Happy belated Halloween!!!

Our Halloween this year was all kinds of fun. Brian and I went to a Halloween party, and as you can plainly see below, I was dressed as...can you guess it? White Trash! (please note the tell tale "white" walmart bags taped all over me...oh, and the box of Mac and Cheese)


The girls had a blast this Halloween. I would have to say that this is the first year that Emily sort of "got" the whole Halloween, begging for candy, dressing up thing.

At first, she was determined to be a ballerina, and told EVERYONE she saw that she was going to be one. However, after a much anticipated package from Nana, Emily got a glimpse of the beautiful purple butterfly costume that you see below. After that...the ballerina was HISTORY.

Addison doesn't much care for any kind of costume that I try to put her in, so I was delighted when she allowed me to dress her up in the adorable "Ladybug fairy" costume...also sent by Nana (thanks, Nana!!!). Of course, no ladybug fairy costume is complete without Jelly Tiger (seen here being clutched desperately by Addison).

Emily was dressed to impress when it was time for Trick or Treating, and we got home in time to pass out candy to the other kiddos in the neighborhood.



Emily, Daddy, and Addison at our church's annual Fall Festival. Addison was a ballerina here. Daddy was a doctor. I dressed as a pregnant woman with morning sickness (no costume needed). Incidentally, the ballerina costume seen on Addison was the one that Emily was going to wear before the butterfly costume arrived...disturbing isn't it, that Addison and Emily, who are TWO YEARS APART, can fit into some of the same clothes!!!

Emily at the fall festival, with face paint...compliments of mommy. We had a blast putting it on, however, don't believe it when you read the words "comes off as easily as it goes on!". Their lying to you.

Hope your Halloween was as fun as ours!!!

Our new president

Last week, Brian and I were talking with Emily at the kitchen table about the upcoming presidential election. She learned to recognize pictures of John McCain, Barack Obama, and a few of our older presidents, FDR and Herbert Hoover. When asked who she thought we should vote for this week, Emily very matter-of-factly replied, "Mary Poppins".

...of course. Actually, I'm pretty sure she would do the best job of all of them...she certainly wouldn't put up with any nonsense.

What the heck happened to us???

Hey folks, I know it's been a while since we last updated you all on our lives, but it's been busy around here! With preschool starting up, errands to run (finally without kids!!), and just life in general, it feels like we have been going non-stop!

So this is gonna be a long one...sit back, grab a bag of popcorn, candy, or whatever you like to snack on, and enjoy the show. I will try not to bore with too many details...unless they are completely necessary. AND, I'll save the best part for last, so that you have to read the whole thing. Unless you want to be a butt head and just skip to the end, but then you'll miss all the fun pictures!

Here is a glimpse of what we have been up to over the last month :)


This is Emily and Addison on their first day of preschool this year!! Emily was so excited, I barely got a goodbye, and Addison shed a few tears. But now, she just trots right on in to Miss Laura's room with barely a glance at mom! (I hear they give away alot more animal crackers than we do at home)




Can you guess where this is?? I'll give a few hints: very historical city for our country, lots of lobster and clam chowder, east coast, gorgeous skyline, you might hear someone say, "pahk the cah", and WAY too many vote for Obama signs around.

Have you guessed it? BOSTON!!! Brian had a business trip up there in the middle of September, and I met him up there about halfway through the week. We had a really good time tooling around the city, seeing the sights, and enjoying the immense amount of history that this city holds.



Momma posing at the Charles River (behind me is the "salt and pepper bridge")



Brian with the catch of the day.




What has Addison been up to lately?

Addison is 16 months now...hard to believe...and is doing great. She LOVES Emily, and being anywhere that Emily is, and they are starting to play together, which is adorable. Aside from her occasional temper tantrums...which I will get to in a minute, she is a little sweetie. She is definitely showing that she is going to be the more mischievious one of the two of them. Brian and I can already picture a future conversation when she and Emily are teenagers. It will probably go something like this:

Addison: Ok, Em, mom and dad are asleep, let's sneak out for a few hours.

Emily: I don't know, Addison, I really don't think we should do this!

Addison: Don't worry about it, they'll never find out, I promise!!

Emily: (with a very concerned look on her face) I really think we shouldn't do this, we're going to get in trouble!

Yes, Addison is the one who will grab something she is not supposed to, look right at you, smile and scrunch up her nose, and run the opposite direction, screeching and howling in delight.



This is Addison with her favorites lovies: Jelly Tiger 1 and 2



We also have a new nick name for her: Angry White Girl

She can throw a fit like no other kid I've seen. A couple of weeks ago, Brian either wouldn't give her something, or took something away from her (can't remember which), and Addison proceeded to throw her little body on the floor, kick her legs in the air, and let out ear piercing screams. Apparently she didn't agree with dad's decision. She was inconsolable.

We decided not to give her the attention she wanted and both went into the kitchen.

As soon as she noticed that her fit was no longer being witnessed, she stopped, got up off of the floor, toddled into the kitchen where we were, made sure we were BOTH looking at her....and threw herself on the floor, kicking and screaming.

Yeah, and the kid is only 16 months old :)


Momma and Addison being goofy



Emily and Addison, snuggling at Rock a bye Nana's house (my mom)

What has Emily been up to???


