Trick or Treat!

We kicked off our Halloween fun by carving our pumpkins.  Elizabeth was very interested and wanted to help.

She decided against sticking her hand into the squishy pumpkin insides, despite Adam's best efforts of coaxing her.

Ava was so excited when we were finally done carving and ready to light the candles in our masterpieces!  Ava got to draw her own face on her pumpkin this year and was so proud!
Ava's pumpkin is on the far left and it's an "alien with six eyes, a mouth and a beard".  That's my creative girl!  Mine is the middle one and it's a sleeping pumpkin who is snoring.  Adam went with a word instead of a face..."BOO".
Here are the girls in Ava's preschool class, the day of their Halloween party.  Ava picked out her costume again this year.  She was so excited to be Alice in Wonderland!
Here's the whole class.  I love the teachers candy corn costumes.
They trick-or-treated through the school and were very proud because they (as the oldest kids in the school) are the only ones who get to wear their costumes to school.
Elizabeth is my messy eater and here's a pic of her after enjoying a chocolate frosted cupcake.
Here's Ava.  Talk about scary!
We went trick-or-treating in our little pocket of our neighborhood.  We were pleasantly surprised at all of the wonderful folks who welcomed our little ones!  We really enjoy our new neighbors.

Here's Elizabeth dressed as the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
Ava's cousins, Caleb and Trevor, and Uncle Michael and  Aunt Angela as well as Grandma Libby, joined us in our trick-or-treating fun.
We also met up with our neighbor, Avery (Snow White, below).  Ava was very polite and not at all shy about trick-or-treating this year.  She was happy to approach every house with just Caleb and Avery by her side.
Here's a picture of the whole crew; Caleb (Batman), Trevor (Robin), Ava (Alice in Wonderland), Elizabeth (Cheshire Cat), across-the-street neighbor Victoria (Broadway dancer) and Avery (Snow White).  Aren't they just too cute?! 
We had the kids trick-or-treat at our house last.  We really enjoyed getting everyone together for our first trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood!
Elizabeth was ALL about the candy free-for-all.  Boy, there's no keeping anything from her anymore.  If Ava has something, she WILL have some too.  Oh boy.  Check out  her death grip on the mini M&M package below.
We always save our last trick-or-treating stop for Auntie Michelle and Uncle Jeff's house.
The girls were beyond wired at this point, chock full of candy and getting to the point of being deliriously tired.  Thanks for welcoming us with open arms anyway, guys!
Can't wait to see what costumes the girls choose next year!

In late September we took our last dip in the lake with Michelle, Jeff and Ginger on our boat.  We left Elizabeth behind with Nana and Poppy because she just can't stand her life jacket for very long, so doesn't enjoy long boat outings.  I'm sure next summer she'll be old enough that it won't be a problem.

First mate, Ava, gives me the thumbs up for my boat driving skills.

This is the newest addition to Adam's boat toy collection.  It's a "half-pipe" tube that can hold a few people and drag them, helplessly behind the boat while it bounces them silly.  Anyone for a ride?  Ava will give it a go if I ride with her and have threatened Adam within an inch of his life regarding how slow and steady he should drive the boat.  Michelle, Ava and I rode together and somehow the front of the tube (where our heads were as we laid on our stomachs) took a nose dive under the water and we all went tumbling off, head first.  I nearly drown poor Michelle when I landed on top of her.  Thankfully there is no documented evidence of this unfortunate incident...just the embarassing memory.
Michelle took a turn at the wheel and handled the boat like an old pro.
Go, Captain Michelle!
Isn't Adam a cutie?  I think I'll keep him.
Ginger poses with me after I managed to squeeze myself into the girls tiny tube.  You should have seen me trying to get this thing off!
Adios summer days of swimmin' in the lake.  We can't wait for next year!

Our Family Vacation

We took our annual family vacation in September.  We went to Manhattan Beach, California and stayed with a friend, Noelle, who was sitting her grandson, Julien, while his parents were away.

Here's a shot of the girls cuddling on the plane.  Aren't they just too sweet!?

