Happy Halloween!!!

From Peter Pan and Tinkerbell:


We carved pumpkins last night. Of course in Morgan's eyes they were not pumpkins, they are actually huge orange bouncy balls. After we cut the tops off, we thought for sure the kids would just dive in and scoop the slimy stuff and seeds out. Trevor's teacher at school said he "dove right in" to scoop stuff out when the class carved a pumpkin. As you can imagine, things went in fact completely opposite of what the parent anticipated. Morgan was just too busy to help - playing with sticks, leaves, bricks from the landscaping. And Trevor said it was too slimy, and was begging for a real ball to play with. I did manage to get them to pose for pictures though:

Next post... Adventures in Trick-or-Treating!

We're BACK!!!!

OK - after a bogging sabbatical I am back! Lucky you!
We've been up to lots of fun things in the last few weeks - especially in all the nice weather!
Trevor started Pre-K! He is no longer in preschool, it is Pre-K. And in case you forget, he will politely correct you. Here is his first day:

And of course we did go apple picking at Miller's Apple Farm. We go there every year because they have SOOO many trees, a hay maze, farm animals, a pumpkin patch, and games for the kids. This year we went on a weekday that Brian and I were both off so we had virtually no crowd there whatsoever. Which was nice when we were trying to man the entrances and exits to the hay maze to make sure our kiddos didn't escape!Then on a trip to Mansfield to visit Brian's parents we went to another fall festival. This was like no other! Here we had a huge hay maze - and these people smart! The entrance and exit were right by each other and there was only 1 entrance and 1 exit! Novel concept when you are trying to keep track of your kids. AND they had a platform parents could go on (right next to the entrance and exit) so we could see over the hay to see where our little munchkins were! This was a free event, but man, I'd pay to go there from now on - much less mommy stress at the hay maze! They built slides out of these huge tubes and bails of hay, they had horse drawn wagon rides, bounce houses, face painting. But the HIGHLIGHT of the trip was to go on the "Tarzan" rope and swing into the hay. Trevor loved it. And after watching Trevor go on it a hundred few times, Morgan decided to get up the urge to try it too - and 1. she could actually do it and 2. she LOVED it. And of course Martha Stewart I decided to do a few crafts with the kids too - this afternoon.
In case you were thinking of doing this, let me let you in on a little secret:
Lots of little foam pieces + stickers + hot glue gun ≠ fun (for Mommy at least!)

But we tried. And the end results are pretty cute. Trevor picked out a pirate ship to make and Morgan decorated a tree.
OK, so thats our brief update... more on the pumpkins later.

TWINS!!!

We have twins! Our best friends Sonja and Vince had their twins this morning!
Introducing....

Ava Rose (5 pounds, 11 ounces)

Paige Addison (5 pounds, 3 ounces)

I can't believe she had 2 girls! We are so happy for them. I'm not sure if I have ever met a more proud daddy then Vince is today (except Brian, of course). And Sonja is just feeling so blessed. We are grateful that mom and both babies are doing amazingly well. 2 healthy babies... a perfect ending to the pregnancy, and a perfect start as they begin this new stage of their lives.

It was one of those days that I will always remember where I was when it happened. I had taken the day off to go downtown to give a deposition in a case in which I was serving as an expert witness. I was home with Brian that morning, still in pajamas watching the Today show. It wasn't long before virtually the entire city of Cleveland (and suburbs) had shut down. I think on that day, virually everyone in America felt vulnerable. Six years later, and on a Tuesday again, we remember.

Soccer Season Has Begun!

Well for the boys at least! Trevor's first soccer game on a U5 team was this weekend. This is the first time he is on a team that has practices and games! He is so excited and loved it! It really is all for fun - no goalies, no score-keeping. Brian's outdoor league started this weekend too (for him at least, really they started last weekend but work scheduled interfered). I took the kids to watch part of his game. Trevor watched and cheered daddy on, and Morgan - well - she provided lots of entertainment for the players not on the field - talking to them about Dora, singing Mary had a little lamb, explaining what you use an umbrella for.


Here he is getting in there to kick the ball! Toward the end of the game he really tried hard to go for the ball. (I am not sure why this picture is so dark!)











Here he is doing one of the throw-in. The coaches tell them to aim for the feet of their teammates... he didn't do too bad!














While sitting with Nana and Papa, Morgan patiently waits for her turn to play soccer. She doesn't have to wait long.... she is old enough to do tot soccer this season! It starts this Saturday. It's for 2 1/2 to young 4 year olds. They split them up by age, so her group is mostly 2 1/2 to young 3 year olds. I remember when Trevor started at this age... it is quite a site. The coach does a great job teaching the kids (and the parents) some beginning soccer skills for about 30 minutes. Then they split the kids up and do a "scrimmage" which is really funny... like an amoeba of kids moving around the field.

It will be neat to go to something of Morgan's though, and have Trevor watch her for once!

Splash Pad!

Well, I think (hope) today was the last of our 90+ degree summer days. Since I had the day off I took the kids to our city park, where they have recently opened a splash pad. I told them it was like sprinklers - and both said they wanted to do it. It was a lot of fun - for Trevor at least!







"I go in spwinkers" Morgan said. Yeah right. Given her last experience in our home sprinkler (http://2rosebuds.blogspot.com/2007/07/sprinkler-fun.html), I did not get my hopes up.


Here she is trying to escape!

"Thank you for me, thank you for my food."

As I did some work at the computer I noticed Morgan sitting on this train/catch-all toy table. Now normally I don't encourage them to sit on this table, in fact, we strongly discourage it. However out of her little mouth I heard "Thank you for me, thank you my food. Amen."
Thankfully I had my camera right there, so I asked her to say it again and she did repeat herself. Those were the sweetest words for me to hear... it made me feel like we are teaching them important things in life.