You can't celebrate Halloween without carving some pumpkins! Although, now that I think about it, I am pretty sure this is only the 2nd time we've carved them since Addison and Fischer were born.

Addison said she wanted a happy face and Fischer said he wanted a mad face. So Scott got to work drawing and cutting.

The kids helped clean out the pumpkins a little bit, but they were a little grossed out by the pumpkin innards. :) Addison liked smelling the inside of her pumpkin though...

And Fischer just ran around and was his silly self until it was time to put his pumpkin back on the step.

They were SO excited to light the candles when it got dark that night.

Some things never change!

Then....

February 2010

March 2010

And now...

Who needs toys?! Yesterday, Addison and Fischer played in Lucy's crate for 45 minutes. The one they were in today in the picture is her new crate, because she busted out of her old crate. Three times. It was a soft-sided crate and she ripped the mesh out. We knew it was a gamble buying one like that. I guess we lost. :) But the kids loved it because it had all kinds of zippers to play with. This new one isn't as exciting but they still managed to entertain themselves for quite awhile. Luckily Lucy is happy to share her house with them. :)

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:

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!

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!

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! :)

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! :)