I tried taking some pictures of the kiddos in their Christmas finery tonight, so could use them to have some photo cards made. It did not go well. This is one of the better shots from the evening. Despite Emery's cute expression, I probably won't be using it for our holiday greetings. Maybe we'll have another photo shoot tomorrow, when the kids are not so tired. And I am not loaded up on medicine for a sinus infection.

I went six days without taking any pictures of my children. I think that's a record. Kenton must have been going through withdrawal because he got the camera out of the desk drawer tonight, handed it to me and said, "I need to smile for you, mama." However, I couldn't actually get a picture of him smiling.

For the past few days Kenton and I have been a little under the weather with colds. He didn't feel like eating for a couple of days, which is highly unusual for our boy. In an effort to get him to eat something we bought several foods he doesn't normally get to enjoy. Popsicles were a hit.

Our sweet little turkey

Kenton and Edward baked cookies with Halloween sprinkles yesterday

Happy Halloween! It was a big exciting day here, and we took lots of pictures. I'll post more tomorrow when I am not so tired.

Kenton was excited to have his picture taken with Emily, who is one of his favorite engines. I think his favorites are any of the ones he owns. The day out with Thomas was so much fun. He's still talking about it today!

Today was the big Thomas the train event. It was fun but exhausting. Kenton was sound asleep about ten minutes into the drive home. We rode the train with Nana & Papaw, then there were lots of fun activities to check out like a bouncy house and a hay bale maze. Nana and Papaw did a little shopping, too, since the organizers of the event provided so many convenient opportunities for spending money.

The Boston Marathon was today--the Boston, Georgia mini-marathon, that is-- so we loaded up the kids and drove over to check things out. In addition to the race, they have other fun stuff like arts & crafts vendors, games for the kids, and a parade. We looked around town and then went in to Boston Bar-B-Que to have lunch just as the parade was starting. We had a table in front of the window and parade went down the street right in front of us, so we could see everything but got to be inside in comfy chairs and out of the wind. It was great! Kenton and Edward ran out and picked up a few pieces of candy tossed from the parade while we were waiting for our food. We finished our meal just as the parade ended and the restaurant started to get busy, then went over to let Kenton play in the bouncy house for a few minutes. It was $2 well spent. After ten minutes or so of intense running and bouncing, he was exhausted and ready to come home and nap. Tomorrow we're meeting up with Nana and Papaw in Cordele for the big Thomas the train event. I can't even imagine how excited he's going to be!

Kenton apparently got chilly during his nap today and decided to cover himself up with the curtains. Maybe the blanket was too heavy.

You may notice that Beary is not among the pile of stuffed animals in his bed. After nearly two weeks of constant togetherness, Kenton and Beary appear to have parted ways. They have not spent any time together for the last two days, and Puppy (who can be seen lying next to Kenton in the picture) is Kenton's new best buddy. We're not sure what came between Kenton and Beary, but we're still hoping they can work things out.

Kenton practices his candy-eating skills in preparation for Halloween

The Methodist Church downtown had a fall festival tonight and we walked up and checked it out after I got off work. Kenton had a great time. Emery didn't get much out of the festivities, but she sure looked cute in her pumpkin hat! She also had on her cute "Mommy's little pumpkin" shirt, but I didn't think to take her bib off before I snapped the picture.

The weather here was actually kinda cool today--temps didn't get out of the 60s! It felt like fall being out this evening. We don't get much fall here in south Georgia, so we enjoyed it.

This morning Kenton woke up around 6:30, and my wonderful husband got up with him and let me sleep. When he did sent Kenton in to wake me up a couple hours later, this is what I opened my eyes to. It's hard to wake up in a bad mood when you see this much cuteness first thing in the morning.

Kenton and Bear are still best buds, and Bear continues to go everywhere we do. He trekked to Tallahassee with us today for some lunch and shopping, then rode in the stroller with Kenton when they took Lucy out for a walk this evening. Bear also sits at the table during all meals, and stays safely cradled in Kenton's arms when we go anywhere in the car. It took a lot of talking for Edward to convince him that Bear did not have to have his own car seat, but I think he's accepted it now.

Our blue-eyed baby girl

Kenton has a baby. He picked up this bear on Saturday from the pile of stuffed animals in our living room and has been parenting it ever since. He takes it everywhere, feeds it bottles, burps it, and changes its diapers. While he demanded a real bottle to feed his baby, the diapers are imaginary...at least so far.

Emery can hold her head up pretty well these days, at least for short periods of time, so we decided to let her try out the Bumbo chair. She did pretty well in it, but got fussy after a few minutes. I don't think she minded sitting up so much as she's just spoiled and thinks someone should be holding her all the time! Kenton thinks that any time the camera's out he needs to be in front of it, so he was putting on a show as we were trying to get a few good pictures of Em.

