Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween! During the day the girls and I were busy getting ready for our small party with Liz and her family and two families in our neighborhood that we had invited over for dinner, games, and fun before we took to the streets for tricks or treats.

During the day the girls and I went to meet Bill at work for lunch. Its not everyday a guy gets to eat with a lobster and wonder woman!
Here are the girls in the final moments before the party. In conjunction with Liz's family we went as the entire cast from Wizard of Oz! I think we were a big hit even if i do say so myself. Lilah was the scarecrow and AJ was Toto. Though we did have a few kids in the neighborhood think she was a bear and one kid asked me if she was Chubaka from Star Wars.

Here we are out hitting the neighborhood. And in our little cookie cutter neighborhood the kids were complaining their arms hurt because their pumpkins were so full of candy.... tough life isn't it!

Lizzy and I were the witches. How did we decide who was wicked and who was good, we based it on hair color.

Here's the kids playing musical chairs to thriller, you gotta love it! Go scarecrow, grab that chair! Lilah did really well keeping up with the big kids for the game!

Here's the crew! Bill and Jeff are the Lollipop kids in case you were wondering. Jeff was completely against being a lollipop kid, but being the good dad he is, he suffered along. We've promised him something with a little more dignity next year like a super hero or pirate...... we'll see.

Here's the 4 Moore's. I got my dress at good will. Aunt Vern fixed the sleeves before she left and the rest I accomplished with hot glue. You'd be amazed what you can do with hot glue and a little imagination!

Our Favorite Michigan Girls, Beth & Lily

For those of you who don't know my dear friend Beth, she was my roommate in Charleston, and is one of my dearest friends in the world. She was with me when I fell in love with Bill. Coming home and giving her all the details of our first date, big talks, and all that comes with finding Mr. Forever. And I was with her when she found her Mr. Forever, Peter. She and I were and still are family and I miss her very much and wish Michigan were much closer, or one of us had access to a private plane on a monthly basis. She has one of the best hearts in the world and I am thankful to call her my friend. She had not changed one bit, still beautiful and a breath of fresh air. The only difference was when we had our girl time there was now 5 of us, instead of just the two of us. It made catching up a little more challenging, but all the sweeter. Here we are the aquarium in downtown Seattle. We loaded all the kids up and were out the door everyday for a new adventure. Its a good thing our girls are like their moms and like to be out and about. Lilah needs to work on sharing a little bit more, but Rome wasn't built in a day!And Lily looks so much like her Dad that every time I looked at her I felt like saying, "Hello Peter." But Lily is sweet and full of life just like her Mom!

I don't know why but today when I post, the picture order keeps reversing. But here the girls and I are lying on the ground at the Seattle Space Needle. I was on the ground trying to take the perfect shot as perfected by my dear friend Jim Robertson on his visit. I couldn't get it as perfect as he did, but we had fun trying. The girls thought I was so hilarious laying on the ground that they had to try it too. Monkey see and monkey do, they monkey does the same as you! As you can see below, the picture I was trying to take!

Seattle is Beth's kind of town. She and Lily really soaked up the local vibe and seemed natural born Seattlelites. If only we could get that Peter McCreedy out of Michigan!

Here we are at South 47 farm. They have a tot on the farm program on friday mornings. The kids learn about a specific topic for the day like pumpkins, seeds, caterpillars, etc. Then they do a craft, get to see some animals, wander through an herb garden, ride on saddles on top of hay bales, hay ride, and wander through the pumpkin patch. We had a great time. The two kids between us are Rosie and Matty our neighbors, their Mom is taking the photo!

Aunt Laverne & Uncle Charlie in Seattle!!

We had a girl's afternoon at the Pacific Science Center while the boys stayed home and enjoyed an afternoon of football and Miss Lilah caught up on her nap. We had a really great time with Aunt Laverne and Uncle Charlie and they are already planning to come back next year.

They stayed with us for 2 weeks, which was a perfect amount of time. It gave us time to do lots of touristy stuff, but also just hang out at home with family time. Aunt Laverne is a great seamstress, so I made the most of time and got her working on Aubrey Jane's outfit for Halloween. Here's our model showing off her new hat.... can you tell what she's going to be? She's Toto from the Wizard of Oz! Oma and Opa took Aunt Laverne and Uncle Charlie on their first visit to Canada on Opa's boat the Lucky Lady. Bill had to work and couldn't join us and the weather was a little cool, but it was a great trip. We spent the night on the boat in the Victoria harbor and made our way back to San Juan the next day, We had rough seas on the way back with picture frames and vases falling everywhere. I was never nervous because I knew I was in good hands between God & Opa, but I was feeling a little green. Poor Lilah even started puking. But Aubrey Jane was quite the sailor, just laughing as she got rolled around all over the place. Here they are posing in front of the Parliament building.

