Happy Halloween

from both my Buzzes- Buzz Lightyear and Buzz the Bumblebee

Fun in the Leaves

I love this time of year. It's perfect weather outside and there's so much to do. Today we tackled the leaves in the yard. Granted the trees are still 50% full of leaves, but it was too nice of a day not to do something outside. It was Annaliese's first time experiencing the leaf pile, and she wasn't very keen on it. Ian, however, had a BLAST. I think I snapped 100 pictures of our time outside. And Ian was so creative out there. It is so neat to see him pretending. Ian may have something against the feeling of slimy stuff on his hands, and so I was worried how he'd be towards the texture of the leaves, but he absolutely loved playing in them. My normally timid boy was no where to be found. Instead he was running full speed into the leaves, chasing Darrin to throw them at him, and allowing himself to be almost completely covered by them. Thank goodness dinner wasn't ready as early as I expected, or we may have had trouble getting Ian inside! Here's just a few of the pictures I shot.

Ian's Jack O'Lantern

Last night we went to the annual pumpkin carving party over at Marlena and Noah's house. After some of Noah's special chili, we headed outside to carve and eat smores. The weather was perfect; there have been some years it has been downright frigid, but this year was great. When I asked Ian what he wanted his pumpkin from Pooley's to look like, he said he wanted it to have a mean face. I asked Ian what that looked like, so he showed me what he wanted.

Ian's Mean Face

In years past, Ian has always been willing to dig into his pumpkin, but lately he doesn't like anything on slimy or slick on his hands, including paint, and now apparently pumpkin goo. After the first initial feel, this was as close as he was willing to get.

So, we took an alternative route, I scraped the insides loose and he would flip the pumpkin and dump it out.

I am most definitely not an artist, but thankfully Noah is really good in that department. After he drew on the mean face, Ian sat down and helped me cut it out.

When we were all finished, he posed with his mean face and his jack.

I needed a weekend

to recover from last weekend. Last weekend Annaliese was baptized in one of the neatest baptism ceremonies I've seen. Pastor Sara had the whole service revolve around baptism, and as we were standing around the water, Annaliese was trying her best to get out of my arms and get into the water. I think if she could have, she would have gladly taken a bath in it.

Super excited by the water.

Giving a blessing

Annaliese's gown was my baptismal gown

I was so happy my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were able to come. My in-laws brought my other nephew so after Annaliese's baptism, we had 4 kiddos at our house under a year. Unfortunately with naps, we weren't able to get a shot of all of them together.

Ian, Annaliese, and Oliver

Me with Ian, Owen, Annaliese, and Walter

The day before her baptism, we headed to Pooley's Pumpkin Patch with both sets of grandparents. I think a great time was had by all!

Apple Orchard Fun

We had a great fall morning this morning driving up the interstate to Mondamin to Small's Fruit Farm and then back down among the Loess Hills. It was such a gorgeous day for the drive. And once again I am so thankful the man I married is TALL!

Loving this weather

Fall has arrived here in Omaha and I couldn't be happier! We've been spending lots of time this week outside. Ian's been riding his bike like a pro now (it only took all summer to coax him to even put his feet on his pedals). It was a big deal for him and us taking the attachment off the back of his trike that let us steer. He still freaks out a bit and heads for the grass when he feels like he's getting too far out of control.


Annaliese had a great spot on the grass to watch her big brother cruise around.


Darrin and Ian headed to the zoo yesterday while Annaliese slept and I cleaned the house. Darrin had some of his aunts and uncles stop by to visit yesterday as they were returning from vacation to Iowa. While she was awake, Annaliese spent some time snuggling with Alice.



Today we headed to the park to take advantage of the weather. Annaliese experienced her first ride in the swing, as well as the feel of sand on her feet. Darrin and I were talking about just how different she is from Ian, as he hated the feel of sand and grass on his feet for the longest time, and she doesn't seem to mind at all.


As Ian went to bed tonight, he was able to snuggle under his tractor quilt. I got it finished just in time for the cool fall weather. Now to finish up some baby gifts before they become toddlers!


I also have done a bit of scrapbooking, completing my first layout for Annaliese's scrapbook and another for Ian's.

Caught on Tape

A few videos tonight to make up for my lack of posts lately.

Ian reading "Three Silly Billies" The three billy goats are trying to cross the troll bridge, but they don't have $1 for the troll, so as other characters cross (3 bears, Little Red, Jack) they hop into the goats' car "pool" and eventually sweep the troll away when they drain their pool. Ian's picked that book for bedtime the last 4 nights, and decided to read it to us instead:


Ian loves preschool. Every night he asks, "When I wake up, it's preschool?" If the answer's yes, his response is usually, "Yeah, I'm so excited!" If not, there are quite often tears. He's gotten sick of us asking about it when we pick him up, saying he doesn't want to talk about it, even though that's all Darrin and I want to know about- what he does while he's away from us. He has started Sunday school now, too. The teacher commented on how quiet he speaks. I told her just to wait a few weeks. At both places, the teachers have commented on what a model he is for the other students, which makes my teacher-loving heart burst.

Annaliese is mobile. She doesn't opt for the traditional crawl, instead exerting more energy to do the army crawl. She's proficient enough at it to get into her brother's things now, which doesn't make Ian the happiest. He is, however, very willing to share with her when he's sure the toy is a safe one for her. We definitely have to keep a more vigilant eye on her than we did Ian- there weren't any small toys around for us to even worry about with him.


She had her 6-month check-up two weeks ago. She was 27.25 inches and 17 pounds 11 ounces. While there they discovered she had an ear infection, the 2nd of her life. We had to go back to the doctor just 5 days later because she wasn't acting like herself. Her ears hadn't cleared up, so they prescribed a stronger antibiotic. She still doesn't seem like herself, but between her ears, her two teeth that are coming in, the new foods she's trying, and the congestion in her chest, I just have no idea what's the problem. We just might be making another trip by the end of the week, as her pediatrician wanted to see her again if her congestion doesn't get any better. She does have two teeth on the bottom, and LOVES her food. So far, she's had peas, green beans, squash, and peaches, all homemade by me. She'd probably have sampled a lot more if we were using the store bought kind, but she has to wait for me to make them first.