New Blog - Lueker Munchkin"s"

Apparently you can run out of room on blogs. Who knew??? Anyhoo... halfway through putting together our Disney pictures I was informed I had run out of space. Argh! Rather than pay for additional space we're moving on to luekermunchkins.blogspot.com . Please note the "s" on the end of munchkin other than that the address is the same. You can also just follow the link on the side of this page (Lueker Munchkins Blog - Part 2). This title seems more appropriate anyway since we do have two munchkins now instead of just one. :) Hope you all will note the new address and follow us there to see all our fun Disney pictures which are now posted and ready for viewing!

Grandma LaBar: 1910-2009

My Grandma LaBar passed away this morning, Monday, October 26, at 12:30 AM at the age of 99 1/2 years old. We were planning a big celebration for her 100th birthday next summer and I'm so sorry she'll miss it because nearly all the family was planning on attending. She would have loved seeing everyone and being the center of attention for such an event. I wouldn't have been surprised if Grandma had lived to be 105 so even though 99 is definitely a full life I still find myself surprised that she is gone so quickly and somewhat unexpectedly. A year ago she was still living in her own home! She was an amazing woman who believed deeply in the Lord. She will be missed by many friends and especially her 4 sons, 10 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of her with our family (mostly my girls) over the last four years. We love you Great Grandma!

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Last May the girls and I spent several days with Pop-A-Lops visiting Great Grandma in Michigan. One day while we were out to lunch I snapped this picture while Grandma was reaching into Kennedy's car seat to hold her hand. I thought it was a beautiful picture when I took it but looking at it tonight it seems bittersweet as it shows the passage of time.

Reagan giving Great Grandma a hug
Reagan discovered she enjoyed pushing Great Grandma in her wheelchair where ever she needed to go. In this picture we were headed back to Great Grandma's room after visiting in the common area.
I think this picture is so sweet because it looks like Grandma and Kennedy are having a great conversation and throughly enjoying each others company.

Great Grandma and Kennedy enjoying some beautiful outdoor weather, Kennedy was actually fascinated with the arms of Grandma's wheelchair, mostly the part she could see her reflection in much like a mirror.

Because Grandma enjoys chocolate so much we always sent her some special Godiva chocolate for holidays, birthdays etc. While we were visiting in May Reagan gave Grandma this box of chocolate the morning we were getting ready to leave and very much wanted Great Grandma to go ahead and enjoy a piece. While Great Grandma did love chocolate she had a strict rule of only eating one piece per day (even though many of us assurred her at her age it was probably okay to eat as much as she wanted). Grandma would never have dreamed of eating that one piece before breakfast. It was quite funny watching a very stubborn 2 year old trying to convince her 99 year old great grandmother who was sweet but just as stubborn that it was okay to eat the chocolate. Finally Great Grandma partially gave in and pretended to eat the chocolate. lol :)

Last Christmas we visited Michigan so Grandma could meet Kennedy who was just barely over a month old at the time. Here is our first four generation picture with Kennedy. Great Grandma and Kennedy hit it right off and knew just how to make each other smile! :)

Over Labor Day 2008 we had a "LaBar" Day weekend with the intent of getting all the LaBar great grandchildren together for Great Grandma to see. While in Michigan I took this picture of Grandma with one of her rugs she had recently completed. Grandma made many beautiful braided rugs over the years and also taught numerous classes on her method of making braided rugs.

During our "LaBar" day weekend we took the opportunity to capture the great grandchildren's handprints along with coloring for Great Grandma to enjoy after we had left.

Grandma loved a good game of Scrabble and she and Tim played every time he visited. More than once she told me "Tim is a killer Scrabble player. He plays for blood." That cracked me up because she normally didn't talk that way and it was so funny to hear her say that about Tim. There's no doubt she took her Scrabble playing seriously! Last week she told me she'd still like to play another game of Scrabble with Tim.

Uncle Martin is the oldest of Grandma's 4 boys and Riley is the oldest Great Grandchild. Stacy is Uncle Martin's oldest daughter and Rory and Riley are her sons. At the time this picture was taken Riley was the youngest great grandchild.

