Falling Leaves

The days are getting shorter and the weather cooler. We don't make it outside as much nowadays, but still try to get out whenever we can. Marie got to spend a good part of a Saturday outside with Dad, fixing the flagpole, taking apart the basketball pole and hoop (that had fallen over during a heavy wind), and raking leaves. No snow yet, for those who are wondering. It may seem early for snow, but by this time last year we had already had a good blanket and had been sledding!


Lately, Marie has been taking very good care of "Baby Abby," short for "Baby Abby-Cadaby." Baby Abby is a "two-napper" (meaning she takes two naps a day), she goes for walks outside, she checks the mail with us, she gets regular baths, she cries when she gets stuck in her stroller, and yes, she occasionally has to have a time-out. Sometimes I even get to hold her. But, she soon gets fussy and Marie needs to take her back and make her feel better.




Marie has also been looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. This weekend, we made fall sugar cookies. An activity she always enjoys and, as you can see, that she takes very seriously.



In Joey news, he is really cruising around on all fours and along the furniture. He's been a little out of sorts lately, but we think it's because he's getting his third tooth (upper left). He generally likes to be wherever Marie is and to have whatever Marie has...which is problematic at times. He doesn't like for his clothes to be put on and would much rather crawl around in his diaper. He loves the bath (another opportunity to be without clothes). And, he can still eat like a champ. He could really spend most of his waking hours eating if we let him. Maybe he's loading up for his weigh-in at his 1 year check-up in a couple of weeks. Marie does have him on an exercise program, but since his mobility is somewhat limited, we're not sure it's really too effective.



All in all, things are great...kids are great (and staying healthy so far), job is great, life is great. We're looking forward to the holidays and to spending some time with our families.

Stay tuned for updates on snow and current sledding conditions! Marie has already been talking about it and the hill is always open!

No Tricks...All Treat

As Halloween approached this year, Marie was periodically asked what she was going to dress up as. Her response was always immediate...a cow. Jon and I were both confused as to where in the world she came up with the idea. Needless to say, we didn't have a cow costume hiding in a closet somewhere. At first we thought she'd just forget about it or choose something else the next time asked. No such luck.

The closest (and easiest) thing we could come up with was a cowboy outfit. We made the transition last week by getting a book from the library, "I Want to be a Cowboy" and also by watching Toy Story 2. Thankfully it worked. By Friday, Marie was just as excited about being Jessie (a cowgirl) as she had been about being a cow. Whew.

By the way, she also told people more than once that Joey was going to dress up as a lion. I happened upon a tiger suit at a Mom-2-Mom sale, so that wasn't too much of a stretch.


On Saturday, we loaded up the kids and went to Northville. Our good friends the Roberts' and their girls (Rosie - 3; Lilly - 2) live near there and the city was having activities in the afternoon for younger kids prior to their annual Halloween extravaganza. Marie was tentative at first, but then realized that all she had to do was look cute and people would put candy into her bag! Later on, she and I were both a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of people out trick-or-treating. Northville really goes all out!


We didn't stay too long...the girls' feet got tired after visiting just a small portion of the Halloween stops. We decided to go out for a yummy dinner before heading home with one tired cowgirl and a snoozing tiger. Unfortunately, we weren't home to hand out candy ourselves and now we have LOTS around the house. Jon's going to end up with treats in his lunch for a long while...