mck in the kitchen!

today mck's cooking group met at our house for some halloween treat making! :) mck and i looked through all the magazines looking for some fun ideas . . . she settled on three . . .

1. "hootwiches" (because i said she had to pick something "healthy") these were cute english muffins topped with cheese with an owl face - made of pickles, black beans, and a green bean for a beak! :) mck picked off and ate all the toppings and left the cheese covered english muffin. weird!

2. "witch sticks and wizard wands" - pretzels dipped in orange or green chocolate and covered with sugary goodies! mmmm . . . these were gone in no time and she wanted to make more after we picked kennedy up! :) (okay, the base for it is a pretzel, so how bad can it be?)

3. "slimey snacks" - a four layer cup of jello complete with gummy worms! :) (we made these ahead of time!) YUM!!!!

we read two fun halloween counting books - look whooooo's counting and one witch - which have joined our list of favorites for the season. oh, and the kids munched on eyeballs (grapes) and witch fingers (cheetos) while we read! :) we also had "bat's blood" (crystal light) to drink! (i think this is mck's favorite . . . i made that up several weeks ago and now she'll say "mom, can i have some bat's blood to drink? ha!)

happy monday

yea! ken had off on monday so after a morning of hanging out at the house in our p.j.'s and playing (which we totally needed!) we headed to radijazz for an afternoon of (free!!!) fun! :) the girls had a great time running and playing.

we ended the afternoon with some music from staci gray (i could be spelling her name totally wrong!) it was nice to hear someone "kid friendly" other than joe mcdermott (i am rather joe mcdermotted out right now!) her last song - about bubbles - was so fun! the whole side of the play place was covered in bubbles! :)

what a happy monday! :)

pumpkin patch '08

yea! :) our annual "trek"to the pumpkin patch with our "bestest" friends was planned early this year, hoping to avoid very hot or very rainy weather! :) well, i think we did great on the weather . . . high 80's with a nice breeze! i think it was the best weather yet!

unfortunately, we had a rough start to the day . . . we were late, kenzie had a cold and a pretty busted lip (from the night before!), and kam was swollen from fire ant bites she had gotten the day before. and to make matters worse, we're there for 5 minutes, had taken a few cruddy pictures, and kam got stung by a bee! holy crow. luckily, she's not allergic, so we continued our picture taking and search for pumpkins with a MORE swollen and slightly drugged up baby. :( what a way to start the day!

the girls already had in their minds what pumpkins they wanted . . . of course, not the traditional orange ones, but specialty ones! :) mck got a cinderella pumpkin and ken's is blueish in color . . . pretty cool! :) ken and mck helped kam pick her pumpkin (a squatty peanut shaped thing!) and then helped bailey and i pick ours! :)

we took the kids through the kid's maze and then headed over for horse rides! :) a great ending to the afternoon! :) all three girls were excited, but mck was thrilled that she could ride by herself this year! even kam got to ride . . . with me, of course. she was soooooo excited to get close to the horse, but then not so sure about riding it. i think she started to like it when we were getting off.

now, bailey is gearing up for some grand carving this year . . . the girls want their princess pumpkins carved with princess images! :) i told him he should probably start a week early . . . this could be complicated! :)

hill country book festival

okay, so we have another event to add to our growing list of yearly things to do! :) we went to the hill county book festival at the georgetown library on saturday and had a great time! :) there was sooooo much for the kids to do . . .

the girls met and talked to "real authors" - something they're really into lately, for some reason! :) they're always asking "who wrote that?"

they saw the biscuit brothers for the first time . . . wow! what fun! lots of fun up-beat songs! these guys were really funny. the girls were up and dancing or clapping the whole time! kam had more fun walking around the pole! :)

they were the only kiddos watching scott sutton, an illustrator. ken was FASCINATED by watching the guy make "peanut heads". she kept saying "i could do that!". he gave her own of his demos to take home. she was in heaven! :)

the girls got to do some cool crafts too . . . sand art, puppet making, and bookmarks! :)

what a fun afternoon! (and to top it off, bailey picked going to the book festival over watching the football game . . . wow! what a nice dad! (of course he was checking the score every chance he got, but hey, we'll take it!)) :)

children's museum

ken had the day off from school today (and monday!) so she got to pick a fun activity for us to do! :) it was fun to have all 3 of them on a weekday! :) they played sooooo nicely this morning before we headed out . . . oh and did i mention no one woke up until 7:20! :) i think that's a record! :) how nice! :)

we got the the chilren's museum before it opened . . . so were among the first to check out the new exhibit about transportation- mostly the metro - a bit too involved for only me with all 3 because everyone was going in a different direction and almost the entire exhibit involved reading! :) but the girls were patient and had a great time checking out their favorite exhibits . . . the kitchen, grocery store, trains, and of course the craft area. (did i mention that we do ALL of these things EVERYDAY at home! uhhh!)

