Happy Halloween!!

It's finally Halloween!! Today was a really fun day for us all (well, mostly the girls)...

The girls watched all the Halloween shows on Playhouse Disney today, and also watched the Halloween episode of Spongebob. To top it all off they watched Wallace & Gromit-The Curse of the Were Rabbit and It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. They got to wear their special glow in the dark Halloween shirts, light up socks, and hair bows (made by mommy) today which made things a bit more special for them.

Rob's mom sent us a pumpkin decorating kit where the pieces remind me a little of Mr. Potato Head parts. Anyway, the girls had a blast picking out pieces for their pumpkins and we decorated them this afternoon before they had a snack.

They were so excited to go trick or treating too, especially Gwen. Gwen has been letting everyone know that she was going to be a butterfly this year and that Gracie was going to be Minnie Mouse. I tried my best to get good pictures but this will have to do. They were excited to get their costumes on and "go-go" to get candy. We went to a local ship and copy store in town that was taking Halloween photos for free (one 8 by 10 for each family) and got our family picture taken...can't pick it up till next week, but I'll post it when we get it. Then we went trick or treating in the neighborhood that we went to last year.

The girls both had so much fun. Gwen kept saying "I like this house...it's nice...let's go this house" and "2 more houses, then we done." She would also go up to the door and knock, say trick or treat before the door was answered, and then clam up while getting her candy. Then she would run down the stairs and say "Momma, look...I got candy!" and have me help her put it in her bag. Robbie had to carry Grace every now and then (she'd get tired) but when he put her down-look out!! She would stomp her feet over and over again while laughing hysterically, or she would dance in place while laughing, or even just take off running. They were quite pleased to come home and have a bit of their candy too-they got quite the haul! We certainly had fun, and hope that everyone else did too. Enjoy the photos!!

Can we go trick or treat mom?

Boy is Gwen getting excited about Halloween. All of her favorite shows have been airing their Halloween episodes lately and Gwen has been going around talking about Trick or Treating and singing the songs that go along with the shows. Grace doesn't have a clue, but she's still enjoying it all. We had a playgroup last week where the girls got to dress up in their costumes and decorate Halloween cupcakes...it was a lot of fun, and Gwen is more than willing now to tell everyone what she and Grace are going to be for Halloween. Right now she is running back and forth between my bedroom and hers saying trick or treat and that she's going to be a lady for Halloween (she's got her blanket wrapped around her waist like a skirt). She's such a hoot.

Because of Robbie's schedule and all the late nights he has, we decided to do our pumpkins Saturday night. Every weeknight except for Thursday he is gone until 7 pm, and with the girls going to bed at 8, it's really hard for us to find the time to do anything after he gets home besides him eating dinner and spending some time with the girls before bed. So, Saturdays and Sundays are the days for us to do things like this (though Sunday night is usually FHE for us). Robbie was nice enough to carve our pumpkin (like he didn't want to...he had so much fun)...

and the girls just painted theirs. We didn't want a big mess with them and we thought that they would have more fun painting their pumpkins instead. I supervised the painting and helped Grace when she needed more paint. Gwen is so used to painting now that she just does everything for herself. We get a flat dish (usually a tupperware lid) and squirt a bunch of different colors of paint on it for her and off she goes. Grace still has to ask for more paint because otherwise we end up with paint everywhere-the floor, the table, the chairs, her hair...everywhere. They had so much fun painting their pumpkins and are quite proud of the way they look. Gwen was a bit disappointed though that she wasn't going to get to carve her pumpkin like Daddy was.

Yesterday we also made Halloween sugar cookies and decorated them. I do something with a friend of mine once a week and the girls get the chance to play with her son, so we had them over to help as well. Grace liked eating them more than decorating them, but Gwen decorated 4 or 5 cookies (while eating the sprinkles and m&ms at the same time). We can't wait for Halloween!!

