The MOST FUN weekend!

What a weekend we just had!  The highlight was Halloween (but I'll get to that in a sec...)  My mom flew in Thursday eve.  I took Friday off, and we spent all day doing "Spring FALL Cleaning", starting on the kitchen.  It felt good just to pull everything out, organize, get rid of stuff - and make it all shiny & new!  Grandma surprised Aislynn with a new purse, some fancy beads, and a princess tiara (Ais is all girl!)

 

 

Saturday morning, Aislynn woke up early to draw a birthday picture for daddy.  It was Michael's big 32nd :)

I thought we'd give Michael a nice quiet morning to himself.  I dropped Zeus off at the groomers, and my mom and I thought we'd make a short trip to IKEA (my mom has never been before).  We started by having their .99 cent breakfast (yum!) - 3 hours later we barely escaped that place!!!  What was I thinking?  It took us 2 1/2 hours, just to get through the top level - by the time we realized what time it was - we quickly rushed through the lower level of the store.  Aislynn - was SUCH a trooper shopping with the big girls, being stuck in a stroller all day, and waiting patiently for lunch (not to mention, missing her morning nap).

We did a bit more cleaning, and finally cleaned ourselves up to go out to Rafferty's for Michael's birthday.  It was great - and Aislynn provided nothing more than pure entertainment. 

The waitress gave her a sticker

Cutest profile!

Grandma made a paper airplane out of her menu 

Waiting to catch the airplane  

Happy Birthday Daddy! 

Me & my may'an 

getting some good grandma time in 

Her "all eyes on me" smile

 Sunday = Church... It was nice to have my mom there and she was excited to get to hear me sing :) (Have I mentioned lately that I love my church, and all the people that help lead worship?) After church and lunch, we took Aislynn to the park and snapped some cute pics.  It was a beautiful Fall day, and I wanted to just get some good 18 month shots of her.  Just a few...

She's ALWAYS on the go!

Checkin out some acorn tops that grandma found 

When we got home the Sunday afternoon "laze" started creeping in, and I realized I was totally pooped from the last few days.  BUT - still so much cleaning and organizing to do... Somehow we managed to work a bit more - my mom made some yummy stew for dinner - and then it was time for TRICK OR TREATING!

This was definitely the highlight of my weekend.  My mom made Aislynn's costume - and we dressed her up as the cutest darn Minnie Mouse you ever did see (if I do say so myself). 

We thought we had a trick-or-treat plan.... A little church down the road was advertising a "trunk-or-treat" night for all kids.  Well, that turned out to be 6 parked cars, (no decorations), in a parking lot with a few people standing around.  Needless to say, we just kept driving after we saw that.  We tried heading to another church in Marietta who "supposedly" had trunk-or-treat - but no luck.  To prevent myself from getting TOTALLY frustrated... I quickly ordered Michael to just pull into some nice, random neighborhood. It turned out to be the BEST street for trick-or-treating!

Aislynn had no idea what this was all about.  This is what I was imagining was taking place in her little mind...

A: (Yippeee dooodly doo - I'm skipping along... Oh, where are we going mama? Visiting someone? I've never been here before)

Mommy: *ding-dong*

Lady:  "Oh look at you - how cute you are... Hi Minnie Mouse"

Mommy:  Say "trick-or-treat"

A:  (Do I know her? she's smiling... hmm, what's that bowl full of? Lot's of bright & colorful stuff in wrappers... Hmmm she's handing me some, should I take it?  Okay, I'll take this stuff...)
Mommy:  "Put it in your bucket"

A:  (Oh, is that why I'm carrying this around? okay... Hey, that lady is shutting the door - don't we go in there? Oh, we're leaving now?)
A:  (Hey, we're walking up to another house - skippy-doo-dee-doo-be-bop-dee-doo)

Mommy:  *ding-dong*
Guy:  "Happy Halloween - aren't you cute"

A:  (Okay, I def don't know that guy... but he's got another one of those bowls, and he's smiling... now he's handing me 2, no 3 of those wrapper things!)

Mommy:  "Go ahead, put it in your bucket"

A:  (Now what? aren't we going in that house?  He's shutting the door too...)

A:  (I'm not sure I quite understand what is going on here - but I'm getting stuff for my bucket... And we're walking again...  Hmmm, this time there's a chair with one of those bowls full of wrapper stuff, and a sign...)

Mommy:  "Go ahead Aislynn - you can take 2 candies"

A:  (I get to reach in there and take whatever I want?  This is fun!)

Mommy:  "No Aislynn, just take 2"
A:  (I think I'm getting the hang of this! - we're walking.. lets walk faster!

Mommy:  *ding-dong*

Lady:  "Awww, it's Minnie Mouse - you're so cute - here's some candy"

A: (Let me get this straight.... my mama takes me to all these doors, rings the doorbell, and then someone comes out and gives me lots of wrapped stuff for my bucket - I think they call it candy - I love this... lets run to the next house!)

 

 Hurry, let's run!

 

 Just got me some more candy...

 

By the time we reached the 3rd-4th house - Aislynn would just giggle her heart out and want to run to the next house.  She just couldn't get over the fact that people would open the door - hand her candy so she could put in her bucket.  She was so adorable just waiting there by the front door, knowing I would ring the doorbell and then someone would hand her candy. 

She was just so cute and this will totally go down in my mommy-memory as one of my favorite experiences.  There's nothing like seeing Aislynn get to trick-or-treat for the first time :)  And, she made out pretty good - her bucket got heavy & by the end of the night, she was practically dragging it.  Some people would try to put the candy in her bucket - but she would always take it from their hand & put it in herself.  The best part, is that she didn't realize what she was getting.  She's never had candy - but she knows that GOOD stuff comes in bright colored wrappers.

When we got to the car - I let her have a little kit-kat stick... she chomped it down so fast and was saying "moooore" while her mouth was still full.  She KNOWS candy now :)  and she knows it stays on the kitchen counter in her orange pumpkin bucket.  Today, she ate her lunch & dinner so fast, only to point at the bucket and say "dat!" (then sign "please").  She earned it!  **Props to the people who went all out with decorations, gave lots of goodies and even a glow-necklace... That is what makes Halloween fun**

I dreaded Monday - but only worked 1/2 day - came home with lunch, and then spent the rest of the day trying to wrap up some cleaning/organizing with my mom.  I'm still up - and I'm totally pooped but kind of "delirious" awake.  We have to leave at 4 am!!! And here I am - trying to update my blog (what better to do, right?) oh yeah... SLEEP would be nice.

All that to say - I had an awesome weekend.  Aislynn LOVED getting to bond with her grandma.  She was so entertaining and I SWEAR said 10-15 new words!  She sang all weekend and even learned a new song that grandma taught her.  Such an imagination she has - and she loves pretending. 

Back to reality... Keep jammin'