Halloween school parade

Today we celebrated Halloween at school. Ben and Abbey don't normally go to school on Fridays, but the center said as long as one of us stayed with them we could bring them in so they wouldn't miss out on the fun. So, we spent the morning getting ready and then headed to school to join the parade. It's really cute - all the kids walk around the halls of Motorola and this year, they had the preschoolers go trick or treating in one section of cubicles. It was great and the Moto people got really into it. Some of them were dressed up and the kids got free tote bags to put all their candy in. Abbey got to go trick or treating as well since she was related to a preschooler. So, here are our costumes...

Space shuttle pilot Ben...

Ladybug Abbey...

Ladybug Juliette...

This is how Juliette spent her first Halloween parade...asleep!

I am sure we will have more pictures of our actual trick or treating festivities tomorrow, but wanted to give a preview.

Fall Fun

There are many things to enjoy about fall...cool (but not yet cold) weather, leaves turning colors and of course, jumping in piles of leaves! Since the weather was fairly nice last weekend, we took the opportunity to get some fall clean-up done and have some fun in the process.

Ben loved jumping in the leaves...

Abbey carefully rearranged our pumpkins...

But then it was time to get to work!

Look-a-likes

I think Juliette looks just like Ben did when he was an infant. What do you think? Can you tell which baby is Ben vs. Juliette?

The after party

After Juliette's baptism, we had a party at our house to celebrate! Everyone got a chance to hang out with Miss Juliette and congratulate her on her first major milestone. Here is Madgie holding Juliette in her beautiful baptismal gown, which is a family gown from Paul's side of the family.

Abbey clung to Papa as the day wore on...
Patch and Juliette...

Mommy and Juliette once Juliette changed into her party dress...

Aunt Godmother Sandy...

Mama Kay...

Mommy and Aunt Godmother Sandy...

Uncle Chris spending some quality time with Miss Abbey...

And the beautiful and yummy cake (thanks Aunt Sandy!!)

You may be wondering why we don't have any pictures of Ben at the party, but that is because he was running around and playing with his friends the entire time and wasn't around his parents too often for a good photo op. Don't worry - he had tons of fun too!

It was a wonderful celebration and we want to thank everyone for coming and/or sending their best wishes for Juliette. Our family is incredibly blessed.

Juliette's Baptsim

Last weekend we had Juliette baptized into the Catholic Church. For the big event, we had lots of family and friends come and we were thrilled that so many people could make it. Juliette got to meet lots of family for the first time too. Here she is smiling at Uncle Chris and wearing a beautiful sweater that my aunt made for her...


Here we are in Church waiting for the ceremony to start...

Ben got to spend some quality time with his Godparents too...

Juliette got to meet Uncle Al...

And here she is being baptized. She slept through the entire thing. When he actually poured the water on her, she woke up a little, but only to stretch while the water was on her head and then go back to sleep. She was great!

Here's the family...note that Ben and Abbey were also extremely well behaved during the ceremony. Thanks to Aunt Theresa and Uncle Chris for taking care of Ben and Patch for taking care of Abbey during the baptism.

Here is Juliette with her Godparents, Uncle David and Aunt Sandy...

Juliette with her parents and grandparents...

Big girls!

Well, I am very behind on blogging and have lots to update, so I will start with an update on the girls. Abbey was just in for her 15 month appointment to the doctor. She continues to fear the doctor and I think it may be getting worse (if possible). This time she started crying as soon as the nurse walked in. And I am talking intense screaming - the kind where her mouth is open and no sound is coming out because she is crying so hard and not breathing. She stays frozen in fear, except for the uncontrollable shaking of her legs and arms. Poor thing. When the nurse was finished, she told Abbey she was almost done and was going to leave, at which point Abbey immediately turned around and yelled "Bye bye" and waved to her through her tears. It was cute. Anyway, she weighed in at 22 lbs, 11 oz and was 30 inches tall. That bumped her up to the 60th percentile - big girl! We have noticed a huge growth spurt lately so I wasn't totally surprised. She knows her body parts and the sounds animals make and she is saying new words every day. I love this stage and watching them learn new things every day. I just posted a few pictures of her in a pony tail and pig tails. She never lets me do her hair (she pushes my hand away and tells me no), so I had to grab pictures when she did let me touch it!

Eating an apple...

Juliette was just in for her 2 month appointment. She did really well and was smiling at the nurses (a nice change from my experience with Abbey). It is always sad though when they go from smiling at the nurses to screaming and wondering why the friendly nurses just pierced their thighs with needles...yes, she got 4 vaccines so she was a bit upset, but she calmed down quickly. She weighed in at 10 lbs, 2 oz and was 22 1/4 inches, which put her in the 40th percentile. She is cooing and smiling a lot now and is such a good baby. She sleeps about 8 hours at night, so we are just trying to nail down that timing to fit best with our schedule. Currently she goes to bed around 10 and wakes up at 6. I am pretty happy with this arrangement for now, but am looking forward to having all kids in bed by 8! Just a few cute pics of her as well.

Juliette's smiles

Juliette has been smiling for almost 2 weeks now and I have been trying to get a good picture of it. The first smiles are always hard to get on camera because they are so quick and by the time you get the camera going it is too late. But I finally took one today that is a pretty good shot of her smile. She's a happy baby!

Birthday Party

One of Ben's friends from school had a birthday party at a pumpkin patch this weekend. It was a great place for a party as there were tons of activities for the kids. Here they are going on a hay ride.

Ben riding the ponies...

The petting zoo...



And cupcakes!! Abbey ate hers faster then Ben I think!

Sisters

Ben was invited to spend the night with his cousin on Thursday night (thanks Aunt Domi - he had a blast!), so it was just us girls at home on Friday. I took this as an opportunity to create some sisterly bonding, and it seemed to work! We started off putting Juliette next to Abbey in the chair and she sort of thought it was cute.

Then I put Juliette up against her side and she thought this was even better.

When I took Juliette away, Abbey actually cried and reached for her sister! So I put her back in the corner of the chair and Abbey proceeded to point out all of Juliette's features. Here is Abbey pointing out Juliette's hair (Ju Ju hair). You can see that Juliette is actually enjoying this as well!

And here is Abbey reading to her sister and then giving her the book. They had a good time together and it was good to see Abbey so interested in her sister!

Apple Picking

Fall is officially here so we decided to take our annual apple picking trip. We go to a great place in Wisconsin, so Juliette gets to add to her map! As you can see, Ben is an expert apple picker after years of experience...

Although this was Abbey's second year going, this was the first year she actually could pick (and eat) the apples. She shows real promise...

Ben and Daddy on the ladder to get the best apples...this was before Daddy fell off the ladder and twisted his ankle (luckily he is ok).

Papa giving Abbey the boost she needed!