Halloween

This year, Ian and Brady picked out their own Halloween costumes. They decided to be Buzz Lightyear and Woody from "Toy Story".

For anyone unfamiliar with the movie, this is what the characters look like:

Credit

Leah went as a ladybug.

Sunday afternoon, our church did a "Trunk or Treat" where the families decorated their trunks and passed out candy to the kids.

After a nap and a quick dinner, we headed out. We made a couple of stops and then spent most of the evening trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We had a really good time.

This is the best picture I could get of the three of them in their costumes - too bad Leah was starting to cry!

10 months

Leah is 10 months old today - hard to believe! She is now about 20 pounds and has 6 teeth. Her top four came through within a few days of each other.

She is crawling a little bit, but prefers to stand up and hold onto our hands or the furniture. She can also take a few steps while holding onto the couch. Her newest trick is waving when we say "Hi" or "Bye-Bye".

We love you, sweet girl!

Sinkland Farms

Early last month, we went to Sinkland Farms, which has become an October tradition for our family. The boys had a great time as usual, and Leah seemed to enjoy her first trip. There were a few nice setups for picture taking this year.

The boys enjoyed looking at the farm animals again this year. Ian wanted to pet them all, but Brady was a little more timid.


They went through the toddler maze, but for some reason there was no exit!

They enjoyed jumping off the hay bales.

Next, we went on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

Brady and Ian remembered how much fun they had last year rolling the pumpkins. This was the first thing they wanted to do when they got off the hay ride.

Ian said, "This one is just my size."

We attempted to get a picture of all three kids, but that didn't work out too well. Leah was trying to figure out what kind of seat we put her on!


Happy baby!
This year we did "punkin' chunkin' ". The boys got to put tiny pumpkins into the slingshot and watch them fly down the hill.

Unfortunately, our camera battery died at this point so we didn't get pictures of the boys' pony rides. I also wanted to get some pictures of Leah in the pumpkins. I guess we'll have to wait until next year!

Leah's 9-month checkup

Leah's 9-month checkup was today. She weighed in at 19 lbs (47th percentile) and was 28 3/4 inches (81st percentile). She did really well and didn't even cry when she got her shot.

She is getting two new teeth on top. Her left canine has cut through the gum and her right canine will be soon behind.

She dressed up in her Hokie gear on Saturday for the football game.

Look who has two teeth!

If you click on the picture you can see a larger version. The tooth on the left (Leah's right) came in first. The other one has broken through the gum but is a little harder to see in the picture.

Game Day

All of us got decked out in maroon and orange yesterday. The boys were excited about Game Day and watched a little bit of the game before going to bed.

This little Hokie loves to sit up and play with her toys.

Ian wanted to be in the picture too, but we couldn't get the two of them to smile at the same time.

Family Fest

On Saturday, we took the kids to Family Fest, a community event sponsored by one of the local churches. There were all kinds of fun things for the boys to do. We stayed for two hours and had to leave because it was nap time. I'm sure Brady and Ian would have stayed much longer if we would have let them!

They really enjoyed this obstacle course. They wound up going through it three times. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but this was huge! You can see a picture of the whole thing here.








This is the look of determination:
Here is a video of them going down the slide at the end:




From the obstacle course, we went on to the rock-climbing wall. Ian was a little timid and only wanted to climb up a couple of steps.

Brady was a little daredevil. He kept climbing...
...and climbing...
...and climbing! We were pretty amazed at how high he wanted to climb.

Next was the bounce house.




Next, they rode the mechanical bull. Boy, was this fun to watch! Everybody got such a kick out of Brady sticking out his tongue and Ian holding on for dear life, refusing to give up!





After all of this fun, the boys got snow cones.


Brady showed off his blue tongue:


Finally, they had their picture made with the Texas Roadhouse armadillo.

What a fun day! As soon as we got into the van, Ian informed us that he wanted to go to sleep in the van because he was tired! Needless to say, the boys took a long nap.

Catching up

I haven't intended to abandon my blog, but life sure has been busy lately. I have so many pictures to share (going back almost 5 months!) and hopefully I'll get a chance to do that soon.

