Early birthday bash...

Harper Sage King turns 4 on November 14th.  Every year celebrating is tricky because it's in the middle of the 7 days of rifle hunting here in the Midwest;)  My dad is an avid hunter and we all appreciate this because we LOVE deer jerky!  This year we celebrated this past weekend so that he could be there with us. These days Harper runs with mostly boys at school and therefore claims that she too is a boy.  I keep trying to instill balance and remind her that she is a girl when she tells me otherwise.  She wanted to have a super hero themed party.  It's not that I am against super heroes its just I don't like all the pretend shooting and fighting that goes along with it.  I am learning though and embraced her interest with a cake and decor to match.  Thanks to the g-rent Dorsey's for hosting the party.  She got a lot of cool gifts that she absolutely loves and had a great time!

The Borrowers..

 the stage

 waiting for the show to begin

 Harper & Maliyah

 

The second play we had tickets at the children's theater was the Borrowers.  The show recommended kids 8 & older.  Since Harper did so well I thought we'd give it a try.  We brought along my friend/co-worker Christa and her 9 yr old daughter Maliyah.  It was a girls night with dinner & the play.  The play ended up just being "ok."  The first one was amazing so it was a bit of a disappointment that it wasn't even close to being as good.  There wasn't enough excitement or stimuli and had a lot of talking.  I get why they said 8 and older but even the 9 year old was a bit bored.  They definately could of done a lot more with the plot.  As an adult I was entertained but that really isn't the point.  Hopefully the next one will be better! 

Finally...Halloween night;)

Halloween was a busy day.  I had a trick or treat parade at work, Harper trick or treated with the school's "grandfriends" at the retirement home down the street from the school, and Liv went around the school to trick or treat.  We did a lot of "trick or treating" before it was even dark.  We continued on at Aunt Patti's house where we ate dinner, passed out candy, and went to a few houses in her hood.  We were all pretty tired but made it through.  The festivities are finally over;)

Halloween love from Spain:)

Aunt Susi & family surprised us with this awesome Halloween decoration.  The girls absolutely loved it as did Lateaf & I.  It was a great addition to our decorations for the season!  Very festive and fun!  Thank you so much from all of us!!!  

Halloween Party @ school..

our little sweet pirates:)

posing with the eye patch that she never wore again after this picture

our littlest pirate didn't really want to wear the patch or the bandana

on our way out to the party

Making a Frankenstein pudding cup

drawing on her bag for the trick or treating parade

Harper's lead teacher Ms. Sharon (she rocks btw)

Waiting in line to trick or treat..

don't you just when she poses:)

Ms. Mary (Liv's favorite teacher)

The girls' school had a Halloween party one evening the week before Halloween. We got all decked out in costume and attended the festivities.  They both had an awesome time playing with their friends and trick or treating around the school.

More Halloween festivities...

Every now and again when we stay in Omaha I check out a moms website to find local things to do.  I was super excited that I found a free event held literally blocks from my house on the college campus.  I loaded up the girlies to check out a halloween carnival.  On the way there I was thinking "I wonder if all kids will be dressed in their costumes."  Sure enough most where so at least we had halloween themed clothes on:)  Aunt Patti met us there and the girls had a blast playing the games and getting treats.  After the festivities we headed to have lunch/brunch at a little cafe.  We have definately done our fair share of Halloween partyin:)

School field trip..

waiting to load the bus

 loading the bus with her bf at school Elijah

 so happy to be on the bus

posing

painting pumpkins with Elijah & Brody (and Brody's mom & cousin)

intensely painting

so happy!

her buddies

running on bales of hay & so incredibly happy!

 

Harper and Livia started school full time at the beginning of October.  Lateaf started work too;)  Harper is absolutely thriving going all day and has an amazing lead teacher.  One of her buddies from part time preschool last year is in her full time class.  The transition was very easy because she has one of her favorite boys in class. She is in the tadpole room and is learning so much.  It has been a huge adjustment in our household with getting to bed early, up early, and minimal naps.  All and all it is a good transition but a huge adjustment none the less.  I decided to tag along on their field trip and it was so fun to see Harper in her element.  I was in charge of Harper & Elijah and then Brody (who is in part time class) joined us along the way with his momma & cousin.    We had a great morning at the pumpkin patch!

An October wedding...

 Harper & Aunt Shay

 Grandma D and the goodies:)

 ahh..

 Great Granny

 a little help from Uncle Jay..

and who knows what was goin on here:)

10.12.12 Our cousin Mclain Dorsey married Holly on one really cold October Friday evening.  Nebraska is rather unpredictable for weather and some October days can be warm and beautiful while others are cold and windy.  Unfortunately this was one of the latter days and so this beautiful outdoor wedding scene was rather frigid and cold.  Despite the weather, the beautiful couple were so happy and it was a still a beautiful wedding.  Thanks to Grandma D for bringing fun activities to keep the girls busy during the downtime moments.  We didn't stay too long past dinner and luckily we didn't because Liv ended up throwing up on Lateaf just as we were walking to the car to leave.  That weekend she had the flu and was one sick cookie.  As always, its amazing to spend time with our family.  We are blessed!

Lighting the Night:)

On 10.11.12 the girls and I spent the evening surrounded by amazing people walking for an amazing cause.  We raised nearly $1000 dollars thanks to very few generous donors.  We joined others from my work in the bitter cold and had a blast carrying our balloons and doing something good for man-kind:)  This organization is one that is near and dear to my heart so it was only fitting to join in on their cause.  I want to continue showing the girls the different ways to help our community and the world we live in.  This was where we started, stay tuned to our next adventure!