Thanksgiving Treats

I had fun this year making pies- one apple pie for a Pie Night we were invited to the night before Thanksgiving and a pecan pie that I brought to the Thanksgiving dinner we were invited to. (I was pretty proud of the crust on that apple pie!)I also included a shot of the cute turkeys Emma and her friends made at Joy School when it was at my house the week of Thanksgiving.

Guess who?

So, we have a tradition of taking a picture of the babies at 2 months with this same blanket. See if you can guess who is who: (the answer is at the bottom- so don't scroll all the way down if you want to guess!)














Answer: Arianna, Emma, Grant

Halloween Grinch

I guess if there were such thing as a Halloween Grinch, that would be me. I suppose I am not a total Grinch. Instead of my heart being 2 sizes too small it is just one size too small. The last couple of years for Halloween we have just gone to the Trunk or Treat at the Church, which I have been fine with. This year, we had planned on going to a Halloween party of a friend and I would have been great with that (Kenneth says I live for parties). As it turns out, colds were going around here like crazy, so the party was canceled. I had been hyping it up all week for Emma- telling her she would be wearing her costume to the party and such and I guess secretly I also had really been looking forward to getting out of the apartment and socializing. So, when the party was canceled I NEEDED to find something else to do. So, we found a local park doing a free Halloween party with crafts and we decided to go there and then on the way home decided to let the little ones try their hands at Trick-or-treating. They enjoyed it when they caught on to what was happening, i.e. candy was pouring into their bags! But, all along the way I was feeling grinchy about it all. I hate all the ghosts and ghouls and skeletons and scary stuff. Emma would ask me on the way up to decorated houses if the images and decorations were going to "get her". I just don't like the whole idea. So, I think I need to just do something different in the future that we can enjoy and love without the scary stuff. I myself never dress up for Halloween- there's the Grinch in me again. I do, however like dressing the kids up in cute costumes. Here they are:



Grant's first costume. He actually only wore it for this photo shoot. He was sleeping when we were trick-or-treating, the Halloween Party we were invited to was canceled last minute due to sickness and he was in his car seat at the other Halloween activity we went to. Oh well. He sure is a cute frog, though!


Here is Arianna's costume. Of course we forgot the camera when we were at our other activities and by the time we got home in the evening this is the best picture we were getting out of her. Cooperation goes down the tubes by 7 pm in this little girl!!! You can't see her face, but it's a good shot of a ladybug!

And last but not least, here is Emma the cow. And the cow is eating a spider leg. (That is one of the crafts she made at the activity we went to)

Bumbo Fun!!!!!

This post is for my sister-in-law who asked what we all thought about the Bumbo Seat. So far, so good, for us!!! Above is a picture of the first time I put him in it. I was given the Bumbo seat used without any product information, so I wasn't sure at what age they recommended first putting a child in it and I thought maybe Grant was too young at 2 months old. But, this morning I was noticing how well he was holding his head up, so I thought I would try it. He loved it! (As is evident by the huge grin on his face!)Here is Arianna having fun in the seat.


Emma discovered that she could move him around.

Oh, the smiles!!!

Here is Grant at 8 weeks old smiling and cooing at Dad and then being licked by his big sister!

He actually laughed for the first time today- a couple days after that video was taken. I love it!!! It makes it all worth it!

Our Little Reader's Tower o' Books

Arianna loves to look at books, just like Emma does. She also learned about making piles from Emma. Here is a progression of what I saw in my hallway throughout the morning:




Had to clean that one up before we could shut her door at nap time!!

How many seconds til we get there?

After much contemplation and mental preparation, the kids and I decided to accompany Kenneth to Orlando last week when he went down there for a conference. If we hadn't tagged along, he would have just flown, but with all of us, we packed up the van and drove. It took a total of 34.5 hours of travel there and back. (Yes, for those of you who don't know I drive a mini-van!! Crazy! How did I get to be so old?) I can't count how many times we heard Emma ask "How many seconds til we get there?" (She's got her increments of time mixed up =) )
Luckily, little Grant is on a pretty consistent 3 hour nursing schedule, so we could drive in between those feedings, but even so, it sure felt like we were stopping an awful lot! We borrowed a DVD player from a friend and that really helped time pass more quickly for the girls. They had a blast and Grant did very well.
Kenneth and I did get tired driving so late into the night on the way down and through the night on the way back. Luckily Kenneth is better at staying awake while driving than I am. I had to eat the ENTIRE time I was driving during the night just to stay awake- I know I need extra calories being a nursing mom and all, but not that many!!!
Kenneth stayed pretty busy the whole week between the conference and studying for a big test coming up, but we were able to go out to dinner as a family a couple of times and go swimming in the fun pool at the resort where we stayed. While Kenneth was busy, the kids and I mostly spent time with my dear friend, Melissa and her family. We also went to see some of the free things to do in Orlando.
All in all it was a marvelous trip- fun to go back to the place where I grew up and to see old friends, and yes, worth the 34.5 hour trip with 3 little ones, believe it or not!!!
Emma and Grant hanging out on the couch in the hotel.

Waiting for the famous Peabody Ducks to "march" up the red carpet to the fountain in the Lobby of the Peabody Hotel.

They didn't so much march as they did run!!! The girls were so excited/shocked to see them coming so fast!!!

Standing at the fountain with the "Duckmaster"

Emma loved the ducks!!!

Arianna, too!!!



The girls got a little too close to the ducks. I was so startled I almost dropped the camera.

Kenneth took us to "Italy" for my Birthday dinner. (It's really the Portofino Bay hotel at Universal Studios Resort) So cool. They even had a lady who sang from one of the balconies overlooking the water while we ate our appetizer. It was fabulous.

Here is a picture of all of us enjoying our dessert after dinner. It was a wonderful Birthday- thanks, Kenneth!!!

We drove by my old house. They added an addition off to the left!

Enjoying the pool at the hotel. Yes, I chopped 8 inches off my hair a couple of weeks after Grant was born, in case you didn't notice in the Birthday dinner picture.

Kenneth enjoying the pool at the hotel.

Our little lounging ladies

Emma and Arianna checking out the Lego sculptures at Downtown Disney. Yes, those dogs are completely made of Legos!

Arianna creating her own Lego sculpture at Downtown Disney

Arianna and Horton zonked out on the couch one morning two days after we got home- still catching up on missed sleep during our week in Florida. Horton actually came on the trip, too, which makes this picture even more hilarious- he is positioned exactly the same way she is on the couch- this was not staged =)