10.31.2012

305/366

Happy Halloween! No power yet so that means so school for the girls again. The morning started off okay, but it quickly turned into a meltdown for Mckenzie. She was on the iPad and all she wanted to do was watch Horseland on Netflix. Unfortunately, no power means no Wifi in the house meaning there is no Netflix. Luckily, I was talking to my friend when this happened and she offered to have the girls over to her house to play with her children. To pass the time until I dropped them off, we went to the Dunkin Donuts, grabbed a decaf coffee and some hot chocolate and headed back home to sit in the driveway watching a movie in the car. Have I ever mentioned how thankful I am to have a DVD player in the car? If not, I am beyond grateful for it! I dropped the kids off at my friend's house and I came back home to get some stuff done around the house. And when I say stuff, I mean a nap in my nice warm flannel jammies :) Scott made it back to town this evening and he met all of us at our friend's house for dinner and a little TV watching. We didn't get home until 11pm, but it was nice to hang out with our friends in the warmth of their house. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

It was chilly in the house this morning and the girls ended up wearing their coats to keep warm :)
Kids were a bit chilly this morning when they got up :-)
A couple of photos from the other night. The girls were happy to hang out with their iPad and glowsticks :)
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10.30.2012

304/366

We lost power last night around 1030. The girls were already in bed so happily they were not affected. I, on the other hand, had a hard time falling asleep listening to the gusts of wind and watching the curtains move when a gust would blow the right way (our windows in our bedroom are not the greatest and seem to have air leaks).  To pass the time today, we ventured out to do a little shopping and get lunch. On the way out of our neighborhood, I saw a teenager lying in the street. I went to check on him and he was in and out of consciousness. I'm not sure how long he had been laying there, but it was obvious he had hit his head. Another lady was walking down the street and she called 911 while I went to find the kid's parents. The paramedics/police arrived and the girls and I left to take care of our errands. I felt so bad for the kid and his parents. They were so distraught. I can't imagine how scared I would have been if that had been my child laying in the street.

Anyway, we ran our errands and met a friend for a late lunch. I was hoping the power would be on by the time we got back, but no such luck! We worked on carving pumpkins. Abby actually cleaned out her pumpkin all by herself this year while Mckenzie wanted nothing to do with the insides :) She did try though and that is all I ask. I carved SpongeBob for Abby and Cinderella for Mckenzie. I think this may be the third year in a row that we have done Cinderella so I feel like a pro at that one by now! A friend invited us over for dinner so it was a relief that I didn't have to worry about what to serve the kids for dinner.  

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10.29.2012

Awaiting Hurricane Sandy...303/366

I figure since it is getting a tad bit gusty around here, I would get our post done before we lose power. It has been raining off and on all morning, but they are saying the worst will be hitting us mid afternoon today. I don't like hurricanes and I especially don't like having to weather them without my hubby around. What good is his degree in meteorology if he doesn't get to hang out in the storm with us;-) I hate that his job values planes more than families. And yes, I am a little disgruntled after he had to hurrivac a plane last year (not towards Scott. Lords knows he would rather be here any day. But bitter that when big storms like this come around, he has to leave because of his job. That being said, I am proud of what he does and we all know every job has a downside). When the power went out during last year's hurricane, Abby freaked out and it took hours to settle her down. I am hoping the same thing doesn't happen this time as I have spent quite a bit of time preparing her. We will see what happens. Anyway, we have spent the morning enjoying TV while we still have it and making pictures of the storm for Daddy so that he doesn't miss out on all the excitement! Abby finished up her book report character today. I think SpongeBob turned out pretty good!

Abby's SpongeBob pumpkin she made for a book report for school. Isn't he cute:-)

10.28.2012

302/366

The girls painted pumpkins today. Abby has a school book report due this coming week that requires her to decorate a pumpkin as a character from whatever book she read. She chose to do her report on a SpongeBob book so we have been working hard on making her pumpkin look like him. We will have plenty of time to work on it since school has already been canceled for Monday and Tuesday because of the weather. Mckenzie worked on a pumpkin as well. Hers was loaded with so much paint that I am wondering if it will ever dry.
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10.27.2012

Its a ......

