Thanksgiving Weekend

I can't believe it is already December!  Last Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family.  It was a fun and busy weekend.  Uncle Dave was in town all week and the girls had a blast playing with him.  On Saturday I took the girls to see The Muppet Movie... their very first movie.  They both loved the popcorn and the movie although Hadley was scared of the previews.  Then on Sunday, we had Tommy's baptism.  It was a very nice ceremony and we enjoyed celebrating with your family and friends.  

Now we are getting ready for Christmas.  The decorations are slowly going up and the advent calendar started today.  This weekend is going to be a Santa weekend with visits on Friday night at the Glendale tree lighting and Saturday morning at the Viz breakfast with Santa.

Getting so big!

All dressed up for Thanksgiving

Smiley!

Hitting the Dove chocolate

Apparently Madeleine thought the chair made a good spot to do lots of different poses.  I think she is practicing to be a poms girl in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The best family picture we could get

Uncle Dave and Tommy

Baptism... you can't see but Jim was holding Hadley.  I could hear her asking Jim to hold her upside down during the ceremony

Tommy did great during the baptism

The Krewet Family

The Miltenberger Family

Jim had his hands full

The Godparents

Uncle Todd is becoming a pro at holding babies

Tommy's not happy but I wanted to get a pic in his post bapstim outfit

The kid's table

The yummy cupcakes... the woman at the Cakery assured me I could do his monogram like that even though he is a boy... it looked cute on the cupcakes

Tommy's favorite place to play... after 5 hrs of being passed around he was happy to be playing on his own

Silver Dollar City

This post is a little overdue but back in October we headed to Branson for a visit to Silver Dollar City.  Jim also had work to do in Springfield so we left Thursday night after work.  While Jim worked I took the kids to a place called the Discovery Center.  It looked really small and I was wondering how I was going to keep the kids entertained while Jim worked.  But it was amazing and we had a blast.  There was so much to do and we basically had the place to ourselves.  It is worth a trip to Springfield.  We had perfect fall weather for the trip.  Hadley measured in at exactly 36 inches so she was able to go on rides.  I knew it was going to be very close.  Tommy was a trooper all day.  The girls were so tired at the end of the day that they both fell asleep in the stroller on the way to car.  On Sunday, we went to fish hatchery to feed the fish and see the snakes.  Then we started the long journey home.  Let's just say we made at least 6 stops on what should have been a 4 hour drive.  Other than the car ride home, it was great trip.

First ride of the day... the Hopping Frogs.  These things really hop.

If you look real close, you can see Hadley tucked in next to Jim on the swings.   This was a big step for the girl who doesn't even like to ride the horses on the carousel.

Hadley enjoyed some Dippin Dots while Madeleine rode her first real roller coaster, Fire in the Hole, with Jim.  Hadley loved the dippin dots.  Madeleine wasn't so sure about the hills in the roller coaster.

More Dippin Dots while Jim rode a roller coaster.  You get lots of sympathetic looks and comments when you are with 3 kids by yourself waiting outside the roller coaster.

Tommy did great alternating between the baby bjorn and the stroller.

My new to me stroller.  I love it!  It was perfect for this trip.

Feeding the trout.  Madeleine did one piece at a time while Hadley liked to throw in a whole bunch and really see the fish go crazy.

Jim and the kids at the fish hatchery

These girls love to pose.. I think must be some sort of dance thing.

Halloween 2011

A few pictures from Halloween...

Dorothy

Dorothy and Ariel

Dorothy and the Red Pepper 

All three... best shot we could get

Hadley was excited to hold Tommy

He was a trooper in his costume.

Jim and the pepper

Hard to tell if this is Madeleine's first Halloween picture or Tommy's. They definitely look alike but Tommy was much bigger in the costume.

