Wednesday, October 31, 2012

When Addison and Fischer chose coordinating Halloween costumes, all on their own, I was so excited!  Last year, they still didn't have much say in their costumes but this year they knew exactly what they wanted to be! Their favorite show right now is Jake and the Never Land Pirates, so they were positive they wanted to be Jake and Izzy. They have enjoyed wearing their costumes to several things over the past few days! This morning, they got to dress up for school.

Here are some pictures from a few weeks ago. It's the one and only time Addison wore the wig that came with her costume. Even with some bribery, she only left it on for about 3 minutes so I had no choice but to be satisfied with the pictures I got. :) And they are saying "Ahoy!" in the pictures.






And just for fun, here are some Halloween pictures from the past 3 years:







Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Saturday, October 13, we had another fun thing planned! The VFW down the road, which Scott is a member of, was holding it's annual fall festival. And everything was free!



They had a bouncy house, a fire truck (Fischer got to push all the buttons and sound the siren), a police car (both kids sat in the back..haha), hot dogs, cookies, chips, face panting and some fun games set up.



Addison especially loved carrying the bean bags over and placing them in the hole. She won everytime! :)


The weather was perfect and since it was a game day, the kids got to debut their Gamecock-colored football shirts!




Monday, October 29, 2012

On Friday, October 12, we headed to the South Carolina State Fair!

I love the fair, and was talking about going this year right after we went last year. The kids had fun last year but I just knew they would love it at this age. I was right!

Even though Addison had a cold, she was feeling up to going. They went to school that morning and then Scott and I picked them up together (which they always love!) and headed straight to the fair for lunch.

Fischer's choice was obvious: Pizza.



Addison decided she wanted a corn dog:



And we all shared some fries, and then later got some lemonade. And finally an order of fresh doughnuts - that was our bribe to get them to leave. :) Sometimes bribery is needed.

While we were there, Addison and Fischer rode a lot of rides! They were tall enough this year to ride most of them alone. I was a little nervous about this but after I saw how much fun they were having, it got a little easier.



Scott and I got to ride a few rides too. We all rode the caterpillar roller coaster and then yellow bus. The bus just goes around in a big circle, in both directions. Addison wasn't so sure about it but Fischer loved it. It was so funny listening to him scream like he was on some thrilling ride. They both did that on the roller coaster too.






We also saw a lot of animals, but managed to not spend any money on the games.



I can't wait to go back next year!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

When we got back from our trip, the kids had a package waiting on them! I saw it first and was able to stick it in a closet, because I knew it was full of Halloween goodies and I wanted to save it for another day.

A couple of days later, it was a yucky, rainy day. The perfect time to pull out the package and let the kids open it! It was from Aunt Jamie and Uncle Chris.


Both Addison and Fischer got a Mickey Mouse Halloween bag full of all kinds of fun stuff. Their new "treasures" kept them busy for quite awhile! Fischer's favorite part was the alien that you put in water and watch it grow. Addison's favorite part was "getting all of her stuff, and the play-doh."



Thanks to Aunt Jamie and Uncle Chris for the fun stuff! :)

Monday, October 22, 2012

Lucy is now 100% a part of our family! She was before, but she has really made herself at home now. The kids love her so much and she is so good with them too. She just lays there when they mess with her paws, or stick their hands in her mouth.... :)





We are still working on her with her training everyday (we try to do it several times a day). She is a pretty easy dog and I forget that she is not even 6 months old! 


She goes into her "house" very easily! If for some reason she cries, we just say "Lucy, No!" and we don't hear another peep from her. It's rare that she cries though. She usually goes to bed around 10:30 and wakes up whenever the first human kid wakes up. We let her out, feed her, let her out again and then she just hangs out! She eats again in the evening and usually takes a long nap while the kids are napping.



I'm just so glad she is home with us and can't wait until she is allowed on the furniture! :) Part of her training is not letting her up on the furniture for several more weeks. She has to get to a point where she understands that we are inviting her up and then telling her when to get down. Not much longer now though - she can definitely sense my weakness on that! :)




Sunday, October 21, 2012

Since leaving so early in the morning when we left for Delaware worked so well, we decided to do the same thing for our drive home. 

So, on Sunday, October 7, we got up well before 6. We fed Lucy, got everything we could packed up before waking the kids up, then we finally woke them up. We pottied, changed clothes and loaded them into the car and left around 6:15 am. 

Addison and Fischer stayed awake much longer this time, but dozed off a little bit before we stopped for breakfast 2 hours later. We stopped at "Old McDonald's" again because they wanted... wait for it.... pancakes, syrup, sausage and orange juice. Unfortunately, it was very cold and rainy during our drive home so it made our stops much less enjoyable. Thankfully, we had a break from the rain just as we stopped for breakfast, so Lucy got a quick (and dry) potty break too.

