Fall is my favorite season

Remember this post and picture from last year?

What a difference a year makes, huh?

Ashley took B&K (and little/big A) to a park last week to snap some pictures. I don't know what magical powers she has to get B&K to smile for the camera while still taking a good shot, but I am so grateful for these awesome pictures!!

{note: if you click on the pics to enlarge you'll get a glimpse of the snotland that has been our family for the past 2 weeks. It is just streaming down K's face!}. :)

Snot and stuff

Four of the five people in our house have been under the weather: B&K both have ear infections, Tim has had the chills and sore throat all weekend and Tabasco is fighting a nasty ear infection and the first infestation of fleas since he's been a part of our family. Fun times! I thought I'd give a few quick updates:

- Kendyll has become quite the exhibitionist. I've written before that she hates to wear shoes & socks. On more than one occasion we've found her after naps with her pants & diaper off (dry, thank goodness!). Today she has taken to removing her shirt -- twice. And lifting it ALL THE WAY up when you ask her where her tummy is. (and -- she'll be happy I added this one later -- when you ask her "Kendyll, are you pooping" she'll lift up her shirt and point to her belly, too).

- Bennett is doing SO well with pulling up and walking while assisted. In PT he'll stand without holding on to anything for a few minutes at a time and is doing much better with his walking while being assisted. We are SO proud of him!

- Kendyll's new favorite word - besides "MORE!!!!" is "up". Over & over & over again. And she uses it for more words than just "up". For example open is up; close is up; down is up . . . get the idea?

- Bennett LOVES to point at EVERYTHING and yell "BHAT" (well, that is what is sounds like . . . but it has a few syllables to it). Apparently he also picked up the word Volvo while we were in CA . . . I guess he knows how much I loathe my bitching Pacifica and is starting my car search early.

Lastly, here are a few pics. I have some AWESOME ones that Ashley took last week that I'm going to try to get up here soon.

Bennett loves Nana & Papa's dog Archie. This one is from his visit last week:


They both LOVE door nobs. It won't be long before they actually figure out how to turn them (which I think they actually could, but they are still a bit too short to make it work).


This is one from today . . . they LOVE puff like popcorn, so since they weren't feeling well I set them up with a couple of bowls while they watched their TV shows on the big screen (and Tabasco was snuggling, too).

Wine & Cheese

I mentioned I was MIA in the last post. A couple of months ago Tim told me to request 10/19 - 10/21 off work for vacation. We were going somewhere to celebrate our 5th anniversary but I had no idea where. I had hoped to at least get a hint (i.e. warm climate, cool climate, etc.), but he is pretty good at keeping secrets. Then on our anniversary he gave up that we were going to CA -- 5 days in wine country, split between Sonoma, Napa and then a night in San Francisco. So, so cool! We had been there once before when we lived in Southern CA, but it was just a quick weekend. This time we were going to really explore.

Now here comes the funny part . . . a few weeks ago we were out with our very good friends Nick & Jodi. I was telling Jodi this trip (before I knew where we were going) was going to be a bit weird because for the past 4 years or so we've traveled with either family or our friends (like Nick & Jodi and/or Nicole & Cory). And the few times we have traveled "alone" we've made friends on our trips (read: we're social people who like to hang out with groups . . . there is nothing wrong with that!). :) So fast forward to Saturday morning -- the pre-butt-crack of dawn Saturday morning, to be exact. My parents had come into town to watch B&K over the weekend (and Tim's parents were lined up to stay here during the week). We walk into the airport, stroll up to the ticket counter and I happen to recognize the couple in line in front of us. Yep, Tim (and our friends) had one more HUGE surprise up his sleeve. NICK & JODI WERE COMING TOO!



So fun. Not that we wouldn't have had a super fun time by ourselves. But having our BFF's along made the trip even more memorable. So we filled our days with a limo ride and wine tasting . . .

some sweet tea vodka drinking . . .

more wine tasting . . .

some beer drinking . . .

yet MORE wine tasting (and touring this time) . . .

and some sight seeing.

All-in-all a very, very fun trip. A HUGE thank you to our families and A for covering for us while we were out of town. And a HUGE thank you to all of our friends who knew about the big surprise, but also know how to keep a secret! And the BIGGEST thank you to my awesome husband. He totally rocks.

