Halloween

 For Halloween this year Larkin said she wanted to be a butterfly and Willa wanted to be a Packer football player. Every time someone would ask Willa what her costume was going to be, she'd smirk and say, "You're going to love it. Daddy watches it on TV all the time." Then she'd wait a second for you to respond, as if you knew exactly what she was talking about. Then she'd look a little exasperated and say, "I'm going to be a Packer football player!!"

Once she saw Larkin painting her wings, she decided that she would be "A Packer football player wearing wings for fun." So then she painted her own set of wings too! Sadie did not dress as anything really--just some Halloween attire!

We went trick or treating with a lot of the kids that live on our street. Here they all are:

I went along with everyone for about 10 minutes but then couldn't keep up--the girls were sprinting to each house. I left them with Joel and headed back home to pass out candy. We had a record number of kids trick-or-treat at our house! Sadie and I sat on the sidewalk for part of the night and she had a great time spilling all the candy and then putting it all back into the bowl!

Sadie's birthday

Little Sadie is one now! Can't believe it. She is really coming into her own personality--very happy, easygoing, and talkative! Sometimes she wakes up from a long nap and you can just tell she's starved for conversation. She'll start pointing at pictures on the wall, sign different things, or emphatically say some of the words she knows to get you to talk to her. Her words so far are:

• cat
• big buck (says "buh!" anytime she sees something with horns)
  
• dog ("woof")
• dada
• Willa ("yaya")
• scream (there's a song we sing and in it it says "don't forget to scream" and everytime she goes "ahh!")
  
• roar  (same song--"don't forget to roar", and she roars)
• more

She can say "mama" but hasn't said it to me yet. She wags her finger at you for no, shakes her head for yes, and has sign language signs for: more, all done, ceiling fan, drink, and food.  

She's really into animals right now and starts making all kinds of noises whenever she sees animals on a page.  We haven't taken her to the zoo yet but can't wait! She likes to hug all of the stuffed animals in the house. 

She's not walking yet but has taken a few steps. She can stand herself up and if you say, "Sadie, can you walk?" then she'll usually look down at her legs, grin at you, and then try to take some steps. Harley has been having a terrible time with all this talk about walking--anytime someone says "walk" he thinks we're talking about taking him on a walk and he gets all excited!!

I think she got the memo that kids start having temper tantrums around age one. Sure enough on her first birthday she decided that she did NOT like baths anymore and threw her very first tantrum. It's been a couple weeks since her birthday and she has a couple of tantrums each day--we call it turning into a wet noodle. She flails her head back and makes her whole body go limp while she cries...I think it's funny though and it doesn't bother me...yet!

She loves both the girls but really laughs hard for Willa. Joel and I joke that Willa regresses a few years whenever she plays with Sadie. She is so good with all babies and will just sit and sing, talk, and play with her forever. Half the time you are left wondering, "What the hell is Willa even talking about with her?!" Like today Sadie was bouncing up and down while holding onto the couch, and then Willa started saying something like, "Oh Sadie, you are bouncing! Up, down, up, down! (while making funny faces and body language) Ride 'em little cowgirl! Swing your lasso!! (starts swinging arm wildly) Yeeeeeeehaw!" and then Sadie just about died laughing.

Balancing all three is a lot of work sometimes, but we wouldn't trade her for the world!! I'm excited to see what her next year brings because each day just gets better and better!

I want to do whatever my sisters are doing!

monkey see monkey do!

October wildflowers

she loves to wave at passing cars

She wags her finger to say "no-no-no touching the dog water!" And then she'll grin at you and try to splash!

For her birthday party the girls played "put baby pants on your head as a blindfold and try to do a baby puzzle!"

on her birthday in my parents' front yard

Thanks Cat-Mama for making the cute cupcake shirt!

She loved the singing!

Seems like a big kid now!! She loves ride-on toys!

Larkin is 6!

Larkin had her 6th birthday at the end of September. She said she wanted a "quiet family party" so we thought we'd combine that with a mini-vacation. We picked her up a little early from school on Friday and headed up to Dallas for a weekend at an indoor waterpark. The girls LOVED it! Willa is already planning her own birthday there too someday in the future.  

Sadie did ok but had the scare of her life about 5 minutes after we entered the waterpark. There is a huge bucket of water that fills up above a water playscape (1,000 gallons). We had just walked in and the girls ran up into the playscape, and Joel, Sadie, and I were down below (directly beneath the huge bucket of water!). There was this dinging sound (that we later realized was to warn you about the water drop!!) and then suddenly 1,000 gallons of water dumped right on our heads. Sadie was terrified and spent the rest of the weekend clinging to my swimsuit and always seemed to be on the lookout for water dumping on her!

 

Larkin's favorite gift was this dress from Aunt Laura and Uncle Matt--she wears it all the time!

Here's a pic she drew of herself wearing it

decorating her birthday cake

huntin' and swimmin'

 Over Labor Day weekend Joel took the girls dove hunting. I was a bit nervous considering just last year they had a "pet" dove that lived in our backyard named "Deck" (because he's always on our deck). They both were so scared for him during dove season and repeatedly told Joel that he could shoot other doves but to leave Deck alone!
Anyway this year Deck must be a distant memory because they had no problems with seeing all aspects of dove hunting. They had a great time and loved running to grab all the downed birds! Joel was so proud of them and can't wait to take them hunting again.

Here's a picture of the girls with cousin Ethan--who is two now! Joel and I took all four of them to the pool and we got lots of stares like all of these kiddos were ours. :)

first days of school

 Both Larkin and Willa started school in August. Willa goes to pre-k three days a week from 9-1:30, and Larkin is in kinder from 7:35-2:35 everyday!

