Happy Halloween

This afternoon will be going downtown to the BooRama. Basically all the downtown business people come out on the street and hand out candy to the kids. This will be our version of trick or treating!

When I was still working for the bank, I helped to pass out candy a few years but I've never been on the receiving end. I can only imagine the loot the kids will come home with. I'm sure Elliott's co-workers will be happy come Monday!

Just playing

Andrew loves to crawl into the recliner and read his books. In the last few days he has discovered that it is also tons of fun to have Lauren sit with him and rock. The chair is getting quite a work out!

Andrew the DareDevil

Andrew is a great climber. He has scaled almost everything possible in our house at one time or another. Yesterday he figured out that he could push his tractor over to the coffee table and climb on top.

Last night we attended a concert put on by Mr. Stinky Feet. Here is his website. http://www.jimcosgrove.com/index.php

He was really fun. Lauren enjoyed dancing along and Andrew just soaked it all in.

Fall Fest Parade

Lauren & Andrew were in their first parade this past weekend. Fall Fest was this weekend and there was a kids parade prior to the real parade. All the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes and marched down the street. Lauren thought it was pretty fun. Andrew made it one block into the parade route and decided he had walked enough and sat down in the middle of the street. I carried him for a little bit and then he was ready to go again. The whole parade route was only three blocks so it wasn't like he had a long ways to walk.

Lauren thought it was pretty neat that someone knew her name. The announcer was naming off the kids and telling what their costume was. When she heard her name over the PA system, she just stopped in the street and looked at me with a shocked expression. It was pretty funny. Though, the best part of the parade was when the candy started flying. Lauren and Andrew had a ball picking up candy from the street. They came home with quite a bag full and I know there is only going to be more to come with Halloween right around the corner.

Catching up

Wow! We must be boring people! I can't believe that it has been so long since I've been on here.

This past weekend we went pumpkin picking. The kids had a blast and would have spent hours there if we allowed. The patch we picked also had a small petting zoo, playground equipment and hayrack rides. Andrew really liked the animals. He spotted the horses pulling the hayrack ride when we were out in the pumpkin patch and off he went. He still isn't too fast so catching him wasn't an issue. My dad took him over to pet the horses when we had finished with the pumpkin patch but he didn't like them quite as well up close. Go figure! He did really like the bunnies and baby calf in the petting zoo. We're planning a trip to grandma & grandpa's house this weekend so he'll get to see more baby calves.

Lauren found several pumpkins that she thought we needed but we made it home with only 4.

Last night we attended Family Night at Lauren's preschool. It was kinda like a little carnival without the rides. She got to make a door knob thingy (that is a word in my vocabulary) and went treasure hunting and fishing. The Cat in the Hat was the theme of the night and we got a family picture taken with Horton. Lauren made a frame for it and we'll be getting in back on Thursday when she attends school. Tomorrow night we are planning on attending a pumpkin painting party. I sure hope it quits raining by then.

Andrew is developing quite a vocabulary. His first word was dog (that was Lauren's as well). I guess Elliott & I see where we stand on the totem poll! He will get a bowl out of the drawer and say "cracker", meaning he'd like some goldfish. Other things we hear on a daily basis are: go, daddy and cow. He does a very good job of trying to repeat things after us as well. Lauren surprises us each day with things that come out of her mouth as well. I need to start writing her sayings down so I can remember them and share with you all.

The Playground

Lauren & Andrew LOVE the playground. Saturday afternoon we had our sights set on Kenwood Park but it was totally packed when we pulled up. Not to be thwarted in our efforts to swing and slide, we set off for the nearest playground. The school playgrounds are like our very own little secret. . . very rarely is there anyone else but us there!

Check out Andrew's hair after our trip down the slide. STATIC!!!

What's new with us?? Andrew is in love with books. He has been for about a month now. He will follow you are the house with a book and the minute you stop you better be ready to read. Lauren enjoys 'reading' to him so that is a big help. She has several books memorized so she picks those to read to him.

Lauren is in love with preschool. She asks everyday if she can go to school and is really bummed when the weekend comes because it's SO many days until school starts again. I really hope she is this excited to go to school in a few years! :)

Jennifer's Trip

This past weekend, I flew to Denver for a girls weekend. Anne, Dacia & I were celebrating our 30th birthdays. We had a fabulous time. Here you can see us in the basement of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. This is where Steven King wrote The Shining. Almost daily hotel guests are having encounters with ghosts. Unfortunately, during our ghost tour we didn't see anything.

This was my first time leaving Andrew and was a little nervous but he didn't miss a beat without me. That made my trip even more enjoyable! Both the kids were happy to see me pull up on Sunday evening, though.

I did miss an exciting Saturday night in our neighborhood . . . a car crashed into our neighbors house! We live on a corner and people think they can take the curve at 50 +. Well this intoxicated 17 year old tried it at about 70 and didn't make it. My neighbor said she thought a bomb went off when he hit their house. I guess the street was filled with flashing lights for quite a while that night. But I'm not the only one to miss the excitement as Elliott slept through the whole deal. Actually the three closest houses to the crash slept through it but several others were up!