Halloween 10

We just got back from trick-or-treating. Jack had a great time and did so good. He is like his mommy though, and doesn't enjoy things that are scary! One guy had his yard all decked out in lights and huge spiders, and Jack is still talking (obsessing) about it! You can see his set-up in the background of the video. Jack is frantically trying to get away from it all.

We had so much fun, and Jack made it all the way around the neighborhood. I think he really enjoyed himself. Both of them were so adorable in their costumes, and they got lots of attention from strangers!

Trick or Treat!

Taking this whole thing very seriously

Daddy with his little Nemo and Bruce.
We sat them on our front porch after we finished trick or treating. They were both troopers and stayed up past their bedtimes! It was a rather warm night too, so Grace didn't wear the pants that came with her costume. They were both pretty hot by the end of the night.
Jack pointed at Gracie and said, "SHARK! Pretty shark!"

We carved our pumpkins after dinner tonight.

I made a Bears one, and Colin did a skeleton face. We decided next year we are going to get a pumpkin carving kit. Our knives didn't really cut it...pun intended. :)
Babies in their adorable Halloween shirts made by Grandma Moller
Jack didn't want to touch the pumpkin guts...

Can't believe that our little horse took his first steps exactly one year ago. He's grown, changed, and learned so much in just a short year!

Costume # 1

Today the kids had their Halloween party at school. Jack went as a firefighter because his costume that he has for Halloween wouldn't be comfortable to wear all day. I sent Gracie's with her costume in a bag because they just pushed the babies in a stroller through the parade then changed them, so I don't have any pictures of her yet. The teachers said they took lots though, so they will pass them on next week.

Jack was super excited to go to school today because I told him there would be candy. When I picked him up, the director told me they have a picture of him with his face covered in frosting. I have no doubts...

The other morning I was getting ready for work, and Jack had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. I was talking to him and telling him to cheer up and smile. He immediately stopped crying and said, "cheese" while smiling. Since then, I've been able to say "smile" and get some great smiles out of him for pictures (as seen above!).

Here is Gracie when I dropped her off:

Okay, I think I told everyone about the time I sent Jack to school with '2 of the same foot' shoes since he has 2 pairs of the same shoe... Well, I continue to lose my ever lovin' mind! Today I sent Gracie with bottles, but no baby food. I didn't realize it until I was telling the teacher that she likes to have a fruit in the early morning before her nap. I had to zoom to Walmart and bring the poor girl her breakfast. I ended up being 15 minutes late for work!

And a picture of her at breakfast today:

Tonight I was trying to fix dinner, and Jack was playing in the living room. Grace had crawled back into Jack's room and started to fuss. Jack shouted from the living room, "I coming Gracie!" And then he ran back there to try to comfort her. :)

More standing!

Here is a picture of my new "scentsy" candle that I got from a fundraiser at the babies' school. I really like it!

Yay--so proud of myself for daily posts. Let's hope I can stick with it!

I don't have a lot of good pictures since last time I posted, but I wanted to report that Grace is officially pulling herself up to stand. She LOVES it (even though she looks bored with it here haha). She's crawling up to all of our toys and pulling up so she can play with them.

Jack...well, he is just doing more and more climbing by the day! Yesterday he climbed on to the top of the baby gate then up onto the countertops.

They were playing together so sweetly on this particular night while Colin and I were cooking dinner that I had to get some pictures.

I had to bring Grace to Jack's school this week because her babysitter was sick, so we had to break out the monkey leash again!
She had a good day visiting her old school! Her teachers had missed her SO much!

And just for fun, here is a picture of Court and I in 1988.

And one of Budgie when he was Stinkerbell's (Colin's nickname for Grace) age to the day:

TGIF tomorrow!!! I've had long work days with parent teacher conferences this week. I'm exhausted and ready for some relaxation this weekend! Once again, stay tuned for Halloween pictures! Jack has two costumes, one for school and one for trick or treating. Grace has a cute one too!

