Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!  We had an amazing time this year.  Jack is old enough to truly enjoy the holiday. He started asking me if it was halloween in mid-September.  Every day, he would say "Momma, it's almost Halloween day."  With his superhero obsession, there was no question as to what Jack was going to be for halloween this year...Superman!  As Jack's constant sidekick, Sophia was Supergirl!  

Sophia @ 18 months.  Sophia is such a sweet girl. She is a real book worm.  She grabs a book and motions to me to sit.  Once I sit crosslegged, she hops in my lap and will sit until I stop reading.  She loves to point to items and name them.  

Jack and Sophia are very close.  They love to play together.  Jack decided it was birthday time.  I walked into the other room to get an item, and heard his sweet voice singing "happy birthday to Jack."  It melted my heart.  We then all clapped and ate our birthday cake.  We then did this over again for Sophia and Momma.  It was really sweet!

This momma is a sucker for a good holiday!  I have become obsessed with finding everything "fall" and crafting with the kids.  After our FOURTH trip to the pumpkin patches, we decided to paint our little pumpkins.  Sophia was so excited she got to sit with the big kids.

Jack and Ella painting their pumpkins.  This is actually the second set of pumpkins we decorated this season.  We did our first ones at the Nixons house.  Jack made an awesome pumpkin with cool hot pink hair, a gold earring, and a patch.  Jack is still totally enamored by Ella, and she is such a sweet friend to him.  

Silly faces

Jacksonville has a lot of great pumpkin patches.  We went to the big pumpkin patch near the kids' school a few times to get our pumpkins.  We then also tried a pumpkin patch with MOPS and another one with our new friends, Isabella and Amy.  November was truly filled with pumpkins, bounce houses and lots of birthdays!

Jack climbing up the big slide at the pumpkin patch. Of course, he is wearing his superman shirt.  It is a struggle to get him to wear anything but a superman shirt with cape.  Jack has a hard time understanding the whole concept of Clark Kent being incognito during the day. 

Sophia has learned most of her body parts.  She eagerly tells you where her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, fingers, toes, feet, and belly button are located. We still aren't naming many farm animals yet but she did enjoy her time at the petting zoo.

Amy is another mom from MOPS. Her daughter, Isabella, is a month older than Sophia and they are in the same class at St. Marks.

A fun filled day at the patch!

See-saw time!

Sophia adores her brother.  When Carl comes home from work, she rushes to him, gives him a hug and then immediately points out where Jack is.  When she wakes from her naps, he is the first name that she calls.  She follows him all around the house all day.  He is pretty patient with her, and they play nicely together.  He has even offered her a cape so she can be a superhero with him.  That is quite an offering at our house! 

Sophia LOVES cookies and pop pops.  She asks incessantly about both of these items.  Carl adores how excited she gets about the littlest things.  The sheer delight from receiving a little treat makes you realize how special this age really is.  Sophia really does find the biggest pleasures in the smallest things.  She exclaims "wow" and has this huge grin every time you push up the frozen yogurt popsicles, and she constantly brings us toys to show us.  

Jack is great big brother.  Without any requests, if he sees his sister struggling to get on the couch or bed, he gives her a big push and helps her up.  He also tries to decipher her baby language into words.  He tells me when she doing something bad which actually is pretty helpful to have an extra set of eyes on that little lady.  As a superhero, he is constantly telling me how superheros help people and not just get rid of bad guys.  I am hoping this little lesson sticks

Sophia is always gazing

Sophia has started to put words together into phrases.  She hands me her plate when she is done eating, and says " All done."  She is quite clever.  This afternoon, Jack asked for chocolate milk.  I asked Sophia if she wanted some, and she replied yes.  We went into the kitchen and while I was pouring the milk, she found the chocolate syrup in the refrigerator and handed it to me (UNASKED) and said "here you go." She also likes to help put the clothes in the dryer for me when I hand them to her, and loves to help empty the dishwasher.  She is quite the little helper

Jack and Sophia loved the train ride. Sophia wouldn't ride without Jack by her side.  

My favorite things at this age:  When I am teaching Jack something new and he gets it right, he smiles this huge smile and gives me a hug.  We could go through 15 letters, which means I get 15 hugs.Out of nowhere, he will just give me a hug and say "Momma, you are the best."  You can see the wheels turning in his head all the time.  Most recently, it has been hard to make convincing arguments about why we should stay up late when he and Sophia go to bed.  He tip toes into the tv room late at night, and then acts like a sheriff who has caught a thief. Jack: "Hey, hey, why are you up?  Are you watching a movie? It is late.  You are going to be tired tomorrow.  You need to go to bed."  It is funny because we are tired and probably should just go to sleep.  He doesn't really accept the standard well I am an adult and you are a kid excuse.  It is just persuasion...a little bit like his dad.  

Jack went down this slide all day.  Finally, after some convincing, he got us all to go down together.  I actually had a blast!

SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!

Perfect pumpkins!

Sophia eating one of her favorite treats.  I have been making way too many cookies. 

Jack is almost 3 and a half.  He is such a good and considerate boy. His speech has significantly improved and he is making a lot of friends at school.  We had his school conference, and he is doing a great job with his letters.  He loves music.  Carl and Jack spend a lot of time watching different kinds of music together.  Jack likes to pretend everything is a musical instrument.   

Only PART of all of the MOPS kids

Sophia loves to eat fruit.  She developed this love for eating whole fruit in Italy, and asks for fruit every morning!  Here she is eating a pear at the pumpkin patch

Sophia was the only one that stood up the entire tractor ride.  This little girl beats to her own drum. It is impossible to get her to sit in a high chair for more than two minutes before she is standing in it with a huge grin on her face.

I am loving every minute of this age.  I wish time would stand still.  I am so lucky to have such sweet children, a wonderful and supportive husband, and great family and friends to enjoy it all with!

Sophia and Jack at the MOPS parade

Jack and Anderson at the MOPS halloween party.  They had a blast together

Jack and Pierce conquering the corn maze at the MOPS pumpkin playdate

Superman playing the piano

Superman helping to lead us out of the maze. Blythe would read us the story and Jack would tell us the number

Flying superheros!

On halloween day, the kids started the day with a parade at school.  From there, we left and went to a new music and art class.  After a long nap, we headed out for trick or treating.  It took Jack a little easing into but by the end of the night he was walking up to the house with me, saying trick or treat, and thanking the family for candy.  Sophia wanted to be part of the action.  Every time Carl would try to keep her in the wagon, she would scream and then wiggle her way out. She would run as fast as those little legs would carry her and race up to catch us so she could be at the door too!  By 7:30, Jack proclaimed it was time to go home and he was tired.  It was a great day and we are still indulging in halloween candy.

Our Christmas advent calendar arrived this afternoon.  The shrill from both kids in seeing Santa's face let me know that they are ready for the Christmas season to begin....and so is their MOMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!