Thumb and Smiles

Lucy has recently found her thumb. She still likes her pacifier, but will occasionally spit it out and choose her thumb. We don't think this is permanent because she prefers her pacifier for comfort and sleep. Although we don't want her to develop the habit, we admit it is a little cute. (Sorry about the fuzziness, she moves so much it put the picture out of focus.)

We did it! It's a real smile on camera! It is hard to believe it took so long because she smiles all the time. She is quickly learning to work her magic in getting what she wants. Doesn't it just melt your heart?

Family Pictures

We went to Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park to take a few family pictures. A few of them turned out okay, but we plan on trying again soon. We liked this location because there is a really great view of the Philadelphia Skyline in the background.

Update on Soccer

Well, unfortunately we only have one more game of soccer left. There have been about as many games played as there have been rain cancellations. We are hoping to not miss the last one. Taylor has really been enjoying the game and is learning to kick the ball better. Cole has progressed from the goal box to the field. We're not sure what he's digging up, but it was more interesting than the game. He has been doing better at following the group around the field every so often. He is still young and will catch on when he is ready.

Ghosts are Everywhere

Taylor and Cole FINALLY (yes, it was an agonizing decision) chose to be ghosts this year for Halloween. It took a little convincing to get Cole to wear his costume. He just didn't want to bother with it. Taylor was very excited and was even willing to paint his face white. When the costumes were all done, it occurred to me that they both looked a little too much like alter boys. My fears were confirmed when we went to one house and a lady mentioned it without prompting. That's ok- they looked sooooo cute and had fun scaring Mom and Dad.

Halloween Parade

Taylor's school has a Halloween Parade every year. The Middle School Marching Band comes to play while the 1st - 3rd graders walk around them. It was fun to see Taylor with his classmates and see the excitement everyone had.

It was fun to go as a family, however I think little brother was wishing he could join in the fun.

Cole's Preschool

Cole is in preschool this year. We decided to enroll him in a 3 day a week 2 1/2 hour a day program done through Upper Darby High School. There is a regular teacher and then almost a 1:1 ratio of High School students to preschool kids. So when Cole goes, he gets almost full time attention from other s, called big teachers. Cole LOVES going. They have every imaginable toy for kids to play with and the "big teachers" follow them around and help them as they learn to interact with the other kids. It has been nice for Cole since Taylor is now gone to school all day and he misses him dearly.

Boo at the Zoo

The Philadelphia Zoo does a "Boo at the Zoo" the Saturday before Halloween. Just like last year, it was raining, which made for a perfect day to go. It wasn't too crowded and there were tons of fun, candy filled activities for the kids to do. We LOVE the Philadelphia ZOO!

Happy Birthday Cole

Cole's Birthday was on October 19. He turned 4 and we had his first birthday party with friends. Since Cole's birthday is so close to Halloween, it is hard to have a party and not think about it. He wanted his party to be about Spiders....... and it was. There were spiders everywhere. This is Cole's cake. It turned out better than we thought it would and was really fun to make. Can you tell what one of Cole's favorite colors is?

A fast growing tradition in our family is to make birthday pinatas. Yup, you guessed it. It was a spider. Cole didn't like waiting to bust it open- for pictures. Cole's actual birthday was a day later and for our family party we made balloon hats. Taylor and Cole both wanted hats with swords on them. We can't believe that Cole has grown so much! He is developing a sweet, loving personality. It is exciting to see the choices he makes and his desire to make a name for himself. He continues to bring joy to our lives and are grateful to have him in our family.

A Smile?

We keep trying to catch the elusive smile on camera.... we'll get it properly documented one day.

Linvilla Orchards

We went apple picking for the second year in a row. They just don't sell them as big in the stores. We thought it was fun that this apple is almost as big as Taylor's face.

Taylor and Cole pulled the wagon of apples while we wandered around looking for trees to pick. We should have come a little earlier this year because most of the trees were bare. Next year we'll start earlier. We also stopped at Pumpkin Land where there are bins and bins of pumpkins to choose from. At the entrance they had an appropriate "Phillies" pumpkin carved. This was just before they became National Champions. Go Phillies! We couldn't resist taking one picture with a few of the pumpkins.