Fish story

It is with much joy that I report that, about a month ago, two little pink fish joined our family. My joy is not so much because of some strong affinity for our finned friends (although they are fun to watch swim around), but because of WHY we got the fish. We promised (ok, bribed) Anna that if she would start going to sleep without having to have one us in bed with her, then we would get her a fish. We told her going to sleep by herself was a "big girl" thing to do, and so was having her own pet, so she could have a fish if she started going to bed on her own. She agreed! (Little did she know that the fish was just our first offer...putting her to bed had become such a huge time hit that I think the negotiations could have gone all the way to a pony...)

She just loves the little fishies! Lily (the cat) was a big fan too. :-) She told us that since there were two fish, their names were definitely going to be "Anna" and "Kate". While I thought this was maybe mildly odd, I didn't really think anything of it until I mentioned it to my mom and her response was, "But, isn't that going to make it hard to flush them when their time here is over?" Yeah...we need to get these fish some new names...

Butterflies

The day after Halloween we had our MOMS Club Halloween Party at Challenger Park. As usual, Anna had a great time with her MOMS Club friends! We decided to do "DIY face painting" this year, and many of kids--Anna included--really took the DIY part to heart. No help from Mommy, please...I want to do it myself! So, I of course obliged and let Anna not only paint her own face, but do mine as well. As she informed me..."we're butterflies!" I loved it.

I hesitate to say this, but I think this may be the final Halloween posting for this year?? It was quite a whirlwind of celebrations!

Trick or treating at JSC

Anna got to participate in the time-honored tradition of going trick-or-treating onsite at JSC this year. The kids at the JSC Childcare Center do this every year, and its something that I think the employees look forward to as much (if not more!) than the kids! Only the "older kids" at the childcare center get to do it though...the younger ones just go trick-or-treating to the older kids rooms. So, this was Anna's first year to be in a "big kid" room and get to go on the onsite trip. She was elated!

(Note: the above picture was taken by one of the JSC photographers...you'll notice a distinct difference in photographic quality between it and the following photos. Goodness I wish I could afford to take him with me everywhere we go...)

Anna was joyful about the whole experience, to say the least...

Whew! Being this cute and asking strangers for candy is exhausting! Anna collected her loot and then rested with her little buddies while enjoying a juice box.

The cowgirl was ready and raring to go that morning before we left for her trick-or-treating adventure...

Zoo Boo

With the weather getting nicer and Kate getting a little more flexible schedule-wise, we've really been putting our zoo membership to use recently. The weekend before Halloween we went for "Zoo Boo"--the Houston Zoo's annual Halloween celebration. The girls had a great time!

Because of Kate getting sick on Halloween weekend, it actually ended up being one of the only times that both girls had on their matching costumes together (aside from the JSC trick-or-treating event...pics on that coming soon!). As usual, Anna absolutely loved them having matching outfits. Oh, I hope this phase lasts a long, long time...

They had a neat pumpkin patch where each child could pick out their own baby pumpkin, and then paint it. Anna thought that was pretty cool...

She then contributed to the mural that the zoo put together for the weekend festivities.

Then, to top off the morning full of Halloween fun, Anna learned some of the moves to "Thriller" from a local dance troop (dressed up as zoo animals). They were pretty amazing dancers, and Anna thought they were just fantastic!

Pumpkin patch

As is required Halloween tradition, we visited our local pumpkin patch last weekend so our little pumpkins could pick out some gourds of their own. We of course failed to get a single picture of both girls looking at the camera and smiling, but we did have a great time!

Anna loved the little pumpkins the most...just her size!

They were having a special event on the evening that we went to the patch--"Characters in the Patch". Anna loved seeing all of the characters, and had a great time on the moonwalk and eating dinner at the patch.

We got some good shots of each sister...just none of them both smiling at the camera at the same time! Where's photoshop when you need it??

(Not to worry--Kate wasn't quite as panicked as she appears in this picture...)

Happy Halloween!

This was Anna's most fun Halloween by far! She loved dressing up as a cowgirl (even insisted on wearing her hat most of the time--we assumed she would ditch it 10 minutes into the evening), and had a blast at the multiple festivities that encompassed the last few weeks. (Disclaimer: be prepared for multiple blog postings on Halloween/fall festival activities. I'm far behind on blogging, but am catching up on these pics...)

Last night we had a wonderful time at a Halloween party hosted by one of Anna's friends, Elena. Anna got to go trick-or-treat with a bunch of her friends, and was particularly elated about spending the evening with her "boyfriend" Owen (who she recently has started referring to as her "wife"...maybe we need to work on her vocabulary...). They insisted on holding hands through the majority of the trick-or-treating adventure...just too cute for words. They never quite figured out how to turn around at people's doorways while still holding hands, so often ended up kind of "promenading" back down the walkway. Seriously--these two are too much.

(Kate and Daddy unfortunately missed out on last night's activities because Kate was a bit under the weather...we missed you guys so much! Next year...)

Before embarking on the trick-or-treating, we enjoyed dinner, some playtime, and pinata at Elena's house. This was Anna's first "real" pinata (involving a bat instead of the "safe" pullstrings that many pinatas have now). She was a pro! She didn't quite break it open, but did give it a few solid whacks.

This was as close as we could get to a "group photo". These little ones are quick...

Dressed up? On a see-saw? With Owen? I'm not sure but what this was Anna's perfect moment...