Halloween and Preschool Politics

I think Ian knew what he wanted to be for Halloween 2008 on November 1, 2007. I did my best to persuade him in other directions, but finally decided to reward him for his decisiveness! He was Spiderman, and enjoyed every minute of it! Halloween started on Tuesday this week with a party at preschool, continued on Thursday night with trick-or-treating at "Daddy's school," and finished tonight with trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

Ian's preschool class

Ian's friend and classmate, Dalton... the other Spiderman!

Garrett the ghost, Brennan the pumpkin

Spiderman and his friend Megan in front of our house.

We had pizza with Megan and her family before trick-or-treating this evening. They ate together at Ian's little table and chairs, and even had their own impromptu political discussion. This is how it went:
"I'm voting for John McCain," said Megan.
"I'm cheering for Obama," said Ian.
So cute! Their choices may or may not represent their parents' choices, but I'm just impressed they both knew the names of the candidates, and chose to discuss it over dinner. Two very well-informed future voters! (Please don't comment with your political opinions... not the purpose of this post!! Just a cute little exchange between preschoolers!:)

See Ian read. Read, Ian, read.

Over the last couple of weeks, Ian has made great strides in his reading. He has been working on sounding out words for quite a while, but has now mastered many sight words, too. We decided to introduce the classic, Dick and Jane, and he is doing great! We are very proud of him!!

The Pledge

Halloween Fun!

Ian learned this at preschool!

Omnipresence

I was heading upstairs to our bedroom to feed the babies this morning. I invited Ian to come up there with me so that he wouldn't be by himself downstairs. His response was, "Mommy, I'll know you're with me." I couldn't help but think how profound that was... it just seemed to be such a great metaphor of God's omnipresence.

(In my hormonal, sleep-deprived, fuzzy state-of-mind, I'm just impressed I remembered what he said long enough to be able to blog about it tonight, let alone use a word like "omnipresence!")

A Great Weekend

We had a great weekend visit from Uncle Andy, Aunt Kathy and Emma. Andy and Kathy met the boys in the NICU, but this was cousin Emma's first time to meet the babies. Thanks for coming, Andy, Kathy and Emma!

A full couch!

Emma holding Brennan for the first time!

Ian and Emma had a great time playing together in Ian's playroom!

Ian's Halloween Cake

He's very proud of his creation, and can't wait to eat it with his cousin Emma tonight!

Say cheese, Garrett!

All smiles!

Brennan smiled today!!! I thought I saw it this morning, Nana thought she saw it this afternoon, and Daddy and I KNOW we saw it this evening!

October pictures

Uncle Neil and Aunt Heather came on October 1st, and stayed with us for a few days. They were a huge help, enjoyed meeting Garrett and Brennan, and had a lot of fun with Ian.



Brennan has been finding his thumb quite a bit lately. We're not jumping to any conclusions about this, other than the fact that we think it's very cute for now!


Ian is getting used to having two babies around, and likes to be near them. (In fact a couple of weeks ago, he was near them a little too much. Both babies had a cold, and Brennan had his first ear infection! Poor babies!) I was debating which of these pictures to post, but I think I like the progression of the three together. I love Ian's expressions, and look carefully at the last one... screaming and spit up at the same time. Pretty funny, but a true snapshot of our lives right now! (Brennan on the left, Garrett on the right.)

The State of the House Address

Good morning, fellow Americans. As you all know, this has been a very busy time for our family. As I sit here in the rectangular family room, it pains me to know that many of you are anxiously awaiting more posts to this blog. I understand your disappointment, and I'm doing everything in my power to deal with this recent crisis. I promise to post when I can, and make the entries as meaningful and picture-filled as possible. In between posts, please know I am spending the majority of my time trying to care for the newest citizens, striving to be the best diaper changer, feeder, dishwasher, launderer, daughter, sister, friend, wife and mother I can be. In the meantime, let's band together as citizens and blog readers, praying for better days ahead.

Garrett's "firsts"

The boys are growing and developing, and it is so exciting to see! The fact that they were born 7 weeks early means that their developmental milestones will be adjusted, at least that's what the doctor tells us. In some cases, yes, in others, NO!

On October 3rd, Garrett ROLLED OVER! At first we thought it was a fluke, but as we kept flipping him back onto his tummy, he would just roll to his back again. He probably did it four times in a row that evening, and has done it several times since. "Normally" a baby does this at 3-5 months of age, so we are very proud of our over-achiever. In general, Garrett's personality is the "fiestier" of the two boys, starting with his broken bag of water at 32 weeks gestation!



On October 7th, Garrett SMILED! Up until this point, both boys have had very happy looks, but no all-out grins. Our friend and babysitter-extraordinaire, Stephanie, came on the 7th, and was holding Garrett after a feeding. He had his first huge grins, and we were so excited! I called Daddy and left him a message to tell him the exciting news! I regret the fact that I didn't grab the camera, so no smile pics yet. Sorry!