This 4 generation LaBar picture times 2 was taken during our visit to Michigan in January 2008. My Dad is the youngest son and my Uncle David is the second oldest. My Uncle David's son, Darin, has a son, Brendan, who is just a month younger than Reagan.

This picture was taken in July 2007 and is the first time Great Grandma met Reagan. You can see even at the age of 97 she felt completely at ease holding and giving Reagan a bottle. :)

This is a picture of my cousin, Amber, with Grandma when our family came together to celebrate her 95th birthday in Michigan over the July 4th holiday weekend in 2005.

A LaBar family picture during the 95th birthday celebration weekend

We love and respect you so much Grandma! We will all miss you very much!!! :) XOXOX

Unexpected Michigan Trip

Last week my Grandma LaBar became very ill and the girls and I made an unexpected trip to Michigan. At the age of 99 1/2 Grandma passed away this morning. I am so glad we live close enough that we were able to visit her one more time. While the occasion wasn't a happy one we did enjoy visiting with all our family who also came to visit Grandma one last time.

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Great Aunt Faye reading Kennedy the book Love and Kisses (and giving one or two kisses too :)

Reagan had a great time with the "other" Pop-A-Lops again this past week. Here they are enjoying a luggage cart.
Kennedy decided she wanted to get in on the action too

Grammy, Great Aunt Joan, Amber and Great Aunt Faye after pizza Friday night

Kennedy directing Great Uncle David where she wants to go next

Back at Christmas we were able to meet Great Uncle George and Aunt Joan's puppies Rascal and Rosie. Reagan absolutely loved them! She talked about them for months afterward. Uncle George and Aunt Joan brought Rascal and Rosie with them again all the way from Montana and on Saturday they invited us to go visit them at the kennel where they were staying. Needless to say Reagan still loves those puppies! More than once we heard"Rosie, I love you so much!!!"

Rosie and Rascal were extremely excited to see Uncle George

My cousin Amber came in from Pennsylvania Thursday evening and decided to come visit the puppies with us Saturday morning too.

Kennedy getting some puppy kisses!

What happened to Kennedy? She's getting some good puppy love!

More kisses!

Uncle Martin, Aunt Faye and Kennedy

Stacy and Riley flew in from California on Saturday. We were able to see them briefly Saturday evening and were able to enjoy some good quality play time with them Sunday morning.

Reagan loved Amber during our visit. She was very concerned she wasn't going to get to see Amber before we left Sunday morning and was extremely excited to find her in Stacy and Riley's hotel room. :)

Stacy & Riley and Aunt Faye & Kennedy enjoying a good book

Reagan and Riley looking for a good place to run and play with Mimi (aka Aunt Faye and the "other" Grammy)

When we got to the courtyard someone had a couple of remote control cars they were playing with. Reagan and Riley had a great time together watching and chasing them.

I don't think they were actually holding hands here but I thought it looked so sweet I couldn't help but include this picture in this post! :)

It was hard work to get this picture and wouldn't have happened without the hard work of both Stacy and Amber!

Stacy and Riley brought Reagan and Kennedy a goody bag of lots of fun treats and activities. An instant hit of course were the stickers which Reagan put all over her arm. On our ride home on Sunday, however, Reagan discovered her leg is also a great way to display her stickers. I knew Aunt Faye and Stacy would enjoy this so I had to take a picture to share with them.

Reagan wanted some more stickers after she finished off the first sheet. She started pulling the first ones off her leg to make room for the new ones and I suggested she could just use her other leg. This isn't quite what I meant but I guess she interperted my suggestion as stacking up all the stickers and then placing them on her other leg. Whatever makes her happy! Thanks again to Stacy and Riley for all the goodies!

I am working to put together a post on Grandma LaBar. We loved her lots and she will be missed!

Holden

While we were gone on our cruise Holden Joshua LaBar was born. We couldn't believe he waited until after we left to make his debut but we are so excited for Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Dan and Heidi! Since we were a bit sick when we returned, we weren't able to plan a visit with Holden until Tuesday, October 20. Before we were able to visit then, however, Great Grandma LaBar became ill and we made a week long trip to Michigan. So I can hardly believe it, but we weren't able to meet Holden until his 2nd week birthday! I trust we will get to spend lots of good quality time with him in the future, however, to make up for these first two weeks... :) He is such a sweet baby! We're sure looking forward to watching Holden grow up! :)

Sweet little honey bear all bundled up and ready for a walk!
Kennedy was more interested in Holden than either Reagan or Heidi this morning. Maybe she already realizes this is her designated playmate. :)

Everybody ready to take advantage of some beautiful outdoor walking weather!

Watch Me Grow - Kennedy - 11 Mon

11 Mon - Oct 2009

10 Mon - Sep 2009
1 Week - Nov 2008

How is it possible that I am posting my baby's 11 month watch me grow post already? This year has just flown by and Kennedy is simply a delightful baby, we love her sooo much!!!
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Kennedy has continued to be a super busy baby. She can go up and down stairs now and thinks she is pretty hot stuff when she does it. :) She continues to work on walking. She'll take a few steps but then generally decides it's much faster to do her power crawl. Yesterday I saw her take about 10 steps but that is by far the most I've ever seen her do.
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She is a wild and crazy baby!!! While staying at the hotel this past week during our visit to Michigan due to Great Grandma LaBar's illness we had lots of opportunity to play in the hotel pool. Missy K. is a total dare devil! She would stand on the steps leading into the pool and literally jump at me. She was also intuitively trying to figure out how to kick her legs and paddle her arms while I was holding her. She is one on the go, wild and crazy baby!!!

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Kennedy has been working on picking up a few more words this month, actually just in the last week or two it seems. One particular funny word, or not depending on how you look at it, is one Reagan taught her during our cruise. Reagan was grabbing toys shouting "Mine, mine, mine!" when Kennedy started shouting "Mine, mine, mine!!!" right back at her. So even if that isn't one of the first words I would probably choose to teach Kennedy, the two of them went back and forth for a while and it was pretty funny. lol :) I imagine that will become less funny as time goes on... :) She's also saying "yum, yum, yum" and everyone now and then we hear a "da, da, da" or what sounds like "kitty."

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Her sleeping pattern is holding steady with getting up 2-3 times per night. It's better than the 5-6 times she was doing for a while there especially since Tim gets up with her once and can typically get her back down pretty easily.

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Kennedy had her first major vacation this month on our Disney cruise and loved it! She had a fantastic time with all the characters as you'll see in many pictures yet to come. She has such an outgoing personality and nearly everyone was amazed at how a baby her age would approach the characters instead of being afraid of them. She loved them to the point of struggling/fighting to get down and get to them and away from us everytime she saw one!

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Kennedy is such a sweet and loving baby. One of her favorite things is family hugs (where a group of us hug). When we pull apart she will often pull us back together or fall back towards whoever isn't holding her for another family hug. It is so sweet!!!

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Missy K. also has a great sense of humor. She thinks she's quite the comedian and cracks herself up all the time. It frequently seems like she's telling us or herself a joke. She does manage to keep us laughing a good part of the day. lol :)

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Even when she's not trying to be funny she has such a strong personality she manages to keep us laughing. Kennedy *HATES* to have her diaper and clothes changed. She puts up such a fight; twisting, turning, kicking and screaming. While at the hotel this week one day she saw me coming with her clothes and she sped (literally flew) around the corner of the bed to get away from me. As if that wasn't funny enough she actually crawled under a chair and wouldn't come out for me to dress her. What a little nut!

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Missy K. We sure love you lots and all your antics too! :)

Orlando Visit w/the Martin LaBar Family

On our way to Port Canaveral we made an overnight stop on October 9, in Orlando to visit Uncle Martin, Aunt Faye, Rich, Stacy, Rory and Riley who were vacationing in the area. It was especially nice to spend some time with them the morning of October 10 because it was Rory's 5th birthday. We had a great time and were extremely appreciative that they made time to see us!

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This was the first time Kennedy had met Great Aunt Faye and Uncle Martin. Kennedy was fascinated with Aunt Faye's pretty necklace.

Riley (1 1/2 yr), Kennedy (10 mon), Rory (5 yr) and Reagan (2 1/2 yr) checking out the hotel pool together

Reagan and Riley playing hide and seek together

Rory and Reagan playing hide and seek

Run, run, run!

More running!

One happy boy!!!

We decided to try a slightly quieter activity :) Riley was so sweet and intense while coloring.

Riley also worked very hard on making sure he replaced the caps on his markers.

Rory took his coloring very seriously and did an excellent job!

Mimi & Rory and Mommy & Riley coloring together

Stacy reading to Kennedy and Riley

We decided to take the wild and crazies outside for a bit while lunch was being setup. There was a nice grassy area next to the hotel with lots of lizards for the kids to watch and find.

At one point Rory exclaimed "these lizards are big enough that my Daddy can certainly catch one!"

Mimi pinning a birthday badge on her birthday boy

Kennedy enjoying Great Uncle Martin (otherwise known as "the other" Pop-A-Lops according to Reagan) Even though they were nearly 2500 miles away from home Rich and Stacy produced this birthday spread complete with birthday cake and favors for Rory's 5th birthday. Needless to say, we were impressed as well as appreciative of being included in the festivities. Happy Birthday Rory!!! :)

Riley was ready for some cake and couldn't figure out what the rest of us slow pokes were waiting for. He finally decided he would get some himself if no one was going to help him! :)

What a cute 5 year old boy!

Even all the way in Orlando Aunt Faye and Stacy had party favors for the kids. Kennedy received this book and loved it! She and Pop-a-Lops enjoyed it many times throughout our vacation.

I was so impressed with the way Rory was able to count the money he received ($5 & $1 bills as well as coins - I'm also impressed with the U-tube video Uncle Martin posted of him reading)

While after blowing out his candle Rory promptly moved on to presents. Riley, however, was not so easily distracted! Very happy to finally receive some birthday cake!

There's more than one way to eat a piece of cake...

Thanks again for making time and including us on all the fun!

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On a slightly different note, I'm working hard on sorting through all our cruise pictures. Dad and I took over 1800 pictures as well as assorted video. I think I have the pictures narrowed down to just under 200 and divded into 13 categories so I'm getting there! I've also nearly decided on the video clips I plan to use. All that said, I will hopefully have everything organized and posted by the end or the beginning of next week. In the meantime, let me just say we had an absolutely amazing time! It was the best vacation I have ever taken and the girls had a ball! We love Disney!!!

Mickey Mouse Here We Come!

Packed up and ready to go! Now all we need is a Daddy!!! :)

Sweet girls snuggling with blankets in front of the door. Maybe this means we'll get good naps in the car?!?!?

Tim should be headed out shortly so I'm logging off for now but we sure are excited about the trip! This morning when Reagan woke up I was super excited and I asked "Reagan, do you know what today is?!?!?!?" She got super excited, had a huge grin on her face and exclaimed "No!" lol :) I was sure from her expression she was going to tell me what today was but this was much funnier. lol :) Have a great week everyone, I know we will!!! :)

Wisconsin - July 2009

Back in July (yes, July...) we took a trip with Grammy and Pa to Wisconsin to see the Carlson family. We had a wonderful time with everyone and especially at the belated 4th of July party Uncle Scott and Aunt Arla had and Aunt Pat and Uncle Randy's 30th anniversary celebration. Sorry these pictures aren't chronological (partially because I can't remember the order anymore and partially because I'm using pictures from at least 3 different cameras) or timely. I think this is going to be my last catching up post. If anyone has been waiting to see pictures of something, please let me know, otherwise I'm calling it quits and starting fresh after our Disney cruise! I know I should have been better this summer but somehow moving and living in two places puts a person behind... :) Anyhoo... we had a great time in Wisconsin with everyone and especially enjoyed seeing all the little cousins!

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This is probably my favorite picture to date of me with the girls. Thanks to Aunt Arla who took it for us!

Here are the 3 Carlson babies with their mommies. Julie & Amber (9 mon), Jodi & Sophia (7 1/2 mon) and Anna & Reagan (7 1/2 mon)

Aunt Arla giving Reagan a ride (even though she should have been taking it easy after her surgery!!!)

Reagan having fun with Aunt Arla
Kennedy having fun with Aunt Dee

Giving Great Grandma some good loving!

Sweet cousin hugs

Jared and Lydia

Grammy, Kennedy and Great Grandma enjoying a yummy lunch together

Aunt Carla, Aunt Pat and Grammy

Getting a ride from Uncle Scott

Aunt Pat had all sorts of fun outdoor activities planned for the kids but it was a bit chilly that day. Reagan thought it was fine weather, however, and decided she needed to play in the pool. Luckily Jared was willing to humor her and some other kids came and jumped in too after a bit.

