Happy Halloween!

We survived Hurricane Sandy with our power intact and no damage.  So, we're ready to go trick or treating on time this year.  The pictures below are from Sunday when we went to a Halloween party at one of Lily's friends from school.

Happy Halloween!

Double Bday party

Yesterday we celebrated Alaina's 2nd and Lily's 4th birthdays with all our wonderful neighbors. Since we don't have family close by we decided to have a double bday party between their bday's to celebrate with our friends. The girls had a blast in the bounce house as well as playing "Pin the Nose on Elmo" and making fairy wands. And then the best part, eating cake and opening presents. Thank you to all our great neighbors for making the girls so happy!

Lily requested a "princess castle" cake.

 Love the bounce house with slide

 Singing happy birthday

 Blowing out candles....a few times since Mommy bought magic candles. :)

 Licking the frosting off the princesses so she could play with them

Travis and Emily's Wedding

We spent last weekend traveling 5 hours through 5 states to New Jersey for my cousin's wedding. The drive went pretty well with a few stops along the way. The girls were content watching movies and looking at all the farm animals once we got to New Jersey.

Lily and Alaina were thrilled when we got to the reception and there were goody bags on their chairs. 

 First Dance

 Girls loved playing with their cousin Zoey, for some reason I didn't get any pictures of them together though.

 Dancing with Daddy

 Loving the glow sticks, great idea Emily!

 Alaina dancing with Eric. The girls dance most of the night. They never sat down. Pretty sure they danced more than anyone else at the wedding. :)

Photo of us taken by Lily. ;)

We had a great weekend. It was a fantastic wedding and I wish the rest of our family could have been there. Congrats Travis and Emily. We are so happy we could celebrate your special day with you on our special day. We'll never forgot your anniversary since it's the same day as ours just 6 years later.  :)

Alaina turns 2!

Alaina has had a great birthday week! One of the nice things about living across the country from most family members is that you get a present in the mail everyday for at least a week straight! She still thinks it's her bday and doesn't quite understand that it's really only a 1 day thing. Oh well! Thank you to everyone who shipped packages. They both go the the mail every day expecting a package. ;) We made some cupcakes for her birthday which she decorated with sprinkles and took some to share with her friends at daycare. For her bday dinner we went out to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. We'd never been and of course the girls loved all the animals and fish to look at while they ate. Here's a few pictures from the last week. 

We did have a doctors appt as well for her 2 year check up. No shots, YAY! She did get her flu vaccine, but could get the flumist instead of the shot since she was 2. Lily got hers as well because she no longer has an egg allergy.

Stats:

Weight 26 lbs (34%)

Height 33.5 inches (42%)

Head Circumference 19.25 inches (50%)

 So excited for all her new baby gear. She loves to play with all her babies. Feed them, put them to sleep, rock them, read to them and rub their backs. :)

 So excited to dive in.

 But really only likes the frosting!

 New baby crib

 Scooter....we couldn't wait long enough for Daddy to get the handlebars on it before we tried it.

 Another favorite lately is walking in my shoes. She's quite good. She even walked down the flight of stairs in them.

 This is a picture tonight before bed. Mommy and her girls. Can't believe I have a 2 and almost 4 year old!!

picture update!!

 Back to Iowa for a week. Of course we got to ride in the tractor with Gpa. 

Playing chutes and ladders with Bethany and Rachel.

 Fun with Tyler

 Finally got to see Finley and her little sister Dallas!

 Lily and Alaina had so much fun at the wedding dance! They couldn't wait for the real dance to start so they had to start right after dinner. :)

 Didn't want to leave the "princess's" side

 Weekend at Storyland amusement park

 Lily and Daddy in the front seat of the roller coaster

 

 Water log ride! Alaina was upset because she wasn't big enough.

 Amusement park and this was one of her favorite thing to play on.

 and in the balls....another fav.

 Finally we see cinderella

 Butterfly Place

 Went to the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, loved the ostrich.

 Dinosaur exhibit, pretty cool

 Ended our day with a swing ride.

 not sure why these are out of place. Enjoying the zoo in Des Moines

So happy we can now have french toast....NO MORE EGG ALLERGY!!!

Hope everyone is having a nice holiday weekend! I was supposed to work today, but got called off. I can not believe it is September and Alaina will be 2 in less than 2 weeks. Crazy how life if flying by.