Thursday, November 15, 2007

One Little, Two Little





One little, two little, three little indians - just wouldn't be a Thanksgiving feast without 14 three year olds singing that song, would it?

Xander had his Thanksgiving feast today - so cute!

His class had Chick Fil A chicken nuggets, grapes, goldfish, pumpkin muffins and a chocolate iced cookie.

Just what they had at that first feast, right?

American Girl Day









Mikaela celebrated Christmas with her Nana a few weeks early. It was a day neither could wait any longer for!

For as long as I can remember we have been receiving American Girl catalogues. I don't know how we got on that mailing list, but every few weeks a new glorious doll catalogue appears in our mailbox.

Such fun we have - we look at each page, pick out our favorite dolls, our favorite outfits, and yes, our favorite accessories.

Waiting to be 5. 5 is how old you are when you can go to the American Girl Company to pick out a doll. 5 is when you are big enough to know what a special doll this is to receive. 5 is when you are old enough to take care of and love this doll. For those of you that haven't been, 5 years is how long it takes to save up for the trip!

Mikaela and her Nana set off bright and early. Mikaela was all dressed up for the occasion - her new "skinny" jeans, her new shirt with matching vest, and most importantly her new boots!

They began by attending a Bitty Baby Class. You and your doll color pictures, sing songs,and have snack.

Next, was the shopping! If you haven't perused the options - let me help you:

http://www.americangirl.com/stores/location_atl.php#experiences

Mikaela chose twins - yes, two dolls. Must have brown hair and brown eyes like her. Must have one boy and one girl like her house. Must be perfect.

Dolls chosen. Now - to name them. Rosella for the girl, Rosi for short (only a princess name would do). And Antonio for the boy, Toni for short (again only the name of a prince). For those who don't live in Barbie Magic land - those are the names of the latest prince and princess from their movie.

Accessories - a must. A double jogging stroller, pajamas and a hair brush were chosen easily.

On to lunch. Lunch - now there is special treat. Highchairs are brought to your bistro table for your doll to sit in. Menus for all - yes even Rosi and Toni. Mikaela had macaroni and cheese, a fruit skewer and pink lemonade (and a powdered sugar dusted cookie for dessert).

Exhausted after such big decision making, she and Rosi promptly fell asleep in the car leaving Toni to help Nana drive.

Happy Whole Hand Braedon!




We had the privilege of celebrating Braedon's 5th birthday with him last Sunday. And yes - it was at our favorite play place, Chuck E Cheese!

Armed with tokens - lots of tokens - we had a blast!

Mikaela has learned to play skee ball (bringing much contentment to mommy!), and Xander takes great thrill in games with lots of buttons (yes, just like his father).


On My Honor, I will try



We have ventured into yet another organized activity - Daisy Scouts. When I see we, I mean all three of us. Mikaela is a brand new daisy scout, I am a leader, and Xander........well, it was voted on the first meeting that he be either a stem or a leaf - but not a daisy.

Every Thursday, Mikaela proudly wears her trendy pink rimmed daisy t-shirt to school with her matching daisy hair bow. To scout meetings, we add the blue tunic with our troop number, American flag and pins.

Only 3 meetings in, and Mikaela has already earned an award. She earned her "center" - by stating the Girl Scout Promise.

For those who want to go retro with me, do you remember?

On my honor
I will try
to serve God and my country
to help people at all times
and to live by the girl scout law

Don't forget to raise your 3 fingers on right hand!

She'll be Riding Around the Lake when she comes.....



Mikaela has turned into quite the bicyclist! She puts on those jeans, boots, helmet and purse (yes, you read that right - she rides her bike with a pocketbook!) and takes off!

The kids new favorite park has a great bike trail where Xander and I can watch Mikaela as she laps us. It also has a playground - complete with mommy work out equipment.

Isn't chasing two children around a park on bikes a work out?

Xander Scores!






Xander Scores!

Xander won his first trophy -

Truthfully, they really should have given me a trophy. I ran, I dribbled, I shot, I scored, I cheered, I cajoled, I encouraged - it was mommy soccer.

Nonetheless - I will admit, nothing cuter than the X Man exclaiming "I got a trophy Momma."

