Florida Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in Florida. Quite possibly the best weather ever. Gorgeous breezes, sunny and cloudy afternoons. Naps with all the doors open... And "Schimmin" in the warm pool (heated)!

Great Grammy Claire came too and brought her homemade goodies like tutu-tutus for the girls and Panda! So wonderful to spend time with her and the Eakers, Myricks and of course, Grammy and Grandpa.

Loads of good food. Sorry, no photos of turkey and fixin's...just my favorite breakfast of French Toast and fruit. Diets were broken, with severe pleasure. Key lime pie was out-of-this-world. I dream about it.

Ari was so brave in the water. Fearless actually. Just walked right in and let the foamy and frothy November water splash and pummel her chunky little legs. Dan had a good time too boogie boarding in the ocean and running into the glass door... oh, and seeing how competitive my family is in cards (Rebecca and I won Nerts-Woop woop!!)

Ella Grayce was there in her sweet sweet spirit, generously giving out wet kisses to Ashlyn.

Zac and Allie are always entertaining and playing with Ari. She loves to watch them play and tries her best to keep up. All the kids were awake and hyper ready to go at 7am! Also, I'd like to note how much I love the way the kids say "Awww, she's soo cuuute" to Ashlyn.

Here are Grammy and Grandpa with their lovely brood (note the Notre Dame attire, bad luck obviously in our loss to Stanford).

We had a fantastic time and thank you for all the food, gifts, fun times, laughter and a place to stay. It was crazy-but-wonderful!

5 Months!

Five Months!

Might me one of my favorite baby months. I remember Ari at this age; they grow so quickly. Ashlyn is such a little chunky little muffin. Her skin is so soft and her demeanor is sweet, gentle and kind. She doesn't even shout much when she's hungry. She just whines, grunts and moans. No shrieking or shouting (like her sister!). Ashlyn does NOT sleep well though. Naps are sporadic and infrequent. She wakes up frequently in the night and though she falls asleep after eating, I'm not able to get her to sleep longer than 5 or 6 hours at a time. I.AM.TIRED.

What she lacks in sleep consistency, she makes up for in smiles. This girl never stops smiling. She laughs, giggles and talks all day long! Ashlyn smiles with her mouth wide open, like she's shouting. Her toothless little gums are such a sweet sweet feature.

Ashlyn loves to roll around on the floor. She'll spot something and roll towards it till she grabs it and puts it directly into her mouth! The girls are learning to share and are beginning to play well together. They giggle often at each other making my heart melt daily.

Ashlyn might sprout a tooth earlier than Ari (7 mo) but we'll see. She is chewing on everything. Ashlyn loves her bunny and the taggie ball. She loves to stand in the exercauser thingy and stands there while I cook! She is a great baby and brings much joy in our home!

Just ornery

sooooo cute!

(post dinner messy face & nose)

Sprout

Check out Ari's pony-tail!

The Halloween Post

Chipotle, the burrito place, has had for two years in a row, an opportunity to get $2.00 burritos! Last year, we were s'mores! Well, this year, the challenge was to dress up in support of small family farms.

Using the internet as a resource, I found a few ideas to make a couple of chicken costumes.

Here I am with my hatched chick and my baby chick. Super easy (less than $10 total) and really cute!

We did not go trick or treating, just out to eat and to bed!

(I dont know why this is underlined! annoying)

Ari's costume is a white boa cut and safety-pinned to a white sweater. I used washable paint in her mohawk. Her feet are cut-up Forever 21 bags (which are a perfect yellow color)!

So fun and cute our little chickies!

Thirty Day gratitude challenge

Join me at:

www.groundedgirl.com

for a 30 day thankfulness challenge!