Cutie Putie

Birthday Celebration for Grandpa!

Christian has evolved into such a little personality lately. He is proficiently crawling and will now come to find me if I am in another room. He can also go from crawling tow sitting with no problem. He thinks he is pretty cool and loves to stand at the ottoman. We had the kid's Pottery Barn chairs out this weekend and he was tickled to sit in Carter's, laying back, kicking up his feet and rolling around. Last week at home with Grandma and Grandpa he began crawling and malling adults when they are on the floor. He was evening climbing up into the Carter chair and figured out how to stand up. YIKES! He must not of understood the conversation I had with him a while ago about how he was NOT supposed to grow up so fast. He is loving all the new foods he is trying and thinks he is hot stuff to handle a strip of toast all on his own. I was glad to have today with him to enjoy his sweet personality and new found tricks.

Here are a few shots of him playing in the newspaper. I remember both Elle and Carter in this stage of excitment with all the crackling papers. Chrisitan makes this adorable face that I just can't seem to catch on camera. He shuts his eyes and crinkles up his nose then sticks his tongue out just a bit! Too cute! Ahhh, he is changing so much! On one happy note, he is FINALLY learning to sleep through the night. However, not without a bit of a fight. Each night he is making a little progress, crying for less, or not as loudly. Before I know it I might just sleep through the night....uhhh probably not but here is to wishful thinking.

It's Monday already?

Last week was a bit of a blur, thankfully Mom and Dad were able to come stay with us and watch the kids while Scott and I went to work. Our daycare provider was on vacation in Florida for her daughter's wedding. The kids just loved their time with Grandma and Grandpa. We were even able to celebrate Grandpa's birthday while they were here. Ella had fun decorating and making his cards. I was buried between IEPs, conferences, and attending a conference that I unfortunately didn't even have time to make a cake.
Friday I had the chance to visit with a friend from college and her two adorable girls. It was so fun to see Ella play with their almost 3 year old and have a chance to catch up with Lisa. We both are so blessed to have healthy, happy families!

Saturday we woke up and were on a mission. We had to get the yard cleaned up and knew that the snow was coming so we went out and worked like mad man and woman to get all the leaves up. Hooray we did it! Thankfully, just in time since it began to snow mid afternoon. After we put the kids down Scott and I had an exciting evening of work! There we sat in the living room, him working on his computer and me prepping lessons and materials for the week....YIPEE! Tis the fate of working parents I suppose. I took the day off today to watch the kids since we still don't have daycare. We also had the pleasure of watching our friend's from small group kids. So it was me plus 5 kids 5 and under. WHew! Both of those boys are adorable. I hope that Christian and Carter get along as well as they do. It's 3:00 and I think I could go to bed by 5. I hope dinner somehow miraculously gets on the table. Not sure how Mrs. Brady did it with the Brady Bunch...oh yea, she had Alice the house keeper/cook right??? All in all it's been a fun stretch we've had lately. Can't believe tomorrow is Tuesday. Only 4 days of school this week and two next week. Then I will have to prep for Thanksgiving dinner at our house. It'll only be us plus Mom and Dad. Another fun packed week ahead! Hope all is well with you and your family.

Carter and Ella and loving the fact that it snowed here almost all day yesterday. They think it is now "Christmas". Carter and his whole issue of not transitioning well between seasons proves problematic at times. Today he just ran out the slider door in socks, left the door open and came running back in with the biggest smile on his face and two handfuls of snow. It didn't take long for the smile to turn upside down and for him to start hollering about how cold his hands are! Still has lots to learn about the change of seasons. He is so precious how he keeps walking around the house looking out the windows saying, "can you believe it mom?? Look at the snow" :) The simple joys of 2 year olds.

A quick weekend in Indy

Time flies these days. Last weekend we traveled to Indy to celebrate Josie's Dedication at church. The kids had fun playing with Josie and loving her up. Thankfully the kids traveled well. Here Christian is riding along happily in his carseat! Carter was actually the best traveler, in part due to his obsession with the Cars movie and the fact that we watched it a LOT on the way there and back.

Here the kids are enjoying a book with grandma before heading off to church.

Christian in his happiest outfit...nothing but a diaper. He does this hilarious thing now where he pats his belly and laughs!

This past week we had the privilege of attending Ella's conference. She is doing very well in kindergarten both socially and academically. Which is a relief and completely exciting to Scott and I. She is thrilled with herself that she is reading "real books" now. In this picture she is sharing one of the stories she has been reading at school. We are so proud of her!

Ella tickled to get the chance to hold Josie. Isn't she a sweetie? We had so much fun and look forward to spending Christmas with everyone...including a much loved and VERY missed Uncle Ryan and Aunt Carrie.

fall fun

We absolutely love fall at our house just because of all the fun we have in the leaves! As you can see from these shots, Christian just loves the sight and sound of these crunchy things! Carter and Ella are into making big piles and jumping or sliding through them. They also got a kick out of burying each other. Christian loves peek a boo these days so he found it highly entertaining when they would cover each other up and then "pop" out! This afternoon, Carter was feeling exceptionally lovely dovey to Christian, and for the most part tolerated all the hugs!

This past week has been so gorgeous. I keep telling the kids, this is the last stretch of warm weather. We went for a nice walk yesterday. It was one of those magical walks. We typically find something interesting on our walks, however yesterday was magical. We are always exploring nature and yesterday we came upon a small field of milkweed plants. Now on the surface, that doesn't sound to thrilling. To the 5 and two year old it was fascinating. The wind was blowing just right and the kids were in a snow storm of milk week seeds (for those of you unfamiliar with your weeds..think really big dandelion fluff). I felt blessed to be able to watch my kids enjoying the beautiful outdoors, their time together, the simple joy of life in general. It was a miraculous day!

