October 2017

We had two days off school for Columbus Day and parent/teacher conferences.  Love getting to hear about all the progress the girls are making and hearing their teachers brag on them.  So proud of all their hard work.  Auntie Kara was off one of those two days as well so the girls and I met her for lunch.  Then we went back to her apartment to play with her kitties.  Her beloved kitty passed away in Aug at age 13. =(  After visiting many shelters she decided to get two 5 month old kittens.  They are not siblings but they seem to be getting along.  They are SO cute and we enjoyed getting to play with them, even if only one cooperated for a picture.

Nathan and I decided to "graduate" ourselves upstairs for church choir this year now that we no longer have anyone in preschool.  We are having fun and so are the girls.  Abigail LOVES being upstairs with all the big kids.  The kids choir sang a song in big church one Sunday this month.  Our church has an awesome photographer that takes pictures so here's a few he captured. Photo credit: Jack Hess

The city of Plano put on a Family Safety Fair a few weekends ago.  Sadly it was the day before the cold front came through so it was 90 degrees.  But we had fun.  Hannah was especially excited to get to see some of the fire clowns.  They had just been out to their school to do an assembly about safety.  Abigail was to shy to get in the picture.

We decided to go with a super hero theme for our Halloween costumes this year.  My mom found super cute and reasonably priced costumes for the girls on-line so we did not have to make anything, which was nice. We did splurge on the ADORABLE bows, but they TOTALLY make the costume and we may wear them individually upon occasion if we have clothing to match.  My mom did a costume photo session one weekend and I am so pleased with what she captured and all her editing work.  So much fun!! 

This jail idea was all my sister.  I think this is my favorite series of photos we took.  They make me laugh every time.  LOVE the cute thought bubbles my mom added!!

We hit two fall festivals over the weekend and then trick-or-treated around the block in our neighborhood on Halloween night.  More than enough candy!  We also got to wear our costumes to church choir one night so yeah for getting extra use out of them.

Sadly the tummy bug made it though our house at the end of the month.  NOT FUN!!  It was short lived, but brutal.  It it Abigail first and she actually missed one of the fall festivals.  We thought we were safe after several days and then Hannah and I got it.  So far Nathan has escaped and we pray that continues.  Being immune-suppressed means getting sick is really not fun for him.

October 2015

Wow October is already over....time flies!  It is finally starting to cool off a little so we've enjoyed much more time outside this month.  We've visited several parks and even the zoo.

One Friday we took a walk to the college by my parents house to feed the geese and turtles.  Abigail had lots of fun!  The last photo was taken on our walk...she loves sitting on that little rock.

My mom and I also took Abigail to the Arboretum to see all their pumpkins.  Lots of fun, but the actually pumpkin village was swarming with people.  Thankfully there were some other less popular spots to get some pictures.  We were sad that Hannah didn't get to join us this year.

Speaking of Hannah....she is still enjoying school.  We had our first parent/teacher conference and her teacher only had good things to say.  My favorite was "Hannah is helpful and kind!"  Just what mommy and daddy want to hear.  =)  She had her first illness and missed almost all of this school week.  Glad she is feeling better. Hannah is also doing a puppet class as part of choir at church.  They are learning how to operate a puppet and will "perform" one song at their program in November.

I was super excited not to have to come up with a Halloween costume this year.  Our Minnie (and Mickey) ones still fit from last year and the girls wanted to wear them again.  I was ALL over that!!!  We went to my sister's church Fall Festival last weekend and hope to trick or treat our neighborhood tonight if it doesn't rain.  No new costume pictures this year...but here's one from last year to enjoy.

October 2014

Wow October seemed to fly by...where did the time go!  It was a fun and busy month.  We had some cooler weather so we enjoyed spending time outside.  We've gone to several parks, taken lots of walks, and made a trip to the zoo.  Speaking of the zoo, the last time we were there, we got to feed a flamingo.  SUPER COOL!!  They nibbled bird seed out of our hands which tickled, and we could feel how soft their neck was because it brushed against us.

My mom and I also took the girls to a small church pumpkin patch.  It happened to be HOT this day which is the reason for the sleeveless summery dresses.  LOL!  The girls were fairly cooperative to take pictures, and had fun looking at the scarecrows and picking a pumpkin.



My MOPS group also took a trip to a different pumpkin patch in McKinney.  It was just the right size for preschoolers and both girls had fun.  Hannah even surprised me by getting her face painted.  =)





This post would not be complete without Halloween costume pictures.  I love the idea and look of homemade costumes so I began searching for ideas back in August.  I knew if I let the girls pick the would join the masses of Anna's and Elsa's.  =)  I finally settled on Minnie Mouse for the girls and me and told Nathan he was going to be Mickey (poor guy never gets a choice either).  I ordered 8 spools of red tulle and my mom and I got to work making 3 tutus.  You'll be glad to know that we found our way out from underneath all of that tulle and the costumes turned our REALLY cute!



