Winter Wonderland

They had a winter wonderland at one of the parks last week. There was a huge line to see Santa, so we skipped it and went straight to desert. They had gourmet cupcakes and treats - so the kids ate candy canes. Ginny also did a craft, but Chace and Alana were not in the mood. Then we went to a 3D light display- Chace loved trying on all the different kinds of glasses to see snowmen, angels, reindeer and more. Then we got to pet some kittens and puppies, and back home. They actually had a map of the festivities, which Chace enjoyed deciphering and following.

Visiting Santa

We went to visit Santa Tuesday night. The kids were not into sitting on Santa's lap. Here's Chace trying to remember everything he wants (he can ask for 3 things).

Alana told me the night before she wanted to give Santa a big hug and ask for a green present. He's a little scarier in reality than on Dora, but she was willing to cautiously approach and ask for a toy. When we were getting dressed, she added the crown so she could look "all pretty."

Classic Toy- the big box

The best toys are always the classics. In this case, the big box. Fun for hours and hours!

Thanksgiving in Tennessee

We were back in Tennessee for Thanksgiving this year. We got to spend time with Aunt Bonnie and Cousin John and Tanya which was really nice. The weather was pretty cold, so when the kids started to get Cabin Fever, it was off the the Chattanooga Discovery Center, our favorite!

Animal Day at Preschool

The Friday before Thanksgiving was a Pet Day at Alana's Preschool. Her teacher brought in 2 miniature horses, a goat, chickens, and a dog for the kids too see. Alana liked the little blonde horse. It had the same hair color! After that, the Creature Teacher brought in an African Hedgehog for the kids to see. It was very cute, but I forgot to get a picture.

Birthday Party fit for a Princess.

We had a princess party for Alana's 3rd Birthday. Of course we started with pizza followed by cake. Chace and Alana both wanted to put candles on the cake, so she ended up with 5 candles instead of 3, which was fine.

We invited older girls that were also Chace's friends, so he wouldn't feel left out. Chace and the older kids went out to play while Alana and Lauren opened gifts. She loved all of them.

Afterwards, all the girls came in and happily spent the next hour painting Disney Princess and Fairy Statues. Alana made this wonderfully colorful Snow White. Everyone had a great day. I kind of liked having only one 3 year old at the party!

Greensboro Natural Science Center

Alana was off preschool on her birthday, so we went to GNSC to play. First she got to garden....

Then she checked the heart, lungs, throat and ears of every single stuffed animal in the museum....

Then we had to get a picture in the flea? spider? I don't know.

Happy 3rd birthday Alana!

Swiss Miss

This is a dress from Switzerland given to me by my grandmother when I was Alana's age. I don't remember wearing it, but I do enjoy seeing Alana in it now! So cute!

Fall Leaves

It's that time of year again- playing in the piles of leaves. When Chace was Alana's age he liked to do the same thing.

Preschool Fall Program

Last Thursday Alana's Preschool had their Fall Program. They gave us a chance to see some of the things they do in school, like Church Chat and Music class. At this age, the don't have the children stand up and sing- they aren't ready for it yet. You can see that Alana is ready for Christmas already!

Twirling

Alana loves her birthday dress! Just look at her twirl!

Halloween

Like last weekend, we had several more events rained out. Luckily, the rains let up long enough for us to go Trick-Or-Treating.

Chace pictures

I try to post equal numbers of pictures of Alana and Chace, but sometimes that's difficult. Here's a couple of just Chace.

Have I mentioned Mango is a lap cat? He will just snuggle in.

Chace's 3rd grade school photo.

Boo at the Zoo

Halloween events have been getting rained out left and right here, but fortunately it stayed dry enough for us to go to Boo at the Zoo Sunday. The zoo in Asheville is one of the largest in the States, but we only saw a few animals this time. The kids were having too much fun playing games, painting with water, playing on the playground, and riding the carousal to actually look at the animals! We had to insist on at least seeing the elephants and polar bear, and happened to walk by the ostriches, zebras, giraffes, and gorillas.

Chace is in a "too cool for school" phase right now, and thinks scowling for photos looks good. He's been having a lot of fun with his friend Jacob.

