Halloween 2013

Halloween was a huge hit this year!  Avery dressed up as Merida from the Disney movie Brave and Cate was Snow White.  Ironically, they're not girly girls.  They're well rounded but lean towards tom boy instead of princess.  Regardless, they had a blast trick r treating with friends.

 We went over to the Garretts again for Halloween (this is becoming a tradition) where we ate pizza and played before heading out.  They live around the corner from my in laws so we met up with them to trick r treat too.  Brian, Catherine & Brooks were with us briefly  but it was so chaotic that I never even got a picture of the cousins together. 

 Avery and James Thomas were hand in hand most of the night.  They love each other.  Such sweet friends!  Lindsay (James Thomas' momma) and I have been friends for almost 15 years.  We've been through some crazy times together and I love that our kids get to grow up together.

Halloween was perfect timing for our Disney trip.  The girls get to wear their costumes again next week:)  I'm all about getting my money's worth out of costumes!!

Special Delivery

Last week the girls were surprised by a special delivery from the one and only Mickey Mouse!  He delivered, via balloons, some treats for Avery & Cate along with a note telling them how excited he is to see them.  We're twelve days away from the BIG day!  And we can hardly wait.

 Mickey gave them mouse ear hats and water bottles with their names on them.  He also gave them some comfy new Crocs to wear around the parks.  Of course, they had new Disney jibbitz in them!

See, I told you it wouldn't be another three months before I blogged again!  Ha, I'm getting better.  Halloween pictures coming soon and of course our big trip too...

Alive and busy!!

Yep, I know it's been three months since I've even looked at this blog!  I used to be so good about blogging.  Not so much anymore.  So I'll just jump into it: we've been busy.  Bad excuse but it's the truth.  We enjoyed the end of our summer then started getting ready for school.

 Avery started Pre-K at St. John Vianney and loves it.  This is her fourth and last year there and we've had such a great experience with this notsolittlenanymore church preschool.  She's always had fantastic teachers and sweet kiddos in her class.  I'm not sure I can even talk about Kindergarten yet.  It's quickly approaching and I'm mildly freaking out.  I have to register her in JANUARY!!!

This little jellybean started gymnastics the same day big sister started back to school.  And it has been the perfect activity for her!  She has always been a monkey, jumping and skipping all over the house.  Not to brag, but she's a natural.  Watch yourself Mary Lou!

 These sisters like to push each others buttons and rile the other up frequently.  But they are also turning into sweet friends.  They play side by side often and I can sometimes catch a sweet moment like this one.  Avery wants to read to Cate every night.  Cate...she's not always up for it.

 Cate and I have gotten to spend some one on one time together and I love it.  We had a ton of fun at the children's museum one day while Avery was at school.  I worry sometimes that they don't get the attention they need from us individually.  So I have no problem with Cate not being in school yet.  Because she and I get to spend the time together that Avery and I did before Cate came along.

 Avery is playing soccer for the first time this fall.  She's playing through our church's league and she's playing with her good buddy James Thomas!  They have tons of fun together.  The Tigers have had a rocky season...their first game was rained out, the second game called off after 10 minutes of playing (lightening), I think they lost the next two games, and their one this past weekend was cancelled too (rain again).  Avery doesn't care, she's having a blast.  And she loves to have her entourage come and watch her games.  Every Saturday she asks who's going to be at her game.  So far GiGi, Uncle Brian, Aunt Catherine, Brooks, Nana and Pops have all come to cheer her on.  And Grammie is coming to town in a few weeks to see her play!

 We did our annual pumpkin patch visit for some pictures.  And we came home with a family of pumpkins for our front step.  AND...the big news in the Shelfer household is we're going to DISNEY WORLD!  We leave in 21 days and the only thing anyone can talk about (except for Mark) is Disney World.  The girls "play" Disney alllllllll day long.  They pretend they're making a parade, riding on rides, meeting characters.  They ask to watch Disney videos on youtube all the time.  We started our official countdown today.  I think we'll all be depressed and in denial when we get home (again, except for Mark).

I promise I'll TRY not to let three months go by again.  Plus, I'll have probably a thousand pictures to share from our Disney trip!!! See ya real soon (yes, that's a shameless Mickey Mouse reference).

{ circus }

We just got home from the circus and the girls had the time of the lives!  They LOVED it so much.  Even Cate sat completely still, glued to the acts for the first twenty minutes or so.  She doesn't sit still for anything.

 Avery has now declared that she wants to be a circus trick horse rider.  Aim high baby girl, aim high.  She loved the horses and all the tricks that the riders preformed.  Cate's favorite was the elephants which was my favorite too.  She kept calling out for Dumbo!  They had just watched the movie this morning.

 

The circus always came to town in August, right around my and Meredith's birthdays, so we spent many a birthday under the big top!!!  I would've gone to the circus even if I didn't have kids.  It was such a blast.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July and celebrated hard!  We started the day off by decorating Avery's bike and the wagon so we could ride in our neighborhood parade.  They do a great job and we had the firetruck from the station down the street, several motorcycle police officers, a few police cars, a bright red corvette and lots of neighbors.  It was fun to participate this year.  We've always been spectators before.

After nap time, Brian, Catherine & Brooks as well as GiGi, Nana and Pops came over.  The kids swam and played in the backyard while Mark grilled dinner.  We didn't go see fireworks this year because we were so tired.  Knowing we'll see plenty of fireworks when we go to Disney World in November justified missing them this time.

 Monkey see, monkey do :)