John: "Mommy, learned a new word today!"

Me: "That is exciting...what is it?"

John: "Con-cen-trate

(the hyphens represent pauses and each syllable was said with a head nod)

Me: "That is a big word! What does it mean?"

John: "Don't know"

Me: "Where did you learn it?"

John: "Elmo"

When he said Elmo, he said it in a way and a facial expression like "Elmo teaches everything so you should let me watch it all the time."

Fall Festival Weekend!

I love fall and one of these reasons are FALL FESTIVALS! The rain did keep us from one of our favorites...the Plaza Art Fair. The Liberty Fall Festival was this weekend and it is a family favorite. Wendi and Kurtis (Matt's sister and brother in law) live near the square and on the parade route. So we have made it a family tradition to cook breakfast together and to watch the parade in the front yard. It is usually followed by going to the fair, eating fair food and looking a crafts. This year the rain kept us from enjoying the fair...but it was beautiful weather for the parade and LOTS of candy!

Patiently waiting for the parade...

The cute, serious husband...

Part of the family...

My baby boy...he loved the parade. He ate lots of candy and danced to the music. He also said "Tank Chu" (thank you) to everyone that handed him candy.

I promised you pictures of bath time.

A New Things:

Sophia has gotten her first tooth! It is breaking through and she is being such a strong girl!

John moved up to the Preschool I room today at church. It wasn't planned but it ended up happening and he LOVED it.

John calls tortillas "cover ups".

Still working on potty training...it wasn't a very successful week. Any tips??

John has a new love...Barney...it is against Matt and I's will.

For those of you that don't know...we are getting a new baby cousin Feb!!

John loves when I get a new 31 order. He loves pulling out the bubble wrap and loves coloring on the boxes. Fia just sits and giggles while John shouts for joy! "New Bags!"

2 in the Bathtub!

Tonight was the first night that we put the two kiddos in the bathtub together. Sophia has outgrown her infant tub...being that she is the size of a 9 month old. We were going to just put her in the sink to take a bath, but we decided to try out the big bathtub. She ended up loving it! She played with toys and splashed around. She also laughed at her brother most of the time.

John got out all of his bath toys because he was so excited Fia was taking a bath with him. There are A LOT of bath toys so the whole bathtub was covered. He was showing her different toys and trying to help wash her body while singing our song 'Wash, wash you body". (You'll have to hear us sing it sometime.) We did have a problem with a little splashing and trying to pour a cup of water over her head. Yet my mad, quick skills caught the cup just in time!

We do have pictures, but the sweet husband didn't quite get the private parts out of the pictures and I couldn't crop them without cutting out a child, so hopefully pictures will be posted next bath time.

Have a great Tuesday!

What a busy weekend! It was a whirlwind, but it was fun. Unfortunately, homework was put off all weekend, but I guess I will get caught up sometime. :) Saturday morning started with baths and the Blue Springs Parade. The kids loved it with the exception of the scary, masked men in the parade. We got to go to a petting zoo and John got to see his cow! For those of you that didn't hear...John went poop in the potty! He has been on a cow kick, so I told him we would see a cow if he pooped. Boy was I glad that the fair was in town this weekend! Saturday evening was filled with wedding fun for sweet Savannah. It was a beautiful wedding. Sunday was filled with church, football and our new mid sized group for Anapra. The night was amazing to see over 20 small aged kids and their parents gather for rice and beans and then worship together. I feel blessed to be a part of this leadership team. The work week starts tomorrow and I am sure the week will fly by. I hope everyone has a fabulous Monday.

Sophia sporting her new pink robe.

Mister mister refusing to use the potty. "No mommy, I fine."

Fia enjoying the parade from the grassy, shaded area.

John seems to be concerned about his little sister for some reason.

Sunday mornings...oh how I love them (most of the time). It is just me and kids and we lay around, watch a movie, read books and just have a relaxing time together. Then we get ready for church to see DADDY! It's too bad Matt can't be a part of this because he has to go to work.

So I didn't take a picture today and I have used all my recent photos of Sophia...so there will have to be pictures to come.

However, Sophia had her 6 months doctor's appointment today. She weighed in at a whoppin' 19.5 lbs and is 28 inches long. She is in the 98% for her height and in the 94% for her weight. The doctor was very impressed with her developmentally. Matt said that everything went well until the shots. Sophia doesn't really cry much, so we aren't use to hearing it. Well, Matt became very familiar with it today. He said it was the highest pitch cry he had ever heard. She was gasping for breath because she was crying and screaming so hard. Poor baby!

She was in a great mood the rest of the day, so we are hoping for the same tomorrow.

Sweet Baby Girl

Favorite Things About Today:

1. My daughter was dressed like she was ready to go play tennis...

shoes to match!

2.We went to the Weston Big Red Barn today to pick apples...and they had apples this year!

3. John and Sophia's first hayride!

4. Yesterday, John helped Matt "fold" clothes. Today while I was putting dishes away, John starting trying to put together Sophia's bottles. I said, "What are you doing John?". John says, "I folding Sophia's bottles". I start singing a song that has his name in it and he says, "Mom, I working." I asked, "Do you want me to stop singing?" He replies, "Yes, please."

WOW!

5. John went pee in the big boy potty tonight! We bought him Cars big boy pants to help entice the idea of going more in the potty.

I know that I won't always be able to dress Sophia...so I really try to live it up right now. When I put her in the outfit tonight before going to bed...I just couldn't help myself. Isn't this hat adorable!

(And yes...that is spit up on her pants. She must have done it while I went to get the camera. I didn't notice it until after I had taken the pictures. Rest assure...I took the pants off of her before putting her to bed.)

Last night it was a quiet house. I came home from class to an empty house. The kids were at Nana and Papa's for the night. Matt was in Chicago. I won't lie...I enjoyed it. However, by the time I was driving to school this morning...I was missing the craziness of my real life.

This evening, almost all was back to normal. Noodles covered my floor as John strung them on pipe cleaners, Elmo was singing in the background, and Sophia was grabbing for anything that she could get her hands on. Oh...and my favorite...John singing along with the sing along going on on the TV. Oh and you can't forget the occasional fit of my sweet 2 year old. Both were in bed by 8:00 because they were exhausted from the early mornings this week and the different sleeping places. The only thing missing was my sweet hubby. Good news...he is almost home. Life will be completely back to normal tomorrow.

How cute is she???

I absolutely love her smile. Her smile can brighten a room or make your bad day so much better! Miss Sophia is now sitting up and she is LOVING it!

"Look at me Mommy! Can you believe it?"