Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

We hope you had as much fun today as we did

with our roaring lion and our little monkey!

Kate was so excited about trick-or-treating!

I told her that we would go as soon as we saw other kids

in costumes walking down the street.

Then, I had a hard time peeling her from the window.

So, I decided that the only way she was going to eat dinner

was if I let her eat at the desk in our office

so that she could have a view of the street!

Worked like a charm!

And she had a fun time wishing Pop a "Happy Halloween"

while we were in there.

We miss you Pop!

Then, it was FINALLY time to go!

(By the way,

we discovered that

Kate's favorite candies are lollipops and SweetTarts.

She still has no use for chocolate.)

Jack-O-Lantern

Every year, I look forward to carving a Jack-O-Lantern

and Kate was looking forward to it this year, too.

In fact, she had been asking about it a couple of times a day

over the last few days.

So, we were really excited when we began our pumpkin-carving project

after church today.

BUT then Kate touched the pumpkin innards for the first time

and our fun was officially over.

After that, we managed to extract

one half-smile from her...

BUT, the pictures below better represent her true feelings

about pumpkin carving.

Oh well! I forged ahead and

I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Hopefully we'll have more fun next year!

Pumpkin Cookies

Ted, Annie and the kids came over on Saturday afternoon

to help decorate the sugar cookies

Grandma and Papa made for Halloween!

We had pumpkins, ghosts and cats.

Everyone had a blast!

Fun at Home

FUN AT HOME

Since Matthew's arrival, we've been spending A TON more time at home.

It's been fun!

Here's a peek at what we've been up to:

First:

We've been learning a lot about our kids -

and about how different they are from one another.

For example, when Kate was a baby,

she hated the baby swing we borrowed from friends.

But, because Matthew loves to be rocked so much,

I figured he might have a different opinion.

Also, we're learning that Kate is eager to please us

and wants to help.

Take these two things and you have the perfect afternoon activity:

Baby Swing Assembly!

By the way, I was right.

Matthew loves the baby swing

and would be perfectly content to hang out there all day

if my maternal guilt would allow it!

Second:

We've been enjoying our backyard.
Life in the suburbs is awesome!

Kate is pretty obsessed with leaves these days.
Through much negotiation, we've managed to limit her current collection
to two containers.
But, these days, she'd rather go on a "nature walk"
than watch Elmo -
which is saying something!

Third:

We've been exploring some interesting fashion concepts.

Fourth:

We enjoyed a fun lunch with my cousin, Erika,

and her boyfriend, Daniel,

who were home for the weekend from App State!

Fifth:

We've been learning to coo!

(I wish I could figure out how to upload video clips

so that you could hear how adorable Matthew is when he talks!)

Sixth:

We've been accumulating pumpkins.

At last count, we had 9 "real" pumpkins

in various shapes and sizes.

We also have countless paper ones

diligently and lovingly created for us by Kate!

October is my favorite month!

I really hate to see it end!

Busy Growing!

As you may recall,

Matthew was 8 lbs, 7 oz and 20.25 inches

when he was born.

At our doctor's appointment this week

(a mere 5 weeks later),

he weighed in at 12 lbs, 4 oz

and is over 22 inches long.

Wow!

Our little man has been very busy growing!

Matthew is becoming more and more alert

and enjoys exploring the world around him.

In the last few days, he's started cooing at us...

and he's given us a couple of silly grins

that seemed to be on purpose to me!

It's all happening too fast!

It has been such a privilege to watch

Kate and Matthew get to know one another.

Kate is a really sweet big sister!

Matthew was a little fussy this evening

while we were trying to get dinner on the table.

Next thing I knew,

Kate had gone to get a bunch of Matthew's toys

and had piled them on his belly!

Perfect Sunday

Perfect Sunday!

I'm very impressed that

we managed to get all 4 of us up and dressed -

and even squeezed in a quick photo shoot-

and to the 9 AM service at church (almost) on time

this morning.

After church, we stopped by a local nursery

to pick up a couple of pumpkins for our front porch.

(Because we somehow managed to leave the pumpkin patch

on Wednesday without pumpkins suitable for carving!)

Kate is completely enamored with her tiny pumpkin...

but offered it to Matthew when he was fussy.

Very sweet!

After naps (which, thankfully, were long this afternoon!),

we took advantage of the glorious weather

and met my grandparents at Burke Lake Park

for fun at the playground and a picnic.

Nana and Great Pop surprised Kate with

Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls

and the perfect little bistro table for tea parties.

Kate loves it!

You can see here that we only made it about 10 steps into the house

before Kate insisted on setting up a tea party!

Thanks, Nana and Great Pop!