October 31st- The Cocktail Party

Every year around Halloween falls another fantastic 'holiday'.
One that is special to tens of thousands of Bulldogs and Gators across the south.
The legendary- World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party
North of the border- it's the Georgia/Florida game
South of the border- Florida/Georgia
No matter what you call it- this is one incredible football game between two of the south's oldest border rivals.
This year it fell on the same day as Halloween.
Aunt Kimberly found a tremendous deal on Georgia cheerleading outfits for the girls at a discount store in Georgia so the girls were outfitted for the first part of the day.
The dresses were a little wide under the arms so Mommy did a quick hand stitch adding large, black grossgrain bows to the shoulders.

Kennedy went down for an early nap before the game.
When she woke up, Daddy went in to scoop her up

the sleeping music was still on so Daddy decided to dance with his baby girl

Kennedy was confused at first, but seemed to love it before long
pointing at the music

I'm so glad I peeked in to check on them

such sweet moments with our sleepy girl

(also a peek for you into the girls' room- guess I never posted pics)
Before long Kennedy was up and ready to party!

Unfortunately, we didn't get very good pictures of the girls together looking so cute.
The game didn't end well for the Bulldog Nation, either.
We still love our Bulldogs and look forward to next season's re-match!
Now off to trick-or-treat with the Steads.

While Madison naps, Kennedy...

well...Kennedy is just too stinking cute.
While Madison napped today, Kennedy and Mommy played in the front yard.

She wanted to wear her pumpkin hat AND a big flower headband at the same time

She was extra animated, too!

We just love all these faces and expressions

Feel free to kiss the screen (tough to resist isn't it?)

She is quite interested in the polka dot pumpkin

mostly picking it up

and putting her fingers in each

and every hole

When she finally lost interest in the pumpkin- it was time to play with Madison's trike

then pull the decorative pumpkin stakes out

she was a busy girl

and so full of funny faces!

This one was just to show how incredibly long her hair is getting!

Madison had peach fuzz at this age (so did Mommy and Daddy)

Trunk or Treat

Our friends the Bystroms (Caleb and Ryan) invited us to their Trunk or Treating event at their church so we quickly cleaned up after carving and put on the girls costumes.
Miss Madison was Fancy Nancy, While Kennedy was Ladybug Girl
When we got to the gym Madison met up with Spencer for the cupcake walk.

How cute is baby Gwen the little Hershey Kiss!?

Ryan was Belle- such a beautiful princess

There were tons of kid friendly games and activities and (of course) candy
Madison even had a princess crown painted on her face by Minnie Mouse

It just added to her 'Fanciness'

Check out the Daddy's and their baby girls-

Kennedy was happy to hang out with Daddy until she warmed up

Daddy was happy to hang out with his friend, John- so it all worked out

After game time, there was a costume parade around the gym.

Kennedy loved that idea!

It took a little while for Kennedy to get the hang of the 'walking in a circle' idea

She just wanted to run around

With a little help from Mommy, the girls joined the parade

Then Prince Caleb came along (Miss Mindy sewed his cool cape!) and saved the day with a hand for each Shemenski girl

Did you notice Madison won't take the tootsie pop out of her mouth and Kennedy won't take the oreo out of her hand? These girls and their treats.

MMmmm....oreos

What Mommy didn't realize, the costume parade wasn't just for fun

There was a panel of grown ups checking out all the cute costumes to hand out special awards.

Madison got the very first one!

She was THRILLED with her prize and couldn't wait to get her hands on more lollipops! (and her super cool trophy!) The judges didn't even know what her costume was, but they loved her craziness and sweet smile. Check out Kennedy running around in the background.

Can we say sugar rush?

Seriously, could these girls BE any cuter?

Do you love their costumes as much as we do?

Nothing better than hand made, hand pieced costumes.

Oh, and feather boas, wings, and tu-tus on fancy little girls.

Pumpkin Carving

While we waited for Daddy to get home from work, the girls set up for pumpkin carving.
Madison had a little different idea of what 'tools' were important to the process.

Kennedy saw her sister with a sippie cup and book and thought we were headed to the car.

Then she got a hold of her favorite ikea toy.
Doubles as a vacuum, lawn mower, pretty much anything mechanical.

She 'mowed'

then donned her apron to get started getting messy

shortly thereafter Daddy came home and grabbed the camera so Mommy could dig into the pumpkins. Note: Kennedy is eating an apple in this photo and attempting to feed Sierra-she is NOT eating a raw pumpkin

Madison worked with Mommy on our polka dot jack-o-lantern

but quickly lost interest and threw a ball in the air

while Kennedy tried her hand at some raw pumpkin seeds

she is such a happy pumpkin carver

New Legwarmers

Mommy has been working on lots of finishing touches for Halloween.
Most recently....

legwarmers.

Which Madison couldn't wait to put on- along with other dress up (and her Harry Dawg tattoo)

Monkey see- monkey do.

Kennedy needed wings, a 'crown' (upside down as usual) and legwarmers, too.

Oh- I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!