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Today was the big reveal!!! We finally found out the gender of our precious little baby. We asked the ultrasound tech to write down the gender on a piece of paper inside a sealed envelope and I gave the envelope to our friend that said she would help us with the reveal. My goodness,  it has been a long week of waiting for both Scott and I. When we first found out we were pregnant, I said I didn't want to know the gender. I wanted to wait until the delivery to discover if God had blessed us with a boy or a girl. Scott, on the other hand, wanted to know at the ultrasound. The closer we got to the ultrasound, the more undecided I was and I finally agreed that it would be a good idea to know sooner than later. Besides, we all know I am not good at waiting and I was only kidding myself when I thought I could wait an entire 9 months! I'm sure if you ask Scott, he will tell you he knew all along I wouldn't be able to wait!

On the way to the park for our reveal, we asked the girls if they wanted a little sister or a little brother. Both told us they want a little sister. Scott said he wants a boy (who doesn't want a little mini me and a hunting partner) and I want a girl (I have no clue how to raise a boy!) Honestly, it doesn't matter one way or the other. A healthy baby is what is the most important. Any baby is a blessing so to be picky, is silly in my mind. Scott and I both had a hunch it was going to be a girl. (we both were trying to figure it out during the ultrasound even though we had agreed not to know then) Well, were we surprised when we open the box and out flew BLUE balloons!! Yep, you read that right. We are having a BOY!!!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how shocked we were! We really expected to see pink balloons. This is one of the few times in my life I don't mind being wrong. I cannot wait to meet our boy :)

Thank you so much to Courtney for these fabulous photos!!! You are a great friend and awesome photog!!
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And I just had to include my absolute favorite pic of all :)
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Check out the video too!


Gender Reveal...


10.25.2012

299/366

We got "booed" the other night and so tonight we "booed" a couple of friends. The girls had a blast! They left the goodies, Scott knocked on the doors and then they all ran back to the car. The girls giggled so much about leaving a treat for their friends. It was a great way to end the day :)

10.24.2012

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Abby looked a little off when she got home from school today. I asked her what was going on and she proceeded to tell me that one of her friends told her about a girl that was strangled by a couple of teenage boys. It is an awful tragedy. A 12 year old NJ girl was killed for her bike by two boys that lived nearby. They dumped her body in a recycling bin and their mom turned them in to police (I can't imagine how difficult a decision that was for the mother). So sad. Abby just couldn't understand why anyone would do that to someone else. It's hard to explain to a child that some people are just evil without scaring the daylights out of the them. I was so surprised she heard about this from a child her age because we try to avoid things like that for our girls. I guess other people don't feel the same way. (Yes, we do talk to them about stranger danger, but I think they are too little for details such as this story.) I pray the families involved find peace and understanding someday.


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10.23.2012

297/366

Mckenzie had dance this morning and was so excited when I told her that her friend was coming over afterwards to play for awhile.

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10.22.2012

296/366

Back to the same old routine. School and dance :) Abby has missed a couple of hip hop classes in a row so she was happy to go today. I didn't break out the camera today so you get to see another one of Abby from our pumpkin picking adventure.


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10.21.2012

Half Marathon: Check 295/366

Scott finished his first half marathon this morning! He did great!!! The girls and I waited at the finish line for him and got to see him cross the finish line! I am so proud of him for finishing!!! The girls were excited to see him, but they refused to give him a hug because he was so sweaty :)

Just across the finish line!!!
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OUCH!!!
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10.20.2012

Pumpkins Galore 294/366

The girls both had soccer this morning. Abby almost scored a couple of times :( She really wants to win and it is so frustrating for her that they have not won a single game yet. One more week to give it a try! Mckenzie did great at her practice/game today. It is so hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, she was crying and begging to leave most of the time. Now, she runs around, chasing the ball with only a few moments of fussiness :) She even scored a couple of goals!

