October 2016

Kara finished up her first season of soccer.  She had a lot of fun and actually scored a couple of goals (we won't discuss the goals she scored in her own net).  She's looking forward to the next sport season!

Emily has been having some issues with sleeping recently.  She will often wake in the middle of the night and tell us she just doesn't feel like sleeping anymore, which is very bothersome when it's 2 am.  Hopefully we figure this out soon!

Halloween was a lot of fun this year.   We spent most of the month preparing for Halloween.  We made a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and spent the Saturday before Halloween carving pumpkins.  The girls both ran the Monster Dash this year.  Kara ran the half mile with Dad, and Emily ran the quarter mile with Grandma.  It was a fun time.

Each girl designed her own costume this year.  Kara decided to go as a Magical Cheetah and picked out leopard print shoes, pants, and dress.  She also got some fire wings to complete the ensemble.  Emily wanted to go as Sparkle Girl and put on some pink pajamas that were covered in stars, sparkly shoes,  and finished the costume with a glitter covered mask.  On the day of Halloween, though, Emily kind of changed her mind and didn't want to put on her mask for her school Halloween show.  For Trick-or-Treating that night, Emily completely gave up on Sparkle Girl and opted for a witch costume instead.

Link to pictures

Halloween 2015

The month of October was a blur this year.  Early in the month, we made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch (this year we went to Rock Creek).  We always have a good time wandering through the fields to find the perfect pumpkin.  The tricky part is to leave with just a couple of pumpkins and not 20.  Rock Creek also has a play area with bouncy pumpkins and kiddie hay mazes.  The girls had fun running around and checking out all the activities.

The weekend before Halloween, Mom and Dad ran a 5k race at the local Monster Dash.  After that race, Kara ran a 1/4 mile race with Grandpa.  Kara's first race went pretty well.  She and Dad had been practicing doing windsprints in the backyard, but Kara and Grandpa decided to just jog and enjoy the actual race.

Emily was very indecisive on her costume choice for this year.  She oscillated from Spiderman to Monkey Pirate.  In the end, she went as Princess Anna from Frozen and Kara went as Queen Elsa, which the girls picked out early in the month.  The girls, of course, were adorable.

Kara surprised Mom and Dad one Saturday morning by informing us, very matter-of-factly, that there was no Santa and that the presents she got were from Mom and Dad.  We were kind of hoping that the magic would last for a few more years. Without lying too much, we tried to convince her that Santa was real.  She hasn't mentioned it since that morning, so we think she's just humoring us for now.  Oh well.  Though Kara has quite an imagination, she has had a pretty firm grasp of reality from a young age.

Link to pictures

Halloween 2014

We got Halloween off on the right foot this year when we headed to Rock Creek Farm to pick our pumpkins in the middle of October.  There were a ton of great pumpkins to pick from!  Kara had a great time running through the pumpkin patches trying to find the perfect pumpkin.  Emily, however, wasn't impressed with the pumpkins and just kind of wandered around in a grumpy mood.  On the way out, Rock Creek Farms had set up some fun for the kids.  They had bouncy pumpkins, slides, a hay maze, and animals to look at.  Both girls loved bouncing in the bouncy pumpkins.  Not bad for some free entertainment.

The following weekend we headed to the Butterfly Pavilion for their annual Bug-A-Boo festivities. The girls, as always, had a great time there. They got to check out all the different bugs and decorate pumpkins.  Since we have an annual pass, it was also free.

One of the neighbors sets up an elaborate graveyard every year for Halloween.  We went there to check it out several days before Halloween (during the day, so it wasn't quite as creepy), and got a good video of Emily pretending to be scared (see below).

Halloween night was a lot of fun.  Kara dressed as Maleficent (the evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty), and Emily was a monkey.  We went back to check out the graveyard at night, which was a little spooky, but not too bad.  After that we met up with some neighbors to go Trick-or-Treating.  Daddy and Emily hit a couple of houses before heading home.  Mommy stayed with Kara to get some candy booty.  Kara cleaned up this year, almost filling her plastic pumpkin!  Until next year!

Link to pictures

Halloween 2013

Halloween was a blast this year. We got the festivities started by attending a pumpkin-carving party at a neighbor's house, which was a lot of fun. We tried to go to a pumpkin patch, but we didn't get there until late in the month. By that time, the pumpkin patch was very picked over, so we had to get our pumpkin at the grocery store. Trick-or-treating was a lot of fun this year. Kara dressed up as Spiderman, and Daddy took her out with some kids on our street. Emily was a little too young to enjoy the trick-or-treating, but maybe next year!

