Pumpkin Carving

Last Friday we had a free evening (a rarity around here!) so we decided to get our pumpkins carved. T went online and let the girls pick out their patterns.  I got out My Happy Pumpkin and Boo Bear said it was the "in-stwuct-sins".

 

I had to get a video of her explaining what we were supposed to do. :) 

 

Boo picked an owl and Bug picked a cat.

 Buggy was very brave this year and dug right in! 

I couldn't find our kiddie carving tools (of course I found them a few days later) so T and I did the carving and let the girls use the drill for the detail work. 

They turned out pretty cute!

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Wordless Wednesday

First Steps!

And we officially have first steps!  On Friday night I was walking past Peanut who was standing up against the couch.  She suddenly let go and took four steps towards me! 

The video above is right after that so these are some of her first steps.  Saturday we were busy all day with a celebration of our Pastor and his wife and their 25 years of service at our church(!!!) so she didn't get to practice much.  Then on Sunday Noni and Papa took the girls after church so we could do errands and she practiced walking a ton. 

The next two videos are from yesterday morning and afternoon.   Her too-big jammies were causing problems in this first one. :)

It's hard for her to practice walking when her sisters get so excited for her and want to "help" her.  Or just plain get in her way.  Maybe that's why it took longer.  The other two started walking right around their first birthdays, but I've heard that babies who wait longer are stronger and steadier so they end up with less bonks and bruises.  Hopefully that's true!

Yay Peanut!  You're walking!

Old Testament Books

Buggy worked very hard last week to learn the list of Old Testament books.  Good job Buggy!

Kiss Kiss

Apparently the sign language is suddenly "clicking" for Peanut  because in the last week and half she has started doing "please" and "thank you" and has started "blowing" kisses. The kisses just started on Thursday.  This is her saying goodbye to T as he left for work yesterday.  It's more of a Native American war whoop motion than a kiss, but it works. So funny. :)

Cousin Fun

On Wednesday the cousins were passing through our area so we finished our schoolwork quickly and headed to town to have lunch.  T already happened to be in town at a conference so we met near where he was.  The girls were SO excited to see their cousins that lunch consisted of many reprimands and hushing of squeals.  As soon as we were done we headed over to the park to get some of that energy out!

They really wanted to do the carousel so that was our first order of business. Being a Wednesday we were just about the only ones around.  There were only two other people so they had their pick of horses.

Boo and E rode side by side, and laughed and giggled the whole time.  So cute.

Next it was outside to pick up some trash…and leaves.

And then it was on to the play ground where they ran and slid, and ran some more.

The girls love their cousins so much!  It’s too bad we don’t live a little closer so we can see them more often!

Peanut stayed in her stroller for a little while, but was soon asking to be picked up.

The fall colors were so pretty and the weather was once again perfect.

There were tons of geese and ducks that provided much entertainment. :) 

Peanut was also very excited about the ducks, pointing and saying, “Dat! Dat!”.  I tried to get a picture while holding her and it didn’t quite work out so Auntie M took a picture for us. :)

Sweet girls!

These little guys must get fed because they weren’t too shy and let the girls get relatively close.

The girls would have loved to stay and play all day, but we all had to get home for Awana that night.

What a fun, albeit quick, visit with our cousins!

Leftover Thursday

Here are a few random pictures off my phone…

Peanut’s new favorite spot.  The same stairs that were Boo’s favorite spot as a baby.

Our blinds in the kitchen were looking quite dingy and gross thanks to grimy little hands often moving them aside.  I took them down and put them in the tub and this was what happened.  Yuck!  I had to wash them twice and the water was almost as dirty the second time around!  Thankfully they cleaned up nicely and look much better in the kitchen now. :)

I got a new phone and this was my attempt to get a picture of all three for the wallpaper.  Didn’t quite work out but 2 out of 3 is not too bad. :)

Out for a walk in the crunchy Fall leaves.

The girls spent the night at Noni and Papa’s one Saturday and Boo came to church like this.  This was MY dress that Noni had kept!  She actually looked pretty cute and not too terribly out of fashion other than the giant collar. Haha :)

Peanut likes to plunge her face into her bubble baths.

Wearin’ her birthday kicks from Grandma.

I found this one little petunia growing out of our little rock path by the driveway.  Such a nice little reminder that with a little determination and persistence you can do anything (or grow anywhere) you want. :)

Peanut got a beautiful quilt from Auntie Nina in the mail.  It is so cute and it totally matches my plans for her future “big girl” room!

That’s all for now…Happy Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday

“Please”

Peanut suddenly started signing the word “please” a few days ago.  She is getting so expressive and of course it is so cute that we give her almost anything she wants when she does it! 

She also does a two handed version that is adorable!  Sweet girl.

And here is “thank you” the wrinkly-nose-cheesy-grin. :)

Love that face!

The Pumpkin Patch

We’ve been trying to figure out a day to get up to the pumpkin patch and since T had worked already worked 23 hours by Tuesday night he decided he could take some time off on Friday to go.  We were planning to go in the morning but he ended up needing to go into work for a few hours.  We met Auntie Nae, Grandma, and Waylon for lunch and then headed up!  We inadvertently went at the PERFECT time!  We passed SEVEN school buses on the way in so I was VERY thankful that we ended up getting there later than we planned!  I was also glad for the weather.  It has warmed back up to the low 60’s and we didn’t even need coats.  The sunshine felt great and it was a beautiful, perfect fall day!

First up…pumpkins!  Waylon was very intent on getting a pumpkin.  :)

I think our girls would have happily gone home with every single one!  We grew plenty of our own pumpkins this year so we didn’t actually need to buy one, but T let them get a funny, bumpy one to try to carve.

After we got a few pumpkins we headed to the train ride. 

The fall colors were so pretty!

I don’t remember what we were laughing at, but we were having a great time. :)

The kiddie train was up next.  Bug wanted to go in the back because she had seen that it was the most “exciting”.

She was quite dramatic, whipping her head back and forth along with the bumps and jostles.

I think she may have lost a few brain cells judging by the look on her face when they got back.  Haha :)

Peanut missed her afternoon nap and started to get squirmy…this is her mischievous what-can-I-get-into or in the this case how-can-I-escape face.

We tried the pedal carts this year.  Bug did great!

Boo needed a little help, but did pretty good too.

After the giant slide we made our way over to the maze.

The girls were thirsty so I went to buy water.  Auntie Nae bravely took ALL four kids into the corn/hedge maze by herself!

And it’s not just a little maze!  If you did all three parts it would take over an hour!  T, Grandma, and I only did the first part and then took the “Wimp Gate” as it is so aptly labeled. :)  T went up to the tower to see if he could see them.  They were stuck in the hedges.

Eventually Auntie Nae just had them go under the ropes to which Bug was quite uncertain…“but that’s cheating!”  If only she was that concerned about following the rules at home!  Haha:)

Hi Daddy!

We played around in the castle for a bit before attempting the hedges to get out. 

You can tell Boo is getting tired by the slump in her shoulders.

And Waylon briefly gave up walking altogether. :)

After coming right back to the same spot we entered we took the “Escape gate” out and made it to the Pirate ship playground.

Which Boo was apparently slightly excited about, and Bug was somewhat disgusted? Haha! :)

Peanut was about done with the whole thing so Auntie entertained her with a round of Bounce the Baby.  She loved it!

After sharing a couple of caramel apples it was time to head for home.

Boo wanted a picture by the giant pumpkin.

What a wonderful trip to the pumpkin patch!

Thanks for joining us, Grandma, Auntie Nae, and Waylon!!!  We had a great time!