A Very Merry Unbirthday Indeed...

...or BIRTHDAY as the case may be.




We recently received this invitation
















So we decked ourselves and the children in the "maddest" and most splendid attire we could find




























Soon we found ourselves here
















Where we found Alice



















A few of them actually





















But this one was the birthday girl















The Mad Hatter made a maniacal appearance






















And Grey Grey too















































There was even a live birthday candle
























And a Mexican man who wandered over to our gathering. My friend Liz said that when complimented on his fine mustache, the Mexican man replied: "They're not mustaches, they're caterpillars. I pulled them off a man's butt." Who would have thought?
























And this lion kept vomiting pink liquid into our tea cups.



















It was all very curious















Curiouser and curiouser



















































































Later the children gathered momerats





















Then we sang "A Very Merry Unbirthday" to Alice




















Then the littlest and the maddest of them all past out cold from all the excitement



















"After this I should think nothing of falling downstairs!"


Happy Birthday Alice!

Sniffle Sniffle...

My baby is off to Joy School! Has it come to this so soon? Already? REALLY??

We can't afford preschool AND dance so I roped a bunch of moms in the ward into doing a joy school with me. I'll let you know how THAT goes.

As I was getting Maggie ready for her first day of school I told her she needed to be obedient and obey what the teacher tells her to do. She nonchalantly agreed to do so. I asked her what it meant to obey and she said the following:

"Okay so obey is like when you have a dog and you got to be really nice to him and give him treats and then you ASK your mom if you can put makeup on him and she says 'okay' so you put some make up on the dog and maybe a dress and Mommy can we get a dog?"

I guess I need to work on basic principals with my children. I'm nervous to hear what she would say if I asked her to define honesty.

Maggie and cousin Mila off to joy school





















Unenthusiastic thumbs up






















The backpack






















The whole class on their first day. Wish us "teachers" good luck!


















I couldn't resist posting pictures of the second day of school too.






















Sassy, obedient girl
























My favorite part about the fall. Knee highs and Mary Janes.















Luckily for all of dog-kind I am allergic. I would hate to expose any living creature to all the "obedience" they would experience here at the McDowell home...

Maggie's New Room!

So Carrie convinced me to post pictures of Maggie's newly decorated bedroom. I'm a little shy because for some reason I feel like I'm really putting myself out there showing all of you this. This is the first time I have ever taken an idea to decorate a room and executed it from start to finish, top to bottom. Anyway, here it is. Tada! What do you think?

The Binki Thief

Be warned. This post involves cruel and unusual treatment of binki suckers.

This morning I spent 45 minutes in bed snuggling with this


















There was giggling and cooing and nibbling of fat rolls
















All was well until suddenly we were silently attacked by a binki thief!


















We were blind sided! It came out of no where! The thief was so stealth and quiet we didn't even see it come OR go!
















The thief flung the binki with one quick tug from the unsuspecting mouth, waved it wildly in front of the shocked and confused face, and then left the binki still and motionless on the chest of it's poor stunned victim.





















There were tears of sadness and high pitched squeals of anger.























We filed a police report and they are hopeful. Please contact us with any information you might have on who would do such a cruel and sick thing. In the meantime, lock your doors and guard your binkis folks. He's still out there.



















(Pictured above: The freshly bathed victim taking some much needed rest after the traumatic ordeal.)