HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Cookie Monster, Little Pumpkin and Elmo want to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

We had a little scare with Elmo/Olivia yesterday. She woke up from her nap with goopy eyes. So Olivia and I spent a couple of hours in Urgent Care last night to make sure she didn't have pink eye. Thank goodness she didn't. I would have hated to have her miss all the Halloween fun.

Emma was the reason for the twins' costumes. A few months ago she started talking like cookie monster...pretending like she was eating cookies and saying "Cookie, Cookie, Cookie" in a little monster voice. We asked her if she wanted to be Cookie Monster and she said YES! I mentioned it to a friend at work and she said her daughter was Cookie Monster last year and her friend's son was Elmo...so they let me borrow the costumes for the twins...Perfect! They ate it up.

This is Marcus' first Halloween. I bought his costume a couple of months ago...it barely fits now...but it works :-)

The kids carved pumpkins at daycare yesterday. The two on the outside edges are the ones they carved at daycare. The one on the far right is Emma's...she wanted a "sad" pumpkin...isn't it cute!

The kids had a big week this week. They walked to Sandi's (another daycare teacher) and picked little pumpkins which they painted...too cute! They carved the bigger pumpkins. Lastly, they had a big Halloween party today. This is DeeDee with some of the kids this morning. The kids had a great time...they were so wired when I picked them up tonight. Hopefully that will lead to a good night's sleep...maybe they'll even sleep in! Wouldn't that be nice. That was pretty much all we did for Halloween, but it was plenty for my three :-)

Another Tag

The Kids were tagged by Melinda:

All About Them:

Name/Meaning:
Olivia Rena - we always loved the name Olivia and since she was Baby A, she got it...Rena is my middle name (pronounced Renee...my Dad came up with the spelling for me so it has been passed on to Olivia).
Emma Marie - I came up with it one night just sitting in the living room. I liked Marie as the middle name (it is the middle name of my niece, Taylor, who is also my God daughter).
Marcus Charles - we always knew our first born son would be Marcus (after Marc) and Charles is a family name (Marc and his Dad have Charles as a middle name).

Age:
O - 2 years; E - 2 years; M - almost 11 months!

Nicknames:
O - none; E - Bear; M - none

Favorite Activity:
O - cleaning; E - talking; M - walking (he's almost there!)

Favorite Food:
O - Yogurt; E - cookies, PB&J; M - EVERYTHING!!!

Least Favorite Food:
O - depends on the day; E - veggies; M - haven't run into anything he doesn't like yet

Favorite Music:
O - Itsy Bitsy Spider; E - Twinkle Twinkle; M - If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands

Favorite Toys:
O - Baby Dolls; E - Anything tiny; M - Trucks

Favorite Books:
O - "100 First Words"; E - Anything with a Princess in it; M - "My 1st Farm Book"

What makes me happy:
O - Blue Silky Blankie, thumb; E - Dresses, back rubs; M - Blue Silky Blankie, thumb, Sisters, Tucker

What makes me sad:
O - When things are not in the right place; E - Being left behind; M - the word "NO"

Hunting Season

The kids and I decided to tag along with Marc this weekend...we went to Grami and Poppie's house so Marc could hunt with his Dad, Raymond and Raymond's Dad. We played with Grami, Melissa (Raymond's girlfriend) and Auntie Kimmie.

We hit downtown and went to the Market on Saturday morning. Emma was a big help to Grami in her produce buying. She gave it her all to carry the apples...they were just a little to heavy for her though.

Then did a little shopping downtown. Grami took us to the coolest store that had all kinds of toys for the kids to play with. They had a blast.

Grami did her best to get Marcus to walk before noon on Sunday (see comments on "Catching Up " post). Marcus actually did really well all weekend...I think he spent more time practicing to walk then he did playing with toys. I'm sure it will be soon.

Marcus was up at 5am with the boys. I tried to get him to stay asleep but he just kept talking, laughing and singing. So, I finally brought him down to the boys and told them that Marcus wanted to go hunting with them. Just a few more years Marcus and you will be right there with them.

Overall it was a great weekend. Raymond did get an Elk, so it was a success all around! (sorry...I didn't get a picture of the Elk but it was a nice one!).

Jack-o-lanterns

Look what we did tonight. In order...Marc's, Emma's, Olivia's and Marcus' (mine is the one decorated with the cat stuff in the Halloween pictures of the kids last weekend) .

