Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! I wanted to share a picture of the pumpkin we carved yesterday. His name is Jack - clever isn't? The kids love him! The first thing Sullivan said this morning was "see Jack!" I wanted to carve three little pumpkins, but then I realized that might be a bit much for us at this age and stage. Especially since I was the one doing all of the carving! So we carved one pumpkin as a family while we snacked on a few pieces of candy corn. It was a sweet way to spend an afternoon.

We also tried on our Halloween costumes for Daddy this morning in case he can't be here for trick-or-treating tonight. He's supposed to go back to Oklahoma, but we're waiting to find out when he has to leave for sure. It could be tonight or later this week. Anyway, check out our sweet butterfly and ice cream cone and our handsome robot! I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween.

Here are a few more pictures from last night. Thanks Grandmama and Pops for coming down to see us! We loved having you here for Halloween!

As you can probably tell from the pictures, Bruce had to go back to Oklahoma yesterday. He was scheduled for a sim and a flight this week, which means he'll hopefully be home in about a week (for good!). That being said, it's always sad when he has to leave. His five-day trip home was a bonus trip, if you will. So we got the best of both worlds...a great few days with Daddy that we didn't think we were going to get and he's still technically going to finish on time. I'm so glad these four months are almost over...hurry home Daddy! Good luck this week - we're thinking of you!

I Love Fall

My funny girl

A Funny For You

If you happen to have blond hair, please don't take offense to this. I do (I can hear my husband snickering now...unlike him, I have to pay for my color) and I thought it was funny. My Father-in-Law sent this to me this morning and I had to share it. Hope it makes you smile today!

You Just Know

I'm pretty certain everyone knows I love taking pictures of my babies. Whether I'm the one behind the camera or have hired a real photographer, I'm always trying to get that perfect shot. Babies grow up way too fast and I cherish every picture I have of them. Sometimes though, the best pictures are the ones you take when you're goofing around, having fun, not doing anything in particular. You just know when you get a shot like that. I know when I've taken a special picture because I automatically think "this will make me cry one day." It'll be like one of those photos you see in slide shows at weddings or rehearsal dinners or in the "guess who this senior is?" section in a yearbook. You know the few pages in the back with all of the baby photos? I know one day when I see Bruce walking our girls down the aisle or hugging Owen after the birth of his first child, that all of these images I've captured throughout the years will be running through my head. All of those amazing moments that seemed routine or ordinary at the time will one day mean more than any planned photo session. I know I'll eventually look at these pictures and wonder where the time went and how everyone grew up so fast. As emotional as I get about these sweet pictures now, I can't even imagine how much they'll mean to us a few decades down the road. So mamas and daddies, keep taking those pictures!! Our babies aren't babies for long.

Here are a couple that touched my heart this week and I wanted to share them with everyone.

I love their smiles in this one. They were helping me bake cupcakes this morning and found the pumpkin candy we were going to decorate them with. They were obviously pretty happy with their find. This is one of the first pictures I've taken/seen of them where I think they actually look like twins. No one tells you before you become a parent that one day you'll bake cupcakes at 6:30 in the morning...and that it will seem like a normal thing to do at that hour. We love you Owen and Kathryn!

Her shirt says it all. Believe it or not, she usually wakes up this happy. I took this just after she got up yesterday. Before I even got her out of her crib she said, "I want my Daddy!" She's been asking for Bruce a lot lately and sometimes calls out for him from her crib at night. Sullivan will be so happy to have her Daddy home. We love this juicy-cheeked, happy little girl!

No-Nap Sundays and Diaper-Wearing Lovies

Kathryn typically doesn't nap on Sunday. Why? I don't know...she just doesn't. In fact, it's been so long since she last napped on a Sunday that I now refer to Sunday as "no nap Sundays." I try really hard to keep her in her room for "quiet time" and tell her she can read or play quietly with her toys. If she hasn't fallen asleep after about an hour she starts to get loud. That's when I go in and get her so she doesn't wake Owen and Sullivan who most definitely still need naps. Yesterday, while the others napped, Kathryn and I went to the basement to play with building blocks. We were only down there for about 30 minutes building blocks and playing with her toys, but I could tell she was very happy to have some one-on-one with me. When I told her I wanted to take her picture with her "castle" she said "Okay, but I have to give you a hug first!" Sweet girl.

 Can you tell she likes to pose?

Owen's giant gorilla (Billa Pilla) has been wearing a diaper recently and he thinks it's the funniest thing ever. Owen that is, not the gorilla. In the last two days I've had to diaper that lovey (using the same diaper of course) almost as many times as I've had to diaper Owen. I'm hoping I can eventually use this to my advantage by putting "big boy underwear" on Billa Pilla to encourage Owen to potty-train. Owen flat our refuses to wear underwear even though he can and will go #1 and #2 on the potty. He even stands up to go #1 and does so quite well I might add. I can't figure out why he prefers a diaper...it must be a boy thing. I can tell he'll need a size six diaper soon, but there's kind of an unwritten rule in our house: you potty-train by the time you need a size six diaper! I'm hoping Bruce will have more luck when he gets home in a few weeks convincing him (and Billa Pilla) to ditch the diapers and put on underwear. It's hard to believe I've been changing Owen's diapers for almost three years. Here's a super cute picture I took tonight of this diaper-wearing duo.

