Merry Christmas

Christmas concert

 The girls took a field trip to the nursing home "to sing for the old people" - as they say.  Luckily my mom was able to go and took a video.  Was an interesting concert.  Evelyn hung out in the back and didn't sing much - which is surprising since she's been singing Little Drummer Boy for weeks!  Audrey took about 30 seconds to warm up and then was fighting for the microphone - literally, she made one boy cry.  They had a good time and looked adorable :)

Snow!

The girls enjoyed playing in the first snow of the season.  Sam and I watched from the warm indoors.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  I am thankful for these silly kids!

 

Happy Halloween

Carving pumpkins - Evelyn was stabbing her pumpkin

Happy Halloween

Ready for trick-or-treating

Candy!

Happy to be here

Dancing off a sugar-high

Fall fun

I dislike the days getting shorter and the temperature dropping, but there sure are some fun things to do in the fall!

 

Waiting for the haunted trail in Normal.

Learning to lasso at Rader Farm

Trunk-or-treating at a church in Fairbury.

playing in the dirt

This 8 month old enjoys playing in the dirt, and eating a little too. 

 

All about Eve

Evelyn's birthday tree from last year- measuring their growth

Evelyn's first trip to the dentist.  She did great!

Not sure what she is doing here, looks like she is running away.

Illini fever

Audrey and I spent the day together on Tuesday.  Red Robin for lunch and her first movie at the theater.

Audrey's nail salon

Evelyn mid-fall.  She hung on like this- amazing!

Went to the Illini game yesterday. 

Tailgating

7 months old

pretty relaxed

end of summer

 

 

That was exhausting...

Cornbelter's game.  The highlight for the girls was the grass hill and the M&M's

Camping out.  Evelyn only made it till 10pm when her actions said 'we're not seriously going to sleep out here, right?'  Audrey slept like a log.  Two Benadryl made it a tolerable night for me.

Evelyn is 3!

Evelyn had a great birthday with multiple celebrations.  She enjoyed lots of cake and time with family and daycare friends.  She was shy at her check-up today but did great.  She is 74% for height, 68% for weight.  Evelyn still loves her friend, giraffe, pretend play, her baby brother and most the time her sister.  She is a sweet girl that loves to snuggle and has also become more independent.  The time-out spot is becoming less for Audrey and more for Evelyn as she expresses her independence :)

 

fun-filled weekends

 

 

Brian played in a police vs firefighters game.

Brian in the dunk tank

Watching cousin Ben play football

Handsome fella

playing in the rain puddles

I last swim for the summer

6 months

Sam is 6 months old (and it's been a month since I posted).  He is a big boy, weighing in at 19lbs 1 oz and is 85% for height and weight.  Got his check-up today and his shots.  Let out one short cry and then was fine.  He is sitting up pretty well but not rolling over - I'm guessing because he's so big.  He has a great smile and sleeps through the night.  He does still demand to be held by me all, day, long :)

 

I felt brave and took all three kids to the fair last week by myself.  It was unlimited rides wristband day so the girls got their (my) money's worth and rode until the cows came home.  We did take a break to visit the farm exhibit and they got their faces painted.  Was a good time, especially when the day ended with Avanti's for dinner!

We have been very busy this summer- lounging at the pool whenever we get the chance.

5 months old and goodbye to a good dog

Mr Sam is 5 months old now.  He is still spoiled as ever and has an amazing talent of never being put down.  Also a bit fussy, but his smiles are worth it.  I think he may be a giant as he is roughly 19lbs now.  He is a great sleeper at night and a bit lazy and won't roll over as he should be now, but I think that's because he doesn't spend much time on the floor.  We drove through the night coming home from vacation and this guy slept almost the entire way - never cried. 

 

Sam got a new paint-job in his room.  No more pink diamonds.

 

 

While on vacation, we had to make the sad decision to put Ellie May down.  She had been limping for several weeks and the vet said it was a pulled muscle.  The boarder was concerned that she wasn't moving much and seemed to be in pain, so she went back to the vet and think she had bone cancer.  She was in so much pain, we couldn't wait until we got back.  So we are missing our Ellie-Bellie and had to explain that to the girls.  She was a good dog.  I don't know about her beginning but like to think the second half of her life was pretty sweet.  Lots of room to run, all kinds of things to howl at, friends to play with, dirt to dig.   Goodbye Ellie May.