Action photos of the kids...they were sort of into it. Olivia didn't want to get messy (surprise surprise) and insisted on using a spoon. Emma dug right in, but it was cold because they were outside all day so she needed help. Marcus just wanted to eat everything, so he ended up with cookies on his tray instead :-) He did think the pumpkins were pretty cool though.

Catching up!

Any bets on when this baby will be walking?

Picture Perfect

So, I was trying to get a cute picture of the three kids with their new Halloween shirts that were made especially for them by Nana and Aiden (thank you!). After dancing and howling and making funny faces...basically making a fool out of myself (and yes, there were neighbors walking by to witness my silliness...I didn't know they were there)...I finally had to bring Daddy in for help.

Where's Daddy?....There he is!

Daddy gave Mommy a kiss (that is the only way to get these three to smile these days...they think it is hilarious when Daddy and Mommy kiss).

Oh No...another Kiss! Can you believe how that cracks them up? Too funny!!! Don't you think the shirts are adorable though? I LOVE THEM! Now they all three have a Halloween shirt. Thanks again Mom!

A few photo ops

We had such a great morning. We woke up early (as always), had breakfast and were out the door by 9:30am. We found this great farm that opened at 10am and had a ball. They had all kinds of animals for the kids to see. They even had a cannon that shot pumpkins out every half hour. It was so much fun to watch the kids react to everything...they had such a blast.

Maze

The kids got to go through this great hay maze. It was the perfect size for them.

There were all kinds of places to crawl through...even little Marcus thought it was pretty cool.

You should have seen the girls running through the maze. When they got to a dead end, they cracked up laughing. They thought this was the greatest thing ever.

Pumpkins

As promised...we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. They got to ride in a wheelbarrow on the way to the pumpkin patch...they thought that was pretty cool.

Hmm...is this the one? Olivia was very serious about picking out just the right pumpkin.

Emma was just excited to see all the pumpkins...she wanted every one of them.

Marcus was pretty excited too. He did great for missing his morning nap. What a trooper.

Say Cheese

It's been a while since we had bath pictures. The kids take a bath all together on a regular basis now. The girls can't take a bath without Marcus throwing a fit so he has to be in there with them.

The girls were being extra cooperative and posing for the camera...say cheese!!!

I even got all three of them in a shot...I think they are actually starting to like the camera now.

Twins

My picture loader doesn't seem to be working, so this one is from a couple of days ago. I thought it was cute. Last night, the sweetest thing happened. Marcus woke up at 3:30am and I was trying to let him work it out. I stood outside his door mainly to intercept the girls if they decided to come to his rescue. Sure enough, Emma came out all concerned. I told her it was night night time still and Mommy would take care of Marcus. When I put her back in her bed...there was Olivia, sound asleep in Emma's bed. Emma just curled up next to her and went right back to sleep. Some moments just melt a mother's heart :-)

I was looking at old videos last night too and thought you might enjoy this little flashback...

Can you believe they were ever that little? They were just a little over a week old here; finally togther after a little stay in the NICU. Wow, those days seem so far away. I just think it's funny to see how Emma is awake and Olivia is sound asleep...some things never change. We still struggle to get Emma to go to sleep. She talks Olivia's ear off at night. We often hear Olivia tell her to be quiet and go to sleep. Unfortunately that brings back too many memories of me and my older sister growing up...I was Emma :-) Can we say payback?

Papa

Papa came to visit us this weekend. He went to the West-side of the State and dropped by on the way back to MT.

It was very fun to have Papa here. Marcus warmed up to him right away...so cute!

Papa helped us feed the cows and Tucker this morning before he had to go. He was only here a short time, but we enjoyed every minute!

What a Mess!

The kids were doing really well tonight after dinner...I was able to clean the kitchen without any interruptions. Then I went to check on them...look at this mess! They took everything off of the shelves and just piled it in the middle of the room. Look at Marcus' face...doesn't he look guilty?

Turns out Marcus was the guilty party. I asked Olivia and Emma to clean the room and they started to clean (they are actually really good about cleaning up their messes). I was in another room when Olivia just started crying...she asked for her Daddy (he is out of town again this weekend). So we called Daddy and he settled her down. Then I went in to help clean. While we were cleaning, I figured out what Olivia's problem was...Marcus followed every move I made. As I put a toy away, he was right there to throw it down on the ground. I can only imagine how long he did that to Olivia before she finally lost it...poor Olivia. She takes such pride in cleaning and making things "perfect'".

They do play well together though. I just love that! I sure hope that lasts a really long time!