I couldn't put up pictures of my Owen and Kathryn without putting one up of my sweet Sullivan. Sullivan has asked to go "pee pee on potty" three times in the last week. Then she'll say "paper towel please." It's adorable to watch her put the potty seat on the toilet and try to take her clothes off, but I think she does it because she likes to unroll the toilet paper. My baby looks so tiny siting there on the princess potty seat - I forget she'll be two in four months. How is that possible? Right now she loves Caillou, playing with baby dolls, and playing dress up. Every night when I tell her it's time for bed she'll say "rock rock a be-be/baby." I only rock her long enough to sing the alphabet a few times (her favorite song right now), say a prayer, and give us a few minutes of one-on-one. It's kind of sad that I have to look at it this way, but bedtime routine already takes me about an hour when I'm by myself. If I throw in rocking, tickling, extra stories, etc. like they'd all like for me to, I would never get them to bed at a reasonable hour.

There are a few things about Sullivan that really stand out to me right now. The first is how funny she is. She's definitely our "class clown." Sullivan knows she's funny too, which of course, makes the things she says and does even more hilarious because she's doing them on purpose. The second thing I've noticed lately is how sensitive she is. If Sullivan sees anyone crying she will start crying too and say "no cry, no cry." She really notices other people and their emotions. Finally, Sullivan is so strong. I think she's as strong, if not stronger, than her big brother and sister. Sullivan hates having her teeth brushed. She really puts up a good fight and every time I do it, I think "are you supposed to be this strong?" I'll put it to you like this, most nights I'm sweating by the time I've finished brushing her teeth. So maybe I have a sensitive, funny, future athlete on my hands!

Sorry this was so long, I hadn't planned on rambling! Hope everyone out there is having a great week.

She's learning to put her glasses on by herself.

This is Sullivan's "I'm about to do something I shouldn't" face. Cute huh?

Where's the Detangler?

This is how Kathryn's hair looks every morning and after every nap. It cracks me up! For the life of me I can't figure out what she does in her sleep to get it in this shape. I know she usually sleeps on her back and, compared to Owen and Sullivan, she doesn't move around much at night. I have even started conditioning her hair every night thinking that might help, but no such luck. So who knows. Needless to say, we go through a lot of detangler in our house. Kathryn is such a girly girl and is always worried about what matches or doesn't match, what tutu/shoe combo to wear for the day, etc. I think it's sweet and funny that she's the one who wakes up with such a crazy case of bedhead.

Camping, Costumes, and Playroom Clean-Out

Yesterday the kids had a "camp out" in the living room. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this on here before, but in case I haven't, our living room (yes, the first room you see when you walk into our house) still doesn't have a sofa or chairs in it. Hopefully that problem will be taken care of soon. In the meantime, the kids love using that room for playing, running, racing cars, playing kick-ball, and camping. To them, camping is bringing out all of their favorite lovies, blankets, and pillows from their rooms and pretending to be asleep. It's pretty cute and I'm for anything that won't potentially hurt someone or the house. Check out the cute pics I got of them yesterday.

Sweet Sullivan was the last to be invited to the camp out. When they asked her to join, she was more than ready to go and get her lovies and blankies from her bed.

Owen thought something was hilarious, but I couldn't figure out what.

Old Navy is having a sale today online and the costumes are crazy cheap! I'm not really into Halloween (or Valentine's Day for that matter) and I hate spending a bunch of money on costumes. When Owen wakes up, I'm going to find out what he wants to be and buy the costumes. Sullivan is going to be an ice cream cone, Kathryn decided she DID want to be a pink butterfly (after changing her mind about 25 times), and I'm guessing Owen will either want to be a robot or shark. Anyway, here's how the costume-selection conversation went with K.

Me: "Buggy, are you sure you want to be a pink butterfly?"
K: "Yes, I'm sure."
Me: "Once I buy this, this is what you're wearing. I'm not buying anything else if you change your mind."
K: Okay
Me: What do you think Sullivan should be?
K: "Go back and I'll show you." (meaning, go back to the page with all of the toddler costumes)
Me: Okay, but I thought she could be an ice cream cone.
K: No, how about a bumble bee?
Me: No, Sullivan is really afraid of bumble bees.
K: But it's not a real bumble bee. That's what I want her to be.
Me: I think she'll like the ice cream cone costume the best. When Owen gets up, we'll ask him what he wants to be.
K: I can pick it for him.

Just in case it wasn't clear, K is definitely the ring-leader and the decision-maker for the three. She's the boss and even though Owen sometimes tries to fight her for the title, he usually realizes it's not worth it and submits to her will. I'm being a little dramatic of course, but seriously, K is happy to be in charge. I can't tell you how many times in the past few weeks I've caught her dressing Sullivan or feeding Sullivan. It's hilarious and Sullivan is always happy to be her big sis's baby doll.

The clean-out

Our basement needs a lot of work. I'd like to repaint the main area and the guest room, get a few framed kid posters up in the play area, strip the wallpaper in the bathroom, and get the tv cords behind the wall. But we were in such a rush to get things livable before Bruce left for Oklahoma, that we just did what we could and realized the rest would have to wait.

But I did make some progress today. While the kiddos played, I discreetly threw out broken toys and toys that were missing parts. I brought down a toy/book cubby that was just sitting in Sullivan's closet and put all of the books in it. I gave Owen his own "boy toy bucket" and brought down the girls' coat/purse/hat rack from K's room. They have so many purses and backpacks that I could safely invest in another one and should soon. I rounded up all of the dress up stuff and cooking stuff and gave those things specific cubbies. For the record, tutus take up a lot of space when they're just lying around. It looks a lot better and all I need to do now is buy a giant toy box so I can throw everything in and close the lid!! I should have taken a "before" picture, but just imagine something way less organized and Rubbermaid bins lining the wall, acting as toy boxes.