Magnolia wanted to be a bat with big wings for as long as I can remember. I think it started about 6 months ago when Nana bought her the Stella Luna movie. She didn't change her mind once. Not once. Never even considered it. So, I took a sweater of Georges and cut legs into it and nipped and tucked here and there. I added wings and and some ears on her hat and it was done. I was so proud that she would be warm inside that wool sweater. I even put her pajamas on first then another layer before putting her in that bat suit. Poor thing still came home shivering cold!

Here she is showing us her candy. She had a great time and we let her eat quite a bit of it. I never knew the meaning of bouncing off walls before tonight but now I know...

Meanwhile, George slept through it all. We put him in a lambie sleeper that was Magnolia's because his first 2 options were too small and he was awfully mad about that. So here he is waking up at 6pm ready for his dinner and completely oblivious to anything. Gosh, I love this little stinker.

Here's the two of them early afternoon before costumes went on.
Hope you and yours had a wonderful Halloween too!

Happy Birthday Magnolia! We are the luckiest people in the world to be your parents! We love you so much. You delight us every single day with your charm, your wit, your humor, and your sweetness. You are a very, very special girl! Hugs & Kisses, Mommy & Daddy
The theme was purple this year. She said her birthday would be purple as far back as the middle of the summer. We added a little pink just because pink came up occasionally too.
We started the morning opening all of her gifts. Then George came to pick her up to take her to lunch. They had a very special day out and she came home exhausted. She blew out her candles after dinner and we tucked her in reading her new books and looking at her not believing how fast she is growing up.
Happy Happy Birthday Magnolia!

We had a great fall weekend! Weather has been so gloomy and rainy but on Sunday afternoon we had a tiny bit of sunshine so we headed down to our local produce stand and picked out pumpkins. George slept through it all which was probably a good thing & Magnolia was happy to have us all to herself. Above she's on top of a haystack which she declared "she loved!"
On Saturday morning I made these pumpkin doughnuts...they were to die for. :)
We've been decorating for Halloween. Magnolia and I put glitter on some pumpkins. She did the small ones with LOTS of glitter. :) I also put the usual cats in the windows but made a bat chandelier this year.

Picking out pumpkins.After our pumpkin trip we went to the park. It was so cold!



Back to sewing, a whole lot of hanging around the house, and getting ready for Magnolia's 3rd birthday this week...love this time of year.

We've had only one day this week without rain so we decided it would be a good day to go out and pick the remaining apples on our apple tree. When we got outside I noticed the leaves from our ash tree were starting to fall. They looked so pretty on the grass, almost as if they were artfully placed there. I decided to plop George in the basket and take some pictures of the first of the fallen leaves in our yard. Welcome fall!

I can't believe George turned 6 months old last week! He is SUCH a dumpling, I'm not sure I'll ever get enough of him. He's so smiley and so much fun to play with. At his 6 month check up he weighed 18.4 lbs. and measured 26.75" long. He's doing great! He sits up beautifully and falls forward to reach a toy but once on his tummy he gets super mad. He's also discovered shaking rattles and dropping toys on the floor. I took these photos of him in his diaper for no other reason than his sleeper was covered in peas. :) Happy 6 months George! xoxo

I decided to keep Magnolia home from preschool this year because she has a late birthday and that would mean 3 years of preschool. I also wasn't sure she'd be ready to part from me (okay, and I from her). We're doing gymnastics together and she loves it and is growing more and more independent. We're also signed up for a craft class and she'll start swimming lessons with her daddy at the end of the month. I took her to library story time and put her in the group that has story time WITHOUT a caregiver. She asked if I'd be right outside folding laundry (what I do every night when I put her to bed). I told her I'd wait for her right outside and she was okay with that. She did the whole story time without coming out for me! I was so proud of her and so happy with the trust we've built together! In other news she had her first dentist appointment and was so brave and so good. I was convinced she had decay but what I was seeing was something the dentist told me either happened when she was in utero or something hereditary...we'll never know. She's talking my ear off lately and now asks if it's "quiet time or not" or if once we get downstairs (away from nursery)she still has to be quiet. I don't think she stops talking all day! Last weekend we went to the mall. When we pulled into the parking lot she said, "The mall, let's bark..woof woof!" She must think park & bark are the same word. She makes me laugh so much! She really loves dinosaurs and is doing a lot more imaginary play. She's also getting scared a lot more and the world of monsters has appeared. She's excited about Halloween and her costume which I'm trying to finish sewing! Here she is helping pick apples off our apple tree in our backyard.

A lot of exciting things have happened in George's world! He cut 2 teeth last week! He rolled over a couple of times one morning and hasn't since. Either he's just too fat or he doesn't find it very exciting. He has started to scoot though. On his tummy he pushes his rear in the air and scoots. He doesn't get far and fusses after a few minutes of this entirely exhausting exercise. He's starting to sit up much more on his own and topples less and less. He smiles nonstop and it's such a hoot to get him laughing. I thought he loved me like none other but I think his love for Magnolia is even greater. She ALWAYS cheers him up and they've really started to bond the past two weeks. It's a beautiful thing to watch.

We are having a lot of fun getting ready for fall, Halloween, and our birthdays, I love October!

Catching Up

Wow, I've been away a while! I've been so busy with house projects and travel. We spent the other weekend in South Bend visiting my parents. My dad took George to a Notre Dame game and my mom and I tagged along for the tailgating. It was a lot of fun! My parents have a house right near campus so it was a beautiful walk to and from. Here we are hanging out on their front porch.

Last weekend we took our family room and made it a playroom with nothing but toys in it. I'm so happy to have this room instead of toys all over the house and so is Magnolia.

I confessed to George my anxieties over the amount of photos I've taken and the questionable way I've backed them up. He bought a separate hard drive and backed everything up for me...phew! We also got a new pocket camera to replace to one that froze in my purse last winter. We missed that one because it was so easy to take a quick video. We realized we weren't taking videos anymore and knew we had to start again! In other technological news, I inherited George's old iPhone. I love this phone and so does Magnolia. George uploaded all kinds of apps for her and usually at the end of a meal in a restaurant it gets pulled out as the last trick in our bag and saves the day. Now I get the power of this magic trick!

I'll be back soon with news from Magnolia & George's world!