Fall Fun

We have a new family member.....meet "Mickey", our swallowtail caterpillar from a local farmer's market!

My parents bought Mickey for Whitney a few weekends ago, and while my initial reaction was "EWWW." and "You bought my kid something that breathes, eats, and requires us to care for it?! gee. thanks.  you shouldnt have. NO. You REALLY shouldnt have."...Mickey has grown on me.  

Its fun to check on him each morning and see what he's accomplished over night.  He doesnt look like this anymore, as he has started making his (her?) chrysallis on the top of the container, and we are excited to see him (her?) turn into a fabulous butterfly!

Dude could eat some serious leaves. Wow. I had no idea caterpillars ate that much?!

Our church had the annual Fall Festival a few weekends ago.  The kids had a lot of fun!

Our Christmas card pics are doomed.

Some of our favorite neighbors and besties take the best pics!

And these girls crack me up!

I love that we are going to watch these girls grow up as friends and neighbors! 

And what festival would be complete without a ride on Daddy's shoulders?!

More Emma and Whitney :)

YEEE HAAAAWWW!!!

Her first cotton candy :) 

Multitasking....cotton candy and rabbit-petting :) 

And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE watching our two kids together. Grady's infatuation with Whitney is unfortunately starting to grow just as the novelty of having a baby brother is starting to wear off for Whitney. She still LOVES him, but it has to be on her terms lately.  Its hard to explain, but I think it boils down to Whitney being too busy to sit down and allow Grady to just stare at her and laugh. 

So when she does find the time to focus on him, I eat it up!  He lights up like a Christmas tree when she pays attention to him :)

And its not that she doesnt like him.  She LOOOVES him.  Still asks for him first thing EVERY morning.  Still RUNS to him when we pick her up from school.  Still talks to him all. day. long.  But he is on her level more often now...sitting with toys, rolling around, and generally learning to get into her stuff.  And she is fast as lightning compared to him, so she gives him a toy, talks to him for 3 seconds, and is gone.  And he would much rather she sit still and let him "talk" to her and study her face and grab her pigtails :) 

He cries when she leaves the room and refuses to nap if she is around.  He cries until she walks back in the room or until he can hear her again.  She makes him smile and laugh all the time, and she IS really fun to be around, so I cant blame the dude for loving her so much :) 

It is rare that I get a pic of myself with the kids, so I have to share them when it finally happens :)

I am a sucker for children's books....my mom kept all of our books and I am not sharing them with our kids. Unfortunately I am learning that all childrens' books are not created equal.  Have you read children's books lately?! yuck. It is rare that I find one I LOVE or that has a great message from beginning to end or that keeps the kids' attention nicely.  

But I found two GREAT books for the kids last week. Both kids are loving "I Love You as Big as the World". LOVE. Its sing-songy and cute and universal in that it can be for a girl or a boy, a friend or a cousin. Its just a great book.  If I know you and your child is having a birthday soon, expect this book. :)

Grady loved chewing on it and was smacking the pages (his new "trick") and shrieking (another new "trick").

And he 100% absolutely REFUSED to put it down when it was time to go get Whitney from school.  

And the other awesome book is "Fill a Bucket". 

Its all about treating others nicely and working towards filling others' buckets with happiness, kind words, and love.  Whitney has remarked a few times this week that "Cole filled my bucket when he asked me to come over to his house." and "I think it filled Gramps' bucket when he saw us at the park, dont you?" And even took it a step further saying that filling other peoples' buckets makes HER bucket feel full.  Its a short, sweet read with other books in the series that are appropriate for older kids, teens, etc.  LOVE it.