The Three Little Pigs...

No clue where Hayden got the idea that she has to poke out her lips to retell this story, but it's really cute! She loves to hear stories: on CD, from a book, from mommy's mouth. She just loves stories of any kind. And I love that she is soaking it all in and able to retell them to me!

Practicing School Stuff

Yesterday when we were out running errands we stopped at Hobby Lobby. When we got out of the car Hayden looked up at the Hobby Lobby sign and got so excited. She said, "Mommy mommy, there is an H!!! Right up there!! Just like Hayden!!" She was so excited and so right! It was just adorable.

So, last night I asked her if she wanted to practice her circles. I had her look through the Toys R Us magazine and circle the things she liked. I asked her to put an "H" by the circle too so we would know who wanted the toy. She tried to circle some stuff for Layne too and put an "L" by those.

There you go!

This is one of Layne's favorite stuffed animals. It's the panda that Morgan brought back from China.

Hayden wanted to act just like sister, so she got a stuffed animal too.

Cuddling with the panda and giggling....

3 Year & 15 Month Check-ups

So, the girls finally went for their check-ups today. The morning started pretty early for Hayden and me. She woke up around 3:15 and was crying. When I went in there I found that she had wet the bed-she doesn't do this very often at all. So, I got her all cleaned up and brought her into my bed since daddy had just left for UPS. She tossed and turned and cried for about 3 hours because her ear hurt. So, at 6am we came out into the family room since we weren't sleeping. Well, she fell asleep sitting up on the couch, so I let her sleep until 8 since we had our doctor's appointment at 9. She was the crabbiest I have ever seen her, but that was to be expected! I don't normally bring my camera to the doctor's office, but I had it in my purse from last night so I thought I would snap a few!

Now that she's 3 Hayden gets to wear this paper robe thing. We even brought it home so she can play with it for a little while before Layne tears it to pieces. No shots for miss Hayden today. But she did end up getting the flu mist. Miss Layne, on the other hand, got three shots this morning. None of which were the flu shot because they were out of the shot kind and she can't get the mist.

Here's the nurse checking Hayden's blood pressure. Ok, here are the numbers that you all have been waiting for-Hayden is 35 1/2 inches tall (10th percentile) and weighs 26 pounds (5th percentile) Layne is 30 3/4 inches tall (40th percentile) and weighs 18 pounds 3 ounces (less than 5th percentile). Nothing we didn't already know. I DID see our regular doctor today though-Dr. Jattan-who I just love. She was not concerned about the girls weights at all. She just said that there is a tiny gene in there somewhere and it's nothing to worry about. Good enough for me!

The other night when Matt and Jamie were over for dinner they were telling us about a weekly dinner that they and their friends have. One of the ladies cooks for everyone and they all get together and hang out and eat. They solve the world's problems through debate and laughter (mainly laughter). I just loved the idea so, last night we went over to Jonathan and Rebecca's house with David and Lisa for a meet and eat dinner!

The food was wonderful and we think it went really well. Both Lisa and the Cipolla's are into photography. Jonathan works for RCPS and Lisa will begin working for them next week. Jonathan is a teacher and David would like to be a teacher in the near future. Both couples have boys....... I just thought it would be a perfect fit for friends and conversation. So, we are going to try and meet weekly and end eventually bring another couple or two into the mix. As you can see by the pictures, the kiddos had a great time too. It was nice to be able to have adult conversation and just let the kids play in the next room. Tots were jumping all over the couches and the babies were rummaging through Layne's diaper bag-and all were happy!

Crunch Time!

Well, I am 3 week out until the big day-1/2 marathon day! Fortunately, I have been feeling well enough to continue my training. The way that my schedule will work out though (because of my three week sickness break) I won't actually run 13 miles until the day of the race. My long runs are on Fridays, so this week it will be 10 miles, then 11 the following, and 12 the next. I am sure that come race day I will be able to add that last mile in with no problem because of the excitement of it all. I am getting excited!

When I first got sick I was pretty discouraged and frustrated that I couldn't run. But, it really was a good thing when I look back on it. At that point in my running schedule I was running 10 miles for my long runs and 6 and 7 miles on my shorter runs during the week. I think the schedule was just really hard on my body. Maybe it's because I had been running 6+ miles so consistently and I hadn't really given my body a break. My ankles were hurting ALL the time-I couldn't even walk around the house without shoes because of how badly they hurt. My toes were bruised and sore. And my knees were starting to hurt when I ran too! Needless to say, that three weeks with no running really did the trick! No pain anymore and I am feeling more and more ready for the big race everyday.

Little Miss Independent

Layne is known for sneaking into either her room or sister's room to play all by herself. Today I was reorganizing our closet (I have time for that stuff now that my house is spotless!!) and I heard Layne her room. She was just looking out the window....

