A Pre-Thanksgiving Visit

Last week we were so excited to have Mimi, Aunt Bonnie, and Abby Ruth come to stay with us for a few days.  Grayson got to spend some time outside since the weather was so nice.

 The girls hung out inside and were just so cute sitting together.  This was the first time they've been together since they've been sitting up on their own.

 Grayson had the great idea of playing with his instruments together, but for some reason, I don't think this is quite what he had in mind...

 Mimi and the girls...

 What a fun couple of days!  Mimi was such a great babysitter while Bonnie and I scooted out around feedings to shop. 

 

We can't wait to be together again for Thanksgiving!

7 Months

Somebody is 7 months old!

 She is a LOVER of her BIG brother.

 Seriously, what is there not to love about this?

 She is sitting up really well now on her own.  If she falls down, she considers it no big deal and just carries on about her business.

 She's a scooter!  She's pushing with her toes and pulling with her arms.  She's just starting to use her knees every now and then.  So I'm afraid crawling is in our very near future.  She often gets herself in situations like this...

 She's an EXCELLENT eater--eating pretty much anything I put in her  mouth.  And even some things she succeeds in getting into her mouth. 

She's a mommy's girl for now--and likes to keep her eyes GLUED to mommy if others are around.  Her favorite game right now is peek-a-boo.  

She's a sweetie and definitely a keeper!

Fall

In an effort to kick off the Fall season, we did some leaf-raking...

 and some leaf-jumping...

 We also had our neighborhood arts festival this weekend.  Grayson got to help out the night before by drawing on the streets with chalk.

We gathered some of the little ones together to try to get somewhat of a group picture.  This was the best we got.....

 Caroline was not happy about lying down...

 There has been quite an explosion of babies in our neighborhood this past year.  We are so blessed to have such amazing neighbors!! Our kids will have so much fun growing up together!!  Here's a few of us mommies and babies:

 And Grayson enjoyed being with some of the neighborhood boys--digging for dinosaur bones!

I hope the weather continues to stay nice for a bit longer so we can enjoy this Fall season!!

Sick

If there is one word to describe our past few weeks it would have to be

SICK.

Yep, first Grayson and Caroline, then Chad (and Grayson), then me (and Grayson).  Poor Grayson got hit the worst and still has a lingering cold.  Funny thing is, we were all FINE until my kiddos got the flu shot.  I have already decided we will  do without the vaccine next year. 

The lingering sickness did not keep us from making cookies....

 and more cookies...

 cookies just seem to make everyone feel better, right?

 reading LOTS of books...in our pajamas....

 taking full advantage of any shimmer of sunlight so as to soak in all the Vitamin D we can get...

 and lots of WARM baths.

And Chad and I have had our fair share of NyQuil the past few nights.

Hoping to get this COLD OUT OF OUR HOUSE!!

An Overnight Guest

 Grayson had his first "spend-the-night" friend last weekend.  Leigh came to stay while her parents went to a late night football game.  They played so well together and kept each other very busy. 

 Bathtime!  And bedtime stories...

 Caroline also loved having Leigh around for a few days.  Leigh was such a little "mother".  Caroline would just stare at her and smile-it was so sweet.

A Halloween Weekend

 Mimi and Papa came to celebrate with us this past weekend.  We had a little monkey with a really bad cold, but he hung in there.  Sunday night we went to the Reformation Celebration at our church.  Grayson was excited to win a bag of cookies on the cake walk!

 Monday morning, Mimi and Papa insisted on taking Grayson to the zoo, so we loaded up.  It was a beautiful day and we pretty much had the zoo all to ourselves. 

 Grayson still loves the gorillas and monkeys so he had to have his picture taken with the famous Willy B. 

making monkey faces with Papa

We got home just in time for the kids to take a quick nap before the Halloween festivities began.  They weren't too excited about it. 

 We went to a neighborhood party for dinner and then did some trick -or- treating.  This was Grayson's first time and he caught on pretty quickly.  It was priceless to see his face as the neighbors put candy in his bucket.  He thought it was the greatest thing ever!
He was so happy to get home and empty out his pumpkin.

 Our sweet little ladybug even joined in on all the fun.

 Tuesday  morning Papa and Grayson carved a jack-o-lantern.  Better late than never, right?

 We had so much fun and we're still trying to recover from exhaustion of all the activities and 2 sick babies.  Hopefully we'll all be over our colds soon!

Oh yeah!  Look who's sitting up all by herself?!?