I also got to meet one of the most beautiful babies in the world. My best friend Kelly had baby number three this week, a beautiful, tiny baby boy-Colton Lawrence! At just 6 pounds and a few ounces, I have a hard time believing Ella was ever that small. I could have just sat, stared, and smelled that precious babe! What a gift from God! How miraculous. I just loved him up so much I had to get a hold of him again today. So we went for a quick visit. Ella was just as smitten! Of course, she asked when we could have another baby. Ha Ha! I said I was in awe...not CRAZY! Colton made Christian just seem so BIG. How fast time flies. I hope you are had a good week. We are in the process of packing and heading to Indy for the weekend to celebrate Josie's dedication. I can't wait to get my hands on her either! Christian is moving all over. Crawling like a crazy kid. I won't be too good about posting next week. I have an insanely busy week at work with conferences and some training. Mom and Dad are coming to stay with us since our daycare is going to FL for her daughter's wedding for a little over a week. I am so grateful for retired parents and their willingness to come, roll up their sleeves, and pitch in. The kids are ecstatic! Gotta go, Carter just came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but an interesting mustache design of my newest shade of dark lipstick! Whew, this kid keeps me on my toes! :)

Rapunzel, a lion, and SUPER Carter

Halloween this year was not coordinated on my part. Ella had wanted to be Rapunzel for about 5 months. Wouldn't you know it took me until Oct. 30th to actually purchase the wig for this day. I think Carter was the most impressed with it. For those of you who know how obsessed Carter can be with my hair, you can imagine what he was like with 'the wig'. Ella had fun at school. She managed to keep the high heels on the whole morning. She was determined, since she was in love with the plastic pink things.

How did we come up with Carter's outfit one might ask:

One evening about a week before Halloween, I asked Carter if he wanted to dress up for the day. I listed off a variety of things he could be. His reply was, "no cause I am just your Carter boy." His answer was so sweet, so honest, and SO Carter! He went in the other room to play and then he flew past me saying, "Super Tarter to the rescue!" I thought that's it! He can dress up as himself for the night. I got a cape (which has gotten much use already) and slapped a C shield on him and called him dressed for the night. He sure was SUPER: Super excited, Super loud, Super fast, Super Hungry (for candy), Super thankful (that people were just throwing candy in his pumpkin)and SUPER adorable!

Ella had a fun morning at school. All the kindergarten kids wore their costumes to school. They had a parade (which Ella survived a tour of the WHOLE school in these chintzy plastic high heels she had to have) then the rest of the morning was spent partying with crafts, games, and then a quick nap on the way home. Here she is with a few of her friends.

Isn't this just the craziest wig??? I think it was more for the Goldilocks costume but it tickled her! Sweet Christian slept in the van while they made the rounds between a few houses. He was fine with me putting the lion costume from Carter on him for a bit.... I think it was 9:00 so it was simply for the photo op! What a trooper.

a few more pictures

This week Grandma Moorlag sent her"ever famous Halloween package". She is so wonderful. Every year, the week of Halloween, she send this package of homemade cookies all decorated and tasty for the kids...and adults. This year she really outdid herself with the fancy pumpkins and cats. As you can see the kids LOVED it. We ration out the cookies for dessert after dinner. ( I hope they don't catch on that I usually have one with my afternoon cup of coffee.. but that's our little secret!)

After Ella's soccer game, Dad and Scott headed to Battle Creek to finalized the purchase of Scott's new car. Mom stayed with the kids and I. Here is a picture of the adorable scarecrow they made together to decorate for fall. It greets us everytime we enter the backdoor.

Here are a few more shots of the soccer players. Elle with her medal! What fun!

Last week...finally posted

Happy Birthday to Scott! The kids helped with the decorations: lots of balloons, streamers, and a huge poster greeting him on the door. Scott being the great dad he is, spent the morning home with Christian since he wasn't feeling well. When I got home I took him into the pediatrician and found that he only had a cold and an infection around his eye. Nothing serious, just needed lots of snuggles and snooze time. Scott got lots of love, some new clothes and a new car! Yep, we are selling the old Honda cause a newer, bluer, and sportier one is sitting in the garage! He is pretty pumped. He deserves it; he has driven the old Honda since Ella was sitting in the same car seat Christian is in. Elle and I got to drive it to work on Friday. It is nice but it's tight to get three car seats in the back, but that's true of pretty much any vehicle. Luckily, we use the van as the primary when traveling as a crowd. But now we have a nice new date car.......does that mean we will actually go on dates now???

As usual, it's been a bit crazy around here. By the end of the day, I couldn't bring myself to the computer to work after the days we've been having....planning for Scott's bday, sick Christian, and the preparation for Halloween, plus all the other duties that go along with taking care of the munchkins and prepping for work. However, I am determined to catch up tonight. You will see a conglomeration of pictures from the last soccer game, Scott's bday, our big 7 month old guy (who is now proficient in crawling--not just army crawl anymore). I will post pictures of Halloween a bit later.

On Saturday morning, Ella had her last soccer game. It was supposed to be kids vs. the parents. Scott and my dad went. Dad took pictures and Scott got out there and helped the parents...loose. Elle scored a goal but was most hyped about her very cool soccer medal. She is dying to have the show and tell bag for school again so she can show her classmates. Here are a few shots, what you can't tell is that it is COLD and rainy...not a good combo for Ella.