Granny Cardin sent a Kenton a Halloween package that arrived yesterday. He was very excited to receive it. He loves stickers, so he immediately wanted to put those all over his arms, and he was really fascinated by the jack-o-lantern necklace with the flashing light.

Kenton got to pet several animals at the fall festival on Sunday. This particular goat was his favorite because it moved a little slower than most of the other animals. As you can tell from the look on his face, he was pretty excited by the whole experience.

I had to work today, but Edward took Kenton and Emery to the fall festival at Pebble Hill Plantation. There was a petting zoo, farm machinery, and lots of other things that a 2 year old boy finds very interesting. Emery wasn't as impressed--she slept through most of the festivities.

We also went to Lowe's tonight after I got home. Kenton usually goes in and checks out the riding lawnmowers, which he calls tractors. They've started putting Christmas decorations out in the store, though, so tonight he was torn over which he wanted to look at. Finally he realized he could stand by the lawnmowers and see the Christmas decorations. He leaned against a lawnmower and looked at me and said, "I touch the tractor and see Christmas, mama." I don't think he could have been any happier.

Kenton loves the bathtub. There are usually more toys than water, and I think he'd play in there for hours if we'd let him. Despite all the toys that are usually in the water, his favorite tub playthings are two small cups that he fills up with water and dumps from one to the other. Apparently that kind of thing is endlessly fascinating if you're two.

For the first few weeks of Emery's life, I was convinced she looked like me. I see now that I was wrong. Like Kenton, she's a little carbon copy of her daddy, but with my nose. I still think she's built more like me than Kenton is, but that may change as she gets older, too!

Happy October!

Aren't our babies cute? If only we could get the cats up on the bed, too...

It's hard to get a picture of the kiddos together. About the only way to do it is when they're both lying down. Kenton was really hamming for the camera in this one!

Kenton decided to have his breakfast on the deck of our condo Saturday morning. Check out the view--no wonder he didn't want to come home!

We spent a few days in the north Georgia mountains last week and all had a great time. I had meetings for work on Thursday and Friday, but we stayed a couple of extra days and got to enjoy the area. It was really beautiful. Saturday afternoon we took a hike up to see a waterfall, and Kenton loved it. The trail was paved and only 1/2 mile long, but it was quite steep. We were all hot and sweaty by the time we reached the top, but the climb was definitely worth it.

Kenton and Emery, deep in conversation. He was telling her that she needed to smile for the camera. Like most conversations Kenton has, he did most of the talking. The boy is a talker, just like his daddy. He sure doesn't get that from me.

Kenton went pee-pee on the potty tonight after his bath. Whoo-hoo! He came running into the living room completely naked to tell me about it. We're all very excited!

Cowboy Day was a big success. There was trail mix, there were pony rides, and there was one tired little boy named Kenton when it was all over. He wore his wore a plaid shirt and jeans along with his new cowboy boots and a bandana, although not the red bandana we intended for him to wear. He insisted on wearing one of Lucy's which was printed with paw prints and dog bones. Oh well...he still looked incredibly cute. Unfortunately, we don't have many pictures because Edward was helping out with the festivities, and hoisting two year olds onto ponies doesn't leave much time for snapping pictures. The teachers did take several, so we should get some more photos of the day eventually.

Tomorrow is cowboy day at Kenton's preschool, so we splurged and bought him a pair of cowboy boots for the occasion. He thinks they're pretty cool and stomped around the house in them for a while this afternoon. However, they're apparently not as comfy as his sandals or tennis shoes because he was asking to take them off before long. We'll see if he actually wears them tomorrow.

Emery is growing so fast! At her doctor's visit earlier this week she weighed 9 lbs, 4 ozs. She still spends most of her time sleeping, but she's a lot more interested in what's going on around her during the hours she's awake now. We got out the swing yesterday, and she really seems to like it. Of course, she usually falls asleep after a few minutes in it. And we're having a hard time convincing Kenton he's too big for the swing. We have to watch him constantly to make sure he doesn't try get in it.

This morning I was lounging in the bed while everyone else in the house was up and about. Kenton came bouncing into the room and grabbed a sheet of stickers that we keep in the desk drawer for him. He handed them to me and announced that he needed a "tar ticker." So I peeled a star sticker off the sheet and handed it to him, and he stuck it in his hair. I told him his hair wasn't a good place to put stickers and he looked at me very seriously and said, "But mommy, I look so pretty." I couldn't argue with that, so I let him put a few "tar tickers" in his hair. They're very small, and by the time he rolls them around in his hands they're not very sticky anymore, so I figured it wasn't going to hurt anything. Unfortunately Edward took them all out before I got a picture.