Guess who HATES being on an airplane?  Adam or I had to be holding and walking Miss Elizabeth nearly the entire 2+ hour flight there and back.  Ugh.  At least the flight attendants were extra nice to us.
I snapped this shot of Adam and Ava walking down to the beach from the balcony of the house where we stayed.  We slept in the bedroom just inside this balcony and left the sliding, glass doors open all night.  It was so relaxing to go to sleep to the sound of the waves crashing.
We ate dinner the first night at a cute, restaurant just off the strand.  The waitress brought the kids a chocolate mousse to share...she thought the candle would be fun!
On the way home, Ava and Julien took advantage of the swings on the beach.
Our little, budding artist loved coloring while looking at the waves for inspiration!
Elizabeth got to see her first beach and loved playing in the sand.  She's a serious thumbsucker and would forget her thumb was coated in sand and just pop it right into her mouth.  She had quite a bit of sand to eat on this trip.
Ava and I enjoyed trying to outrun the waves together.
Adam took the pic of me with the girls and it's turned out to be one of my favorites with them.
One night we bought some fresh pizza dough and made our own pizzas.  They were delicious!  The kids had a ball rolling out their dough and choosing their own toppings.
Adam even taught them how to toss the dough and we managed to keep any from falling on the floor!
We were just about 30 minutes away from Disney Land, so we left Elizabeth with Noelle one day and took Julien along for Ava's first trip to the Magic Kingdom (it was my first time too)!

One of the first rides we saw was the big, beautiful carousel.  Ava was so excited to get to ride!
Ava's favorite ride of the day was the teacups.  She had been looking forward to this ride for a month or more!  She talks about the teacups almost any time she talks about Disney Land.

If you know Ava you know how much she loves all things princess.  She got to meet Belle, Jasmine and her favorite...Ariel!  The princesses were so sweet to her and she got to get her picture with each of them.  Since this trip Ava has decided that she doesn't just want to be a babysitter when she grows up...now she wants to be a "princess babysitter".  She specifically said that she wants to be a princess at Disney Land.

By some small miracle we convinced Ava to ride Space Mountain.  She was a little anxious waiting in line and kept asking lots of questions and said a couple of times that she'd changed her mind.  She never cried at all, or got upset.  I was proud of her!
She did insist that she and I sit beside each other and below you can see a picture Adam took of the screen showing our car on the ride.  That's Adam and Julien in the very front and Ava is right behind Julien.  When the ride was over, I asked her, "what did you think?"  She said, "I kept my head down and eyes closed the WHOLE time".  Funny girl.  You can barely see her ducked head below.
Here are Ava and Adam as we waited in line for "Snow White's Scary Adventure" ride.
We happened upon Minnie Mouse as we walked through the park.
Adam and Ava on another roller coaster.  Ava rode 3 roller coasters and we were so proud of how well she did!
Here we are in Mickey's house.  We weaved all through his house while we waited in line to meet him.  It was really cute.  Ava was checking out Pluto's bed here.
Here we are with Mickey Mouse!  Ava was WAY more excited when we met the Disney Princesses.
Here Ava and I are getting ready to ride another roller coaster.  It was a beautiful day in the park...perfect weather.
Hands...okay, well...hand in the air!!!!
Here's the Pirates Treehouse on the little Pirate Island.  It was such a neat place with real caves that you could explore and buried treasure and everything.  My favorite part that day.
Our little princess loved getting to see Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
Here's a pic we took on Manhattan Beach.  I thought we'd get a sweet picture of the girls and I.  Ah-hem.  Obviously Ava had another idea on what the emotion of the picture should be.  Also, check out where Elizabeth is sticking her toes.  Our girls are total hams.
Adam helped Ava write her name in the sand.  Gosh, she's cute.
Elizabeth could have played in that sand ALL day and never gotten tired of it.  I swear, we found sand coming off of the girls and all of our stuff for at least a week after we got home!
Hang ten!!  Elizabeth was ready to take the waves on Julien's boogyboard.  This is Adam's favorite shot of Elizabeth on the trip.
I love how sweet and girlie Ava looks as she's walking into the ocean in the pic below.
So, Manhattan Beach is apparently "the home of beach volleyball".  There happened to be one of the biggest volleyball tournaments of the year going on while we were there.  We got to see the men's and women's Olympic gold winning teams play.  Adam was on cloud 9.  Hey, he used to tear it up in Brownsville, back in the day!
The girls and I buried Adam...it's a tradition now.  Elizabeth just wasn't sure what was going on, though.

She kept trying to dig Adam out and figure out where his body was.  SO cute!
The weather on the beach was nice, but not too hot.  The water was WAY too cold for me, though!  Adam and Ava had no problems getting in.
One evening we brought a picnic of grilled burgers to the beach.  It was beautiful that time of day and the food was yummy.
The gulls were anxious for our leftovers and the kids were all too pleased to help them out.
Elizabeth loved walking along barefoot in the wet sand.
We had a wonderful family vacation and so appreciate Ann, Ross and Julien for allowing us to be guests in their lovely home.  Big thanks to Noelle and Julien for their hospitality to us while we were there.