Trick or Treating Part 1

Since my kids get to trick or treat numerous amounts of times at Halloween, I thought that I would make it into parts!! We had our first yesterday because the town of Blowing Rock likes to do their events the Saturday before the holiday!! Bob really loves this tradition, but oh well. Bobby had a great time as usual, doing all the fun activities before the Monster March and trick or treating begins. He got to go on an inflatable obstacle course, ring some pumpkins, a sack race (with Mommy), and run around on the playground. The weather was nice, but the wind could have STOPPED!!! That's what really made it cold, but we had fun anyway. I think that Amaryllis really enjoyed her first experience. She wanted to get down and walk during the Monster March, which made things slow moving, but she was too cute!! She kept reaching in her pumpkin pulling out little bags of candy! Too bad she can't eat it!! The kids did really well though, pulling in about a half pumpkin each of candy!!! We had fun and got to do it as a family, which was so awesome too!!

Pumpkin kids

Last Tuesday, both kids wore their Pumpkin shirts!!! They were too cute and I had to get some pictures of them in the leaves! Here are a few:

It's All About The "U"

On Saturday, October 28th we all took a trip to Durham, NC and the Campus of Duke University to see the football game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium. It was Amaryllis' first Miami game, Bobby III and Melanie's third Miami game (and my 22nd Miami Game). Everyone had a great time at the game. Bobby was too young at his previous football games to remember or get into the game, but this time he really did get into the game, asking many questions. The best question the he asked was "Where is the blue line that we see on TV?" referring to the Line of Scrimage computer generated line that the TV networks put on the screen. Amaryllis was pretty much attached to Mommy during the game, though there was a moment of brother and sister loving on each other. During the fourth quarter they announced that any kids who pick up 100 of the plastic drink cups in the stands and bring them to the recycling area will get a free gift...well we could not pass that up..could we?!? So Bobby started walking around the stadium dumping and picking up plastic cups, Melanie and I also took turns and we did get 100 cups and turned them in and Bobby got a little Duke clock (Duke was only the villain on this day so its ok). After the game as we were walking through the stadium, Melanie saw a University of Miami cheerleader walking with her parents, Mel stopped and asked if she would take a picture with Amaryllis. The cheerleader was excited to do so and so was her mother who got out her camera as well. as you can see the only one not thrilled about the idea was Amaryllis. It was a great time, for all the reasons, but of course it was great for the real reason
MIAMI HURRICANES 49 - DUKE BLUE DEVILS 31.

Fun at the park

Last week we had such great weather!! It was cold in the morning, but warmed up during the day and was PERFECT for the park. So, after school one day, I surprised Bobby with a trip to the park! Amaryllis had so much fun too, it was the first time that she could really enjoy the park herself!! It was great fun and Bobby made a new friend and met up with a little girl that was in camp with him over the summer!! It was fun, so much fun that we ended up staying for 2 hours!!

Bobby jumping to grab the bar! Almost there!

Daddy had some work near the park
and stopped by to say hi!

Having so much fun!

She loves the swing!

Found some leaves to play in on our walk home!

Disney on Ice

Last Friday, I took the kids to Charlotte to see Disney on Ice. I was kinda nervous because it was Amaryllis' first time at something like this and I wasn't sure how she would do, especially since I was by myself!!! All I have to say is WOW!!! Not only did she LOVE it, Bobby was awesome as well!! I could not have asked for a better evening out with my kids!!! It was so much fun and they both really enjoyed the show!! I took a ton of pictures, here are just a few!

His light up twirly dragon

Mickey and Minnie

Oops Goofy!


Lightning McQueen on ICE!


Look!!! It's the Lion King!


Timon, Pumbaa and Simba!


Young Tinkerbell


Sleepy girl finally gave in!

Tinkerbell can fly!

What a fun NIGHT!!

TONS of CLoTHeS!!!

We are ever so lucky to have friends and family that give us hand me down clothes for the kids!!! When Bobby was born, his cousin Allen was 10mths old, so we got lots of clothes for him!! With Amaryllis it was a different story cause all the girls are so much older!! BUT we have such great friends who have girls and they have given us bags and boxes FULL of cute clothes for her!! YEAH!! So I have been busy trying to go through everything and sort sizes and what I want to keep!!! It's so much fun, and even more so because it's FREE and comes special from people who care about us!! I just want to say THANK YOU!! to those who have given us anything, it is really appreciated!! And Amaryllis loves playing in them, especailly since I haven't closed them and she can pull EVERYTHING out!!

Walking home from school

One our my favorite things to do lately is walk Bobby to and from school! We are so lucky to live close enough to do this and I like to take advantage of it whenever I can. It's just Mommy and Bobby time in the morning, but in the afternoon, Amaryllis gets to come along too. It's such a great way for us to get out of the house and for a little exercise too!! Amaryllis loves to people watch, and usually gets lots of attention from the people that she watches.
Bobby decided yesterday that he wanted to push the stroller home (except up the hill, make me do the hard work), so I let him!! What fun to watch the two of them going down the street together. We also stopped inside the ice cream store to get a sampling of the fudge!! YUMMY!!
Bobby has also found out the if he crosses though the empty lot on our way home, that he gets ahead of us and can beat us up the hill!! He now thinks this is very amusing, and has to do it on a daily basis!! Oh what a funny child!!