Hiatus

Has it really been over a week since my last post?!? Well, I have a VERY good reason why I've been absent (more on that to come soon). In the meantime, I'll share a couple of pics that A sent my way while Tim & I were in CA earlier this week. B was riding on the back of the behemoth stroller A pushes (a Joovy Big Caboose -- bacially a tandem double stroller with a sit-n-stand on the back part) and he was cracking up at her. Too cute!




In other news, I took B&K to the pedi last Friday (with A & A's help!) to get their flu shots. The pedi's office has totally run out of them, except for a special stash they are hoarding for children under 3. Yeah, I jumped all over that one. They handled the shots like the NICU survivors that they are. And big news is that Bennett is now 23 1/2 lbs and 34 1/2 inches and Kendyll is now 23lbs and 31.75 inches (yeah, I don't think she shrunk . . . the nurse at their 18 mo appointment didn't have her measured correctly). And yes they were pretty much fully clothed, but I could def. tell they had packed on some lbs.

20 Months Old!!

Technically these pics were snapped yesterday. Ashley has a friend who carves out a pumpkin every year to take pics of her little ones. So she brought B&K over there to snap some festive pics yesterday. As you can guess, K was "eh" about, B didn't quite dig it at all. But she totally captured their personalities in these pics! Thanks A! :)

Pumpkin picking

We took B&K to a pumpkin patch today with the Twins Club. We met up with some friends and had a very cool time. A few pics from our adventure:

B saying he is too cool to wear the hat I made him.

K saying "yes, we do look really queer in these"

The pumpkin patch:

The farm had a neat area set up for kids. B&K and their friends had a rocking fun time playing in the "corn" box (think sand box, but with corn). Bennett especially LOVED it!

We picked up a couple of perfect pumpkins, so we'll try to snap a pic or two of B&K with our purchases later this week.

WHEW!!!!!

Yep, that is the best way to sum up the weekend. Whew!

Friday I took off work early to help set up for the semi-annual CMOTC consignment sale (aka, the twins sale). OMG -- it was even MORE giant that the spring sale. Seriously, there was just so.much.stuff this time I felt like I couldn't even get into the piles & piles of clothes and toys and goodies to score something awesome. Don't get me wrong -- I managed to pick up a few pairs of shoes and clothes for B&K. I just don't feel like I can brag much . . . but it was SO worth it!!

Saturday Tim & I left for Cleveland for the weekend. His parents had given us tickets to the Browns game of our choice for our birthdays back in May and while I'm a die hard, life long Steelers fan, the Browns/Steelers game wasn't going to work out with our schedule. So we chose the battle of Ohio - Browns/Bengals - instead. And yes, it was a battle -- a freaken all the way to the end of a OT quarter battle. Sadly, Tim's team did not win. Nor did our favorite player grace the field. But no worries -- we actually ran into Brady Quinn as we were on our way to dinner (after watching yet another freaken Notre Dame heart attack game!). Anyhoo, that was pretty cool -- Tim made some comment to him about the ND victory and I was too busy noticing how much larger he was than the harem of young chicks around him.

Here are a few pictures from tailgating and our kick-ass seats at the game (9 rows up from the field in the end-zone. Thanks Denise!!)!!

Five

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary. And the weather here today is just as it was on our big day -- rainy and gross. :) I shared a few photos from our big day last year here and here, so instead I'll post a couple from our kick-ass honeymoon {edit: I would have loved to have shared these photos with you, but my computer isn't playing nice today}. We were basically off work for the entire month of October. We took a week long cruise on a tiny ship through French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea) and then spent 5 extra days in a over-the-water hut on one of the islands. Totally freaking awesome (and I was the most tan I have ever been in my whole life!).

Thanks for the past 5 years, Tim. Love you!

edited to add: because I hate to have a post without a picture, attached is a photo A shared with me from yesterday. B&K snuggled in their stroller (and yes, K started out with shoes & socks on . . . the girl is a bohemian and likes to take her shoes, socks - and now pants & diaper - off. Fun, eh?).

Check your ta-tas!!

Yep, it that time again. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As I reminded you last year, this is a cause that is very near & dear to our hearts. We lost a dear beloved family member this year as a result of this nasty disease and there are so many others who are near to us who have suffered with this as well. It only takes a few moments to check -- please be proactive!! . THINK PINK and please visit this website and this website for more information.