Happy Halloween!

The girls and I spent the morning hanging out and carving our two pumpkins. They came out great! When I went to put them out on the front steps Ally got upset. "No mommy you need to leave them on the deck. Someone will steal them again." It's so sad that at such a young age she has already had things taken from her. Thank you again Kandi for the replacement pumpkins! In the afternoon Claudette came over and helped the girls stuff a pumpkin man full of leaves. (It scared the daylights out of me when we got home) Then she took them out Trick or Treating while Jerry and I went to a wedding. I didn't want them to miss out on Halloween and feel so blessed to have such a wonderful friend who would give up her day get them all dressed and take them out. Thank you, thank you, thank you Ms Claudette! YOU ARE THE BEST!! Happy Halloween!

Crazy Hair Day

Ansley

My pants may be on backwards but I've got my duck duck so nothing else matters!

Some Fall Pictures

Today the girls and I went out to Crandall Park in Tolland and took some pictures. Ally did great as always and Ansley for the first time really had fun smiling and posing for pictures. Maybe she has finally realized that it's easier to give in and get finished than fight me. I am relentless.

Happy 6th Birthday Allyson!

I say this every year but I can't believe another one has slipped away. Allyson is 6years old today. She had her first ever friend party. She had a great time. All of the girls dressed up as princesses. I had several games for them to play and figured with cake and presents, 2.5 hours should have been more than covered. I now know that a short attention span is a trait in all 5-6 year olds, not just mine. Three games was no where near enough. Although I think they enjoyed just playing in the playroom more than anything else. After the party, Jerry and I took her out to her favorite restaurant for dinner, Friendly's. Her only request was to go somewhere where they would sing to her. It was great! Not only did the staff sing but all of the tables around us joined in too! She was thrilled. Happy Birthday Allyson!!

A beautiful Sunday Afternoon

This afternoon the girls and I took advantage of some beautiful fall weather and went over to Northeast school to play on the playground. The girls had a ball running around. And mommy was able to snag a couple of great shots!

2 Bushels of Apples

Last year we were fortunate enough to score apple seconds from a man down the road for 5 bucks a bushel. Well this year he called me to see if I wanted some more. I have been so busy but I love to can so I couldn't pass it up. So here we are spending our Saturday among the apples. We ended up with 14 Qts of apple pie filling and 22 Qts of applesauce. Yummy! Thankfully Jerry and the girls don't mind helping. Jerry and I finally finished a little after midnight. Now if I only had the energy to clean the disaster that was once my kitchen!

Vernon Ave

The view of Vernon Ave. The only nice thing about the cooler weather.

6 year Check-up

Today we took Ally in for her 6 year checkup. She saw Dr. Spegielman and all appears well. She is in the 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight. I was impressed with the pediatrician today. He really took time to talk to Ally which she loved because she thinks she is soooo big. He addressed her more than he addressed me. Ansley was a little chatterbox in the office today. I guess she is finally warming up. They both got their flu shots and were absolute champs! Not one whimper from either one. My girls are so brave!! Ansley couldn't wait for her daddy to get home so she could tell him all about it.

The Jam

Well our raspberries have made their transformation from berries to jam. Below is the transformation process according to Ally and Ansley.


First you have to pick em, you pick em, you pick em, pick em, pick em. Then you wash em, you wash em, you wash em, wash em, wash em.


Then you smash em, you smash em, you smash em, smash em, smash em. Then you cook em, you cook em, you cook em, cook em, cook em.


Then you can em, you can em, you can em, can em, can em. Then you EAT EM!!

My girls

Finally some berry picking

I admit it I have been a complete slacker this canning season. We completely missed strawberries and blueberries and I have been really bummed. (Afternoon kindergarten is messing with my already tight schedule) So today before we completely missed every berry we headed out super early to Easy Pickens and picked 7 pints of raspberries. We tried for 10 but 7 was pushing it. Ally was into it for about an hour but Ansley stuck with me for a full 2.5 hours. She is such a patient picker. She would get so excited when she picked up a branch and found even one ripe raspberry. It was super cute. At one point I dropped about a 1/2 pint on the ground. I was really annoyed, especially because the pickens were so slim, but Ansley quickly came running. "Don't worry mommy, I will help you pick them up." Such a sweet kid. Now for the real fun.......JAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Twins

Ally and Ansley love to dress alike. So despite the fact that it is October they are still holding on to this one summer outfit so they can dress the same.

Later in the day Ansley sports my black boots!