Ear Piercing!

Today after the girls last soccer games we headed out to Merle Norman to get their ears pierced. Anna was very sweet in allowing McKenna to go first (I am sure that had nothing to do with the fact that she wanted to see if it hurt!). The girls got to pick their earrings out and Anna picked the 24 karat earrings right off the bat. I managed to get her to reconsider to a less expensive option! Next they marked the earlobes with a pen to make sure everything was aligned and then it was go time...

McKenna did go first and there were no tears - she just couldn't wait to see herself in the mirror.

Anna was not quite so lucky. She did NOT like getting her 1st ear done and I wasn't convinced she was going to get the second one done. She had a sip of water and tried to contain the ears and she was ready for ear number 2. Luckily, she didn't squirm too much and the second was completed without issue, but there were a few more tears.

After Anna got to see herself in the mirror, she was all smiles. They got some fairy dust to complete the experience. We were given instructions to twist the earrings and clean the earlobe 2 times a day. I might take Ava back pretty soon. The woman who did it said it is better to do it when they are younger, so we may just get it done. This week we have trophy celebrations for soccer and final preparations for Disneyworld! Have a great week.

Trick-or-Treat!

My super heros!!! We had a wonderful Halloween and the girls had a blast as Supergirl, Batgirl and Aggie Cheerleader (you can see Ava got into the candy a little early!) We started out with pumpkin carving on Friday evening. Grandma Franz, Aunt Jenny, Mitch and all of us had 5 pumpkins to carve. I decided that next year, I will poke out the patterns before everyone arrives as it seems to take us a very long time to do the entire process 5 times over. The girls got to pick their designs - Anna had Cinderella's carriage, McKenna had the witch from Snow White and Ava was supposed to get Snow White, but we ran out of time so she just got a face! Aunt Jenny carved the castle and Mitch made a face with 'hair' using the pumpkin guts and toothpicks to create the effect.

On Halloween night, we were reunited with our trick-or-treating friends from last year (this will definitely be an annual event!) and headed out to acquire POUNDS of candy. The girls ran from house to house (Ava got the princess treatment with her own Radio Flyer wagon/carriage) and listened pretty well to all the parents! There were lots of kids out in the neighborhood and it was a gorgeous night to be out. Great friends = Great times!

The kids

The moms

The dads

McKenna had her preschool Halloween party where she decorated cookies - can you tell I looked away for a minute while she was piling the orange frosting on? :) This is a fun party that Grandma Clerkin and Sitto and Jiddo got to come to and watch McKenna with all of her friends!

And what is Halloween at the office without a little Ghostbusters? Each year my office has a competition bewteen the departments and this years' theme was 80's videos. We had proton packs, ghost catchers, slime, ghostbusters, and of course, the Stay Puft Marshmallow man. We came in second place, but I think we were robbed!

The weekend also consisted of a birthday party for our good friends' son, Brooks. He turned 3 and we partied at Pump It Up. Ava got into it a little bit more this time around, even though she doesn't look thrilled on our trip down the big slide.

This Saturday marks our last soccer games of the season. It looks like it is going to be a great weekend. We will have McKenna's end of the season party on Sunday, and Anna's will be next Thursday. We also have to fit in Grandma Clerkin's birthday cake celebration. Her birthday was the weekend Patrick was sick, so we decided it was best to not bring everyone to our house and get them sick.

We are also in the last days of our countdown before DISNEYWORLD!!! Patrick and I are so excited to be taking Anna and McKenna to Disney in a couple of weeks. Ava is going to be spending the week with Grandma and Grandpa Clerkin. The big girls were sad to be leaving their sister until I explained it just meant that we got to go back in a few years when Ava can enjoy it - now they are okay with the decision :) Aunt Jenny and Mitch will be joining us as well, so not only will we be able to enjoy the trip with them, but Patrick and I will be able to go out alone for our 10 year anniversary which will come while we are there. Wow, 10 years! That doesn't even count the 5 we were together before we got married, boy are we getting old!