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. 

"Soccer, Ballet, even tennis"

Ask Madeleine what she does and she will say, "Soccer, ballet, even tennis."  I love how she throws in  the even tennis.  For her birthday Madeleine got tennis gear from Jim's mom an a tennis lesson.  She thought it was a lot of fun.  Dance has also started back up and this year Hadley gets to join in the  fun.  Madeleine has moved up a level and Hadley is in the class Madeleine was in before.  She is so excited to be dancing after spending so much time watching.  Madeleine is also doing a soccer class at the Y this fall.  Hadley also wanted to do that but you have to be 4 so I promised her she could do indoor soccer this winter... they start that at 18 mths!  I'm seeing now how hard it is being the younger sister and being told over and over that you are not big enough yet.

Madeleine in her fancy tutu

Hadley ready for tap

She is so excited to jump in the tap shoes

The soccer spectators

I love the cute shinguards

Working on passing

Even tennis

Vacation!!!

The week before Labor Day we headed down to the lake.  We had a great time and really enjoyed that it was empty down there with all the kids back in school.  It was a great way to end the summer.  And in other exciting news, google finally allows you to upload multiple pictures at one time to the blog so expect more posts... the picking the pictures one by one is the part of the blog that I hated!

The drive to the lake.  Madeleine kept asking why it was taking so long.  She slept almost the whole way home and asked us why the drive home was so short.

Madeleine has spent the summer watching her recital video and has picked up some of the moves from the hip hop dances.  It was nearly impossible to take a picture without her striking this pose.

The girls shared a bed... Hadley loves to snuggle and I think was happy to have Madeleine to snuggle with.

Both girls really took to the water this trip... hip hop pose even when swimming.

Thomas' first trip to the lake.  This is about all he can do right now :)

Uncle Dave and Thomas kicking back

The pool was great for when the lake was really busy over the weekend.  I let the girls wash the princesses in it which was a big hit.

The girls loved the boat.  It was so nice to actually be able to go out in it without the crazy high waves of the weekend.

Swimming off the back of the boat was also a big hit.

Thanks to D and Butch watching Thomas I was able to enjoy the boat too.

Think Hadley enjoyed the ride?

Feeding fish and ducks... they love french fries

Now this is vacation!

Mini-golf seemed like a good idea and was fun for about the first three holes but then the reality of mini-golf with five adults, two little kids and one baby set in.

The lake was so calm that we were able to spend lots of time in the boat.   Jim started the fun by wakeboarding

I waterskied for the third time ever.  It took me a few tries to get up this time. 

Dave demonstrated the water ski trainer to Madeleine and Hadley.  Madeleine said she will try it when she is 5.  I think Hadley was ready to try it this year.

Madeleine and Jim in the tube... wasn't sure Madeleine would ever get back in this after she went under in it last year but she did and loved it.

Hadley also enjoyed tubing.  She would bounce up and down it.

Racing to Daddy.  Hadley kept telling us "I'm a fishie" until she got tired and wanted you to hold her.  Then she would say, "I'm not a fishie"

Splashing off the back of the boat

Thomas went on a real short boat ride across the cove to lunch

The way home... Hadley was not very happy with Thomas' crying.