"We Voted - Did You?"

Today, Troy and I exercised our right to vote! Yay!! While it was the 3rd Presidential election for me, this was Troy's first Presidential Election. No, he was never in trouble.... he just didn't ever register to vote! Well, this year I made sure he was registered, and we went to our polling location together. We had to wait in line for about 2 hours. It was a fast 2 hours though, and definitely 2 hours that were well invested! You definitely meet some interesting people at polling locations! And because it was the polling location for what seemed to be our entire apartment complex, we ran into a lot of our neighbors and friends!

If you didn't vote, then you can't complain!

"Growing Up"

Talia gets her ears pierced!!

I remember I had to wait until I was about 12 years old to get my ears pierced. Talia doesn't realize how lucky she is! When she was a baby, her mom pierced her ears, but they only lasted a few days because she had an allergic reaction to the earrings. So Troy and I thought we would try again. We went to Arundel Mills on Saturday, and were walking around to burn some of the kids energy. We came across the store Icings/Claire's (what ever it's called now). There was a big sign in the window that said "Free Ear Piercing"....so of course with Troy and I seeing the word "Free", we decided to go in. We looked at the prices of the earrings (which is where they normally get you), and decided that we could afford $16.00 to pierce her ears. We asked Talia if she wanted to get them done, and she shook her head yes. So we sat her in the big chair (which was like a kings throne to her), and told her what would happen. We told her that she would feel a little pinch, then it would be over. The lady pierced one ear, and we were expecting a cry or a scream....but she didn't do anything except frown! Same reaction after the second ear. When she got down from the chair, she must have gone to every mirror in that store (and believe me, there are many of them) and checked out her new earrings. Stainless steel....they are wonderful! Anyways, the pictures below are of her once we got home (mine and Troy's apartment).

Demari Learns to Shave

So the day before Talia got her ears pierced (after we got back from our failed attempt to trick-or-treat), Troy decided to go into the bathroom to shave. Of course Demari was very inquisitive as to what daddy was doing. So, what does Troy do? He stands Demari up on the toilet seat, puts shaving cream on his face, and gives him a razor (don't freak out....the razor has the safety cover on it so the blade wasn't exposed at all!). Troy began to show Demari how to shave. Demari was loving it! I have never seen him smile so much! It made him feel like he was such a big boy! So what did I do? I grabbed my camera and started snapping away! I thought it was so cute! I captured them from start (well, almost the start) to finish!

"Halloween....What a BUST!!!"

Yes.....the costumes are the same, but it's a different day! Thank goodness for that trunk-or-treat a week or so ago because Halloween was a BUST!! Troy and I were thinking that because we live in a HUGE apartment complex, that it would be awesome for trick-or-treating. Boy....were we ever wrong! The kids got in their costumes (Talia had to wear her boots instead of her Cindrella shoes....which was fine with me because I'm sure her boots were more comfortable) and we headed out for what we thought would be a fun night of knocking on doors, getting lots of candy (yay....sugar rushes!!! lol) and hearing, "Awwww....how cute." This was NOT the case. We started in the building next us..... "knock, knock, knock" on one door...... no answer. So "knock, knock, knock" on another door..... no answer here either. "knock, knock, knock" times 16 doors = no answer at any of the doors which = disappointment. I think Troy and I were the most disappointed because we thought it was so rude for people not to answer the door for kids. "Well, maybe they weren't home" were some responses I got from some people...... nope, they were home. Lights on, music blasting, people talking inside....they were definitely home! But what can you do? At least the kids had the opportunity to do something for Halloween which they probably wouldn't have had if they weren't with us for the weekend. They had a lot of fun at the trunk-or-treat, and they just enjoyed putting their costumes on for Halloween. They thought it was pretty neat that the dogs went with us too.... and that they too had on costumes! :) Next year, we're just going to go to a mall where they have halloween activities and trick-or-treating from store to store. Halloween sure isn't what it use to be when we were kids!


The pictures are of Demari, "Daddy", Talia, Maxie, and Jeminye (Maxie as an angel, and Jeminye as a devil). Maxie is super easy to take pictures of because she will stay if you tell her to. Jeminye has a super hard time being calm and paying attention (Troy says she has ADD....LOL).

Hmm......have you ever noticed that I'm never in pictures??