Yesterday was the Pet Parade and downtown trick or treating, so the girls, Lydia Ann, Thomas and I went down to watch the parade and then let Emma trick or treat. The parade only lasted about 2 minutes, which was sad, but then Emma had a good time getting candy. We went over to John and Lydia Ann's after the festivities and grilled out for Thomas' first birthday. We had such a good time!!!

Pumpkin Carving

I wanted to share some pictures from our pumpkin carving activity last weekend. We decided that we would carve our pumpkin, with Emma's help, right after lunch and before nap on Sunday, which might have been our first mistake! :-) Chris and I ended up doing it all by ourselves. As you can see from the pictures, Emma was a little wary of the pumpkin guts and then it just got boring for her. She would have much rather played on her swingset then carve the pumpkin. She liked it once it was done, though, and loves to light it! Erin was a trooper just sitting in her stroller, watching. She's such a sweet baby and has such a sweet temperament! I hope she stays this way (even through her terrible 2s!!).

Harvest Festival

Our church's Harvest Festival was last night, and, as you can see, fun was had by all! We started the night eating hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, then had a costume parade, then enjoyed all the games and inflatable things outside. Emma has an obsession with jumping castles, so it was difficult to get her to focus on much else. Emma was Strawberry Shortcake and Erin was a strawberry from Strawberry Shortcake's garden. :-)

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch this past Saturday and had a blast (despite the cold!). Emma's favorite part was jumping into the container of corn kernels. Her next favorite activity was the moo train. We had so much fun!

It's Fall!

Here are a couple of pictures of Erin and Emma that I took on Saturday. They are wearing their matching Halloween outfits that Granna a Papa gave them. We are going to the pumpkin patch next weekend, so hopefully I will have another update then.

First Day of School

PICT0072, originally uploaded by melanie_castleberry.

Today was the first day of school for Emma (and Erin, but it's really no different than she's been doing). Emma is in one of the 2-year old classes, and her teachers are "Miss" Missy and "Miss" Pam. She was so excited to be going to a new classroom, but what she was most excited about was getting to sleep on a new cot. :-) For some reason Emma LOVES sleeping at school. I guess it's just the fact that it's different. She had a pretty good day (I think she only had to go to time out twice!!). :-) What I was most excited about was her use of the potty. I just knew I would pick her up and she would be in a different outfit than the one she went to school in, but she wasn't! Maybe the potty training is really sticking.

Wild Animal Safari

Last week, Emma and I went to the Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, GA with some friends of ours from Americus. We met some other friends there including my mom. I was a little concerned how Emma would react because she has been very "scared" of anything and everything lately. Well, it started off pretty well. We got in the van, and Emma sat in the very back with Andrew and Dolly while I got in the front passenger seat. As you first start into the park, you are bombarded by deer, and, since the vans don't have windows, they all come right up and stick their heads in the van. Emma screamed at the top of her lungs, shot out of the seat and came running up to me in the front! She was so scared, she was shaking. She spent the whole rest of ride sitting in my lap saying she wanted to go home. :-) After we went through the park, we ate lunch and then went to the petting zoo. Emma seemed to like this a little better although it was soooo hot outside! All in all it was a fun day.

Beach Trip

I'm just now learning how to create slides and such and still don't quite know the ins and outs, but here is a link to our pictures from our beach trip. It was a blast!!

Exciting Weekend

What an eventful weekend/week we've had! To give a little background, Emma is in love with her pacifier (or her "paci" as she calls it) but only uses it when she takes naps and at bedtime. Well, this week, school is closed, so I had decided to take the paci away for good. Saturday was D-day, so when she got up Saturday morning, she gave it to me, and I put it up where she could not find it. Emma went about her morning like normal...a few temper tantrums and a lot of playing...and then nap time came. Wow - talk about major meltdown. Emma cried for 2 hours straight wanting her paci. I wasn't sure how I was going to get through this especially since Chris was at work all day, but we got through it, and she actually fell asleep without it. Yes! Score 1 for Mom! Well, that night it was a little easier, and it has gotten easier and easier every day.



Apparently getting rid of the paci causes you to grow up overnight...Emma woke up Sunday morning and was in a fabulous mood. We ate breakfast, played a little bit and got ready for church. Well, as Chris and I were getting things ready (ourselves included), Emma came up to me and told me that she wanted to go to the potty. I was floored!!! We have been trying for months to get her interested in going to the potty and wearing big girl panties but to no avail. Needless to say, I jumped on the chance to start potty training! We put on her big girl panties, went to the potty and have been going ever since. It has been 3 days, and we've only had 2 accidents. I consider this a GREAT success! I could not ask for anything better.



Now onto Erin...Erin was 6 months old yesterday and is showing all signs of developing right on schedule. She is sitting up by herself (with just a little bit of the wobbles), smiling and laughing a lot more, and simply interacting more. We took her for her 6-month checkup today and everything looks great. She weighs 16.1 pounds and is 25 1/2 inches long. She's in the 55th percentile for both weight and height which is great! She had to get shots today which was not fun for her (or for me for that matter). :-( As she was getting the shots and wailing, though, I noticed that her first 2 teeth were starting to come in! She has been drooling like crazy, but we haven't been able to see anything until today. Her 2 bottom front teeth have finally broken through! Maybe now she will get some relief.

So, there's our exciting weekend/week. My little girls are growing up!! I can 't believe how fast time flies!!!

My First Blog

I am doing this at the request of my two "kathryn" friends. :-)  We'll try it out for a little bit.  I am in Eufaula for a baby shower which we just got back from, and just set this up.  Chris has the girls for the first time overnight. We'll see if he ever lets me go anywhere again!