Lots of fun at our church's Fall Festival this year, but no good pictures. We didn't find time for my mom to take pictures of the whole family this year. So Nathan created a make shift tripod and we tried to snap a few Friday night before heading out to trick-or-treat.  We went to a few more houses this year than in the past and Hannah was actually tall enough to reach the doorbell.

11/12/13

Hannah remembered Halloween from last year and as soon as pumpkins started to appear she got very excited.  She (and Abigail) really enjoyed looking at neighbors decorations while riding in the car or taking a walk.  Hannah's kitty cat costume from last year still fit so I was planning to have her wear it again.  Then Grammy found hot pink cowgirl boots at Target couldn't resist getting them.  Hannah already had a denim skirt, jacket, and pink shirt.  So all I had to find was a hat.  Hannah LOVED her costume and the boots!

She was VERY cooperative this year when we took photos in her costume.  She let us pose her, looked at the camera, and generally followed directions.  The result was several really cute photos.


We decided to skip the Arboretum pumpkin patch this year and go to Owens Farm instead. It's a small little farm right in the middle of Richardson.  We actually took Hannah there when she was 10 months old.  Sadly the farm is closing this month and will be moving farther away.  The girls really enjoyed exploring, watching mommy feed the goats (not brave enough to do it yet), and taking a hay ride.  Their favorite part was picking out a pumpkin to take home.

Twenty-Two Months

Both of my girls are so verbal.  They talk WAY more than most kids their age and most of it is understandable.  They also say lots and lots of words correctly...including really big words.  Yes Abigail followed in Hannah's footsteps and says actually, she can pronounce it and use it the right way.  Because of that I treasure the few words they say incorrectly.  My favorites from Abigail are:  patakiller (caterpillar) and chicken (kitchen).

Abigail is doing much better on color recognition.  She loves to pick things up or point to them and tell me what color they are.  She is still trying to keep up with big sister.  We've enjoyed the cooler weather by spending time outside.  Lots of walks, playing with chalk, going to the park, and even a trip to the zoo.

This was Abigial's first time to play with chalk.  She watched Hannah for a minute and then said "color please." 

She had so much fun and as you can see was COVERED in chalk by the time she was finished!


We are so glad we bought a membership to the Dallas Zoo this year.  We've been 4 times now and hope to go once more in March before it's time to renew.  The girls love seeing all the animals.  We rode the monorail this time too which was fun.  The highlight of the trip was watching the elephant take a bath.  And we love the giraffes too!



Abigail was a butterfly for Halloween this year and she loved wearing her costume.  Now getting a photo in said costume was QUITE a challenge.  If you bring heroutside she immediately thinks we're going to take a walk and she cries, throws a fit, and refuses to stand still.  First try, this is all we got.

A week later, we did finally get a picture of her sitting on a tree stump.


Both girls enjoyed Trunk or Treat at church as well as walking around the block and trick-or-treating.  We only went to about 10 houses, but they had fun!  Nathan and I love to dress up as well and the girls got a big kick out of our costume.  HUGE thanks to Nathan's aunt who made the Waldo hat.  She loves to knit!

Thirty Five Months

As I mentioned in Abigail's post, we took both girls some fall festivals.  Hannah was able to walk around and put candy in her bag last year, but she didn't really get what was going on.  This year she helped me pick out her costume and couldn't wait to try it on and have Grammy take her picture.  She had seen pictures of last years festival and wanted to know when she could ride the pony.  She also knows what candy is now...so Nathan had to share her haul.  =O  She seemed to have lots of fun!  Nathan also walked with her around the block on Halloween and let her trick or treat at a few houses. Then she helped pass out candy to the whopping 15 kids that came to our house. 






I got inspired a few weeks ago to do more arts/crafts/learning activities with Hannah while Abigail is napping.  Since we aren't ready to put her in preschool or Mother Day Out yet.  We now have a box of craft items (pom poms, craft sticks, googly eyes, etc).  It's not something I plan to do every day or even every week, but the former teacher in me loves to make stuff and I think Hannah will too.  We are still working on lower case letters so I've made a few games where you pair and match the lower case letter to the capital one.  She asks to play them often so I guess she thinks they are fun.  I also plan to do some tracing and beginning handwriting practice with her as well.