October, in general, was a busy month for us. We spent the first couple of weeks just getting ourselves settled after spending almost five months living in Florida. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you looked at it), Daddy spent the entire month of October working from home since his office flooded in September, so he was around to help out a bit. Unfortunately, Mommy, Kara, and Emily were sick most of the month.  Kara got sick with croup after only 4 classes of preschool. She was down for the count for an entire week and even lost her voice (which was very odd from Kara who usually almost never stops talking). She still has a pretty nasty cough, but she feels fine.  Emily and Mommy both got pretty rough colds (but not as bad as Kara's croup). Daddy, however, was able to avoid the plague, so there was at least one person functioning.

Emily is making progress on crawling. She now army crawls pretty much anywhere she wants to go and can pull herself up to a standing position, but she hasn't quite figured out how to propel herself with her torso off the ground. There's a lot of coordination that goes into crawling! Emily is also developing quite a taste for solid foods. She really enjoys green beans and peaches, but her favorite is pears and apple cinnamon oatmeal.

Link to pictures

Halloween 2012

October and November have just been a blur. October was filled with visits to pumpkin patches, snow, and Halloween activities. Hopefully we can write more in the November post with details about our trip to Disney!

Link to pictures

Halloween 2011

Halloween was A LOT more fun this year than last year.  We went to a Halloween party with a bunch of kids about the same age as Kara.  Kara wore her monster costume for about two minutes before she pulled it off.  But we all had a good time at the party.

For the last couple of days, Mommy and Kara have been practicing going trick-or-treating.  Kara would pretend to knock on the door and then say "Trick or treat!"  Tonight, however, Mommy had low expectations for going out.  Mommy got Kara all dressed up and planned to try and hit about 4-5 houses before Kara got tired.  After hitting about 6 houses, Mommy brought Kara back, but she kept saying "Trick-or-treat more!", so Mommy took Kara back out for another half hour.  Overall, it was a great night.  Kara's getting to be a lot of fun!

Kara also helped Mommy and Daddy "carve big pumpkin" into a happy pumpkin.  Here's a cute video of her helping out with that:

Link to pictures

Pumpkin Patch 2011

This past Saturday, our neighbor from the townhouse, Lu, invited us to go to a pumpkin patch with her. We were all really excited about it. They had caramel popcorn, hayrides, pumpkins, gourds, and even a corn maze. Unfortunately for everyone, the weather didn't cooperate.  It was drizzling most of our time there, and it was pretty chilly (about 40°F).  By the time we left, it was pouring. It's a good thing we got there early!  While we were there, Kara had a great time playing in the mud and picking out pumpkins.  She especially liked the little pumpkins (which she called "tiny pumpkin" in a high voice).  We picked out about 5 good pumpkins.  Mommy got a little carried away with the gourds, and we now have enough to decorate everyone's house in the neighborhood.

Recent conversations with Kara:
Daddy: "I love you, Kara."
Kara: "I love Fifi!" Fifi is her nighttime stuffed dog.

Kara: "What's that?" - Her new favorite phrase

Kara walking to Mommy with her hand cupped (and empty): "Eat this!"
Mommy:  "What am I eating?"
Kara: pause...."Apples! mmm"

Link to pictures

Happy Halloween!

Today was Kara's first Halloween.  She dressed up as a monkey (a very cute monkey, if we do say so ourselves).  We tried to do a little Trick-or-Treating, but the lady at the first house we went to was dressed as a witch.  Kara wasn't a big fan of the scary witch and broke down into tears.  And thus ended our first Halloween adventure.  Hopefully next year will be a bit better...

Kara's walking very well these days.  She can pretty much walk anywhere she wants to go.  She can even bend down and pick things up and keep on walking.  She also figured out another sign.  She can now sign "more" in addition to "milk", "eat", and "dog".  She's also started clapping and waving more.  She's still not talking much, but we're hoping that'll come soon.  Happy Halloween!

Link to pictures


And here are some of Daddy's pictures from his trip to Denmark:

One of the guys that went to Denmark with Daddy took some pictures too, which you can see here. As a note, Daddy didn't take these pictures or post them, so he's not responsible for the content. :)