Trying to stand

Amaryllis was standing by herself today for a significant amount of time!!! We went to our little baby group today and while she was playing, she just let go of what she was holding on to and stood there for almost a minute!!! I was SHOCKED to say the least!! Then tonight, I tried to get her to take a few steps. She would stand on her own and then lean towards me, but not really take any steps! Crazy girl!! She then thinks it's so funny!! HA! She's becoming a lot braver about letting go and cruising like a maniac when holding onto something!! I'm just gonna wait and see when she's gonna take off! Could be tomorrow, could be two more months... we'll just wait and see!

Birthday planning...

Yes, I have already started planning Amaryllis' first birthday party!!! I can't believe that she will be ONE in just a few short weeks. It actually want to make me weep thinking that my baby is no longer a baby anymore!!

Well, my first thought on thinking about this party was to do it as a Princess party, since she is my little princess! But after much though, much like Bobby's first party, Bob and I decided to wait on the Princess party until Amaryllis would be able to enjoy a Princess party herself! So we looked and Bob thought maybe Minnie Mouse would be fun! And it stuck! So last week while I was in FL, my Mom and I started designing the invites and got them all done. I do still have to fold and cut them out, but they are here and ready!! What a great help, thanks Mom!!

Then I was thinking about clothes. I did buy her a Minnie Mouse costume for CHEAP last year afte she was born when the Disney store had all the costumes for dirt cheap! I bought an 18mth though because I wanted her to be able to wear it at Disney and walk around in it! Since Amaryllis can still wear 6-9mths clothes, I figured she would swim in that thing, so the search started. Then I was gonna wait until the Halloween costumes this year went on sale and get that. The Minnie dresses are pink this year though. But then after looking at Minnie party things, they are all pink too! That's when I went on Ebay... I saw the cutest little Minnie tutu outfits, most of which were way to much $$, but oh so cute! Then I saw one and it was a decent price, and after watching it and watching it... I WON IT!!! YEAH! So now she's gonna have this super cute outfit and we'll just have all the decor red, black and white!! Oh, i'm so pumped about it!! Well, I am and I'm not, just because I'm not ready for her to turn one yet!

Girls trip to FLORIDA!

Last week, Amaryllis and I got the chance to go to Florida, just the two of us!!! We had a whirlwind trip trying to see everyone, but had a great time!! Thanks to all who we got to see, hopefully the whole family will be able to come down next time!! Thanks to the Grandparents for letting us stay with them too!!!

Amaryllis' new friend, Vinnie, who she shared
meals with!

Playing with cousins, Lily and Allen.


Walking the mall with Aunt Missy, Luke,
Beca and Pappy

Playing with Nonni and Nonno!


Meeting the horse and Lily's riding lesson

Sitting on my cousin, Luciano's, lap!!


An angel in Grandpop's eyes!!


Good times with Grandmom!!

We had a great time and both of us survived the 8 hour car trip with out our trusty helper, Bobby!! It was an interesting ride, but Amaryllis did great! We are happy to be home with Daddy and Bobby again, boy did we miss our "Bob's"!! Looking forward to more trips though!

Apple Fest at the Library

The library had an apple fest yesterday and the kids had fun with apples. The children's librarian, Judith, has apple trees and brought in buckets and buckets of apples!! She also has an apple press that she brought in so the kids could crush the apples and press them to make apple cider!! It was really neat to watch the kids turning the crank!
They also had fun activities for the kids to work on including stamping apples, molding with a cinnamon dough (and boy did that smell good!), plus carving apples! They had apple treats and read a book about Johnny Appleseed! Bobby used to go to the library every Tuesday with me, but since he's been in school he hasn't gotten to go, although Amaryllis and I still do! It was good fun for him to go and we all had a good time!

Crawling and Picture Day

Yesterday was a BIG day for Amaryllis! She finally started crawling on her hands and knees!! I really didn't think that she was going to do it. I figured her army crawl was going to be her way until she started walking, but I was wrong and yesterday she was off!! It was so funny and cute. Although, she still does like to army crawl and roll, like she did today. I do think that once she realizes that crawling the othe way gets her from point A to point B faster, there will be no stopping her!

And yesterday was picture day for Bobby! On our walk to school, I did coach him a little to make sure that he was going to make a "nice" smile instead of a crazy face! Has anyone else done this before, or am I the only wacky one?? But we talked about how he should smile and made him smile a few times for me!! And the one of the first questions out of my mouth when I picked him up was "How did you smile for your pictures?" I know, I know, let it go. Now it's just the waiting to find out what he really did! I have a feeling that one year, he'll do something totally crazy just so he can see my reaction when I get the final product in my hands!! I guess that's just one more thing that I need to let go of since he's growing up!! I'll still have control over Christmas pictures and any other ones that I get done!

Walking

Well, maybe not just yet. But I did pick Amaryllis up the CUTEST toddler walk behind stroller!!! I have to admit though, that I don't know who loves it more, her or Bobby!! He enjoys zooming it across the floor as fast as he can. Good thing that the wheels don't move that fast! It is so sweet. Bobby helped me put it together last night and put Baby Sharpay in the stroller. Amaryllis loved having her baby in it and when I told her to kiss the baby, SHE DID IT!!!! Ahhh!! It was so sweet that she knew what I was talking about. (I asked her to kiss the baby again today and she did it again! I know, I thought it may have been a fluke the first time, but I got a picture of it today!!) Well, she did take about 3 steps behind it today. She still doesn't understand the concept, but give her some time and I'm not gonna be able to stop her! Oh, it's gonna be so much fun watching her bump into everything because she doesn't know how to turn it!!!

Thinks she's such a BIG girl
holding on with just one hand!

Giving her baby a kiss,
what a sweet little mommy!