23rd

The 23rd of the month marks Jack being 22 months old and Gracie being 7 months old. Where has time gone? I can't fathom the fact that we have an almost 2 year old. He reminds us often with his behavior though. ;) Here he is climbing over our baby gates........

Today the weather was perfect, so I brought them for a picnic in the park.

Jack quickly spotted someone he thought he might like to play with.

It wasn't long before I turned and saw this.

He called her "baby". It was, "come on, baby." "Let's go, baby." "Get down, baby." "Thank you, baby."

Sweet Grace is content no matter where she is. She just chilled in her stroller seat while he ate his Happy Meal and played.

Last night after I got home from work we headed to Fall Festival at our church. We were pleasantly surprised. It was lots of fun and great homemade food from all around the world. Jack won all kinds of prizes with different games that were age appropriate, which was fun for him. Here he is with some of his winnings. Flamingo outfit from Great Grandma McCormick on Grace. AND! Colin dressed her in it! Very impressive.

So much fun these two little ones are at this stage. My heart is bursting with love for them. It is so precious to see them interact. Grace adores watching Jack, and he can make her laugh in an instant just by giving her some attention.

Grace is now pulling up to play on things, mostly just to her knees. We've seen her pull to standing a few times too though. Jack's newest thing is saying, "bless you, mommy" whenever I sneeze. He has some various cute phrases that he says quite a bit too. For example, tonight when we got home he was playing with the buckle on his car seat. He loves to latch those kinds of buckles, but of course he can't get them unlatched. He had done it a handful of times, so I finally told him we needed to go inside for baths. I had been standing there holding Grace for a good five minutes. He said to me, "one more time". Then he went and ran in the yard once I got him out of the car. He said, "I play grass. Not street. BIIIIIG no-no!"

Pulling up part way. After this, she cried because she wasn't sure how to get down.

I had them all decked out for the PU/OSU game...which turned out to be pathetic! :(

Roi says, ,"Let me in so I can give Grace kisses." (terrible game on T.V. in background)

This toy entertains them both for quite a while! Thanks for bringing it down, Bev. They both really enjoy it!

One night we were all in the living room getting ready for bed, when Jack started putting his hands on his thighs and getting down while shaking his butt. It's his new dance move. I was in tears laughing so hard, which made him want to do it over and over. It is sooooo funny! At first I thought they must've taught him the chicken dance at school. But then Colin pointed out that they do this on Imagination Movers when the sing GET DOWN! Regardless, it is the funniest thing I've seen in quite some time.

Little Sister

Looks like she's up to something!

Jack being silly with his firetruck

Stay tuned next weekend for Halloween pictures. I can't wait to reveal their costumes. :)

Shower time, some T.V. to catch up on, then bed for me! Have a good weekend.

Happy Sunday!

I'm *so* far behind on blogging that I'm avoiding getting on here because I know it will take me hours to get it up to date. Literally the only free time I get is after the babies are in bed, but that's the only time Colin and I get to hang out together. I started this post about 2 weeks ago, and I'm just now going to finish it.Enough about my time management issues, but I promise to try to get better about updating. It is on my to do list every single day, and I would love to put up a post daily, trust me!

Things are good around here. Very busy and never a dull moment, but we love it!

The biggest news, Grace started crawling. I need to get it recorded to show everyone her skills. She definitely is mobile! As I type this, she is crawling all over the room and under the desk. She goes from crawling to sitting to laying and vice versa. She hasn't pulled herself up yet, but we lowered the crib. I'm sure it's coming any day! She also waved on webcam the other night, opening and closing her hand. I thought my mom was giving her too much credit, but she preceded to do it a handful of times. Hasn't done it since though. She's getting to be such a big girl! She still hasn't sprouted her first tooth, but continues with lots of drool and everything goes in the mouth. She can pick up small pieces of food (Puffs) and get them into her mouth on occasion. Time is FLYING!!! It feels like we just brought her home, and she is no longer a tiny newborn anymore. I really can't believe it! It's sad, but I definitely love this stage too.

