Cherish

Our amazing photographer is 

Ashley from 

::::::LeLe Photography::::::

If there is one thing I've realized in life, it's just how precious life truly is.  I know too many people who have lost loved ones too soon.  I know of *several* little ones fighting life threatening illnesses and even an unborn baby girl fighting for her life before she's made her entrance into this world.  I don't understand it nor will I ever understand it.  All I know is that it makes me want to kiss my little ones every chance I get.  I want to snuggle with them a little longer.  I take the moments to laugh with them and let the laundry wait for a while.  The laundry will always be there...  

With the holidays approaching, I hope you take the time out to just be with your family and enjoy spending time together.  I know that's what I'll be doing.

What?

"What?  I'm just sitting here reading a book with my owl hat on.  

Doesn't everyone do that?"

This kiddo gives me so many reasons to smile each and every day.  His lastest version of smiling consists of him not opening his mouth at all.  Just this little smirk, if you will.

Lack of blogging lately is do to the craziness that was kicked off by Halloween.  We've had play dates, sleepovers with Cousin Lex, outings with friends, Usborne home shows, etc. etc.  I do have a few new yummy recipes to share in the upcoming weeks.  If I can ever get around to taking pics of the finished product before we gobble it all up!  Hope life is treating you well.  Happy Wednesday all!

Cole's Infamous Hair

There are 2 things people always comment on when they see Cole.  One being his big blue eyes.  Two, his ummm, very unique hair style.  This poor child's hair just won't lay down.  We affectionately call it his bird hair, monkey hair, fuzz top, etc. etc.  He and our bun, Simon have a very similar hair do.  Maybe they've been hanging out together so much they're starting to look alike??  Just a theory :)  The only time I've ever seen Cole's hair lay flat is in the tub.  He looks like a totally different kid with normal, flat hair.  Still adorable but I'm just a tad bit biased...

Don't forget to leave a comment on this post to win one of the Wipe Clean Usborne books.

Happy Halloween!

We hope you and your family have a safe and happy Halloween!

Love, 

Dorothy and the Lion

Halloween Prep

Our pumpkins have carefully been selected...

Costumes are complete and have been tried on multiple times by Miss A just to make sure everything is "alright."

 All the ingredients are bought and ready to make our spooky ghost treats for friends...

Image from The Idea Room

 and the monster dough and parts are all set to go for our play date that has been canceled due to all the other littles being sick :(  Miss A will be making all the monsters on her own.  I'm sure she will still have loads of messy fun all by herself!

Image from The Imagination Tree

These holidays are so much more fun when you see all the excitement in your kiddo's eyes.  Sooo worth all the work and trips to the store.  More Halloween fun to come!

Red October

Our Cardinals are in the World Series and we couldn't be more excited.  St.  Louis is a huge baseball town.  It's so fun to get together with friends and family to cheer on our team.  Even the littles are getting in on the excitement.  Ava has her rally towel (wash cloth) ready to swing in the air as soon as daddy tells her too.  Even Cole is sportin' his Cardinals hat.  Here's to a win tonight.  

:::::::BIRDS!!!:::::::

Recipe: Toffee Dip

With fall comes apples and with apples comes toffee dip.  

::::::::Yahoo!::::::::  

Every year we go apple picking with my parents, and we usually  have too many apples to know what to do with.  This year I was going through my recipe binder and came across this recipe for toffee dip that you serve with apples.  I hadn't made it in years but anything with toffee is delicious in my book.  This recipe makes about 2 cups of dip which is quite a bit.  I served it to some girlfriends one night and then to our Catan friends (Hi Michelle!!) the next night.  It was a hit both nights, so I thought I would pass along the recipe in case you too have too many apples in your house or you just love toffee or both :)

Toffee Dip

Yield approx. 2 cups

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup toffee bits (about 4 ounces)
• apples

Mix together first 4 ingredients with a mixer until smooth.  Stir in toffee bits.  Cover and chill.  Serve with sliced apples.

Source: Cooking Light  How this is light I don't know...but it's darn good!

