Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours...

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. I am pretty thankful that I don't have to make a turkey this year. Not that I have ever had to, but still something I am thankful for. We have enjoyed a quiet morning playing, putting up Christmas decorations and baking. We are getting ready to go to Aunt Kristen and Uncle David's cottage for a cozy Thanksgiving with our family.

Here are a few "firsts" that have occurred in our house over the last few days:

Kate's First Hair Cut (goodbye mullet)

Before...

After...

First Snow of the Year

Two very happy girls...

One not so happy. It might be a very loooong winter. She would much prefer no clothes to this get up-even in the cold!

First Cuddle Truce for Rudy and Lucy

This has now happened several times and isn't an uncommon sight anymore. It only took about three weeks for Rudy to be converted to a Catdog. About the same amount of time it took Mulligan to like Rudy. It must be some kind of unspoken animal rule. They can now be heard playing together around the house. When the people are away...the cat and dog will play!

Enjoying a quiet morning on mom and dad's bed.

You know who couldn't be left out of the action. Kate loving on Lu after she learned how to get up on our bed all by herself.

Cat-ch up!!!

These are the pics from Lucy's homecoming day. In daddy's car. The first glimpse of what the big surprise was for the girls. Oh boy were they excited.

That first night she felt a little more comfortable in the tub, where she couldn't be reached.

The next morning she made herself at home. Rudy still can't figure out why Lucy can go places that she can't go or isn't allowed to go.

A true picture of Rudy's feelings. Does this look like she has her feelings hurt or like she wants to kill and eat the cat who is laying to the left by my feet.

Ok, here are some recent pics from our house. This week on Veteran's Day we got to celebrate my mom's birthday. I won't tell you which one is was but she is still in the middle of her life and not old, yet! We made her a nice little dinner and the best part was the spice cake we made for dessert. Spice or Carrot are her favorites for this year so we even put cinnamon in the cream cheese frosting. Very yummy.

On the side of the cake is a leaf, cement bird bath that we got for my mom.

Opening her bird bath.

I don't know who was more excited but I am pretty sure it was the girls who were going to get to eat cake and ice cream.

Almost our whole household has been teething. Kate has been working on #3 and 4 on the bottom and her "I" teeth on top. Miserable. Hannah has cut 1.5 of her two year molars and Meg is not too far behind.

Looking at the picture, you can see the large new molar on the left side of the picture.

Kate has been working on stairs these days and we are finally comfortable with her on her own, although we still keep pretty close tabs on her. But she has the "tummy descent" down pretty well. You have to, to keep up with the big dogs!

This weekend is fall clean up around here. I am SO ready for snow now!!

Our Newest Addition...

Well, we have a new family member as of Wednesday. Charlie surprised his girls with a sweet little furry kitten that we have named Lucy. Hannah tried her best to rename her Bob or Bobbi but we didn't think Grandpa Bob would appreciate the cat being named after him. My dad, also a Bob, would have probably gotten a kick out of the girls naming a cat after him. But I have now won Hannah over and convinced her that the kitten's name is Lucy. She is a loud motor box who loves the attention of the girls and her new surroundings. Rudy however, would still like to pounce on her and probably kill her but we aren't really sure what is going on in Rudy's head. We always check to make sure the cat is still alive after we walk in the door from being away. Lucy seems clueless as to Rudy's stalking but will hiss every once in a while.

As for me, I needed one more mouth to feed, bottom to clean and creature to watch but it is a whole lot easier then a dog. She fits in perfectly and is always up for a quick snuggle from Kate. Tonight as I read the girls their bedtime stories, she curled up on Meg's chest and settled in as Meg wrapped her arms around her little purring body. Priceless.

Pics to follow

My Baby Ain't No Baby Anymore...

She's ONE! I spent her whole pregnancy worrying about how I would handle three under three, then I spent the first six months of her life worrying that she wasn't going to sleep at night if I let her sleep too much during the day. I have spent the last six months worrying that for some reason she wasn't going to sleep through the night. Well, she slept all of the time for her first six months, was a very easy baby, slept through the nights since month four, and has only woken up at night twice since then. She is my best sleeper by far! She even beats out her father in the sleep category. The Lord knows me, He continues to bless me through my kids, and is still teaching me that there isn't a reason to worry about them (yeah right) they are His and only mine for a short while.

