Happy Halloween!

For the last three years we have spent Halloween with the Gallahues. Four families get together for chili, subs and candy. Here is Sophia and Samantha.
Daddy with the girls. Ashlyn had to be a strawberry because our little pork chop cannot fit in her black kitty costume. It worked out because it was pretty cold out... she stayed nice and toasty.
The girls together. When Sophia was done holding her, she nearly pushed her onto the sidewalk. Thank goodness Toby was right there to catch her.
I am so tired of seeing her in this witch costume. It is officially retired after tonight!
All the kids together. Sophia you know was a witch, the twins (in front) a UK cheerleader(Ava) and a UK football player (Charlie), "Belle" (Samantha), the Gallahue boys- Dragon (baby Nate) and "Buzz Light Year" (Taylor). Missing...Little Cooper (Samantha's new 11 day old brother) he was a little monster and Ashlyn a strawberry. What a bunch of cuties.

Halloween cont...

Poor Ashlyn...she is just so laid back. We drag her everywhere and if I had to guess what she is thinking it would be...now where are they taking me?
We started Trick or Treating at houses, but our neighborhood is not kid friendly. There are only a few couples with children our age. Therefore, we spent most of our time at the Christian Church where they hold a"Trunk or Treat."
Here are the girls together getting their candy cameras from the "Trunk or Treat."
Every year the church sends out an invite for us to attend. The church members make it really neat, they decorate the trunk of their cars with lights, they give out candy, they have game stations set up and they have jumpers. All the Halloween fun you could ask for in one place!

Halloween cont...

Whew, what a month. It has been a very busy couple of weeks and I feel as if the Halloween Festivities have gone on forever... so glad it is finally over. Hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween... I know we did. We had a few meltdowns over candy, but everything ended up okay. As you can see we are all smiling in the end and that is all that matters.
Here are the kiddos checking out all the loot they got from Trick or Treating.
Sophia enjoying the fruits of her labor.
Sophia and Samantha. I wanted a picture of both of them and Sophia decided to take a pic of me with her candy camera.

The Girl's Fall Photo Shoot.

I had Ashlyn's three month and Sophia's three year pictures taken. Here are my favorite pics from the photo shoot. They are so precious. This is the only pic of Ashlyn smiling
I love this photo of them... it just melts my heart.
Have you seen a more beautiful baby?
This is what Sophia looks like most of the time. It was amazing that she caught her in that pose, because it depicts exactly what she is like at three...wild, funny, curious, loving and beautiful.
A more reserved Sophia...yeah right!
I am waiting for her to get up from her nap so we can once again put on the Witch costume and go Trick or Treating. She is so tired of it and wants to buy a Cinderella costume for tonight, but that is not going to happen. Next year I will have to remind her how many Halloween activities we actually do-to make sure she really wants the costume we buy.

Brown Park Festival

I took the girls to Brown Park Festival and it was cold, but it takes more than that to stop Sophia. She loves to go Trick or Treating and we have gone about four times already with two more events to go- her Preschool Party and then the finally Halloween. We like to get our money out of the costumes we buy. I know everyone thinks she has worn nothing but this outfit for weeks, but I promise we have changed her clothes.
Brown Park is very woodsy with several winding paved trails. It would have been spooky if they did it at night.
Poor Ashlyn, she was buried underneath a million blankets. I always think she is freezing to death so I keep piling them on her. Her pumpkin hat is so cute, she recently wore it for pictures (that I will post as soon as we get them), and I think I have at least another month of good wear before I have to retire it.
Here is her new witches hat. Not as pretty as the first one, but it will have to do. I have searched every where and cannot find a decent hat.

Brown Park...

They had one of those strongest man contest. I was so into taking pictures I did not realize she was not planning on hitting the lever with the hammer. She went for the bell instead..I guess she figured she was definitely going to make it ding. I felt like my Nooooooo was in slow motion and very loud. Thank goodness everyone there found it funny.
She has been on a zillion different jumpers and they never seem to get boring.
She had so much fun.
Jump, Jump, Jump... keep in mind I was freezing. I had to stand and guard the stroller where Ashlyn was sleeping quietly... welcome to mommyhood.

Brown Park...

Mommy, Sophia and Ashlyn (in the stroller) together at the Festival.
Here is Sophia on the fire truck. Kinda funny because her teacher asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said a "Fire Fighter." I sure hope not.
The Pics got out of order. They had face painting, but Sophia refused to have her face painted and instead opted for her hand.
She was so interested in how the lady painted the spider.
I have not seen her concentrate on something so hard. Everybody has this face when they are studying or thinking hard- we call it our CJ face. ( Toby had a co-worker who made a peculiar face when concentrating on something and his name was CJ, so the CJ face was born.) I know what it looks like on each of us, now I have seen it on her... so funny.

We are still in Gymnastics

We took a break this summer since I was having so much trouble getting up and down, because I was really pregnant. When we returned she was old enough to be on her own...thank goodness! So hear she is all by her big girl self.
She can do a flip all by herself.
They all love to jump into the foam blocks. It is funny because every dad that comes with their little one in the toddler class ends up running down the tumble track and diving in. I guess boys will always be boys.
Hear she is jumping down the tumble track.
Gymnastics has to taught her so much besides flipping and jumping, she knows to wait her turn and follows directions very well. Good thing our money went to something because I do not think she is the next Mary Lou Retton.

THREE

Oh Ashlyn, where has three months gone? You have changed before my eyes and you are growing so quickly. You have an endearing smile, and the sweetest cackle. I have found out you are very ticklish on your little piggies and under your chin. I look forward to all the new and exciting things we will discover together.
Our sweet little Ashlyn. You are so relaxed and patient... I guess you have to be when you are number two! Your big sis needs so much attention and you just stare at her quietly watching her every move. Your Daddy and I are very curious when those expressions you have give way to words...what will you say?
You love movement so much, we had to buy another swing for upstairs. It was a great idea- I simply pick you up and carry you from room to room while I get things done.
Ashlyn... my little princess. You are a wonderful addition to our family and I cannot remember life before you. I can say I have finally adjusted to being a mommy of two. Although I am still very exhausted... your mid morning feeds have finally moved to the early AM. I don't believe I will every bank enough sleep to catch up, but I am not complaining, you are well worth it.

Annual Huber's Trip

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. The weather is wonderful and there is so much great stuff to do. Every weekend in October has been jam packed with fall fun. Here we are in the pumpkin patch letting Sophia pick her first pumpkin.
Mommy and the girls. This is the only picture you will see of Ashlyn... it was 55 degrees out so she was freezing. I kept her really wrapped up and hidden from the wind.
All of us on the tractor after we successfully picked the perfect pumpkin for each of us.

Huber's Mountain Slide

The mountain slide at Huber's is great. The longer of the two slides is so fast. Even the parents you see coming down it seem to have a look of "Holy Moly" on their face.
The first time they rode together and after that she was a single rider.
She went down at least 30 times. I will say this is time #25.
26....

Petting Zoo

Sophia loves the petting zoo and told me the goats looked like the goats at Mimi and Papa's program.
Toby knew in advance we would need a lot of quarters. We always go through what seems like ten handfuls of feed... most of it gets spilled on the ground on the way to feed the animals.

The goat in the background was crazy. He would stick his head over the fence and peck at anything that was within reach. Good thing he did not see her hair bow.