And the Halloween Fun Continues...

Of course the daycare had dress up day....

Raegan loves to ham it up in front of the cameras these days.

And now a visit to the past.....

                              This was Halloween 2008.  Peyton wore the same little outfit to go trick-or-treating.

Early Halloween Pictures

                               Peyton playing with the new Barbie her great-grandmother sent her.

                                  Raegan was not a happy camper.  This picture is so funny to me.

                                 Peyton dragging  leading Peyton.

Big Red

                                         My new favorite drink.  Have you ever had this stuff? 

Can You Tell Me How to Get...

Want to know what we spent our Saturday morning doing? Sesame Street and Friends at the New Orleans Arena!  Someone gave me four free tickets, and while I wasn't exactly in awe of this performance, there was a little three year old girl who had the time of her life.  Peyton loved it.  And I loved watching the joy on her face!

                                            She was on the edge of her seat the whole time.

                                           Raegan had a blast.  This was two minutes into the show.

A Daddy and his little girls after the show.

Fall Fest

Want to know what we've been doing at work?

Painting our faces

Eating Movie-style popcorn!

Doing a "Cake Walk" to win some yummy goodies

Fishing for candy

This past Tuesday at work, we had a Fall Fest for the students. We had lots of fun, ate WAY too much junk food, and jammed out to some music. Not a bad way to spend a day at work!

The Crockpot

One might ask, "Does it take a Ph.D. to operate a crockpot?"  Apparently, the crockpot not only requires a Ph.D., but a Ph.D. in rocket science.  My brilliant husband, whom I asked to start the crockpot the other morning, cooked meat on the "warm" setting for over 8 hours.  My crockpot is not complicated.  It's not digital.  It's bright red and has three settings...warm, low, and high.  But apparently for Arnold, cooking meat is just a little too much to ask.  He chose the "warm" setting, thinking that a big huge chunk of meat "warming" all day would do the job.  Do you know how disappointing it is to come home thinking that a nice dinner is ready for you only to discover a bloody slab of meat that's been soaking all day in brown gravy mix?  Well, eight hours after five pm, the meat was ready.  But I was in bed, hungry by that point.  The meat was good the next day, and no one got sick from it, so I guess you could still say it was a success.  Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad though if this wasn't the second time he had done this with the crockpot.  But I've learned my lesson. Crockpots are too complex for the male species.  :)

Birthday Party Part 2

And last, present pictures from Peyton's party. That's a lot of "P's"!  There's nothing like Barbies and Dora toys, at least to a three year old.

And the picture below has nothing to do with a party, but I thought Peyton drew a pretty good duck below.  Last time I noticed she was scribbling all over the paper, walls, floors, and anything else.  Now my big girl is drawing ducks on paper that actually look better than something I would draw. (I am, by the way, NOT an artist or in any way artistic).  Sure her duck looks like a jelly bean with legs, but it's so cute and she was so proud!

Birthday Party Fun Part I

My "baby" turned three yesterday, and it is still blowing my mind.  Three years old??!!  Where did the time go?  How is it possible that three years ago, I gave birth to that little ball of energy, intensity, meltdowns, laughter, and sweetness?  All those adjectives I just listed can describe Peyton at any point in a day.  Peyton has rocked our world, that's for sure!  But in a good way. 
We celebrated with a small little party at the house...cupcakes, and presents....She was delighted beyond belief at the thought of cupcakes, and would not have thought that anything else was necessary in order to throw a great party. So much so that she decided that she would sample a whole batch of them, 12 to be exact, while I went upstairs to change Raegan's diaper.

                                                   even Raegan loves cupcakes

Amazed Again

Do you ever get amazed at some of the things God does?  This has been one of those weeks for me.  And while I can't say that life is very easy right now, I'm still amazed at God and what He's been doing.  In spite of ourselves, all I can say is, WOW. 

"Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseaeses, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."  Psalm 103:1-5

Letter to My Shoplifter

Dear Raegan,

Next time you decide to grab a pair of underwear and sit on it in your stroller, please let Mommy know so that I can pay for it.  It's really embarrasing to have the buzzer go off as you leave the store, only to have to explain to the saleslady that you did in fact pay for all your stuff.  And then even more embarrasing to have to go back and sheepishly explain what happened after discovering later that one of us *cough Raegan* in our party did in fact swipe something from the store.  And then to have her give you a dirty look like you're not telling the truth and say, "Well, I guess, at least you brought them back" is just wrong.  This is not cool Raegan! Haven't I taught you better!?? 

Love,
Mommy