Hello? Blog Followers? You Still There?

Okay, so I kind of dropped off the face of the blogging world for a bit. For 4 months and 3 weeks to be exact. But by popular demand (mainly my own), I'm back. To mark the restart of my blogging career I've put up a new theme and a new title. The extraordinary ordinary; what I feel is the perfect title. And a subtitle, rage against the minivan. Please don't take offense you minivan drivers, that's just one part of ordinary I'm holding my guns on.

So here's a recap of those lost days. We've had lots going on.

We jumped in leaves...
Picked out a Christmas tree...

Decorated our Christmas tree...
Had our tree fall over...Rigged it back up...

Had family portraits taken...Made Christmas cookies...

Made our one and only snowman of the season...

Got spoiled on Christmas...





Decorated princess tiaras...


Played in the snow...


Enjoyed jumping in the bounce house sans clothing...
Played with dolls...
Colored...
Made Mommy the world's largest Valentine...
Started dressing ourselves...
Coated our hair with Vaseline...
Used corn starch to get it out (works by the way)...Played dress-up...
Shew, I told you we've been busy. That's enough for today, but I guarantee we'll post more and we won't wait almost five months to do so.

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween yesterday. Throughout the day Eleanor would wish everyone a Happy Halloween :) At 2:30 we went to McCoy Creek Trail for the Trek or Treat. It was our first time and we loved it. The woods is gorgeous and there are costumed people setup all along the trail handing out candy. It was Carolyn's first go at Trick-o-Treating and she seemed to get the hang of it. She didn't say "trick or treat", but she put her bucket out and let the people fill it!

The girls with Mommy At Trek or Treat on McCoy Creek Trail

The girls walking the trail with Daddy

Little Miss Muffet

Eleanor didn't care too much for the Jolly Green Giant

Carolyn was really curious too

Our cute little Kanga

Afterwards we ate dinner and for the city Trick or Treat, Eleanor wanted to hand out candy rather than go out again. We were happy to make this happen. It was pretty cold and the girls both have enough candy to last them 6 months.

Our first customer. Carolyn didn't want to give up any candy. But Eleanor loved it.

Patiently waiting

Getting cold

Really cold

The Pumpkin Patch

I love this time of year. With the leaves changing colors and the cool weather. We recently had a beautiful and sunny 60 degree day (after some rather cool and rainy days) so we made the most of it and went to the pumpkin patch.

We've been to other places before. But I think Blue Jay Farms is now going to be our regular pumpkin spot. They have many varieties of pumpkins and gourds and even had my favorite, the white pumpkin.

Eleanor and Carolyn grabbed a wagon and immediately started throwing in the gourds. We got a nice variety and then moved to the cute, smaller sized pumpkin, my white pumpkins and then the bigger carving pumpkins. Eleanor found one in the $2 section and Matt told her, if she could carry it, she could get it. That was all the challenge she needed as she hauled over that pumpkin. I tried getting a couple cute pictures of Carolyn smiling with her pumpkin but she was having none of it. She was there to get pumpkins and it was all business. She had pumpkins to load and wagons to pull.

Eleanor, ready to load the wagon

Gourds, gourds, and more gourds

Carolyn insisted on pulling the wagon. It was a little heavy for her.

Big sister to the rescue

Eleanor's big score

That looks says, "Mom, I'm working here. Put the camera away and grab a pumpkin."

I'm desperately trying to get a smile or even glance in my direction. But like I said, she was all business.

I loved this and was excited to start making measuring the girls at the farm a tradition. Unfortunately Carolyn wanted no part of it.

But Daddy happily partook

Sisterly love!

Mysteries, Tongues, and Make-up Oh My!

We have scarecrows adorning our downtown and on the big Buchanan sign we have the Wizard of Oz scarecrows. Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin man, the Lion, and the Wicked Witch of the West. So we borrowed the movie Friday from the cousins and Eleanor has already watched it twice. Goodbye Annie, hello Wizard of Oz. Hence the name of my blog today.

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Eleanor's room is a mess once again.

Me: Eleanor, you need to get in your room and clean up your toys. How does it get so messy.

Eleanor: It's a mystery.

Huh, I have a hunch I could solve that mystery.

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Eleanor's new trick: touching her tongue to her nose. Crazy!

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Saturday Eleanor joined me in the bathroom while I was getting ready to go. She found the blue eye shadow. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Carolyn's Mayo Facial

So, Carolyn gets into everything. I think that's very typical for a 1.5 year old. And I keep my lotions on a low shelf in my vanity. I know, not a great idea if I don't want her getting a hold of them. Once in a while I'll help her put on some facial lotion.

Well, last night was our steak and artichoke night. For about as long as I've known Matt, we'll have this on a weekly basis. The girls have really liking the artichokes too, so now they get their own to share. Growing up I always dipped the leaves in butter. But in Colorado learned from my Cali-raised neighbor that they use mayo. I've been a believer ever since. So we have a spoonful of mayo to dip.

Carolyn saw the mayo on her plate, ran her fingers through it, then began to liberally apply it all over her face. She even went as far as to pick up the plate so be sure that not a single greasy morsel was left behind. See...

Eleanor's Riding a 2-Wheeler!!!

Last Friday I took Eleanor to buy a bike. She picked out a cute little 12" Disney Princess bike with training wheels made by Huffy. Today (a week and 2 days later) she asked to take off the training wheels. I've been saying it since we bought it that it wouldn't be long. She's been riding her Razor scooter for a year and a half and is great on it. (Tips to parents, get your kid a Razor and let them learn to balance on that first) So, off come the training wheels, she starts pedalling and I can already feel her balancing. We ran down the sidewalk and I let her ride in the parking lot at Moccasin Elementary. She's a freak! Check it out...

Funny Videos

Here's Nash ringing the doorbell - he loved it. Always opening the door first so he could hear it.



And a fighting incident followed by some playing...