Fall Fun

We have had a very busy and fun fall. Although the weather today feels nothing like fall (40's and wet), we have had some nice days to enjoy outside. When we can't go outside we have come up with some things to do inside.
A few weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch in Indy with some friends. They have great pumpkins and the kids have fun finding their perfect pumpkin. We got 2 big pumpkins for a total of 75 lbs.


On fall nights we enjoy lighting our fire pit and making smores. The kids think this is so fun and we really enjoy this family time.



We also baked Halloween cut out cookies. These are my dad's favorite so we try to make some for every season. They are pretty yummy! :)


Since today was cold and wet, we decided to make a gingerbread haunted house. I gave each of the kids a side to decorate.

Kaylie's side:

Landon's side:


Now for our traditional fall porch shot... Each year I take a picture of the kids with the same decorations. It is really fun to go back and see how much they have changed. It is also sad to see how fast they are growing up. :(
Kaylie last year:

This year:

Landon last year:

This year:

Friends

I have really been enjoying the last month or so because Kaylie and Landon are really becoming good friends. They enjoy playing together and about 90% of the time play well together. They both enjoy the others company and like being in the same room together. This has made it really nice for me because we can all do things together and when I need to get something done they can go in the basement and entertain each other. I hope this relationships stays and that they stay close.

Landon is a jabber box these days and just makes us laugh. He is so fun and can carry on a conversation with us. He is saying mostly 3-4 word sentences so when Kaylie is as school he just talks to me the whole time she is gone. Here is the first 5 min. of our ride home after dropping her off...
Landon- Where sissy at?
Me- School
Landon- Miss Sissy, bye bye, love you!

Kaylie is still loving school and doing great. She loves Thursdays because that is show and tell day. They get to bring in something that has to do with the letter of the week, so we enjoy coming up with fun ideas for the week. She now knows how to write her name all by herself with no help.

Here are some recent pictures... The kids love to help me with whatever it is that I am doing. As you moms out there know, this can add about an hour to whatever it is that you are doing, but it is fun to let them help whenever possible. The kids each helped me mix, clean the dishes, and check to make sure it was cooking just right. A lot of times when I am in the shower they will go in Kaylie's room and look at books together. This is what I found one day... Kaylie decided to dress up her bear and they were both reading to him. They are also really into puzzles and drawing Kaylie still likes to help daddy make waffles or pancakes on Saturday mornings. In Sept. we were very excited because we got to visit with some friends of mine and their little ones. Here is Kaylie and Annabel Here are the kids with Jackson and Ryne

New York!!

As one of my 30th birthday presents, my mom took me to NY a week ago. We left on a Thurs. and came back on Sunday. Jeremy and my dad stayed with the kids and they got along great. When I got home Jeremy said all went well but, "I could have my job back, he didn't want it." Ha! He did great with the kids and my mom and I had the best time.
It was so nice for just the 2 of us to get away and spend time together.
This was probably my 5th trip to NY and my mom has been more than that so, we are familiar with NY and how to get around

Here is a recap of what we did....

Thurs.
-Arrived in NY
-Took a carriage ride around Central park
-Watched the filming of an Old Navy commercial in Central Park
-Went for dessert at our favorite, "Ellen's Stardust Diner." It is so fun because the waiters are all trying to get on Broadway so all night they are serving and singing. It is a fun atmosphere and always one of our favorite stops.
-Walked around Time Square and shopped on 5th Ave.

Friday
- US Open!!!!
- Saw 3 matches at the Arthur Ash Stadium
- Had a dream come true of watching Serena Williams play
- Overall just a really neat experience

Saturday
- Got up early to head down to the taping of the Today show. They are not outside as much as they are during the week but we still got to see them. We were also on TV 2 times! :)
- Shopped most of the morning
- Went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway (very cute).
- We have now seen, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Greece, Mama Mia, and Mary Poppins in NY on Broadway.
- Walked around and ate outside on the top of Rockefeller Plaza where they ice skate in the winter.
- Went to get dessert at a place called, "Magnolia Bakery." It was crazy because they are open from 9AM-midnight and there is always a line outside. They said they are only in NY. They have great cupcakes and desserts.

