Trick or Treat

We didn't go trick or treating last year........we just sat a bowl of candy outside our door with a sign that said to take one piece. All of our candy was gone within 20 minutes (from the time we set it out to the time we put the kids down and checked on the bowl).
This year, after being out trick or treating, I now know why our candy was gone so quickly. Everyone in the area must drive here to do their trick or treating! There were sooo many cars driving in and parking along side the streets. CrAzy! Well, that and we did see another house with a bowl out and a sign and the kids were taking handfuls. It was a very nice night and everyone that was handing out candy were sitting out in their driveway.

 The cutest Eugene, Rapunzel and Fairy Princess there ever was! Pascal was out and about with us too, but he was sleeping pretty much the entire time in the stroller.

Blake ~ 2 Months

Blake had his 2 month check-up yesterday. He seems to be growing quite well.

Stats
Weight: 11 lb 10 oz (50 -75%)
Length: it was somewhere between 24 and 25 inches (50%)
Head Circumference: (10%)

He also had to get two different shots as well as an oral vaccine. They gave him the oral vaccine first and he actually seemed to kind of like it. He was smiling afterwards obviously clueless as to what was about to come. Then he got the first poke and his face turned bright red and he just screamed! Breaks my heart. After his second shot was done I picked him up and he calmed down. I put him back down to get him dressed and as soon as I put him down it was like he knew where he was and was concerned about what might happen again. Smart boy!

He's been pretty congested for the past month (as have all of us). I think its from the constant change in the weather. The doctor didn't seem to be too concerned but did say that was probably the cause of his spit up incidents.

More about our boy
~ Absolutely smitten with Mommy :) He does like to stare at me and when he hears my voice he quickly turns to find me.
~ Loves his Dad and sisters too
~ Starting to do more of a social smile
~ For the past 2 weeks he's been sleeping 5 - 6 hours through the night. We'll do a quick feed and he'll sleep another 4 or 5 hours. LOVE THIS!
~ He's been sleeping in his room since about 6 weeks.
~ Prefers to sleep on his tummy but lately he's also fine with sleeping on his back.
~ Takes a pacifier (unlike our girls)
~ Went through a major growth spurt at 7 weeks of age. He wanted to sleep constantly. He was only awake long enough to eat and then was right back to sleep.
~ The next week he was eating every 2 hours!
~ Loves watching the ceiling fan
~ Starting to coo. Allie swears he can say, "hi" and "I cold" lol
~ Soaks through the front of his pj's almost every night

Our Little Gators

Can you guess who's who?

Fall Festivities

Pumpkin Patch

Trunk or Treat

At least Allie loved this wig despite all its imperfections. It was my first time ever making a wig.....

BOO

We Booed people this year. It's when you put together a basket and deliver it to the person by ding dong ditching. This way it's all done in secret and the receiver will never know who it was from. This kind of thing is right up Allie's alley. She's such a giver and is always thinking of others. We picked three families that have done a lot for us lately. The girls had a lot of fun doing this!

The baskets were filled with fun things for the kids in the families as well as some store bought and home made treats (chocolate covered pretzels and pumpkin rice krispie treats).

We're kind of bummed me never made it to Sea World's Spootakular but, then again, we can't do everything.

Kindergarten ~ First Nine Weeks

I had Parent Teacher Conference yesterday. Allie is doing awesome! She's doing everything that is expected of them by this point (and more!) Her teacher's comments were, "Allison is a very sweet and friendly student. She is performing very well academically.Allison has excellent classroom behavior." She also mentioned that Allie is very quiet and doesn't talk unless she's called upon. She does talk and interact with her peers though. Sounds a lot like me!

Now for some pictures:

This week is 'Red Ribbon' Week. The kids had a theme for each day. I failed to take pictures on most of the days. I did get one today for hat day.

Yesterday was Twin/Buddy day. So, Allie and her friends Sydney and Ellie all dressed alike. It was so cute. Allie got off of the bus on Wednesday telling me their plan, "white t-shirts and purple shorts." Well, Allie doesn't have purple shorts. I told Allie I would call Ellie's Mom and try to arrange something else. Lori must have been thinking the same thing because she called me before I even had a chance to call her. She was out shopping so she just picked up these shirts and hair bows for all 3 girls. This picture was taken at the pumpkin patch last night. Ellie couldn't make it. :( I guess both Sydney and Ellie's moms went to school yesterday to take their picture. I'll have to try and get a copy from one of them.

