Busy Nothings

The girls have been sick, yet again! It seems we've been stuck in the house a lot lately because of illnesses and today it was too cold to even go on a walk. Instead we found ourselves in Madelyn's room doing nothing when I remembered some owl bloomers I needed to put on Olive before she out grew them. I'm constantly reminded how grateful I am that we have a way to capture life's moments. 

M3 happenings: 
-talking, talking, talking
-climbing, climbing, climbing
-barely started to end most sentences with "momma"- just wish I knew what she was saying
-going through a phase where we have to lay down with her at night in order for her to sleep
-she will only sleep in the corner of her room on the floor (not sure if I should be worried)
-potty training and doing really well (we've discovered it's NOT for the faint of heart)

OC happenings:
-loves taking baths
-smiles, smiles, smiles
-has giggled twice and it's music to my ears! 
-doesn't mind getting smothered by sister 
-barely found her feet
-has become independent and loves the floor mat & exersaucer (I believe me working has helped with this!)
-will only fall asleep on dad when we're out (which is usually just church)

Dahlonega

In the middle of October we found time to meet in Dahlonega as a family. Not just our immediate family but our half siblings as well. It was so delightful! We try to make it up there as often as possible and visit the waterfalls where we spread my dads ashes. There's nothing special that we do except enjoy the scenery and time together. After keeping the kids from swimming down the creek, we walked (since it was Goldrush weekend) to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It made my heart happy to be with the entire group that day in honor of dad. 

Halloween 2013

Life isn't slowing down any time soon but we are doing our very best to enjoy the ride. This year for Halloween all the cousins came down and I made pizza for everyone before trick or treating. A few weeks beforehand I tried to teach Maddie to say "trick or treat" but she didn't see the point...until I gave her an orange plastic pumpkin! To her delight strange people put candy in it and she couldn't be stopped. In fact, at one house she saw a stuffed dog on the floor and yelled "dog!!" and the lady asked if she could have it, and who are we to pass up free stuffed dogs? The second Maddie was handed the dog she gently put it on her shoulder and rubbed it with her cheek. She clearly knows when to ham things up when necessary and the lady just about melted. I did too. We had a blast running around the neighborhood with the kids and M3 couldn't get enough of the cousins doting on her. 

Our neighborhood has a fire station at it's entrance, so they drive both trucks around handing out candy. Definitely the highlight of the evening for our little M.

My mom made all the costumes here except Mason the Mummy. 

The stuffed dog...