It was a great trip and I thank my mom and dad for such a wonderful present! I will never forget how special it was.
Here are the pictures...

Show and Tell

Today was Kaylie's first Show and Tell day at Preschool. She was so excited and ready. The Show and Tell this week was "All about me." They were to fill their bag with 6 things that they could share that told something about them. Of course the teacher in me had her practice several times so she knew what she would say to her class. So here is the video... She woke up this morning with a big smile and said, "Mommy do I get bring my bag to school today?"

First Day of Preschool

Well we have entered the school world. Kaylie started preschool last week. She walked into school the first day and didn't look back. She loves it, which makes me so happy! I can't believe how much she has matured in the last 6 months. We took her for her open house back in March and she clung to us and was really shy and said she wanted to wait until she was older to go to school. Now it is Aug. and she walked into school the first day and went right in.

I can't believe my little girl is ready for school! I am glad she is having so much fun at school, but Landon and I miss her when she is gone. When I dropped Kaylie off the first day, Landon walked around the house and said, "sissy, sissy?" It was cute. So here are the pictures from her first day at school...
After we picked Kaylie up from school we all (Mommy, Daddy, Landon, and Mami) took Kaylie out to lunch so we could hear about her first day. After we ate we did one of Kaylie's favorite summer things which is to get ice cream and eat it at the fountain in town.

Here are some other pictures from the past week. I am recovering from gall gladder surgery so my mom spent the week here helping us out. It was so great to have her here and she was such a big help.

The kids love to go to Wendy's and sit at the little tables. They seemed so big to me sitting there all by themselves while my mom and I sat at the big tables next to them.

So this is Landon's black mail picture for later in life. Kaylie loves to dress up. I turn on her music and she dances around. Well, little Landon wants to do whatever his big sister is doing these days so here he is following along. Don't worry he loves his cars, trucks, and sports too. :)

Catching up....

We have been very busy the last few weeks. We are trying to get everything in before summer is over and school starts. I can't believe Kaylie will start school in a few weeks. She is very excited, which makes it easier on me. I still an nervous about my "baby" leaving home to head to school but know she will love it! Here is some of what we have been doing... The kids are just getting older and older by the day. The fun part is they are really starting to play together a lot more. I can now leave them in the basement for a short time and they will keep each other entertained while I make dinner which is really nice. This is what happens when Landon is left with me, Kaylie, and my mom. For my 30th birthday Jeremy invited a few of my friends and neighbors and their families over for a cook-out to help celebrate. We had a great time. Jeremy rented a bounce house because there were 12 adults and 14 kids. It was great entertainment for the kids and allowed us adults to talk and catch up as well. Here is Kaylie and Landon bouncing before everyone arrived. Here are my friends who came (minus one who left before we took this picture). I have not been to Lafayette all summer with just the kids to spend a few days so we wanted to make sure we got that in as well. I packed them up and we headed North last week. We had a great time and it was jam packed with activities. My mom wanted to take the kids to Indiana Beach. The kids had a blast!! They both rode all the kid rides for almost 2 hours. They had so much fun and I couldn't get enough of the smiles on their faces. On our way home from Lafayette we stopped by the Indianapolis Zoo to visit with a friend of mine from where I taught and her daughter. It was great weather and there were not a lot of people so the kids had a great time. Other than that we have been playing outside a lot and enjoying each and every day. I have had a couple people ask for some videos so I decided to post some. Both kids love to make videos and even Landon now says, "video, video." Here is a video of Kaylie talking about school... Landon is talking a lot now and is saying 2-3 word sentences. He repeats everything and is now able to ask for things and tell us what he is thinking which is a lot of fun.