Lydia helping Kennedy enjoy walking barefoot in the grass

Happy 30th Anniversary Uncle Randy and Aunt Pat! We hope you have at least another 30 happy years ahead of you! :)

Reagan enjoying corn on the cob at Aunt Arla's house

Delilah and Reagan giving kisses

and now lucky(?) Uncle Scott is getting kisses...

Aunt Arla convinced Uncle Scott that Reagan needed a motorcycle ride

So sweet!

Uncle Phil and Kennedy being sweet too!

One day we enjoyed a picnic of KFC with Great Grandma at the park followed by a drive through the zoo

Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott had a great party including red, white and blue suckers which Reagan and Lydia are enjoying together here

I love this picture of Jonathan and Grandma

Reagan got a little dirty in the sandbox

Mommy and Kennedy enjoying the party

My favorite fireworks picture that Pa took

After the fireworks Reagan and Kolton (4) enjoyed playing with the hool-a-hoop (splg?) together

Wiped out Great Grandma and Reagan waiting for everyone to finish cleaning up so they can go home and go to bed!

One last picture of Great Grandma and Kennedy before we hit the road

A Banner Day!

Last Thursday Reagan and Kennedy had a very treat filled afternoon. Because Daddy had been working super late due to the government fiscal year end he decided to surprise us by leaving early October 1st when it wasn't busy anymore and bring home treats. He brought roses for Mommy and ice cream with an assortment of toppings for Reagan and Kennedy. Then three packages arrived for the girls. One from Aunt Arla, one from Uncle Scott (ha, ha, ha - Aunt Arla is so funny lol) and one from Grandma and Grandpa. All the candy, stickers, books, clothes and ice cream made for a fun filled afternoon!

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Daddy and his girls making their ice cream selections

Reagan applying her chocolate syrup

Reagan being very careful with her sprinklesKennedy selecting her syrup of choice

Kennedy's ice cream treat made her very happy! lol :)

Reagan's face after trying the caramel syrup, she really liked it!

The next couple pictures are after she tried the strawberry syrup. She really, really, really approved of that! :)

Reagan not being quite as careful and a bit more liberal with the sprinkles :)

Reagan with her stack of packages

Very excited about her Tinkerbell sticker and coloring book (this will definitely be coming with us on our trip!)

While Reagan opened the packages Kennedy stood by the staircase and giggled and giggled. Heaven (and I guess Kennedy) only know what was so funny. lol :)

I'm not sure who sent the dipsticks (the packages kind of got mixed together upon opening them) but they were a hit! Reagan was such a nice big sister and shared as well as helped Kennedy enjoy the sugar fest!

Wait, wasn't that dip for me too?

Sometimes the coordination between a 2 year old and a 10 month old is a bit off...

Whew! Finally made it! :)

I love dipsticks!

Wait, maybe I am a dipstick!

See my green tongue!

See my green tongue too???

Thanks for all the goodies everyone!

Pizza Thief

One night last week when Tim was working late we had pizza while watching a movie downstairs. I have started giving Kennedy small pieces of pizza but she apparently decided that wasn't good enough and when Reagan wasn't watching Kennedy climbed up on Reagan's mini ottoman (from Grammy) and swiped Reagan's pizza!

Yep, guilty as charged and I'm pretty darn proud of myself too! :)

Boyd's Orchard

Today we went to Boyd's Orchard for some Fall fun with Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy and Heidi. As you'll see from this blog I throughly enjoyed my new camera. After deleting a number of pictures from my camera I was shocked to discover I downloaded 235 pictures from today!!! Yikes!!!Some good lessons for our upcoming Disney trip were learned today... In anycase, we had an absolutely wonderful time and I can't wait to go back again next year and take many more pictures of our cute munchkins! :)

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My favorite picture of the day! I was so lucky to be in the right position when Kennedy came crawling between some pumpkins for a quick game of peek-a-boo. I love this picture!

Just like last year Reagan loved, hugged and kissed the pumpkins. She definitely takes after me in her love for pumpkins and fall!

