Fall Fun

When it finally stopped raining we were able to go out and rake up some leaves.  The kids were playing in the car when they noticed how big my pile was getting and promptly decided to jump in the leaves.  This was the first year Ali really "got it" and it was so fun to watch them playing together.

First, of course, you have to make the pile even bigger.

It was a bit of a windy day and she was getting frustrated with her hair blowing in her face.

Let the jumping begin!!

And I just love this picture of Ali -

When did she start looking more like a little girl than a baby?

Ultrasound

I went in yesterday and had an ultrasound of the baby.  I'm 19 weeks, so this is usually the one where people find out what they're having.  I was able to schedule it during Tyler's lunch so he was able to be there as well as the kids.  It was a lot of fun to see how big the baby has grown.  When I told Cade we were going to see the baby, he thought they were going to cut me open so we could check to make sure it was growing.  He was a little disappointed that he only got to see a fuzzy picture on the computer screen.

As soon as I can get our scanner to work (or when Tyler has the time, rather), I'll post the pictures.  In the meantime, we'd like to see what you all think we'll be having.  With my miscarriages before, Cade was pretty set on having a little brother, but he's since decided that little sisters are fun and would like another one.  According to the Drain-O test, it's a boy. (You mix your urine with crystal drain-o.  If the bubbles turn blue, it's a boy; gold, it's a girl.  Gross, I know, but it's been right so far.)

We didn't find out during the ultrasound because we like to be surprised and know that everyone else is as anxious for us to have the baby as we are.

Everything seemed to be ok otherwise.  We have a large baby (growing in the 8oth percentile) and  I do have an "unusually thick placenta" that they'll check again in 4 weeks.

Halloween Festivities

Here are a few things we did this Halloween season.  First, we went to the pumpkin patch and picked a nice, big pumpkin to carve.

(I'm not really sure why the kids have a fascination with covering their mouths when I take pictures of them, but it happens a lot lately).

The next morning started off great, so we decided to go ahead and carve it.

It was fun.  Especially the part when the kids refused to put their hands inside the pumpkin.  So they helped liked this:

I just love Ali's face - it says it all.  "Seriously?  That's gross."

But in the end, they really loved it.

We made some spooky eyeball treats out of donuts and gummy lifesavers that the kids loved, too.  (Again, with the mouth...?)

On Halloween we had dinner at our house with the cousins and made some fun food to eat.  We had mummy hot dogs and witch finger cookies.

After dinner, it was time to get dressed up and go trick-or-treating!  This was Ali's first year actually going up to the door and getting candy.  It was fun... all 10 houses she went to.  After that, Aunt Jana and Aunt Lorrie just carried her.  Thanks!

I was pretty happy with how their costumes turned out.  I ended up sewing the strips of fabric onto a white shirt and some pants, then letting them soak for about 10 minutes in black tea.  I think it did the job nicely!  Here's all the cousins and then a little trick-or-treating.

And to top it all off, the moon that night was a PERFECT Halloween moon!