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Thanksgiving Trip

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Geoff's grandfather and dad's side of the family in New Jersey.  Well, technically we spent Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania at Geoff's cousin's house but we actually stayed at his Grandfather's in New Jersey.  We were only there from Wed.-Fri. so it was a busy few days.  We had a direct flight there so the travel time was great and with the kids under 2,  they got to fly for free...on our laps. They did great and on the way back the plane was only half full so they actually got to sit in seats, which was good for everyone!

Geoff's grandfather, turned 90 this year, and was a great host to put up with us and the kids!

Uncle Pete flew in as well and the kids loved seeing him!

Grammy and Pop brought their dog (they drove up) and Quinn loved walking his imaginary dog around on the leash.  We asked him what his dog's name was and he answered "BOO".

It was super cold but they still loved getting outside!
Thanksgiving day it even snowed a little, didn't stick but it was pretty!

Grammy and Riley getting ready for dinner!
My two handsome men!

Quinn loved the older cousins!

Riley was the only girl but she held her own!


Pop and his brother, John!

Daddy and his little reindeer :)

Geoff's cousin Jenn who hosted us all and her mom, Aunt Heloise.
They were both great chefs and made quite a feast!

Mommy's boy :)

Too many cooks in the kitchen? 

Uncle Pete with Riley in armor, she's defending herself from all the boys!

Grammy, Quinn, Geoff, Pop Pop, Brenna, Riley, Pop
Family picture minus Uncle Pete whose taking the picture :)

Riley on the airplane in her own seat!

Quinn flying home!
They look so grown up in their own seats.
We had a great time and have so much amazing family to be Thankful for!

One cute story from the trip was that Geoff's grandfather has a large kitchen window with a wide sill that the kids could stand and sit in and look out the window.  The sill was even big enough that we put the kids seats there and that's where they ate.  The loved that window, and got their hands, mouth, nose prints all over it.  During one meal they were eating strawberries and got strawberry handprints all over the window.  We left on Friday and on Saturday Geoff's mom was cleaning all those prints off the window.  Geoff's grandfather commented, "you're wiping away my special momentos."  Love that he thought that!

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21 Months

The kids turned 21 months the day after Thanksgiving.  The Thanksgiving post will be next but I need to catch up on some fun things from this past month! Early in the month some of my college friends came to town for a girl's night followed by a zoo trip with all the kids the next morning.  Two friends, one with twins and the other with a daughter all spent the night at our house.  That's 5 house guests and we had a blast!

Here's what five kids taking a bath looks like!

Twice the twins!

What a fun day at the zoo! I love all these girls and beautiful children :)

The kids have really been growing up lately!  The are just at such a fun age and it's so amazing how they understand so much.  I just love watching their brains learn and seeing what they come up with next!

Riley is very into pretending, she is changing lamby's diaper.
The other day she and Geoff were pretend eating out of a container (there was no food) and Quinn comes over and got mad that there was no food...her pretending is pretty good!

Quinn loves to help his daddy, they are making pancakes, a Saturday tradition :)

The love to be covered with blankets while eating cheerios and drinking milk!

They love to wear my shoes, Quinn is really good at walking around in my Sperry's!

We are doing more coloring these days.

Riley decided she was done coloring and would rather play under the tablecloth!

Love playing outside, even when it's cold!

In mommy and daddy's bed!

Riley is wearing the dress my mom made her last year!
Nana just let the hem out a few inches and it still fit :)

Helping to decorate the tree with her new bear ornament.

Quinn is putting his ornament into the tree!

Christmas tree 2010


I know I say this alot but I just can't believe how quickly the months are passing by!   New this month is that Riley's bottom 2 year molars are both in.  Quinn has his right one in and his left is trying to come through as we speak.  I will be happy when they get the top ones and we can be completely done with teething for a long time.  They are on their 2nd colds since getting tubes right now and while the cold part is not a lot of fun, it is great not getting ear infections too!  I love these adorable 21 month olds and am so excited about all that we get to share with them this Christmas season!

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Fall Fun

Before Thanksgiving gets here I better post about our Halloween.  The day before Halloween we went to my brother and sister-in-law's house for a cook out!  It was a perfect fall day, a little chill in the air making a fire perfect.  The kids loved running all over outside and played so hard.  We watched football (my brother brought his TV outside for the occasion), ate yummy food, and enjoyed great company!

Helping carve the pumpkin!

Jump house fun

What boy doesn't love playing with sticks?

We had enough chicken to feed an army :)

The kids dressed up...

Riley is a butterfly and Quinn a puppy.  He would say "woof, woof".

Picture with the cousins!


On Halloween we got the kids dressed up after dinner and went trick-or-treating.  We just went to a few houses but the kids loved it!  At our next door neighbor's house (the 1st house) they figured out that people were putting stuff (I don't know if they realized it was candy) into their buckets and Riley kept signing and saying "more, more".  So our neighbor thought it was so cute and couldn't refuse her and kept giving her more.  We finally had to tell Riley all done and have her say "thank you". 
The loved carrying their pumpkins and putting the candy in them.

Aunt Cricket had a big bag of candy for them each! 
She spoils these kids :)

Sitting on Bella and eating a sucker, it doesn't get much better!

