Pigtails!

Mia's hair is finally long enough for pigtails. It instantly makes her look like a little girl not a baby and oh so cute!

Operation Christmas Child

Tyler and I spent time today compiling a box for Operation Christmas Child as part of one of Tyler's preschool projects. Basically, you pick a child 's gender and age and you pack a shoebox for him/her to receive as a Christmas present. This is the first gift that many of these kids have ever received so we tried to put a lot of thought into what we could get our boy, age 3-5, both necessities and fun toys. I have never fit so much into a shoebox. We pray for this child and we sent a picture of Tyler and our address and I think it would mean so much to Tyler and really help him understand the concept if we receive a reply.

November 7

I took the kids to hear Pancake Pig read his book today at the library. Mia is still a little wary of big walking, talking animals so she kept her distance. In the group photo, Tyler is the one in the red shirt.

November 2

We had just a beautiful autumn day today. We took the kids on a walk on the Great Western Trail that has a trailhead about 2 minutes from our house. Tyler relished in the sound of his feet tromping through the crisp leaves and just being free to run. And oh yeah, his second favorite part was probably riding on Mike's shoulders when he got tired.

Happy Halloween

We had a beautiful Halloween. It was probably seventy degrees and sunny. I can never remember having to worry about being too hot in a costume except when we lived in Arizona. Last year, we drove the kids around in the car and popped out at each house. This time we put the Mia, our little ladybug, in the wagon and Barney rode his bike part of the way and RAN the rest of the way. The houses in our neighborhood are on large lots set back from the road and they also seem to have hidden highly placed doorbells for whatever reason but Tyler insisted that he wanted to go to the door by himself and say trick or treat. Mia probably went up to three houses but mostly figured that she had her bottle, a chocolate bar and a free ride so why go to all that work. She is also scared of many Halloween decorations. She will not go near a door with a scary witch or mask. We let the kids eat as much candy as they wanted and between all the sugar, running and dressing up. They were exhausted by 7:00. Then we realized that Barney had lost his face somewhere during the night so Tyler and Mike has to jump in the car and retrace our route. Thankful we found it.

October 30

Since Tyler was 6 months old, we have visited the same pumpkin farm every year. I thought we weren't going to get there this year because of our Arizona trip but we had a beautiful day today so I woke the kids early from their nap and we drove the 45 minutes to the farm so we could enjoy hot apple cider, warm apple cider donuts, run widly around the farm and the highlight for Tyler - we conviced them he was big enough to ride the camel. My son - no fear. Another Chicago fall activity crossed off the list.

October 28

Tonight, Tyler and Mommy had a special date night. Daddy came home from work at 6pm and Tyler and I went to see Veggie Tales Live at a local church. It was exciting for Tyler although he had no idea who the Veggie Tales were and because he got to go out while it was "so dark out" and stay out until 9 pm and I sure it was also very special because Mia had to stay home and he got to go out. It was a great show. It was funny, interactive and they sang some great songs. Tyler keeps asking if we are going to go and see them again tomorrow night. I just have to say that if someone told me a year ago that I would be able to do these fun things with Tyler and he would behave and be able to sit still at 8pm. I would say, "It's never going to happen." It's just so wonderful to be able to do these things withy my sweet boy and have such a great time without having to worry every second if he is going to have a meltdown. I LOVE AGE 3!!