Our family was invited out last week for an impromptu birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese last week. Alex was turning 5, but he wasn’t interested in the monster-themed birthday party his mother planned especially if it meant inviting lots of kids. Apparently, all of Alex’s friends moved away from him this summer, and the only kids left that he can tolerate are Annie and Mimi (well, actually just Annie, but we won’t tell Mimi that). The girls were beyond excited to go. Mike was not thrilled to be spending time at a establishment where they “manufacture fun”. I told him that he didn’t have his fun manufactured, and he could sit there like a stick in the mud. However, Mike changed his tune as I caught him playing multiple games with the children’s tokens. By the end of the night he was begging for more tokens to play games. I think we discovered a closet Chuck-E-Cheese afficionado. The next day the girls were planning their Chuck-E-Cheese birthday parties. I told them they’ll have to talk to their father about that.

The girls had a blast dancing in front of the blue screen and seeing themselves on t.v.

Mimi loved this horse. I think she used at least 1/2 of her tokens riding it.

Chuck-E-Cheese made his appearance, and all the kids made a bee-line to meet him up close and personal.

Violet was such a good sport spending much of the night in her car seat. Mike and I took turns carrying her around while games were being played, and she fell asleep in my arms.

See, I told you Mike had a good time.

The weather made a turn for the better on Saturday. To further feature the caps I made for the girls (can you tell I’m proud of my accomplishments), it was decided that we needed to take lots more pictures. It turns out that the Matilda Jane dresses that I purchased for them from a neighbor’s party coordinated with the dresses very nicely. So we headed downtown and did an urban photo shoot. I’ve been aching to do this with the girls for ages, and the conditions (ages, weather, clothing) were finally perfect enough to check this goal off the list. Rather than ramble on about it, I’ll just post a baker’s dozen or so pictures from my most favorite shoot with the girls EVER!! I will say I let the girls wear some of my (what I thought to be fairly transparent) lip gloss per Annie’s request. I was surprised to see how much the camera picked up on it.

We couldn’t forget about Violet. She slept up until her moment to shine, and she didn’t disappoint. Love her:)

The girls are quite delighted about these pictures. We’ll definitely have to get some or many of them framed for the home. Oh, I almost forgot to tell the funny thing that happened right before our shoot. We had gone into Trolley Dogs to eat lunch before our shoot, and I happened to notice a new photography studio next door. On our way out of the hot dog joint, a lady came running out of the photography studio. She proceeded to tell me how adorable my girls were and handed me several of her business cards. Mike and I just looked at each other and laughed after she walked away.

I’ve had a few people inquire about the pattern I used for the caps I made for the girls in the previous post. The pattern came from Ravelry.com, but you have to be a member in order to get access to it. Here’s the link for the pattern: Swirls Cap. Good luck! Please feel free to share pictures of any caps you make.

I finally got around to checking off some projects from the long list of projects. However, this time I didn’t use my sewing machine. Instead I got out my handy crochet hook and made these newsboy caps for the girls. As you can imagine, the girls are more than thrilled to wear them. I made the mistake of mentioning my desire to do a photo shoot with the caps and some new outfits they got from a Matilda Jane trunk show that my neighbor had. We ended up being too busy today, but that didn’t stop Annie from asking me about a thousand times if we were going to do a photo shoot. I may have to try tomorrow since we’ve actually got a weekend with nothing planned.

Not long after Violet was born we received a darling golf dress for her from Mike’s cousin Bill. It was too large for her then. I went to put it on her last Sunday for church and realized that she’s almost already grown out of it even though it’s size 3 months. Today she is wearing a jumper that is size 3-6 months, and she’s almost too big for that, too. You realize Violet won’t be 3-months-old until next week. What happened to my little peanut?!?

Last Saturday Mike went out “hunting” pheasants with Seth. They came home with 5 birds. Mike and Seth decided we should have a pheasant feast on Sunday night. They made pheasant poppers and pheasant noodle soup while Julie and I chatted away (I did make crescent rolls). It was a nice evening with the Johnsons. At the end of the dinner date the kids and men broke the wishbones.

All lined up and ready to get broken.

Alyssa and Annie are first up, and Alyssa gets the biggest piece. Annie was a bit sad and kept saying, “I never win the wishes!”

Mike wins the wish.

Feast your eyes on Mike’s 3rd gargantuan fish full of eggs. Annie was the photographer this time, and she took a picture of Mimi, too.

We’ve all been sick again. Mike missed half a day on Tuesday from work and is actually at the doctor right now getting a throat culture. The doc suspects swine flu and told him he has to go home today and take tomorrow off, too. Mimi and I don’t feel as rotten as Mike, but we have quite a nasty cough. I felt pretty icky yesterday but am feeling better today. I just pray that Violet doesn’t fall ill.

It’s been quite a busy few days here. The Halloween season hit us hard with 2 parties, 1 hoopla, 1 trunk-or-treat, and traditional trick-or-treating. Of course, the girls saw nothing wrong with all the events, but Mike and I were over it by party #2 (Mike just likes saying #2). I won’t go on and on about the festivities and just show pictures.

Annie’s school held a “Halloween Hoopla” on Wednesday evening, and families were invited as well. They served sodas, pizza, cider, hot cocoa, and had quite a set-up of games, contests, and dancing in the gym. They also had a hayride. As you can see, the girls were dressed up as Wonder Woman and Bat Girl. I had to sew-in Annie’s boots because her legs are so dang skinny.

Violet and Daddy just hung out while I chased the girls around.

On Friday night our church held their annual Trunk-or-Treat party. We eat dinner, and then all the kids go out and trick-or-treat from trunk to trunk. Can you guess what Mike and I dressed as? I’ll give you a hint, it involves a regal beagle. Violet got a hand-me-down bumblebee costume from the neighbors.

Annie’s school was dismissed on Thursday and Friday. The Johnsons invited us out for the day, and the kids voted on spending the day at the Kohl Children’s Museum. Mimi had a field trip there last year, so you may recognize some of the “exhibits” in the pictures.

Annie was so cute in some of the places, and really took her responsibilities seriously. Here they are fixing me a sandwich at Potbelly’s.

Future sandwich girls.

Mimi really does love animals. I wouldn’t be surprised if she does become a vet someday.

Annie was more interested in talking on the phone than caring for the animals. Maybe she’ll be a good receptionist one day.

Or listening to her own heart.

This cracked me up. Annie did not want to shop at the grocery store. She only wanted to be the cashier, and really got into it even ringing up “customers” she didn’t even know.

The girls had a blast going through the car wash.

The museum was offering a “class” on how to make vegetable soup. Oddly enough, all the kids were interested in attending.

There was no way we were going to be able to bypass the face painting area.

This was my favorite part.

We decided to stop at Steak-N-Shake for a quick bite since it was already 4:30, and Julie and I were expected at a party that evening at 6:30. The kids were more than pleased with that idea.