All By Herself!

Nicole recently asked if she could put the "Snow White" puzzle together. I've posted about this one before. It's 300 small pieces that even I have a hard time with. I did put the puzzle in sections into ziploc bags but still thought this was going to be way too hard.

Well, over the past week Nicole has worked and worked on this. She never got frustrated and never stopped. She finished it today. All by herself!!

Playing Cards

Britt and the girls went to Incredible Pizza the other day and Nicole picked out this deck of cards at the prize counter. 

Today we were playing a version of "war" and Nicole was constantly winning every time we laid down cards. I said something about how I couldn't believe it and she just looked at me with this reassuring look and said, "Don't worry. You'll get a Jack and a King..." I got suspicious since Nicole had dealt the cards while I was preparing lunch. When I asked if she had looked at the cards when she was dealing she simply said, "Yes." When I asked if she picked the best ones she again admitted, "Yes." Needless to say, she won with 31 cards to my 20. She was so excited about winning and I had to explain that cheating is not winning and how it's kind of like lying. The scary thing... didn't seem to bother her a bit.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We have been decorating the house but stopped short of the living room Christmas tree (we have one in the kitchen and one in each of the girl's rooms...I know... don't say it.) Anyway, here is a little idea of our nice evening. We had cookies and sparkling cider and Christmas carols. Nicole was so excited and, when it was all over, she came up behind me and gave me a hug. Then she said, "This feels just like Christmas." I pray this will be one of those good memories she will always carry with her.

The snacks were a hit with Allyson.

Allyson is really getting into dress-up or "nup" as she calls it. For the longest time we kept thinking she was asking for a nap. Finally, we figured it out! Here she's sporting her Cinderella dress.

If the above picture didn't look dangerous enough, watch this:

It's cold enough for a fire! Perfect atmosphere. 

We showed Nicole Daddy and Mommy's "First Christmas" ornament. 

Then Nicole's "First Christmas" ornament.

And, finally, Allyson's "First Christmas" ornament. 

Daddy puts the star on top. 

You have no idea what it was like getting these last two pictures... 

Caving!

We had the opportunity to go to Branson again. Our first stop was Talking Rocks Cavern. I thought it would be so fun to go "caving." Well, Nicole became terrified once we got inside and had to go down the stairs. I remembered going to Moaning Caverns (I think that's the right place) and being scared to death as a kid. We kept encouraging her but she just became more afraid and began crying. I don't like forcing her to do things like this but, by the time I decided she could go back, it was too late. We were closer to the end than the beginning. Fortunately, our tour guide, Charlie, was wonderful with her! By the end of the tour she was actually happy and enjoying herself. Still, she says she doesn't want to go back. Allyson, by the way, didn't seem to think anything of being inside a cave. Of course, Daddy was holding her most of the time.

This is called "cave bacon."

Nicole liked this rock as it looks like Mickey Mouse! 

The girls absolutely loved this Speleobox. It's an enclosed, maze-like structure designed to imitate caving. Adults and children can go inside. I went on the first try but it's a very tight space and you have to crawl through on your belly up and down various floors. We had to leave before finishing as the cave tour was starting. When we got back the girls went back inside by themselves and made it all theh way through.

It was actually pretty dim inside so they have little lighted ropes. You can't tell as the camera's flash went off.

Outside the cave is a mini-golf (we didn't have time as they were closing), another speleobox (thankfully we didn't have enough time, either!), and a place where kids can "mine" for precious stones. They had a blast doing this and Nicole walked away with a handful of jewels. We're still contemplating what to do with them.

Happy Halloween!

We started out the evening with our traditional "pumpkin" pizza.

I also roasted pumpkin seeds this year. I was surprised that Nicole likes them. I have no idea why I made brownie "bites." As if we weren't going to have enough sweets tonight!

Halloween cards from Papa and Grandma Sedenko.

This is the home of our next door neighbor. It was one of the first houses we visited and I actually got Allyson to say, "Trick or Treat." I would spend the rest of the night trying to get an encore but it wouldn't happen. Fortunately I got this on video. This was also the night Allyson used a three-word sentence! We were in the car getting ready to go our church party and she said something like, "want candy too." Britt and I just looked at each other and said, "Wow. She's really talking now!"

Before Trick or Treating we went to our church's 10-31 party. They had bounce houses, kettle corn and cider, tons of candy, a shipwreck dance party and a cute pirate-themed play about the keys to life: Love God and Love Others.

Here Nicole gets into the dance party.

This is the pirate/mermaid limbo!

Allyson was pretty shy during most of the dancing.

I was able to coax her up at the very end but she still wasn't dancing.

Suddenly she got her groove on!

This is our neighbor across the street. They ran out of candy but had saved some for us.

This is Kim and her daughter, Hope. Hope is our primary babysitter. She's been babysitting for us since before Allyson was born. They are from Bakersfield and we love their family dearly!

I don't know if you can see this or not but this family in a cul de sac near our house had a projector and was playing "The Addams Family" on his garage door! Britt and I now want a projector for Christmas. :) We thought this was so cool.

We originally were going to have the girls both be Ariel. But Allyson hated walking in her costume and threw a fit. So I bought a Sebastian costume. Well, she didn't like the head/hat. She made peace with the mermaid costume by hiking it up a little, giving her freedom to run as fast as she pleased.

Unfortunately, she went a little too fast, landing flat on her face...more than once.

And she decided to run right past the people handing out candy and check out their houses. You can see she made it all the way up the stairs in this place. There's just a little glimpse of her at the top of the stairs on the left.

The family, thankfully was laughing hysterically.

My flash wasn't working but this is Allyson being led back to her family.

This was another house she decided to let herself in to visit.

Daddy and his little mermaids.

Now, in this house, she was invited in to meet R2D2.

This is the walkway to our house. The leaves are back. Again.

Britt's pumpkin. Didn't it turn out great?

I did an ode to the leaves in my life.

Checking out our loot!

So thankful for these!!

So, I look over to the side and see this little pile of Kit Kats. I asked where they came from and Britt just smiles and says he heard Kit Kats weren't good for kids. He's just looking out for their best interests.

To be fair, I had already been looking out for their best interests, too.

Don't miss the post about our Halloween party last night. We've sure had a blast this year!