Hallelujah Harvest!

My 2 little puppies!

Samara, Caleb, Noah, Erin and Anna (cousins)

Aunt Kim, Uncle Brent and Bumblebee Blake

Carter and Anna - wagon pups! "This sucker is soooooo yummy!"
God Bless America!

Yeah for Horse Rides.

Phew...what a week of Everything Harvest! Last Sunday we had our church's annual Hallelujah Harvest. As you can see, both the girls were Dalmatians. Erin was Perdita from 101 Dalmatians and Anna was one of her many pups. They had the best time gathering candy with friends and family. Joe does a trunk every year and this year went with an American theme. Anna enjoyed her first lollipop and Erin always loves the horse rides. It was a perfect night of making new memories.

A much better day!

Thanks to all of you who commented, emailed, or called just to check on me. We have had a much better day today at the Maggiore household. Joe came home from the office early to give me a break for the afternoon so I went out and got some errands run. I'm very thankful for a husband that cares about me and my sanity and has the flexibility to help me out in times of need or desperation! Here's to another new day and new mercies tomorrow! God is GOOD!

A No Good, Very Bad, Horrible Day! ...and no pictures to prove it!

I haven't had a day like this in a long time. It started out great with the girls sleeping past 8. Then it was off to the Dr. for Anna's 15 month appt. We got taken right back, and saw the Dr. quickly, then waited 25 minutes for the nurses with the shots. Wal-mart was fine although had to wait for a refund for my coupons. Then we got home.....and here is what transpired.

Anna ate lunch and I went to find her Tylenol that apparently she disposed of at Hallelujah Harvest. Luckily, I found some Motrin in our cabinet. Ran downstairs to find a syringe to give the meds in, came back up, picked up the motrin and dropped it. I was standing at the top of the stairs so there is a trail of Motrin on the wall and the bottle decided to make its way down all the stairs leaving a pretty little pink trail!!!! So I manage to get just enough for Anna and put her down.

Meanwhile, Erin has asked me 10 times if our pizza was ready - to which I explode, "don't you think I would have given it to you if it was?"

I run back upstairs to wash the wall and clean the carpets at which time my cell phone starts ringing and then the house phone. Let them ring - I'm busy. As I make my way down stairs - again I'm asked about the pizza, which is ready, but is still in the oven probably burning to a crisp. Don't ask me what I said to her this time!!! Pizza's out - all is well! At least for a few minutes.

As I chat with my sister on the phone, Erin is in the bathroom painting her nails with markers something we discussed wasn't a good idea yesterday. Along with her nails, she has managed to paint the sink and counter pink as well. I cleaned her up and sent her upstairs crying because she wasn't ready to take a nap. Luckily, bleach solved the problem and it was a speedy cleanup.

I manage to get a few minutes of quiet, then, the Brinks security guy arrives to fix our security system. Cue the beeping and alarms which go great with a sleeping baby. So Anna wakes up, Erin decides to play in the bathroom for nap and mom is about to lose it.

A few minutes later, I decided to take a peek upstairs at Erin who I quickly discovered was not in her room, but was undressed in the bathroom. Let's just say that an independent 4 year old will even try to clean up her own accidents, but she doesn't do it well. So bath time for Erin - more carpet cleaning for mommy. May I remind you the Brinks guy was here for all of this.

So alas - 3:00 and Erin is IN her room, Anna's nap was a washout and will be tried again and mommy is a total wreck. I think I need a TALL PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE if I'm going to make it to 8:00 tonight! I'm ready for a new day, with new mercies - I'm all out of them today!

Williamsburg 08

Off we go in to the wild blue yonder!
We love swimming!

Yummy, Yummy!

Picking apples at Trader Joes.

They sure are yummy!

Anna found a tree of heart leaves - very appropriate!

These 2 have a very special bond. Anna was very curious about the animals.
Erin loved all the telescopes.

Making some music on the huge xylophone.

Erin is watching a video that she and I made together.

Too much fun....

We were blessed to take a few days off from the norm and scoot up to Williamsburg for the weekend. We left Thursday afternoon and came home on Saturday. Anna was very excited because we turned her carseat around for the first time for the trip. She was a much happier traveler like this. After we checked in and fed the girls dinner, we hit the indoor pool. Both girls had a blast splashing and practicing swimming. When we got back to the room and got everyone ready for bed, Joe and I were able to go on a date to Outback for a late dinner!

Friday, Joe and his dad played golf with their cousin Billy while the girls hit the outlets. The deals were disappointing, but we had fun. After dinner Erin hit the pool again to practice swimming.

Saturday was supposed to be for apple picking fun, but the place in Williamsburg was closed because of a bad crop. The next closest place was Charlottesville and it was raining. So we opted for lunch at Cracker Barrell, apple "picking" at Trader Joe's and a trip to the Living Museum. We thoroughly enjoyed the Museum and got to see so many cool animals. It was a perfect weekend of relaxation and family fun!