Sneaking some treats after church. 

Smiles before Sunday school. 

They were very impressed with themselves over their new "trick".

Preschool Pals

Lainey has really embraced the big sister role in the mornings after we drop Hailey off at school.  She helps Mommy with breakfast and loooves picking out what she and Avery are going to wear to school together that day.  

Helping Avery put on her shoes. 

Helping her little sister down the slippery steps. 

Lainey always wants Avery to "match her" when they go to school together on Thursdays and Fridays.  

Wearing their Red White and Blue on 9/11.

Our Special Little Lulu

Hailey is Loving Kindergarten!

We're a month in and Hailey still jumps out of the car in the mornings, excited to go to school!  She's been making new friends and having new playdates, reading new words and speaking new languages.  Her favorite specials are technology, PE and Chinese.  Her class went on their first field trip to the Botanical Gardens, and of course our little scientist loved that!

Hailey also got to help her school celebrate it's 125th Anniversary, which was an excited thing for her to be a part of. 

The entire school posed on the green to celebrate it's 125th anniversary. 

Hailey was on the front row of the 1, in pink boots and a big white bow. 

Hailey said "it was so cool!  Everyone was cheering and there were cameras flying around everywhere in the sky!"

Miss Hargis' first class field trip to the Botanical Gardens. 

Lined up and ready to get on the bus. Hailey was very excited about the bus because she doesn't take one to school.  

Ready to explore!

Discussing one of her nature finds with the teacher. 

Exploring the river. 

Climbing trees. 

Hailey told me all about finding a big bull frog there while she was exploring.  

That's one happy girl!

They colored pictures using things from nature. 

It was Monster Sandwich day in her class.  They read a book and wrote a story about Monster Sandwiches.  Not surprisingly, Hailey's monster sandwich didn't include lettuce, tomatoes or bologna. Her monster sandwich consisted of pickles and bread.  Delicious.  

Coloring with some of her classmates. 

Playing with blocks. 

Telling her class about her trip to the Science Museum. 

Reading time. 

Drawing themselves. 

Mystery reader day.  

I was honored to see a quote from a past blog post of mine on the back of the St. Catherine's applications for next year! I'm so thankful to be able to provide such a great learning environment for Hailey, and soon Lulu and Crazy-Red too!

Back to Ballet

Hailey and Lainey started ballet again and thankfully, Lainey doesn't cry anymore!  It only took an entire year of lessons and a recital to get her to feel comfortable there!  Hailey decided that she wanted to take ballet this year instead of tap/jazz, which means two seperate trips to the dance studio every week. 

Ballerina Lulu.

Ballerina Hailey. 

Lainey keeps busy with the blocks while waiting for Hailey's ballet lesson to be over. 

Poor Avery is over her sisters' busy fall schedules!  By that point in the day/week, she's ready for a nap!

Auburn Cheerleaders! (despite a not so great start to the season)

No fair weather fans here!  These tiny cheerleaders support "Daddy's football team" win or lose!

Avery helped Daddy and Babu watch some football. 

The Rainiest Week in History

It rained for SEVEN days straight!  As if carting these three around town all day wasn't hard enough! (I spend more time in the car during the week than I do anywhere else!) Add pouring rain, raincoats/boots/umbrellas, mud puddles and whining, wet kids to the equation and you've got one pretty worn out/high strung Mama by the end of the week!

Waiting for Gigi and Babu to come and visit them on the 6th day of nonstop rain. 

During the "drizzle" periods of rain, we let them run around and jump in muddy puddles!

Happy 34th Birthday to Me!

My birthday was pretty uneventful this year.  Daddy was travelling every day that week, so I was so busy I barely remembered it was my birthday.  The girls made me a birthday cake and we sang Happy Birthday and of course had a dance party! 

Cupcakes to school on Mommy's birthday. 

I think Doug felt guilty about having to miss my birthday this year...

Birthday dance party!

Avery had lots of fun with my birthday balloon! 

Lulu helped make me a birthday cake and Hailey helped decorate it. 

I think Lainey did more tasting than she did helping. 

Blowing out my birthday candles. 

Looks like they did a good job!

Missing Daddy

Patiently waiting for Daddy.  I let the girls stay up late to wait for Daddy to come home.  He left at 4am on Monday and got home at 10pm Friday.  

He's home!!!

What a welcome!

Nightly Sleepovers

Hailey and Lainey sleep together every night now.  During the week they sleep in Hailey's bed and on the weekends they sleep in Lainey's bed.  I love how all three of them love spending time with each other. Avery asks about her big sisters constantly when they are at school and their favorite after school activity isn't ballet or gymnastics.  It's playing together in the playroom.  How awesome is that?!!

Bedtime book reading.