Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We're just barely coming down off the sugar high! As usual, it was my chance to pull out the sewing machine and put those home ec skills to good use. Max was a "Rock Star." We tried to tell him that he was Elvis, but he has no idea who Elvis is so we settled on rock star. Man, that costume was a labor of love. The entire thing was custom tailored to fit his little toddler body. A lot of work, but I think it turned out to be one of my best costumes yet. We taught Max to curl his lip and in a deep voice say, "Uh huh." Oh so funny. You'd just have to see it.

Sophie was a Halloween witch complete with 30 yards of ribbon and tulle. We taught her to say, "Boo!", which was absolutely hilarious. She was very proud of her costume and sparkly shoes and twirled around and around. I also put her hair in her very first real ponytails. She looked like such a big girl!

We had a wonderful Halloween. I'm relieved to pack up my sewing mess and call it done for a year. Now I'll just have to start daydreaming about what they can be next year!

Pumpkin Patch

Don't you just love fall?! We went to Pumpkin Point Farms to pick out our pumpkins this year and had a blast. In addition to millions of pumpkins to choose from, they had a hay ride, a children's corn maze (which was great - short, easy, and not scary!), and 20 old fashioned tractors to pretend to drive. What fun! We were frozen by the time we left so we stopped for some hot chocolate to warm us up. It was a perfect night!

Sophie's Big Announcement (and really fast 8 month review)

So, um ... guilty conscience here. Just noticing that it has been a few weeks since we last posted. Okay, months. Okay, okay, EIGHT months. Cut us a break...we've been just a little bit busy. At this point Jacy would like me to make sure that you all know that this bit of sugary and petulant goodness flows not from her mouth, but from my (a.k.a. Steveo's) yapper. We had a rather phenomenal day today, however, and I repented my blogging sins to post yet another serving of bragging about my kids. Before I break the big news, here is what you might have missed in the last 8 months: Christmas '08, Grandpa's birthday, New Years '09, Steveo's birthday, Valentine's Day in Vegas, Grandma's birthday, Uncle John's birthday, Easter'09, Angie's birthday, Grandma's birthday, Uncle Steven's birthday, Sophie's 1st birthday, Independence Day, Grandpa's birthday, Max at swimming lessons, trips to the zoo, buying a new house, almost selling our house, Steveo graduating from University, and a wide variety of other things that we may someday actually post some pictures of. Now, with that out of the way, the big news. . . SOPHIE IS WALKING! It is so great. She has been pretending to walk for months now. But today, out of the blue, she took those first tentative steps and off she went. They say a picture is worth a thousand words ... so a video must be worth more, right? Okay, in any case I'm way too lazy to actually write those thousand words, so a video will have to suffice. To all - we love yer guts.

We Love Halloween!

Halloween was a whirlwind this year! Mommy finished sewing the costumes just in time, and we spent the day traveling to Daddy's work, Gma and Gpa Ostlers, and then finished the night off with a chili dinner and trick-or-treating at Gma and Gpa Wilde's house. We had so much fun! Sophie dressed up as a Monarch butterfly and Max was a dragon. Max was quick to point out that, "I'm a nice dragon Mommy, not a scary one." He called his costume "My Halloween." All day long he kept asking," Mom, can I take off my Halloween yet?" I think the hat bugged him.

Visiting Daddy's Office

The highlight of the night for Max was answering the door at Grandma's house. He liked this better than actually trick-or-treating himself. Each time the doorbell rang he would exclaim, "Grandma! Hurry! There's some more peoples here!" What fun memories!

Max's Preschool Halloween Party & Parade

Pumpkin Patch

I planted pumpkins again this year, but for some reason not a single pumpkin grew. I suspect it was because Mommy didn't weed enough. A newborn does not allow much time for gardening. Oh well, Sophie's worth it!

This year we headed over to Rosewood Gardens pumpkin patch to let Max pick out some pumpkins for our front porch. We had a blast! There were hundreds of pumpkins everywhere and Max kept loading pumpkin after pumpkin into our cart. (Daddy and Mommy carefully unloaded while he wasn't looking.) We had so much fun that I think we'll make it a new family tradition.

5 months old

My little Sophie is 5 months old already. I know it's cliche, but how time flies! It feels like she was born just a few days ago. Sophie is the sweetest, happiest, most content baby I've ever known. She is 13 lbs, 10 oz and 24 " long already. She just started eating rice cereal and a few baby foods. Messy, messy, messy, but we love it. Sophie still only has about 5 hairs on top of her head ... but I think they're getting longer!

First Day of Preschool

Oh my goodness, how is it possible that my baby is going to preschool? Max just started preschool and LOVES it. He looked so cute all decked out in his new school clothes, new school haircut, and Thomas the Train backpack. I walked him to school and he didn't even get nervous to stay without me. He was too busy with the trains and blocks to even wave goodbye. Max is learning about colors and shapes and families right now. His favorite activities are playing in the sand table, painting, Play-Doh, and gymnastics on Thursdays. If you ask him what his favorite part of preschool is he says, "My friends." It's official, my baby boy is growing up!