Jack-O-Lanterns

Friday Night was full of fun and laughter at our house. Mitch has made it our family tradition to carve pumpkins with the girls. He did it when Leah was five months old and he did it last year and let her help scoop out the insides. This year was no different. I stay out of the way and let him do his thing and it is awesome for me to be able to see him doing something with his girls and to see the smile on all of their faces. It's messy and crazy but that's what makes it so fun. This year we had the added challenge of keeping the paper, the pumpkin seeds and everything else out of Kiersten's mouth (I cheated and helped with that part). Anyway, these are a few of my favorite pictures. Love them and Love my little family. Happy Halloween, 2010!!!

Nothing says October like...Thanksgiving?!?

Yep...that's what I said. Nothing says October like Thanksgiving. May seem strange to you but we actually thought it was quite nice. Originally my parents planned to be in Jersey the weekend of October 23-24th, but something came up so we switched up the plans a little bit and flew to Illinois to see them. We got in on Saturday afternoon, we found REALLY good airfare rates so we hopped on a plane and were Illinois bound. Mitch and I decided a few weeks back that we weren't going home for Thanksgiving this year, the tickets cost WAY TOO MUCH, and my mom and Cynthia are coming to Jersey Nov. 11-15th so it seemed silly with Christmas right around the corner. So we decided Thanksgiving in October was the way to go. It was perfect! Mom made a Turkey, Stuffing and all the fixings...even pumpkin pie but the one thing that was different was the weather. It was gorgeous outside so instead of being cooped up in the house the kids were able to play outside and play outside they did. Even Kiersten took advantage of the 70 degree weather. Would I recommend Thanksgiving in October again...Absolutely, the only thing missing were Laura and Jeff.

It's so nice that my brother Matt, Cynthia and the kids just live a few miles from my parents. They spend all of the time they can with us when we are home and I am so grateful for that, because we don't get to see them near enough. I think Matt and Mitch were happy to get some hunting time in and of course a trip to Gigi's house wouldn't be complete with out a pizza night topped off with Dilly Bars. My mom let Kiersten get a hold of one and said to me "She won't eat it, It will just feel good on her gums." ha ha, she was pretty suprised when she pulled it away and there was a big chunk missing. She is pretty good at eatin' for a girl with no teeth and I think she would have eaten the whole thing if we had let them.

Thankfully for us the girls traveled well. Flights 25 and 26 for Leah and 3 and 4 for Kiersten. What troopers, Now onto Christmas!!!

Da'Bears!

So my favorite part about Sunday goes something like this:

Mitch: Leah, say Go Vikings!
Leah: No Vikings Daddy...Go Bears! Say Go Bears Daddy.
Mitch: No Leah...Daddy won't say that.
Leah: Go Bears! Say Go Bears Daddy!
Mitch: No Leah, Daddy won't say that.
Leah: Go Bears, High Five. (making the high five motion)
Daddy: No Leah, Daddy will only give high fives to Go Vikings.
Leah: No Vikings Daddy, say Go Bears!
Daddy: No Leah
Leah: Say GO Illini Daddy...GO ILLINI!
Mitch: Okay, Leah...Go Illini!

It kills me...he tries so hard to get her to say GO Vikings, and she just won't do it. He swears that I make her practice saying GO Bears! All week long, but seriously we do not. What can I say? The girl has got good taste. Grandma Tootie and Grandpa Dave got the girls these little Vikings outfits and it is rare that we get to watch the Vikings out here on the east coast, but this weekend we did, so I put them on the girls. I love the first picture of Leah...for about the first 10 minutes that she had the outfit on she kept trying to take it off, of course I had to capture it on film. Secondly I have a little commentary of my own for the pictures of the girls sitting together laughing. It goes something like this:

Leah: "Daddy must be plum-smack-out-of his mind if he thinks we are really going to grow up to be Vikings fans."
Kiersten: "silly daddy"

Oh well, I guess a Daddy can dream :)

There she goes, again!

Kiersten is mobile and I mean MOBILE. It happened so fast!!! Back on Sept. 12th she showed her first signs of crawling, she would move a few "crawls" ahead and then would fall on her belly. And she sure hasn't slowed down any. I can't keep this kid contained...she is everywhere and into everything. She actually will crawl herself right under her exersaucer (see picture below) and will cry for you to come help her out. Today I caught her hanging out under our kitchen table (again, see picture below). I think she followed the dog under there because that is where he likes to hang out and lately she is loving to pull on his fur. But anyway the point is...you can't stop this kid. She has places to go, people to see and things to do. This afternoon I was putting Leah down for a nap and she had actually worked her way up to the front door and was trying to climb into her carseat. I'm guessing that was a hint of some sort. I just know that standing and walking aren't far behind. She is already trying to push herself up on her legs!!! Leah crawled at 7.5 months and was walking around 10 months. So far Kiersten is a month ahead of the curve. I think she just wants to prove she can keep up with Leah. The question is...Am I ready to keep up with the both of them???

