fun visit with Holly, Shaun and Elijah!

My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew came to visit this weekend and we had such a good time. It was great to hang out, go trick or treating, and just be together. Although it took the ENTIRE time for my nephew to warm up to me (literally, he cried when I got near him or even sometimes just looked at him...but when they were loading up the car to leave he let me hold him, we played, it was a whole new relationship starting :) Here's a peak into our fun weekend....

Sydney LOVED playing with Elijah

Miles loved playing with Elijah's toys...haha :)

cousins!

this is a perfect picture to show Elijah's feelings toward me :)

yay for trick or treating!!

Elijah (and Holly:)  joined the fun too!

the cutest teddy bear, cowgirl, and monkey I've ever seen :)

They had a lot of fun. Miles was surprisingly VERY into it

then it was our turn to pass out candy

cousins!

Holly, Shaun, and Elijah

family picture time :)

and FINALLY I won him over :)!!

losing teeth, cutting hair, and halloweening everywhere :)

We've had a lot going on in this household lately! Sydney lost her very first tooth!!! It was wiggly for a couple weeks and finally came out! She was very excited for the tooth fairy to visit....

after the tooth fairy came

The tooth fairy left a very glittery note for Sydney

And Miles got his first big boy hair cut!! We went to Cookie Cutters which is a place that specializes in kids cuts. I am SO glad we went there because Miles was a little firecracker and I had to wrestle him to get through it...luckily they are used to that there and were incredibly patient and gave him a GREAT cut!

before...look how long it was!!

he was not very happy at this point, even in a fancy airplane chair

And we've been having some Halloween fun too!! We (like many around here) had our trick or treating postponed due to storms but we've had other Halloween fun and look forward to more when we get to trick or treat!

carving pumpkins!

painting pumpkins!

the end result

Halloween cutie pies

And Sydney had her Halloween party at school....

our little cowgirl

school parade

watching the parade with her friend Ellie

having treats at the party

Sydney is on the tooth list!

Sydney's hand prints on the wall of fame for making Honor Squad last month

and lastly, I mad myself an awesome birthday cake :) It's a three layer dark chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream filling and chocolate buttercream frosting....YUM.

our little mini-vacation!

We went away this weekend and hung out at my dad's trailer in Brookville, IN (near Cincinnati) and had a great weekend getaway! We did a lot in the two days we were gone and had a lot of fun too! :) It was such a great trip, only wish it lasted longer!!

we took a horse drawn canal boat ride in Metamora

going through the aqueduct

with horses in the background

you can see the horses to the left pulling the boat

horses in the background, very pretty area

then we went gem mining!

we felt like real miners :)

Miles waiting patiently for us to finish up the mining!

we got ice cream at this cute little shop that had thousands of cookie jars!

Sydney caught the moon!

ended our first day with a cozy fire!

Sydney was our photographer for this one :)

then we went to the Cincinnati Children's museum

Sydney worked at a pretend Kroger (our fave store! :)

Syd and Miles shopping

Sydney got gas for her car :)

making dinner

driving the bus

Sydney's favorite section was the pretend pet hospital where she got to be a vet!

Miles hanging out in the pet bed area :)

Miles the vet

Miles LOVED the sand box in the toddler section

this car moved and I think it frightened him a bit

we also went to the dinosaur exhibit

we also went to the museum of Natural History and Science

                                             The museum center is in what used to be the Union
                                   Terminal built in the 30's. It's a really beautiful art deco building

then we went to the Newport Aquarium

They had all kinds of awesome underwater tunnels

Sydney touched a small shark!!

our attempt at a family selfie :)

you can see sharks behind us, agh!

Miles was not so into picture time at this point :)

giving the penguins a hug goodbye before we leave

how cute is this??!!