Halloween

Snow on Oct. 30th!!!!

The girls had a blast playing in the snow and didn't even notice that their snow pants were way too small....size 12 months and 2T...yikes!

Malaya had her first day of school after Labor Day. This year she is going 3 days a week in the afternoon. This works out well because Jolie is napping at that time, so they don't miss each other. She loves school and I've noticed that her artwork is getting more advanced. She still doesn't care much about letters and numbers. I'm hoping that will change soon.

We took a trip to Cherry Crest Farm in Lancaster. They are open on limited days and I was determined to go on this Saturday. We spent the morning trudging through the farm in the rain (and of course the afternoon was sunny and dry, but we were at home by then). The farm has a ton of things to do and is a lot of fun. We only saw about 1/2 of the farm, but lucky for us we got rain passes. We will be able to spend another day at the farm in a few weeks.

We took our annual trip to Ocean City, NJ again this year. The weather was great the whole week and our house was a much needed improvement from last year's. We were right across from the beach entrance, close to ice cream and the playground, and a bike ride away from the boardwalk. Malaya had her bike too this year and wanted to ride it everywhere. I guess we won't need the child seat on Sean's bike anymore! The girls also had their first experience on the beach at night. They loved being on the beach in the dark and cried when we walked home. Malaya loved the beach, of course. She loved being in the water, playing in the sand and making friends on the beach. Jolie continued her love/hate relationship with the beach. She loved the water some days and hated it others. She continues to dislike the waves and spent a lot of time clinging to me. During the beach week Malaya stopped sucking her thumb....no more "mommy's shirt" and Jolie pottied trained herself. (Jolie is still wearing diapers though. We didn't quite continue the potty training when we got home)

Jolie went to her first movie! Winnie the Pooh came out and it was only 1 hour long. I figured that it would be a great movie to take the girls to go see. We brought along Malaya's friend, Sophie, and had a girls day out. The girls did a great job (they got wiggly after about 30-40 minutes. I'm surprised Jolie made it that long. She doesn't sit still for very long) and we had fun!

Build a Bear

Malaya chose to go to Build A Bear for her special birthday activity. (I didn't even know she knew about it, but I think she saw a commercial.) It was so cute. First you pick out an animal you want to make. Then you stuff it just the right amount. You add a heart that makes your animal come alive. Then you give your new friend a bath. Finally, you pick out a new outfit. Before you leave, you name your bear and get it's birth certificate. Malaya named her bear Angelina and gave her a ballerina outfit.

Malaya's birthday

Malaya's birthday theme was Tinkerbell this year. she was very patient as she waited all day for everyone to come. She kept saying, "I am trying to not think about my presents, but it is so hard." When it was time for her cake, she hid under the table. She is just too embarrassed when people sing to her. She perked right up when it was time to blow out the candles. Unfortunately, Jolie blew them out first. So, Malaya blew out the second round. Then we opened presents and played before dinner.
We told Malaya that she had to stop sucking her thumb when she turned 4. She was ready to give it a try. But I think she sucked more that day than ever before. She also told me that it was just too hard and she thinks she should just give up.










Jolie is modeling a new dress up outfit.