Happy Halloween!

We went Trick-or-Treating with our friends from preschool again and it was tons of fun! We enjoyed a delicious pot-luck dinner before hand and took the kids aroun Piper's neighborhood. Ben and Emily had a blast and ended up with far too much candy=) Here are the cutest pics from tonight!

Officer Ben

Trick-or-Treat! How could they resist such darling kids?

Baby Callie, trying on Ben's police hat.

Ben and his friend Jonah, playing Tickle Monster

Emily loved these breadsticks shaped like bones!

Trick-or-treating can be ruff!


Pretty much all our pictures of Ben ended up like this. His hat was ever-so-slightly too big!

TinkerEmmie did her best to keep up with the bigger kids!

Adore Me

Adore me...

Trick-or-Treat!

In an attempt to get some free candy and a little practice for Halloween, Mimi and I took the little ones to Mommy and Me on the Row's annual Trick-or-Treat event. We've gone to this each year and it's so much fun. We all love seeing all the other children dressed up and who doesn't love free candy? Both Ben and Emily are expert Trick-or-Treaters now, so they made out like little candy bandits. Emily, resplendent in her Tinkerbell costume, really did well in the candy department. She literally had almost twice as much candy as Ben, although we all stayed together! Ben looked super-cool in his policeman costume so I don't really understand why he got less candy. At least he didn't seem to notice=)

Pumpkin Patch!

Ben, Emily and Callie enjoyed a visit to the pumpkin patch today! We found one that was delightfully old-fashioned(i.e. didn't have tons of giant bounce-houses, pony-rides, corn-mazes etc. that they charged an arm and a leg for!). This one was put on by a fruit stand and it was perfect. Just pumpkins and decorations=) We spent about half an hour searching for the perfect pumpkins, enjoying the non-scary decorations and letting them climb in the tractor-trailer(Ben's fav part). Once we picked our pumpkins, we pulled them by wagon to the register(Emily's fav part) and now the pumpkins are resting at the foot of Ben and Emily's bed because obviously one can't sleep unless their beloved pumpkin is in bed with them. Considering the love affair they have going on with these gourds, I'm not sure if we'll end up carving them! That might scar the wee pumpkin-lovers for life;)

Spooooky House

We're still on lock-down as the last of us recover from the dreaded swine-flu. Since children are such petri-dishes anyhow, and have yet to master the art of covering their mouths(hell, some adults still haven't mastered this!), we've had to stay indoors for the past week. We're all getting a bit stir-crazy, but it's for the greater good! To help entertain the wild animals, Mimi brought over this super-fun gingerbread house kit for us to make today. Ben and Emily had so much fun decorating this thing that I wish we had more things to cover in royal icing and candy. The finished product was very spoooooky, as you can see=)



Emily was so proud of herself for doing a good job. She kept saying, "My being a good girl, mimi!"

She really liked putting the candies on.

Ben loved this project, too. He got to help use the hand-mixer to make the icing and
really loved choosing where to put his candies.

The Little Chick loved watching her big brother and sister in action. She's started really watching and interacting with them this week and we've even gotten a few laughs from her! It's very cute and I can't wait to get a video soon!Ain't she a beauty? I frosted the windows. Pretty crappy, huh!

Tinkerbell and her bed

Who's a dazzling blond imp that looks smashing in green, flits around on her tippy-toes and is known for her sassy attitude? No....not Tinkerbell! Emily(aka Tinkerbell's biggest fan)!! TinkerEmmie, as she likes to be called, discovered Disney's Tinkerbell a few months ago and has gone gaga for all things fairy. She is the proud owner of THREE Tinkerbell dolls, two Tink outfits, a Tinkerbell costume with custom Tinkerbell bow(thanks, Rinny! We love it!), several Tinkerbell cups, a Tinkerbell book and, the newest, fabbest addition: a Tinkerbell BED! Our big girl now sleeps in her very own big-girl bed and it's just as lovely as she is. Mimi gifted her with it as a housewarming present and Emily is gaga over her sweet nest. She is forever saying, "My Tinkerbell bed is soooo beautiful!". Below are some pictures of our little pixie in her costume, showing off her new bed!



Is this not the cutest fairy you ever saw?

And is this not the most fab toddler bed on the planet?

Putting her kitty to bed, and showing off the wings

"Good-night, kitty! My wuv you!"

Nursing Strike

Ever since Callie came down with the swine flu, she's been on a nursing strike. She went from reluctantly taking the occasional bottle to point-blank refusing to breastfeed. If I even try to get her into position to nurse, she starts wailing. As soon as I reposition her and show her the bottle, she audible sighs with relief and goes to work. Miss Independent even held her own bottle for Dan, as evident below. The odd part is that she'll still nurse at night, probably because she's only half awake. I'm not quite sure how to handle this, so I'm just goin' with the flow and waiting it out. Thank God for pumps and formula is all I have to say! Any ideas on how to get her to nurse again? Or have we crossed over from nipple confusion to bottle-preference?

A Plague Upon Both Our Houses

The good news is that we moved out of Mimi's house earlier in the week. The bad news is that we brought H1N1 Swine Flu with us. Before I could even weigh the pros and cons over getting them the H1N1 vaccine, the virus has swept through our family like a hurricane. H1N1 is a nasty little virus, as nasty as the swines it comes from. We're all feverish, coughing, runny-nosed and achy and it's no fun at all. Even Miss Callie has it, with the addition of a double ear infection. Mimi has it, too, so there's no one to even help us, not that I'd want to expose anyone to this! So, if you want my opinion about whether or not to get the H1N1 vaccine...just look at these sad, sick little faces and then decide:(

Three Months Old!

Um, what-the-hell?! How has it been three months already? I could swear I went to bed in the hospital just last night and woke up this morning with a three month old. Callie continues to be the sweetest baby on the planet. We're all enjoying her so much. It's been magical watching the lights turn on in her, so to speak. She notices and interacts with everyone, especially Ben and Emily! We're anxiously awaiting her first laughs and loving every minute with our gorgeous girl=)


Three months old and oh-so-pretty!

Callie says, "Ok, enough with the camera".

"I'm serious, lady! Put.It.DOWN! Don't make me come over there."

Fun Fest

Ben and Emily had a great time at the church's annual Fun Fest this year. Here are some cute shots=)

Compare & Contrast #2

Here are all my babies at almost 3 months old=) I think it's safe to say that Callie is looking much more like Ben these days!