Fischer, of course, fell asleep about 5 minutes before we reached the tunnels. He loved the tunnels so much on the way there and couldn't wait to go through them again on the way back. Scott and I struggled with "do we wake him up for them? or do we let him sleep??" Then we were worried if we let him sleep, Addison would rat us out because she was awake. He sort of woke up at one point so I told him about the tunnels and I know he heard me, and he went back to sleep so I felt a little better about him missing them. :)

We stopped for a bathroom, gas and snack break a couple of hours later, then ended up driving until almost 2:00 before stopping for lunch. The kids were doing pretty well even though they barely slept on the drive home. 

After lunch we only had a couple of hours left... we got home a little after 4 and all 3 kids enjoyed running around and playing while Scott and I unloaded the car.

It was a good trip, and it was so nice getting to see everyone. I'm so thankful that Addison and Fischer are such great little travelers.

One of the activities I had planned for them was a brownie tray with magnetic letters. I just knew this would keep them occupied for quite awhile in their car seats. Sadly, it only kept them occupied for about 10 minutes (at the most) but I put them away and will get them out for our next road trip.



Here are a couple of pictures of Lucy from the trip. The first is her relaxing on her bed and the second is with the friend she made on the beach!




Saturday, October 20, 2012

Saturday, October 6, was the last full day of our trip. Our plans included driving about 2.5 hours into PA to see Scott's Grandmom.

We left the condo a little before 9 and got some breakfast on the way out of town. We stopped as we got closer to pick up some sandwiches for lunch - we were going to take them to Great Grandmom's so we could eat with her. She lives in a nursing home, and they have a nice little patio out front. We took advantage of the nice weather and ate outside.



After lunch, Addison and Fischer had fun playing with the pumpkins that were sitting on each table. Addison ended up decorating one with Dora the Explorer stickers and leaving it for other residents and their families to enjoy. :)





We stayed and visited for about an hour before heading back to Delaware. On the way back, we stopped at another, bigger, boardwalk. We were hoping the little ride area would be open but they were already closed for the season. We did get some ice cream though, and the kids got to play a few games in the arcade. They earned some tickets, which they cashed in for a spinning top for Fischer and some tattoos for Addison.





Unfortunately, Helen's car was having some trouble while we were there so Scott had to do some work on her car that evening. Since his dad lives so close, he was able to drive the car over there and use some of his tools. The kids and I hung out at John's for awhile - the kids had a great time playing on the boat - not even in the boat, but on the front part. They pretended it was the boat from their favorite show, Jake and the Never Land Pirates. Once they grew tired of that, I headed back to the condo with them. Scott, John and Meg came over a little while later and brought dinner so that we could all eat together.




The South Carolina/Georgia game was also on during dinner, so I spent the meal in and out of my chair - thankfully they all know what a big fan I am and that I wasn't trying to be rude! :)

Luckily, Scott was able to get Helen's car all fixed and she was able to drive home without any issues on Sunday.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Friday morning (October 5), Fischer woke up super early ready to start the day. Whenever we are away from home, he gets up very early. At least now we know to expect it! :)

Once everyone was awake, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast out on the back deck. It was breezy and a little chilly but so nice!



After breakfast, we got dressed and headed to the boardwalk so we could walk around and look at the shops. It was still fairly early so nothing was open yet, but it was nice to be out and about. Addison and Fischer are holding hands in the second picture... I will never get tired of seeing that!





We did see "Fisher's popcorn" and it was open, so of course we had to go in and get some of that for a snack.


We headed back to the condo to meet up with Grandpop John and Grandmommy Meg. They were coming over so we could all go to the beach together.  Addison and Fischer hung out on the porch for awhile as we waited.


We all had a good time, and Fischer met up with his friend, Milo, again. It's always nice having some extra hands and eyes when we are at the beach because the kids are usually all over the place. Gone are the days of sitting on the beach and relaxing! :) The picture of the sand says "Bethany Beach '12."






After spending a good amount of time at the beach, we headed back to the condo to change and get ready for lunch. We went back to the boardwalk for pizza. Addison got chicken wings though since she doesn't care for pizza. She ate 8 wings (with lots of sauce, obviously) while Fischer ate 2 big slices of pizza. They are bottomless pits sometimes! By the way, Fischer's face in his pizza picture cracks me up.




After lunch we dropped Helen off at the condo and then we headed over to John and Meg's for the afternoon and for dinner. We drove around a bit first so the kids could nap. Fischer slept for awhile but Addison ended up staying awake the whole time.... not surprising though. :)

At John and Meg's, the kids got to fish in the back yard. With Daddy's help, both kids caught their first fish! Scott told them each to kiss their fish before throwing it back in. Fischer gave it a nice little air kiss, but Addison did a full-on kiss on the fish's face. Ew! That girl sure does love all animals though. :)






Aside from fishing, they got to run around, play on the boat and ride the golf cart around. They had a great time exploring a new place and playing with new things.



We had a great dinner, and Addison ate 4 raw clams. She wanted more but we had to cut her off. There just isn't much she won't eat - except pizza, of course. She loves raw clams and oysters though! They both ate some shrimp and a hot dog and got a cookie for the ride back to the condo.

Soon it was bedtime again. The kids laid in their beds each night and watched part of Finding Nemo before going to sleep. That helped calm them down and get them into sleep-mode! :)

Saturday was going to be another busy day so it's good that we all rested well again that night!