Fall Frenzy

We had a dress rehearsal for Halloween today, with Miles's playgroup friends trying on all of our costumes. They had so much fun wearing them, ROAR!-ing, running around in circles, then swapping costumes and doing it again. I think they changed outfits 4 times! They even practiced trick or treating and saying thank you. Miles had the "thank you! Can I have another?" down pat. This will definitely be a playgroup activity again, even when Halloween is over. I'll have to check out the day after sales for some new (& bigger) costumes. Still not sure what Miles will be. Only one of these 3 is in the running for Friday night. I'm pulling for it, especially if it is still cold outside.

This weekend we had a lot of fall fun. Saturday we went to campus to tailgate with Wayne's partner and his family. They drove to town in their motorcoach and had another motorcoach family adjoining the tailgate. The university has all of the motorcoaches (how many times will I type that? but it is not an RV) park on the Ag Campus right next to the Gardens. How beautiful! It was a perfect spot, we got to stroll the babies through the gardens and the boys had a lawn to toss the football. And you can't beat having your own kitchen, bath and all the amenities right there. Miles loved hanging with the "big boys" and Sims, the younger son, was very obliging to his new shadow. In the photo above, Sims & Avery are teaching Miles the "tater" - baked (knuckles), mashed (high 5) and fries (fingers wiggled together). Very fun. Of course he wouldn't try any of the delicious goodies including some fabulous lamb chops. He did find the chocolate covered Oreos and managed to sneak a few.
On Sunday night we went to our last neighborhood yard party of the season. This was such a fun idea, we've really enjoyed getting to know our neighbors this summer. The last party was moved to a back yard and included pumpkin carving, a bonfire with s'mores, and all the usual treats. Miles made a new friend at this party, a boy just his age who moved in a few houses up the block. They also have a son just about Audrey's age, so I think that makes 10 new babies in the last year in less than 1/2 a mile radius from our house. Lots of fun to come from that crew!
I'll be sure to post Halloween photos as soon as I can. Happy Halloween to all!

Not to be left out

Miles is getting into Halloween this year. He's got three costume ideas and thankfully they are all things I can pull together at the house, so he can decide that day which he wants to be. He's excited about trick or treating and has told me that he will remember to say thank you when they give him candy. And, oohhhhhhh the candy. The boy has inherited my sweet tooth, for sure. The other night I had eaten a little piece of chocolate before I went in to read bedtime stories. As he sat in my lap he turned and demanded, "What do you have? Chocolate?" HA! And we got "boo'd" by some neighbors and that included candy corn. OH BOY. I think he thinks that counts as eating his vegetables.

He has also picked up on the scary aspect of the holiday. Lately he's asked us to remove things from his room - wall art, stuffed animals, books. He doesn't say it, but he thinks they're watching him. The curiosity overtakes him and he'll want to see the things again, only to beg us to take them away. Or if he know where they are, he won't walk by them because they'll see him. Ah, the imagination of a 3 year old.

His favorite thing at school is a chant that goes "jump, and jump and JUMP AND JUMP AND JUMP!" to which they bounce around the room like maniacs. It is obviously an attempt to burn energy by Ms. Elana and Ms. Michelle. I've adopted the ploy at home too. It's added to the "see how fast/how many times you can run around the house" game. This is to burn off the sugar that he's getting from all the candy (kidding, of course).

Audrey's First Haircut

I just had to. Check out the mullet she was wearing. Just smiling with her new 'do.

A nice sleek bob for the baby. And no, I didn't put a hot roller up there. It just does that!

xoxo

She takes after mom

Miss I-Can-Do-It-Myself

Yep, only 7 months in and she's already taking control. This week she decided that she could feed herself. I still beg to differ, but she's pretty opinionated on this, so we take turns putting the spoon in her mouth. This mess is courtesy of butternut squash and green beans & rice. She's also working on her pincer grasp with Cheerios and Puffs, and is pretty good at getting them to her mouth. Of course she has also discovered the fun of throwing them to the dogs, so a lot are ending up of the floor. Miles helped teach her that trick.

She's working on mobility too. She can roll herself just about anywhere and is very good at scooting herself backwards. She hasn't gone forward, nor has she propped herself on hands and knees yet, so crawling isn't imminent. She likes to stand, but can't hold on by herself for more than a couple of seconds. I wonder if she'll be one of those who skips crawling altogether?

On Saturday, YaYa & B came over for a visit and rambunctiousness ensued. Miles had a Jumpity Jump party to attend in the morning, and spent the afternoon tackling and riding his Big Wheel. On Sunday we went to Davey's 5th (!) birthday party at his Lou & Poppy's house. We were so excited that Chrissy and her new bebe Mary James came out to play. Audrey was so excited to have someone smaller than she is to play with. She actually started grabbing at MJ, cooing and smiling. They even held hands at one point. Very sweet.

Okay, I stepped away for a long while and now I'm back and have serious writers block. It's probably because Miles woke up at 5 and would not go back to sleep. He's really good, he'll just turn on his light and read books, but he throws them on the floor {BAM!} as he finishes each one, so it wakes us up. And the boy needs to sleep past 5a.m.!!! Need to figure out what is waking him up. I'm going to sneak in and turn off his night light, and maybe take him to the potty one last time. But right now I'm going to listen to this debate. Good night!

Swim with the fishies

I finally have the proof (ha ha) that Miles was successful in his swim lessons. Here he is in the last class being dunked for the three thousandth time. This is what caused an hour of screaming in the first class. But now he's a champion underwater-goer. We're keeping up his "skill" by pouring water over his head for hair washes now. So maybe next spring when we do more lessons he'll still be able, if not willing, to go under just fine. There are a few more photos, I tried to link HERE just to the ones of us, but ours are on pages 5 & 6 if you get the whole set. This one is a cute one of me & Miles.

We had a fun week, got to enjoy some of this beautiful weather. We've been sleeping with the windows open (not the kids') and it's been pretty cold some mornings. Makes me appreciate Apollo sleeping at my feet! It was my month to host our neighborhood Bunco game last night, so Wayne took the kiddos for an after dinner run to Ben & Jerry while I got the party started. As is typical, we didn't play, but ate, drank wine and socialized the whole evening. We have a few new neighbors on our street and it was fun getting to know them. Tonight was another one of our Front Yard parties, this one a few houses down. Wayne took Miles, but I stayed home with a cranky Audrey trying to get her to sleep.