The highlight of our weekend was NOT cleaning our house from top to bottom {more on that insane task tomorrow!}…but instead had to do with the appearance of two little fairies.

Tinkerbell, to be exact. Times two. 

Love!

The girls donned their Tinkerbell costumes at our church’s annual trunk-or-treat celebration on Saturday night, and as expected, had a fabulous time.

After a brief but adorable appearance on the church’s altar with “the big kids” {and Little O introducing H-Berry as “my sister, the Dozer” to our priest}…

it was time to get the party started!

Our little Tinks were ready for some fun. And sugar. They were definitely ready for the sugar.

The girls were actually hopping up & down with excitement~ they couldn’t wait to hand out the candy!

Luckily Grammy & Grampy joined in the trunk-or-treat fun, so Tinker-O and Tinker-H each had a basket full of yummy treats to pass out.

And pass out candy they did…they LOVED it! 

At one point, H-Berry had her tongue out in complete concentration. 

So cute!

All in all, it was an awesome evening. After all, what could be better than dressing up as your favorite fairy & passing out candy with the people you love? 

I can’t think of a single thing. 

{And yes, that is our best family shot from the night. We’re still ironing out those behavior issues. Lol!}

Counting My Kisses: Such a fun night! Our little Tinkerbells did trick-or-treat for a little bit, but they lost steam after the first row of cars. Apparently to our preschooler & toddler, passing out sweet snacks to their friends is way more fun than actual trick-or-treating. Who knew?! We had a great time, and even though the girls ate WAY more candy than they should have, it was all in good Halloween fun. Another fab year in the memory books~ trunk-or-treat continues to be a family favorite!

How was your weekend? Is your house gearing up for Halloween too?

One part purple Playdoh.

One part dressing up as Rapunzel {with the hair, of course!}.

One part painting/eating paint.

One part watching Olivia the Pig.

And top it off with a long, fabulous nap. Enjoy!

What’s your recipe for a lazy day? Share in the comments section!

Miss a Wordless Wednesday? Catch up here:

Wordless Wednesday: Rub a dub dub!

Wordless Wednesday: The birthday twins

Wordless Wednesday: my girls

Wordless Wednesday: cheek pinchers!

Wordless Wednesday: flash forward

Wordless Wednesday: lost in thought

Wordless Wednesday: brother love

Wordless Wednesday: sweet girl smiles

Wordless Wednesday: Pure Joy

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Hair Days

Wordless Wednesday: Sleepy Sweetness

Wordless Wednesday: Pucker up

Wordless Wednesday: There are no words

Wordless Wednesday: Come on, Spring!

Wordless Wednesday: The Board Meeting

Counting My Kisses: The girls & I needed a day home just to relax & unwind from our super-fun summer schedule. Even though it’s a bummer when the weather is rainy & chilly, sometimes that is a perfect reason to stay inside, giggle while working on art projects, and just our imaginations take over. Love!

many, many years ago…

the Hubs & I fell in love…with horse racing.

Who’s with me?!

You really can’t beat the excitement. The outfits. The hats!

And the horses? Amazingly gorgeous. It gives me chills to be that close to such beautiful creatures.

You get it: we love horse racing. We highly recommend it. And we’d quite possibly pick it up as a hobby if 1. we were independently wealthy and 2. we lived near a race track.{Neither at the moment, sadly}.

And now that our lifestyle has changed a bit {read: two small children}, the possibility of enjoying a day of horse racing is just not in the cards right now.

So what are two horse-racing lovers to do?

Get your children excited about horses, of course!

Say hello to Baby H, who adored having a reason to model every hat we owned on Saturday. 

Pretty darn cute, no?

Of course, I had to break out my actual horse-racing hat {yes, I have one!} for the Derby. 

And so did the Hubs:

Just kidding!

But the Hubs did find a little companion who was also enthralled with the race: Little O. She asked a million questions about the Derby, and the Hubs patiently answered each & every one. It was so sweet to watch them snuggled up together. Love!