 

Allie & Samantha

Miguel, Sydney, Samantha, ?, Natalie, Justin, Allie, ?

                                                                           Story Time

Preschool

Just a quick pic of Avery's Preschool friends!

L to R: Daniel, Jared, Eveyln, Tristan, Avery, Peyton, (and Jeffrey......not sure who he is, he's not in the preschool though). Avery always talks about Peyton and Jared. :)

Stop Talking

So there is a lady at the bus stop that likes to talk. We always get stuck there for awhile and I don't want to be rude and just walk away. Today was no different. Avery was getting frustrated and started gritting her teeth and saying "stop talking." I think the lady finally figured out what Avery was saying and after another 5 minutes she was done. As soon as she started walking away Avery says, "Uh, why that lady not stop talking? She talks FOREVERRRRRR." I told Avery she needed to be quiet. She wasn't having any of that. "Mom, she always talk for long time." I tried to distract her by asking her to sing a song. Her mind was still on that lady. "I tried to tell her the moon was smiling. She not even look at me."

Lately

The weather has been kinda crazy. It's cold in the mornings. Ranging anywhere between mid 40's to low 60's and then it's warm/hot by mid-day. We're having to wear 2 outfits in one day to be comfortable.

Yesterday I was sitting in the chair and dozed off. I opened my eyes and found Avery like this. Just a little jealous of the attention her baby brother is getting maybe?

Last night was Allie's school carnival, Howl At The Moon. This was taken right after the girls won treats in the Treat Walk. I will never try to take the kids to this on my own again! I'm pretty sure my blood pressure was through the roof by the end of the night. The kids were great. The grounds were pretty much impassable with the stroller. Our drinks were spilling everywhere, we couldn't find the place to get the waiver wristbands so the girls could go on the inflatables, and Avery got pummled on the obstacle course because the people running it weren't paying attention. Oh, and she got bit by something and her foot is super swollen this morning. By the time we were leaving Blake was hungry. He was screaming and we couldn't find his pacifier anywhere! We had to park about a mile away.......

Okay, enough complaining. The girls did have a good time despite everything that went wrong. I just need to learn to roll with the punches.

Handsome Boy

Columbus Day, Dream Board & Dinner Time

Since Derek didn't have to work on Monday, for Columbus Day, we decided we should do something with the girls. We didn't know what though. So we ended up heading to a park we had never been to before. The girls had fun on the playground and there was a walking trail so we loaded up on the "new" stroller and walked for a while. We had planned on playing soccer too, but everything was way too muddy from the 5.18 inches of rain we got Saturday night into Sunday.

Allie came home with her first homework last week (besides the book box). She was SO excited about having homework! One of her first projects was to make a Dream Board. Then she was to take it back and share with her class.

Dream Job : Teacher -- no brainer -- she wants to PLAY school everyday after she gets home from school
Dream Home: She wanted 2 stories with a basement. That was her main criteria so I started asking her about locations (like in the city, in the country, on the river/lake etc). She chose to have a house on the river/lake.
Dream School/Education: It was between Purdue and BYU. At first she said BYU and I gave her a look and she quickly changed to Purdue. :0)
Dream Vacation: Disney World -- We have got to get there some time soon!!
Dream Car: Anything Red really. She would be happy with a red mini van. She does like this car with out the windows "on top" though.

And finally, a peek of our evening while I'm fixing dinner........

Working on homework

Blakey Boy is right in on the action too. Perfectly positioned where he can see his sisters doing their homework and/or me working on dinner.

And after homework is chore time. They actually really enjoy this! I wonder how long that will last?!? We have a chore jar and they draw a stick out that tells them what their chore for the evening is. Tonight Allie's was to vacuum the living room (which also meant picking up any toys, etc that was on the floor) and Avery drew the stick that said to clean up toys in the toy room. Probably not quite as fun as Allie's, but there weren't many toys to be picked up because they have been doing an awesome job of putting their toys away as soon as they are threw with them.