Halloween Dissappointment

I don't think I have convinced Reece that she will NOT be Elmo for Halloween. I had gotten an Elmo costume at a garage sale that I thought she could wear but she's too tall for it. While, it's a bit big for Brody, we are going to make it work for him. So Instead I made Reece a Zoe costume. She got these elmo slippers last year and found them in Brody's closet for this year. They are way too small for her but she shoves her big foot in it anyway and insists on wearing them...most likely because I told her they were Brody's now. She still has a bit of a sharing problem but we are working on it!

Whatcha up to?

What have we been up to, you ask? We've been pretty busy but can't pinpoint all the things we actually do. Reece loves to play dress up and play with her dolls, while Brody likes to get around and especially get away from Reece. There are many reasons he likes to stay clear of her...one probably being how she treats her baby dolls. I walked in the kitchen the other day to find Reece shoving her baby doll into a plastic Wal-Mart bag. I began to tell her how we shouldn't play with those bags because one could suffocate. It became quite the learning moment. As a joke I said "no matter how bad you want to sometimes, never put your baby in a plastic bag". She continued anyways and began to run around the house shaking the baby in the bag. I followed up with "Never shake your baby, Reece"...which turned into her doing this more and singing "shake your baby....shake your baby" (all to the tune of "shake your booty"). So...I have a lot to teach this little girl! Good thing it will be awhile before she has to take care of a real baby!





Brody playing tractors


Turning off the TV

Getting into things

Playing in the leaves.

Curtis Orchard

On Columbus Day we checked out another orchard. We went up to Curtis Orchard in Champaign with Mi-mi, Aunt Jo-Jo, Kennedy, Tate, Aunt Jill, Bo, and Gracie.

Look how big we are?

Yea!! I fed the goats!

The famous "cool" bus

Future Engineer?

Reece loves to build and figure things out. I went down to the play room the other day and found her building this....

I was amazed at how well she put this together all by herself. I would like to take credit but the only towers I build with her are the kind you build as tall as you can until they fall. Not sure where she learned this but I was amazed at her skill and patience (this must be from her father!).

She was pround of it too...

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Every night for the past couple weeks or so, Reece has claimed on average 2 additional items to bring to bed with her. It has accumulated to like 37 items or something like that. If you take items out and hide them, she can tell you which items are missing and refuses to go to bed until you bring them out of hiding. She says good night to each of them by name, tells them she loves them, and says prayers with them. It's a rather time consuming process. It is frustrating too when there are items you have to scurry around the house trying to find so she can go to bed. It dawned on me that I remember seeing a picture of me in a pile of items in my bed when I was little. I dug it out and sure enough...

Here she is...

Here I am...

Down on the farm...

We went to the Rader Pumpkin patch yesterday and had so much fun!

Reecey actually let the Zoo lady paint her face. I was really surprised! She even picked out the colors...she said she wanted an orange butterfly with pink and blue and purple!


Tried to get a family photo...


Brody at the "market"

Reece rode the caterpillar...

and painted her own pumpkin. If you haven't been there, you should check it out! There was a ton to do!

Monkey Business - Brody's 1st b-day

Brody's first birthday party was over the weekend. We did the sock monkey theme. I think all the little monkies there had a good time. We went bananas with dinner which was pork bbq, cheesy potatos, home made mac and cheese and hot dogs for the kids, salad, a monkey cake, banana cookies, and ice cream. We also monkied around with presents and playing in the yard which was wet and muddy!

Brown and red was the color scheme...here are the buckets of banana candy.

Happy Birthday banner made from bananas I drew and cut out.

Trash...bashura...monkey business...whatever you call it!

Monkey business part 2

Birthday cake compliments of Carol Jones. Party favors for the kids - mini sock monkies, banana candy and banana cookies.





Not diggin the birthday hat...



mmmmm...cake time

Red velvet...

What a mess!