Pre-k--
Willa is loving pre-k and making lots of friends. She is very outgoing and friendly, and fits right into the group of girls in her class. She watched Larkin go to the same class last year and was so excited to finally have her turn! For her first day of school she picked out her Packer dress and Joel gave her an A+

She was a little quiet the first few days in class, but now (a few weeks in) I have to almost drag her out of there because she doesn't want to stop playing with her friends and there's always just "one more friend" she needs to say goodbye to.

Willa on first day of pre-k

Larkin wanted to wear hers too

Kindergarten--
The day before school started I tucked Larkin into bed and told her that I was so proud of her. I told her that big kids go to school and that when she woke up, she too would be a "big kid" now. She got a huge smile on her face and said, "So I'm a big kid and Willa isn't!!" Oops--not how I wanted it to go over. Of course she has mentioned repeatedly to Willa now that SHE is the big kid and that Willa is still little.


Larkin has her own alarm clock now and gets herself up AND dressed at 6:30 each day. She comes into our room fully dressed each morning and wakes us up!

Larkin on first day of kinder

We were worried that Larkin would cling to us and cry on the first day (like she did the first few weeks of pre-k) but nope--she was totally fine! 

ready to get to work!

 Kinder has been quite the emotional roller coaster for her. One day she was sitting on the couch and said to me, "Mom, I just love kindergarten. It's so much fun." Then suddenly her angelic smile vanished and she squinted her eyes at me and said, "But I hate kindergarten because I have to be away from you so long." Then she started bawling uncontrollably.

The teachers warned us that the kids would be emotional and tired for the first six weeks, and they were right on the money. It's been about 6 weeks now and things are starting to calm down and we're settling into a routine. It was a crazy six weeks though and that's why I'm so far behind on this blog!! :)

Wisco part II

Here's part II of our trip to Wisconsin--just a few months late!

Joel's parents live right next to a National Forest, and deep in the woods is a beautiful lake called Luna. Just about every time we go we are the ONLY people there. Perfect!

Staying warm with Boat Mama at Luna Lake

Sadie's first time at the beach

She always keeps one foot up when she doesn't like the feel of something

oh that crazy Grandpa!

In downtown Three Lakes the girls swam at Maple Lake. They had so much fun running down the dock and jumping in the cold water!

one for the memory book!

 Sadie got to meet her Great Gramma Mary for the first time, and also her Great Aunts Cathy and Karen, and Great Uncles Jeff and Bob!

Gramma Mary

Aunt Lisa helped the girls make tie-blankets

crafts on the deck with Aunt Jaime and Aunt Lisa

our tradition is to have a Bidonkadonk at the local ice cream shop--13 scoops!!

We stopped by UW Madison and did a quick tour for the girls

There's a beautiful wooded hiking trail near their house and we had a great walk

The girls pretended to be fawns and hid in the ferns--here they are acting like little fawns

Wisconsin trip!

Shortly after I cleaned up this incredible messy baby, I texted Joel: "I'm thinking of driving to Wisconsin tomorrow. Crazy?" After talking to him he convinced me that yes, driving would be crazy. He said that I should fly instead!

I needed a break from the cooking, cleaning, baby chasing (Sadie is crawling now!), more cleaning, and oppressive Texas heat. Plus Joel had a busy week of work and I knew we wouldn't see him much anyway since he had to travel that week.

I called Joel's mom and asked her if we could come visit in less than 24 hours, and also asked if she could drive the five hours to the airport to pick us up (five hours away was the closest I could get with my flyer miles). She pretty much hyperventilated and then immediately said, "Of course! Get on that plane!!!!"

The night before we left, Joel read books to the girls and then kissed them goodnight. He left the room, and then I came in and Willa said, "Mom, when I go through that thing (security), I'm going to give Daddy the biggest hug and kiss because that will be the last time I'll ever see him." Then she started bawling uncontrollably. I explained to her that we were only going for a week and that we are definitely coming back. Then I noticed that Larkin was hiding under her covers and I thought for sure that she was there because she didn't want to listen to me talk to Willa. Then I looked closer and realized that she too was crying. Suddenly they both were hysterical saying they were going to miss Daddy so much. I had to go get Joel to come back into their rooms and we had to sleep next to them until they fell asleep!

Joel told Willa to bring him back a maple leaf, and she found one right after we arrived and said, "Take a picture and send it to Daddy!"

On our drive to Three Lakes we stopped at a park for lunch and Larkin built this fairy house. The weather was amazing and it was such a nice change to be outside in 75 degree weather!

Heading down the driveway for berry picking!

One day I found the girls in the bathroom trying to curl their hair with a toilet paper tube. I knew it was time to buy some real rollers--they were a huge hit!

Their very own pink BB gun!

Driving the truck in the backyard

Shirley Temples

Mowing the lawn with Grandpa

Sadie's first marshmallow roast! No she didn't eat it! :)

Needs no caption!!

Love Willa's face

Sadie's first word was "cat" and her second word was "buck"!!! She was mesmerized by the buck mounts and would point and say "BUH-BUH-BUH!" everytime you walked by them.

Blackberry picking

My favorite quote from Willa -- "I'm picking raspberries AND blackberries! Look how many red ones I have!" (The red ones were unripened blackberries)

We have a picture of Larkin "feeding" Boat-Mama berries a few years ago. Willa has always been jealous of the picture and said, "Take a picture of ME feeding her berries!"

 I have a zillion more pics but I'll stop here for now and will post part two later!