Happy Halloween!

The kids wonn't be wearing their costumes to daycare & school, but stay tuned for pictures from tonight!

(Notice the two different shoes on Abigail. Not to mention on the wrong feet. She loves shoes!)

They are however, wearing their festive outfits and taking ghosts to school & daycare. I have pictures from when we made them, but haven't uploaded them to the computher yet!

She's something!

Doing hair

She loves brushing my hair too. It's so funny because she'll hold my chin when she brushes it!

You know she's little when she can curl up in the laundry basket!

Silly girl! As I write this, she's in waking up "Austi" so he can watch cartoons with her!

Picking pumpkins

The kids and I went to a pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins for Halloween. They weren't too interested in having their pictures taken, but they had a blast doing everything else.

This is our self portrait on the hay ride we went on.

Austin found his pumpkin right away.

They then had a friendly encounter with a scarecrow.

My last attempt at getting a cute picture of the two of them.

We're going to carve our pumpkins tomorrow after dinner. I'm interested to see how the kids react to the goo inside the pumpkins. Hopefully the weather will be as nice tomorrow as it was today.

Having fun with my new camera

To see all the other pictures, visit our photo album!

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Grandma Ringman!

We love you!

Reenlistment

This morning, Michael committed himself to four more years in the Army.

The Commanding General of Fort Hood was kind enough to do his reenlistment ceremony. The Lieutenant General is in charge of our entire post.

I even got a Certificate of Appreciation along with two coins.

It was a very nice ceremony and I felt myself leaving full of pride.

Jam packed weekend

Over the weekend the kids and I headed to Leslie & Reagan's house for a sleep over, as Austin called it. Sunday we headed to the Fort Worth Zoo where the kids had a ball looking at all the animals.

First stop was Grandma Richards favorites, the pink flamingos.

We then moved onto the zebras.

Not sure what the kids were looking at, but I thought it was a cute picture!

While Reagan loved the penguins, they freaked Abigail out. Anything close to the glass she was looking through scared her!

Look at that alligator!

He was swimming past the glass.

We rode the train back to the front of the zoo.

Where we looked at more animals.

And witnessed some sibling bonding.

I think the kids learned a lot about animals.

I'm not sure about Reagan, but my two kids were fast asleep before we even left the parking lot of the zoo! We had great weather and great company!

I got a new camera, so I took 77 pictures at the zoo. If you want to see all the pictures I took, visit our photo album here.

F is for FLY!

I can only imagine what the letter "G" will bring...

Any guesses?

The missing "E" hat

We learned at our parent/teacher conference on Thursday that Austin would be making an Eagle hat on Friday. When I picked him up from daycare on Friday, the eagle hat was no where to be found. I asked Austin where it was and he mumbled something about not being finished so he had to throw it away. I really can't imagine his teacher telling him to throw it away, but I have no idea where the hat is at.

Any guesses for the letter "F"?

****

Our parent/teacher conferences went well on Thursday. Austin needs to work on recognizing his letters, but is average in everything he's been tested for.

I know he's absorbing something because he can do a lot of things he didn't know how to do at the beginning of the year.

He can now:

* Write his name unassisted and without looking at it to copy the letters.

* He can recite all the months of the year in order.

* Counts objects, recognizes the correct number and matches them together.

* Is learning how things rhyme with each other. He tries to rhyme all the time.

* Recognizes some upper and lower case letters. And even knows the sound they make.

There are more, but I can't seem to think of them now. He's done well, and has only had one color change for his behavior. He got a green smiley face last week for hitting others with his lunch box. Apparently he wasn't the only one so that makes me feel a little better. Still doesn't make it right, but we had a discussion about it when we got home.

Overall, we just need to work on recognizing letters. We bought some flash cards and some work books so he can practice.

Tomorrow is picture day. It should be interesting to see how they turn out!

Cooperation

Or lack there of...

My attempt at getting the kids picture while sitting together at the table!

Do you think they know when their pictures being taken?

20 Months

She made it into her 20's.

20 months old that is! Although, sometimes her attitude resembles that of a 20 year old, and not a toddler at her age, but she's really starting to bloom.

Her vocabulary has grown tremendously in the last month. She's really starting to babble and repeats everything we say to her. Some of the words she's really good at are Daddy (of course), Mommy, baby, milk, juice, bow, hey, huh and her own version of Austin.

She's really starting to test us. We'll tell her not to do something and she'll look right at us, give us the look and do it anyway. She thinks it's so funny, and honestly it's so hard not to laugh. Those looks are hilarious.

She's even attempting to get herself dressed. Sometimes even if she already has clothes on. Of course she can't do it yet, but she tries her hardest to get it done. She's still in love with her shoes. Most of the time she'll put on and take off her shoes when we ask her to. Most of the time they're on because she loves putting them on and taking them off.

I'll be taking her back to the doctor in a month for her weight check. I'm pretty sure she's going to have gained wait, but we'll have to wait anther month to see. She usually eats just as much as Austin, if not more. I'm really pushing the milk, hoping it will help her in the long run. Both the iron drops and the PediSure gave her the runs, so I doubt either one was helping her gain weight.

She and I will be having a girls day tomorrow. Because of Columbus Day, I have the day off. Normally Michael would have the day off, but because of what he does in the Army he has to work. And, Austin has to go to school. I won't know what to do with just one of them at home all day!

In 4 months, she'll be 2 years old. She'll be out the of stage where people ask how many months old she is. 2 years old, wow...

She's fearless (Part V)

Hats of the alphabet, con't

I was surprised yesterday when Austin's next hat of the alphabet was in his backpack.

D is for Dinosaur

And of course Abigail had to get in there for a picture. They were both saying "Cheese" for this picture. They're so goofy!

What's your guess for the letter E? The only thing that comes to my mind at the moment is elephant. Or maybe egg?

Moving on up!

We just wanted to say congrats to Uncle Ben. He was promoted to Staff Sergeant yesterday.

Michael was also promoted to Staff Sergeant on August 1st. I would have had pictures, but he was pinned with his new rank early in the morning. The kids and I would have barely been out of bed, let alone at a promotion ceremony that early in the morning!

We're so proud of both of you!

Oh. My. I can't possible choose just one...

Which one is your favorite?