Pajama Day!

Yesterday was Pajama Day at Henry's school. They concluded their Halloween study by learning about nocturnal animals yesterday. From the class report we got, it looks like it was another busy and fun week in 2k!

Grant & Grace loved playing in this basket with Henry on Thursday night. I don't know why we invest in toys, because their favorite things are never toys!

Trunk or Treat

We had so much fun at Trunk or Treat at our church tonight. I took off this afternoon to make sure everyone napped well, got a bath, and was ready to go on time. It was a great success. The babies even stayed in their costumes happily! Henry loved the games, candy, and dinner afterwards! Thanks, Mimi & Papa, for coming and being two extra sets of hands to help!

And for old time's sake: pics of Halloween 2007 & Halloween 2008. Wow, how our family has rapidly changed!

School Picture Day!

The kids before school pictures this morning

Last night playing

Big Birthday Weekend

This weekend we celebrated Uncle Michael's 25th Birthday. The fun started when he came in town Thursday and met us at the park. We also had his b'day dinner at our house Saturday night!

Henry was practicing his 3 point stance that Uncle Michael taught him! Henry was so proud to inherit some hand me down Auburn football gear from his cousin Konnor!

On Sunday, David and Henry went to Grayson's first birthday party! I just wish we had a picture of the birthday boy with his cake, but I totally understand that David was busy with Henry!

Pig Iron BBQ Benefit

Our sweet friends Sally and Owen offered us tickets to the Pig Iron BBQ Benefit at the Met for Children's Harbor. We had never been before, but it was great! The kids loved it, and David loved the unlimited barbeque. He ate so much I told him it might kill him, but I was sure if it did he would die happy! (I'm kidding, of course, but he did sample as much he could possibly hold!) Henry, Carter and Maury enjoyed the ice cream and hotdogs more than the barbeque, while Grant and Grace were "people watching." Everyone is peacefully sleeping now. It is always nice to wear out the kiddos at bed time! Thanks, Sally & Owen, for sharing your tickets with us!

Thank you, Nana!

We are so thankful that Nana was willing and able to come down today to keep Grant. Yes, that's right. Grant got sick AGAIN! Bless his heart! He is better now. We have just been hit hard by illness this fall, although 90% of it was Grant's string of four ear infections in a row! Nana has been a lifesaver to come and keep sick kiddos so that David and I can go to work, and today was no exception. Thank you, Nana! (And next time please remind me to take a picture! I always forget!)

Tuesday afternoon I took the kids to a church in our neighborhood that sells pumpkins. It was nearly 70 and beautiful. With the combination of illnesses & cold weather this month, it seems this may be as close as we get to a pumpkin patch this year! Luckily, Henry did not know the difference and was thrilled!

The pics above and below are from a Sunday afternoon trip to Mimi and Papa's house. David has had committee meetings at church every Sunday afternoon, so we went out there to hang out while Daddy was at church!

Grant Can Clap!

Grant figured out how to clap Friday night, and he is so proud of himself. It just tickles him to death every time he remembers his new trick! Just this afternoon Grace started consistently signing "please." Some of you probably remember us teaching Henry sign language as a baby, and he picked it up at about 8 months as well. He is a very verbal child now...not sure if this is why or just coincidence. Regardless, it is nice just to be able to know when they want to eat or want more, etc. Their teachers at school are teaching sign language as well, so hopefully all of the reinforcement will start to show up in the coming months! (Thanks, Monica & Melanie!)

Pumpkin Decorating Contest

Henry had a great time at the Hoover Library's Pumpkin Decorating Contest. I think we were covered in paint when we left, but we had fun in the process. Grant & Grace went along to cheer him on, and our friend Pierce joined came too!

Table Food!

While not as exciting to a mom as when you can throw out those bottles, it is a pretty big step when your little ones go from you feeding them baby food to them feeding themselves table food. We have been counting down to this milestone, and we are so glad it is here! Hooray for self feeding!! Grant & Grace are doing great with table food and love everything we give them! Their first dinner was english peas, carrots, and macaroni and cheese. Their first breakfast was bananas and blueberry muffins. I can't wait to introduce them to so many more fun foods!

