Phillips Family Fun

So, Reed finally bought a boat. And what fun we have already had on it! Reed and I took the day off from work last Friday and took the boat out for our date. We packed the cooler and headed to Lake Moultrie. What a peaceful afternoon we had on the lake: gnawing on tuna sandwiches, slurping up ripe peaches and sipping Capri Suns. The water was just the perfect temperature.

We took my parents and the girls out on the boat two days later and enjoyed every minute of it! We had prepped Emily for the experience by letting her put her "cacket" (life jacket) on every evening and going to play on the boat parked on the side of the house. It only took her once and she was begging to get on the boat every night. She was a little apprehensive about the boat on the water at first, but then saw the "buh-bulls" being made by the motor and was hooked. We had no trouble keeping her in her life jacket; she looked pretty comfy. She tried swimming with Daddy once, but immediately wanted back on the boat. But a couple hours later, she was ready to try again, and she loved it! Ally, of course, took to swimming easily. After a while, she didn't want her noodle anymore and just swam around in circles around Daddy. She loved swimming the best, but she also got to drive the boat with Daddy and had a blast! Here are some pictures we took:

Emily fell asleep sitting up in her life jacket
Ally enjoying Daddy driving fast

The girls and Daddy swimming

Playing Peek-A-Boo with Papa

Ally driving the boat

Halloween

We really enjoy Halloween every year. It's by far our favorite holiday to decorate for/participate in. I hope the girls grow to love it as much as Reed and I do. This year, we took both the girls trick-or-treating while Nana stayed home to hand out candy for us. Emily had a great first experience trick-or-treating. We just did a small block then brought her back home and put her to bed. She loved looking around at all the kids in their costumes. Allyson is now a pro at trick-or-treating. By the middle of our round in the neighborhood, she was running up to each house at top speed (she made a couple of face plants in the process) and knocking on the door with her bucket. She even used her sword on a scary skeleton decoration at one house. Her enthusiasm made Reed and I laugh out loud on several occasions. We came home, met with her friend Andon next door for a little while (watching them feed each other Nerds was hilarious!), then we came home. Ally even got to sit and watch Scared Shrekless with us and Nana before going to bed.

Ladybug Emily and Pirate Ally
Cute little Lady

Friendly pirate

Mommy and Emily

Mommy and Ally

Ally knocking at the door

Ally walking up to a scary house

Princesses

Ally is crazy obsessed with princesses. She loves to dress up in her princess dresses, watch her Disney princess movies, read princess stories, and make up stories about princesses. So when I heard that Disney Princesses on Ice was coming to town, I snatched up tickets in the front row for Ally, me and Reed. Needless to say, she had a great time eating her popcorn (she wouldn't let go of it!) and watching all her favorite characters come to life on the ice. Here are just two pictures of the prettiest princess I saw there:

Ally passed out int he backseat after the show
Mommy and Ally after the show

Autumn Fun

We've been enjoying the cooler weather for the last month or so. During the week, we come home from work, feed Emily her dinner outside, and Ally runs around and plays to burn off some of her extra energy. On the weekends, we've been getting outside to decorate for Halloween (pictures to come later this month), and we even took the girls to the pumpkin patch two weekends ago. Here are some pictures of our outside adventures:

Ally doing her (very dangerous) jumping game.
Funny Face

Just sitting around

The Sisters

Mommy and Ally

Daddy and Ally

Ally hiding (from monsters) in the bushes.

Emily munching on Mother Nature.

Giddy Up!

Ally falling on the jump pillow

Ally jumping on the jump pillow.

Emily's favorite phrase: "Uh-Oh". Caught her on the "Oh".

Emily playing in the sand.

Ally getting her face painted at the pumpkin patch.

Almost finished....

Ta-Da!

Sipping her lemonade and taking a rest on her pumpkin.

Emily's first pumpkin patch!

Emily and her friend Cyrus. "See, look at that."

"I didn't say you could touch it."

Step Step Step....

Emily's been walking for the past week or so, but she's gotten really good over the last 2 days.

Almost Walking...

A couple of cute pictures first...

Sleeping Hard.
Ally dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood at School this morning.

So Emily has been standing on her on for about a month now. She will cruise when she has a wall or table (or person) to move laterally on. Well the other day she was standing and too our surprise she took two very shaky steps towards us. She did it again a couple of days later. I don't think they are officially walking steps as she looked like she was controlling a fall rather than walking, but she's getting close. Here is a video of here pushing her lion down the hall.

Ally's Trip to the Dentist

Allyson went to the dentist for the first time yesterday. She was very excited about going, and knew exactly what to expect thanks to her Dora the Explorer story book. Allyson loved playing the video game in the waiting room before it was her turn to get her teeth cleaned. She was fine getting onto her chair, but was nervous of the light being too bright. So she got to put on some really cool purple (of course) sunglasses to protect her eyes. Dental Assistant Lauren was great with Ally, and told her she has very pretty princess teeth.

After Ally got her teeth brushed and flossed, she was allowed to go pick out an item from the treasure chest. Nothing really struck her fancy, so Lauren went and got her a fairy princess bear (dressed in purple, of course) and Ally loved it! She has named her bear Sissy (she names everything Sissy). Ally ended up finding something else she wanted; a dress-up deputy sheriff badge. She wore it proudly all the way to school!

Then Ally got to meet her new dentist: Dr. Baker. Dr. Baker counted her teeth and gave her a flouride treatment. Ally got her goody bag full of toothpaste, toothbrush (purple...again), mouthwash, floss, and a sugar free lollipop. All in all, a great first trip to the dentist!

Cool sunglasses and getting her teeth brush.
Testing out the chair