Trick or Treat 2008

Taylor and Bella have been so excited about trick or treating this year. Taylor dressed up as a pirate and Bella was a bumble bee. We started trick or treating on our street and after walking door to door on Maple Woods Drive Bella got tired. Jay pulled out the wagon and Bella rode in style from door to door from then on out. Taylor had a great time being a pirate, unfortunately her sword could not handler her zeal and broke about 3/4 of the way through the night. Taylor taught Bella how to say something close to trick or treat. They were so cute!!!

Taylor told us that she was tired so we headed back home to sit on our porch and hand out candy. It was such a GORGEOUS evening and we just couldn't talk ourselves into going inside. I think that the kids had just as much fun handing out candy as they did going from door to door.

Aunt Jackie Takes a Peek at Kinsey

We visited Jackie at work so that she could try to get a picture of Kinsey's face. The first attempt was unsuccessful. She was VERY happy to show us that she is indeed a girl, but was a little more camera shy when it came to her face. Eventually Jackie got a pretty good shot of her face. I've labeled the picture to the best of my ability so that it will hopefully make sense to you. I'm a little partial, but I think she's pretty darn cute!

Mama goes to the hospital

Kinsey has managed to squish a ureter. This required a short trip to the hospital. It only took a day or so to get things running smoothly again. I should be able to go home tomorrow. Kinsey is doing great, however she likes to give the heart rate monitor a run for it's money. She will let them acquire her heart rate and then she's off to the races. The poor nurse gave up and decided to let Kinsey run off her energy before she'd try again. After I ate lunch Kinsey was in her food bliss sleep and we were able to keep her on the monitor for over 20 minutes. I think that she is going to have just as much spunk as the other two girls!

Alldredge Apple Orchard

Jay and I took the kids to Alldredge Apple Orchard this morning on a MOPS outing. Jay kindly took the morning off to help me with the kids. It was a really good thing too because it would have been very difficult to keep up with them with my lame ankle and my big ole pregnant belly! We started the tour by the biggest pumpkin I've ever seen in real life!
The tour went to the chicken coup for the next stop and that REALLY freaked me out. I HATE CHICKENS! They are mean little horrific creatures that take off chasing you for no good reason. Taylor and Bella both loved the chickens. Taylor fed the chickens out of her hands and Bella learned how to say "chicken".
Next the kids were allowed to pick apples. Most of the apples on the lower limbs had already been picked, so Jay and Taylor came up with a good way to pick the good apples at the top of the tree.
We went on a hayride next. Jay and I sat on the floor in the hay with the kids so that Bella would be able to see over the edge of the trailer. They had so much fun. Bella learned the word "apple" on the hayride.

After the hayride we went in to see the bees. The kids heard a story about apple trees and about how the beekeepers let their bees out in the spring to pollinate the trees. Then she got to dress up like a beekeeper!
After Taylor decided that she was done being a beekeeper we sat in a circle where the children were allowed to hold the orchards' kittens. Naturally both of my kids, being the animal lovers that they are, had to participate in this event. Jay and I would've loved to have passed up this event since we are both terribly allergic to cats...but such is the sacrifice of parents.
Next we were off to feed the goats. Taylor LOVES feeding animals.
After feeding the goats we went to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. Now this was something that Bella could really get into. Bella had help from Taylor and her friend Emma. She found her perfect pumpkin and Emma helped her carry it back to the stroller. Actually, Emma helped Bella up every time she fell and handed her the pumpkin that she'd dropped so that Bella could feel like she'd done it herself. Emma was very patient with Bella.
After the pumpkin patch Taylor, Emma, and Jay posed with the "cool bus" before lunch.
The kids were EXHAUSTED after the outing today. But they had so much fun. I'm sure Taylor will be telling stories for a long time to come from today...especially since she capped the day off with one of her new favorite things to do...climbing trees.

Bella FINALLY gets hair

Bella FINALLY has enough hair to pull into a very small pony tail and put a bow in. I guess now it'll be a little easier to distinguish her as a girl!

"The New Path"

While the title of this entry sounds very deep and spiritual it really isn't. Jay and Savannah worked very hard on this walkway during Savannah's visit to Missouri. Sadly, we didn't get it finished while she was here. Jay finished it up after completely and totally wearing out his leg muscles. However he's very proud of his hard work!

Penguin Park

Taylor had a very good day of behavior, potty, and napping...so when daddy got home we took the children to Penguin Park to celebrate. We didn't even need to introduce Bella to the park. As soon as I got her out of the car she took off. She made a bee-line for this whale that you sit on and rock. The picture is blurry because she never stopped rocking long enough for me to get a good picture.

She also enjoyed the swings...but I think what she liked the best was going around to all of the very LARGE animals and saying "whizzit" which means "what is it?". I would tell her the names of all of the animals and she was so thrilled that I understood her that she ran around the park several times to point and say "whizzit" to me.

Taylor has turned into a regular monkey. She's climbing all of the playground equipment up to the top and swinging off of the bars and going down all of the slides. I just can't fathom where the time has gone that my cute little ball of chunk that I gave birth to is now climbing playground equipment!

Bella plays dress up

Bella is a little more creative when playing dress up than Taylor is...although Taylor loves to help embellish her look. She will fuss at me if I try to actually use the bowl that she likes to wear on her head.

The necklace she started wearing on her head just a few days ago. She refuses to actually wear it as a necklace. She won't wear the headbands that have pretty hair bows, but she'll wear this necklace...
Personally, I think she's just as cute as she can be in just normal clothes. I think she looks like a walking cabbage patch doll. I especially love her in these jeans and in her tennis shoes. It accentuates her cabbage patch doll look.