Halloween

Claire, the pig.
Grace, the mermaid.
And Tyler, as himself....after two attempts with the costume, it just wasn't worth it!

Presents and cake

We finally celebrated Tyler's birthday today....four days late!   He even dressed for the occasion in his best pajamas :)
 

Silly girl

Our goofy girl playing with her "old" Little People and American Girl sock!

Preschool class

Claire's preschool class performed their nursery rhyme program this morning.  Since I was the only one who could attend, I opted to video tape it rather than take pictures.  After the program, we had a little bit of time before having to pick up Tyler, so Claire enjoyed playing in her classroom with her friend Emma.

Birthday boy

Tyler turns 2 years old today!  Since Daddy was working today and we weren't sure what time he'd get home, we decided we'd postpone Tyler's birthday cake until this weekend.  But since it was a nice this afternoon, we enjoyed some time outside on Tyler's special day.

I knew the girls would be the most disappointed we were not having cake today, so I bought some cupcakes to have instead tonight.  Tyler, however, pushed his cupcake aside and preferred to just eat a roll for dessert - my starchy boy!

Last soccer game

Tonight was Grace's last soccer game for the season.  Team pictures were before the game, so Claire and Tyler were trying to keep themselves entertained and just ended up fighting over the soccer ball...

Finally, it was time to get the show on the road and end what felt like a long soccer season...

Dog crate

Grandma's dogs stayed at our house today while she went to Nashville for a bridge tournament...and Tyler quickly found a new place to play!

Fall Festival

Grace's school had it's Fall Festival this morning. Unfortunately, Mike missed out on the fun because this weekend is his call weekend. So of course I enlisted my mom to come with us :) Good thing I did because Tyler lasted all of 5 minutes before my mom and him were back in the car on their way to Grandma's house :) The girls had a great time though.   Both got their face painted identically...

But the cake walk was the place we frequented the most...and each time the girls unfortunately walked out empty-handed!

Lazy Fridays

Claire, Tyler and I love Fridays! It's the only day during the week that both Claire and Tyler are home with me. So once we put Grace on the bus, we usually just relax at home and play. Some days we don't even leave the house!

Field trip

Ironically, both Grace and Claire had field trips today. So both girls would have someone with them, Grandma Marilyn went with Grace's class and I accompanied Claire's class back to the pumpkin patch we visited as a family earlier this month.   Of course, Claire was disappointed she didn't get Grandma Marilyn as well....don't I feel loved!

The field trip started by getting our instructions from the farmer....

Then we headed into the barn for storytime.  The shelter was a welcome relief from the chilly weather!

Next we rode the tractor out to the pumpkin patch.  Here's Claire with her good friend, Emma.

Claire quickly picked her pumpkin and was not very happy that I wanted to get a picture of her with it. 

I think she gave me the best pouty face she could before I gave up and let her run off with her friend Emma.

She was much more smily when we returned from the pumpkin field and she was able to play.

After 2 hours of fun, it was time to get the class picture.

And then we were off, but not before Claire obliged with a picture next to the scarecrow!

Time out

Someone is not so happy about being in the time out chair...maybe next time he won't take a swing at his sister!

Night soccer

Grace's soccer team had the late soccer game tonight. They played against Grace's good friend Sofia's team. Grace and Sofia were in preschool together, but have been in different schools since then so they don't see each other that often. Needlesstosay, I think Grace was more interested in making sure she was near Sofia on the soccer field than helping her team tonight!

Laundry

At least the clothes are actually clean and folded!

I see you!

Momma and her two babies were enjoying our overgrown backyard today!

Bus rider

Grace has been taking the bus home from school ever since we moved to our new neighborhood.  Ms. Judy drops every child off right in front of his/her house, so I'm spoiled that I can just sit on my porch and wait for Grace!  In the morning, however, all the parents drive their children to school because the bus comes through the neighborhood at 6:55am.  So for the past month, I've loaded all the kids in the car at 7:45 and dropped Grace off at school right before 8am.  Since Grace has been more difficult to get ready in the morning lately, Mike decided she would start taking the bus.  So off she goes this morning at 6:55am!  Surprisingly enough, she's loving the new routine!

Token system

Good behavior has not been our strong suit lately, so tonight Daddy decided to implement a new token system for the girls.  Grace is all ears as Daddy explains the rules after dinner tonight!

21 weeks

Here's one pregnancy picture for good measure at 21 weeks.  I'm not feeling very motivated this pregnancy to take pictures of myself, so I'm not sure how many more of these there will be. 

One of our first major projects for our new house is clearing some of the trees on the 1/2 acre behind our fence.  Mike spent a good portion of today mowing the tall grass...

...while the kids and I played in the fenced part of our backyard.  Claire and Grace found a new interesting way to play the telephone game.