I guess she got tired because when I found her she was trying desperately and unsuccessfully to lay down on top of this chest that has molding on it! She wasn't too happy about it. So, she decided to just sit up and stick those fingers in her mouth. Maybe she would have fallen asleep sitting up if I left her there long enough!

As I was getting the sewing machine out this afternoon I saw this fabric that I bought for Hayden's boppy cover-it was the extra. I decided that I needed to use it in order to make Layne something for Christmas. As I have said before she is such a cuddly touchy baby and this fabric is the softest fabric ever! So, I made her this little taggie blanket and taggie giraffe or whatever it looks like! I hope she loves them. Now I just need to think of something to make for Hayden. After I made these I decided that one of the girls gifts is going to be homemade each Christmas. I think that will be a fun and neat little tradition that they will enjoy until they are like 10.

Halloween

We went to the Lehman's for Halloween this year. We all ate chili and cornbread before the big event. It was a great night with good friends-and Hayden's first real time trick-or-treating. Lisa took some pumpkin pictures before dinner. Here is Layner in the pumpkin.....not so sure about the whole idea.

Sarah, Philip and Angela's littlest one was a much better subject.

Wumber Woman ready for the night!

I think that we took about 500 pictures of these cuties before we went trick-or-treating. I just love the idea of the theme for all of the kids costumes.

Crime fighting chick duo.

Hayden and her boys taking flight!

The moms took the kids trick-or-treating. What an adventure!

I don't think that Hayden stopped smiling the whole night...except for at the very end when she had me carrying her up to each house. Her little legs just didn't go as fast as all of the other kid's. She was always the last one to the house, the last one in the van, and the last one out of the van. But she had a GREAT time!

It was raining on and off, so we decided to take the seats out of Lisa's van and just pile everyone in there. It was a tight squeeze but we stayed pretty dry.

Everyone had to hold someone's hand when we were walking house to house. I think that Hayden has so many "boy friends" that she has a hard time choosing her favorite. She split the night between Connor and Ethan....and Micah got a few hugs too. She said to me as we were driving over to the Lehman's , "Mommy, Ethan is going to see me in my Wumber Woman costume and think I am cute!"

Elmo Cake

This cake is for my neighbor's grandson whole will be one on Halloween. The cake is lemon with lemon curd filling and lemon butter cream. So lemony but so good (there were a few scraps left over). Elmo is make out of rice krispy treat and covered in butter cream. It supposed to look like Elmo is popping out of a present.

Halloween Caramel Corn

Tonight we are going to play Texas Hold 'Em up at the church. We were asked to bring a snack so I decided to search the web for a festive treat. This is what I came up with. Something people can munch on by the handful.....if they like their caramel corn with a faint burn taste! I have to work on my caramel corn making skills. I think I will talk with my mom about it-one Christmas she made everyone and their mother (or at least it seemed like that many people) huge tins of caramel corn. It was SO good! Any way, not sure what happened....but it looks good doesn't it!?

I just drizzled melted milk chocolate and peanut butter chips over the caramel corn. Then I topped it with peanuts and Reese's Pieces.

Puppy Dog Compare

To the left is Hayden in her poodle costume last year and the one on the right is this year.

"Wumber" Woman ready to fight some crime early this morning before preschool!

Thinking about flying to preschool this morning....

Training of a Walker:

A painful to watch kind of story

Layne was taking about 4 steps this morning with no problem! We were so excited and she was just getting more and more confident about her walking skills as the day went on.....until we brought out the video camera!

You also need to keep in mind that we decided to try and video our little ball of emotions 2 minutes before it was her bedtime. Needless to say, after the first fall (painfully caught on tape) she just didn't feel so confident anymore and she let her emotions get the best of her. We made sure to end her night of walking disasters on a good note though. Tomorrow is a new day and I better enjoy having a "not very good walker" as much as I can because this child is going to be a doosie on two legs!!

Dress Up Day #1 at School!

Hayden dressed up today for school and she is also going to dress up for school tomorrow! She wanted to rock it old school today by wearing her poodle costume from last year.

I put her hair in this do so it would look like little doggie ears! She's going to be "Womber Woman" (as Hayden would say) tomorrow!

Here's what Layne was up to while sister was at school this morning. Just watching Grady eat.

She thought about digging in, but I strongly encouraged her not to.

Can you believe it! I found Hayden's old Christmas dress (the one she wore last year) at a consignment sale last year. Layne is going to wear that one this year. Then today I found the same dress in 24 months (which is technically 12 months younger than Hayden.....but that's the size she wears!). So, this year they will have the same Christmas dress!!

