And Something new Ryan is learning...

Apparently, they are really working on the sounding out at school, because Ryan was trying it more than I have ever heard him tonight as I read a Magic Tree House book to him. So I got out something easier for him to read.

He was able to get through this whole page without getting frustrated and giving up. I am so proud of him!! Reading, here we come!

Something new Jillian can do...

That's Ryan and I in the background encouraging her.

8 Months Old!

Oh yeah! Who's 8-months-old? That'd be me!

I'm giving Mama a really hard time with photo shoots these days. Even with my big brother's help. First, she tries to distract me with some other object that she really doesn't want in the picture.



Then, she tries to sneak that sign in. Hey! Isn't that the same sign I tried to eat last month?



Mmm. Still tastes good!



I could use it as a hat!



You don't really want a picture of me, do you Mommy?


OK, how about this?

Enough of that, let me tell you what I have been up to. I weigh 16 lbs 14 ozs and do not want to lay down on that scale anymore!

If you check in here often, you already know I am crawling. I am also pulling up like a fiend now. I mean, on everything!

Getting into some tricky places.

And checking out some of my big brother's stuff. How do I get down from here?!

I love being outside. It's been beautiful down here lately, so Mommy and my sitter, Miss Kelly have been taking me outside a lot! I even fell asleep with my friend Dakota on a blanket Miss Kelly brought to the park with us the other day!

I like crawling in the grass and eating what I find!

On second thought, maybe not!

And I LOVE taking baths! Since I am sitting up, Mommy puts me in the big tub. I love splashing and having water poured over me!

The end of another great season!

This has been Ryan's best season yet. Just one more with this age group next spring and he moves up. Good job, bud!

A Good Day!

Started with two hours at Archiver's with friends for make and takes and some creative planning of projects to work on with Katy at Scrapapalooza 3 this Christmas!

Then Scott got me outside. I tried to get a good shot of the kids on this beautiful fall day, but this was the best I could do:

Scott started moving stuff around the garage and I said I'd been wanting to clean it out, so we did:

That feels SO good to be done! Finally, we got a fire going in the fire pit and made s'mores!

Halloween

Hooray! Halloween is finally here! I got the kids costumes done this morning (although I have had them planned in my head for awhile now). Ryan is Wall-E and Jillian is Eve from the movie Wall-E (if you havn't seen the movie, go watch it. It's good!)


We got dressed up for our neighborhood parade. This was Jillian's only time dressing up, as she was sacked out by the time trick-or-treating started. And I figured she wouldn't keep that head/helmet on, but I got at least one good shot, so I'm ok with that.


Without the helmet, everyone thought she was an angel. I'm ok with that, too, but if she was an angel, I'd have made it a better angel. You know, halo, better wings.

The costume was good for snacking on:

Our friend Claire:

And her brother Jesse:

The whole bunch before the parade:

And during the parade:

A few of the left-leaning stroller babies:

Ryan ready to go trick-or-treating:

And his haul at the end of the night:

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Fun

We have had a good time around our house getting ready for Halloween. Every time I turn around, Ryan is drawing a pumpkin or a ghost and hanging it up with tape somewhere.

Last night for dinner we got creative and had eyeballs and brains (and the leftover eyeballs will be quick meatball subs for tonight!):


Here's the front of the house. Ryan made the bats hanging from the lights and the ghosts at the bottom:


He hung the bat and the spooky pumkin monster on the mirror:

And we made spiders and pumpkins out of egg cartons for the dining room:

My big project today was getting these up in our front windows:

Kind of fun!

Halloween Party

Jillian and I went to Ryan's class party today. The parents and teachers planned lots of fun events.

They decorated pumpkins:


And got their faces painted!

Pumpkins!

We carved our pumpkins tonight. Ryan is getting more and more into it (and into decorating for Halloween in general) and Jillian dove right in, too!

Ryan took this one of us working:

The finished product: