Denver

Here are some candid pictures from our trip to Denver.

Lauren's first Thanksgiving. Don't worry, that was my plate. She ate bite sized pieces of my dinner and she loved it!
Will's Thanksgiving dinner!

Lauren playing with Bradley.
The three kids eating a snack.
Baking cookies - and eating some raw dough.
Playing in the snow!They boys had a great time in the snow!
The Indians! All three kids made Indian headdresses with grandma! I think the picture of the three of them is on my parent's camera.

On Saturday we all went to the local fitness center. They have a large indoor pool and water slides. I was so proud of Will - he went down the yellow and the green slides with Joe. I think those pictures are on my parent's camera, too. I took him down the yellow slide at the end of our stay. Last year he wouldn't go down the frog slide at Southland pool, and this year he was going down HUGE slides!

Mommy and Will The six of us Joe going through the rapids with Will in the inner tube Paul and Bradley. Bradley also went down the green and the yellow slides!! Going down the yellow slide with mommy!

Favorite activity

This is Lauren and Will's favorite thing to do...... Will gets pretty excited about the video camera and he constantly wants to see himself. (so excited that he trips and falls....) He's a pretty funny kid! Lauren is just happy all the time. She loves to play and explore her surroundings. You can also meet Mollie the dog. Mollie began obedience training yesterday and she's already getting more obedient. Since I can upload video now, I might do this more often!

Pictures

We just returned from our Thanksgiving in Denver with my side of the family. The kids had a great time playing together and we really enjoyed watching them get to know each other. Will and Bradley just loved playing together and it was so much fun to watch them interact. I have a lot of candid pictures, but I haven't downloaded them off of my camera. Here are our pictures from our session at Portrait Innovations. There was some confusion about the time of our picture session.... and, well, we all got ready for these pictures in 15 minutes. I think it's only obvious with me.... you can tell my hair had been in a pony tail!!! Don't my kids look cute, though?

The cousins.....Will, Bradley, and Lauren

The boys in their flight jackets from Grandpa.

Our big boy!

Our little girl.

The Grandparents with their grandchildren

New Post

Well, Joe looked at the blog a couple of days ago and he mentioned that I hadn't posted in over a week. I guess he likes to look at the pictures, too! I took some pictures of the kids today so I could post. There's not too much going on around here except for the daily routine. Will had another swimming lesson on Saturday and he jumped in and swam to his teacher. Joe said that he did a great job. I was sad that I missed his big swimming moment, but so happy that Joe got to see it! Will still loves school and he's learning so much!

Lauren is sleeping great. We had her cry it out months ago, and it worked for a while, but I'm just a softy. She's been teething and sick a lot, so I go in and rescue her in the middle of the night. The doctor told me to not do that anymore and that she should learn to self soothe even if she's not feeling well. She is now sleeping 11 hours at night! She goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up around 6:30. Since she's sleeping better at night, she's now on a great schedule during the day, too.

I'm not sure if the pictures really uploaded. I'll check back tomorrow and try to fix it. Blogger seems to be having some technical difficulties.

more pictures

Mollie was sleeping in her bed and Lauren crawled in with her. Will decided to join her for a picture. I think close to every picture we have of Will is the silly three year old face. Lauren had lasagna for the first time tonight. Check out her hair.... the back was completely covered in sauce.

Will loves his lasagna, too.

pictures

Will and Lauren having a snack Long Ears Lauren, happy as always
Will in his swimming class this week


He's swimming all by himself!

9 Months

Lauren is 9 months today. We went to the doctor this morning and she is doing great. She is getting her top 4 teeth (I knew they were coming!) and she has a little virus right now. Other than that, she's just perfect. Here are her stats:

Height: 28.5 inches - 80%
Weight: 16 pounds 2 ounces - 8%
Head Circumference: 44.5 cm - 65%

She has gone down in her weight percentile and way up in her height! I noticed that she was pretty tall - you can really see it in the Halloween pictures! She has really long legs!

Will got the flu mist today and he did a great job. Lauren got her flu shot, too.

Swimming Lessons

Will started Pike swimming lessons at the YMCA today! We had a great time! There are five kids in his class and they are all learning how to swim. They learned how to kick, paddle, blow bubbles, and "dive for rings." Will is very excited about learning how to swim because he wants to swim like Allison, Jenna, and Tyler. He also wants to swim in Grandpa and Grandma's pool and be able to go out on the jet ski with Grandpa. Will practicing his kick!


Last night I went out to try and get Will some goggles. I had meant to get this task done earlier in the week, but Halloween kept me pretty busy (boy there were a lot of parties!!). I found this pair of goggles/mask and it's pretty neat. Unfortunately, it's a little bit big for his face. We went out and got some different goggles for next week. He doesn't like to wear the new ones, though, so we may have to wear the big ones.... Enjoy the pictures
Will diving for the rings! I got them!Will swimming with Ms. Leann

Halloween

We had a great Halloween! At 10:00 we headed out to the Library to do some trick or treating. We met Nathan, Luke, Benjamin, Mason and Jack there. We had a little snack, did a little craft, and some library trick or treating. It was so much fun to see everyone in their costumes. After the library, we headed to Jackson and Heidi's house for lunch. It was great to play with our friends and we had a great lunch. We came home for a late nap. (Boy were the kids tired!) (Above) Luke (Woody), Nathan (trash collector), Will (Clifford), and Lauren (Emily Elizabeth)

(Below) Mason (doggie), Benjamin (Buzz Lightyear), Will (Clifford), and Lauren (Emily Elizabeth)

Trick or Treating started at 6:00 and Will was sitting at the table in his undies eating his dinner. He finally realized it was time to eat a little faster when he saw his buddies in their costumes outside! We got dressed quickly and headed out! We spent some time with Katherine (a good witch) and Kaitlyn (Belle) and then we went out on our own. Lauren had a great time trick or treating (well, she liked looking at the other kids) and Will did great! He loved to tell everyone that he was Clifford, The Big Red Dog. I took the kids around for a while and then Joe took Will out by himself. Will just loved it!! Below are pictures before the kids headed out.

After trick or treating, we headed to Papa John and Diddy's house to see the family. Nonnie was there and we had a special treat of seeing Pat, Demetrius, and Nick. It was great to see everyone! We brought the camera, but we forgot to take pictures. It was a fun, but long evening!