Halloween - I know it's late and I haven't posted in a long time...

Our Purple Halloween Princess!

Here is a close up of Holly with "Farkles" on her face (Sparkles. She has a hard time saying her "s" with another letter and instead uses "f".)

Here's a shot from Halloween. Brad and I did not have costumes planned but Holly explained many times that we needed to have a costume too! So, we threw something together to appease the princess! So, here's the question to you: Is Brad dressed up as a farmer for Halloween or is he just getting really comfortable here in Kentucky!? (You may never really know;)

This years pumpkins

The cat and mouse. Aunt Katie came for the Halloween fun!

OSCAR'S HAIR FINALLY GREW IN!!;) So, I think we all have a picture somewhere with this thing on. It was Oscar's turn. He ended up settling for just being Mickey Mouse without the fro. Too bad, huh?:)

Holly had a Birthday!

So, this is a little late but better late then never right? Well, Holly turned three in August. I can't believe it! She's 39" tall and 34 lbs. If we measured right then I think that puts her in the 80th percentile for height which would be the first time she's dipped below the 90th or off the charts since birth! We had a fun and simple family celebration on her birthday!

Started off the day with a happy face pancake breakfast!

She brought cup cakes to share with her nursery class.

She opened presents.

Played with them.

And blew out her birthday candles (with a little help from daddy across the table) and ate her cake and ice cream.

What's that? An outing?

Brad had the Friday before Labor Day off work and we ventured out to Water Front Park. A free park with playgrounds and water fun right by the river. It was pretty hot and Holly had a blast! A patient who came into Brad's work told him about it. Good find. After that we ventured to down town Louisville to an Italian restaurant where another patient who runs part of the restaurant offered to treat us to whatever we wanted if we would just stop by. So, we did and had a very good steak and cheese pizza. All for only the cost of gas to get there! Not too bad!

One for Oscar

Although the last several posts have been more about Holly we definitely have a little boy on our hands over here too! Oscar started army crawling at about six months and regular crawling at about eight months. He is now almost nine months old and has also been pulling himself up just about anywhere he can get a good grasp and some places where he can't. He is a good sport and enjoys crawling around and learning about the world around him or at least the walls around him (we haven't gotten outside much since it's been so hot!). He is saying "ma ma ma ma" and I have heard him say "da da da" just not as often. He also does "ba ba ba" and a few others. He still only has two teeth on the bottom but I think the top ones will be coming through any day now. As for his stats, well, we don't have health insurance right now and Dr. daddy's check-ups will have to do for now. I'll have to try and measure him and do my best to weigh him at what would have been his nine month check up. Basically, he's a healthy, happy, motivated to move, big boy!(did I mention he's really turning out to be a great eater after all. Eating things from broccoli to spinach and asparagus! That's my boy!)
Here are a few pictures of him:

First time on the swing.

A happy boy!

He likes his blankie or Holly's whichever one is closer at the time (much to Holly's dismay:)

This is what he does to snuggle with his blankie when he gets tired.

Cute after the bath shot!

Fantasia

Isn’t this everyone’s favorite childhood movie? Okay, maybe not. In fact Brad and I both share memories of having seen this movie in fifth or sixth grade on a “special” movie day and being bored out of our minds, wondering just when this very long torture experience would end. Well, we have the VHS that was given to us by my parents when they sold their house. I put it in for her to watch the other day and it’s been all the rave for a couple days now! She doesn’t really like the parts that show “the man” (AKA: the conductor) but she does however like it when the animation starts and dances and reacts to the music. She even jumps when the music has been quiet and then quickly picks up again! It does get a little darker at the end and she doesn’t really like that part. But all in all, she’s been turning down almost any other movie offer but Fantasia for several days now. She wanted to watch it on Sunday after church when we had finished dinner and so she went upstairs and was quiet. I thought it had been a little quieter than normal when I went up there to get her ready for bed a little while later and found her sleeping on the couch! Now, this may seem like no big deal for some kids but it is the first time she has ever fallen asleep like this. She just isn't one to conk out just anywhere. Anyway, it is ironic that it did happen to be while watching this mind thrilling classic!