Oh, and for those of you who haven't heard Gwen's latest funny...among others this weekend, this one was probably my favorite. She was sitting at the table with Grace eating dinner while I did some laundry and without knowing I was looking, she put her fork to her mouth like a microphone, looked up at the ceiling and said, "Ladies and gentlemen...introducing the little girl who's going to take a bath!" I cracked up...she is such a hoot, and Grace is getting there too (she spazes out every time a ball is thrown and she gets to chase it). I get a laugh a day out of those two!!

6 months

So I am now six months along...after my next appointment (which is November 17th) I will start going to the doctor every two weeks for checkups. It's weird to think that this pregnancy has gone so fast all ready. Course, I'll probably get to 8 months and every week will just drag.

Every thing is fine-my blood pressure, weight, and the baby's heart beat. She's moving more and more now, and we can actually feel her move from the outside now instead of me just feeling her moving inside me. I had to do the gestational diabetes test at this visit. It actually wasn't too bad until the end when it started to get thicker. Grace just kind of watched me and then decided she wanted the bottle after I was done (I screwed the cap back on first) and Gwen decided that I wasn't drinking it fast enough and kept pushing on my arm to try to get me to drink more each sip I took. I finally had to stop her so that she didn't cause me to spill it everywhere.

After they took my blood they never said anything about my iron level or the test so I'm not sure if they had to send it out or not, but I think that they do and I won't find out anything till my next visit (in which I think I get the group B strep test). It's a good thing that my brother Matt came over to watch the girls while I went to the doctor-I don't think they would have liked seeing me get stuck with a needle 3 times. Besides getting my blood drawn for the diabetes test, I got my rogam shot (my b lood is negative, and Rob's is positive) and I got a flu shot (since they recommended it). The only one that's bothering me now is the flu shot-my upper arm is sore and there's a good sized bruise as well.

All in all, it was a good visit. Everyone else is doing good too. Rob really likes his job and is pretty certain that they are going to keep him on come January, when he starts school again. Gwen just got over a cold-no more snoring!! She has become quite the imaginative little girl. She takes books (and toys) and tells her own little stories with them. She still does lots of art, and likes to paint (or color) things and then tell us what they are. Gracie just got the cold Gwen had-more snoring!! She is talking more and more every day. She says Ta Da now and Eye and a few others too. Her favorite thing to do right now is dance, and she's constantly changing the way she dances, making up new moves and twirls. They are both so much fun and they have been so good for me through this pregnancy (ok, not all the time, but for the most part). I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it.

Quickie

Just a quick update, since I have my doctor's appointment on Monday and will probably be writing again after that. Just wanted to thank Marj for the cute pj's she sent the girls

and for the purple matching outfits-they looked so cute on the girls!! I called them my purple people eaters all day long because of their all purple outfits-both of them even kept the hoods up for more than 5 minutes! Gracie is wearing her outfit in this picture, but her messy face was what I was really trying to get.

The girls are doing great (although Gwen does have a slight cold) except for occasionally beating on each other. Oh the drama! We do have good moments though now that Grace is really starting to pick up on different words and Gwen loves to tell stories about everything-leaves, toys, books, etc...she's got a great imagination! We wish that we could visit everyone back home, specially during this time of year, but I hope these updates (and pictures) help. Oh, and thanks for the snow stuff Momma-Gwen can't wait for it to snow now! We love you all!!

Getting Ready for Halloween

Last week the girls and I decided that it was okay to start decorating for Halloween-mostly because Gwen is so very excited about it. We hung up pumpkins in our front window and the girls colored on a piece of construction paper with a white crayon which we then cut into black cats.

We also did some art time where the girls just got to paint and I painted their feet and made ghosts out of them that will be cut out and hung from our ceiling with some string (Gwen really liked doing this but not Grace-she's so ticklish).

Once again we made Halloween sugar cookies which the girls were so happy to help with.

We also went to pick out our pumpkins tonight. It was pretty cold (it flurried a bit today, and Gracie did not like the wind) so the pics aren't too great but Gwen has been talking about doing this for the past two weeks and we did have fun. Tomorrow we're going to paint bats using the girls hands and finish decorating for Halloween. Just seeing how happy the girls are while doing these things makes the mess and the effort all worth it.