And as you can see from the pic above to the one below, Grace's eye is almost all better! It is very very light now. We cannot wait for her sweet black eye to be 100% well!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Yes, Grace has won the race for the first shiner amongst the kiddos. What a week it has been at our house. Last Tuesday David got a fever virus, and he did not emerge from our bedroom until Sunday. During the night Tuesday, Grant started running a fever. So Wednesday morning I took Henry and Grace to school, then took Grant to the doctor. Grant had another ear infection & is well on his way to tubes. I go get his prescription and then call a sitter. (Only being in the office two days a week means I REALLY need to be there on those two days!) So, David was upstairs quarantined, and our friend Sarah kept Grant. Grant was better Thursday, so I ventured out that morning to Target and the park with the kids. When we got home, I started getting everyone set up for lunch after checking on David. Somehow I failed to correctly latch the high chair (or so I believe), because Henry successfully unlatched it. Grace fell and hit her eye. Of course I was beside myself, and we rushed to the doctor only to learn it was "just a black eye" and would heal in about two weeks. Every time I looked at her for days I just cried! (She was fine though...even laughing at the doc's office ten minutes after it happened.) Then, Sunday David started feeling better, and Grace came down with a fever. Monday we took her in and she had an ear infection. I had just gotten her home with David and had been at work about three hours when Henry's school called. He had thrown up! So, I left work to get him. (It turned out he was fine. He felt great & never got sick again, thank goodness.) Needless to say, it has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week at our house!

Let me just say that I have realized more than ever how much my sweet husband does to run this household and care for our kids. It shaved ten years off of my life to take care of all three, plus him, for so many days by myself! Thank you David for the cooking, cleaning, laundry, picking up toys, and childcare that you help me with on a daily basis! I could not do it all without you (well, I could but I'd be dead by 35 for sure!)

Too Cute to Scare!

Grant & Grace in their "too cute to scare" Halloween outfits I had found at Target the night before.

Yes, I'm obssessed with the new Super Target. I took the kids for their first trip on Thursday morning, and we bought groceries. They did great & everyone loved the shopping cart setup. (Henry was bribed of course, but we made it just fine!)

Happy Birthday, Carter!

Today was Carter and Uncle Philip's birthday! Carter had his 6th birthday party at Air It Out in Cullman. The kids played so hard and had a great time!

And a few pics from before church this morning. Grant and Grace were already sporting their birthday party attire!

Happy 8 Months, Grant & Grace!!

Above & below: we had a great time at the Bluff Park Art Show. This is definitely another fall family tradition. I bet I have missed it only two or three times in my life. Henry enjoyed the kids art area, and then told me his pizza and chips "was the best lunch he's ever had in his entire life!" Too funny :)

My little Auburn cheerleader :)

Our sweet neighbor bought her this outfit!

I cannot believe our sweet babies were eight months old yesterday! Time is flying by, but we are doing our best to soak up every precious minute. Grant and Grace are sitting up and can move around quite well in the floor. Grace gets up on all fours and rocks, but has not quite figured out how to crawl. Rolling is working quite well for both of them, though. They are on the move. They both started saying "Dada" all the time this month, and Grace has said "Mama" once.

But why, Mommy? Why?

All the way to the park and back today, I heard, "But why, Mommy? Why?" Henry is in that stage where he asks "why" about 100,000 times a day. (This is only a slight exaggeration.) I try my best to answer every single question, but sometimes I just don't have all the answers! I hope he is learning a lot from asking so many questions, but it sure is wearing me out!

We had so much fun at Cahaba Lily Park today. We once again took a picnic, and that seems to work well with everyone's schedules. I should draft a report at the end of our park tour to let everyone know which parks are the best in the area. I had not been to Cahaba Lily since David & I could walk there from our house in Helena. Henry had a lot of fun. One plus to this playground is that for a long time we were the only ones there, so he could run around without me having to watch his every move.

And here are a few videos I've been meaning to post:

Henry making Grant laugh:

This trash can at Disney that was actually a robot and moved throughout Tomorrowland. It was hilarious, because it would catch everyone by surprise.