The Milk Man

Luke and Halle were watching "toons" while I was taking a shower this morning. Luke comes into the bathroom whining for milk while carrying a gallon of milk.....the bathroom is upstairs:) Thanksgiving my uncle asked Halle where she lived. Halle twisted and turned for a minute and then said, "in my house next to my neighbor." Halle had a small party at Mimi and Pawpaw's house on Friday so my mom could celebrate a birthday with her since she has been in FL since Halle turned one. It was a Hello Kitty party and turned out really nice considering it was so low key. Lots of family came and a few friends we haven't seen in a while. It was great to catch up and hang out. Halle got her Leapster, cute PJ's, miss-matched attire, princess stuff, clothes, Snow White the movie and a Snow White dress.

Grandparent Watching

Halle and Luke woke up from their nap a few weeks ago and ran straight for the window to watch for Mimi & Pawpaw. They are so cute in their little camping chairs. This was last weekend. I am BIG time behind on blogging! Sorry. I am OVER sitting on my ottoman, leaning over and getting cramps in my back and legs. I am about to receive my Christmas cards that Katie so graciously whipped up last week. I am on it!! I usually call Katie the 1st of Dec. begging for cards. With luck, I will have our cards out before Halle's birthday. We also have great plans to get our tree up this weekend. This year we are going out and hand picking a nice big green tree instead of our small, spinley fake tree. I am a little nervous about hanging the garland (I bought last year clearance) all by myself. Reason #534 why I hate not having family at my disposal. I told Halle today we were putting up our tree this weekend and she looked outside and said, "we cant put up our tree, it's not snowing yet!" I am excited to get all of our decorations out, put on Christmas music, order pizza and DECORATE!

Halle's Wish List.....

So here are a few things from Halle's Christmas/Birthday list....

-Pink Leapster 2

-Games for her Leapster: Kai-lan, Dora, Diego, Tinker Bell, Disney Princess, etc. Toys-R-Us has them on sale until November 26th (25% off).

-24 piece puzzles (she has Dora and Disney princess)

-Zingo (Target & Toys-R-Us both have it)....an educational bingo game

-A scooter (3 wheels:)

Luke on the other hand I am not so sure about!! We have a playroom full of toys and 3-4 shelves in the basement full of toys. I have recently realized the 2nd child gets A LOT of hand-me-downs but I also find myself always considering Luke when I buy something for Halle. I have been wanting to get Halle a Leapster for a while but have been struggling with whether to get her a pink one or get a blue one that Luke would eventually get. So, I decided Halle should get one for herself for her birthday and if she gets games for her birthday or Christmas she can share them with Luke.

She really wanted pink Hello Kitty rain boots but I made her get green frog ones so I could pass them down to Luke. I have felt bad about that for a while even though I told her she could get the pink ones when she outgrew the green ones. I know, I am way to analytical. Who cares.

I am so over all the toys, especially the battery operated ones. Halle and Luke have been playing with her small stroller, a pull toy alligator, and the cake toppings from her birthday cake last year for forever! Halle puts her Belle dress on every single day which in turn results in her changing her clothes at least 3 times a day. Best $10 we have ever spent! Luke can not sit still long enough to play with a toy.......although he does play with play dough a lot. He for the most part jumps off the couch, tables, chairs, toys. Climbs on our backs any chance we give him. And, he throws stuff!! He can find dirt anywhere and loves to wear it.

Tonight he cried soon after David lay him down. David said he was 2 we should let him cry. A few minutes later I couldn't take it and went up to make sure he had his paci and tell him to lay down. I went into his room and took his paci with great intentions to be firm!! He looked up at me and said, "rock me, please, rock me please." He usually says "rock you" because we ask him, "do you want me to rock you?" He totally pulled on my heart strings standing in his bed with his bear in hand looking at me with those pitiful eyes. Needless to say I rocked him. Then, Halle comes out with her blanket, her baby, her drink, & a cow blanket with her lip quivering asking to sleep in our bed. For the last 2-3 months she has demanded to be in her room with Luke so for her to ask to go to our bed we knew she was scared. She and David spent the last few minutes before bed "getting monsters" with her sword she brought home from Chloe's Peter Pan party. She has been playing pirate since Saturday. I knew she was scared so I didn't fight her and she was asleep before I got back downstairs.

