Halloween Party

We have missed the annual playgroup Halloween party for the last 2 years because someone was sick, so I was very surprised that no one was sick this year and we could actually go!

Here they are – Tinkerbell and the knight!  (They each got to hold a leaf in order to cooperate for this picture!)

Russell loved dressing up.  Although I suppose we should have just given him some sort of car costume because he decided he is a “knight car!”  On the other end of the spectrum, I barely convinced Meredith to wear this costume.  It first involved lots of tears and “off, off!”  We convinced her by practically jumping up and down, clapping and “BUT YOU LOOK LIKE A PRINCESS!  A FAIRY PRINCESS!” etc.

We made it to the party without further incident.  There was lots of fun and play time at the K family’s house! 

Snack time is always their favorite time.

Top to bottom, L to R: Minnie Mouse Eliza, fireman Cole, butterfly Lily, Tinkerbell Meredith, knight Russell, butterfly catcher Harrison, pirate Jacob.  Chase had had enough of the photos.  (And 1 child out of 7 is looking at me )

Thanks for always hosting, Sarah.  I love having these types of traditions for our children.

Soccer

Tuesday was Russell’s last official day of soccer.  (I say official because there’s now a possibility of extending it, but it was originally supposed to be 6 weeks.)  He did such a great job!  He was a great listener and definitely learned some soccer skills.  The other kids on his little team were great too, as were the moms, and his coach was excellent.  As a first sport experience, it could not have gone better!

Meredith ran on the field with Russell for a little while before practice one day:

Goal!  (this was taken from behind a window; the window had fencing to protect it from flying soccer balls)

After the last practice, with coach Miss Shannon and wearing his medal:

Russell, we are so proud of you – not only for the skills you learned, but more importantly the character traits displayed!

All Dressed Up

At MOPS today, the kids were encouraged to wear Halloween costumes.  Well, I was paranoid about them messing up their real costumes, so I improvised!

Here are our little dinosaur and – yes – a girl football player

The dinosaur costume was from Russell’s dress-up closet (bought at a consignment sale) and the football jersey is just one we have for Meredith to cheer on the Heels!  They were so cute and Russell just loved being a dinosaur!

18 months!

Meredith is 18 months old!

• Weight: 23 lbs (48th percentile)
• Height: 25 in (52nd percentile)
• Wearing 18 mo – 24 mo clothes, size 5 shoes, size 4 diapers
• Favorite foods: yogurt-covered raisins, cheese, any kind of fruit.  She is a really good eater.  Doesn’t care much for any kind of bread/muffins.
• Favorite books: Follow the Rainbow (which is a book about the Disney princesses), What Makes Elmo Happy?, Princess Baby, Night Night
• Favorite toys: plastic jewelry, stuffed animals, my iPhone apps

• Meredith loves Elmo.  The rest of Sesame Street is just okay.
• Meredith is 18 months going on 3.  She thinks she can do anything Russell can.  If he climbs up a playground structure, I have to help her pretend to climb it.  She has little if any fear.
• She is definitely in that tantrum stage.  Russell threw some fits, but hers are the arched-back, slide-to-the-floor, scream-for-30-minutes, nothing-can-distract-them variety.  It’s…interesting.
• Talking up a storm!  I love when kids can talk and tell you what they want!  She is putting at least 2 words together.  “More please” and “there’s Russell” and unfortunately, “no, mine!” are examples. When I don’t understand, it can be a tantrum-starter!
• Can count to 10! I know I’m the mama and I try not to brag to people, but this is my blog so I’ll brag here!  I think it’s amazing that she can count to 10 at 18 months old!  (Maybe it’s not that amazing, but don’t try to tell me any different!) She knows several shapes: circle, square, heart, star at least.  I don’t think she understands colors because she says everything is blue   She is working on understanding letters.  I’m not pushing any of this on her, but she insists on doing anything school-related that I do with Russell, so that’s that.

We love you, Meredith, and you are so precious to our family!

InstaWeek

Some recent Instagram photos:

On Friday, we went to a pumpkin patch with our MOPS group.  It was pretty cute: a hayride, story time, and the kids each got to pick a small pumpkin.

Yes, the story was about witches.  Yes, I found that ironic considering this was at a church!

Hayride!  (Goldfish crumbs on his mouth.  Gotta entertain them on the 30 min drive out there!)

Our preschool co-op is still going strong!  I’m really enjoying it and the kids do really well at sitting, listening and following directions.  Yesterday for our Bible portion we studied Joseph’s colorful coat.  The kids each got to make their own coat out of a paper grocery bag.  Very cute!

Yesterday was our 7 year anniversary.  We had an at-home date.  (I am getting over a cold and couldn’t decide if I really wanted to go out, so we didn’t get a sitter.)  We had grilled steaks, broccoli and baked sweet potatoes by candlelight, Jason brought me roses, and we watched The Vow.  It was so nice!  Can’t imagine what my life would be like without him.  He is a wonderful husband and I love him more every day.

(Oh yes, he also brought me a Pumpkin Spice Latte.  Probably his 2nd time ever in a Starbucks!  Sweet.)

October 15 is also Weemie G’s half-birthday.  (Weemie G is Russell’s nickname for Meredith!)  So she is now 18 months old and I will write about that soon!

Family Time

Just a couple snapshots from our time with family on Saturday and Sunday.  There’s nothing better than when our little house is filled with the love and laughter of our family!

“ABCs” with Meghan (aka starfall.com):

Squeezing on the couch!

Pops and Mimi came over before church today:

The sweetest!  Doesn’t Meredith’s outfit just say fall to you?

Pumpkin Patchin’

We went again to our favorite pumpkin patch!  This is our third year coming here.  We still love it!

There are some cute little spaces for photo ops at the entrance of the farm.  (I really should have taken some time to find the best light.)  It didn’t matter because my kids were so not into pictures.  I took some anyway!

We spent some time on the tractors and took two rides on the cow train.  Pops and Mimi are here and got to enjoy the farm with us!

So many fun things: teeter-totter, tunnels and huge haystacks, tire swing, and silos full of dried corn. 

 

My dad wanted to try the mini corn maze.  Russell has a great sense of direction (didn’t get it from me!) so we were out of there in 2 turns.  Pops wanted to do it again since he said we didn’t get lost enough but the kids already moved on.

By the time we got to the hayride, the kids were pretty much done.  They both have little colds, so maybe that’s why, or maybe because I hadn’t packed a snack (oops) – who knows.

So they were none too happy when I declared family photo time.  (I KNEW I should have done it at the beginning!)

Oh well.  We had a great time and of course we’ll come back next year!

Football

I feel like we’re getting our heads above water now that our kids are 3 and 17 months.  We love those little ones to pieces, but they really change your life!  One example: for the past 3 years, we have been to very few college football games.  Considering Jason’s parents have lifetime – yes – tickets to NC State games, it’s almost amazing how few games we’ve gone to. 

But we got to go last night!  (Thank you, Kacki, for babysitting!)

Tailgating:

Jon and Meghan came with us!  Loved it!

In the stadium:

Now, no offense, NC State will never have my heart – but I do have to admit a certain fondness.  And the game was great – the Pack won 17-16 vs #3 FSU.  It was a fun night!