Our Princesses... no really, they were...

Halloween 2007. A day that Chandler has longed for since Halloween 2006. She has waited, and asked about, and waited some more, and asked a WHOLE lot more questions about this day for a year now. It has finally come and gone. Here are the pictures to prove it!

Our Halloween costume prep began at 12:30 yesterday. We washed, we scrubbed, we brushed, we rolled and we primped....

Pre-makeup
**She wanted me to make note of the fact that she is poking her tongue through the hole in her smile.

Post Makeup

And the finished product! Belle and Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty).

"Riley!!! Don't eat the grass!!! Mom! Riley is eating grass! There might be bugs in it!!"

So, we plugged in her paci (or cassie as Chandler calls it) to keep her from the potential "bug eating"

After pictures at home we headed off to Zaxby's for dinner. Chandler loved that everyone was watching her. Surprisingly, when we first got there we were the only ones with kids in costumes. Another family arrived a little later with 2 Barbie Brides.
After dinner we headed over to "Trunk or Treat". Last year our church began hosting this Trick or Treating alternative. It was a HUGE success so they did it again this year. People sign up to decorate the trunk of their car and dress up to hand out candy. A few of our favorite trunks were (sorry no pictures!) the Chick-fil-A trunk, the Charlotte's Web trunk, Mrs. Erin's Oklahoma Sooners trunk (she lets the kids throw footballs into her car... Chandler liked that) and Mrs. Shelia's "Jonah and the Whale" trunk. We hope she wins 1st prize this year.

Chandler also enjoyed climbing the giant inflatable slide/maze that was set up.

Chandler met up with her buddy Joseph (known as JoJo around our house). They are in the same class at church and he's a really sweet kid. His mom told me that last Sunday at church JoJo told Chandler that she is "quite a lovely lady"!

We tried for a quick "girls only photo", but Chandler couldn't wait to dig into the candy and Riley was ready to see some more trunks!

**When she saw this picture she told me that it would have been better if I were in costume too! I told her that I was! Brandon and I went as Georgia fans. :) Not very creative, but it stirred up a lot of contempt here in Tennessee after the big win over Florida last week. Apparently there are a lot of Florida fans in Cleveland.

One more attempt. A little better this time.

After we hit all the trunks, Chandler wanted to "knock on some doors". We didn't really know of a good neighborhood to take her to, so we headed to the mall. Two local churches were co-hosting a Trick or Treating Alternative there.

Chandler paused long enough for a photo with "Stitch" (from Lilo and Stitch). Stitch, also known as Nathan, used to live across the street from us. He was a good buddy to Chandler and she was heart broken when he had to move.

After the mall we were all so worn out! It was time to head home!!

It didn't take long for Chandler to CRASH!!!

Good news! She's already planning costumes for next year! I told her she has plenty of time, but she doesn't believe me. I guess we will be hearing about Halloween 2008 for the next 364 days!

Hope everyone had a GREAT Halloween!!!

Who needs television?

Tonight after cleaning up from dinner, I noticed that it was unusually quiet in my house. I could hear Brandon's voice, but I couldn't exactly tell where it was coming from. I started down the hallway and this is what I found in the girls' room....

Apparently they were audience to the story of Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors as can only be told by the Cow from Baby Einstein.

Times like these remind me of what a GREAT dad Brandon really is!!

Excuse me. Do you have the time?

If you have the time, you really should read this post from one of my favorite blogs. If you have kids I KNOW you will find it very funny and you will definitely relate to and appreciate the story this mom has to tell.

Krystals: How many can you eat?

This afternoon we raced home from church, wolfed down some sandwiches, changed clothes in a frenzy and loaded up in the Explorer. You are probably wondering, "What in the world was SO important that they raced around like that?" Let me take you back to Friday night.....

