friday five

1. Happy Halloween!!  All day Jilly's been saying "I just can't believe today is Halloween!"  We're excited to trick-or-treat with some friends tonight and there will possibly (likely) be a costume change from last week so stay tuned.

2.  Bryan bought a skeleton head last weekend as part of our trunk decorations.  In order to help the girls not be afraid of the skeleton he named it Ken.  And the girls bought it hook, line, and sinker.  Mattie will give Ken kisses, Jilly shares her snacks and drinks, and they both love to tell him hello each morning.  Dads are kind of superheroes.

3. Jilly started a little Ballet class at the Y this week.  When we were buying ballet shoes I told her to point her toes and she used her index finger to point to her toes so... lots of learning to be done.  She had fun in the class and I just loved watching her do something that I loved so much.

4.  Mattie is such a shoe girl.  While Jilly tried on ballet shoes Mattie found every sparkly shoe within reach and and then tried them all on.  

5.  With October ending we enter birthday season.  In the next two weeks we have my mom, Bryan, Bryan's dad, my nephew Knox, and Jilly's birthdays.  Whew.  And I have bajillions of Christmas projects floating in my head these days; it will be miraculous if they all come to fruition.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!

J to the illy

 

Sitting in the car while I'm checking something on my phone before we leave-

J - Uhhh mommy, I think you forgot something

R - hmmm

J - I think you forgot to drive or something

Saying Prayers-

J - Heavenly Father, thanks that we could go to Costco and buy new granola bars and goldfish because I think they're really yummy and thank you that we could have family night and treat if we eat our dinner, okay?

After getting her first McDonalds Happy Meal-

J - That was really nice of them to give me this toy!

(don't get used to it says cheap-o mom)

The very next day after getting a pair of new shoes-

J - Daddy, feel my feet! These shoes are too big and I neeeeeed new ones

Jumping on couch cushions-

J - This is called exercise!

On a walk-

J - Mom!  The wind just blew up my nose!

Another prayer-

J - Thanks for Jesus and that he made the world and kids and nightgowns and movies and libraries

(these are a few of my favorite things)

Jilly has discovered Siri

J - Rainbow flowers!

S - I'm not sure what you said there

J - Show me rainbow flower

S - I didn't find anything on the web for "Read about Freret does when rainbow flower."

J - Please Show me rainbow flower

S - No, doesn't look icy right now in Randburg, South Africa

Miraculously, she occasionally does eventually see pictures of rainbow flowers

(I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from my real camera and found this one from our beach trip in July)

trunk-or-treat

Our Trunk-Or-Treat was on Saturday night.

As always happens when I'm in charge of big events, I was calm, cool, and collected- not a bit stressed  (hardy har har.)

But our lovely Elsa's were so excited for the party

(sidenote: this is Mattie's first real dress-up and she is so in love; she asks to put it on alllll day long and then sings "Let it Go" and spins around.  Oh my heart.  Thanks Nana!)

Mattie's eyes got huge when she realized people were giving her candy

And Jilly was an old pro at trick-or-treating.

Pirate Bryan gave out candy from the Black Pearl 

(he put this all together an hour before the activity started- impressive)

I never got any pictures inside which makes me sad because it looked pretty great (if I do say so myself)

We had Halloween twinkle lights and ghost lights and lanterns

And eyeballs floating the in punch (my favorite part)

My girls filled their bellies with popcorn and chips

And were happy to hold hands and walk across the stage during the Costume Parade

And for the second year in a row Bryan's pumpkin won an award 

A fun, successful night.  And now I can breathe a sigh of relief.

five on friday

I originally typed "friday on five" so that tells you my mental state at present...  This is definitely going to be a stellar post.

1.  After much stalling we couldn't avoid it anymore- Jilly earned her Elsa dress.  One day at Target we saw an Elsa dress and Jilly was just dying to have it.  She only needed one more sticker so I told her if she cleaned her room when we got home she could have it.  She raced out of the car and her room was clean in record time- I was shocked at how fast and what a good job she did.  It was worth the long wait to see how excited she was to finally have that dress.

2. When I was taking pictures of Jilly's dress Mattie ran over and said "cheee!"  I have a ridiculous amount of love for this tiny girl.  

3. My girls have discovered Claire's - heaven help me.  They could spend hours in there trying on every.single.thing.  We took poor Nana with us and this is how it went.

J- (holding a little makeup thing) "Mommy, I want this!"  

R- "Okay, we'll put it on your birthday list"

J- "Well, I'm going to show it to Nana"

Five minutes later we walk out with not one but two little makeup things.

 

4. Are you sick of me talking about Fall?  You should be.  But Maryland is killing it in the leaf department and I'm just so, so in love.

5.  I'm in charge of our Trunk-Or-Treat at church this weekend which means my dining room has been overtaken by orange and black decorations, I've been to six different grocery stores in the past four days, and I'm thoroughly sick of the holiday and it's still 8 days away.  What do you call the Grinch of Halloween? (Just kidding, it's been fun to plan the party and I'm sure I'll be back in the Halloween spirit when I'm no longer responsible for a party for 350 people!)

Nana's Visit Part Three - Halloween Dinner and Weber's Farm

On Sunday we had the traditional Martinez Halloween dinner of homemade corndogs

I made a few other Halloween-ish side dishes and decorated the table for a fun and festive meal

after 3.94 years of mothering I finally earned rockstar status with green food coloring in our water 

They don't look like much, but trust me, homemade corndogs >>>> storebought corndogs 

On Monday we went to Weber's Farm

It had everything we could have asked for-
hay maze, tractor ride, duck races, tire mountain, boo barn,
and our very favorite- the slides.
Also, apple cider donuts and the best cider I've ever tasted.
It was a perfect way to spend our last day with Nana.

 "I'm Queen of the Wooooorld" 

M's turn as queen 

Jilly kept yelling at me to put my hands up.  This was my best effort.

Come back soon Nana!!

Nana's Visit Part Dos - Harper's Ferry

On Saturday we spent the day in Harper's Ferry

We had a picnic lunch, walked along the river,

explored the museums, little shops & church, 

and hiked to see the view from Jefferson Rock

It was breathtakingly beautiful and perfect for us- 

a little outdoorsy for him and a little history for me

^ cobblestones + leaves, pinch me please

^ one of my favorite moments of the day - Jilly pretending to be a witch

 

When we got home that night Nana took the girls to Chick-fil-A

And Bryan and I went on a date - our first time out without the girls since June (!!!)

Much needed and much enjoyed.

Nana's Visit - Part One

We were so lucky to have Bryan's mom come visit.

We spent our first couple days meeting Bryan for lunch and getting our favorite donuts,

playing with toys, doing puzzles and coloring at home,

enjoying the Halloween goodies she brought,

and showing Nana how we do Target.

The girls were in heaven with all the extra love and fun