Names

Holly has a few dolls and has never made any attempt at naming them. It is typically her "princess" dolly or her "other one" dolly. I know, it's so special! I guess there is one doll that has a name but it is one that us parents pinned on her when Holly first got her. Well, today I was sitting with her and she wondered what the names for her two dolls that she gravitates towards the most were. I asked her what their names were and waited to see what she would say. She thought about it a little and picked the name "Gracie" for one of her dolls and "Hoona" for the doll that currently goes by "princess" dolly. We talked about these new names she had created for a little while when she then stated that she didn't want the name "Hoona" right now (I mean what better name can YOU think of than "Hoona"?). She then decided on "Casey" as the replacement name and I think that now means we have two dolls, one by the name of "Gracie" and one by the name of "Casey". We will need to work on the pronunciation with Holly to really know the difference. We’ll see if these names stick! Can you tell the difference between them?:)

Laughing

Oscar laughing at Holly while Holly is getting frustrated that he's not coming into the "house" with her.

Holly her hair and her personailty

Holly my sweet girl! Yesterday I went to the store with only Oscar and left Holly at home with Brad. She cried as she waved to me from the window. When I tucked her in bed that night she said "Mommy, I missed you when you were at the store. I love you so much".

I wrote this in her journal and meant to put it on the blog a few weeks ago when it happened:

"Today as I was helping Holly get her pants on and wash her hands in an effort to get her to bed ( I sometimes feel frustrated during this process) she put her hand under my chin and said something to this effect, “You’re a good mommy, you help me with things like getting me food, putting on my pants, washing my hands, those are good things”. This was definitely an awe moment. She’ll be three in August and her saying this to me in the way she did was quite amazing to me. Thank you Holly. I asked Brad later if he told her to tell me something like this and he hadn’t. A comfort out of the mouths of babes."

She also saw me feeling down one day not long after we moved (a little tired and stressed) and she said "Don't be sad mommy, Jesus wants us to be happy!"

Okay, is there anything cutier than this?

Holly did her hair in this picture. She likes it wet and combed flat and to the side in the front when we do it. Brad combed it back recently instead of to the side and it just wouldn't do!

Okay, so this may not seem like a big deal but we've been trying to get her hair in pigtails since Brad discovered one day several months ago by sucking her hair up with the vacuum hose that is would probably be long enough to put in tiny little pig tails. We tried it on several occasions, carefully putting each hair as much in it's place as possible, taking the time to make it nice just for her to look in the mirror pull it out and say "I don't like pig tails!" We tried bows and bribery not too much worked and out they came just moments after being put in. Well, in the picture below she actually left them in for about 2-3 hours before she decided that she was done with them. She even had asked me to put them in. Also, requesting the blue butterfly clips as well. So, many opinions!

From the top. I made quick work out of it, not expecting it to last very long.

"Big Hair" as she calls it. What little girl doesn't want to brush their hair out. Well, this is what happens when she does. She likes her hair nice and big!

Personality?!? Naaauuughhh! Who would think that? Well, she definitely is expressive and you don't really want to get on her bad side. Lately she has been saying things like "Don't do that again ever! Do you hear me?" (hmmm... have I ever said anything like that before?!) She had also put Brad in time out. He was laying on our bed and she shut the door. I have since hoped that she would put me in time out there. She also told me tonight that I'm not allowed to get out of my bed at night... hmmmm... sounds like a great plan!;)


So, the other day there was a quiet moment and I went to see what Holly could possibly be doing. Well, I found her in our room. She had gotten into my night stand drawer (like she has done many, many times before) and got my chap stick out to use. Well, what was funny this time was the added ear plugs as well. A few days before this she had noticed when she came in my bed that I was wearing ear plugs and had asked about them. Well, now the coolest thing on the block is to quickly and quietly try to snag your moms ear plugs and get them in your ears before she catches you! (you might need to look closely to notice the ear plugs. I was going to get mad but couldn't help but just laugh!)

Time out! Sometimes we have to pay for our crimes! She gets her fair share of these. When she is done I normally ask her why she was in time out to make sure she understands and she explains the offense and says "Sorry, mommy".