Emery slept through much of the trip, just like she sleeps through most of what we do at home. Here she's enjoying a nap outside with Papaw.

Kenton gave Nana a helping hand in her garden

Cruising around Nana and Papaw's yard in the Barbie jeep. Luckily, he's too young to care that it's pink and girly. He had fun in the jeep, but never really figured out how to use the steering wheel.

Uncle Kenny and aunt Christy took us to the rail yard where Kenny works, and Kenton got to see real live trains! He even got to climb up on a caboose. It was very exciting stuff.

Kenton checks out Grandpa Gerald's tractor in Glendale

We decided to give Kenton another chance with the gardening, but he didn't get to use the water hose this time. He had a great time digging in the dirt while Edward planted some caladiums. He stayed outside until he was so tired he was about to fall over, and we had to make him come in and take a bath and get ready for bed.

Kenton loves to help! He gave daddy a hand watering the flowers outside today. All went well until Kenton figured out to turn up the water pressure and then soaked himself. He might not be doing any more gardening for a while.

Big brother Kenton having a heart-to-heart talk with baby sister Emery

It wasn't too terribly hot this evening so we decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood. Emery was in the stroller, Kenton was on foot, and Lucy was on her leash. It was interesting. Kenton had to stop and look at every leaf, rock, and stick we passed on the way so we were moving pretty slowly. Lucy got annoyed by all the stops and starts--she just wanted to walk! And Emery, of course, slept the whole time. In the picture, Kenton is offering to carry Emery in her stroller down the front porch stairs. Edward decided it would be best if he did it instead.

We took our first road trip as a family of four today. We went to Georgia Veterans State Park, which is about an hour and a half drive from our house. We thought this would give us a good idea how our travels to Kentucky might go next week. Overall, I'd say it was a good day. We left the house around 10:00am and got home around 5:30, and Emery slept 95% of the time we were gone. Kenton didn't sleep hardly any, but was still good traveler and didn't throw any fits. We don't ask for much more than that.

In the picture, Kenton was checking out the display of airplanes and tanks at the park. He loves any sort of heavy equipment, so he enjoyed getting to see those. Unfortunately, it was about 120 degrees outside today and the bugs were swarming, so it wasn't the best day for being outside. You'll notice he's wearing a Thomas t-shirt and carrying his Thomas blanket, because everyone needs a blanket on a steaming hot August day in south Georgia! He also watched one of his Thomas DVDs over and over in the car on the way there. (Thanks to Granny Cardin for the portable DVD player!) If we'd let him I'm sure he would have taken all of his trains with him, too. He's just a little Thomas-obsessed these days!

Kenton finally agreed to try holding his baby sister today. I think it went pretty well. We propped her up in his lap and he petted on her hair and even leaned down and gave her a couple of kisses. He's acting out a little more these days, but overall we think he's dealing really well with having a new baby sister and hitting the terrible twos all at the same time.

Both the kiddos woke up early this morning. We tried putting them in our bed to see if they might fall back asleep, but of course that didn't work. We did get a couple of pictures of the two of them together, though. Aren't they cute with their matching pacifiers?

Sleeping Beauty

Emery, wide-eyed and ready to party, just as mom and dad were ready to go to sleep tonight

Kenton started preschool today. He will only be going two mornings a week, but it seems like such a big step! The church where he's going was all decorated for the first day, and he was checking out the balloons in this picture. He's the youngest in his class--they had to turn two by the end of this month to sign up. Some of them will turn three next month, but we're hoping being around kids who are just a little older will inspire him to take a greater interest in potty training. Edward went to pick him up today while I stayed home with Emery, who was sleeping, and the first thing he asked when he came in the house was "Where's baby sister?" I thought that was sweet! I think he's going to be a great big brother.

Emery continues to be a very calm baby who eats and sleeps well. She is starting to stay awake a little longer each day, and I managed to snap a couple of good pictures this evening while she was bright-eyed. She definitely has her daddy's hair, but I think she looks a little more like me.

Kenton had another birthday party tonight, this time with Granny Cardin. When we celebrate his actual birthday next Sunday, he's going to think this is supposed to be a weekly occurence! We had a tiny little cake and then opened a couple of presents. I think he was more excited about putting the plastic Thomas tablecloth back on the table than he was about anything else.

Kenton got a new track set for his Thomas & Friends trains today. I think Edward wanted it more than Kenton, but they really do enjoy playing trains together. We now have enough track to cover our entire living room floor. You can't walk through our house without tripping on a piece of Thomas stuff these days. If this train obsession continues, we may have to build onto the house.

Sleeping like a baby!