We thought they may want to ride in the wagon, they would rather push and pull it!
It was so cute how they were working together, and their pumpkins did get a ride :)

Happy Halloween!

When we got back to our house the kids were a little wired (sugar high) so we let them run around outside for awhile before bed.  At one point Geoff and Quinn were walking in the cul-de-sac holding hands.  Riley wanted to go join them and she and I walked up holding hands.  We told Quinn and Riley to hold hands and they did.  It was so sweet and there were all were holding hands and walking around together.  It just melted my heart and made me so thankful for my beautiful children! It's one of those memories I will always treasure :)

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20 Months

I really cannot believe that in 4 short months we will be celebrating Quinn and Riley's 2nd birthday.  They are just growing up so quickly and I am really loving this age!  I have so many cute stories from late that I want to share. 

We have been doing more disciplining lately, the kids have a time-out mat where they sit to think about what they have done.  The other day as I caught Riley trying to bite Quinn I said, "Riley, we do not bite!  Do you need to go sit in time out?" She looks at me, turns and walks to the time out mat, and sits down.  Quinn goes and gets her lamby, brings it to her, and sits down next to her. It was nice that he was right there for her to say sorry (we are working on learning the sign for sorry) and give him a kiss when she was done with her time out!

In similar fashion Quinn had bit another child at church.  He was told that biting is not allowed and we had him sit off by himself (in time out).  He proceeded to cry some and lay down on the floor. Riley hears him crying from across the room, stops playing and goes over to him. She pats him on the back and kinda got down near his face, just checking to make sure her brother is ok. (Yes, lots of biting that we are working on correcting!)

While we were on vacation we were getting ready to leave and Geoff put Riley's shoes on her.  Then he told her to go tell her brother to come get his shoes on.  She runs over to Quinn, taps him on the shoulder, and motioning toward daddy says "Go, Go".

They love to be silly and make each other laugh.  One night when Geoff was gone and I was putting the kids to bed Quinn picked up this container that holds blocks.  It was empty and he puts it up on his head, like a hat.  Riley thought this was so funny and started laughing so hard.  It made me laugh and at this encouragement he kept putting it on his head.  He then took it around and put it on our heads as well.

Quinn seems to be encouraged by laughter.  If we laugh at something he does, he will do it again.  We have to be very careful about what we laugh about!

Quinn has also decided that when he says bye bye to any and everyone (including the pizza delivery guy that delivered next door while we were outside playing) he is going to blow kisses.  It's so adorable!  He also blows kisses as he says bye bye to the bath water going down the drain :)

They both love putting on my shoes and trying to walk around in them. They definitely need some dress up stuff! If Riley sees her shoes she has to have you put them on and she will keep sticking her foot up until you finally do!

They are getting so verbal!  Many of their words have their own pronunciations but along with their signs they communicate pretty well.

They love ketchup!  Would probably eat it as a food group all by itself but we try to give them things to dip in it, even if it's carrots :)  They love peanut butter too, especially dipping apples in peanut butter.  Oh and they love hummus, dipping pita chips, bread or celery in hummus.  I think they love all foods they can dip in :)

They love their loveys.  They will try to feed their loveys as well as give them snacks.  Oh, and they try to brush their teeth.  While we were on vacation we sat around being amused by Riley trying to get a diaper on her lamby, it was adorable!

We aren't doing any potty training yet, but often when Riley has a poopy diaper she will pat her bottom and lay down on the floor for you to change her.  She still wears a size 3 diaper and Quinn is a size 5.

When they got their tubes they got weighed and Quinn is just over 33 pounds!  Riley is still about 22 pounds, just an 11 pound difference :)

Riley got her first haircut on Sept. 28th.
Just trimmed the back a little, she was not quite as calm as her brother.
It was fun though, Quinn, Riley, and I all got haircuts at the same time!

Fun with hummus :)

A man bag?!?
I cleaned out my closet and put some purses in their toy bin and they love putting stuff in them to carry around.

Riley's version of a bag on her shoulder.  She doesn't actually have it over her arm so she's using her head to keep it up there, so funny! Oh and notice another purse in her other hand, Ha!

They LOVE to play outside!

And take a little water break :)

And give kisses! 
They both give the best kisses :)

And smile real big!
While going to give daddy a kiss.

Isn't he a cutie!

Going so fast down the driveway. 

Helping with the landscaping.

How to keep 20 month olds quiet during a baby dedication...dum dums!

Here Riley was set in time out (on the rug), Quinn brought her the lamby
and then sat on the other rug (that's used if they both need time out).
He's so sweet to check on her and what's funny is that if he's in time out she just keeps right on playing :)

"Mommy can we get a saddle to fit Haley?"

Playing with the cousins.

Jumping on cousin Ford! 
These kids love their big cousin Ford and love to rough house with him too!

Quinn and Riley,
  These past 20 months with you have been such a joy!  Thank you for being such sweet children and for making me laugh daily.  I treasure these days and love all of the memories we are making together.  Thank you for making me a mother.  I am learning so many lessons as your mother, lessons in patience, and sacrifice, and seeking the Lord for wisdom.  Thank you for these lessons and for many more that are to come (I am sure)!  I love you my precious son and daughter and I will always be here for you!
Love,
Mommy