They are standing so far apart in the first picture because this is what happens when they are close to each other...Layne hits! Poor little Hayden just takes it too.

Daddy took the girls outside to finger paint tonight while I made dinner. What a special treat.

Layner just loved it....in more than one way!

Yummy!

What a messy little nut!

The finished product...

The BEST Halloween Costume...EVER!

So, we are going trick-or-treating with some friends of ours. They have a superhero theme this year-which works out perfectly for us since we have the Wonder Woman costume already. I decided that that's what Hayden would be on the actual day of Halloween since she will be walking around trick-or-treating with the other kids. Layne will be in a stroller or be carried, so she doesn't have to fit the theme really.

Last night I thought and thought about what it the world little Layner could be. We have some camo clothes for her, so she could be a hunter with that dead animal hat. We have a UPS outfit for her too, so she could be a UPS worker. I really wanted to have her make a statement with her costume.......

Then it hit me.....A TERRIBLE TOWEL! The guys on staff at DP...ok, really it's just 2 of them...like to talk trash about the Steelers. It just so happens that we will be trick-or-treating with both of them on Halloween. SWEET!

I actually have 3 terrible towels (2 Superbowl XLIII versions and 1 original). I sewed together the 2 Superbowl versions to make the "dress" for Layner. Don't worry, it's a very simple wide stitch that I can easily undo when Halloween is over!! I really wanted her to wear something on her head but I COULD NOT cut up one of the TTs. So instead, I cut up my favorite towels from my childhood. I know it sounds weird that I have a favorite bath towel from my childhood, but this one wad my name on it in big bright colors. It was just a special towel. But, I would have rather sacrificed that towel than cut up the original Terrible Towel!!

For those of you that are interested in learning more about the Terrible Towel, click here....

She's Got Lots to Say...

We just have no idea what it is that she's saying!!

This is a normal everyday conversation that Layne has with us. Poor girl has so much on her mind that she wants to get out, but she just can't seem to communicate it in English! I hope this is not a sign of how talkative she's going to be in the future.....

Two Little Pumpkins Riding in a Wheelbarrow!

Here is video of John pushing Hayden and Hannah in the wheelbarrow at the pumpkin patch. They had such a fun bumpy ride.

It's also video of the girls "cleaning out their pumpkins"....not really! Neither one of them wanted to get their hands dirty. So disappointing!

Cuddle Bug

This morning while I was cleaning up a little around the house I spotted this dead animal skin hat in our dead animal exhibit room (aka-the master bedroom!). I just knew that Layner would love it. She loves to cuddle up with soft things. I think she's definitely going to be the child that has a favorite blankie or stuffed animal for years! Sure enough, she cuddled right up with the dead animal skin and fur.

I do want to share some very exciting news! One of my friends, that I knew from HHBC preschool and now she's working for me again at Discover Point, is going to start cleaning our house once a week!!!! I am just so excited about this because it's not going to cost us a cent. She'd like me to tutor her son in order to get him ready for the CRCT and she brought up the whole bartering idea. So, I am going to tutor her son every week and in turn she will clean the house. It starts in November and I can hardly wait. It's going to be such a treat to have a professionally cleaned house once a week!

Please excuse the blinding reflection from the flash on my greasy hair! I don't shower until I get back from running each day and my hair is so thin that it just greases up in 24 hours. Not sure what was going on with the little pony tail either-I think it had a mind of it's own this morning. What I am trying to say is just try to focus on the bundle of tiny cuteness on the right of the picture!!

Wonder Woman!

Here's our little super baby scoping out the problem in the distance and getting ready to take flight!

"You think I can fly with this cape Miss Priss Sis?"

"I mean, I can't even walk...well, really I can but I am just milking this baby thing for every thing I can."

I have a few theories about what Hayden was doing with her hand in this picture:

~Modified peace sign

~Representing for her super hero sister (W for wonder woman)

~Letting everyone know she's three

Hayden told me right before we left the house for the Fall Festival that she actually wanted to be a dog instead of the princess. Wasn't happenin'!

We have a wig for the costume, but she would have nothing to do with it. So, she's a bald Wonder Baby!

Fall Festival

Some of you may remember video footage from last year's fall festival when little tiny fearless Hayden was crawling up HUGE inflatable and sliding down. Well, this year she has discovered fear! She barely did anything!! Most of the things that she attempted ended with her having second thoughts and coming out the entrance! Here she is looking up at the wall she had to climb having one of those second thought moments. She didn't make it!

Here is Layne wishing that she had some hair so she looked less like a baby and could conquer this beast! Maybe next year girl.

Here is Hayden sliding down the one inflatable she decided to do.

Not a very graceful princess on the way down!