Jack is talking more and more by the day. It amazes us, words coming from his mouth that we had no clue he knew. He gets around quite fast by running. He plays hard and has so much energy! He can jump up off of the ground, do somersaults, and just about anything physical. He is doing great at school and just got moved up to the next classroom with 2 year olds. His favorite movie is Finding Nemo, and his favorite TV show is Imagination Movers (joo-joo). He's typically a very happy boy, but I think he is a bit strong-willed. He knows what he wants! He's such a sweet and affectionate little boy, loves to cuddle with us and kiss and hug Gracie. When I pick him up from school he comes running so fast towards me, then makes sure he hugs his teacher and tells his friends bye before we leave. I look forward to that little guy running at me ALL day when I'm at work.

We've done lots of fall fun activities, and we are LOVING every second that we get of nice weather. Such a relief from the long, hot summer days in FL! We've been out for stroller walks and to the park multiple times this weekend. We went to a corn maze, Santa's Christmas Tree Forest, and Uncle Donald's Farm. This Friday I think we will go to our last one, a fall festival at our church. I recommend them all to anyone who lives in the area. It's lots of family fun, each one offering something different! I put links up to all the websites.

This is a video of us sitting in the car at the pumpkin patch yesterday. Jack hadn't napped yet, and of course he fell asleep within minutes of us arriving.

I took the kids to the park while Colin shampooed the carpets yesterday morning. Here is both babies swinging side by side.

This is a video of Jack showing off his newest chore around here. Poor Grace has a runny nose (so does Jack). That's why her eyes are a bit puffy.

Jack counting

I posted this one on facebook, but I'm going to put it up here. It's just a glimpse of our nightly dinner time!

Here we can track Jack's speech progress. :)

I can't believe I'm posting this, but here is a picture of me zip-lining. I have no clue how I got forced into doing it, but I must admit that it was actually pretty fun!

Jack had an absolute ball playing in this little hay area they had set up for hay fights. We have some longer adorable video from it, but the blog only uploads videos that are a minute or less, and they are too long.

I take so many pictures on a daily basis, that it's hard to choose which ones to post. Here goes! Nap is over, so I will finish later, probably after bed time tonight.

This is when my camera battery died, and I had to use my phone to take pictures. OH WELL! Jack and Daddy feeding the cows on the hay ride. You may remember this from last year and see some similar pictures.

This is the best shot of them I could get together...

VERY interested in getting the hay in her mouth.

Hay maze

I probably took 50 pictures of this, trying to get JUST ONE where she would look. :) no success

A deer that likes people. Colin thought this was the coolest thing ever.

Looking at the turkeys and keeping his distance

He kept saying, "come on, turtle!"

Grace's first hay ride

having a conversation about who knows what

They were looking at the deer when all of the sudden there was a bird behind them that said, "hello".

Studying :)

He was a little hesitant to feed them this year.

"What's that?"

Walking in
Feeding the sheep
Best Buds

Happy Budgie!

Above and below are the new cozy, minky car seat covers made with love by Grandma Moller. Jack's has a Purdue patch, and Gracie's has an Eastern one. So soft and cute, and they love them!

Don't expect me to sit in this stroller without snacks and juice!

Happy baby!

Look at that face!
"Look at me, mommy!"
:)
Bears are # 1

Couple of Bears fans

Fall family pictures
love his facial expressions
Now THIS is a familiar expression --- the face he makes when he knows he is misbehaving. He found this cup sitting there, and knew he wasn't supposed to touch it.
Roi came along for the fun at the park on this particular morning
fun at the park

loves baby Gavan's head
playing in the hay
trying to pick a good pumpkin
"too heavy"
hmmm, which one will it be?

outside enjoying the weather before bedtime
Roi and Gracie
I'm crawling now!
Looking at the goat

not sure what he's pointing at, but I thought it was a good action shot!

Fell asleep while Jack and I were eating lunch :)
Jack came over and said, "Wanna play, Gracie?". So sweet.
Go Bears!

We hope that everyone is enjoying their weekend. Sorry for being a bad blogger lately, but thanks for sticking with me!!!