Wow....has it really been that long?

Hello all my fellow blogging friends, that is if there are any of you still out there checking in on me. :) I knew that it had been awhile since I last did a blog post but had no idea it was back about HALLOWEEN! Here we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas in 11 days, wow! Well, let's get caught up shall we? I am just going to bullet somethings that have been going on with us lately and then post some pictures of the events.

*Claire and I went on a hayride with her Girl Scout troop back in the beginning of November and that was fun. Cold, but fun!!

*We had and I was in charge of a Progressive Dinner in our neighborhood. This is the second one that we have had and it is a lot of fun. We really do LOVE our new neighbors and neighborhood.

*The soccer season is over, Claire LOVES to play. Her team REALLY improved this year and we actually won more games than we lost. Claire will play soccer again starting in January and then softball this spring. She is excited about doing both!

*We had Thanksgiving at our house this year! The whole family (minus my sister, brother in law and my niece and nephew, they go to Iowa to see my brother in laws family) came to our house. I even invited my sister in laws mom and dad. She is an only child so they really only have her so why not, the more the merrier right? Wow, and was it ever merry. Cory and I enjoyed hosting, however, most of the night was a blur as we were constantly making sure nobody needed anything and getting the food ready!

The girls waiting for everyone to arrive. This is the latest addiction, electronics!

Paige is SO silly, she is always closing her eyes or is squinty in pictures.

Me and my parents
The girls with Nana and Papa

The girls with Grandma and Grandpa
The girls with my Nana and Cory's Grandma so their Great Grandma's.
*We had date night with the girls a few weeks back. I took Claire to dinner and then we went to the Fabulous Fox Theater here in St. Louis to see Mama Mia (it was all a surprise she had no idea where we were going)! May seem weird seeing as how she is only 6 and a half but, she LOVES the music and knows almost all the songs by heart. Cory got us the tickets from work and since there was 4 tickets we also invited my mom and my mother in law to join us.
Cory took Paige to dinner at her place of choice which ended up being..... St. Louis Bread Company or known in other states at Panera Bread. They then went to the mall where they went shopping at Justice and then to their final destination of roller skating. Both the girls had SO much fun!
Paige showing us her roller skates!

Claire and I at dinner
Claire with a Shirley Temple, I use to LOVE those as a kid so I asked her if she wanted to try it. She liked it as well.At the Fox inside our box seats at intermission.
*My dear friend Sarah and her fiance got married back in November in Jamaica and then they had a reception here in town for everyone who wasn't lucky enough to join them for the wedding the first week of December. Cory and I went to the reception and had a really good time. Not only have I gotten back in touch with Sarah but also another great friend of mine, Kenny and his sister Kim(gotta love Facebook if not only for that reason). Both Kenny and Kim are married and their spouses are great, they were also at Sarah and Kevin's reception and we had a blast with everyone!!
The Gang

Sarah and I, We have known each other since 7th grade!!
Sarah, Kenny and I have been friends since our Freshman year in high school.

*I have lost 30 pounds!!! I did it I wanted to get to a certain weight before Sarah and Kevin's reception and I made it. Now I would like to lose another 12-13 and it is hard with the holidays. So as of now I am trying to maintain the 30 that I lost and if I lose a couple more during that time great! Otherwise, I will lose those last 12 or so in January! :)

*I asked my parents to come over and help us take a family picture for our Christmas card. The picture at the top of the blog was one that we liked, however, it is NOT the picture we picked. I also took the pictures of the girls that you see along the side of the blog.


*Paige's class at her preschool put on a show of the Christmas Story and Paige played Mary. Cory and I both went to see her and she looked adorable! Can't believe she is starting Kindergarten in the fall.
My sweet, sweet Mary



The whole class, angels, stars, shepards, donkeys etc. So cute!!

Happy Halloween!

I don't know about everywhere else in the US but here in the Midwest we had pretty decent weather for trick or treating. It was in the mid 50's for the most part and the girls had a blast!

Here is our Go Go Girl! I did her makeup with some mascara, blue eyeshadow and some blush and of course being my girly girl she LOVED it!

Then we have our pirate. I was trying to copy Jack Sparrow with the eye makeup. Paige has the most beautiful full eyelashes and when I put the mascara on her I was SO jealous. I started the eyeliner and then daddy took over saying the underneath part of the eye needed to be darker and more dramatic.


We started off in our neighborhood, however, the houses are on pretty good sized lots so it takes more energy to get around and we don't have too many kids trick or treating in our neighborhood so we headed over to my sisters. Here the girls are with my their cousin Lauren who if I remember correctly was a vampire (Cory kept calling her a Ghoul Girl but I am pretty sure she was a Vampire).
Claire and her cousin Adam, they are 15 months apart in age and are buddies.

Paige pooped out and wanted to head back to Aunt Amy's with daddy and rest for a little while while the bigger kids kept going.
After she warmed up and had a few pieces of candy she was ready to head back out with daddy and get some more candy.

The whole gang!
Paige with her loot!

A quick family shot before we headed home and to bed.

How was all of your Halloween's? See any really interesting costumes?

World Series anyone??

Yes, you read correctly Cory and I were able to go to the World Series, Cory got two tickets from work!! It was amazing and so much fun to be apart of!! I have never been to and probably never will be (for a long long time) such an exciting game. The entire stadium was packed and the energy that everyone had was crazy. Everyone became fast friends with whoever you were sitting next to, behind of or in front of! Here are a few of my favorite pics!

Now normally I would have cropped this picture and just had it be Cory and I without the strange men in the background. However, this strange man (in the wonderful red light up sunglasses) became a close yelling, high fiving, hugging friend of ours. What is his name you ask??? Who knows but he sure was fun to sit by so I decided to leave him in the photo. :)
A look at how full the stadium was!
Not the red sunglasses guy but the other "stranger" in the first picture took this picture for us.

Motte is on the mound with the final out about to happen.
The crowd waiting anxiously with security waiting close by as well!

We won!!!

I was trying to get a picture of the score. 6 to 2!

Confetti came out of nowhere along with streamers, fireworks etc.....Yes, this picture our red sunglasses friend took for us
Our rally towel.

Way to go Cardinals, thanks for such a fun and exciting World Series especially games 6 and 7!!

Pumpkin Patch

A few weekends ago we did our annual family trip to the pumpkin patch. Since the girls are older this year we decided to try a different patch than we have gone to in the past. The new patch is one that is better for older kids as it has more activities for them to do. Here they are ready to go showing us the shirts that their Aunt Lauren (Cory's brother's wife) made for them, so cute!!

There were several hay mazes to find your way through. The girls (and Cory) had a great time exploring them all.

We went on a hayride around the farm/patch and got to see everything that has been planted and that is currently ready for picking.Claire and daddy on the hayride
This was probably the favorite thing of the day, the zip line!! Both the girls LOVED it. I couldn't even tell you how many times they went down it.

Hey, even daddy gave it a whirl!
One of the great things about having your daddy be a little shorter than everyone else's is that he can go with you through the Tower of Terror!!! Cory said it was pitch black and even he couldn't find his way through, good thing they came across a young boy while they were in there that had a flashlight. Next year we know to bring our own flashlight. Here they are at the top!
Paige trying out the pumpkin horse.

Family shot, ever since Claire lost both her two front teeth we see this silly smile from time to time.

This was also a popular thing to do, the tire swing. Claire would get on hers by herself by running and jumping on. Paige on the other hand needed a little help, hence daddy in the background.Wee!
Mom and dad shot, it was a tad sunny.

Another family shot, C's smile is a little better this time around.
Love this one
And this one!

There we go, finally got a good one of everyone!
Happy Halloween!