Halloween Fun at Gillespie Estates!

Last night we enjoyed our annual Halloween party with our neighborhood.  This was our 2nd holiday get together without our sweet Meg and again its hard getting through that first Halloween without her. Like I've said before, she was our captain and was always in charge :)  I do think everyone had a fun time and most importantly, the kids had a great time!  We had games to play, the always fun hayride, a jump castle and of course yummy food. What was a lot of fun was watching each kid bob for apples.  They all get an A+ for effort on that one.  We also painted pumpkins.   A lot of fun rolled into one night!  Thanks to Brad & Renee for hosting everybody!
You will see that Kate is a little more willing to have her picture made this time.  I was thrilled out of my mind that she smiled with Cohen.  I actually got a great one of the two of them together.  Yay!  Kate was a mermaid tonight for the party.

MY FAVORITE PICTURE!

Dancing as they walked for prizes...and you see Dooley was right there in the middle!

Kate did her walking with her cupcake in hand

Sweet Sadie & Sawyer! 

Had to get the entire group...Sadie & Sawyer weren't in the first one :)

Cohen & Keely

Elliott, Cohen, & Sam or should I say Sacajawea & her Batmen!!

When your mouth isn't big enough, use your hand!

Kate decided grabbing one would just be easiest

Fun Run, Birthday Party, and Halloween Party!!

Saturday was full of exciting events for us.  It was a busy day but everything was fun so we loved it all!  We started our day EARLY, or at least I did.  We have been working to plan the Fall Fun Run & 5k as a PTO fundraiser for Lavonia Elementary and the 5k part was at 8:30 Saturday morning.  Imagine our excitement when Saturday turned out to be the coldest day of the year so far!  Dawn picked me up at 7:30 so we could get everything set up and it was freezing!!  I can't remember running in colder weather. BRRR....at least there wasn't much sweating!  After the 5k we had the 1 mile fun run obstacle course for the elementary kids.  Cohen had been so excited because each participant was getting a medal.  She asked me for hers first thing, but I told her she had to run first :)  I was so proud of her because she did the entire thing!  Their obstacle course was set up around the track, and everyone had to go around 3 times.  I thought Cohen might get pretty frustrated with it but she didn't and she finished with a smile!

Courtney got this "action" shot of Cohen :)

A group shot of everyone who participated

The Kindergarteners

My little runner

Matching medals

Courtney, Grace and I after the 5k

After the run we had a fun lunch at McDonald's with the Harbin's.  Keyes had won for the kindergarteners and he was ready to use his gift card for some ice cream :)  After lunch, we rushed home so I could take a shower and get ready for stop #2.  Cohen had a birthday party for her friend Elizabeth.  Elizabeth and Cohen take dance together.  They both started together last year, so this is their 2nd year together.  We had fun at her party...Cohen really loved the big jump castle!  Now that the sun was out it turned into a beautiful day!

That night we had a Halloween party with some of our friends and we all had so much fun there.  Cohen was super excited to finally get to wear her Halloween costume.  Because we had to go with a book character for school she decided she wanted to be Sacajawea the Indian princess.  This was from her Fancy Nancy Book Report book and the costume was super cute!  I think I briefly lost my mind when I agreed to a white costume.  We will see how this goes.  By Thursday on Halloween she will have worn the thing every day so it may be brown by then!   Kate wore one of Cohen's old Halloween costumes that I loved...a bee!  Natalie had everything decorated so cute and the food was so good!  The kids got to paint a pumpkin, go on 2 hayrides...1 that was scary and one was not.  Cohen went on both even though I thought she might back out of the scary one, but she didn't.  When they all got back from it they were wanting to go again so that was good!  There was a ghost pinata to bust and get the candy! Everything was so much fun!  I love Halloween and think it is so much fun and there are just so many ideas out there.  And of course being with some of my favorite people only makes it that much more fun!

 We did a group picture with all the kids and Kate was wanting no part of it.  It was quite funny because she was putting on a show and it was obvious.  Her cry was so fake and she kept making these dramatic faces.  She would also open her mouth as wide as she could and cry.  We may have an actress on our hands.

Everyone is looking at Kate in this one!

Hilarious!  I can only imagine what Autumn is thinking looking at Kate in this one

Painting pumpkins

The finished product

Kate was more than happy to smile later in the party

knocking some more candy out

Cohen & Ella Grace all ready for the hayride

Piling on Emma before the scary ride!

BFF's!  They stuck close to the food table.  I think Kate's face shows that well

Cohen & Keyes

Just relaxing in the swing!  

Week day fun with Kate

It seems like the hours in the day pass so fast and it isn't long before Kate and I are loading up to go pick up "sissy".  I do enjoy the time I get to spend alone with Kate though.  At first I felt so guilty because I didn't want Cohen to think she was missing out on things that Kate and I were doing, but I tell myself that I had years alone with just Cohen too, and we did all this fun stuff too.  I miss her during the day and would like nothing more than to have both my girls with me but I remind myself that she's having a ball at school too.  I know I will cherish this alone time with Kate when she is older at school. We have a lot of fun together and she is still the happiest, cutest little girl.  We are getting our routine down somewhat! (50 days into the school year)  I just have some random pictures to post of some of our outings.  We go to the library every Tuesday for story time.  Kate loves the toys at the library and she knows where to head right when we get there to play.  After story time is over she gets just a little more playtime before we go to meet Nanny and Suzy for lunch.  I love our little Tuesday tradition.   Last week she got to paint a pumpkin picture and I snapped a few pictures with my phone.  I finally upgraded my phone so I'm loving the camera on it!!

She's a mess and her face says it all!

Loving on Nanny at lunch!  

Our Tuesday tradition!  We love it!

 I mentioned in another post how my girls have always been fascinated with the mannequins in a store. I have several pictures of Cohen with them and now Kate is following close behind!  I think its hilarious!  Every time we go into a store with mannequins she will run right up to one, reach for its hand, and look at me and say, "tate my pitchure".   She gives me the biggest, cutest, smile too!  One that I couldn't squeeze or bribe out of her if I actually wanted a picture.  I'll definitely be looking back on these with a huge smile!  She is too cute sometimes.

 Another favorite of hers are the little "ride-on" toys in Commerce.  I use these as bribery tools!  Be good in the store for mommy and you can "ride" the toys.  By ride I mean sit on them and pretend they move.  We do actually put money in the merry-go-round, but she is perfectly content to sit on the others without them moving, making noises, etc... and I'm perfectly content for her to think they don't do anything else but sit there.  I can't tell you how long Cohen sat on them and thought that's all there was to it.  Sneaky mama!  I've saved lots of money doing this I'm sure!  Gotta love it while it lasts and they get too smart, right?!  Here is Kate sitting in the "Batmobile".  See how happy she is with no money spent! haha!

Actually moving on this one!  Holding onto the top!

On a side note, last weekend Kate went to the potty for the first time!!  I have dreaded the mention of potty training and I still don't think she is quite there, but she had one great day to start!  Since then we've had no luck at all but I haven't really pushed it either.  It is not the most convenient thing to be potty trained some times but I know I need to start some time soon.  I'm proud of her for her few success times too!  Its a start!