Mrs. Gumshoe: Catch Up

It's been awhile. I've wanted to write...thought about writing...thought about taking pictures...but we've been busy. Busy adjusting, growing, celebrating a special 3 year old birthday, trick or treating, potty training, breastfeeding, working late, giving thanks, Christmas decorating, etc, etc.

However, I've been feeling a huge need to start documenting again, so here's a big catch-up post!

The arrival of fall meant picking out the perfect pumpkin...

To go with our beautifully decorated front porch...

Can you sense the sarcasm? Those are weeds surrounding the pumpkins, people! At least the dead flowers from the summer made it out of the pot. That's the effect a newborn has on your urge to decorate.

But she is no longer a newborn. Anna is about 4 months old now and growing, growing, growing!! Seriously. Could she get any cuter? I mean, even the blurry and grainy phone pics are cute!

She's already in 6 month clothes :( Sadface. We have been blessed with another good sleeper. She started sleeping about 8pm to 6am at around 10 weeks and she's holding strong! Stinker WILL NOT take a bottle, so until we can figure that out, she is attached to mommy. Literally! But, I'm taking it all in and enjoying it.

Sambo turned the big 3 on October 23rd.
It was a low-key celebration this year, but celebrate we did. Birthday cake was involved, of course...

And a birthday scooter with a cool new helmet.

Unfortunately, I did not foresee the loathing Sam would have for his new safety headgear. So this is the first and last time he has ridden his scooter. And that's the end of that!

And it wouldn't be a birthday without cars and dinosaurs (his new obsession)...

Halloween was interesting. Sam picked out a Hulk costume and then absolutely refused to wear it. I mean REFUSED! He may or may not have thrown a tantrum and stomped his costume to the ground. To be fair, I made him try on his costume and didn't realize there was a "scratchy tag" on the inside, so that ruined it for him. Even with the promise of a complete tag amputation...it was a no go.

So what do you do when your child won't wear a costume and is not interested in trick or treating? You go to the church fall festival and slide down a giant inflatable slide. Over and over. And over.

Sissy was much more cooperative about the costume. She went as a ladybug with big, fat baby cheekers. And a double chin. And, like her brother, she was completely unamused.

Her hat is supposed to have little lady bug antennae on it, but it just looks like a beret. So she's a French lady bug. So chic.

Thanksgiving was great even though Andy had to work. I took the kiddos to my sissy's with my family and then the next night we went over to Andy's parent's. Shane and Jackie came in town with their baby boy, Luke, and it was so good to spend time with them...it went too fast! We also got to see our friend Steve. It was like an OEHS class of '99 reunion. Good times. And how cute is this picture? If we were down with arranged marriages...I'm just sayin'...

Then we decorated the house and lit up our front tree. Word of advice: while you rush to finish putting up the lights while your baby naps, be sure to ignore your 3 year old while he shoves envelopes in the CD player of your vehicle.

You know...just let him play in the front of the truck while you try to break your neck putting the lights up. The phrases "wonky", "sketchy" and "cracked skull" come to mind when I see this picture. It was definitely wonky and sketchy, but thankfully the "cracked skull" part didn't come to fruition.

We waited til dark and then we lit her up. Sam's reaction was priceless. It was one of those times where I wished so badly that I had recorded the moment, but didn't want to miss anything running to get my camera. So I just soaked it in instead. This sounds really cheesy and cliche...but the joy and wonder that he expressed when he saw the tree light up was so neat to experience. He just stood staring at the tree then started gleefully screaming "This is AMAZING!! This is so AMAZING!! That light is AMAZING and that light is AMAZING and that one is SO AMAZING!! It's just SO AMAZING!! Look, Lion!! There's green and blue and red and yellow and orange and it's AMAAAAAZIIINNNG!!!!"

I'm pretty sure he said "amazing" at least 50 times. It was super cute. He was so ~~loud~~ excited that our next door neighbors peeked out of their window wondering what the screaming child was all about. So funny! I wish I had gotten more pictures or video of the reaction, but I'm also glad I wasn't fumbling with my phone and was taking it all in instead. There's something to be said for experiencing Christmas through your child's eyes. Cheesy, but so true. I'll remember that moment forever :) Love that boy!

So that sums up our last few months in a nutshell. I really need to get back to blogging regularly because I know that we'll look back on these posts and be so glad we have these memories recorded. I'll probably make the blog public again, too. Mainly because no one in my family reads it when it's private and when people look forward to reading it, there's an accountability factor there for me. And by accountability, I mean my sister nagging me by text or voice mail to post something else. But that's a good thing...it keeps me caught up!

So that's it. Now that we're catching our breathe...more pictures and more blogging to come. Hey-at least it will make for a cheap blog book this year :) I'll wrap it up with a few random pics of my beautiful kiddos: