Trick or Treat

I loaded the pics in the wrong order, so here is our little spider at the end of the night, worn out.

I was surprise that Will seemed to get into the trick or treating this year. I thought he'd just be along for the ride, but he would go up to the doors with Aubrey, say "Trick or treat" and then say "thank you" also. He also said, "dary" (scary) a few times and would cling on to me if he heard any spooky music. They both seemed to have a lot of fun, though!

Aubrey & Jett taking a break in the wagon after lots of running.

Getting all ready to go!

A quick picture with Daddy and then off to the neighborhood Halloween Parade before dinner & trick or treating.

This is the best shot I got of both of them...

After the parade, we went to a neighbor's house for dinner and playtime.

Pajama day

Aubrey & Will doing seat drops on Daddy's back.

Although it is not quite winter, Will already loves his "no man" (snowman) pajamas. The other day a solicitor came to our door wearing a scarf and hat and Will kept pointing at him and saying, "no man, no man". Also, I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but I took Will to get his first real haircut last week. I couldn't take pictures there, because I was holding him in my lap the whole time. He did a great job and looks so much more like a little boy now :(

Just dancing on the couch in her pjs, enjoying a lazy morning.

Please pray

We just found out this week that one of Robert's Baylor roommates' wife, Kristi, has stage 4 cancer. It has spread through her body -- in her bones, bone marrow, liver, around her brain...
The reason they did not find it earlier is because Kristi was pregnant with their third child and they first attributed her not feeling well to having a rough pregnancy. Eventually, the doctors realized that something more serious was going on and they did an emergency c-section. Thankfully, the baby boy was 36 weeks and is doing fine. Please pray for strength for Kristi as she starts aggressive treatment for this cancer and for Chuck as her cares for his wife and 3 boys -- they are about 4, 2 and a newborn born last week! I can't imagine what their family must be going through right now. I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers for healing and comfort that only God can provide.

This Week

Diaper boxes are always fun!

Will still requests a "bubble ba" every time we pass the bathroom... The boy would take 5 baths a day if I let him.

First visit from Robert's parents this past weekend. We drove out to WV to see some of the leaves changing.

Showing off a rock from Aubrey.

We also had a visit from my BFF/roommate from UT! She & her husband were coming to Baltimore for some training before heading across the world to be missionaries in Nov. Robert's parents babysat while we went into DC to do some sight seeing and have a nice lunch out without worrying about keeping little ones entertained. Aubrey also enjoyed their visit and had fun playing on their bed after they left. She pulled lots of pillows out and named it, "Parker Pillowland".

A quick kiss on the go before more jumping in pillowland.

Butterfly Girl

Saturday morning we went to Aubrey's friend Carleigh's birthday party. It was called "Carleigh's Candyland" and there were plenty of candyland themed decorations, games, cupcake decorating, etc. Aubrey also loved getting her face painted and was sooo excited about her "first rainbow lollipop" that she got in her party favor bag. I'll remember to consult Carleigh's mom, Caroline, the next time I throw a party -- it was a huge hit with the kids and fun for the grown-ups, too!

Pumpkinville

Aubrey had her first field trip with her preschool on Tuesday to a local pumpkin patch. Here are a few of her classmates, don't you like how Aubrey is posing?

Going down a big hay slide.

Up in a tree house with her new friend, Kyra.

On top of the "hay mountain". I actually didn't get any classic fall pumpkin pictures on this trip becasue I was so busy chasing Will around. Robert's parents are coming in town on Friday though and I think we're off to another fall festival on Saturday, so I'm sure we'll have other opportunities. We all had fun and Aubrey actually took a nap that afternoon, which has hasn't done in at least a month or more.

The"Mayment"

Will's favorite place to play is the "mayment", also known as the basement. We usually play down there either in the afternoon after his nap, or after dinner before bed.

Aubrey still LOVES her animals and has all kinds of animal parties everyday.

This one is for you, Carole. Will too has worn a headband, thanks to his sister.

Dance parties and concerts are the latest craze for both Aubrey & Will. Here they are performing for me today.

Aubrey gets pretty into her performing these days, she says she wants to be a singer when she grows up... we'll see?

All ready for her friend's Cowgirl birthday party on Saturday

Eating cheese while saying "cheese"

Getting aired up for a Saturday morning bike ride together

This is how we found Will in his crib one morning last week. He wasn't very happy that I wanted to capture the moment, he was just ready to be untangled.

The fire dept came to Aubrey's preschool yesterday and Will has been wearing the hat she brought home ever since. Oh, and I forgot 2 things I wanted to add to his 17 month list:

-the sound effects have begun! This is one difference I have noticed between having a boy & a girl, Aubrey never did this. Every car, truck, boat, airplane makes noise, and lots of it. He constantly imitates sirens and likes to make his half eaten waffles or crackers into airplanes and fly them through the air complete with plenty of sound effects.

-"My nurn" (turn) Anytime Aubrey has a toy, drink, food, anything Will wants, he'll say this until his sister shares.

17 months

Even though we're a month away from the big 1.5 yr. milestone, I just wanted to record some of Will's cuteness lately, so I don't forget! If you aren't related to us, this may bore your socks off.



-Bedtime: As soon as we sit in the glider, he always requests his favorite lullaby "buh-buh-bye, nee, nee, night" (Hushabye & Good night) . Then as I'm signing, he pats me and says "Mommy" and then decides to poke at me face in the dark and name everything, "eye, eye, nose, mouf"



-When he sees pictures of himself or when I ask him his name, he says "Wool"



-He cries "Aubrey " every Tues. & Thurs. when I drop her off at preschool. He loves his sister!



-Loves tickling us now and tries to tickle strangers when we're out.



-He's obsessed with the letters "R", "A", "Y" and "B". He had me write them over and over again on the magnadoodle the whole way to Virginia Beach and back last week. None of these letters are in his name, but they are all is Aubrey's name so maybe that's where he picked up on them?



He started saying "hud & iss" (hug & kiss) and he'll actually wrap both arms around you & squeeze. I love his real hugs!



-He's been jumping and walking backwards for a while now and loves to do front rolls.



-He's still totally enthralled by waffles and asks for them every morning. We make big whole wheat waffles every Saturday & I make extra to freeze, so at least they're pretty healthy.



-Today we were playing in the backyard, and he saw a chipmunk. When it ran away, he kept calling, "Mipmunk, are you?" (as in, where are you?) and "Mipmunk, bye bye".



-He sings the Diego theme song, kind of. This is Aubrey's favorite show and she gets to watch it when I put Will down for his nap. He always hears the song as I'm taking him up the stairs. Throughout the day, he'll be shouting "Day-do" (Diego). "Do, Day-do, Do" (Go, Diego, Go)

Last minute Getaway

I haven't posted in a while because of my aforementioned camera issues. Thanks for the recommendations and I think we're going to order one soon now that its becoming more and more uncooperative. Anyway, the camera did comply enough to get some pictures while we tagged along with Robert on a business trip for the last couple days. He had a meeting in Richmond on Wed. and we just hung out in the hotel during that. Afterwards, we went out to dinner in a fun part of town and then basically went back to put the kids to bed. Yesterday, we went to Virginia Beach where Robert had another meeting. There was some type of coastal storm so we weren't able to go to the beach. We just lounged in the hotel room, went out to eat again and the kids swam in the indoor pool to get their fill of water play for the day. Thankfully, the weather was better today and we made it down to the water for a couple hours. The kids had fun getting wet & sandy in their clothes, jumping waves, chasing seagulls and spotting a few dolphins. This lady kept offering to take pictures of us, hence more than 1 pic of all 4 of us. After the beach, we went back to the hotel to shower & change and get on the road. We stopped in Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg on the way back. Aubrey's favorite part was the animals, of course -- horses, sheep, oxen... It was amazing to see so many houses & buildings from as early as the 1730s. The whole drive was beautiful also, another fun VA adventure!

School Days

Aubrey has been to her new preschool 3 times now and is doing great! She shed a few tears the first day when I left, mainly because there was a little boy crying and when she saw him, it started for her. She's been tear-free the last 2 days and is always happy when I pick her up. Here's a picture of her on the first day with her big back pack.

Preschool day 2, silly once again. Posing with a large puzzle piece.

Today Aubrey had her first ballet/tap class and loved it. She has always been so active that I thought she might be more of a sporty/soccer type, but lately she'd been asking me if she could take ballet. Before I had kids, I always thought about buying little pink ballet shoes if I ever had a daughter. This weekend, Aubrey & I had fun shopping for her shoes & leotards and then went for ice cream

Two of her neighbor friends, Carleigh & Haley are also in the class. Another nice thing about it is that it meets in our neighborhood at the clubhouse, so its in walking distance or super-close driving distance. We also started a little gymnastics class last week and we'll go back for that tomorrow. She seems to really like her new activities and is getting the chance to make new friends.

Apple Orchard

This morning we drove about 15 minutes west to go to a local organic apple orchard. They have lots of other fruits & vegetables depending on the season. We picked lots of apples and some pears and blackberries. Aubrey ate 2 apples on our way back home!

Playscape

We recently acquired our old next door neighbor's play scape. They moved to Utah and we bought it for dirt cheap. These things are expensive and since we're only planning on being here a couple years, we didn't want to invest in a new one. They are a pain to take apart & move, so this way, we can leave it behind when we move back to TX. Robert says it looks like someone threw up on the climbing wall, but other than that, it's in great shape. I think Robert is going to stain it anyway. The kids love it so far!


This is what Will does over and over every time we go outside now.

Will will walk up and say "hang on" and reach his arms up for me to lift him up to the rings.

Pretending to be a bat

Camera

It looks like our digital camera won't be around for much longer. We bought it four years ago before we went to Hawaii for our "babymoon". It has been good to us and has survived much mistreatment from Aubrey & Will, but the zoom is stuck open and the batteries keep falling out and it'll only take pictures half of the time lately. Anyway, I just thought I'd ask if anyone loves their camera and has any recommendations. Or, if anyone has had a bad experience with their camera, so I know not to buy it. I just want something that is user friendly and takes good pictures... Any advice would be helpful!

End of Summer

We went to our neighbor, Emma's 5th birthday last week and now Aubrey can't stop talking about Hannah Montana. Remind me not to go back to the mall on a Friday between 10:30 -11:30. I didn't know it was Sing-Along in the play area and I counted over 60 strollers and a good third of them were doubles. That's a lot of kids & moms in a small place!

We were trying to stay busy one day and I finally caved and took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. Aubrey went once when she was 2 and talked about it like it was Disney World. Here she is performing on the tv screen.

Then, she had to climb up on stage to touch her friend, Chuck E. The whole way home, she asked if she could bring him home with us and buckle him in the back seat so he could come have dinner and spend the night with us. She wanted him to sleep on a sleeping bag on her floor to keep her company.

I don't know what Will was doing here, but he looks cute so I posted it. That's a good enough reason, right? We went to a new pediatrician last week and had his 15 month well check a month late. He was 23 lbs 10 oz (30%) and 33 inches (85%). He still seems happy, healthy and he's talking more & more and copying everything we say. His favorite book now is Polar Bear, Polar Bear (Eric Carle) and he loves to point and say, "Bebra" (zebra), "Nhino" (rhino), Ippo (hippo) and "Dedock" (peacock).

Some backyard visitors. Aubrey & Will loved looking out the window and seeing a Mommy deer and her 2 babies in our yard. I was a little less thrilled since I have been paranoid about deer ticks and Lyme disease since we got here. Apparently, they are bad in our area because it is pretty heavily treed and there are so many deer that carry them around. So, I now have the joy and looking for ticks on my kids every night at bath time.

We had a pretty good summer here and feel pretty settled. Aubrey will be starting preschool this week for the first time! I wasn't ready last year, I felt like she was still my baby. This year, she'll be close to four and I think it'll be good for her to meet some new friends since we're in a new place. If you think of us, pray that she has a smooth transition next week and has a good experience overall. We also have a church playgroup starting up tomorrow, Aubrey starts her gymnastics class this Wed. and then we have two neighborhood playgroups for Aubrey and Will's age groups that we're going to check out. It's nice to have things on our schedule, but

some of the things are optional so our schedule doesn't become hectic. We're looking forward to getting into a new routine this fall and are also anticipating visits from Robert's parents in Oct. and my fam in Nov. And, it should be nice to experience a real fall this year, my favorite season.

Washington DC Zoo

Saturday we headed into DC to check out the Zoo, which is also free! It was great! The weather was nice and there are so many big trees around that most of it is shaded, which is a big plus. We watched the sea lions for a long time because they were being fed and were doing lots of tricks in order to receive their fish -- Aubrey loved that. She also loved all the fish, turtles, sting rays, coral, sea anemones, etc. I loved getting to see the giant pandas and the orangutans that were right up against the glass looking at Aubrey & Will. On our way home, we were going to grab dinner and ended up across the street from the White House, so we walked by there, too. I'm hoping to set up a tour sometime while we live here, since I've never been inside. Anyway, we had a fun day and will be going back to explore some more.