For some odd reason I am so excited for the holiday season. I get giddy when Christmas music comes on and I am already working on my Christmas card.....well I should say Kate is working on my card:) I usually start thinking about our card after Halle's B-day. Now, whether they are out before the December 20th will be the test! I have great intentions of getting all my addresses organized on labels this year so all I have to do in years to come is print them. Hahaha.......fat chance of me getting that done. I was so glad to see November 1 so the kids could start wearing their Christmas clothes.......that I got on clearance last year:)

Party #1:

We went to a Halloween Party tonight. Halle went as Belle and Luke as a candy corn. Luke ask for candy corn at least 5x a day. I finally threw it out so he would stop asking but now he just ask to see the dish it was in. "Canny corn, see it." Halle has wanted to be Belle since her birthday when she received her dress. Tomorrow we are going to a birthday party in the morning....Peter Pan's long awaited party. Halle has said she is going as Tinker all week but before bed she said she is not dressing up. She has been grumpy all day. She also said she didn't want to go to the party tonight but quickly changed her mind. On the way home tonight Luke lay his head on his seat and said, "Mommy, sleepy." Precious. Today I asked her to do something and she said, "Mom, I cant because I have so much to do." She was walking around. Sarah watched the kids Monday for a bit. She has solar lights in her front yard. When they were heading to the car to come meet me they both picked up solar lights, held them in the air, and started singing This Little Light Of Mine. Luke called for David this week as David was heading out the door for work and said, "Hey Daddy, love you." I showed him how to make a steeple with with his hands after he asked to "hold" the steeple at BSF. He now can spot a steeple from a mile away and points out the steeple every week when we pull into the parking lot at Blacksburg Baptist(where we go for BSF). He can make a steeple with his pointers fingers but has a hard time weaving his fingers together to make "the people". He ran right in at BSF this week and never looked back at me.

Pumpkin Patch

We took a tractor ride($8 tractor ride) out the pumpkin patch to hand pick our pumpkin. Family photo is compliments of G. Ervi!! Such a great shot! The kids jumped, literally, off the tractor and sprinted for the perfect pumpkin. I wish I would have taken a picture of the little pumpkin Halle picked.....it was the size of a grape and never had a chance! It was so tiny and she loved it. Unfortunately, it did not make it home. Luke was somewhat enthralled with all the rotting pumpkins....weird little boy. We also did the corn maze, pony ride, face painting, and petting zoo. We met the Ervis' there so it was fun for the kids to have their buds with them! David finished the day with a golf game! He was thrilled to be back on the golf course.

Back to School, Back to School.....

Halle sporting her Vol's gear doing a little school!! Yea for Halle. She has already asked to start today. Such a blessing. I am doing My Father's World curriculum that a friend is also doing. We start by doing "Creation" for the 1st 10 days and then we will begin our 1st lesson which will be on Sun and the letter S. We will study S and Sun for a week.

Last Week For Us

Where to start!?!? Luke's party was amazing! I know, how could a birthday party for a 2 year old be amazing when there are kids EVERYWHERE, cake on my newly mopped floor and 30 people crammed into our townhouse. David and I had a blast!! Stephen, Kath, Savannah & Caroline came down, Leslie and Drew came up and were so kind to bring David's precious 81 year old G'ma.....Jude. We were really hoping Jude would stay a few days with us but she is recovering from a broken collar bone and wanted to wait until she felt better to stay for an extended period of time. We had so much fun with Leslie and Drew being here and were sooo thrilled they decided to come up!! Drew was super uncle and he's not even uncle! He cleans the kitchen after a meal, takes the trash out, and gets the kids ready for bed or to go out..........all without being asked. He is a keeper. For those of you who know what it is like when Kath and I get together....poor Drew has offically been initiated into the family for surviving hours of torture. Halle received a book from David's grandparents, Papa & Mama T, at Luke's party. She asked me again last night why she got a present for Luke's Birthday. She was so precious when she opened it with beaming eyes and said, "Wow, who got me a present? That was so kind!" Halle is into Green Eggs & Ham, therefore she often blurts out "Sam let me be!" or "I will eat them with a goat. I will eat them on a boat." So, the other night at the dinner table she tried something new and I said, "Will you eat them in a box?" LUKE quickly responded, "with a fox?" David and I were so amazed and could not believe he said that!! He is so precious and although his energy often makes me want to pull my hair out and go Absolute(JK), I can not get enough of him and every inch of his precious little body. David recently discovered white tail deer in a field near our house. This week at dusk we have been going deer watching. Last night we saw at least 12 and few were bucks. We also hear the evening train, dogs, airplanes, trucks and see the sunset all while sitting on a hill overlooking a field of deer......a little boy's dream. Halle stayed with Shannon on Monday while I took Luke to his 2 year check-up. Shannon included Halle in on Grace and Emma's school. At first Halle said, "I don't want to do school at Grace and Emma's kitchen table." But she quickly realized school was a better option over the doctor's office. She came home saying she was ready to start school and very eager to learn. She has now asked me everyday to start. She came home knowing the letter Z and recognizing letters I had no idea she knew. So today we started school!! YEA!! It went 100x better than I ever could have expected. We only did about 15-20 minutes of activity and she did amazing! I want to copy a few more sheets and then she will start some hands activites like cutting and coloring. I am so thankful the Lord gave her an eager heart to learn because that was one of my greatest fears and one of the reasons I have stalled!