trick or treat

such a fun halloween weekend here in denver!  we had beautiful weather and a great time with family and friends.  with nana and papa in town we hit the pumpkin patch for a few extra pumpkins on saturday morning, went to a pumpkin carving party at our neighbors house saturday night and had xander, elliott and families over for dinner and trick or treating on monday. 

our little monkey - kate was so cute and warm in her costume.

finally a family shot - too bad the kids never look at the camera.  isn't brooks the cutest giraffe you've ever seen?!?

trick or treating with friends - kolby, elliott & xander.

happy halloween everyone!

9 months

hey guys, 9 months here!  wow!

i think i realized this week that kate is not a little baby anymore.  she is still my baby but getting bigger everyday.  she still has her chub but the numbers tell a different story. 

• 18lbs, 4 oz - 39% weight
• 27 1/2 inches - 49% height
• 90% head size - almost off the charts the first time - they had to measure twice!

other milestones this month

• not totally crawling but scooching around on her belly and getting up on all fours
• holding her own bottle
• almost moved exclusively to soy formula - we aren't totally sure about a milk allergy but there seems to be some intolerance.
• playing with her tongue all the time
• mom still thinks she should take two naps but often kate says differently.  she is a fan of the 20-30 minute naptime, i prefer 2-3 hours!  so far kate is winning.
• a two day random fever with no other symptoms ????
• really likes eating paper - oops!
• loves playing with brooks's trains when he will let him.

 

this little cutie is totally awesome.  she has a lot of personality and a strong will.  she will always let you know when she is not happy with a situation - sleeping, changing her diaper, eating peas...  she is happiest eating mum mums, chewing on "little people", hanging with the lady at the gym nursery, riding in the shopping cart like a big girl, having her neck and belly kissed, eating fruit, and having her choice of 20 toys to play with. 

brooks is doing great too (most of the time) - he loves his class at "school" and is singing ABCs, Old MacDonald, and Wheels on the Bus any chance he gets.  he is using the potty all the time (often multiple times an hour!) and has a new love of skittles.  he is also every bit of two and a half with bad attitude to go with it during most days.  he says he keeps his good attitude in his pocket, but we have to remind him to get it out!  he still loves reading, especially the Mr. Magee books and anything about airplanes, and wants to ride his bike everyday.  the sweetest thing about brooks these days is how he talks to his sister and tells her "goodnight baby kate, i love you."  i want that on tape forever!

pumpkin patch

richard and brooks hit a huge pumpkin patch last weekend and b-man loved it! unfortunately kate had a fever and the girls had to stay home.  brooks rode on a big tractor with a cart behind it, walked through a real pumpkin patch and picked out his own little pumpkin - green & orange.  he also enjoyed the ponies and seeing a buffalo at the farm.

happy fall everyone!

Big Boy

Last week, we went to a last minute Braves game when we arrived in Atlanta.  We had promised Brooks a trip to a game when he was totally using the big boy potty, but the Rockies season ended before he was ready.  Luckily, the Braves had one more game!

Nana and Papa took us to a game and we had a great time.  the free tomahawks were a big hit with both the kids.  kate ate hers and chopped everyone near us!

At the end of 9 innings, we were pretty tired and headed home.  the game last 13 innings but the Braves couldn't pull out the win.

can't wait for next season!

First Camping "Trip"

Richard took Brooks "camping" last weekend in the backyard - so cute.  First, Brooks said that it was too dark and that he "wanted to go camping when the sun comes up."  Then he got a flashlight and loved his big sleeping bag.  I thought they would make it about an hour before coming inside, but they made it almost the whole night.  When I asked Brooks the next day why they came inside at 5am, he said, "because daddy kept seeing my eyes."  love it!

the first of many camping trips to come...

8 months

happy 2/3 birthday to baby kate last week.  she is getting so big and so cute!

highlights from the last month:

• kate weighs about 18 pounds and still has all the chub you could dream of!
• she got her first two bottom teeth. 
• we took our first trip as a family of four to dallas and loved seeing family and friends.
• while in dallas, kate got her first virus (roseola) and had a fever followed by a rash the whole time we were there.
• kate is adding new foods to her diet all the time but still loves sweet stuff the best and can't get enough mum mums!
• she is "talking" all the time and brooks says that she is saying "da da" - lucky for richard.
• kate spent her first extended time in the nursery at church away from mom during our first MOPS meeting of the year.  while she didn't nap like at home, she did find a sweet woman to rock her for two hours!

end of summer

just a few pics of our end of summer days.  brooks started his 2 day a week parents day out last week and also enjoyed doing some painting at home.  he is really into airplanes right now and we painted some foam ones together.  kate just hangs out happily while her big brother is so active!