Snow Much Fun!

Yesterday, it snowed ALL day and Lily was so excited and just dying to go outside and play in the snow. She begged and begged until finally I gave in. I love the snow, but I love staying warm too and it looked awfully cold outside. But, I also thought it would be a great opportunity to take advantage of the snowfall and get some much needed one on one play time in. So, after I got Alexandria down for a nap, we quickly got dressed in our warmest clothes, jackets, hats, and gloves, and hurried outside to enjoy the fresh falling snow. Here are some pictures from our day.We're ready to go!

Look at all the snow!

Collecting snow.

Look, Mommy!
Catching snowflakes.
Building a snow castle.
Santa Paws.
(bwahaha, so clever am I!)

Snow friends.
Snowflakes taste yummy!
Building a snowman.Our little snowman named, yup, "snowman."

And here are a couple of short videos from yesterday. (Don't pay attention to the part where I yell at the dog. . .:) teehee!)

Lilyana refused to go inside until she finally realized how cold she really was, which hit her suddenly, and then she started crying when I couldn't get her cold, wet clothes off of her fast enough! Lol! We warmed up with hot chocolate (which she ended up knocking over and spilling all over my table and floor) and cookies. We had a great time!

Trick or Treat!

This is the first year that Halloween has actually worked out pleasantly for us. Lily is now old enough to truly enjoy the dressing up and the candy action. I had really been working on her all month and practicing knocking on the back door and saying, "Trick or treat!" She's become a pro! When Halloween finally came, she was so thrilled and anxious! After dinner, we got her and Alex all dressed up in their adorable little costumes and of course took tons of pictures. Come on, did you really expect anything less from me? :)

Alexandria was the most adorable little witch :)

Totally pumped and ready for trick or treating!

Lilyana was the cutest little Tinkerbell
(So, tell me why people thought she was a princess or an angel? Does she LOOK like that to you? Who doesn't know Tinkerbell? Come on people!)

Michael and I even threw together some fast last minute costumes:

I think I pulled off the butterfly look. What do you think?
Lily's dress up wings were a bit tight, but worked nicely.

The girls didn't know what to think of Michael's costume at first.
Who is this redneck, bearded lady?

I am pretty impressed with this photo. I took it myself!
We may not all be looking, but I was happy to get everyone in the photo!

And here they are all cozy in their wagon and ready for the
trick or treat adventure.

Lilyana is a very fast learner and already a Trick or Treating pro! After each house, she would say "Get more candy, mom? We go to another house? I LOVE candy!"
Once she figured out that this whole thing worked, there was no stopping her!
What a silly girl!

After trick or treating, we stopped by Great Grandpa's house to get more candy and snuggles before bed.

Back at home, of course, we had to check out our stash!

I don't think she has ever seen so much candy before! Look at that excitement!

Whoa, baby!

Lily (and Daddy) were definitely in candy heaven!
(Please divert your eyes from my messy couches. Thanks much!)

It was a very long, but fun night! Next year we are going to think of a family theme to dress up as! ;)

Halloween Day

I thought it would be fun to start some new traditions in the Brown family this year. I decided it would be neat to plan the day around the Halloween theme. So, this morning we ate Cinnamon rolls with Orange icing. . . Then for afternoon snack, Lily and I baked orange pumpkin shaped cookies with pumpkin faces (compliments of tollhouse:) They were very yummy.

Then we watched a Halloween movie and after nap we carved pumpkins. Lily wasn't too sure about scraping the pumpkin out. She didn't want to get her hands dirty. She didn't last very long with this activity.

Gotta love the face in this one! "Get it off of me, Mom!"

Michael and I sure had fun with it though. I forgot to take the after carving pics. Sorry guys, but don't worry. It wasn't anything too exciting :)

Here are some cute pics of the girls in their Halloween outfits:

Gotta love that girl! Getting her to look at the camera is like pulling teeth sometimes!

Oooh Lala! I'm sooo cute it's SCARY!!!

Alexandria with her friend Alexis (babysitting kid.)

All in all, it was a rather fabulous day! And the fun had only just begun!

Lily and her Camera

Lily is always stealing my digital camera and playing with it. This makes me nervous, so I bought her her own small, plastic Tinkerbell camera the other day. She hasn't stopped "taking pictures" since! She snaps the toilet, the dogs outside, her sister, the carpet, you name it! She is turning into her mother already! (Back in July I bought her her own Barbie camera on clearance for Christmas. This one actually works! I know she will love it!)

My Two Little Thumbsuckers

I just thought this picture was too cute and funny to pass up, so I had to share.


I broke Lilyana of the pacifier just to have her start sucking her thumb and Alexandria has sucked her thumb since the womb! I think they both look a lot alike in this picture.

We all Scream for Ice Cream!

Alexandria LOVES ice cream!!! WE went out to eat at this buffet restaurant and at the end of dinner I got some ice cream to share with Alex. I was giving her little spoonfuls and she seemed to really be enjoying it. Her face lit up with excitement at the sight of the next bite. I turned my head, momentarily, to talk to my mom and turned back to find Alex grabbing a fistful of ice cream from the bowl and then shoving it into her mouth. Immediately her hand shot out a second time to grab another fistful to bring to her mouth. I guess I wasn't giving it to her fast enough :) She is a girl who definitely knows what she wants and doesn't waste any time getting it! YUMMY!!!