Trick or Treat- Here's Something Sweet!!!!

Well, today was Annistyn's first Halloween! I initially wanted to invest in an expensive costume, but talked myself out of it.

We always have trick-or-treating at our town square. The first few years it was really nice, but last time I went- I didn't know anyone there! We don't live in a very big town, so that was little weird to me. There were a lot of older teenagers and adults dressed up- kind of gave me the creeps. And with all the sickness going around- 500 hands touching the same pieces of candy... that has SWINE FLU written all over it. No, I'm not one of those people freaking out about swine flu- but I don't want my baby to get any sickness- including that. We didn't opt to have the shots. I was a little skeptical, since this is the first time they have ever done them.

So- back to the original story- I didn't ever buy the $60 costume I wanted because I knew we wouldn't be anywhere special tonight. I bought a $3 jack-o-lantern onesie from Wal-Mart, an $8 tutu off the clearance rack at gymboree, and these $1 tights from Target and I think she is the cutest pumpkin that I ever did see!






We went to her Grandmommy's and then rode over to some friend's from church's house and visited. We ate at David's Catfish and made the weekly Wal-Mart trip. That was about it. As Annistyn gets older, I know she will care more about a costume. But I thought my bargain costume turned out pretty good.

Well since we've checked Halloween off the list- we're officially in Thanksgiving season. I like Thanksgiving, but I always get excited this time of year for other reasons. To me, Christmas shopping starts right now! Thanksgiving is the last day of my yearly Christmas season countdown. When Thanksgiving is over- the tree goes up and Christmas time officially begins!!!

I have another fun Christmas giveaway- but I'm going to wait until tomorrow or the beginning of next week to do it.

Right now- I think I'm going to head to bed and enjoy "falling back" and HOPEFULLY getting that extra hour of sleep. I just hope the time change doesn't effect Annistyn's sleeping habits!

Hope everyone had a very festive Halloween!!!!

Like a Kid on Christmas Morning!

I LOVE taking pictures. It's like wrapping a bunch of presents (without knowing what they are) and running home to open them!

I took pictures today of McKena, Derek, and their beautiful daughter, Abby. McKena's brother, Ross, is Shelley's boyfriend. Of course, this huge storm cloud rolled over and killed the PERFECT afternoon lighting that we would have had. I was unsure how they would turn out! I thought in spite of that- they turned out pretty good!

I haven't had a chance to sort through all 300 of them! Yes, 300! But I just couldn't wait. Here is a preview:





I will create a complete online gallery for McKena later- and if she says it's okay, I'll share the link!

Thanks for letting me photograph your beautiful family!

It's late and I'm going to bed. I just wanted to put those pictures up. Like I said- I feel like a kid on Christmas morning!!!!

Cabbage Pumpkin Patch Kid

Yesterday was one of those days I have fantasized about my whole life! I have always dreamed of strolling through the pumpkin patch with my family and picking the perfect one right off the vine!

We had sooo much fun. We got to pet the farm animals. It was the first time Michael and I had pet a sheep also! Annistyn liked the goat and the chickens, but wasn't crazy about the bigger animals! We rode the "cow train" and played in the grass. She found a friend on the hayride- they talked and waved at each other all the way to the pumpkin patch. We took Annistyn around to each pumpkin until she picked her favorite. It was neat- I had never been to a pumpkin patch before. I think she had a lot of fun. She was a very tired little girl last night!!! I hope that it will become a "Page Family Tradition".

Here is a small sample of the pictures we took:






I have prepared a slideshow of the rest of the pictures since there were so many. Just click play and enjoy! (I put it together REALLY fast- sorry it's so unprofessional!)



Hope your Monday was as good as a Monday can be! :)

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas... At Wal-Mart anyway!!!

Can you believe the Christmas decorations are ALREADY out!? I get so excited when I see those stockings, ornaments, and boxes of cards being put on the shelves!!!!

Here is some things I've already picked up from Wal-Mart:



I usually do a white, silver, and blue tree. This year I'm going to add some brown in it to compliment my walls.

Here we are last Christmas:



Annistyn got more gifts than I did last Christmas and she wasn't even here yet! I can't image what all she will get this Christmas!!!

I LOVE Christmas. I think that every season should be a season for giving- but isn't there something magical about Christmas???? I just can't get enough of it! I literally have a Christmas shirt or sweater for EVERY school day after Thanksgiving! I know it's sad to admit...

