Halloween 2009

We had a lovely Halloween this year. We stayed close to home, and were joined by cousin Anna, and some dear friends Lauren and Braeden.

Ben spent weeks changing his mind as to what costume he would wear. Initally, he planned on being Bob the Builder, as he had been last year. It would have worked fine because the costume still fit. But then, Aaron's coworker offered up a cool fire fighter costume that Ben liked. He ended up wearing that one to his preschool party, and you can see pics if you check out blogs from November. And, finally, he had a pumpkin sweatsuit that he was also considering.

Well, when we got up that morning, he was leaning toward the fire fighter outfit, but we decided to wear the pumpkin outfit just for the day, since it was something he could wear all day. And, when it came time to trick-or-treat, he just decided that he was happy with what he was wearing, and he would stick with that for the night. I think it helped that he had gotten several compliments on it throughout the day!

Molly wore a lady bug outfit that Granny found for her. She wore it well, and didn't seem bothered by the wings or antennae at all. I was impressed.

And you will be able to see from the pics that Anna was a dragon, Lauren was a cat, and Braeden was a scary Scream guy.

The trick-or-treating went well. Molly said "trick-or-treat" very well, and used her "thank you" very politely, despite spending most of the evening with a look on her face that suggested disbelief that total strangers kept dropping candy into her basket:).

Ben also did a great job, and was really "getting" the whole thing this yaer. He loved watching his basket fill, and, after about 15-20 houses, announced, "Alright, I'm ready to go home now." I told him he could keep going to get more candy, but he insisted that he had what he wanted, and was ready to go home and start eating. Way to know when to stop, buddy!

Here are some pics. Note Molly two-fisting the suckers:)

Finally some pics! Thanksgiving 2009

We are finally good to go with our pics and our new computer. Time for me to play catch-up!

Here are some pics from Thanksgiving 2009. We had a wonderful, relaxing visit to Nana and Papa's house in Iowa. The kids loved every minute of it, and I think all the rest of the family did too.

Some highlights...Nana and Papa brought up Uncle Marty's old "Lego Train". It is a little Lego train that, once put together with the motor added, will run from a battery for countless hours of fun. Ben LOVED this train, and still talks about wanting to go back and play with it, almost daily. He is such a train addict!

Also, Nana and Papa brought up a Molly-sized rocking chair, and a baby-sized rocking chair to go along with their regular rocking chair in the living room. The first picture here is a good representation of how all 3 chairs spent the week:)


Here are the 2 cutest kids on the planet, loving on their Mama!


We also got a really beautiful family pic. Some of you might recognize it from our Christmas card. Can you believe this was taken right in Nana and Papa's back yard?!


Lots of good snuggle time with Nana and Papa!


Ben provided the table centerpiece for our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. It had been a project of his from preschool.

Long time no post! Quick Molly update:)

Sorry I've been MIA again. But any readers here have probably also been busy over the holidays, too, so hopefully you understand:)

Things have been good here. Part of the reason I have been offline is because we have been in the process of getting a new family computer. Our shiny, new laptop is finally here and working well, but I haven't been able to explore downloading pictures yet. I have many cute stories to tell of the past few weeks, but most of them would be better with pics, so I will hold off until I have the pics uploaded and in working order.

In the meantime, I had to write a quick update on Molly. She has been developing and learning at the speed of light lately! Not that long ago, I was writing about her ability to combine words, and about her cute sound substitutions.

Well, these days, we have forgotten all about days when she didn't have many word combinations, and are instead feeling like we can actually see her brain grow and see her make new connections every single day. And, she still has lots of cute sound substitutions, but I think most people can understand her basic words pretty well, especially in context. (Though keem keem for cream cheese is still a bit tricky for new people:)

Here are a few cute stories lately:

1. We had a whole pretend play scheme on the bed the other day. She and I were snuggling on a cold morning under the blanket, and we pretended that it was a bear cave. I asked her, "Do you see a bear in the cave?" She replied, "No bear, just baby!" and pulled her baby doll under the blanket and into the cave. Then I told her she had a sweet little baby, and she suddenly announced, "Baby crying!" And then looked lovingly at the baby and asked, "Need Blankie?"..."Need pie pies (paficier)?"..."Need kisses?"...Meed Ben?" She finally decided that her baby just needed "nuggles" (snuggles), and the two of them got things sorted out perfectly:)

2. She has been amazing with pronouns lately. She says "I do it" and "My turn now." She, of course, still mixes up I/me/my all the time, but just the fact that she is using so many pronouns, and getting so many of them right, is crazy to me!
One little hard part, though, is that she has found a new way to tug on my heartstrings. She has started requesting, "Nuggle (snuggle) me, Mama!". Now, this is a perfectly darling phrase, so I'm not trying to complain. Its just that it is terribly difficult to resist!!! So in the middle of the night, if she wakes up and says, "Nuggle me Mama!"...I have been known to give in and nuggle a bit before laying her back down. And if I am in the middle of doing dishes but hear a little "Nuggle me Mama" behind me, the dishes get delayed for some nuggle time. I can't get anything done around here!

3. She has picked up the word "actually". It is histerical!! She will throw it in at random, but totally appropriate times. I'll ask, "Molly, is this your water cup?" and she will respond, "Actually, Ben's cup!"
I'll ask, "Molly do you want couscous?" She'll reply, "actually, noodles peas (please)". SO funny. And she'll hesistate for a moment too as if she's thinking about it carefully before responding..."...actually...noodles please!".

4. She has also been throwing out "because!" as an answer to questions too, lately. Seriously, when did she turn 13??! I'll ask, "Molly, why did you pour the salt out and all over the table?" She'll respond, "Because!". Can't tell you how much I love this one. ;)