Emily has been up to all sorts of things lately! Our most recent adventure has been 7 weeks of ballet lessons at Lifetime Fitness.

Now, I have to admit, being somewhat of a tom-boy when it comes to sports, I could not for the life of me understand why any daughter of mine would want to put on a pink leotard...with a sheer skirt thing...and dance. This being said, I was totally unprepared for how utterly adorable Emily looked as she was learning some of the basic "positions" in ballet....did you know that there are "positions"? I didn't.

Anyway, she and her little class had so much fun in their class, and I enjoyed watching her excitement at learning how to hop like a frog, hop on one foot, skip (which we are still in the process of figuring out), and do these basic dance steps.

Emily came out one evening with this ensemble after going potty and being asked to put her pull up on for bedtime. Luckily, the pull up was dry...

Emily is constantly surprising us with the things she says. She has picked up an immense vocabulary, and loves trying to figure out what every word starts with. It is one of our favorite games. Unfortunately, daddy has already been banned from helping her learn how to spell...anything :)

Well, October has come upon us very quickly, and every year the First United Methodist Church in Boerne puts on a "Pumpkin Patch" for the whole month, where you can pick up your pumpkins, take pictures, etc. Here are a few from our visit this year:

Emily: I love you Addison!!!

Addison: Get off of me!!!

Addison among the pumpkins



Emily has picked hers out!

Daddy and Emily at our annual pumpkin decorating night!! I guess this would be considered the first annual pumpkin decorating night.


So that is about it. Except that I guess I should let you know about the best part that I was saving for the end of this post, since you were all so nice to read through the WHOLE thing, right? Well, we just found out that I am pregnant! As of this week, I'm probably just five weeks along, so it is very early. Please keep this baby in your prayers, that he or she is healthy, and that we have a healthy pregnancy and delivery!! Emily is so excited that mommy "has a baby in her tummy". She keeps flip-flopping when we ask her whether she wants a brother or sister, the answer is usually different every time!

Take care!

Telemarketers...beware

I have to share a funny Emily story that happened recently...

I'm pretty sure 100% of you out there have experienced the familiar yet ever annoying evening phone calls from different marketing groups who try unapologetically to entice you into buying this or that, or go on a "fabulous getaway for two", blah, blah, blah.

Well, our most recent encounter was with Marriot, who called about three weeks ago and wanted to talk to Brian. I vaguely remember the mentioning of some new fabulous resort, we just HAD to try it out for a discount, because, of course, we are their most favorite customers in the whole wide world. I was in an hurry that evening, Brian wasn't home, so I mistakenly asked them to try back some other time. Staying true to form and being ever so persistent, they asked if the evening time was the best time to call. I must have been having a brain fart at the time, because I answered, "yes, that would be fine, thanks."

Big mistake.

Now, for literally the last THREE WEEKS, at least two or three times each evening, we have received phone calls from Marriot on our caller id, no doubt trying to tell us about the amazing, wonderful, can't-pass-it-up deal they have in store for us for the mere price of airfare, food, car rental, etc... We have just been ignoring the calls, hoping they would GIVE UP, but that didn't happen.

Although we had to admire their persistence, we were getting tired of the constant harrassment. So one evening this week, we were sitting at the dinner table, heard the phone ring, and lo and behold, it was Marriot...again. So we did what any normal, sane, fed up to their ears people would do in this situation,

we gave the phone to our three year old daughter.

Now before I tell you the conversation that followed, let me tell you a little bit about our Emily. She may stand only 37 inches and weigh a mere 24 pounds, but trust me, she has no fear of talking to anyone or anything. She also enjoys singing, loudly, on the phone, and has been known to break into her own renditions of timeless children classics.

So, enter Emily Fulling, on the phone, battling the Marriott telemarketer. First, Emily says, "hello?", then smiles sweetly, looks at me, and nods her head "yes" to a question from the phone.
After some more imperceptible nodding of the head "yes" and "no", she fires back with,

"May I have a sno-cone, please?"

At this point, Brian and I have just about wet ourselves. I'm laughing so hard I'm almost crying and rolling on the floor.

I look up at Emily, who is again, nodding her head quietly to whatever question is coming through the phone, when all of the sudden she begins belting out "Jesus Loves Me", the WHOLE song...loud and clear.

This went on for at least a couple of minutes.

It was really a highlight of the day... probably not the most polite thing to do to someone on the phone, but I'm hoping that Marriott will think twice before they call us again for another fabulous vacation that we would ultimately end up paying for!

Crack kills

Future member of the American Plumbers Association

Bag ladies

I'm not sure which is more disturbing...

That we put our children in carry on bags for fun,

or that Emily fits into the same one as Addison...

Labor Day in Kerrville!!

We spent Labor Day at a riverside park in Kerrville, Texas this past weekend. Emily had a great time running around and getting dirty, Addison had fun trying to eat random pieces of grass and flowers, and Allie (yes we brought the dog) was constantly on the alert for pesty squirrels...it's a good thing we have her to protect us :)

We also found The Berenstein Bears treehouse home, Addison and Emily just had to get their pictures taken in it!

Here are some of the highlights!