We took the girls to pick pumpkins. Lots of fun. Lots more people! Mckenzie fell down and got a couple of splinters in her hand. She didn't want us to take them out for anything and it turned into this huge crying fit. We tried bribing her with a donut from the Wawa, but that didn't work. We didn't have a tweezers in the car so we stopped at a CVS to get one. While Scott was in the store, Mckenzie ended up getting a nose bleed. She was a mess! A sobbing, bloody nosed mess :( We finally managed to get the splinters out and the first thing she said was "That didn't hurt". Grrrr. If only she would have listened to us when we told her it wouldn't hurt to take them out! (They were very superficial) Anyway, we made it to Atlantic City with no more tears. Scott picked up his bib for his half marathon and we took the girls out to dinner.

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The little one wasn't in the mood for photos today :)
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10.19.2012

293/366

Mckenzie and I met a few of my friends for breakfast. It was a nice morning, but Mckenzie got a little bored with how long it took :) Mckenzie went to a friend's house to play this afternoon and since it was raining, I snuck in a nap after I snapped some photos of the raindrops. Abby went to a friend's for dinner and a movie. I am glad that she got to hang out with her friend tonight. She has had a hard time adjusting to the fewer play dates since school has started. 004005003 b&w

10.18.2012

Waiting... 292/366

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Abby had a friend come over to play that has never been here before. She waited anxiously by the door until her friend arrived. Then it was crazy around here filled with lots of giggles and laughs!

10.17.2012

291/366

Anyone that knows me understands that I love photography but I do not like to be in the pictures myself. But, I am vowing from now on, I am going to try to be better about this. I read about a young mom that lost her battle to cancer recently, leaving behind two young boys. She was a photographer and always encouraged others to get in the photos with their children. (You can read more about her here.) It made me realize that I want my kids to see me with them. I want them to be able to look back someday at us together, seeing us as we were. It isn't fair to hide behind the camera just because I may not like the way I look. Children love their parents for who they are, not what they look like.


So these are a few of the photos that we snapped today.

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10.16.2012

290/366

Mckenzie was excited that our friend drove her to dance class today. You may think it is because she got to ride with her friend. The real reason is because she got to ride with her friend in a mini van. Heck if I know why my kids love mini vans but they do. Too bad for them. They will just have to get their mini van kicks when they hang with their friends. I had an OB appointment today and baby is doing just fine. I recorded his/her heartbeat so the girls could hear. They loved listening to it. Mckenzie kept asking me to play it over and over. 

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10.15.2012

289/366

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Just another Monday. School, errands, house cleaning. Same old same old. Abby did have a dentist appointment and she was very disappointed because she had to miss her hip hop class to go to it.

10.14.2012

288/366

The girls and I had a busy morning. We went to church, Sunday school, the park and topped it off with lunch.

Abby was scared to go down the fire pole but I finally convinced her to do it. Once she did it, she couldn't stop.  ( I have to admit I was shocked when she said she was scared because she used to go down all the time.) Mckenzie, on the other hand, was fearless about going down the fire pole and she was the one that should have been worried. She never really grabbed on, instead just sort of fell down the pole with me guiding her down. They are such opposites!
Down the fire pole! At the park:-)

10.13.2012

287/366

The girls had soccer this morning. Mckenzie was happy to play once she got to the field, although she didn't want to go when I told her she had soccer this morning. Abby is always excited to go to play until they actually start playing. As the game progresses and her team inevitably loses, she gets pretty disappointed. I wish she wouldn't get so upset over losing. Scott was part of a relay race today so he was gone for a couple of hours doing a run. He put in 9 miles and he was pretty tired afterwards. But, he couldn't rest because he headed to DC to visit a friend and go to the Vikings game on Sunday.


Playing around with my macro lens again.

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