Fun in the Sun

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break in Florida. Emma still gets confused as to whether we are headed to MN or FL when we get on a plane, and we were all thankful to be headed to the warm temps and water views in Cape Coral this time.

We had the most beautiful weather! We enjoyed beach time at Captiva, and the girls quickly assumed some of their favorite activities.

 Cabana Girls!

 They had the best time boogie boarding. The water was so beautiful and calm, so they rode the low-key waves and loved it.

Emma was proud of the coconut she found. She tried with all her might to throw it out to sea, but it kept washing back to shore! Grandpa helped her hurl it out there.

 These two enjoyed the sunset, and then of course we all sang "Day is Done".

I love stress-free vacay time with this guy.

 Of course there has to be a pic of one of the *many* tropical delicacies we enjoyed throughout the week. All calorie-free, of course. Not pictured: the rum bucket something-or-another that we shared at one point.

 My favorite beach crew!

 After lots of beach and pool time, the girls slept hard in their "suite" at G & G's condo.

 We saw Todd's FL band, The Tap Monkeys, play at Scotty's Beirworks. Lots of fun to hear them play. We also visited the beach spot they play at on Sundays on Ft. Myers Beach. Patrons literally sit with their toes in the sand while listening to music and drinking a cold one. Who can argue with that?  I love seeing my parents so happy and enjoying the good life!

 And here's my whole heart in one pic:

 I had to snap this picture of the girls swapping secrets under their towels. After this moment, they spent a good hour building a fort, making up "routines" in the pool, playing, eating snacks, and laughing together. Totally made my Thanksgiving!

 We overlapped with Melissa and Adam for less than 24 hours, but it was great nonetheless. We surprised Melissa with birthday candles in the pumpkin pie!

It was so hard to leave after such a great week, but the to-do list at home is plenty long before we go back to school Monday. Today I hit the grocery store and tackled ALL the laundry, then we headed outside to decorate the house for Christmas. It was beautiful outside today, and tomorrow is supposed to get cool and windy, so today was the day. This year we bought a second tree and we put it up today, too. We will still have our old tree in our traditional spot (I proposed moving it but nobody liked that idea) and now a second one in a front window. "Clark" in action ...

And the finished product!

We'll finish decorating inside tomorrow. This year, I have one of G Lou's nativity scene weavings to hang. It's a bittersweet honor. Looking forward to having our home decorated as we celebrate my favorite season!

Thanksgiving Break

When we started school back in early August, Thanksgiving break felt so far away ... and now here we are! The last couple of weeks have been packed with - among all the other things - a soccer tournament, cheer, l-o-n-g hours at work, and a little furniture shopping as it's time to update some spaces.

A few Sundays ago, we actually found ourselves with a quiet afternoon so the girls and I had a little date to Paint 'n Party and Henry's ice cream. Emma decided to make her painting project for her teacher.

 Both girls spent a long time painting to perfection!

 Henry's has the best ice cream in Plano.

 This past week, the girls had field day at their school. Many activities had to be moved inside because of cool morning temps, though it was beautiful by the afternoon. I'm not a fan of fall field day, but the girls had a blast, of course. I pulled these pics off of their teachers' pages and obviously didn't bother to crop them.

 Steve is a great field day volunteer. This year, he made the school's FB page!

Tomorrow is laundry and packing day, and Sunday we're off to Florida for a beach Thanksgiving! We've had cold weather this week (as in below freezing, not just "Texas cold"), so the warm sunshine will feel great. Really, though, I'm just looking forward to - and very grateful for - a get-away and some R & R with family. Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Fun

October flew by and Halloween was here before we knew it! Luckily we had purchased costumes earlier in the month, but I waited so long to buy pumpkins that I had to make multiple stops to find some good ones. We always have a fun time carving our pumpkins and listening to Halloween music.

The girls separated the seeds from the slime so I could roast them for us to munch on.

 As Steve said, we went with "the classics" this year.

On Halloween, the girls' school always has book character dress up day. Sara's costume was a legit book character, but Emma really wanted to be a nurse (and I wasn't doing two separate costumes for her), so we found a book that worked with her costume. Sara's teacher was kind to snap pics for me!

 In sticking with the theme of our fall, it poured rain all day on Halloween. Luckily, it lightened up significantly and then went away altogether right around trick-or-treat time!

 Best part is always assessing the loot and test-testing.

 Everyone was tired Thursday and Friday, but it was a small price to pay for a fun Halloween. I still think we should just officially move Halloween to always be on a Saturday. It's hard to believe that now, we just have two weeks of school until Thanksgiving break. We'll be packing for Florida soon!