Happy Halloween!

The kids have had two Halloween parties and a night of trick-or-treating in the last three days. Here are a couple of photos. Adam sampled his first candy, and Elizabeth will surely wake up tomorrow asking for more treats. More pictures to come...

He's Walking!

Adam started walking on Friday night. He can string 5-6 steps together if he's concentrating. It's so cute to see him trying. We'll post a video soon.

11 Months Old

Today Adam is 11 months old. It's pretty unbelievable that he is within one month of his first birthday. Watching you grow over the past 11 months has been so much fun. You are a driven little guy who makes sure that everyone knows how you're feeling. When times are good, you're the happiest person, but watch out when you're crabby!

At 11 months, this is what you're up to:

- Taking one or two steps and then falling down
- Eating only table food (you need to feed yourself)
- Love taking baths and crawling/rolling on blankets
- Hate putting your socks on in the morning and getting into the car (seriously everyone in the neighborhood knows that you hate this!)
- Think your big sister is the best- and you love to pull her hair (especially when she's waking up)
- Crawling up and down the stairs and would do it all day
- Signing "puppy", "milk", "more"
- Speaking Russian. You are sure that you're saying something that we should understand.

Happy 11 months old!

Name Change

On Sunday, Elizabeth developed a split personality. Her name is Heather and she is quite shy, can get on and off the potty without help, and sometimes does naughty things. She is a mom to baby Howeepy (Adam).

We have to laugh at our almost 3 year old who is never short on creativity. She now wakes up in the morning asking, "Mom, do you remember what my name is?" Yes, it's Heather, sweetie. (Heather does not like to be called sweetie.) Josh just rolls his eyes, wondering when this will be over.

This is the stage of development that I love!

Fall hike at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park

This afternoon was hot for October - approaching 90 degrees or maybe more in some spots. We were able to take advantage of this warm weather by taking a hike to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. Everyone enjoyed the fall colors on a 3.5 mile loop before cooling off by playing in the Prairie Creek just above Hidden Falls. Plus Elizabeth experienced her first "water break" in the woods!