we did storytime and shrinky dinks, ran back to re-load the meter, and then played for another hour! :)

what a fun day . . . almost makes me wish kennedy were home everyday! :) gosh, i hate this growing up stuff!

the girls' trip to the fire station

mck, kam and i headed to the fire station today for a visit with the fire fighters and a look at the trucks. mck was SOOOOO excited this year (not sure if it was the fact that she would get to see the fire trucks up close or that she got to wear her new tinkerbell dress and "bling" shoes!)!

sweet kam would try to repeat everything i said . . .
me: "fireman"

kam "manman!"
me: "truck"
kam: "uck"

mck and kam couldn't wait to climb in the big seat and take a look! it was a really fun morning! :)

bananas are healthy! . . . even when you cover them with chocolate! . . .and sprinkles!

okay, so i am really good at coming up with great ideas, but not so great on following through. the kids (really all of us!) were supposed to have "healthy" desserts during the week just splurge on treats on the weekends . . . this after realizing how much junk they've been eating! :)

so, monday i decided the kids would have bananas for dessert. i had three. they were getting rather ripe. and it's the one fruit that everyone will eat.

so i mentioned that would be dessert. kennedy pouted. then said, "could we make something with them?" i'm thinking muffins or something and said "sure!" then she says, "let's cover them with chocolate like we did at that playdate!" by this time mck was smiling! how could i say no? so, we covered them with chocolate . . . and then with pumpkin sprinkles! (after there's chocolate, what's a little more sugar?) :)

mmmmm! happy kids at dessert time!

park expo . . . kangaroos, tents, fire fighting, and dead fish! :)

our weekend outing to the tx parks and wildlife expo was great . . . overwhelming, but great! :) there were more than 30 acres of exhibits, activities, and vendors. (yes, bailey was in heaven!) it was a lot to take in, but we'll be better prepared next year! :) the girls did great . . . almost 5 hours of walking around checking things out . . . and they were still in relatively good moods! :)

my personal highlight . . . a talk put on by sea world - complete with cool and exotic animals! :) a bird flew - literally off the stage and right at us! :) oops! :) we even saw a baby kangaroo . . . so tiny and hairless inside it's mother's pouch! (okay, did you know that the kangaroo mom decides when she wants to have her baby and pops it out when it's the size of a GRAPE . . . a GRAPE!!! how lucky is that! :) seriously - no stretch marks! it just stays in her pouch to finish developing! :)

the kids saw all sorts of animals, played in tents, tried out boats, fought fires, checked out the hunting dogs (kam's favorite thing!), learned about habitats, and got to touch lots of dead fish! :)

does it get any better?

two adorable moments with kam this week . . .



you gotta love a 16 month old and some Halloween OREOS! :) kam was in heaven . . . that is until her bowl was empty! :)



kam dressed up in ken's old recital costume . . . full of sparkles . . . green sparkles! she kept running over to the wall in the kitchen and squealing. i walked over to see her SOOOOO amazed by the reflection the sparkles made on the wall . . . they looked like little fairy lights on the wall! she couldn't quite figure out why when she walked away they weren't there, but the excitement on her face when she saw the "wall of sparkles" was so sweet! :)

as the earth turns . . .

mck had a great time at our science playgroup. . . we learned about earth and the solar system! :) mck followed the order of the planets and LOVED scattering stars all over the place . . . kam was happy to pile all of her planet stickers on top of each other! :) what fun.

mck is so proud that she can tell everyone what planet that we live on . . . it's cute! :) we need to work on the other planet names, but earth's a good place to start! :)

it was a beautiful day at a beautiful park, so the girls enjoyed playing on the playscape, chasing squirrels (the pic of kam is her looking for it after it ran up a tree . . . again!), and running around! :)

mck pointed out when we got in the car to leave that the earth was turning while we were driving! :)

six flags and sea world . . . only a month apart! :)

we hit 6 flags last month with our "best-est" friends. the girls had a blast . . . they LOVED all the rides and weren't deterred by the heat or the lines! :) they had so much fun! even kam got to ride a few rides . . . can't say they were a big hit with her. (i think she'll be sticking with me when it comes to roller coaster riding!) :) the kids topped off their afternoon by winning superhero capes! :) (pink for the girls, of course!)

we went to sea world, again with our "best-est" friends, but on dell! :) it was their employee appreciation event . . . can't beat a free day! :) it was sooooo cool to see the girls reactions to the sea creatures! :) will it ever get old? i think i watched their faces more than the shows/creatures!
the dolphins were AWESOME this time - playing right in front of us! the shamu show (the same one we've seen at least 4 times!) was still wonderful! ken took her first trip on the shamu roller coaster last time we visited, but mck had to sit it out! this time she was tall enough . . . we actually measured her weeks in advance to make sure! it was the highlight of her day! :) kam was delighted by the animals . . . she woke up just in time to see the penguins - we actually rode the walkway 3 times so she could get her fill! :)

we've had our fill of amusement parks for awhile . . . but what wonderful memories! :)