What we're up to...

Enjoying a snowman cookie for dessert
So happy
Look ma, no hands
Happy to be standing...and now starting to cruise along the couch a little too!!

Almost Winter Day

We had a local village holiday festivity called "An Almost Winter Day" this past Saturday to kick off the holiday season. Although we are usually quite opposed to anything Christmas-oriented before Thanksgiving, we wanted to see what the event was all about. Unfortunately, we had two really fussy kids in the afternoon due to some poor sleep overnight (long story), so they both needed naps which ended up being later than planned. So we only made it to the last half hour of the event...which was just enough time to see the animals at the petting zoo, make some s'mores, and listen to Santa Claus. They also had pony rides and horse-drawn sleigh rides, but Conor wasn't interested in much due to still being a little tired, and the fact that it was already pretty dark and cold outside. We ended up with a few good pics anyway...

Bookworm

Reading his newest Clifford book after a trip to the library

It's so much fun to....

...Drink hot cocoa in the mug Miss Vicki painted for me!!!
...Practice standing to explore in the toybox!!

Conor's Latest...

Crazy hair after removing his winter hat. Though we haven't gotten the 11" of snow that Grandma and Grandpa got, it is starting to get colder here.

Whenever he has to go #2 in the bathroom, he always makes sure to ask for us to close the door so he can have some privacy, which he sometimes pronounces "privacine".

Other mispronunications:

Thilthy=Filthy
Snowflags=Snowflakes
Powm Powms=Pom Poms

When Grandma texted us pictures of their big snowstorm, Conor exclaimed "It's Christmas at Grandma's house!" And when he asked Grandma why she had snow at her house, she answered that they were having a snowstorm. He replied, "Well, our snowstorm doesn't make snow at our house!"

Last week he wanted some Gatorade for dinner, so I told him if he finished his milk, he could have some. He said ok, then went quietly back to eating dinner, but about 5 minutes later he said, "I have an idea, Mom. How about you finish my milk, then I can have my Gatorade now?"

Riley's Latest......

Riley is doing great eating "real food". This week we started some little finger foods, these yummy little puffs that are awesome starters because they melt in her mouth if she can't figure out how to chew them...however, that also means they melt in her hands, under her chin, and they get real soggy on her pants when they fall out of her mouth!

Sporting her warmer clothes to take a ride...
In addition to crawling...

...she has now mastered sitting...
...and she has even learned to pull herself up to standing. It won't be long before she is cruising and she will definitely be walking before she is a year old!

All dressed up for church.

One more treat

One more picture of my sweet little duck! We made it to the corner next to our house before Conor asked me to carry him so we turned back around for the stroller before going any further. Quack quack!

Trick or Treat

Although it seems very foreign to Adam and I compared to our own childhoods, the set hours for trick-or-treating in our town were from 2-6pm (we always waited until after dinner, after dark, but I guess times have changed). So naturally, that is right during naptime for both kids. Since Conor has really been having only quiet time lately and not sleeping anyway, he got to skip it while we went out in the neighborhood. Riley took her nap, then when we got back and Riley woke up, Conor fell asleep on Daddy's lap. After watching the end of the Vikings game, we hopped in the car and made a few more stops to show off our costumes. Good thing Halloween was on a weekend day this year. It was exhausting!!

Jack-O-Lanterns

For the first time this year, Conor was ready to help with the jack-o-lantern. He wasn't so sure about "cleaning out the guts" at first, but it didn't take him long to dig right in. He got a little impatient waiting for Daddy to carve the big ones, so he got to take a bath while Daddy finished up. Then the next day he got to paint the smaller ones. He had a blast!

Finished products: Mommy's (designed by Conor and carved by Daddy) and Riley's (painted by Mommy)

Daddy's (carved by Daddy in top secret) and Conor's (handpainted all by himself)

Daddy's in the dark, very cool!