Moving on...
I promised to announce the winner of the "giveaway" today! I used a "random number generator" website
to pick a number. It's really neat if you ever need a random number for any reason! I'm not sure what other reason you would need to use it...but just in case! I numbered the comments in the order that people left them (1st comment was #1, etc...) I asked the number generator to select a number between 0 and 7 (because there were 6 comments)

The number was 4. The 4th comment was left by The Mitchell's. Yay! So, e-mail me at thepagesofourlife@gmail.com and we'll get your gift tags going! :)

If you are interested in the gift tags- I am making several different ones for my gifts this year. It's a great personal touch! I am selling sets of 25 custom designed tags (you pick color, etc...) for $20.00. You can put a picture on these! Just e-mail me if you want some! If you had rather get more for your money- consider the sticky back "to-from" labels for packages. You can get 140 for $20.00. They are about 1 inch by 2 inch- a good bit smaller than the tags, but can be custom designed (with a photo) to match your packages. I think I'll put the nice tags on close family's packages and maybe the smaller ones on everybody elses.


I like doing giveaways, so maybe I'll try one every other Saturday. Next Saturday will be Halloween, so I think that'll be a great time for the next one. I already know what it is going to be....

By the way, thanks for all the comments that were left! I'm glad to know Annistyn is such a fashion idol! Ha, ha!

Here she is modeling her lastest apparel:









It's hard to make her stop and model. I can barely keep up with her! Today I walked out of the den for MAYBE 30 seconds and I could not find her when I got back. She had crawled off to the foyer! She usually follows me when I walk out of the room. Good thing I have a watch dog! He is always on her trail!



She has figured out how to sit back up when she is laying down.



She will do it over and over. She has FINALLY mastered the concept of waving "bye-bye" and she tells everything and everyone "hey!"

Before long you will see pictures of her with bumps on her head. She is way too brave and will pull up and walk off even though she can't walk yet! She "walks" around her crib holding on the side. I give her another month. She'll be running around like a wild girl!

And on a random note...we went to the new Burke's today for the first time. Annistyn picked out a toy, so I had to buy it for her. I decided I would take Finley one home too.




Her Daddy definitely approved of these toys!

And since my day ended beautifully, I wanted my blog entry to end the same way. Here is the beautiful sunset that God painted tonight:





I thought it was so pretty! Hope your day was just as beautiful! :)

Halloween Hottie

Are Halloween clothes fun or what???






Annistyn... everyone wants to know- WHERE do you get all your festive clothing???




Well... Mommy loves a good bargain! She likes to shop on Ebay! The first outfit I'm wearing on here retails for $65.00. Mommy bought it for $15.99. It was brand new with tags!

Last night I went to the fall festival at Mommy's school. I had a lot of fun! I wore this really festive outfit, but I wouldn't be still for Mommy to take pictures.





Mommy bought it on www.etsy.com. She likes to shop on there because you get unique clothes for low prices. Each piece of clothing is handmade by someone. This dress was $18.00. Mommy could have made it- but for $18.00 she had rather pay someone else to do it!

So...that's my shopping secrets! Mommy wants me to remind everyone of the great giveaway that was mentioned on her last post. You have until Saturday if you want to be considered for the drawing.

Well, Mommy is going to put me to bed now! I don't really want to go- but she says I have to because it's waaaaayy past my bedtime and I have been a busy girl today. I have begun following Mommy when she tries to leave me playing on the floor. I can move just as fast as she can! I also ate cheese for the first time tonight and boy, was it good!!!

Goodnight everyone!
Love, Annistyn

BOOtiful Babies

Before showing you my "BOOtiful" babies...

Today's question is....

What does 100 look like?

100 dollar bill...



100 million dollar smile...



100 blog posts...

You are officially reading the 100th blog post that I have made! Yay! Since I think it is pretty "spooktacular" I am going to do my FIRST-EVER giveaway!

I am giving away a set of 25 custom-made gift tags. These would be super for Christmas! I will design them with the colors/theme that you choose. They can include pictures if you would like. All you have to do to be in the "drawing" is to leave a comment on this post! I will be using a random number generater NEXT SATURDAY (October 24) to select the winner! I will announce the winner on next Saturday's post. I don't usually have a lot of comments, so if there is only 1 person that leaves one... well that person will be the winner! I am giving them away reguardless!
Here is an example:



Maybe I will have some participation! I like giving things away! If this goes well, there will be more!


Alrighty- Here's the BOOtiful babies I promised...





Need I say more??? No...but I will anyway! Michael and I spent Thursday afternoon trying to get a picture of Finley and Annistyn dressed in their "ghost" ensemble. It was a very long process! We got a few cute ones though!





Friday- Annistyn went to her first parade. Since we didn't have a good ballgame experience (as I am sure you recall), I didn't know if she would like it or not. Plus- it had turned off cold here! She actually enjoyed the parade though:







Believe it or not, we made it until halftime at the ballgame!

This morning, we went to Kelly's shower near Montgomery. Afterwards, we shopped for Annistyn some coats. I found her a few, but didn't take a picture before she fell asleep. I will save that for another day.

Don't forget about leaving a comment to be entered in the giveaway!
Have a good Sunday!

P.S.- October 18th is my Mom's Birthday! Happy Birthday, Mommy! I love you!!!!!!