Friday night was movie night at our house. Chandler had been dying to rent "Meet the Robinsons". I picked up a pizza (Can't beat Little Caesar's $5.00 large pepperoni) and we sat in the living room together over pizza and a movie.
At one point during all of this family fun, Brandon looks over at me and says, "Do you know what happens on Sunday?"
My obvious answer, "football?"
His response, "No, well yes, but I mean other than football."
(You heard it here first girls!!! There is something other than football on Sunday afternoon!!!!)

The next few words are ones that I will not soon forget.....
"The World Championship of Krystal Eating!!!" (or something similar... ok I did forget the EXACT words he used)
My not so excited reponse, "On tv?"
His extremely excited reply, "NO IN CHATTANOOGA!!!"
At this point he realizes that I'm not quite as excited as he thought I would be so he tries to sell me on it, "There will be games for the kids, free give aways and FREE KRYSTALS!"
I figure I can get Chandler to go and keep her happy with the thought of getting to play games so I give in and we decide to go.

THAT is why we were racing around like crazy people on a Sunday afternoon.

However, the event started at noon. The contest did not start until 2:30. We got there about 1:30... the games are gone, the free give away consisted of some pom-poms and big blowup noise sticks (see pictures below) AND the line for free Krystals is never ending! (I shouldn't be surprised... free food = all the people in the tri-state area trying to get there before it runs out... it did run out before we got any... I was NOT going to stand in that line with Chandler AND Riley. We did manage to get some free drinks.)

There is an upside to all of this! The event was televised LIVE on ESPN. I sent my sister a text message that said, "ESPN 2:30. Look for us". Well, she did and SHE SAW US! Well, actually she only saw me. We were only on for a second and she was looking for me so she's not sure if Brandon and the girls were on there or not.

We actually had a lot of fun and I'm glad we went. Maybe we'll do it all again next year... with better planning of course!

Here are a few pictures from our day at the Krystal Square Off IV World Hamburger Eating Championship!!!

Something more important must have been going on just over my shoulder!

Chandler when she finally came to grips with the fact that there were not going to be any games for her to play... like we promised!

The contest in full swing. It only lasts 8 minutes!

The winner. 8 minutes. 103 Krystal burgers. Joey Chestnut!!
(left to right: George Shea, Pat Bertoletti(3rd place), Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, Krystal Kitty (Joey's burger counter), and "Humble" Bob Shoudt(2nd place))

Chandler's free noise sticks

Our competitive eating champ!!!!

Chandler and Mom outside of the Tennessee Aquarium... this is actually the spot where Brandon proposed to me.

another picture outside of the Aquarium.

We've only just begun...

So, after 7 months of sending out "Riley Updates" via e-mail with tons of pictures for friends and family to download, I've decided to start putting all of that information in our own blog. Now you can check up on us anytime you would like!

I really can't take credit for this idea. For months now I've been reading up on my friend Emily and her family on her blog. She is so good at keeping everyone updated on Will and all of his milestones. I hope I can do the same with my girls and our adventures!


Here's what has been happening at our house this fall...

We took a trip to the Georgia National Fair in Perry, GA. with Gran, Chief, Aunt Amanda, Uncle Ben, Aunt Lainey and Cousin Colten. Brandon and I have both been to the fair before, but it was a 1st for Chandler and Riley.

Cousin Colten and Riley

This picture was taken at the very end of the night... a table dancing 4 year old is what you get after corn dogs, soda, cotton candy and sleep deprivation mixed with some oldies music from an Air Force band!

Last Sunday night we went out to the new property that the church bought for a "family movie night". After we ate and the kids jumped in those GIANT blow up things, everyone settled down for an outdoor showing of Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Corn dogs... Again!

Tonight the weather was cool, but not too cold so Brandon decided that it would be a good night for roasting marshmallows. This was Riley's 1st bonfire so I turned it into a photo-op.

The only time I make it into pictures is when Chandler gets a hold of the camera!

Brandon thought it would be cute to put Riley in this box. It was cute until she started choking on something that she picked up off of the ground!
We don't normally have boxes laying around in the yard. Brandon took advantage of the fire and burned a few empty boxes that had been sitting around.