The McGuire Family

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Halloween 2012

Halloween 2012 was a lot of fun for both the kids and parents. I think some of us parents had a little too much fun that night! The kids love going house to house with their friends and dressing up is Madelyn and Ellie's favorite activity so they were in heaven! One good thing about living in a small neighborhood is that we know the majority of the people in our neighborhood so it's fun to catch up with people as we go door to door. Our neighborhood is also the perfect size for trick-or-treating and the kids are pretty much done when we hit the last house. Here are some pictures from Halloween last week:

The girls with their Buddy!

Love my little Pink Princess Cowgirl!

Ellie striking a pose!

Sweet Madelyn

Madelyn and Lainey are such good friends!

Ellie got tired and decided she would rather sit in the wagon and eat candy!

Still smiling as we finished the last house!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Weekend Fall Fun

Fortunately, Hurricane Sandy was able to hold off so we could have our neighborhood Fall Block Party on Saturday afternoon. We had a great turnout and had delicious Buzz and Ned's BBQ provided by the association and lots of yummy sides and desserts. The kids had a great time running around with their friends and we enjoyed spending some quality time with our neighborhood. I think the highlight of the night was sitting by the fire making s'mores. On Sunday afternoon, we carved our pumpkin for Halloween. We are not big pumpkin carvers thus did not purchase a kit at all. We ended up letting Madelyn sketch what she wanted the Jack-o-lantern to look like and Bill followed it exactly. It made me laugh when I saw how exact Bill cut the mouth on our jack-o-lantern to make it look like Madelyn's picture. The girls enjoyed the carving but I think liked coloring the other pumpkins even more. It was a fun activity to do on a cold and windy Sunday afternoon as we wait for Sandy to arrive!

Ellie posing by the alcohol. I think we are in trouble with this one!

Madelyn adores and idolizes all the older girls in our neighborhood. She also loved playing with her little boyfriend Liam yesterday!

Madelyn and Ellie's favorite part!

Ellie sharing her S'more with Daddy!

Madelyn showing us what she wants our jack-o-lantern to look like.

Ellie coloring her pumpkin!

Madelyn decorating her pumpkin from preschool!

Watching Daddy carve

Bill was pretty exact. What a good Daddy!

Our Little Gymnast

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ellie has been taking a little Parent/Tot gymnastics class this Fall. She has loved the class and it has really helped her learn to follow directions and she enjoys taking a little class of her own, especially since she is not attending preschool. Ellie completed her first session and they they do a little ceremony where she receives a button and certificate. These photos are a little blurry but I took these on Friday during the final class of the session.

Look at that serious face!

Ellie loves to jump!

Ellie had to get up on the mat and pose with her arms up before she received her button and certificate!

Ellie was so proud of herself. She got a little ribbon to hang her button on and was so excited! She was so anxious to get home and show her Big Sister!

Halloween at the Parke

Nana and Pop's neighborhood has a Halloween event for all the kids and grandkids of the neighborhood. The kids love it and actually think it's really Halloween and Nana and Pop love showing off their grandkids to all their friends and neighbors. This year, Ellie is a bumblebee for Halloween and Madelyn is a pink cowgirl. Ellie didn't have much choice in her costume because we borrowed it from a neighbor and she really didn't have a preference. Madelyn picked out her costume from a magazine and was very adamant about being a "princess" pink cowgirl. She talked about it for weeks and I finally caved and bought the outfit. Ellie was SUPER into trick or treating and was a ball of energy as she ran to all the houses. She had a blast getting her bucket full of candy and loved that she could keep up with Cora and Madelyn this year. I'm so glad we have gotten in a good night of trick or treating because Halloween night is up in the air as we await Hurricane Sandy who is supposed to arrive sometime tonight with rain and wind the next couple of days!

So happy to be at Nana and Pop's house. They waited to go all day long!

The girls in their costumes!

The entire group including Joshua the lion!

Some of the kids at the Parke!

Nana and Pop with the grandkids!

Joshua's first time walking up to a house to trick or treat!

Our little bumblebee!

She told us that her bucket was so heavy she had to hold it on the bottom. She was so proud of all her loot!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Bucky the Pirate Ship

On Sunday, we took off for another weekend adventure to White Stone to visit our cousin's Buster and Donna. They live in a beautiful home on the Chesapeake Bay and were very nice to let us come and hang out for the day. The weather was awesome and very warm which was perfect to go out on their boat. The kids were so excited and named the boat Bucky after their favorite show "Jake and the Neaverland Pirates". They loved riding in the boat and their favorite part was when Buster made the boat go fast. I was pretty shocked that Ellie embraced riding on the boat since she can be weird about doing new things and hates the ocean. At the end of the visit, we took the boat over to see Buster and Donna's 35 foot sailboat and the kids loved exploring the cabin and were fascinated that you can sleep and cook on it. We had a great time and can't wait to go back and visit again!