Visit with the Family

Mike, Ang, Owen and Alena visited us for the weekend. Mike had a big soccer tournamet, so we got to spend some quality time with the PA relatives. Since they arrived on Owen's birthday, we celebrated together.
 Owen's grown so much since this summer!

 Check him out reading the birthday cards!

 After dinner, the kids put on a literal dog and pony show. Of course, Jackie was the trainer.

 The kids were so happy to oblige and took great fun in making their own collars.

 Check out these cute puppy dogs!

American Girl, Atlanta: Does it get any better than this?

The morning after Taylor Swift, we cleaned up and headed to Atlanta for a 7 hour tour of South Carolina and Georgia.

 When we FINALLY arrived, the girls were ready to spend their birthday money!

 Leigh couldn't pass up the American Girl Doll, Julie, the circa 1974 hippie who loved Brady Bunch. Where can we get a pint-sized Brady Bunch poster? It's so groovy.

 Jackie headed straight for the Kanani display, pronounced Ka-NAN-eee.

 Clearly, every doll needs their very own pet to care for.

 Jackie used her hard-earned allowance and birthday money towards her Kanani loot. The cashier was impressed with the amount of $1 bills collected. She also paid in coins.

 Here, the girls are getting a tutorial on how to care for their doll's hair. Julie and I placed bets on how quickly the dolls would be lost on the floor of my car with discarded gum in their hair.

 Their new baby dolls and accessories!
 My favorite part was Leigh playing her doll's violin. It even came with a music stand and music.

 Jackie had both dolls' hair braided before bedtime in their matching outfits.

 What a night! Happy birthday, Jackie and Leigh! We hope you'll remember this trip as fondly as we will!

Taylor Swift: A Little Girl's Dream

In lieu of a birthday party involving 8 girls and a sleepover, we thought we'd make some memories on a special girls trip to Taylor Swift and American Girl. When the news was delivered, Jackie and Leigh were uber-excited. They started the countdown until Taylor Swift!

 The girls wore matching outfits. They curled their hair and put on make-up.

Then we cheered with a little juice and it was off to dinner and a concert.

 How cool is this!?!

 Since we got tickets last minute, we had nose-bleed seats, which meant the girls alternated between binoculars and plugging their ears, b/c these concerts are LOUD.

 The concert started at 7p, but there were a few opening bands. Taylor finally came on at 8:45p and the girls were ready to jump out of their skin with excitement.

 It was an incredible show. Taylor had 7 outfit changes and all were kid-friendly, as was her music and dance moves.

 She played the piano, guitar, banjo and eukele.

 And Taylor played from the center of the main floor on a rotating, sparking tree. On her way to and from the center floor, she hugged every girl and shook hands with every fan.

 Despite the fireworks and thunderous beat you could feel in your chest, Leigh fell asleep in her mama's arms. And yes, Julie did have a costume malfunction with her sleeve.

 There were so many princess sets, it was like a Disney performance. By 10p, Jackie was tired and begged to go home. So we missed the last 2 songs and encores. Julie and I loved the show and would join the 14,500 girls for another sold out Taylor Swift show any day!

 Check out our little Taylor Swift fans!

 Off to the American Girl Store!

Crazy Eights

All About Spelling

Our little guy is so proud of his spelling. He's come so far in the past 3 months and we are so proud of him!

Blogworthy

Lately, J-bird has made some uncommon observations or maybe as of late she's been able to put words to her observations.  For instance, today Allison & I arrived home from separate out of town business trips.  We hadn't seen each other since late Sunday.  The kids were eating but Jackie had been excused from the table early.  Allison & I were getting re-aquainted in the kitchen with a passionate kiss.  Nothing new other than 8 year old eyes upon us.  Then the comment comes from J-bird, "It looks like you're licking & biting each other."

Accurate.

dcp

Happy Birthday, Jacqueline!

It has really been EIGHT years with The Bird. She was clearly thrilled by this, and the excitment made even more fanatical by the steroids. Dave and I were dumbfounded- both by the fact that eight years has flown by so quickly and Jackie's zealous mania with which she greeted the Oh-So-Special Day. WOWZAS!

 Jackie was delighted to open a tiny nightgown for her baby doll and matching jammies for her. Ohh Emm GEE!!! Lucy was convinced the little one was for her and it took some effort to get little determined fingers off the little nightgown.

 The afternoon was made particularly special b/c the kids enjoyed rollerblading around the circle together. Since the weather has been crappy lately, it was nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

 Grandma Dee fixed up her old dress-up table that was a present to her from her grandfather and gave it to Jackie. She was dumbfounded.

 And how many asthmatics does it take to blow out candles on the gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, taste-free cupcakes? All of them and their ample-lunged siblings too.

 The trick of 'smell the cupcake' still baffles the kids.

 The Littles fell victim to the trick yet again! Bugger!

It was a wonderful birthday party with our best buds and Grandma Dee! XOXO

Dear Mom,

P.S. JBird did barf. And she's on a course of oral steroids. Poor baby. Let's hope she's feeling better for her birthday tomorrow!

Halloween Extravaganza

So I totally type-casted Lucy. She wanted to be a princess, and I suggested Mulan over the blue princess. We could borrow Leigh's costume and it was just so cute! So she acquiesced.

 We've got Glenda, the good witch, the Big Bad Wolf and Mulan.

Get a good look at Bird's costume b/c she had it on all of 5 minutes total.

 The princesses in all their splendor!

The hit of the night was ring pops and every kid had the telltale blue lips at the end of the night.

Once the candy was set out, it was every monster for themselves.

The whole gang.

At the end of the night, it's all about the loot!

 and BFF's.

 and spouses.