Reagan also enjoyed running through the pumpkins

Heidi and Reagan enjoyed following each other too

Heidi deep in thought about whether she has found the perfect pumpkin...

Kennedy checking out the pumpkins

While the big girls ran through the pumpkin patch, Kennedy had a great time crawling through it :)

I asked Tim for assistance in getting Kennedy to smile. Not sure if I'll do that again... As you can probably guess he stuck his tongue out at her which she obviously imitated. When I told him I wanted a nice picture he said he wanted a silly one and besides I could snap a picture of her smiling between the sticking out her tongue pictures. Regardless of how sound he thought his logic was this is all I got. On the other hand I guess he got his way since I would have to say this is a silly picture...

I had hoped to get a cute picture of the girls together in the pumpkins. I have no idea what they're doing, but I guess I could be thankful that they at least both have the same goofy expression on their faces? That and they're both stationary, looking towards the camera, and actually in the picture. lol :)

Reagan is "saving" Kennedy from Daddy here who I said was going to come and get her. I didn't realize that would send Reagan running to rescue Kennedy but I thought the resulting picture was pretty cute and what a sweet big sister!

A picture of the three girls together in the pumpkin patch?

hope you snapped/looked fast because there they go...

Reagan showing Daddy and Kennedy some gourds

After checking out the pumpkins we headed on to the play area which included slides, playground equipment, a band, hayrides, animals and I can't remember what all. Here are Reagan and Heidi heading off together to see what they can discover.

Kennedy enjoying the pirate ship

Without a seconds hesitation Reagan ran right up to try this slide out on her own. She loved it and went down it numerous times!

Away she goes!

She hopped right back up and flew up the haystack to slide down again. Actually, for some reason (from sheer excitement???) she intially tried to climb back up the slide. I don't know why she would do that because we always tell her she has to climb up the ladder and slide down the slide. In anycase, she was confused and it took us a couple of minutes to get her to understand she needed to use the haystacks again (especially since the slide was greased and she wasn't having much success going up it anyway. lol :) After we moved on to the next activity, Reagan suddenly stopped what she was doing and ran/climbed half way back up the haybales to tell the adult assisting the kids get on the burlap sacks "I had a great time my friend."

Heidi decided to check out the slide too (Reagan actually lapped her in her enthusiasm - sorry for cutting, Heidi, and thanks for being such a good and understanding friend!)

While the slide was greased, it went kind of slow and near the bottom virtually stopped. Heidi was so cute because when she was close to the bottom she looked up and said "Mommy, I'm stuck!"

They had tubes set up on hay bales that kids could climb through and slide down. As you can see from the smile on her face this was right up Kennedy's alley!

After crawling back and forth and playing peek-a-boo in the tubes Kennedy discovered the tube slides. After looking at this series of pictures I'm sure you won't be in any doubt as to what Kennedy's favorite activity for the day was!

Ready,

set,

Go, go, go!!!

Giggling all the way! lol :)

I don't think she would have ever gotten tired of the slide but unfortunately for her Mommy and Daddy did... I sure love that smile though!!! :)

Heidi absolutely loved dancing in front of the band they had at Boyd's Orchard today. Reagan joined her on and off but Heidi is a truly dedicated performer and audience member! The band even learned Heidi's name. lol :) Here Dan and Heidi are leading the Hokie Pokie. Near the end of this song the leader of the band actually said "Go, Heidi, go!" She was too funny! lol :)

Daddy and his girls listening to the music

Mommy and Kennedy getting ready for the hayride

In the middle of the hayride you could get out and enjoy a pretty elaborate cornmaze. Here are the girls intensely checking out something (???) together in the cornmaze

Kennedy decided she'd like to join the fun too!

This is great!!! :)

I took a ton of these pictures of both Daddies and their girls but this is the only one I thought turned out well. I think I got super lucky with this one in that I just happenned to snap it when they were crossing a path and the light hit them so nicely!

Reagan enjoying and loving her Daddy!

Aunt Dorothy and Heidi back on the hayride after the cornmaze

Kennedy throughly enjoying her first hayride experience

Cousins having fun, fun, fun!

Those eyes simply twinkle!

Our last activity of the day was to visit the animals. While they had a number of barnyard pets the favorites were the goats which you could feed.

