Happy Halloween!

Halloween has been lots of fun this year! Even though officially it was only yesterday, we had already been trick-or-treating twice...once at the Zoo Boo with Grammy and Poppa and once at church with Aunt Amanda and Camden.

Ready for the Zoo Boo

Daddy and his little kitty

Woah! (Watching big brother on the carousel)

Last night we went over to Great-Grandpa's house to see everyone and then went around his neighborhood. J did a good job going up to the doors and saying trick-or-treat (and thank you!) and even got to see a big fire truck and get candy from the fireman. I think his favorite part was the walk -- he keeps asking to go for a walk today. It's probably going to take a little explaining that we can't go up to houses and ask for candy anymore.

Where's my candy?

Uncle Tyler doing his impression of "the Julian run"...

And the original!

Julian has really gotten into all the "pooky" (spooky) stuff. That is his new favorite word and we drive around after dark looking for "pooky houses" like we're looking at Christmas lights. Once I found out how much he liked all the decorations, we had to run out and get some at the last minute. Let's just say that there's a red-eyed, battery-powered plastic bat that flies around over our dinner table now. I think we're sufficiently spooky here.

And although not really Halloween related, I have to brag on my little boy a bit. He is talking so much now and making 3 and 4 word sentences. (ie: "More pooky house please!") I am always trying to keep up with him when he's talking to me because he seems to gain new words every second. Yesterday in the car home from church, he pointed to a pond and said "lake" and was showing me "cowds" in the sky. We've never even taught him those, so I don't even know where he got them. This is such a fun age.

Evelyn is as smiley as ever and such a sweetie. We all love to play little games to make her bust out in that irresistible, eye-squinting grin. And I can't tell you how many times a day Mitch or I will stop the other one and say "Aww, look at her..." because she's smiling in her sleep, or curling up like a little shrimp in her bassinet, or she's cooing and smiling at our ridiculous attempts at baby humor, or she's gazing lovingly at her big brother...or any other moment of adorableness that we don't want to miss.


And yes, J may be experiencing the growing pains of being two (temper tantrums, screaming fits, general toddler frustrations) and Evie might prefer to be held 24/7 and have some major meltdowns over tummy aches....but our kids are just so awesome. They make us so happy and we are having so much fun being their parents.

Cleaning off the puppy face and chocolate...

(And for the record, we got some bath drops that turn the water different colors. We don't have swamp water coming out of our faucets.)

MSU Homecoming

We loaded the car up and took off for East Lansing on Saturday for Homecoming. We didn't have tickets to the game (not that we would have even considered going with the kids), and just planned on making a short trip of it. We ended up having a great time and a lot of fun packed into our quick visit.

J got his face painted...he picked "boonah" (balloons).

His favorite part of the whole event. He loved playing with these and kept walking into other people's games to add balls to their ladders.

Think Sparty will mind if I take his ride for a spin?

No haymakers from Sparty this time.

Watching the band, eating a cookie. It doesn't get any better.

Two Months Old

Our little Evie Girl is two months old already. She is growing so much and is the most smiley baby I've ever seen. She sleeps so well at night (usually up only once to eat, sometimes she'll sleep the whole night), loves to be held and cuddled, laughs when we kiss her cheeks, and likes to study our faces and talk back to us.


We had her two month appointment the other day and they commented that she had a big growth spurt length-wise. We thought so! I swear it happened all in one night...I picked up her up one morning and she was twice as long.

She's between the 50th and 75th percentile for both height and weight and the doctor was happy with her developmental progress, saying she's right on track. Mitch swears it was a fluke, but a few nights ago Evie rolled over, back to front. She's a squirmy worm, so it was only a matter of time.

I am having lots of fun dressing up my little girl like she's my babydoll. (Although, it is making for a bad shopping habit...) I kept a bunch of J's old clothes out for Evie to wear, but it's funny how much I just want to dress her in ruffles and pink and girly-ness. But not to worry, pink-haters, she gets plenty of greens, yellows, browns, and blues too...just mostly at night. :)

Evelyn has been such a blessing and such a warm, sweet addition to our little family. We love her so much!



Oh and for the record, I'm probably never going to get her month pictures posted on the exact day...I'll consider it a success if I get them up within the correct month.

Happy Birthday Julian

My little boy is two!

I cannot believe how fast time flies once you have kids. Everyone warns you that it will, but I never quite got it until they got here. This two year old is gaining new words every second, repeating everything he hears like a little parrot, learning to be a gentle, sweet big brother, and making our lives fun and happy.

Some cute tidbits:

The other day, he walked in from outside, saw me and said "Hi honey!"

He tells himself no when he knows he can't have or do something he is thinking about. The funny part is, he says it just like I do: "nope, nope, nope".

His favorite words of the month have been "Deej" (usually said "Deej...truck" or "Deej...hug"), "appo" (he loves apples), and "chock mook" (he had his first taste of chocolate milk and is a big fan).

He is learning letters now and loves to point at each letter in a book and hear what it is. He knows S, M, O, and I.

His new favorite game is "What can go down the laundry chute?" So far the answers are: an apple, a sippy cup, a shampoo bottle, a granola bar, and clean, folded laundry. I've started putting him in the bathroom with a huge hamper of dirty clothes and he will put one piece at a time down until he's through the whole basket.

His birthday party was a huge success and we all had a great time. Not only did we celebrate Julian turning two, but we also got to celebrate a Spartan victory! Thanks to everyone who came and helped make his day special. He got lots of great gifts and had fun playing with Drew and Camden.




Since today is his actual birthday, we'll do something fun when Daddy gets home. J already got to have some birthday cake after lunch (okay, for lunch) and spent some time playing with Grammy and Uncle Tyler this morning. Then we went for a long walk, stopping to look at whatever interesting rock or leaf J found at every other step.

In fact...I hear the Birthday Boy waking up from his nap now...oh, and imagine that, he's asking for chock mook...

Evie's Slideshow