Dancing Queen

Love this little dancer!!

we had to reserve a whole row for her posse!

walking on stage

getting set up for the finale

getting a "well done" card from Bama

hangin' with Sarah

getting hugged by baby bro!

Sophia and her dancing friend Abby!

afterwards we went out for Chinese food to celebrate Sophia's performance and Bama's birthday.  Aunt Bess and Rachel joined us too

Happy Birthday, Bama!

chocolate pear macadamia nut tart

chocolate raspberry cake

Leo helping Bama extinguish the flames

Sophia came to help too!

Leo giving the thumbs up on his ice cream sundae

sisters!

I tried two new desserts for mom's birthday this year.  I preferred the raspberry chocolate cake over the other.  I may try the tart again, but I was sort of rushed and I think I may have overcooked it this time. :(  We celebrated on Saturday with the fam, of which I apparently didn't get very many pictures, because my brother had to work on Sunday.  I got the kids a variety of ice cream sundae toppings b/c I figured that most of them wouldn't be adventurous enough to try the cakes...and they weren't, so those were a hit too...and if you think Reddi Whip is tasty (and yes I usually require full on homemade but this stuff is a really good stand-in in a pinch) you should try the chocolate variety! 

Little Helpers

I did put quite a few pictures of our leaf raking adventures on Facebook so I tried to pick some different ones to put on here.  The kids were actually very helpful to us during our adventure, sort of surprisingly actually! 

Even Walter got out there and had fun!

Happy Halloween!!

Okay, so this is finally my last Halloween post!  I read recently that Halloween is the second highest (first is of course Christmas) holiday according to amount of consumer dollars spent.  I'm not surprised.  There seem to be more and more fall/Halloween activities every year and I'm not one to miss something fun, so my pile of pictures has really stacked up!

For dinner, our traditional Mummy Dog!

Sophia used the time while I was cooking dinner to practice her gymnastics...

Grandma Sue with the kids before dinner

Aunt Annie really got decked out in costume this year!  She was a hit!

Mom stayed with me and handed out candy.  For the second year in a row it was nice enough to hang out on the front step.  It was a good way to enjoy the evening and see all the trick or treaters and I'm glad I didn't have to do it alone!  Charlie took the kids out and Sue and Anne joined them.  Leo came back a little early saying that he was just so thirsty! :)  After a big cup of water, he was ready for bed.  After Sophia returned she really wanted to hand out some candy to a few trick or treaters but soon she was off to bed too!

Halloween Parade

Here is Sophia at her Halloween parade at school.  In front is her friend, Ashlynn, and behind are her friends Abby and Riley.

Leo and I cuddled while we watched all the kids

Here is Sophia with her teacher, dressed as Pinnochio

Out of her costume and ready for school!  

Here are some videos of Sophia singing with her class.  I wasn't in a great position to video, but I had to record it!  She did a great job remembering all the words and even performed them again for Daddy that night!

Pumpkin Carving Time!

So excited for his pumpkin!

this is her spooky face!

I got fancy with my camera and I really love this picture!