Haymarket Halloween Party

Last night was the annual Haymarket Halloween party. This year was a little different since the Williams family wasn't here for the party. We were sad that they weren't a part, but we hear that they have quite a big Asheville Halloween day ahead of them today! In their absence, Nina and Lyla were allowed to invite a few more friends. Jill and Mark and their kids came again, and this year we got to enjoy having two of our neighbor families there also. Our friends, Scott and Noelle, and their twin girls came, and our friends Bree and Mark, and their boys came. We had a really fun night. The kids had a blast, and everything was awesome. Thanks so much to my mom and dad and Connie for all the work they did to decorate the yard and woods for a really fun night. To see the pictures and read the captions about our night, click HERE.

Cox Farms 2010

On Friday, we took our annual family trip to Cox Farms. We had a really good time despite the fact that it was very cold and windy. Click HERE to see the pictures, and choose the Slideshow option to read the captions telling about our day.

Halloween Parade

This year for Halloween, Nina and Lyla are going to be Chipettes. Nina is going to be Brittany, and Lyla is going to be Eleanor (the jury is still out on whether or not I'm going to be Jeanette). Anyway, we got our first trial run through of the costume this week for Nina's preschool Halloween parade and party. I realized that I painted the brown arches on her face too dark, so I'll have to do that differently on Sunday, but other than that, she made a great Brittany. Lyla was very upset not to be dressed up in her costume today, but as we were just in the audience for the parade then rushing home to get her down for a nap, I decided to have her wait until Sunday. More pictures to come on Halloween!

Friday Fun

We enjoyed the chance to have a couple of our friends over for dinner on Friday evening, and Nina and Lyla enjoyed some up close and personal time with a new addition, Aubrey.

Aubrey's mom and dad were trusting enough to let Nina hold her (which she was very excited about), and after Nina, Tommy, Autumn, and Lyla finished chasing each other, we got them corralled on the couch for a picture.

After everyone left, Nina and Lyla thought I needed a little "painting" on my face. Then, Nina did some work on my hair after that. I wonder if they're trying to tell me something...

Then, later in the weekend, Nina was back to giving Lyla beauty treatments, and I wish I would have had my camera ready when Lyla gave Mark some "painting" on his face, but he even got some beauty treatments too!

Date Night

Last night was date night for Mark and Nina. Since we did a family date night last month (although I didn't take pictures to post about it), Mark had the chance this month to pick his date with Nina. They decided to go out for pizza then head to mini-golf. Of course, they brought their own putters. The mini-golf idea was good, but unfortunately, the place they went has changed a lot in the years since Mark and I had been there, and it was really scary for Nina. Mark said there were lots of spooky sounds, spooky decor, and things that were probably too much for a 4-year old. In retrospect, he wished someone would have mentioned that to him when they arrived and paid to play, but nevertheless, they survived, and Nina got another date.

A Thread Through Time

My mom came over on Saturday for a few hours and brought her sewing machine with her. She had come to help me make part of the Halloween costumes for Nina and Lyla, and since I don't own a sewing machine and probably wouldn't know how to make what I needed if I did have one, I was very thankful for her help. After we finished our creations, Nina asked my mom to teach her how to sew. She got a single square of material, and out of it, she created three things for Nina's animals while teaching Nina how to sew. After some instruction, Nina was doing it all by herself. She was moving the bobbin up and down as need be, stitching and backing up her stitches, guiding the material, etc. I couldn't believe it. Being able to create things by sewing is a skill I am pretty much devoid of. When I was a kid, I remember my mom sewing us everything. She made dolls for us and clothes for our dolls, she made bags for us, clothes for us, quilts, curtains, etc. She even made our house a huge rug once. I remember going to the fabric store to pick out patterns of stuff we wanted her to make for us, and she made it.

I watched Nina get so excited while making the little outfits for her animals, and I thought it was something really special she was sharing with my mom. I think the craft of sewing is still mastered by some people in my generation, but it certainly isn't something I think most girls in my generation know how to do well, but I think it's something in my mom's generation that they all knew how to do very well. Judging from the things my mom made when we were kids, and judging from the beautiful hand made quilts and blankets Mark's mom made both of our girls when they were born, and other things that I remember my mom's friends making, or things that my sister's mother-in-law makes now, I know those women had a lot of skills that my friends and I don't have now. However, thankfully, in my case, my mom and her sewing machine are just a call away, so I got help with my girls' costumes, and Nina got a great sewing lessen and three items for her little friends.

Her first item of business was making a dress for Froggy.
Then they made a cape for Itsy, her spider (and a matching cape for Lyla's spider).
Then they made a hysterical evening gown style dress for Lizard (the picture didn't load, so I'll have to go back and try again), and then they added some embellishments for each and a bow for Froggy's dress. It was very cute!

Girl's Night

Last night was a little girls' night with girls I've been friends with for 18 years. I met Sallie, Becky, Jill, and Cassie (and Jess who we wished was there but was in GA instead) when I transferred to Stonewall Jackson my sophomore year of high school. We all still keep in touch and get together whenever we can, and last night we got together at Jill's house since Becky and Cassie were in town.
Jill was running a test kitchen of sorts on us, but it was more like we got served awesome food for doing nothing but talk, laugh, and have fun. Jill is going to start teaching cooking classes in the near future for a friend's new business venture, so she was trying out recipes on us to get our feedback. She (and her husband, Mark, who did all the clean-up) did an awesome job, and we tasted great dishes that she prepared and then is going to give us the recipes for.
Since Mark is in Chicago, my girls' night had to include bringing two little girls with me. Nina was so excited to see Jonathan. It was cute because when we first walked in the door, her comment to Jonathan was, "Wow, you look so grown up." They played hard all night.

I had to include this picture of Nina and her "new" smile. She's always smiled the same way - eyes barely open, big smile, and head turned to the side. You guys see the blog, you know what I'm talking about. However, when she actually knows she's getting her picture taken lately, this is how she's been "smiling". Too funny. It ended up being ok that my little girls were there because Jill's kids were there, Becky brought her oldest and Sallie brought her youngest, and Cassie's two boys came with her husband for awhile, so there was plenty of kids to play with. We were laughing at one point how it seems a little weird, but cute, that we now have kids who have their own little relationships and friendships with the other kids of our friends.

Becky's daughter turned three yesterday, so we had a little cake and sang Happy Birthday.

By the end of the night, we were sufficiently full, the kids were up late and playing in their PJs, and Jill's house, which started out so clean and calm, was now covered with dishes and toys, but we had so much fun, and it's awesome to still have good friends from so long ago.

First Field Trip

Today was Nina's first field trip. Her class (the Dinos) met up at Pumpkinville today for an afternoon of fun. Each child brought a chaperone, and siblings were invited, so both Lyla and I went on the field trip with her. We had a really fun time! Check out the slideshow of our time at Pumpkinville to see all the pictures and read the captions.

Fall Festival

Today was our community fall festival. It was a gorgeous day to be outside enjoying the festival, so we made the most of it. The girls got to take pony rides, pet some farm animals, ride on some cool rides, climb a rock wall, listen to a band, and eat pizza and cotton candy. Nina is our amusement park riding fanatic, so she wanted to go on all the rides. Lyla sat a few out, but she still had a good time and rode most of rides with her sister. The festivities ended at 7pm, so after closing down the last of the rides, we walked our tired selves home. We had a good time!