Obviously, we have been raising Alana right since out of all the different animals, she wanted to ride the alligator.

The boys were too cool to ride. Apparently swan seats are more manly.

Alana has gotten her picture taken on this bug for the last couple of years. Look how she's grown!

The zoo has this great playground with oversized vegetables to climb on.

Mural

These boards are to go outside Chace's classroom. They're from the Lorax by Dr. Suess.

Alana has discovered Dr. Suess and they are now her favorite bedtime stories. Especially Green Eggs and Ham. I even made green eggs for her the other day, but she wouldn't eat them.

New Friends

You know its love when a dog will let a kitten eat out of his food bowl. Or the dog really understands his place in the world.

"Napping" with Mango

Alana loves loves loves Mango. She hauls him around and tries to do whatever he's doing. Here she is "napping" on the back of the couch like Mango.

Blue is boring....

New variation on an old favorite in honor of Halloween. Instead of coloring herself blue she decided black lips would be much more fun. At first I thought she'd stuck a big bat sticker on her face.

Fall Festival

Posing with balloon animals.

Fishing for prizes.

Chace's school had their fall festival on Saturday. We brought along Chace's friend Ginny (which led to our new kitten, her mom has been trying to get one more of the kittens adopted). Chace and Ginny especially enjoyed all the games. Well, really they liked the prizes- they each had a collection of vampire teeth by the end. There was also pumpkin painting, mask decorating, clowns, balloons, free popcorn, snow cones, and cotton candy. Alana liked the inflatable slide the best. We spent a fun two hours at the festival- and it was all free!

Introducing Mango

It was inevitable. I finally broke down and brought Alana's favorite kitten home on Saturday. The kids both love Mango, but Lolly and Tony are less than thrilled. Mango is very gentle and loves attention. A real lap cat. Last night I ended up reading a story with both Alana and Mango in my lap! I'm just hoping my allergies settle down quickly.

Firefighter Alana

Dance Time

The kids have some new moves....

McTeacher's Night

Last week we went to McTeacher's Night at McDonald's, where the teachers serve and cleanup. Chace spent the whole time up in the tubes somewhere, only coming down briefly to go see his teachers. Alana liked this slide, since it was just her size.

Baking "Cupcakes"

One of Alana's favorite things to do now is make "cupcakes" (usually blue berry muffins). She loves putting the papers into the muffin pan. She will get out everything we need and pull over the chair herself. On this particular day, she kept telling me to go sit down, since she wanted to do the whole thing herself.

Rainy Day Fun

These two have never met a puddle they didn't like.

Toddler Mutant Ninja Turtle

My house was taken over by Toddler and Pre-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Sunday. They stayed dressed up in their costumes all day long. Then I found the correct weapons for each character which made them even better.

With Lauren's influence, Alana did decide to put on her princess costume after she spilled water on her turtle costume.

Halloween Preview

With only 7 weeks left till Halloween, we are getting bombarded with deals for Halloween costumes. I've already found a blue Cinderella dress for Alana. Chace decided that he wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle this year. Specifically he wants to be Donatello, who has a purple mask. Of course, they are only making the turtles with the blue and red masks this year, but we will manage with a couple alterations. I found this costume at Target Friday. Chace loves wearing costumes, so he immediately put it on. Alana saw Chace dressed up, and of course, you know what she wants to be for Halloween now too.

Ah well, the princess costume can wait for next year. It was a size 4 anyways.

Back to School

Alana started preschool on Tuesday. She wasn't sure about it when she first walked in, and then she spotted the My Little Ponies. Now she's Ready to Go! every morning so that she can get her pony. It lives in her cubby now waiting for her.

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At the Beachves

On Friday we decided to zip over to Myrtle Beach for Labor Day. We thought it was going to be a gorgeous weekend, but of course as soon as we got there, so did the rain clouds. But we still had a lot of fun. Newton and Chace went to MagiQuest, where Chace used his dragon wand to complete several quests. It's kind of like a live-action video game. The hotel had a great kids pool and a lazy river, where we spent several hours playing. On the beach, Alana worked on making sand castles while Chace tried to make a tide pool. Chace and I also went out and rode on the water with a boogie board. Alana liked to run back and forth on the beach so that the water couldn't catch her.