Fall

On his days with Uuma and Papa, they always do something fun and unusual. Recently, they found a yard where the leaves were "falling like rain" and played in the piles! Reminds me of Michigan :)

 

 

 

Mark has taken Wade hunting twice. The first time, they saw a few does, went fishing and played around at "Farmer Jeff's" with Baxter the dog. The second time, Mark got a buck and Dave got a hog the first night. Wade thought it was awesome and high fived Mark when they tracked down the deer. Then he was sorely disappointed when they weren't going to eat it right then. I could just hear the pride in Mark's voice when he told me. He also really liked "Papa's piggy." Possibly even more than "Daddy's big deer." Now he constantly talks about hunting, wants to watch hunting shows and plays imaginary hunting games. Looks like we've got a hunter on our hands!

New blog

I've had to start a new blog since I ran out of space on this one.

2 plus 2 equals 4- Different name, same great blog ;)

http://4maruszak.blogspot.com/

Caramel apples and new toys

This week has been a rough one. Lily still won't nap during the day or even fall asleep at night sometimes unless I walk her around in the Ergo carrier. Side note: thank God for that carrier, I don't know what I'd do without it! I even nursed her in it today to get her to fall asleep! She and has also been waking up MULTIPLE times per night for extended periods of time and now, when I lay her down, she knows that I'm leaving the room and REALLY doesn't want me to, so she wakes right back up and the whole process starts all over again. 

I feel terrible for Wade because the majority of my time is being taken up either walking with Lily, laying her down (or trying to), or carrying her around because she's too fussy to put down. So, every chance I get to be alone with him, I try to make the most of it. The other day, we made caramel apples. At first he didn't want to, he just wanted to eat the candies- apparently Nene has given them to him before, so he associates them with her :) But, once I told him he could eat one after we opened all the wrappers, he set right to work. He nearly opened them all himself- now that's dedication!

Unwrapping

Covering the first apple



Mmmm! Licking the spoon :)

Finished product

Still licking the spoon

He got some of it in his mouth ;)

Now licking the plate...



I put Lily in the doorway bouncer for the first time tonight so I could take a shower and she could still see me. She was so proud of herself, she loves acquiring new skills and gets this big grin whenever she does something new :)



Crabby girl trying out the new swing. She actually really likes it, but you can't tell that from this picture!

Teething and playing at the park

Little girl has been teething. And by teething, I mean, she has suddenly transformed from a sweet, laid back little thing into a whiny, clingy, non-sleeping monster! I know, I know, teething must really suck. Those sharp pieces of bone, bursting through her gums- ouch! So we've been doing a lot of walking around with her in the Ergo carrier, just to get her to sleep. I have spent many days walking around the neighborhood, with Wade riding his bike next to us. Or pacing around the living room while Wade is "napping." I even walked around the block a few times one night. Oh well, it won't last forever. And this is my view lately. Could be worse, right? :)

 

Not sleeping, Mom.

Standoff

 

Took a trip to Old Settlers Park in Round Rock with Katie and Jack. The boys had fun running around and spinning in the swings. Lily and Ford had their usual "baby playdate" and smiled and cooed at each other for a bit. Then Lily decided she wanted to play in the dirt. She kept grabbing handfuls of dirt and sticks and inspecting what she had in her hands. The only way to keep her from eating it was to stick her pacifier in her mouth :)

Handfuls of dirt

 

Spinning with Jack

Nene's here!

I picked Nene up at the airport late Wednesday afternoon. Since then, we've played, went to a craft bazaar, visited and relaxed... As always, it's been a fun few days with Nene around, so much so, that I realized I hadn't taken any pictures! Both Wade and Lily think she's the greatest! Wade loves to play games with her- from running around outside and digging holes to reading bedtime stories to creating scenarios involving his "Star Wars girls." Lily thinks she's funny and likes to scrunch up her nose and make noises at her and listen to her whisper "secrets" in her ear. Today she packed up and headed to Canyon Lake to visit Brandon, Sam and the boys for a few days. She'll be back in a little while though, for Wade's birthday in a few weeks :) 

 

Hanging out with Nene

Showing Nene his acorn stash

Halloween 2012

We started off the day with a little Fall Festival action at a park near us. It was way bigger than I expected, with way more people, which meant way longer lines! It was a Dr. Seuss theme, so all the games were named after Dr. Seuss books and there were lots of Dr. Seuss characters running around. We met Mary, Shelly and the girls and Thomas, and Katie and the boys there. We rode a hayride, played a few games, had some snacks and waited in line FOREVER to ride a 1 minute train ride. But, that's what the boys wanted to do, so we waited and rode. Quickly. It was a nice day, not too hot or cold and the kids had fun running around as a pink princess (Haley), a purple fairy (Annabelle), a football player (Thomas), Darth Vader (Wade), a leopard (Lily), Ironman (Jack), and Superman (Ford). That's a lot of kids!



Checking out the Truffela Trees

Snacks with Uuma

Haley, Annabelle & Thomas

Kisses for sister

Rawr!

Jack and Wade, being silly

The little-known battle between Ironman and Darth Vader

Later, Wade went trick-or-treating with Mark, while I stayed home with Lily (who was fast asleep, due to her poor, sore little mouth) and handed out candy. Mark said they walked for blocks and blocks and came home with quite the haul. He had a few pieces of candy and about 10 minutes after he went to bed, was asleep. A very successful Halloween!



Darth, about to take on the town

Tons of treats!



Pumpkin carving and science

Today we carved one pumpkin. Yes, only one because the big one that I really wanted to carve is about 6 inches thick. I may be exaggerating a bit, but it took me 10 minutes just to cut the top out. So instead, I just let Wade scratch at it and make designs with the tiny saw since that is how he it wanted it decorated anyway.

Picking out the seeds. One by one.

Making the same face as his pumpkin.

Then we checked out our egg experiment. The vinegar had made it into a bouncy ball egg! You couldn't really see through it, but it was definitely cool that you could pick it up. We were curious as to what was inside, so I cut it open and it basically popped. Pretty gross.

Super cool egg! The shell completely dissolved in vinegar and you could pick it up.



Still an egg inside. Wouldn't eat it though.