When Did This Happen?

When did our little girl get to be so big?!  It really seems like yesterday that she was born, and now she looks so grown up.

Pre-Halloween Fun

Even though I really am not a fan of the creepy/scary/blech Halloween stuff, I AM a huge fan of the fun and cute Halloween stuff.  Mike and the kids are, too!

The library had a fall festival last week.  There were games, a bouncy house, popcorn, and crafts. 

Emily didn't quite get the point of this game, but Andrew had fun doing it anyway.  Charlie stood on the sidelines saying, "Andy, Emmie, ball!" and laughing.

 

Bean bag toss.  All three kids liked this game.

 

 Michael had an out-of-town weeklong trial this week, so the kids and I headed to my parent's house.  We were so glad we did!  We missed Daddy like crazy, but spending the week with Grandpa and Grandma Barnard was amazing!

 

 The kids didn't sleep all that well, but they did sleep interestingly.

 Grandma made play-dough, and they all had so much fun playing with it.

 

 Andrew looks so big in this picture!

 

 Charlie was a little lot obsessed with "Bampa." As soon as he woke up in the morning, he started bellowing for Bampa to wake up.  That is until he would see the cat and then he would be distracted.

 

 They all had a good time playing with big legos.  Emily made an ice cream cone and couldn't put it down even for her nap, apparently.

 Grandma bought a big pumpkin so the kids could carve it.  They all tried, but it was pretty hard, so they just chose the face and Grandma and I carved it.  :)

 

 But when things didn't go their way...this happened.  Angry, screaming Emmie.

 

 

Thanks for the visit!  We loved spending time with you!!!

Costuming

Tonight was the Trunk or Treat at church.  The kids had a ton of fun and Andrew even made up a new joke. 

What did the dog dress up as for Halloween?

A Boo-gel

He is so clever.  :)

 

Charlie was our little painter.

 

Andrew was a cute and silly turtle.

 

All three little cuties!

 

Our pretty little ballerina, Emily.

 

I was also an artist.  I was very serious.

 

He looks kind of scary without the hat which he would not keep on.

 

And in case of fire, Fireman Michael would save the day!

Out of the Mouth of Andrew (and the others)

Andrew is one hilarious kid.  These helmet pictures were all Andrew's idea, as well as the poses.

 

I made dinner the other day and while it was on the stove I was playing with the kids.  Andrew came over and here was the conversation:

A:  Mom, can I smell Charlie's bottom?

Me:  Ummm......if you must?

A: *sniffs then walks away* No, Em.  It's just the soup!

Remind me to never cook for them again.

 When Mike and Andrew were reading a book about castles.  They were looking on a page to see what the name of the castle was, and when Mike said it wasn't on there, Andrew said, "Maybe we can just call it Gregory."

He found a caterpillar and wanted it for a pet "just for a little while."

  He's been saying the word "espifif" for weeks (months?) and TODAY I finally figured out what it is.  Expensive.  He used it to describe things he made, etc so honestly I never would have guessed what that was.  Thank goodness he came grocery shopping with me.

Speaking of that, he tried to get me to buy things like pizza, ice cream, cookies, etc by telling me all about the vitamins and "healthy stuff" in them.  Very slick, kid.

  Emily and Charlie say some cute stuff, too.  Like when they rock on the rocking sheep, Emily always says she's a cowgirl and that Charlie is her cowboy. They both say, "Heehaw!!!" instead of Yeehaw, which I have not corrected because it's beyond adorable.

  Emily calls sleeves her "sneezes" and zippers are "slippers."  How can you resist someone asking you to help slip them up or to roll up their sneezes so they can wash their hands.

  I mentioned a future visit to my parents' house to the kids today, and Charlie piped up, "Bampa!  I wan Bampa!"  then later he said, "Wan' go Bampa's house.  I wan' Bampa!"  Apparently he misses his Grandpa Barnard.

Like a Kid in a Candy Store

Mike was able to take a four day weekend and we LOVED having him here!  Yesterday we planned a day in Springfield. 

First up was the Springfield Discovery Center.  We LOVE that place.  It's the perfect mix of science, learning, and imaginative play.

And for the first time, the kids actually kind of cared about the dinosaur digging exhibit!  I want to play every time we go, but so far they haven't cared about it.  But they did this time!  For about 2 minutes!  And Emily even wore the hat!  :) 

 

One of their absolute favorite sections is the store.  It's so cute and then the kids can check each other out.  There was a mom checking out her kid's groceries, and Emily just got in line and had her do hers as well.  It was pretty cute.

 

Three words: Life-sized Operation Game.

(Four words?)

We removed the appendix and talked about how they had done that to Grandma.  Andrew then told me that I should leave the intestines.  "You need them, and plus they're my favorite part of the body."

 

This just in!  Yesterday afternoon, two young children made their debut as newscasters.  They covered such important topics as "there's a camera over there" and "that's my seat."

 

 

They already have a die-hard fan.

 

 Speaking of this little guy, at the light table, he picked up a star and proceeded to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  One of the other kid's moms heard him and said, "OH MY GOSH, that is the cutest thing I've ever heard."  I had to agree.

 

Mike and Andrew put on a play.  Mostly Andrew's pig told jokes while Mike's chipmunk tried to let the pig give him a ride around the stage.  My little ones thought it was hilarious, and a random kid heard the laughter and came in to watch.

 
Emily built a volcano.

 

Then we went to lunch at the Chinese restaurant.  I wasn't too excited about that choice, but there were more than one set of tears shed when we said maybe we could eat something different.  And it was just fine.  I was happy to make them happy, and I knew what was coming next.

These.  The candy store.  YUM.

As you can imagine, the kids were super excited about an entire store full of sugary goodness.

 

The kids each got to choose a 4 pieces of candy, and Mike and I got some sour candies.  I got grapefruit and watermelon gummies (I wish they had the pink grapefruit ones, because I really REALLY love those.)  Mike got a mix and I discovered too late how AMAZING the cherry ones were.

As difficult as it was to keep a sugar crazed Charlie from diving headfirst into one of the bins, it was so fun to see the utter happiness that exuded from these little guys.

 

Then Emmie slipped in the parking lot and landed in a big puddle of oil.  So I cleaned her up and changed her clothes.

 

Guess who chose chocolate footballs for her treat?  She had eaten maybe half of one when I looked back and saw this: 

And although it doesn't seem like it, she was having a great time.

 

We all did, actually!

Conversing With My Boy

I just realized yesterday that my little guy has become quite the talker.

 I knew he was growing up, because I mean, come on.  He's huge. 

 But then yesterday, we had an entire conversation.  He came in and asked for my hand.  Then lead me into his room.  Then he said light, so I turned it on.  Then he said book so I asked what book he wanted and he said, "Backpack." So I grabbed the Dora library book and he said sit, so we sat.  Then we read the book.  I asked where the bananas were and he said, "Boots hand."  We finished and he said, "Again."  Then I realized how much he was talking, and it blew me away.

 Then this morning he was feeding the stuffed animals some imaginary confection from a spoon.  When did we tell him he could be so cute?

 It doesn't look like it in this picture, but he's almost as tall as Emily now.  He sings the ABC's, Bingo, the "We Did It" song from Dora, I am a Child of God, and basically anything he hears.  He's awesome.

I'm sad that my little guy is growing up so fast, but he's getting cuter and cuter, so I guess I can't complain.  :)