7 Months!

This past Friday...October 8th, our little Kiersten turned 7 months old. I feel like a broken record because every month I say "(BLANK) months!!! I can't believe it!" But I honestly can't. She is certainly not the little baby girl that came home from the hospital with me. She is a mover and shaker without a doubt. No stats for 7 months because it doesn't require a check-up but I think she has gained a pound or two, so between 17-18 lbs is my guess. Her gums are continually swollen so the normal parent would swear up and down that a tooth is going to emerge at any moment, but not us...we've played this game before. We said for months "any day now" with Leah and she got her first one on her 11 month birthday and her second one on her 1st birthday and about one a month after...so no predictions from us on when her little toofers will make an appearance! She has however started to show signs of extreme independence. She is refusing baby food all of a sudden. She wants to feed herself completely and will lock-up those lips if you try to feed her. Mitch gave her some mushrooms off his pizza on Friday night, and it seems there was no turning back. She has had cut up pasta, rice, peas, black beans and corn now and I am stuck at a crossroads trying to figure out what to feed a baby that only wants to feed herself. Isn't she a little young for all this!!! Pediatrician says no so I am gonna run with it. She rarely, rarely, rarely gets a bottle...Yep! 7 months later I am still going strong with the breastfeeding but today (10-11) she gave herself her first bottle. Held it herself the entire time and didn't drop it once...I was pretty impressed. She has also mastered the crawl and sit in the last week. She crawls to wherever she wants to go and can turn and sit herself up now. It's cute, and she mostly likes to follow her big sister around. Occasionally she will go after one of the dogs and will pull their hair.

I love taking these monthly pictures of Kiersten. I can't wait to put them all together and look at the changes. Although, like I said last month it is getting harder and harder...take a look and I think you will see why. I got 3 keepers and then there are about 10 where she decided that she must destroy the block, gotta love her!

All dressed up and no place to go.

It seems I just can't keep Leah out of my closets these days...the girl is all about shoes! Now, you will have to excuse the mess in the background...I promise my bedroom never looks like that but I have been in the process of cleaning out closets, putting away the summer clothes pulling out all the winter clothes and the Goodwill/Salvation Army pile is accumulating in the corner. But anyway, since I was cleaning out the closets and we were hanging out in my room it seemed like the perfect opportunity for Leah to get the shoes on. She must have spent 30-40 minutes just trying on different pairs of heels and trying to walk around in them. I had to capture the image. I love that she is trying two different pairs and looking in the mirror to check them out. Almost makes me miss the days when I would have to decide what shoes to wear to work...almost.

The best part of waking up...

The best part of waking up is clearly not folgers in your cup! It has got to be these 2 smiling faces. No, my kids don't sleep in my bed...never have, never will...that's just not for me, but the other morning I set Kiersten on my bed while I was blow drying and getting ready for the day. She was kicking her feet so much she managed to get them under the blanket. Leah proclaimed "I want to snuggle her, mommy" so up she went and here it is...one of the cutest little pictures of my girls. Leah is such a great big sister and Kiersten just can't take her eyes off of her. She adores her already...that may change at some point in time, but right now I can tell that little K wants to be just like LeeLee.

My second favorite time of the day is when Daddy comes home. Leah gets so excited, so Kiersten gets excited too! They love to see their daddy and you can tell by the smiles on their faces. I think he feels the same way.

And the third picture, well I just think that their expressions are priceless!!!

S is for Scarecrow

It's been ages since I blogged last, but we have been a house full of sick ones. Kiersten got a virus a few weeks back and this was my day, no joke: Kiersten wakes up & eats. Leah wakes up and while walking out of her room Kiersten throws up on Leah's head. So I put Kiersten in her crib, make Leah breakfast. Go to get Kiersten to bring her into the living room and she has diarreah all over herself and me. So we turn around to the bathroom, I strip her down, set her on the bathroom rug to get the bath ready...she pees all over the rug. You can't make this stuff up! Mitch says "Your day can only get better." No doubt! So the virus lasted about 8 days and the kicker is that Mitch got it too...Not me, not Leah, but poor Mitch. He actually had to stay home from work one day and everything. We had about 3 days of healthy and then we got hit again...this time it was the head cold of all head colds. Sneezes and sniffles and coughs and runny noses you wouldn't believe, except this time I was not spared. Leah, Kiersten and I all suffered through it. Leah and I seem to be doing better, but poor Kiersten still has a heck of a runny nose.

I digress...so anyway I am trying to catch up on the blog. During those 3 days of seemingly good health, we ventured out to the Orchard for Farm and Read. It's a great little program where they read stories to the kids and then have activities for them. Last week was scarecrows and Leah was beyond excited to build her own scarecrow...just look at the pics...she did GREAT! We gave our scarecrow a face after we got home. We were joined at the orchard by my friend Kathleen and her son Ryan. After the scarecrows were made we ventured over to the "petting zoo" which is really just a fence with some goats and geese and a horse behind it. Now we have been to this orchard so many times I have lost count but this time Leah was so brave...she fed the goats all by herself. She cracked me up. She would give one goat one kernel of corn and move on to the next one saying "one for you, one for you, one for you" and when the goats would try to bully each other out of the way to get more corn she would say "No, Goat! Not your turn, you share!" She is such a hoot! And I just had to add this picture of Kiersten...Kathleen took Leah to the storytime while I fed Kiersten in the car, when I was done I turned around to get her stroller and a change of clothes for her. She had hopped into the driver seat and was all "Mom, I'm ready for my first driving lesson. I swear I am ready to take the wheel!" Seriously!!! I couldn't believe it :)