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.