Here we all are waiting for the ferry in Anacortes to take us to San Juan. Thanks Mom & Dad for taking us, we had a great time!

Aunt Laverne and Uncle Charlie were great sports with all the new foods they tried. Here they are eating dim sum for the first time at Oma's surprise birthday party. They seemed like they really liked it, just needed a little bit more practice with the chopsticks. Practice makes perfect!

Aunt Laverne & Uncle Charlie come for a visit!!

Please scroll to the bottom of this post and read up, i put the pictures in backwards order and i've not time to go back and re do it all. You understand, right? A day at the Seattle Aquarium.

Here we are enjoying a lunch at Pike's Market at the Chowder house. And yes, (its October or was October and we were eating outside). The October weather was really fabulous this year!

On our way home from the falls, we hit the Issaquah Salmon hatchery. Aunt Laverne & Uncle Charlie's visit timed perfectly with the salmon returning to their places of birth to spawn. We really enjoy watching the huge salmon run up stream. The Chinook and Coho salmon are what we were watching. Here they are strolling through a garden right next to the hatchery. And Lilah loves to be swung by her arms. And yes, yes, I know it can pull her arm out of the socket, but we don't sweat it as much when we know we've got Bill at home who can put it back together without a trip to the ER. Things to be grateful for!

The first day we took it easy on them and let them recover from the long flight from GA. So that afternoon we took our first sight seeing trip and headed to Snoqualmie Falls. The falls are taller than Niagara falls, but not as wide. This is a picture I shot in the park right next to the falls, I thought it turned out great!

Here is Aubrey Jane saying hello to Uncle Charlie the first morning after they arrived late the night before. I love this picture. Aubrey Jane is just looking at him so intently, almost as if she's saying, "And so we meet again." Uncle Charlie did lots of holding of Aubrey Jane while we were in GA for 3 weeks with Papa's passing, so these 2 old friends were getting reacquainted.

Just another day in paradise

Lilah can almost say Happy Halloween! We started watching the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown in the car yesterday and something traumatized her and now she won't let me turn the DVD player back on in the car. I'm sure it will resolve soon, but in the mean time i'm enjoying having the radio back for a few days! Out for a stroll in our neighborhood, enjoying some of the last perfect Seattle weather and trying out our new double stroller Mom scored for us from the thrift shop! Thanks Oma!
AJ is no longer in the bumbo at dinner. She now sits in the little red chair. I love when she relaxes in it and props her foot. She's a really smiley and giggly baby. Today while I was driving she and Lilah were laughing at each other in the back seat, i don't know over what, but it was music to my ears!
Here's how we roll in the mornings. Mommy in the shower. AJ in the exer-saucer. Lilah with snacks on the side of the bathtub and running all around getting into whatever she can find! I currently get ready faster than I ever have before! I'll look back and really miss these days, ...truthfully.
Lilah showing off her ankle tattoo of Belle from beauty and the beast!

Here we are at one of our favorite parks on a play date with one of Lilah's best pals Alex. Our two little munchkins are taking a break for playing for a little snack time. How cute they both showed up in the same colors, future prom date maybe?
Here's Lilah just having fun at home. She does this new gymnastics type pose and she's starting to do it for the camera. She lifts her back leg in the pose, but i caught the picture as she was coming out of her pose. We take gymnastics now on fridays and she loves it. Only problem is now she thinks every bar we see, i.e. at the grocery store, target, etc. should be climbed on and swung from. She also walks up to strangers and strikes the pose, they often aren't sure what to make of it which is quite fun to watch!
I recently took the girls to have their pictures done. Here's a photo I took of AJ during her photo shoot.
Thanks Auntie LA for the adorable monogrammed onesies's. We love them! Often when people ask me the baby's name they ask twice, aren't sure exactly what i said the first time. I love these, makes it much easier for folks. Just gearing up for Halloween! Hoping to hit the pumpkin patch this weekend.!

Talking bout my girls......

Here we are at Aunt Liz's for a play date. Liz is so good,.... not only does she work part time, quilts, is a great cook, always taking her kids somewhere fun or doing a fun project at home, she somehow finds time to garden too. Here she is letting Lilah pick her first carrot.
Here's all the gang of kids at the playdate. I know they'll all have so much fun growing up together.
Here's Lilah playing in her playhouse sporting her adorable crab dress that some friends made for her in Hawaii. She loved to say "crab" all day then yell out the color of the crab. Does Lilah know her colors now?..... No, but she does know which words are colors. For ex: if you say what color is this crab( pointing to a purple crab) she'll say orange. So, she definitely doesn't know her colors, she loves to say pink ( used to be yellow) but at least she knows what words are colors.... I think that's something. And the yellow flowers you see are from Papa's house, which I think make the playhouse all the more special.
Here's my girls, just doing what they do best! Enjoying the moment!
Aubrey Jane sits to the side of my bathroom counter in her chair while I get ready in the morning. Lilah is usually in the sink playing with the water or putting on my make-up. Aubrey Jane loves the toothbrush. If I start brushing my teeth and forget to give her a toothbrush, she'll holler at me. Bill always wants to know why his toothbrush goes missing.... well, here you go, ...we take it with us when we go downstairs or wherever and it just goes amiss. Good thing we've got a Costco pack of toothbrushes!