Friday, November 2, 2007

Trick or Treat!







While Christmas is the favorite holiday of Tommy and I, I think Xander has discovered that Halloween is his.

First, you get to leave the house in your dress up clothes - whatever you want to wear!

Then, you get to carry around a cool Superman bucket.

You get to have your own flashlight and walk around outside when it is dark outside.

AND - you get to knock on everyone's door and get candy.

Now that I think about it, what could be better than that?

Mikaela went trick or treating as a Snow Princess. Xander chose Sporaticus. For those not familiar with the TV show Lazy Town, he is a superhero!

The kids had a blast!

They picked their favorite pieces out, and left their candy out for the Great Pumpkin (otherwise known as the candy fair). She came in the middle of the night, took all the candy away, and left cool new toys! Mikaela got a Disney Princess Junior Monopoly and Xander got a new construction puzzle.

(Mommy and daddy won't be gaining 10 more pounds eating Halloween candy - that was gift enough!)

Community Helper Day



Mikaela's kindergarten class celebrated Community Helper day at school on October 31st. Each classmate got to come dressed up as a community helper.

Can you spot our nurse?

Mikaela got to take snack - we took:

Trash can drinks (little Hugs)
Sheriffs badges (star muffins)
Healthy hearts (heart shaped strawberry muffins)
Hammers (cheese cubes attached to pretzels)
Apple slices- an apple a day keeps the doctor away!


And the Winner is...........





I saved the best part of our day at Stone Mountain Park for its own post!

As we entered the park, we spotted the Pie Eating Contest. A certain competitive member of our family knew he had to become a contestant.

We arrived a few moments before the contest began - 12:30. The announcer quickly chose the junior division - three kids under 13. Then, on to the senior division (yes, Tommy is now a SENIOR). The first one chosen was a teenage boy. Tommy was quickly chosen second, and someone's grandma got the third and final seat.

The announcer quickly turned our last name into "Throw Kill" and managed to tell quite a few funny jokes with it! The crowd was very amused:).

The rules were given - you have 1 1/2 minutes to eat as much pumpkin pie as you can. The catch - yes you guessed, with NO hands!

Each contestant was adorned with a plastic garbage bag to keep their clothes cleaned.

Ready, set, EAT!

Mikaela and I cheered - GO DADDY!

Check out our video clip for the last 30 seconds!

The winners were announced - and yes, the Daddy won!




Thursday, November 1, 2007

Stone Mountain Pumpkin Fest







Saturday we headed out to Stone Mountain Park for the fall Pumpkin Festival. The weather was gorgeous, our picnics were packed (no more $5 hot dogs for us!), and we had extra batteries for the camera!

We began our day with meeting the talking pumpkin - he had great stories to tell. Then we headed into the maze - Daddy and Xander were the winners! While they raced through, Mommy and Mikaela investigated every silly corner.

The maze emptied into a bubble fest - yes, bubbles, bubbles everywhere! All 3 kids had so much fun (I can still count, if you had seen Tommy, you would have counted him in your kid count too!). Check out the video in the link of Mikaela trapped inside the bubbles.

From there, our mystery machine had to stop and meet Scooby Doo. The kids got tattoos of scobby doo, the Jetsons (who are they mommy?), and other retro cartoon classics!

Next, we headed to the art village - a few bottles of glue, paint, slime, googley eyes and clothespins - who wouldn't be having a good time? We made candy corn magnets, crow fliers, pumpkin and fall flower decorations, ooey gooey slime, and more!

From there we got to pick mini pumpkins to paint. Much paint was used by Xander, while Mikaela worked hard on her bee pumpkin.

We let those dry while we went for our picnic. Mommy and daddy reminisced of teenage years spent on the lawn at Stone Mountain park - probably not stuff for our family blog! We ate our picnic lunch and rested. A little soccer for daddy, Xander and Mikaela while mommy packed up our stuff.

Off to the treehouse - boys vs. girls! We raced through the treehouse and down the twisty slides. Then, on to the ropes course. We were all quite suprised to find out our princess is also quite the ropes course professional! Mikaela soared through twice - no rope was too small, no rope swung too high, no rope was too scary for her.

We finished our day with the long walk back to the parking lot - with two tired parents!