We also made play-dough with Grammy a few week ago.  Hannah enjoyed helping pour in ingredients.  Her favorite thing is to use the cookie cutters on the dough.  She has a whole table full of shapes when she's done.



Hannah is famous for not finishing her sentences when she's asking a question, for example "Hannah's going to have....." So we've been trying to teach her to ask correctly (What are we going to have for dinner?).  She is very inquisitive so she has also started telling us she doesn't know what things mean or what they are, especially words from books.  Just in the last few days I've explained:  brilliant, fantastic, and amused.  I also took the girls with me to vote and tried to explain what voting is.  Love watching her little brain work!

One more Halloween story before I close.  When we went to see the pumpkins at the Arboretum, Hannah really enjoyed the pumpkins decorated like animals.  My mom decide to buy her one, Hannah picked the kitty.  Turned out to be a kit with eyes, ears, and nose.  We enjoyed having the kitty pumpkin in our house and saved the kit to decorate with again next year.  =)  And Hannah can tell you that pumpkins with faces are called jack-o-lanterns (very slow and enunciated)!

Ten Months

As Abigail is getting bigger, it's fun to watch how her personality differs from Hannah.  When Hannah was little she had to be in the same room as us.  Abigail likes to be close to a certain extent as well.  But, lately she has started crawling in the playroom and playing by herself.  She will play for quite a while before she starts to complain.  Of course I can see into the playroom from the living room, but that's something Hannah never would have done.  Hannah was also terrified of the vacuum cleaner and Abigail thinks it a toy.  She follows me around from room to room like a puppy dog.  =)  And she babbles to herself while she plays.  Wish I understood her language!

Abigail has started signing "more" and "all done."  She still LOVES to eat and starts asking for "more" before she chews the food in her mouth.  Silly girl!  She can also lift her arms up if you say "SO BIG!"  I've shown her the signs for a few other things, but she hasn't signed any of them yet.  Hannah was just over a year before she started picking up lots of new signs.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo my mom took.  She's wanted to put Abigail in her vintage coke box for a while and we finally had time to do it.  Abigail loves to play with plastic bottles, but she usually just gets and empty one.  We gave her a full bottle of coke and it was too heavy for her to pick up and chew on.  You can't see it, but she's rolling it around in the box.  LOL!

We took both girls to 2 fall festival/trunk or treat events over the last few weeks.  One at our church and another at a local church not far from our house.  Abigail looked SUPER cute in her costume, but wasn't sure what to make of the event itself.  She happily rode in the stroller and looked at all the people.  And she danced to the music too!  My parents and sister got to join us at one festival which was fun.  Abigail liked the buttons on Aunt Kara's coat.  =)


 

 Abigail is really enjoying getting to eat finger foods.  She loves cheerios, rice puffs, and bread.  She also eats small pieces of cheese, but they are harder to pick up.  She seems to enjoy yogurt as well.  I think that's all the new foods we've tried lately.

This month's monkey photo actually wasn't impossible to take.  LOVE this hat.  You may remember it from Abigail's newborn photo session.  We actually have it in two sizes because it's so cute!

Twenty Three Months

We did lots of fun things in the last month. My mom and I took Hannah to the Dallas Arboretum to take pictures with the pumpkins. Hannah enjoyed riding in her wagon and looking at people, flowers, pumpkins, etc. However, she did NOT want to pose for pictures. She wanted to PLAY. I think we managed to get two good shots and if you look closely you can see that we are holding on tight to keep Hannah still. =) Just realized I don't have those photos from my mom yet, so you'll have to wait until another post.

Hannah has enjoyed her 10 week music class at church. Tomorrow is our last class and I know she will miss going. The week before Halloween they let all the kids come in costume and we took a group picture. LOVE the peacock costume in the middle. That's one creative mommy!


Nathan and I decided months ago that Hannah should dress up as a monkey this year. It's not very girly, but we call her little monkey so we couldn't pass up the opportunity. We did add a pink bow and tutu to the costume so she wouldn't look like a boy. =) She wasn't too sure about the costume at first, but warmed up and then asked to wear it. We still wear the tutu some days while playing at home.


Our church has done a Fall Festival for the last several years and our ABF (Sunday School) class always decorates a booth. Hannah enjoyed walking around the festival this year, but didn't really want to play any games. During our shift to work she entertained herself by taking handfuls of candy from the booth bucket and putting them in her bag. She has no idea what candy is and didn't eat any of it. But it sure was fun to grab! =)


Then the following Sunday we met my parents and sister at another local church for their Trunk or Treat. The parking lot was set up with decorated cars and kids walked by and got candy. Hannah even surprised us by agreeing to ride on the pony. She seemed to have fun and got to wear her costume one more time. =)