Kate scored off the chart at her One Year Dr. appt today.

For Height she was 31 1/2 inches long (off the charts)

For Weight she was 21 pounds and 12 ounces (62nd %)

While she isn't the easiest toddler that I have had, she is still a little joy and monster all mixed up in one. Both Hannah and Megan combined never gave me the grief that she does. This week she started throwing herself on the floor if she didn't get something (can you say two year old?) Much of her struggle comes from not being able to keep up with her sidekicks who generally do whatever they can to accommodate her wishes. She loves Hannah like no body else in our home except for Rudy. She loves to sit and play ball or have Meg read her books. Kate is just now beginning to enjoy a great literary work but prefers those about four legged creatures. She is a terrible eater and will be the child that makes me eat all of my parenting advice. In fact, she already has!

Here are some pics of our little "Mo" (monster) at her party and some of her friends and family. Thank you to all who came to celebrate our little Kate's birthday. We wanted to invite more but our house doesn't hold that many and Charlie asked that this one not be as ginormous as H & M's. I appeased him and the Lord blessed us with a beautiful fall day!

It was a costume party for the kids. Guess who was pretty excited about that! Meg the Monkey, Kate the Little Monster and Hannah the Elephant.

Kate looking up to her pumpkin balloon!

Enjoying her Coldstone cake...until the brain freeze began and panic set in!

Playing with one of her new puzzles from Aunt Kristen and Uncle David.

Sitting quietly on Great Grandpa's lap after the best ever birthday a girl could ask for!

Hello...my name is

procrastinator and I have too much to do besides publicly celebrate my baby Kake's first birthday. Really, I have wanted to do a really long post but it just hasn't happened yet. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.

But my baby did turn 1 yesterday and it was a very nice day. The Lord made a wonderfully warm fall day for us to be outside and go trick or treating at the seniors center with our mom's club. Then we had lunch downtown with daddy and some very long naps before we went to Henry's for a play date and then Miss Jonna babysat while we went to small group. All in all, a pretty good day for our little MO!

Pics of the one year old, her party and her walking soon! I promise!

Where does time go?

Today I was standing with a friend, watching my little, big girls in their preschool class. I can't believe how big they are getting. They actually sit and listen to a story, or for directions from the gymnastics coach. But best of all, they seem to really be listening to us. Not always for the small things but that will come, I have to remind myself that they are still only two years old and Charlie still has his moments at 31. For example: the other night I was telling the girls part of their story. The part about us coming to pick them up and all of us taking a big plane ride and all the people waiting for us at the airport (there are more details but I'll get to the point). After I finish telling Hannah all of this, there is a 30 second pause and then she says to me, "Mama, when I am big, can I take a big plane and pick you up?"

This fall we enrolled the girls in preschool one day a week at a Bible study that I also attend. They are studying the Life of Moses as am I. They have weekly Bible verses to learn, hymns, gym time, rest time and play time. It is a very amazing program and that is just the children's side of things. We also enrolled them in gymnastics at the YMCA. They love that too but we haven't been as impressed with that program. Here are some pictures of last week at the Y.

This is a parent interactive class-Charlie is not a "hovering parent".

Hannah in great form doing her somersault.

The ribbons on a stick is one of their favorite things to do. Hannah (green shorts) can't help but move her whole body with the music and the ribbon.

Meg on the bar doing her best "bat hang". This truly is their favorite activity.

Hannah doing her "bat hang" on the bars.

A HUGE Accomplishment

Today Kate finally ventured out on her own two feet! Her Aunt Cindy was the one to witness her first few steps, I was in the kitchen and out of sight. However, she did continue to try through out the day as her confidence grew. She isn't anywhere near running yet but I am sure it won't be long! Hopefully a video to follow soon...

Yeah Baby Kate! Where did my little peanut go?

Two new posts below

There are a bunch of new pictures and some things I forgot to include in the posts below.

Kate just recently got her fourth top tooth this past week. She also learned how to drink out of a straw. Only one month until her birthday so we are hoping that ventures out on those two legs of hers before her big day!

Meg this morning was in my closet with me getting dressed and pulled Charlie's athletic cup off the shelf, put it on her head and asked if she could wear daddy's small hat!

