Grandma and Grandpa visit!

Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks came to visit the first few days of November. We had fun with them as always. The kids and I took Grandma to Tolmachoff Farms while Grandpa and Doug went golfing. The animals and the corn box were the kid's favorites.

 

 Kadence bathing Averi in corn

 

 Both girls swimming in the corn

 

 They were playing in the corn for about 20 minutes when I finally had to pry them out of it!

Posing with Grandma at the pretend town they had at the farm

 Averi loved jumping on the giant pillow but Kadence wouldn't go near it

  

 Averi was very hands-on with the animals...

Kadence... not so much. She was content to stand like this on the other side of the fence and watch

Halloween 2014

Doug and I went to our friend Laurie's Gatsby party with friends. A good time all around!

 

 My pretty princess all ready for the ward Trunk or Treat party

...joined by the most adorable spider-fairy!

Kadence following her cowboy dad at the trunk or treat

Kadence and I joined Averi for a few minutes at her school Halloween party. It was really cute and fun for the kids They colored books, made a Halloween treat, and had story time.

 My gorgeous girl!

 Kadence walking back to the car with me in her cute Halloween outfit.

 I was pretty proud of my pumpkin this year!

 We had dinner at the Daynes on Halloween. The kids made crafts and decorated cookies, then we took on the neighborhood for trick-or-treating!

We had Dorothy and Todo, a cat, a shark, Cinderella, spider fairy and a surfer dude. We were pretty close to the only group without an Anna or Elsa!

Happy Birthday ME!

I got one of the coolest birthday presents this year... a monsoon that created a legitimate lake across the street at the park. It was amazing! The Daynes brought out their water toys and we all had a blast playing in the rain water. Averi and I paddled out on the paddle board and went all the way around. She got off and swam next to the board most of the time. It REALLY made me wish we owned a lake front property :) What a blast!

This is the basketball court that is raised up much higher than the grass but is still covered with water:

 Quite a few neighbors and their dogs came out to enjoy it as well.

 Averi swimming to shore:

 

Leter, we went to IHOP to get my free birthday breakfast. We were waiting outside for Doug to meet us there and Averi was getting mad at Kadence for copying every move she made.

Then that night we had the Daynes over for cake. They had a trip to Hawaii booked but couldn't leave because the freeways had to be shut down. They had to take a flight out the next day but we were glad because then they were able to celebrate with us!

The water stayed at the park for almost a week... draining little by little each day.

Grandma's dress

My mom let me take this dress home to try on Averi. It was her dress when she was little and it looked so adorable on Averi! I wish they still made this style of dress.

Yet another birthday party

As soon as we got home and settled (somewhat), we had a few of Averi's friends over to have a princess birthday party with her. The girls all enjoyed eating lunch, getting nails painted, running through the sprinklers, jumping on the trampoline and eating cupcakes!

 Presents!

Happy birthday Averi! We love you more than words can express!

 

First day of Kindergarten!!

Since we were out of town for "Meet the Teacher Night" I was a little nervous for her  but Averi was confident and excited. She marched right in there, found her seat, and blew us a kiss goodbye.

 

 Seriously...It doesn't get much cuter than this!!

As a side note: That morning, a dog that we were watching for the first time ("Lucky") got out of the house an RAN like the wind away from us. With help from kind neighbors and the landscapers, we were finally able to catch him after about an hour of chasing him all over the neighborhood and onto Van Buren Street (2 lane faster road). We made it to Averi's school with NO time to spare! I think she was the last kid to sit down. Such a dramatic start to what ended up being a pretty great day!