Halloween and Thanksgiving 2019

We came home from our windy beach break, and kept our Halloween spirit going.  The girls really enjoyed watching Hocus Pocus, wearing "spooky" clothes, and planning out their Wizard of Oz themed costumes.

an October holiday at the end of our vacation week = fun day at Chuck E Cheese

Syd and her mountain of tickets

she's always so intense like her daddy

they did this picture completely by themselves 

And once we buttered them up with a fun trip to Chuck E. Cheese - we took them over to Target for flu shots.  They both did SO great, and Ella's "ouch" face cracked me up.  Target gave away $5 gift cards with flu shots, so we let them shop and spend it on the item of their choice :)

and we rounded out our day with mexican for dinner

Did I tell you that we had decided on Halloween costumes?  Anyway, I'll tell it again.
A few months ago, we started talking about Halloween, and they were both pretty adamant they wanted to be Anna and Elsa.  It took a bit of convincing that they didn't need to be the same thing as last year.  Sydney had started talking about being a princess, and one day out of the blue, Ella said "I want to be a witch with a green face".  Cue perfect twinning costume - Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West.  I found their costumes from another twin mom, and when they arrived, they were PUMPED to try them on and test out the green face paint.  Just look at Ella checking herself out in the mirror.  Also, she looks a little bit like a ho without the tutu, oops.

Ella and Sydney have also started to really enjoy coloring and drawing, and their skills have gotten so good!  This is Ella's "bad witch" drawing she did - complete with a broom and a heart!  How adorable is that!?

It was our TENTH wedding anniversary, so we snuck out for a quick hibachi dinner, with the bigger celebration coming that weekend.

The annual fall festival at Martin was a huge hit - and because we had dance class after, they attended as little ballerinas.

stealing candy

cotton candy and people watching 

It's finally the weekend, and to celebrate our anniversary, we sent the kiddos off to grandma's.  We started our evening off with coffee, wine, and a HOKIES football game!  Ironically, it was an incredibly exciting game, that went into SIX overtimes, and we had to finish watching in the car on the way to the restaurant, since we had reservations to make.  We had so much fun cheering for the Hokies in such an exciting victory!

this is what a real life ten year celebration looks like - wine, coffee, and just us two <3

We celebrated in the most fancy way - at Flemings!  We told the server it was our tenth anniversary, and then she proceeded to card us when we ordered drinks.  Lady, we didn't get married when we were ten.  Flattered we still get carded at 32/33, but where's your common sense!?

Anyway, still high off that Hokie win, we had a fantastic dinner

And closed up our curtains tight to sleep in the next day

Since we're paying double daycare, we're hoping to have a delayed anniversary trip when the girls are in school and we don't hemorrhage money for childcare :)

the aftermath of a Grandma sleepover... the no-longer-napping-twins took a nap

they are precious

and so sweet

and I was a happy momma to have my girls back home, snuggled up close

Hocus Pocus ladies ready for our girl Evelyn to come over for a Halloween party

painting pumpkins

love how Syd sticks out her tongue when she's concentrating

Robin had another baby boy! So I scooted up to visit and had dinner with Matthew

Anna and Elsa ballerinas for costume dance class

the very last soccer game of the season, Ella and Sydney's teams played each other, and they were side by side like usual

with their trophys and soccer balls

Ella LOVED her coach (but hated soccer)

Ella really despised soccer... and we don't really know why.  The only answer she would give was "it takes too long to get a snack".  Her team was filled with boys, and she was the only girl.  As soon as she would try to go for the ball, she would get trampled.  Her coach was awesome and always tried to get her the ball, but she DGAF.

After soccer was all over, we made a quick trip to the pumpkin patch

Jacob invited E&S to his tae kwon do Halloween party, and Ella just wasn't feeling it (but does she ever!?)  These two are at a really tough and exhausting age.

So anyway, we dropped them off at the party (can't even tell you if parents had to stay, we left anyway) and got Mexican with Ashley and Annabeth.

Daniel used his old pipeworks to make a picnic table.  They didn't wear pants and they had high chairs set up with their babies.