Holly loves to help

I've tried to let Holly get involved with every day tasks I have to complete. If she could get good at the spoon feeding I might really have something here! I'm not a huge fan of the time it takes to spoon feed. So, here's another video for your viewing pleasure!

Green Beans!

Oscar tried green beans for the first time a couple of weeks ago. How did he like them? You'll just have to see for yourself!

A Special Day for Daddies!

I have been very blessed to have a great father, father-in-law, and husband and father of my children! Thank you for all the love, service, support, and good influence you have had in my life! So, to all the father's in my life and all others out there like them
I wanted to say thanks and wish you a
Happy Father's Day!

Below are some pictures of Brad being a great dad!

Brad and Oscar at his graduation! He has worked so hard getting through school and we are incredibly proud of him and all his hard work!

Helping Holly with her first real pumpkin carving experience.

Reading to Holly and Oscar

Resting with Oscar.

And... painting Holly's nails for her. I don't know how many daddy's would do that!

Thank you for being the father I hoped my kids would have! We love you!

Kentucky License Plates!

We have gone from this:


To this:


So, it's official! We've surrendered our California plates and now have a Kentucky license plate on our car (ours says the county that we live in at the bottom). You only need to have a plate on the back of your car here so we debated leaving the California plate on the front so we could still feel like we are Californians. We decided we had to let it go and took it off. We had also debated getting a personalized plate that said "408 REP" to remember where we came from. Then we decided we shouldn't spend the extra money for it since we currently have $0 coming in. So, we took the generic plate that they gave us and now when we accidentally cut someone off (the roads take a little getting used to out here. They are narrow and where you think it should be a bike lane it is actually a lane...whoops... we also had to find new Kentucky auto insurance but don't worry we haven't made any claims and don't plan on making any:) we don't have to feel like we are showing people that California drivers are crazy anymore. We even saved money on the exchange. Our California registration was going to be $56 for this next year and we only had to pay $45 to get our plate and registration through the end of 2009 here.

Oh, and we also got our new Kentucky drivers licenses a few weeks ago. The "DMV" or The County Clerks Office (what they call it here) was a completely different experience from what we've experienced in CA. There were only two people there to help us get our new license, we had no appointment and there was no line. They took our new picture and we left with our new licenses in hand. Oh, and they smiled, laughed, and talked about the weather with us too! I had to go back to the car registration area a few times and 3 out of the 4 times I went there was no wait at all! So, that's one thing that is a little different out here!

Bad Blogger!

Okay, so I'm not really good with doing this on a regular basis. Since I started this blog I have started taking more pictures of the kids and thinking of things I could post. Well, I haven't made those thoughts realities yet. My motivation to write my thoughts and share things the kids have done on this blog has gone up and it's gone down. So far the times that I have the motivation are times when I can't really get on the computer and make the posts and the times when I can I've not really felt like it. A few nights ago I was working on a post and feeling really good about the progress I was making. I was waiting for a video to upload and I think it was almost done when the power went out for no apparent reason. Really, there was no storm and it was still outside. So, the reason you are all not up to date on the amazingly exciting day to day life that we live is due to what I have stated above. I'll see what I can do.

A Softer side to Holly...

Holly is really a very sweet little girl. I thought I should make sure to show this in another video. She loves her brother and just today in the car was oooing and gooing at him from her carseat and making him laugh. They were both laughing and having fun together and Holly said "We're just laughing funny together". Oh, notice Holly's version of the song, "Rock a bye baby in the tree Bop!" She rocks her dolls to sleep that way too. At the end of the video she says "Oscar's a baby, he doesn't know". I've had to explain to her that when he doesn't fold his arms to pray or when he grabs a hold of her hair or swings his arm in her face that he's still learning and doesn't know everything yet. She repeats this quite often and asks me "Mommy, Oscar's a baby, he doesn't know?" I hope you enjoy!

Here's our new place!

Here's a front and back view of our new home! I am trying to learn a few things with how best to share our photos so please be patient with me. More photos and videos will come. I hope you enjoy the slide show above.

Holly and her roller coaster of emotions!

This is one of the mood changes Holly experienced today! Just watch it!:)