October 2012

We were sad to not be able to be with Dru this month, but we had a lot of fun with my mom and my Aunt Janeal.  The stayed around to help me out until we moved.  We tried to pack in as many fun things as we could while still trying to prepare for the move.  We spent many days at the mall, the Amish market, an antique mall, and we were able to see our good friends the Johnsons.  We also went to Annopolis to do some shopping and to eat at Chick and Ruth's Diner.  We went here with the Budges and Stephane attempted and succeeded at the Man versus Food challenge.  He ate a 1 pound hamburger and a 6 pound milkshake in under an hour.  My mom and my friend, Sarah, thought they'd give it a go.  They didn't do quite as well as Stephane.  But, it sure was fun to watch.

We also were able to get in a game of bowling.  It was Dalia's first time and she did so well.  I was very surprised, especially since Mina was so hard to control the first time we took her.  Haha.

And, I finished up the girls' Halloween costumes.

Mina had been having issues with using the potty and was having accident upon accident so we finally made a rewards chart for her.  It was princess themed, of course.  If she did well and was able to fill in all the squares, I promised to take her to the castle (Medieval Times).  She did great!  And I was able to take her.  I had made her a Princess Belle dress to wear.  She dressed up and she played the part so well.  She had a wonderful time and our knight even chose her to be his queen.

We were also able to attend Mina's friend, Ian's, birthday party.  It was a cute, Halloween themed party and they played pin the tail on the cat, musical chairs and even ate donuts off of a string.  It was a blast.

I also got to help my friend, Sarah, with a couple of cakes.  One was for her own birthday party and another was for a friends birthday.  I love making cakes with Sarah because she comes up with the most fantastic designs and I just love helping her make them come to life.  She's taught me a lot about cake decorating.

Mina finished up her soccer season, too.  She got progressively more difficult and unwilling to play in the weeks after Dru left.  The last 2 games I ended up running around on the field with her.  I think it helped the other players having a second "coach" out there, too.  I was able to keep the kids from running off the field to the sidelines if they happened to get upset about something.  Mina even was willing to throw the ball in from the sideline.  She was very excited and shy about that at the same time.  Unfortunately we moved before the end of season party and trophy handouts, but we arranged to have the Milligans send her trophy to her.

Dalia had several rough days since Dru left.  This was a particularly rough day at the mall.  It was the worst I've ever seen her.  Seriously, rough, for both of us.

Clarkland Farms 2012

We went to Clarkland Farms again this year with some of the kids in Mina's joy school group.  We all had a great time.  Dalia had a bit of a rough day, though.  She fell down a lot and just would not cooperate for any group pictures.  My friend, Tara, and I made the girls matching Halloween skirts for our girls and I really wanted to get a cute picture of all them wearing them.  It didn't really happen.  Oh well.

Mina got cold and Ian offered his jacket to her.  It was pretty sweet.

Waiting to ride the horsies.

Dalia absolutely loves animals and had the best time feeding them.

Dalia would pick up all the bits of food that had fallen and run them over to the animals to eat.

Then she chased the chickens.

And chased them.

And then she got mad when I wouldn't let her go under there after the chickens.

So she just found another chicken to chase.

Mina loved petting this little guy.

The cow train is always fun and this was Dalia's first time.

We should have put Dalia in a smaller cow.  She kind of got lost in there.  I don't know how well she was able to see.

We all had a good time on the hay ride.

The kids got right to work lining up a bunch of the pumpkins.

Teresa kept yelling something and Mina finally had enough and covered her mouth.  Haha.

Then Teresa tried to get out of the picture taking and Mina just wouldn't have it.

And, this was the best of the group shots.  Sad day.

Of course, the girls loved playing in this castle.