Our Angel

Madeline is not dressing as an angel for Halloween

But her friend, Eliana is. (see Eliana and Benji link below for proof!)

So when we went out today to a kids event and costumes were the thing of the day- guess what she wanted to be ;)

improv costumes are more fun anyway!

xoxo

Autumn on Auburn

quick video tour from last evening just after the rain blanketed us with leaves (yes i raked the day before- cant you tell?!

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green
Crunchy, Crispy, Misty, Breezy
I love it here in the autumn!
This week I think is the peak of the colors.
wish these photos could do it justice. you'll just have to come visit!

Our newest addition- our Japanese Maple is faring well. the transplant from pot to earth has been several weeks now and it seems to be thriving.






ok- and now some cute kids...just because

Spaghetti

Madeline has a set of play food from the fidotta's last christmas.
Among the items is a pile of pretend noodles. spaghetti.
I encourage her to use her imagination too and make things into what they are not. Sometimes the blocks are carrots, the pretend milk cup is a bagel... whatever.

So last night, she gets out the food and we are 'having a birthday party'. The old yogurt container is 'cupcakes' and i ask her if the pile of noodles is 'hummus'.
She says, and i quote

"No, its Aspet, asket, pasket, ah ah ah hummus and crackers".

Classic.

7 months old

warning- cute butt shot below...



Bennett is 7 months old today!






in other news, madeline has made a big leap and has seemingly given up diapers completely. We have been done with the tough part for more than a year but she still was having wet diapers a few times a day. Now she prefers a pullup at bedtime (which im actually grateful for since i dont want to make potty trips at night right now)but otherwise, wakes up and starts the day in 'big girl underpants!' She just decided last weekend that she was done and has been dry ever since. uh lets hear it for letting them do things when they are ready!

Little Pumpkin Weekend

We had a wonderful morning at Butler’s Orchard with our friends, the Boncos on Saturday- their kids Sophie (2.5) and Henry (4mo) are a nice match for ours and they are cool new friends and neighbors.

Madeline loved the playground train and castle, the pumpkin people and the tractor slides. She also enjoyed the pony ride (thank goodness bc last time she cried) and the moon bounces.

Bennett enjoyed an hour long nap in the car with daddy and then loved watching the kids pick pumpkins out in the farm. But he particularly loved tasting hay and pumpkin on the hayride out there –yuk!

Bennett is awake! 

I found this awesome heirloom pumpkin that i just had to have and Don, well, he found some caramels at the checkout and that made his day.  Just kidding, running around with the kids and choosing pumpkins with madeline was lots of fun for him.

It rained early so there were no crowds and it was cool and crisp for the rest of our time there. all in all a perfect day.

peeking out the castle window, checking out the loot

 

Rebecca, Sophie, Radim and Henry

pumpkin people and the huge tractor slide

 

And then, as if that wasnt enough, Uncle Deedge came and helped madeline carve her pumpkin into ‘Jack’. They had a blast (according to madeline bc she didnt have to do any of the hard stuff) and then went for a long playtime at the park.

Its always nice to have him here bc we also end up getting some of our ‘honey-do’ list done – ahem, deedge replaces outlets, light switches, braves the cricket shed and repots plants etc. Thank you deedge.

Finally, to round out the weekend… we hopped a train at cabin john park and watched the colors of the leaves. Come back soon deedge!

  Here are Bennett and dad aboard the CJRR. his favorite part was watching the little kids at the playground come running when the engineer blew the whistle and madeline’s face lit up. He loves that big sister of his :)

we rewarded deedge for all his family time duties with a night out in dupont after.

proof: Mom and Deedge got gussied up and went clubbing- woo hoo.

well. halloween is on the way. welcome autumn! Tomorrow we go to homestead farm with madeline’s nursery school class to pick more pumpkins and i roasted a sweet pumpkin so we can make pumpkin bread tomorrow night (yes with chocolate chips  of course!). I love this time of year!

xoxo

more swing fun

this kid loves the swing!



gotta love the craigslist $5 special.
wanted a baby swing for him for months now but refused to pay 40 bucks for one.
a little patience... and he is thrilled. apparently madeline is too.


but of course, now bennett is teaching madeline a few things too.

something white...

bennett popped out a third tooth yesterday,
now he has a perfect little jack o' lantern smile. one on top, two on the bottom
pics ... eventually..

xox

the boy

Bennett
Rolls all over the place now. within 3 minutes he is across the room with something unexpected in his mouth
is eating a little solid food twice a day. avocado, oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes, rice, prunes...
still just two teeth- working on 2 more
'chats' up a storm these days ' Ba ba (bbbubbles and drool go with this sound, meh, da or deh and ah are popular too. it really sounds like he is trying to tell us something
loves to roll a ball but moreso prefers to kick a ball with barefeet when placed on his back and the ball is on his belly (kind of like a sea otter...?)
smiles and squeals when he sees madeline or even hears her name
loves to see the baby in the mirror
kisses and grabs pictures of babies and children in his photo books
sleeps through the night and naps 40-90min 2x.day
grabs with a 'rake' motion
chews his feet and sucks his toes
loves to be 'worn'
grabs hair- a lot
gives cuddles and snuggles and holds on tight to face, neck or shoulders
loves crinkle paper
can target even the tiniest thing and grab it when he gets close enough
is already addicted to electronics. not that we let him use one but anytime he sees anything like a screen he grabs, leans, babbles and tries to get to it so he can see too!
loves dancing and jumping when held under the arms
bangs and taps noisy things to check them out
puts everything in his mouth
has drooled on every surface of the house
still does not like his carseat one bit but will tolerate it if someone will entertain him in the backseat
is a fish and could stay in the bath all night, splashing
likes the vacuum
is thrilled by big trucks
has no fear of strangers for the moment, unless they are really really animate or noisy
recognizes mom and dads voices immediately, face lights up when we walk into the room and he lunges toward us
is tall and lean for his age
likes to swing at the playground, in the baby swing with a blanket behind him
looks more like don every day
is doing great.

'just like you'

'mommy, can i have a ponytail, just like you?'




it curls all around the elastic so it looks like a bun. but it works..

...is it odd that i never even thought to put madeline's hair in a ponytail?
i keep seeing all of these little girls her age with cute clips and barettes, pigtails, headbands, whatever- and since she wont keep a clip in without pulling all of her hair out in it, i just never thought beyond that..

so we played salon the other night and she got to try out styles


perfect bc don and madeline have been bonding after bathtime while he combs her curls. she just wants daddy to do it - ironic that my bald husband is so much gentler combing her hair than me!!


and just a pic of madeline and her good friend isaac playing the other day.