As a surprise for Daniel, I arranged for the girls to go to my mom's overnight and bought Andy Grammer tickets!  We saw him a few years ago (maybe it was the summer the girls were born?) and we LOVED him!  We've been huge fans ever since.  We had THE BEST night - we ate dinner at a restaurant next to the venue, and then we sang the night away.

meanwhile at Nana's house...

fairy mermaids heading to visit Kim and Jeff

Sink ladies

And then it was finally Halloween! 
Just remember - they picked their witch - and in this current time in our life, they picked the one to match their personalities...... :)

The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch
Halloween 2019

Ella's favorite colors are now green, black, and black glitter

Kim and Jeff dressed up and came to surprise the girls and say "trick or treat!"

This year, the weather on Halloween was weird - it was super warm and VERY windy.  The girls were running around the culdesac waiting until it was dark enough to go out, and Ella completely believed that she, as the wicked witch, was causing it to be so windy as she was running in circles with her broom.  She would announce at each house "I'm the bad witch!! I'm making it windy outside!!"

Such a fun night!  Each year it amazes me to see how much they've grown and how much more they can do on their own.  Last year I had to help them go up/down the stairs at each house in their long dresses, and this year we just walked along the road.  So many giggles, so much sugar, lots and lots of fun!

good night sweet good witch

good night sweet bad witch

we snuck over to Olive Garden for dinner with Grandma one night after dance class

We had family pictures with Caiti - my mom had given my dad a session as a gift.  Here's a sneak peak of two adorable girls who have been bribed to be good :)

made the girls lunch to eat outside, and peeked to find them enjoying the sunshine

I went to Chicago for a work conference, and Daddy was on duty for a few days.  He took the girls to their little halloween festival at school:

running errands with daddy on Veteran's Day... they spotted Christmas decorations

So I mentioned Ella has been... challenging.
It's been pretty bad and mentally exhausting, and at a parent teacher conference, we discovered that Ella has been extra dependent on Sydney.  I left that meeting feeling so defeated - it's just hard having one that sucks all of your energy from you.  When they were babies, Sydney was pretty colicky, so I guess it's just Ella's turn.  And they do this on the regular, too - it's always someone.  When one is doing fine, the other is losing their mind, and vice versa.  And I get it, being little is hard.  Big feelings and no easy way to express them.  And when you have two that are the same age, the difference can seem so obvious.  So with Ella, we are trying to navigate this new world of her being dependent on Sydney, because they normally are really independent, and planning ahead for what this means for kindergarten.  We (well, me)... are trying to grapple with one kid taking SO much energy, and the other is happily just going along with anything that happens.  And then I found this quote, and it's never been truer.  I need to pin it up somewhere and never forget it.

I would say ages 3.5-4.5 really, really sucked.  The theme: irrational and bipolar.  It was just so, so tough.  For both of them, but Ella was especially tough.

Well, here's an update - soon after this conference, something changed with Ella, and she got SO much better.  It's like she could sense that I was losing my mind and considering sending her off to boarding school, and she just matured overnight.

dance dad at "dance with your dancer" night

We made a last minute decision to head out West for a VT football game.  We invited Kristen and Bobby, who had never been to a game.  We had a FANTASTIC adults only weekend - sooooo much fun!

E&S take on Build a Bear with Grandma (she doesn't spoil them a single bit)

it POURED and was FRIGID and we had the BEST time

drying out, warming up, and getting ready for dinner

they have an entire couch, but get as close as possible

back home with my babes!

Here's your bi-annual episode of Kim's-too-cheap - pictures of school pictures

Frozen 2 was released!  We surprised the girls - Grandma Georgia came with us to pick-up at daycare and then we were off to the movies!  Part of the reason why we kept them in the dark is because they won't stop talking about something and have no concept of time, so it's better for everyone really haha.

we ate at the fancy theater with food and drinks
but also, they don't weigh enough to go to the theater with fold up seats

And then all of a sudden, it was Thanksgiving!

turkey twins

Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (with an extra bean bag this year!)

2018

2017

while we snuck away to peek at the ads

So the girls still match about..... 80% of the time.  They've started to pick their own clothes for school, and don't always want to match.  Or... the real problem is when one wants to match and the other doesn't.  It's quite the balancing act, but we manage :)
And here we are - our first major holiday without matching outfits

the Staley clan

And the day after Thanksgiving, we cheered on the Hokies like usual - at my sister's house with Thanksgiving leftovers.  Sad to report that for the first time in 15 years, the Hoos won.  But man, what a good run that is!

have you ever seen a cuter "momma" in your life!?

Once we finished up the Turkey leftovers, it was time to prep for Santa!