Hummingbird Food Fight

hummingbird food fight 1
Originally uploaded by katiesgirls

Early last month, while at the Smith's, I was able to watch two hummingbirds go at it, battling for food. I love hummingbirds, and I was so happy to have my camera available to capture it. There are 6 shots in this series. So neat.

Where did October go?

WOW, October really flew by! Here is a recap, and of course, there are always more on Flickr.

Playing at home with Sarah

Constance the Elephant

Victoria the Ballerina

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

At Church

Happy Halloween

Our dear friends, the Spannagel's, came to our house this evening for dinner and trick-or-treating. It turned into a party when Glammie and Guapo; Erin, Jason and Baby Audrey (lambie); came too.

We had such a wonderful time. The weather was fabulous, so Zach grilled Szechwan Chicken, ribs and asparagus, and I made caramel apple dip, carmelized onion dip and black cat cupcakes. Emily brought homemade mac and cheese for the kiddos, and they enjoyed veggies and dip. We ate and then went trick or treating.

Glammie bought the girls new princess dresses, on sale last minute from the Disney store. These were beautiful costumes that I'm sure the girls will wear almost daily for the next few months. Victoria was Princess Belle and Constance was Princess Snow White. It was very sweet when Victoria demanded a rose to complete her Belle Costume.
We also gave Snow White her poisoned apple. Thank goodness, it didn't put her to sleep!

By the time trick-or-treating rolled around, however, Constance had tired of Snow White and preferred to go out in her elephant costume from last year!


We had such a wonderful time with the Spannagel's, and my parents, bless them, stayed behind to hand out candy. They even cleaned the dinner dishes! THANK YOU, GLAMMIE AND GUAPO!

Oh! and this post wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention the awesome Mickey Mouse jack-0-lantern that Zach carved. It was awesome.

Happy Halloween!

Family at Audrey's Christening

Audrys Baptisim 101
Originally uploaded by katiesgirls

Audrey's Baptisim

Audrys Baptisim 111b
Originally uploaded by katiesgirls

We were blessed to become the Godparents of our niece, Audrey Marie Cantwell. She is an absolute doll and we are so proud to be honored in this way. We look forward to guiding her in the way of the Lord.

Audrey's baptism was lovely. She was an absolute doll, and the party afterward was perfect. We celebrated with family and friends at Erin and Jason's new house, which is less than a mile from ours! I am so excited to have my sister and niece (GodDaughter!) so close. The girls love it, too. Every time we drive home, they ask to go to "Baby Audrey's house!"

More Wedding Pics

I have these and about 20 more posted to flickr.

English Wedding!

EnglishWedding100950
Originally uploaded by katiesgirls

Last night we were at the wedding of Zach's cousin Michael and his bride Megan. Zach was instructing a rescue course and couldn't make it, but Constance and Victoria came with me, along with Grandma Vickie and Grandpa Ian, Aunt Brittany and her boyfriend Scotty.

The girls are very much into princesses now, so they loved it once I told her that Princess Megan was getting married to her Prince Charming. Here's a photo of the girls, along with their cousins Alithea, Lillian and Sabine.

These girls rocked the dance floor. They were all adorable and had so much fun spinning and dancing with their cousins. It was a really special night.

California State Fair

I had not been to the California State Fair since I was 15 years old. Vickie was in town and Zach was working, so we took the girls on a weekday. There weren't many people there and we arrived when it opened, so everything was pretty calm and clean. The girls did great and it was a fun day.





In the van on the way to the fair, the girls said that they wanted to drive a pink car. Vickie assured them there would be a pink car for them to drive. "Vickie," I warned, "they will remember that. What if there is no pink car?"

"It's the fair! I'm sure there will be a pink car!" came the reply.

Touche.

Audrey

The girls are so in love with their cousin, "Baby Audrey." They love to see her and play with her, and who wouldn't? She is probably the cutest baby I've ever seen. Really.

Play Kitchen

0809PlayKitchen2
Originally uploaded by katiesgirls

My sister's Mother-in-law bought a wooden play kitchen at a garage sale. It is so cute, and I am so thankful that it lives at my house for the time being.

Sometimes the girls use it as a kitchen, but mostly it is just another fort/ hiding place/ climbing apparatus.

Constance is paci-free!

OK, so this actually happened awhile ago (38 days, but who's counting?) but I am so proud of my Constance, I must post the photos. At two and a half, I thought I'd have the paci gone by this point, but I have to admit that I was really the one holding things up. Of course, Constance was attached to it, but when we cut back the paci use to only nap time or bed time a little after her 2nd birthday, she was like a drug addict when she wanted it! We're talking hysterical screaming, thrashing around on the floor, throwing herself into walls. It was SO hard, I was not looking forward to doing it at night.

I decided to try the whole, "Baby Audrey needs the pacifiers now; we should give them to her," bit. I had read that it can work. So, after a day of really building it up, we packed them up in a special gold box with tissue paper and drove them over to baby Audrey.

Constance was so good about it, so proud of herself. It was adorable. There was one tough night, and one more night of whining, but thankfully no thrashing hysterics. Now we have two big girls! Good job, Constance!loading the box of pacifiers

In the car with the special box"Baby Audrey, I have pacis for you."What a big girl!