I’m also loving how Baby H wanted to actually sit on her horse during the race. Clearly she was pretty taken with the Derby as well {with good reason, what a close race!}:

Although the Hubs & I weren’t in the Derby infield this year, we still had a super fun experience with our girls. It was so cool to see how excited both of the girls got about something that means a lot to the Hubs & I.

Not to mention… I wouldn’t have missed Baby H’s parade of hats for the world. 

I think this one might be a framer. Love love love!

How was your weekend? Did you watch the Derby? What a race!

Counting My Kisses: It’s so much fun to start our own little traditions with the girls. Little O asked all day on Sunday when she could watch “the beautiful horses race in the circle again”…so who knows, maybe a trip to the race track will be in our future! We had a lovely weekend full of together moments {more on that in a few days!}, and I am starting this week with a smile on my face & excitement in my heart. How about you? Have a great day!

Little O is always wearing one– she alternates between her Minnie tutu, her fairy princess tutu or her hot pink ruffle tutu.

And on Tuesday, at long last, it was Baby H’s turn to join in the tutu fun.

And she loved it!

I’m not sure she knew what to do with all of those layers of ruffles, but she seemed pretty amused by it.

Big sis O, of course, had to be decked out in her tutu, too.

After all, it was Tutu Tuesday!

I think our girls have grown slightly since our last “official” Tutu Tuesday photo, don’t you?

Our little Dozer got around pretty well in her tutu. But then again, when has anything ever stopped the Dozer?!

Love, love love.

Welcome to the tutu club, sweet Baby H!

Counting My Kisses: The Hubs was greeted by his two tutu-clad girls when he got home from work on Tuesday night. That’s the fun with little girls– you never know what they’ll be dressed in when you walk through the door. I’m thankful this is something that the girls enjoy doing together, and I’m predicting a LOT of dress-up parties in the future!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Just a reminder that the fabulous Winter Wonderland Giveaway is underway– enter here for your chance to win a Kindle Touch or a $50 Amazon gift card!

And our sweet baby ladybug.

Pretty cute, right?

The girls debuted their Halloween costumes on Saturday night at our church’s Trunk-or-Treat celebration– and loved every minute of it.

Little O, in true Minnie fashion, had a great time posing for the camera. She gave us a few hilarious winners:

Thoughtful  Minnie

Smiley Minnie.

Pouty Minnie.

And giggly Minnie.

After the impromptu photo shoot, it was time to get down to business.

Little O– ahem, I mean Minnie– was so excited when the kids started stopping by our car on their trunk-or-treat route. She was bound and determined to pass out the perfect piece of candy to each person that stopped by. Just check out her look of sheer determination!

Clearly, our Minnie O took her job as candy-passer-outer very seriously.

The best part of the evening was watching Little O light up and shout, “Trick-or-treat!!!” and “Happy Halloween!!!” to everyone who stopped by– boy or girl, mom or dad, grandma or grandpa, costume or no costume. Our Minnie girl was thrilled to see them all.

And sharing the night with Grammy & Grampy made it all the more special.

Thanks for joining in the fun, guys! It was one for the memory books.

Counting My Kisses: We had such a fun night at Trunk-or-Treat! The Hubs & I were just amazed at how enthusiastic Little O was about passing out candy– it made our hearts so happy that she was thrilled about giving to others at such an early age. Baby H seemed to really enjoy it as well– our sweet baby ladybug was giving everyone happy flaps all night. Saturday’s Trunk-or-Treat was definitely one of my favorite Halloween memories so far, and I’m excited that we have more Halloween fun ahead with both of our sweet girls!

*~*~*~*

{Baby H’s ladybug costume is from Carter’s. I ordered Little O’s tutu/Minnie outfit from Sophia’s Tutus on Etsy, and I’m so happy with the end result! Sophia was great to work with as well– high-quality products & quick turnaround.}

Which is fine by me, since I happen to love clothes. And I love dressing our girls in cute clothes. It works out quite well.

