Having a three year old

The best part of having a 3 yr old is finding stuff like this all over the house.

Dressing "Up!" Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, we all dressed "up." No really.  We all dressed as the characters from the movie "Up".  I worked really hard on our costumes, and I think they turned out pretty good.  Here is Jax as "Russell."

And Ellery as "Kevin"

And JD as "Mr. Fredrickson", and I am the house.

 

We went trick or treating all dressed up together, and although only one person knew who we were, we had a great time.  Jax wasn't very brave about saying trick or treat, or reaching into unknown people's baskets to retrieve candy, but I guess its good to be wary.  He was exhausted after a long night, and didn't even make it back home before he fell asleep.  Poor kid. Check out the lack of shoes, also. Nice.

Ellery happy to just be chillin!

Jax dressed up like a mummy... or a "mommy" as he says it. He hasn't really distinguished the difference between the two, yet.

Here is Ellie and I having a good time trick or treating.  We look like a circus!

Jax was not thrilled about touching pumpkin guts.

Danielle, this picture is for you.  At least I didn't take a picture of the teeth after they got their points shaved off! :)

Sandy

I always get worried when it comes to things I can't control, so when we have something like a hurricane, it pretty much freaks me out.  I prepared as much as I could... freezing milk to use as ice packs, making meals ahead of time to save on times opening the fridge if the power went out, keeping lots of candles and water and flashlights on hand, and making sure my house, and all my clothes and dishes were clean and put away.  Then we just sat and waited. JD had two days off of school due to Hurricane Sandy, so he thought it was a vacation.  We watched the storm blow, and the rain came down.  It took a good two days for the whole storm to come and go, and miraculously, we didn't even lose power.  We were so blessed to have little to no damage in our area, and to be able to have our power and water stay on the whole time.  We walked to a friend's apartment the next day, and saw some of the minor damage that happened in our complex.  Pictures below.  We feel so blessed to have escaped the ill-effects of this storm, but our hearts and prayers go out to all those around us who are still without power, and who have lost homes and family members because of Hurricane Sandy.

Fall Time

Fall in Philly is so incredible.  The amount of leaves here is ridiculous.  Really.  We wanted to go get in a nice family night in the leaves before Hurricane Sandy arrived, so one night we hurried off to the park after JD got home.  We played for a few hours in the leaves, and had a blast.  The weather was perfect, and even Ellery got to join in the fun once she woke up!  I seriously love hanging out with my three favorite people.  Best thing in the world.

 You better know where this dandelion went 1 second after this picture was taken.  Yuck!

We topped the night off with a trip to Rita's before the close down for the season.  We ate treats courtesy of Jax's birthday treat money from Granny and Grampa.  (Don't worry, it was meant for all of us!)  Jax picked out cotton candy water-ice and Boooooy did it taste like Cotton Candy.  It was crazy.  Tastes EXACTLY the same!  Yummy, though!  Ellery was wishing she was allowed to eat straight sugar.  Ha!

Freddy Hills Farm

Every year for a playgroup activity, all the moms and kids venture out to Freddy Hills Farm.  We take a hay-ride, pick out a pumpkin, go through the corn maze and slide, and eat ice cream.  We had so much fun, even though I had my hands quite full with all the kids, pumpkins, bags, cameras, jackets, etc.  I love fall in Philly! It is so magical!

Linvilla Orchards

Last year Jax and I tagged along with some friends to this orchard.  This year I wanted Jax and Ellie to see it, so we all ventured out there one Saturday.  Well, it was soooooooo much busier this year when we went.  It was way packed.  A mile away from the orchard, it was bumper to bumper traffic just to get in and find a parking space, and it took us about a half hour to travel that last mile.  But we did have fun despite all the crowds.  The best part was that Jax got to pick an apple from the orchard.  He seriously picked out the biggest apple I've ever seen.  It was enough for all three of us to eat!  JD and I had a few bites of it, but Jax pretty much ate the whole thing by himself.  He was finishing up eating it in the car on the way home, and said "Mom, I'm done."  He handed up his apple core, and he had eaten every single sliver of edible apple off that core.  He loved it!  Check out the picture of the apple remains below.  

 Um, all I can say is that Jax has the best faces.  Ever.  This kid cracks us up every day!

Growing like a weed.. 5 months!

I think staying home with my kids is the greatest blessing, and I love spending every minute with them, but I hate how fast they are growing up!  I just had this little girl it seems like, and she is already so big!  She is all giggles and smiles, all the time.  She seriously only cries when she is tired or hungry.  All the rest of the time she is happy to just lay on a blanket or in her bouncer and chill, watching what Jax and I are doing.  We love to play with her and make her smile. Her favorite things are being lifted up high in the air, playing with mom, dad, and Jax, chubby cheek kisses, morning time, being tickled, and she also loves playing with toys.  She absolutely hates binkies, but loves to suck on anything that's not a binkie.  Her fingers and moms fingers are her favorite, though. She is such a sweet, good baby.  We are so blessed to have her in our family.