Kennedy decided she wanted to check out the goats with the big girls too

Daddy thought Mommy was nuts for letting Kennedy down on the ground to check out the goats with the big girls. After she tried to pick up some food off the ground Daddy told her "no" and scooped her up. Kennedy understands the meaning of the word no and has started to show a real temper when we tell her no. You can see from this picture that Kennedy was voicing her disapproval of Daddy... lol :)

Sweet smile while feeding the goats

Back on the ground and discussing her over all goat experience with Reagan

Reagan had a fantastic time at Boyd's Orchard today. When we were asking her to select a pumpkin so we could go home she kept dramatically saying "No way! I'm not going home!"

Daddy (being a super awesome husband) standing in the crazy line waiting to purchase all Mommy's pumpkins while being "helped" by our little "pumpkin." :)

On a side note, Dorothy and I purchased these matching outfits for the girls when we went shopping together Friday morning. We thought they were pretty cute but I can't tell you how many people commented on them! We must have had at least half a dozen mothers ask us where we purchased them. I don't know if it was the outfits or the adorable girls in them, but we had to agree our girls were pretty darn cute! :)

The Preamble

When Aunt Julie and Uncle Chuck visited us two years ago in DC we took them to Philly and New York for some site seeing. While visiting the Liberty Bell I found a great book called "We the Kids." It's a book with colorful illustrations of the Preamble of the Constitution. It also explains all the lines of the Preamble in simpler words at the beginning of the book. Whether Reagan loved the colors of the pictures or she's just a little history buff in the making she has always enjoyed reading this book. Labor Day weekend Reagan began randomly reciting the Preamble. We had no idea she had memorized it! This weekend using Grammy's camera we were able to catch it and the Lord's Prayer (see below) on film. I sure love to hear those big words from both the Lord's Prayer and the Preamble with her sweet voice. It is so precious. lol :)

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Sorry the videos are sideways. I know that's kind of annoying to watch, but since I'm not use to taping things on Grammy's camera I didn't realize I had done it incorrectly until it was on here. Like most little kids Reagan isn't real keen on performing so I didn't think I should press my luck and try to get her to do it again. As it is, the only reason I could get her to recite them for the camera this morning was by suggesting Ariel and Prince Eric (gifts from Grammy from our shopping trip yesterday) hadn't heard them yet. lol :)

On the history buff note I have to tell a Reagan story that cracked me up this week. She has a set of President books that she loves. I would think they would be way over a two year old's head but she loves them! She also likes finding pictures of the presidents on the internet. If she sees me on the computer, she nearly always comes up and asks if she can see a picture of George Washington. Then she requests to see pictures of Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Obama. Those are sometimes followed by FDR, Theodore Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson. That's about as many as she knows though. Anyway, she was looking at the book we have on Reagan the other night when she asked me "Is this a picture of Nancy?" It really cracked me up. As it turned out it was a picture of Jane Wyman (Reagan's first wife) so we worked on finding all the pictures of Nancy in the book. It's amazing what little kids pick up. While we have read the book and it does discuss Nancy Reagan I was still amazed that she paid enough attention to realize that a woman standing next to Ronald Reagan should logically be Nancy. So cute and so funny! lol :)

The Lord's Prayer

We always pray before nap and bedtime with Reagan (meals too of course). About 6-8 weeks ago I decided to start saying the Lord's Prayer when Reagan went down for her nap instead of our regular bedtime prayer. Reagan surprised us over Labor Day by reciting the Lord's Prayer from memory. She really has an amazing memory! At that point we had only been saying the Lord's Prayer once a day for a couple of weeks. I'd never asked her to repeat it and neiter Tim nor I had any idea she had memorized it. Sorry I taped this one vertically too without realizing what I was doing!

Labor Day Weekend

Doing my darndest to catch up here! Figured I better get these pics posted from Labor Day before Grammy and Pa visit again this weekend. I still need to get pictures from Wisconsin and Illinois posted from this summer but I'm going to do my level best to be caught up before we leave on our cruise in two weeks. Wish me luck!!! :)

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Pa came up on Saturday of Labor Day weekend to visit and help me select my new camera. On Sunday morning we had sticky buns and Reagan decided she wanted to dunk hers in coffee just like Pa.

