October has come and gone

Wow, tomorrow is Halloween...how did that month just disappear?!

We've had a stressful few weeks but are looking forward to Halloween tomorrow (Maddy has been counting down for days now) and the upcoming holidays.

My back has really been hurting me this month and after going to the doctor and getting some x-rays they told me I have 2 discs in my lower back that are degenerating.  I'm trying to pay better attention to what I do and stand more at work, etc.  There's no fixing the damage at this point, but I can hopefully slow the continued degeneration.  So anyways, while I was resting one day, Camryn was doing my make-up with her make-up brushes.

One day we went to Home Depot and the girls saw these stick horses (not sure what to call them) and they "rode" them all around the store.  It was adorable really.

The girls still love the tire swing Matt put out back for them!





Maddy practicing flips on the playground





The girls both had their class field trips to the pumpkin patch.  I went on Maddy's and Matt went on Camryn's.



Maddy and her friends jumping on the giant bouncy pillow.



I'm pretty sure getting a class picture of 2 year olds is no easy feat.

The girls favorite book to read at night is their ABC book.  They both recite the alphabet and just love reading the book and are so proud of themselves.



Now that the weather is getting cooler we have little picnics downstairs sometimes.



Last weekend we went up to MD and got to spend time with family.









After MD we met up with Aunt Anna and the girls got their nails done.  Camryn chose blue and Maddy chose sparkles.









On Sunday we had a birthday party and Chuck E Cheese.









Afterwards a few of us went to lunch and to watch football.  Camryn LOVES Mr. Tony.

The boys intently watching the game.

On the way home from lunch all Camryn was saying was "I no want to go home".  She really didn't want to go home haha.  So I asked her who she wanted to call and she said Aunt Anna.  So Anna picked the girls up for some crafting fun!

Maddy feeding her carrots to Rosco

I think Aunt Anna wore them out...

Last night we carved our pumpkins...2 days before Halloween :)

Maddy drew her face and then I carved it.  He has hands, a mustache, and hair!

While we were carving pumpkins Matt was tearing our kitchen apart!

Maddy was home sick on Tuesday and we had talked about needing to tile our kitchen floor and how great it would be if we painted our cabinets...an affordable kitchen face lift.  Well Matt used his time home with Maddy to get started....so this is what we're working with now.  No cabinet doors and no floor :)

Camryn also had her follow-up hearing test with Fairfax County Childfind on Monday and she actually failed both tests this time so they recommended we got to an ENT.  They think fluid and/or pressure in her middle ear may actually be causing her speech delay so we have an appointment next week with an ENT.  We have a follow-up with Child Find later in November because they think her ears may be causing her speech issues and if we clear one up the other may fix itself... we shall see :)

Our Weekend with Tony the Tiger (Maddy's classroom mascot)

Last week in an attempt to entertain the girls Matt gave them a giant rope...after a few minutes of them running around with it he decided to throw it over a branch and let them climb it.





That led to Matt actually making a rope swing in the back yard and the girls love it...of course I'm worried they'll swing themselves right in to the tree...





Matt thinks Maddy is old enough to help with leaves....(of course her with this leaf blower is a joke because poor thing was about to fall backwards haha)



As much as we despise doing the leaves it is a fun time of year because the girls love playing in the leaves.



Maddy has also gotten really good at monkey bars.  Matt was able to sneak a pic of her and a friend doing the monkey bars at school one day.




On to Tony the Tiger.....Maddy's teacher, Ms. Robyn, got a mascot for their class, his name is Tony the Tiger.  Maddy was lucky enough to be the first student chosen to take Tony home for the weekend.  She had to take pictures with him and at the end of her weekend draw a picture of what she did with him and write about it.

Lucky for Tony it was an eventful weekend!

Matt's co-worker has 2 children and we're lucky enough to receive things from them once their kids are done with them so last week the girls got this princess vanity and they LOVE it!

 Maddy made sure Tony got to check himself out in the vanity mirror.

 She also read books to him at night.

 One night last weekend mom came by and watched the girls so Matt and I could have a night out.  We went to Glory Days and had dinner and watched some of the Orioles game.  We were exhausted but it's hard to pass up a chance to get out alone!!

Saturday morning Tony went to Camryn's gymnastics class with us.

Then Saturday afternoon we got to celebrate Riley's 4th birthday with a Frozen party...complete with Anna and Elsa!!

Elsa painted the girls faces and nails.

 

Matt hanging with Spider Woman.

Tony got a picture with Elsa.

After the party we went to Whole Foods for happy hour with friends and after all the sugar at the party the girls were wild!!!

 Sunday we went to visit Mimi.  She recently fell and broke her wrist so went to see her and brought Tony along too.



Sunday afternoon mom picked the girls up and spent some time with them.  They made forts, went shopping, and went out to dinner.



Once we put our cuties to bed I tried to teach Matt how to braid hair.

We spent all day Monday cleaning out the playroom!!!  It feels so great to have it cleaned up.  After that Maddy had dance and Camryn reluctantly stayed home with me.  She helped me cook.

We also broke out the balance bike...neither girl really knows how to use it, but we'll keep trying.

Cams was cooking for me the other night in the nice CLEAN playroom :)

We had an appointment with Fairfax County Child Find for Camryn's speech.  We were there for over 3 hours and she was AMAZING.  Everyone loved her and she was so good while they did her hearing test and was so adorable when they were talking to her.  They do want to continue to evaluate her and after a few more appointments (and another hearing test because she didn't pass part of the first test) they'll make a determination on whether she needs speech therapy for articulation or not.  We should know by early November.

And a random picture of my handsome boy.

And last but not least, a picture of what I see, basically 24/7  :)