Update on Brady and Ian: They have been potty-trained for 4 months now - Hallelujah! Once they were ready, the training was a breeze, and they haven't looked back. They still love playing with cars and legos, being outside on their swingset or helping Jeremy with the garden (pictures to come). They continue to enjoy reading and can read quite a few words on their own. They can now write their names without help. They love their little sister dearly. Their imaginations run wild, and it's so fun to hear them pretending to be puppies, pretending to bake cakes, and all kinds of other things. They have fun making up stories, finding words that rhyme, and listing as many words as they can that start with a certain letter of the alphabet.

Update on Leah: She is now sitting up on her own. Her first tooth is completely through and I can feel the second one through her gums, so it won't be long until both bottom teeth are visible. I'll have to get a picture of this posted soon. She continues to be such a happy baby and still only cries when she's hungry or sleepy. This little girl loves to eat! She eats a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and meats mixed with her cereal, and it seems that there's nothing she doesn't like. I thought she'd at least make a face when she tried spinach, but she didn't even flinch! She has learned a couple of tricks: she can play pat-a-cake and she can give people a "kiss" on the cheek.

More to come, hopefully sooner rather than later!

Leah's 6-month checkup

Leah went in for her 6-month checkup this afternoon. She did really well and only cried for a couple of minutes when she got her shots. She weighed in at 16 lbs 8 oz (52nd percentile) and was 26 1/2 inches (67th percentile).

Leah has been doing so well with her cereal. This little girl loves to eat! So far we've mixed in bananas and applesauce and she enjoyed them both. We'll start her on some veggies in a couple of days.

She is trying so hard to sit up on her own. We keep saying that she's working her way to a flat belly!

As always, she is full of smiles!

Ladybugs

Where are Brady and Ian?


Here they are!
They got these ladybugs for Easter. These are supposed to hold toys, stuffed animals, dirty laundry, or things of that nature, but our boys found other uses!

Little Hokies!

Leah at 6 months

Wow, the time sure has flown! Our sweet little girl is changing so quickly, and it seems like she's doing new things each day. Here's what she's up to these days:

• She is becoming much more vocal. We hear "ba-ba-ba" a lot, general squeals of delight, or sometimes just noises that seem to say, "Hey everybody, look at me!"
• She has grown so much! According to our scales, she is almost 17 pounds. She is in her 6-9 month clothes and has recently gone up to size 3 diapers. Her chunky little thighs are reminiscent of the Michelin Man!
• She started solid foods today (you can see it here).
• She has the sweetest disposition. Leah is full of smiles and only cries if she's very hungry or sleepy. She is content to sit and watch everything that is going on around her, and she really takes everything in.
• She loves her brothers (and they certainly feel the same way)! One evening Jeremy was holding her in the rocking chair. Ian told her goodnight and started to walk away, but she leaned and reached for him. We thought it was a fluke, but she did the same thing for Brady!
  

Here's a video of Leah pretending to be bashful for her Dan-Dad:



We love this little girl so much!

Her 6-month checkup is Tuesday, so we're looking forward to seeing her official height and weight!

Cereal!

Leah had her first taste of cereal this morning. Here is a video of the first few minutes - I think you'll see that it was a big hit!

Identity Crisis

A couple of nights ago, the boys were on my lap in the rocking chair after reading their bedtime stories. Of course, they each had a stuffed animal. Brady put his bear in my face and used a high-pitch voice to say, "I'm finding some honey."

Next, Ian put his moose in my face and also used a high-pitch voice to say, "I'm finding some.... (long pause).... what do I eat?"

We had to ask Daddy what a moose eats!

Twinkle Twinkle

The boys are normally too shy to sing on camera but we caught them in a good mood one day!

More Easter fun

Easter weekend was lots of fun. On Saturday morning, we went to the town's Easter Egg Hunt. Brady and Ian were in the 3-5 year age group. There were lots of other boys and girls!

Good thing there were so many eggs! Each child had a full bucket!

Brady and Ian sat on the Easter Bunny's lap after the egg hunt.

The Easter Bunny came to our house that evening!

On Easter Sunday, we got to meet baby Rebekah (Leah's second-cousin). It was fun getting the girls together!

Ian and Brady had another egg hunt with Rebekah's brother, Peyton.


Hunting for eggs is serious work!

Peyton asked to hold Leah. I think this picture is so sweet!

Cousins!
That evening we saw two rabbits in the back yard - perfect timing!