Its Football Season

It's football season and my girls and I are rooting as always for our dawgs! On game day I like to dress them up in their GA attire. Its fun when we're out and about in Seattle to spot other GA fans. But i must admit I didn't put them in their outfits this past saturday and GA suffered a devastating loss to Alabama. I must let Coach Richt know I won't let it happen again.
Couldn't get Lilah to sit beside Aubrey Jane so you could appreciate her outfit better, but what can you do? Still a cute picture. I now can get Lilah to say "Go Dawgs" then roof roof like a dog! It helps that she loves to say dog and make dog sounds. Bill is trying to convert them to being gamecock fans, but this will never happen, in college football the girls are with me!
But on Sundays, the girls support their dad's team, the cowboys!
I ordered these cute outfits for the girls to surprise Bill! So when when came down the stairs he'd have a nice surprise of his favorite girls showing their cowboy pride!

i got all my sisters with me!

Things are going really well with Lilah and Aubrey Jane. Lilah now can make Aubrey Jane laugh quite a bit. She'll blow zerberts on her belly or push her in the swing and Aubrey Jane will squeal with delight. Its quite fun to see. This photo Lilah had just woken up and Aubrey Jane was touching her... and Lilah was in no mood for it. But those little sisters want to be close to the big ones! The first time Lilah took a toy out of Aubrey Jane's hand and AJ screamed at her, I thought to myself.... and so it begins.
Lilah loves to sit on top of Aubrey Jane when she's in the bumbo. She'll actually bounce on her. The first time I saw her do this I almost had a heart attack. But then I realized Lilah is mostly sitting on the little piece in the middle. Both the girls think this is really funny. And to see them laughing together just melts my heart. I think its going to be so great they are so close in age.
Here's my girls enjoying some chicken drumsticks, or "Bone sticks" as the Evan's girls would call them. We may live in Washington, but if your Mama is a Georgia girl there's certain things you still got to grow up with like fried chicken, grits, chicken & dumplins, and of course my Nanny's famous egg custard.
Lilah sits next to Aubrey Jane all the time now and says, "CHEESE." If I don't immediately take their picture together, she'll continue to say it louder and louder and with more urgency. Sometimes I don't even have the camera and just have to pretend I've got a camera. And yes we do take a lot of pictures in the kitchen on the island. But when you've got little ones getting a meal fixed, fed, and cleaned takes a lot of time. I timed myself the other day and it took way over an hour just to get lunch done from start to finish.... so this is where my day goes.
My sister and I are birds of a feather. We love one another and being together.

You'll find us most everyday, just tending the friendship that got sent our way.

Yes, we're two of a kind and I know that is why, .... we'll be close forever, my sister and I!

(this is a little exert from Lilah's Sister and I book by P.K. Hallinan, its one of our absolute favorite books)

I love you Moore!

We've got to have tons of fun lately with the Evan's clan. For those of you who don't remember, Liz is Bill's sister. So we all headed to San Juan one weekend and we had a great time. Here we are on a treasure hunt Jeff designed for all of us. You can see the kids all holding their maps. The kids had a great time! Liz is giving all the kids a few berries we found en route to the treasure!
We discovered a big purple star fish which Lilah was not so thrilled with. Bill says he's going to put Lilah in an exhibit at the zoo with the words "scaredy cat" beneath her. She's really scared of stuff these days. Not sure if its a phase or what. But at the same time she'll run up to strangers in the store and shout "Hi" or run a play with kids we see at a store, so not sure why the scared factor comes out at times. She's really scared of dogs, but with my allergies,.... its ok with me.
Here we are at the beach in San Juan. These photos crack me up. Its so hard to take a picture with this many little kids. And they've all got a million rocks they found stuffed in their pockets.
What will Liz and I do when we're with this many teenage girls?
Here we are waiting for the boys to go park the car for the ferry ride back to Seattle (Anacortes). It turned into a several hour ordeal. And here's Liz and I trying to kill time while we waited on the boys to get back. I remember when shopping was easier. I now know how moms start to look a little frumpy. Next time Liz and I are planning to park the cars. But we survived. We skipped the shopping and headed to the gardens to play 1-2-3 red light and then went and had some french fries!

Its been really great living close to Liz and the rest of the Evans. I've taken over Liz as my sister.... what that means is if Bill and I ever divorced, I get Liz in the settlement!