Out newest addition

We arrived home from our trip to a new addition at Grandma's house. Over the weekend my mom got a new little puppy for herself, although my children would like to think she's theirs. Her name is Walker (after the company my dad worked for) and she is a labordoodle. In her case she is 3/4 poodle and 1/4 Labrador. She is very cute, quirky and fits in perfectly. Kate, of course, just loves to be loved by her and Hannah loves to be chased by her. Here are some pictures from when we got to babysit her for a few hours.

A weekend away...

After just one trip down the slide, Kate was buzzed!

Last Wednesday after the girls went to school we quickly came home, ate lunch and then jumped in the car for a road trip to the 'burbs of Chicago. Not only were we going to stay at Grandma Linda's but Aunt Carrie and Alicia were in town. The biggest reason we went was because Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Peggy were getting married. It turned out to be a wonderfully warm fall weekend, we had great time with family and the wedding was perfect. On our free day we all went to Sonny Acres, a fun fall pumpkinny type place that I used to go to as a kid. Then we all went out to lunch downtown Glenn Ellyn at Two Toots Cafe, a darling old diner that has a small train that travels to each table to deliver your food. All of the girls LOVED it and they even got to see real trains go by because it is situated right on the train tracks downtown.

Megan, Alicia and Hannah sitting on the pumpkin wagon.

Another blessing of being in town was that my precious friend Lindsay was in town from Cape Town, SA for her brother's wedding. I was able to make it to a personal shower for her and I also got to see all of my best friends from HS. The time was priceless, the food was mouth watering and the fellowship was long overdue! Thanks Karen for hosting all of us and for all the awesome food!

Then the wedding! An intimate event set outside on a beautiful fall day. Peggy was radiant and the groom even seemed to be glowing. Hannah, Megan and Alicia all walked down the isle and were just precious. The pictures speak for themselves. Then grandma and grandpa surprised all of the girls with pimped out trikes! My girls would sleep with them if we let them. Thanks G & G for the wonderful day and all of our goodies!

Peggy and her son, Jonathan before the wedding.

The girls composing a little number of their own.

A quick trip down the isle with leaves and pedals in their baskets.
The presentation of the bikes after the wedding.

Grandma playing with her granddaughters.Grandpa giving Kate her own little treasure.

They Ate From the Tree...

of which they were suppose to be picking.

As most of you, my faithful blog readers know...fall is my very favorite time of year! Really, every season is my favorite because I am always ready for the next one but I just love fall. I love the leaves changing, the smell of fall, the cool weather, the pumpkins, the back to school excitement, everything!!! However, despite my love for this season I have never ventured out to pick apples. Well....today we did and we LOVED it.

Apparently we have a fabulous orchard within an hours ride, by car not horse, of our house. The best part was they even had a pumpkin patch. We found our very first pumpkin for the year after careful examination of each and every pumpkin in the patch. Honestly the best part wasn't the pumpkins but the restaurant attached to the orchard in which we partook of a fabulous lunch and noontime dessert. All of this thanks to our friend, Miss Kim, who is also our neighbor and if you have ever been to our house I am sure you have either met her or one of her daughters. She has done this with her girls who are now in high school for a very long time and is now passing her tradition on to us.

Hannah and Megan carefully selected every apple within their picking range and dropped it into our bags. Meg ate and dropped more apples then I could count, every time I turned around the child was chopping on another apple. I wore Kate on my back and she too enjoyed gnawing on a very large apple the whole time. I am sure it was a relief for those two new top teeth that are coming in. We had reached our apple limit in about an hour and then set out for our pumpkins and gourds. (I paused here to sleep last night). We then had a very simple but yummy lunch at the orchard's restaurant. Homemade bread for our sandwiches and dessert at noontime. How much more storybook can it be? Now for the pictures....

The trees were just their size. This is Meg selecting the perfect Courtland.

Kate chomping away on that perfect Courtland that Meg selected!

"Well if Kate does, then why shouldn't I get to eat one?"

Hannah practicing her "apple polishing"skills. Little does she know that her mother was voted "Best Apple Polisher" in her HS senior superlatives...

Meg making her way back to the car after we filled our bags.

"I see one waaaaay out there, Hannah!"

Kate enjoyed the pumpkin selection process too!

Sitting by a cute while little barn. Kate is getting ready to bite someone...she's been doing that a lot lately, but mostly to herself.

My three little girls waiting for their pumpkin chariot to arrive to bring them home after a long day at the ball, I mean orchard.