"Grown-up" Halloween

The "big kids" had our Halloween Party at MacDaddy's for the 3rd year in a row with door proceeds benefiting Caleb's Crusade! It was a blast, as usual! Garret caught some heat for his costume (apparently alot of people have an issue with clowns) and mine was, well, free gauze from work. Mummy? Zombie? Whatever...freeeee!!

I am still laughing...

Showing off our dance moves...Thriller, of course!

Ok, I wasn't freaked out by clowns....

Now I'm not so sure.

Halloween crafts!

I had Bella over for some fun Halloween craft time! As always, they love being together and doing something different. BFF'S :)

A little air time with Daddy before we got started.....

Newspaper taped to the beautiful hardwood floor, check. Fake smiles, check.

Footprint ghosts...BOO!

Painted pumpkin bats with handprint wings :)

Fall-ing for Fall!

FINALLY! Some sliiightly cooler weather (well, 70's but hey, we'll take what we can get!). In previous posts around this time of year I am ranting and raving over the heat...I will spare you this time ONLY because it was somewhat tolerable to be outside for a change! We decided to join Monique and Bella at the Lakes Park Fall Festival. It was much more fun this year as Maddie can do so much more than last year! She bounced, tossed, bowled, ran, jumped, rode...had a generally great time! Oh, and P.S. : it's back to the upper 80's...ugh.

A little park time before the pumpkin patch!

They were putting their faces in the openings of a bunch of scenes and she just didn't know when to stop...

Getting 2 little girls to look at the camera at the same time....nearly impossible.

Then a little "pumpkin bowling"!

Bean bag toss (Maddie just kinda shoved them in the hole...hey, whatever works!

"Hmmm....which one do I want?".....

Aunt Momo took the girls on a hayride to finish the day!

"I'm scawed..."

Suddenly, my poor, traumatized little muffin is terrified of, well, everything! I keep hearing it's a phase but I worry about her sanity between now and then, especially with Halloween around the corner! Funny thing is, it is most certainly the scary lawn ornaments in the neighborhood and creepy decorations in the stores but it's also the most mundane things she's terrified of.

We were walking the dog and I pointed out a beautiful rainbow. I stopped her and we looked at the sky together and I asked her what colors she saw. She seemed very intrigued...at first. As we kept walking, she'd keep looking behind her and finally had enough, "Hold me Mommy, hold me!". I could tell she was upset about something but could not figure out what?? "Maddie, what's wrong?", I asked. "I'm scawed, Mommy...", she replied, burying her head in my chest. "Of what, baby?". She picks up her head, looks me dead in the eye and whispers (as though it may hear her), "Da wainbow." I tried not to laugh and spent the next 30 minutes trying to explain how rainbows are formed, getting desperate enough to harken on my days of 80's cartoons (Care Bears, Rainbow Brite etc) to help her understand the shear insanity of her thought process.

We haven't seen a rainbow since (thank goodness!) but many things have followed: Chuck E. Cheese (or pretty much anything stuffed and animated), a certain teddy bear Bella has, the dark, a couple of her books. Sheesh.

Houston, we have...PROGRESS!

I am feeling slightly guilty for my many posts about Maddie and her, well, um....adversarial demeanor?! I hate to think I don't pay enough attention to her sweetness, her loving nature (which is equal to the combativeness). I do to her but I fear I have made her sound like a terror in this particular forum :). That said, I have fabulous news!


We began being a bit more strict with her sassiness with implementing time outs, taking away toys/comforts when she misbehaves and being very consistent. And dare I say...it's working!! That's not to say she doesn't still have the occasional temper tantrum and still attempt to be naughty now and again but it's much fewer and farther between and it's easier to talk to and reason with her.


I love her always, unconditionally but I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoy her company more than ever! She is so silly, fun, smart and plain amazing. She makes me smile every day...even the bad ones.

Mani for Maddie!

I sort of figured Maddie for a bit of a tomboy. She likes bugs and dirt, dislikes bows and dresses. Imagine my surprise when I (who for lack of time and money, RARELY has any beauty service) decide to have my uni brow groomed at a local nail salon, watching as Maddie prances around the room, twirling with excitement, glaring at the sparkly polishes says "me too Mommy...want pwetty nails". The nail tech, hearing the comment and jumping all over it tells me it's $3 to have her nails painted and I, feeling somewhat reluctant, relent. I have mixed feelings about teaching Maddie about beauty, that it's on the inside blah, blah, blah. But, as a self-professed girly girl, I allow her this few minutes of girl-fun and not take any of it seriously. She was quite proud of her pink sparkles and, in hindsight, a rare mother-daughter beauty moment shouldn't change her feelings about what truly matters. Hair. I'm kidding, I'm kidding.....

My first, um, dress.

I try to be domesticated, I do. I pulled out the sewing machine I have yet to figure out and muddled my way through a "pillowcase dress". I've had a hard time finding Maddie FSU gear locally (darn Gator fans!) and I had this fabric, so I figured, why not? It didn't come out too terribly and the beautiful hand-made barrette by my friend Georgia certainly helped alot!

http://www.etsy.com/people/SweetPeasandMamaBees

Hey, as long as it lasts a few games, it was worth it!