Halloween

Despite buying Lex a pumpkin to carve, she just never found the time to carve one. Liv was only willing to wait for so long and finally decided to go it alone.

She did a great job, this is the first year Nate and I let her use all the sharp objects all by herself. Super spooky!

Nate was able to make it to the Halloween parade at school, unfortunately this is the best picture he got of Liv. She is the blue crayon hiding behind her hat, what the? This child of ours is so strange sometimes!

Her and her friend, also named Olivia, dressed as blue crayons together (sitting next to her in the picture above) and went trick or treating tonight with a big group of friends.

Best part of the night, the sorting of the candy!

Nate and I stayed in with the animals to pass out candy, here you see the varying degree's of Baby's bitch-i-ness. Baby also did a ridiculous amount of barking, and Bella had a near escape when she was almost quicker than my cat like reflexes that snatched her by her tail and hauled her back in the house!




Lexi was off with her friends for trick or treating as a nerd and sadly I didn't get a picture of her (I am sure she will post some of FB)... I am losing my finesse, maybe I never had any!

In other news:

I still hate rotations. I can't think of anything nice to say so I won't say anything at all... still hoping that things will eventually get easier.

And.... Lexi was invited to play with the varsity soccer team during their playoffs (the only player they pulled up). She has been able to practice with them after school every day and during the first game got to play the last 20 minutes. This has been a really good opportunity for her, it is amazing the difference in skill and the level of play between JV to varsity.

And, also... Liv will be starting recreation basketball this coming week, so we are looking forward to that. Lexi will also be trying out for the school team in a few weeks so between the two they will keep us plenty busy.

Hope you all had a Spooktacular Halloween!

A party with new friends

Today we invited Liv's classmates over for her 10th birthday party.

Every year I say, "this is the LAST time we are having the party at our house, it is too much work" and every year we do it anyways!

Liv decided she wanted to do makeovers. So I let them loose with some makeup and I recruited Lex and her friend Anna to help me paint nails.

Here Liv is puckering up those beautiful pouty lips she was born with!

Every body's fingernails turned out beautiful.

Liv was showered with some fabulous gifts... clothes, jewelry, books, stuffed animals, crafts, makeup, even a lava lamp... I guess we can't be cheap when she gets an invite :)

Here we are with one of Liv's friends mom. Her name is Kimberly Thompson and she is the author of the book 'Toulouse on the Loose' among others. She gave Liv a signed copy so we snagged a photo with her before she left.

Then it was time for ice cream sundaes... the kids were slightly out of control, especially when it came to the whip cream.

Then with a nice sugar high they turned up the music and boogied down and struck a few poses. It was a pretty fun party!



A few other things that have been going on:

The tortoise formerly known as Gary is doing great, he has been renamed George.

The furry animals are doing good too. Bella doing her best to fit on the love seat with me.

Baby has started to curl up in one of the baskets I keep some throw blankets in... filthy animal!

The Homecoming Dance was a couple of weekends ago so here are a few pictures of Lex and her friends. She went with a group of her girlfriends... of course they met up with some boys later on.

They all met at one of her girlfriends' home for some before pictures.

Lexi and ONE of the cute boys she has been hanging out with lately... this gives me stomach ulcers!

Liv has been helping me take care of my friends cat this weekend. We had to lure him out of hiding with some treats to get him to come close to us the first day. Sorry for the crappy picture quality, all I had was my phone.

But we all became fast friends!

He loves Liv... belly rubs and being craddled like a baby, I am going to have to ask my friend to take regular vacations so we can spend more time with him.

I am thinking we NEED a cat.... he is sooooo cute and cuddly! Nate and his damn allergies, I am sure I will eventually come up with a plan to have one of these.

Double Digits

Livi turned ten yesterday... Happy Birthday!!!! We had her family party and next weekend we will have her friends party. She opened presents in the afternoon.

Lexi got her a beautiful Sister's necklace that is engraved with the saying, "Chance made us sisters, hearts made us friends." AHHH, melts my mommy heart!

Nate and I bought her a desert kit aquarium, with the promise of a trip to the pet store for a tortoise. Yes, a tortoise. We had been planning on getting her a fish aquarium, I had Jen feeding me info on various fish and maintenance. A few days before I went to purchase the dang fish stuff Liv mentions that what she really wants is a Russian tortoise, she asked for fish because she didn't think we would let her have a turtle. Of course, we are softies and now we are proud owners of a reptile!

We made a quick trip to the pet store where she snatched up her tortoise. Here he is... Gary Cornelius. Lovingly referred to as Gar Bear, like on Spongebob.

And as soon as she put him in his cage he buried his head in a corner, here is a great picture of his backside.



She had cleared this spot on her desk several weeks ago in hopes of an aquarium of some sorts for her birthday... the perfect spot.

Then it was off to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.

Liv decided she wanted the ultimate brownie with peanut butter cup ice cream for dessert. It was delicious! What a fun day... HAPPY BIRTHDAY Liv!