Phillies, Pumpkins & Politicians

Chris is going to be watching TV for a while to revel in the Phillies' win tonight (GO PHILLIES!), so since I'm going to be waiting for him to finish watching these postgame interviews and reports, I figured I'd update!

When I was part of my first moms' group, one of our trips was to a pumpkin patch. I did not understand what the big deal was, but apparently this is the thing to do when you have kids. Of course, we don't carve a pumpkin for Halloween or make pumpkin pie, so we have no use for a pumpkin of any shape or size. This was basically a photo op.

I have two good pictures from the past five years that have been taken at these pumpkin patches. Two. In five years. Oh well!

I do have some fun pictures of a trip the girls and I took to Sea World with one of my friends and her two girls, who are about the same age as our girls. We went on Tuesday, and it was cold!! We had a blast though, and I managed to survive the park without Chris!

When we stopped for lunch, we let the big girls sit next to us at a table by themselves, but they kept saying they were too cold to eat. I pushed their chairs closer together and tried to let some sun hit them, but it wasn't working. So I took my hoodie and put one of their arms in each of the sleeves and they cuddled together, which equaled more fun than food!

Grace & Ann Marie making the cutest little two-headed monster ever!

How could I resist this??
Rachael and Susanna saying CHEEEEEEESE!!!
And they just kept on saying it... Over and over and over again.
They thought they were hilarious!

At the end of the day, Rachael was a wee bit tired...

So I mentioned politics, right? A couple of weeks ago, Sen. John McCain came to our town for a Road to Victory Rally. The guy Chris used to work with managed to get Chris in as a volunteer, and he got to drive in McCain's motorcade! He drove a van and his passengers included two Secret Service agents and the press that was traveling with McCain. He was on a real high after speeding down local streets and blowing through stop signs and red lights!

He scored me a VIP pass, and I had a lot of fun! Especially when Carl Cameron from FOXNews set up directly to my left to do his report! Okay, so I didn't know who he was at first, but c'mon, I have two small children and the Phillies were in the playoffs, I have had very little control over what's on TV recently! But it didn't take long for me to realize that this guy was very popular among the crowd I was with, so:

I had to have my picture taken with Campaign Carl!As exciting as that may be, though, it does not compare to this:

Nope, those are not wax figures or cardboard cutouts, those are the McCains, and that is Chris. Very, very cool!

We're not big on Halloween here, but the girls (and I) will be dressing up for a Costume Night and a Fall Festival, so hopefully we'll have some cute pictures of our fairy, cheerleader, and Sarah Palin. I guess you'll have to check back to see who is who! :-D

First Field Trip & The Phillies Fan

On Wednesday Grace went on her first field trip! The class met at a local fire department for a tour, then a picnic and playtime! I was a little bummed that I couldn't be a chaperone this time around, but things actually worked out pretty well! While Grace saw the station, heard the siren, and watched the hose blast some water, Rachael and I spent the morning at the playground that was right next door! Then Grace's class came over for their lunch, and after that we played some more. (Did I just rhyme?) The teacher's assistant told me that Grace was hesitant to get on the fire truck, but she went on with the assistant so she didn't miss out. She also didn't like the loud noises. That came as no surprise -- this past summer at VBS, she told me she didn't like noise and she didn't like crowds. Public school is going to come as a shock to her, huh?

Rachael is definitely her Daddy's Girl when it comes to sports! She gets excited when she sees a game on TV -- football or baseball. She even likes sitting in Chris' lap when he's watching a gamecast online! I didn't know just how important these games were to her until Monday night. We'd put her to bed and I got on the phone with one of my friends. A little bit after that, Miss Rachael started fussing in her room. We could tell she wasn't going to settle down, so Chris went in and got her. He brought her out and she just carried on -- nothing would satisfy her. She didn't want me to hold her, she didn't want anything to drink, she just kept pointing at the TV saying, "Baaaa!!" The second that the game came back on, she was silent!! My friend said, "She did not just settle down for the game." But she had! That gives Chris a little leverage when he wants to watch some ESPN! (Updated to add: GO PHILLIES!!! Rachael will be able to watch a little longer!!)

And once again, the girls did a little more heart-melting. Grace was swinging at the playground and Rachael trotted over to the little bucket swings. I put her in and Grace immediately said, "I want to push her!" So she did. Grace tickled Rachael, Rachael laughed her little head off. They have their moments of "typical" sister behavior, sure, but more often than not they are so sweet to one another! Love it!

Days like these...

These things have to be documented. I mean, one day I'm going to be hearing, "Mo-ooooom, Rachael took, my shoes again!" or "Mo-oooom, Grace is on my side of the room!" I had a sister, I know how these things go!

So when there are days like these, I need to remember them!

The weather was so nice today, we had the apartment all opened up. After we got home from picking up Grace from school, we all went on the porch to blow bubbles, and we even got out the hammock chair that Chris got me for our first anniversary. The girls took turns sitting in it, then they ate some lunch, and then they just played. Grace would run through the apartment, to her room, then back out on the porch, and Rachael would either follow her or be directly ahead of her. If Grace came out first, she'd look at me and say, "Where's Rachael?" If Rachael came out first, she'd look at me and say, "Oo Gway?" (Every single time -- like there were so many different options for them!) I just sat in the swing and watched them play and listened to them laughing. It was great!

Then I went to put Rachael down for her nap. I left the girls' room and went into the kitchen to fix Grace a little snack. I looked out at the living room and there sat Grace, smiling ever-so-sweetly. She had cleaned up the living room. There was nothing in the middle of the floor. I walked out to thank her and tell her how proud of her I was, and gave her a hug. She pulled her face back and said, "I love you! You're the best Mommy!" I hugged her again and told her she was the best Gracie, then I squeezed her a little tighter and she said with a little laugh, "Now don't you start crying!" She's like 5 going on 25 sometimes!

*sigh* This is the good stuff!

Because I just love these...

Found these on our other camera... More bubbles, and *gasp* ME playing with the girls!!!

This is my new favorite of Chris and Rachael -- they have the same smile!
Grace the Bubble Avenger, marching on after her latest attack!

Watching Rachael try to blow some bubbles!

Just another day!

What kind of mom would I be if I didn't post as many pictures of these girls hugging as I could? We went to Olive Garden for Grandma's (Chris' mom's) birthday, and the girls shared a hug before we left! Trust me, the entire meal wasn't one big lovefest, but anything that ends like this doesn't seem so bad!

Later in the day, Chris took the girls out to play with bubbles -- they love bubbles! These days Grace has taken to attacking the bubbles instead of just running around catching them. You can see that here, along with Rachael carefully watching her big sister on the rampage:

They are always fun to watch!

The girls have been playing together a lot more lately, and it is so much fun to hear them! The other night, Grace asked Rachael if she wanted to play hide-and-seek. I said, "Gracie baby, I don't know if Rachael will understand that." She confidently replied, "That's okay! I'll teach her!" A little while later, I heard her saying to Rachael, "Okay, I'm gonna go count, but first I'll show you where to hide..." Hey, it worked for them!

Here is Grace, reading to Rachael. It just warms my heart to see moments like this!!!

While I'm here...

LET'S GO PHILLIES!