Trick-or-Treat!

For Halloween this year, Luke dressed up as Max from Where the Wild Things Are and Norah dressed up as a cow. We took Luke to see the new Wild Things movie and although it was a bit intense, he liked it. He was really into being Max as we trick-or-treated around the neighborhood. He howled at every house as we left. Norah learned the word cow this month as we talked about Halloween. As I got her costume out of the closet today she said "MOO!" Very cute.

Rain Rain Go Away

It's been raining like crazy this week. Our basement flooded 3 times in 1o days. Like standing water flooded, not just got damp. Yikes. We think it's fixed now, but still... What a mess.

Anyway, after several consecutive days of rain and wishing I could splurge for galoshes for the kids, I got out what we had as we headed over to a friend's house Friday. Norah wore winter boots and a strawberry raincoat. Luke got to wear mud boots that his friend Sam handed down to him.

Finally Fall

This week was really rainy here, but when the sun came out and we went outside, the ground was covered with beautiful yellow and orange leaves. Our street looked amazing. I love this time of year - it's just too short!

Norah the Little Momma

When Nic and Audrey visited this week, Norah was really helpful. Nic called her the Little Momma. She would throw diapers away for Nic or pat Audrey's back when she was upset. It was really cute.

Luke always enjoys Audrey's company too. This morning I had Audrey in my bed with me after I fed her a morning bottle and Luke crawled into bed with us. He just kept saying to Audrey, "You crack me up." That girl has an older brother in Luke whether she wants one or not I think!

Time with my sis

Nic and Audrey came to visit for a couple days this week. I really enjoy the relationship my sister and I have. She's one of the few people in the world I can be totally honest, frank, giddy, grumpy, whatever around and still feel like she loves me. We can talk about anything, vent, cry, laugh about stupid things, and mostly just sit around and enjoy our kids together. It just takes a sonic cherry coke to make us both happy. It's always fun to be around someone who loves your kids as much as you do:)

Autumn Days

Today was a truly beautiful fall day here in Murray. It seems like the leaves changed overnight (or maybe I just noticed:)). We had plans to go to Malaika's 3rd birthday party and to the church fall party. The day was perfect for playing outside, taking hayrides and being with friends.

The kids loved decorating pumpkins at Malaika's party, then eating cake! They surprised us by not wanting to take a hayride though. That would've gone better if one of us had been on with them.

After the party, we walked home and the kids took a nap. Then we went out to the Reinhardts home for CCC's fall party. The kids had a lot of room to run and play. We ALL went on the hayride this time and it was really fun. Luke and Norah made some new friends that used to go to CCC. It was a fun time.

Rainy Day Play

We stayed in almost all day today. I don't think Norah has been feeling good, but the dr. couldn't find anything ailing her. She did say to not take Nor out for a couple days. When I found out that Pierson, who the kids had been playing with yesterday, had the flu, I was glad to stay in.
We made some roads with these favorite blocks. Then Luke wanted to get inside the box. Then Norah had to get in of course.

Pottying Outside

Sometimes it's just easier to bring the potty to the kid than the kid to the potty.

Uno in the Tent

Pup put his tent up in Luke's room today as a treat to Luke. It's really big and Luke is enjoying it. He took a nap in there and when he got up I noticed he'd filled the inside pockets of the tent with his cars. We played Uno in there later. Luke won!


I would really like my kids to be board game players. We played dominoes at Aaron's house recently and taught Luke Uno a couple weeks ago. We have Chutes and Ladders but that takes some patience for Luke. He likes Memory, which is one of my favorites. He's really pretty good at puzzles; we enjoy doing those together.
I love just sitting down and doing that stuff together.

Sneaking Cake

Luke found this box of lemon cake in the fridge that Pup had been snacking on and just leaving open in the fridge. I'd caught him getting bites of it a couple times. Well, the other day when I took a bathroom break, I heard him in the fridge and knew he was getting a bite of cake. When I got out of the bathroom, I found him under Norah's crib with the box of cake and a jug of milk!

Sweet Moments

Luke and Norah love their baby cousin Audrey. Nic and Brad brought Audrey for her first visit in August. We all went swimming at Bridget's pool and had a big time!

Buddies

These are some of the kids' friends. Luke and Norah spend a lot of time Cate. Kristin and I walk almost every morning, so the kids have seen each other almost every day for their whole lives! The hammock picture also has Evalyn in it. The kids love hanging out with her too.

The Carousel

These pictures are some of my favorite from our trip to St. Louis. The kids hadn't ever been on a carousel. If you get to the zoo when it opens, you can ride the carousel for free the first hour!

St. Louis - The Four of Us

We took a vacation to St. Louis in September and had a blast with the kids. We went during the week and it was great! We knew the kids would have a blast just playing in our hotel room and swimming in the indoor pool. After we got settled in our room, we drove to downtown St. Louis and ate dinner at The Spaghetti Factory. We were the first ones to be seated for dinner and the hostess let us sit in the trolley - Luke was thrilled!

Then we walked down to the arch. It was really pretty down there. The kids were happy to have a place to run their cars around. When we got back to the hotel, the kids were ready to swim.

The next day we went to the zoo. It was a gorgeous day. I was so excited to watch the kids see all the animals in real life. Luke was hoping to see the elephants and rhinos. Unfortunately the rhinos were asleep somewhere we couldn't see them. But we did see the elephants. And Luke really enjoyed the snake house. Yuck! Norah really liked the fish.

That night we got Little Caeser's pizza (yum!) that we never get to have in Murray. And the kids swam again.

The next day we went to the Science Center. We got there a bit too early so we played at the Science Park outside. The discovery room inside was especially for Luke's age and had lots of neat things to play with.

It was nice to take a vacation and come home not needing another one because we'd been too busy.