My Little Dirt Devils

Now that Wally's gone, we don't have our handy-dandy-crumb-picker-upper (Truly, I didn't realize what a help he was in that department!). So, I bought the girls their very own Dirt Devils and they are now helping me keep the floor clean. Such GREAT helpers they are -- well, sort of -- the other day, I found Ella just sitting there in the middle of the kitchen floor spinning hers like a top. Baby steps, I remind myself... baby steps.

Ella getting the crumbs from under her booster seat.

Katie working at the top of the stairs.

Falling for Fall

It's Fall in Lake Barcroft... how can you tell? The LEAVES! Dad made a huge leaf pile for the girls to jump in. Oh, did they have FUN!

Katie making a run for it! Ella just enjoying herself in her bed of leaves...

Ella in mid-jump!

A Tea Party With Belle

The girls were invited to a friend's birthday party and guess who was the surprise guest? Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Here are a few photos from Caitlyn's party.

The party began with dress-up time. Ella is in the blue Mermaid dress and Katie is in the pink princess dress. Then all the girls gathered around for story time.

Belle came to finish the story of how she met and fell in love with the Beast.
Next, it was tea time. Ella was worried at first. She whispered to me, "Momma, I don't like tea!" But, we soon found out it was REALLY apple juice. The girls were okay with having some "tea" then and the brownies were delicious!

Some Men are Cool

Yesterday we were at the Dairy Queen after My Gym having an ice cream cone. A man walked in and ordered an ice cream and sat near us. Katie said, "Mom... come here. I want to tell you a secret."

I bent down and leaned close and she said, in a stage whisper, "That man has on earrings." I said, "Yes, some men wear earrings" and my mind began to race about what else she MIGHT say and how in the world was I going to fix this before it got really embarrassing.

Then she said and I can't quote exactly because I was so surprised, but it was something to the effect of "... some men like to be cool stuff and so they wear earrings."

"Yes, Katie... some men are cool", I replied.

Songs and Symbols

This morning Ella was working on her 'sewing' -- those little cards that you thread a shoestring through. She was showing me her work and said, "See, I made one of those Glory-to-God-in-the-Highest-things."

"A cross?", I say.

"Yea, a cross."

Puppy is HOME!

Okay, it's official. I apparently don't clean up enough around here. Yesterday, Ms Anna, the lady who cleans our house every other week, came to clean the house. We were at cooking class and when we returned, who did we find sitting on the purple chair? Puppy! Katie found her when she went upstairs to get something. I was downstairs running on the treadmill when I heard hysterical laughter. Then I saw Katie smiling ear-to-ear and she was jumping up and down waving puppy. She was sooooo happy!

When Bill got home from work, she told him this big story about how Puppy went to Beach 5 and she got lost on Perch Path (the little nature trail near the beach) and couldn't find her way home and then she found her way home and here she is!

Ahhhh... all is well in the Brigclan.

Treat Please!

The girls had a difficult time deciding what they were going to be this year for Halloween. We thought Belle and Arial were in, but Ella was having a hard time with her "itchy" dress, which meant Katie's was "too itchy!" too. I thought I had them talked into dressing up as LSU cheerleaders (I was even going to paint a Mike the Tiger face on them), but they balked at the last minute. Literally moments before leaving, we were looking in the closet and Ella spied last year's Easter dress and said, "Wow! That sure would be a pretty princess dress and it wouldn't be itchy at all!" How could I say no to that?

We went trick or treating a the base again this year -- wow, what a treat (pun intended, of course!). Without a doubt, the BEST way to do Halloween with little kids. As we were driving to the base we had a huge discussion about which princesses were 'white', meaning which one wears a white dress? We decided Giselle (from Enchanted, the newest Disney princess movie) wore white. But, Katie remembered that we had a book about Lacy the snowflake who was special and made the snow sparkle and she decided that in her white dress she sort of looked like Lacy the snowflake. Hence, the girls became fairy snowflake princesses. Ella was blue, of course, with a blue princess crown and Katie was pink (thank goodness I had the foresight to just bring a collection of princess crowns with me so the girls had plenty to choose from).

The base festivities began with a parade. This is one of the first times we didn't bring the stroller with us and, in hindsight what a mistake... our little ones were pooped before we even began the trick-or-treating, but they managed to rally.... Note to self, BRING STROLLER on ALL EXCURSIONS!

Thinking Kate & Ella were going to be LSU Cheerleaders, you'll notice Daddy (and Momma too) dressed as a LSU baseball player.

The girls having a little snack in the back of the van prior to treating.

Putting on our make-up.

Katie helping out with Ella's make-up.
All decked out and ready to go (at this point, the girls looking a little more 'trick-ish' than 'treat-ish').

A photo op with Mom before we hit the streets. Ella giving her funny 'fake' smile.

Trick or Treat?

A quick loot check.

Looking a little more ghostly than snow-flakey under the street lamp.
This is not what it looks like... Ella is NOT unhappy. She's telling me about the scary face she saw that "looks sad...""...and has a mouth that looks like this..." "...and blood going down like 'dis..."

Katie, on the other hand, IS mad.

She's "TIRED, Mommy!" and wants to "GO HOME!" and "QUIT TAKING PICTURES OF ME, MOMMY!" She yells at Daddy to "stop talking and drive TOWARDS MAC-DONALD'S and GET ME SOME MILK -- RIGHT NOW!!!"