Wonder

Ava's face was so sweet the other night as she watched Toy Story 3 on Ice.  She's never been to a movie before so this was her first big show, and she was quite smitten with the whole experience.  We didn't tell her where we were going only that it was a "date" for her and mommy and daddy.  (Cole got to stay home and play with Mamaw and Papa that night.)  When we arrived outside the arena she saw the huge poster of Buzz and Woody on the side of the building so she started to put it together.  

She loved all the singing and skating.  At the intermission, she asked for cotton candy which she had never had before.  We gladly bought her a ridiculously overpriced bag of the sweet stuff and she took a few bites and said she was done.  I was expecting to have to pry the stuff out of her hands.  We stayed for the entire show and took home a very happy and tired little lady.  Out of the entire show her favorite part was when the pig fell down.  Not Buzz flying through the air or Barbie or even the cool army guys that parachuted down...no, it was when the pig made a mistake and fell.  That's kids for you!   

Cole Update

Well, the Stinker Man is 7 months old and sits up great.  No signs of crawling yet and I am TOTALLY fine with that.  He'll crawl when he's good and ready.

He never ceases to amaze me with all the faces he can make.  Most of his best faces involve drool running down his face and all over his adorable clothes that you never see because he's wearing monster sized bibs to catch all that drool.

He chews on everything like it's his job.  Let me tell you, he does his job very well.  Just look at that serious chew face with his eyebrows up and all.  That stuffed orange didn't stand a chance.

He is the happiest baby I have ever been around.  Of course I know that I'm biased because I'm his mom ;o) Rarely is the kid not smiling and I love every second of it!  

I adore this age and wish it would last longer.  I'm soaking up every moment with my handsome little man.

We're Alive

Cole:  6 months

Rapunzel (AKA: Ava) 3 years

Well, contrary to popular belief we are still alive and kicking over here.  I have lots to blog about since we've had a super busy summer.  Having 2 littles definitely keeps you hoppin'!  I'm hoping to get back into my regular blogging routine in the next week or so.

Jan...Thanks for your concern!  I've missed reading your comments :o)

She's So Obviously My Kid...

because she does goofball things like this and then laughs hysterically at herself.  

Sorry for the lull in posts.  Things are good here.  Little stinker man is now sleeping through the nights.  (This is where you hear a choir of angels singing Hallelujah.)  However, Ava has decided she can't sleep through the night by herself anymore.  (Booooo!!)  One of these days I will get a full nights sleep!  The weather has been great here so we've busted out the water table and have been playing outside a lot with plenty of chalk, bubbles and soccer.  I keep thinking I'll tire the kid out and she'll sleep but no.  There haven't been many crafty things going on here lately but I'm hoping to hop back on that wagon again soon.  Happy Wednesday all!

Ava and God

I was getting Ava and Cole dressed this morning in an attempt to get to the store before the rain hit our area.

Me:  Oh, no!  It's raining.
Ava:  That's okay, Mommy.  God's just watering the flowers.  (Ava then looks out the window and I can tell her gears are turning.)
Ava: You know God can't hear me.
Me:  Sure he can, Ava.  Why would you say that?
Ava:  He's way up in heaven.
Me:  He can hear you even way up in heaven.  You just pray and he hears you.
Ava:  (Looking up and yelling)  God, please stop watering the flowers because Mommy wants to go to the store and not get wet.

I love that kid so much!

Cousins

We were at Forest Park this past weekend with my niece, Lexi.  It was a beautiful day and I had the camera with me so I started snapping a few photos of the girls together.  Once Lexi picked up on what I was doing she decided to start directing and posing all the shots.  She came up with all these ideas on her own and I just took the pictures.  The expressions on their faces just crack me up.  They were trying to be so serious in some of the pictures.  Some of these are really quite good.  Who knows, maybe there a future for Lexi in photography.

Easter

We had a great Easter here!  It's so fun to have these holidays with wee ones around.  Ava really enjoyed the egg hunt Sunday morning and all the goodies the Easter Bunny brought her and Cole.  Cole napped through the entire thing.  What was he thinking!  We went to church Saturday night so Sunday morning we were able to take our time and have lots of family time with just us.  The afternoon was filled with more egg hunts, ping pong, lots of food (cake ball recipe to come) and Ava getting to play with her second cousins.  There was a lot of running and squealing coming from the 5 girls.  Needless to say, we all crashed last night...around 8.