After Daddy and Pa finished putting together our nightstands the girls enjoyed playing in the boxes. Actually we still have these two enormous boxes upstairs. While the girls do have fun in them I'm kind of ready for them to go. But how do you remove boxes this size without Reagan noticing??? lol :) Anyhoo... here the girls are reading books and having fun with Pa in their new boxes.

Grammy came from Wisconsin where she had spent the week with Great Grandma Sunday night. Aunt Pat sent a bunch of veggies with her as well as some delicious raspberry jam. Here are Kennedy and Reagan enjoying some fresh corn from Aunt Pat's garden.

Aunt Arla sent a firepit back with Grammy for us so we decided to try it out by making brats and smores Grammy brought the fixings for. Yummy! This was also Reagan's first attempt at roasting marshmellows. While she enjoyed the experience her marshmellows ended up in the ash enough that she opted for eating the marshmellows Grammy fixed instead. :)

Helping Pa dig holes for our new flowers

Playing in the neighbor's sprinklers

Kennedy enjoying the beautiful weather and new flowers

Reagan helping Grammy water the newly planted mums

Reagan watering herself - I belive she was actually have a discussion on how it would help her to grow too :)

Ready to dig some more holes!

Reagan enjoys rolling down the small hill in front of our house

My cute 2 year old girl

Climbing in the wagon from Grandma and Grandpa

Mendelssohn getting some good love

Reagan helping Pa again

Kennedy checking out the new mulch

Thanks to Grammy for bringing us the cute overalls from Wisconsinn (Reagan had been wanting some and I hadn't found any her size). Thanks to Aunt Pat for all the awesome veggies that we're just now finishing up. Thanks to Aunt Arla for the great fire pit (can't wait to use it with you at Thanksgiving!) Thanks to Pa for helping with our furniture and helping me select a new camera. And a super super big thanks to Grammy and Pa for helping us get so many flowers planted and flower gardens mulched!

Duck Costume

Let me first say, I love this duck or chicken or whatever it is costume! I think it has got to be the cutest Halloween costume ever made! :) I've been trying to decide what the girls should be this year (especially because there are some contests on the cruise we're going on) and so I decided to try Reagan's costume from last year on her. As you may recall she loved wearing this costume last year. She loved it this year too. As a matter of fact she kept wearing it all day! So cute and so funny! lol :)
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Nap time

Dinner time (note her interesting way to eat a hamburger - bun in one hand and burger in the other)

Even though it still fit Reagan I was curious to see if it would fit Kennedy. While it was a little big it fit pretty well and I don't know which of my girls is cuter in this costume. What can I say? It just makes me smile and I love it!!! :)

Playdough

Last week Reagan and I made playdough together. We threw all ours away when we moved and I kept forgetting to make any new playdough. Every time we visit Heidi's house Reagan loves her playdough so I knew it was time to make some for our house again. Since Reagan was so awesome about helping with Tim's birthday cake I decided to let her help make the playdough for the first time too. She did an excellent job and helped with everything except for the stove (that still makes me nervous). Even though she had been talking about orange playdough at the last minute she decided on green. Of course as soon as we had the green food coloring in she decided she wanted blue... lol :) Luckily she wasn't too upset and has been very happy to have her green playdough to play with over the course of the last week.

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Measuring flower using the fun Mickey Mouse measuring cups Aunt Marta gave Reagan for Christmas

Measuring the salt

Mixing with the matching Mickey Mouse spatula
Adding the food coloring

Mixing up the green playdough before heating it on the stove

Ready to play!

Using her new number cookie cutters from Aunt Arla

I didn't really expect Kennedy to "play" with the playdough but I thought she would have fun feeling the texture of it and squishing it. Boy was I wrong! I think it confused her that I had given her something in her highchair that I didn't want her to eat. As for feeling the texture, it just made her mad!

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Do you people see what a poor, unfortunate baby I am?

Alright, maybe life isn't so bad...

Maybe this playdough stuff is mildly interesting

Nope, I hate it! What are you people doing to me???? Get me out of here!

Resigned to my fate and my mother who wants me to experience new things. What a life...

Thanks to Grammy for looking up her playdough recipe for us. :)