They See Me Rollin'

CJ loves being in his walker.  Over fall break, we replaced the carpet in our formal areas with wood laminate which allows CJ mobility in his walker in the entire downstairs.  He will run from one end of the house to the other with his arms flailing,  creaming at the top of his lungs, and giggling the whole time.  When he gets going, we all stay out of his way, watch, and laugh with him.  Enjoy these pictures of our wild man!  (Hopefully this isn't a look into his future when he gets his driver's license!)

Pumpkin Carvin' Time!

We utilized this BEEE-A-UTIFUL fall day to carve some pumpkins.  While CJ took his nap, the 2 oldest and I started...one of these two was not too thrilled to be pulled away from "football Sunday" to get gross carving pumpkins. Can you guess which one?

Yep...it was him.  His face says it all!

 Lacey on the other hand LOVED getting dirty in the pumpkin "guts." "Mama look!  I'm not scared, I'm BRAVE!"

Oh these two couldn't be more different from one another....

 Lacey concentrated so hard on tracing around her pumpkin in order for me to carve it.  She loves drawing, painting, cutting...she is such the artist!

Once CJ woke up, it was his turn to get dirty with cleaning out his pumpkin....and he dove right in!  I had to hurry to keep him from not eating what he pulled out.  He is fast!

CJ's final result!

Oh my...the looks on their faces....I just love them so!  haha

Pictorial Update

Here is what we've been up to lately...as depicted from the pictures on my phone. 

Lacey got some new boots...makes her look so much older! 

CJ is learning to use utensils when he eats and he is only wanting to eat table food.

Sometimes, big brother needs a power nap in Daddy's office after school...first grade is hard core! 

Curt and I went on a date night to try a new restaurant which we fell in love with! 

CJ and I are perfecting our selfies...

We are loving our trio and spending time as a family! 

Brothers

'Tis the Season...It's Pumpkin Time!

I love this time of year!  I love the colors of the leaves changing, the feel of the slightly colder weather, cuddling up with a hooded sweatshirt and hot chocolate, watching football while eating chili and of course...visiting pumpkin patches!    A good friend of mine invited our family over to her house to take some pictures and hunt for some pumpkins.  We were thrilled and beyond excited!  Visiting pumpkin patches is a family tradition that we started when Clayton was just a baby and have continued it each year.  Last year visiting pumpkin patches was bittersweet due to CJ being in the NICU.  This year, it is extra special...all our 'pumpkins' are healthy and ready to find the most perfect!

Costumes of course are a must....this year we have two football players and a princess...Belle.

    Lacey, October 2013                                                              Lacey, October 2014

     Clayton, October 2013                                                  Clayton, October 2014

This year, Clayton and Lacey are "passing the pumpkin" and are thrilled to include their little brother in our family tradition. 

              CJ, October 2013                                                               CJ, October 2014

Now that we have our pumpkins...our princess is just waiting for the 'ball'....

The Halloween Ball! 

Indianapolis Zoo

Today, my mom treated my crew of three and I to  a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo!

 This was Clayton's 4th time, Lacey's 2nd (but first time she remembers), and this was CJ's first time!  The day started out a little chilly, which was perfect, but by 12:00 it warmed up.  We stopped by the ocean exhibits first to pet the sharks, see the sting rays, and of course watch the playful penguins!

 CJ loved watching them...he was so curious!

 I feel like every time I go to the zoo, the walrus exhibit is always one of the highlights for me!  The walrus is always so active and comes right up to the glass.  Today, we saw her playing with her food and blowing bubbles.

Clayton's favorite animal to see was the TIGER of course, such beautiful and powerful creatures.

 I thoroughly enjoyed the White-Handed Gibbons.  This one, Elliot, was definitely showing off...cooing and swinging all around the enclosure, then coming to pose and wait for his picture to be taken.

The bats...well, they were creepy at best, but we enjoyed seeing how we measured up to them!

The brown grizzly bears look so deceiving! The kids love watching the movie Open Season, so reminding them that these bears are actually dangerous when they look so friendly was very hard.

 CJ's favorite by far was the dolphin show.  He loved the splashes of water and Clayton loved the dolphin named Jett who loved football.  He could catch the football in the air and swim backwards with it.

 My favorite was their new exhibit, the orangutans.  These animals were so beautiful and kind looking. However, when one male saw a guide dog, it became aggressive in its cage and you were quickly reminded that these animals are wild and just how powerful they truly are.

 We were able to get so close to them...such a neat experience!

 Oh, and this was the coolest! While eating lunch outside, we watched them climb on these high wires protruding above the park...no cages around them...AMAZING!

The flamingos were fun...seeing how they could contort their bodies and their backwards bending legs. They came very close to us as well.

 CJ wasn't impressed....

 Their eyes and beaks....breathtaking!

 Oh how I love these kids and sharing the zoo with them!  I think I was just as excited at they were! We went on a train ride around the Plains area.

 Highlight of the Zoo trip for CJ!

 The giraffes were another favorite for us.

 I had never seen them bend down to eat grass before.

 They came within arms length, that if I reached out I could touch them...such long lushes eyelashes and those tongues!

 One of these three is not like the others....

 Oh, the rhinos...lazy big creatures today!

 I caught a wildebeest getting a drink...

 then went straight back to the rhinos!

 The cheetahs were sunbathing today.

 These little elephants were just too cute for words!

 The size of these elephants and their feet!

Oh we had such fun today!  We can't wait to go back again!