World Series Champs

All week I have been planning on doing a post about our trip last weekend but now I will have to save that for later.  We have had a very exciting October with the Cardinal's improbable run to the World Series.  It has been so much fun to see the girls get excited for it.  Game 6 was just incredible and definitely a game I will never forget.  In 2006, I was there when the won the World Series.  That was quite an experience.  It was a little different this year but also pretty exciting.  We let the girls stay up to watch the entire game 7.  Not sure they will remember but they will have the pictures :)  Today, we took the girls down to the parade.  It was crazy crowded!  So fun to see all the players and the Clydesdales.  I don't think I will forget laughing at Jim back in  August when he said we weren't out of the playoff run yet.  I told him maybe not mathematically but we were definitely out.  Glad to be proven wrong!

Waiting for the parade.  We found a great spot on a little hill so we could see well.

Alway fun to see the Clydesdales, even more fun with Tony LaRussa riding

Hadley looking for her favorite... Pujols.  Hopefully he will be coming back.   The Cards might lose her as a fan if he doesn't.

Yadi was stopped in front of us for a few minutes.  I could hear the girls chanting Yadi as they were going to bed tonight.

They are going to have adjust this sign.

Hadley got to watch the entire thing from the backpack.

I held Madeleine the entire time so she could see.  We also had to park very far away and I gave her a piggyback ride both ways.  My arms are tired!

Tommy and Jim before Game 7 started 

Watching Game 7

Cards win!!!!!

YEAH!!!!

Quiet Weekend

It was a quiet weekend for me at least. Jim took the girls camping on Saturday with some friends. They had a blast... maybe he will actually write a blog post about it. I stayed home with Tommy who has his first full blown cold. That part wasn't very fun.  He is not sleeping well. I was able to catch up on quite a few things that have needed to be done. I also took a bunch of pictures of Tommy and finally got one of him smiling! When Jim and the girls got home, we went up to the local pumpkin patch to pick out our Halloween pumpkins. We also continued the tradition of not being able to get a decent photo with the pumpkins. Maybe next year!  Then last night was a late night as Jim and I stayed up to watch the Cardinals clinch the National League pennant!  Tonight we went out to dinner and Hadley saw the replays.  She pointed out Pujols and told me he was her buddy.  GO CARDS!

A little pumpkin... or carrot... that is what the girls thought

Watching the Cardinals before bed

Working on getting a smiley picture

Finally a smile caught on the camera

I brought up the exersaucer this weekend.  I think he likes it.    Two pictures smiling in one weekend after two months of not being able to get him to smile for the camera

The pumpkin princess... this is not the first year she has worn this headband to get pumpkins.  She is also sporting her medal from soccer.

Hadley with the pumpkins

Tommy's first trip to get pumpkins... he already knows the tradition of not looking at the camera

Trying to get all three of them in a picture... impossible!

Busy Busy Busy

Busy busy busy pretty much describes our lives right now.  I am back at work and we have had something every weekend for the last several weeks.  I realized when I went to do this blog post that we have really been slacking on taking pictures.  But here a few in no particular order...

Madeleine on a hayride at our friends' annual pig roast.

Hadley on the hayride 

Running back up to the house at the pig roast.  The kids all had a great time playing together

Tommy sleeping a couple of days ago... 3 months old!

Hadley supervising tummy time for her baby and Tommy.  Her baby is almost always named Luna

Jim at the Noah Goscinski Memorial Ride and Auction...  a great event to remember a special little boy.

Hadley and the cupcake she decorated at a birthday party.  She didn't actually eat any of the cupcake but she really enjoyed decorating it and eating the candy.

Three sleepy kids on the way home from the birthday party

Hadley can now ride Madeleine's bike.  Madeleine is getting a new bike this week that we got at the above mentioned Noah Ride.  She is very excited to have a new pink bike.... pictures coming soon

This picture was really to show off Madeleine's hair.   They put in a very fancy braid when we got it cut.  But we have also been watching a lot of Cardinal baseball.  The girls are really into it.

Hadley also needed her picture in front of the Cardinals game.  The other night at dinner she got her Cardinals hat taken away for playing with her food and she started crying saying, "I want Pujols to be proud of me"

Tommy supporting DRJ Racing... he is a big boy but this picture makes him look even bigger.