When we found out that Baby H was a girl during our second pregnancy, we heard a lot of, “Great! You’ll be able to use all of the same clothes!”

Not exactly. Little O checked into this world in May;  Baby H arrived in January. It was 85 degrees outside when we came home from the hospital with Little O; 20 degrees with Baby H.

Slight difference in newborn clothes. Sundresses versus fleece sleepers. Swimsuits versus snowsuits. You get the idea.

We did, however, make sure to pack the same sweet little bear hat for each brand-new daughter to wear at the hospital.

It was their very first article of shared clothing– and in fact, the very first baby thing that the Hubs & I bought when we found that we were expecting.

*~* Brand-new Little O *~*

{May 2009}

*~* Brand-new Baby H *~*

{January 2011}

After the initial spring/summer months passed by, we discovered that Baby H might be able to wear some articles of clothing from Little O’s fall/winter wardrobe.

Score!

It makes me smile to see Baby H in a few of our favorite Little-O-as-a-baby outfits. It’s also crazy to compare pictures of the girls side-by-side– they look much more alike than I realized!

What do you think?

*~* Little O *~*

{November 2009~ 6 months old}

*~* Baby H *~*

{October 2011~ 8 months old}

*~* Little O *~*

{October 2009~ 5 months old}

*~* Baby H *~*

{September 2011~ 7 months old}

*~* Little O *~*

{November 2009~ 6 months old}

*~* Baby H *~*

{September 2011~ 7 months old}

And my personal favorite, since both girls are the same age–

*~* Little O *~*

{January 2010~ 8 months old}

*~* And Baby H *~*

{October 2011~ 8 months old}

Fun, don’t you think?! We’re enjoying it while we can, since this blissful seasonal wardrobe overlap will soon come to an end.

We can only hope that the middle school & high school years will go as smoothly with sharing clothes…hey, parents can dream, right?!

Counting My Kisses: I love seeing pictures of Little O as a baby, and realizing how fast she grew up into a walking, talking, extremely active toddler. I look at Baby H and wish that time would slow down– we want to enjoy her time as a baby as much as we can! I do know that I’m treasuring each minute with both of our girls, no matter what age they are at or what they are wearing.

Dressing up.

She first gave it a whirl a few months ago. I looked up from making dinner one day and there was Little O, quietly reading a book, in the most eclectic outfit you could imagine for a 2-year-old.

Love it!

Lately, Little O has been requesting to dress up almost every day. We open up her toy chest and let her have at it.

And boy, does she ever! She has come up with some pretty fabulous looks on her own.

There’s Dancing Hawaiian Little O.

Fancy Nancy Little O.

Driving Miss Daisy Little O.

Southern Belle Little O.

Somehow-I-located-Daddy’s-safety-goggles Little O.

Princess Little O.

How-can-I-ride-my-school-bus-with-all-this-tulle Little O.

Rockstar Little O.

And last, but certainly not least…

Hula Dancer Little O.

I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty much non-stop entertainment. The Hubs is receiving about three picture text messages a day at work right now– because how can your safety-goggle-wearing toddler not brighten your day?

Baby H is too little to join in the fun just yet, but she is definitely paying close attention. Those wide blue eyes aren’t missing a beat.

I can almost hear Baby H calling dibs on the princess dress as soon as she’s mobile. She’s going to love to dress up, just like her big sis.

I’m pretty sure it runs in the family.

{Laurie & I playing dress up ~ 1985-ish}

Counting My Kisses: I have such great memories of dressing up as a child– it makes my heart smile to see Little O’s imagination at work as she tries on outfit after outfit. I foresee a lot more dress up days ahead as Baby H gets older– I can’t wait!

{Don’t forget to enter into the fabulous Patticake Posh giveaway! It’s really easy and the prize is an amazing custom birthday hat for the son, daughter, niece, nephew or little friend in your life. Just leave a comment on this post and become a follower of Counting My Kisses– it takes less than a minute. Good luck!}