Marshmallow

In Reagan's preschool class every child gets to bring Marshmallow, the class stuffed bear, home for a weekend. We signed up the first day and I didn't realize the date I signed up for was the weekend before Thanksgiving. And since they don't have school that week we were lucky (?!?) to have Marshmallow for 11 days!
He comes with a suitcase and the first few days we took Marshmallow and the suitcase with us wherever we went. And that was no small feat since the bear was almost as big as Nola.
After a few days Reagan even moved her car seat to the back seat and put Reagan in our extra booster so he could be buckled.
Marshmallow went to Grandma Loretta and Papa's, gymnastics, Grandma Jane and Grandpa John's, Thanksgiving, church, Leo's birthday party and many stores!
Reagan was sad to bring him back to school, but maybe we'll get lucky again and get to bring him home again?!?

Weekend with Friends

In November we headed to Bloomington and Peoria to visit Jodi and Shadia.
We spent Friday night and Saturday with Jodi's family. Reagan & Nola had a great time playing with Anthony and Nina. Reagan and Nina had a 'sleepover' in Nina's room and Anthony was a huge help with Nola.
We even went to the Children's Museum in Normal. It was a great place - and we could tell we weren't in the Chicago area any more - there was a large tractor and cow-milking area! The kids made crafts, climbed on their climber, tried out crutches and much more.
Shadia, Ray & Sophia joined us for dinner. As long as Jason stayed away from Sophia she was a happy baby!
Saturday night we headed to Peoria and stayed with Shadia's family until Sunday afternoon. We even got to spend time with her mom and dad. Once again, Pat loved the cooking and the girls loved playing with Sophia and Charlie - the dog.
I wish these good friends lived closer, but we enjoyed our time with them so much.
(There would have been more pictures but the battery died while we were at the Children's museum)
And Jodi even convinced me to become a Scentsy consultant - and so far, so good!

Happy Halloween!!

It was great that Halloween fell on a Saturday this year. This was Pat's first time trick-or-treating with the girls. The weather was pretty nice so the girls were able to trick or treat without freezing. Nola was still napping when our neighborhood group was ready to start the candy frenzy, so Pat headed out with Reagan and friends from the neighborhood.
Reagan quickly remembered how it worked and was in the front of the pack getting as much candy as possible. Nola woke up quickly after they left and was soon ready to go herself.
Reagan was a gorgeous Ariel from the Little Mermaid and Nola was an adorable duck - quack, quack!
The girls pumpkins quickly filled up - so much so that Reagan couldn't carry her any longer. And that was just 2 blocks!
We emptied the pumpkins and headed over to Aunt MariPat and Uncle Bill's house for our annual visit there. Talk about the best Halloween house!
After getting some dinner, the girls headed out for a few more houses before the trick-or-treating was done. They had a great time and (no surprise) were not ready to go home!
The funny thing is, after Halloween they didn't ask for any candy?!? And they love candy, so not sure what happened. Maybe they think that they only get to eat it on Halloween - I'm sure that won't happen again!