The Holidays are Coming!!

Hard to believe that Christmas is 7 weeks away but the weather here has been BEAUTIFUL for the last week- more like spring than fall. Holidays also mean two big birthdays are on the horizon. LOTS TO PLAN FOR ME! YIKES!!! Let's get to the fun stuff: the photos!

As Harper gets more active, she and Caleb interact more and more. It is very fun and, for the most part, peaceable. Enjoying a great fall afternoon one Sunday with the window open.


Riverfield is built firmly upon the idea of kiddos being outside as often as possible to learn and explore in the outdoor environment. This photo was taken by one of Caleb's teachers earlier in October and featured in the daily "Today We" update that's emailed to parents and grandparents. The leader of the pack...or just not listening to instructions when the teacher said to stop (who knows!).


October = big events for my family with both parents' birthdays and their anniversary. For Dad's birthday, he took off work and we headed to the State Fair. We had a great time, especially in the petting zoo area, despite this photo of Caleb. The camels were awfully big and not afraid of people.

Harper had a good time too. This was one of the last outings where she would keep her bow in her hair. It's been a good ride and I'm pleased she left them in as long as she did.

I didn't even talk to Caleb about the rides at the Fair because I thought he would be too nervous to try them. We walked through the midway on our way back to the car and he was fascinated. He and I rode the caterpillar roller coaster together and then he rode the small train all by himself; what a big boy!

Riverfield's first homecoming football game on our own field was in October. It was a very chilly day after a really rainy week but we still had the game and all the activities, including a schoolwide pep assembly in the gym. Here's Harper and Daddy hanging out.

And Caleb and his friends jamming along with the drumline.


There were quite a few of Caleb's deer class friends at the day's activities. This is Caleb's good buddy Anthony. Caleb didn't want a tattoo but later asked to get his face painted. While in line, I asked him what he wanted to get. "Green," he said. "Green what? Like a frog? A turtle?" I said. "No, just green" so we painted his whole face "just green" then traveled 5 hours to our family reunion in Kansas City with the green face paint. :)

Harper is more and more animated. The wave was first in a series of "firsts" in the last 6 weeks.

One rainy Friday, the dogs were barking like crazy in the backyard. I went out to bring them in and found that they were going nuts over these tiny little turtles. One was scurrying away but the other was tucked inside its shell. We brought both to the back porch for further investigation.

Our friends came over to watch OU/Texas with us. Though the game certainly didn't end like we wanted (or the Sooner season, for that matter), Owen and Caleb had a blast. I can't think of once in his life that Caleb has worn a hat for more than 5 minutes but Owen was wearing one so Caleb wanted to also. No clue where we found this pretty orange hat but it provided lots of entertainment that day.


Granny and Grandpa gave them a great book on our visit to their house earlier in the year. Caleb loves to "read" it to us.

While they are too young to protest, I will continue to dress the kiddos in matching holiday pjs including Halloween. However, taking a photo of them together is nearly impossible. Harper is constantly on the move and, though Caleb means well, his strangle hold on her only aggravates the situation further.

Harper is feeding herself a larger variety of "real" foods. Here's an experiment with fruit cocktail and cool whip.

After several wet and muddy football games at Riverfield, I invested in some galoshes. Caleb, apparently, is quite fond of them too.

For the 3rd year in a row, our friends from Sunday School had us out to their property for a hayride and bonfire. Each year, the crowd of children gets larger and larger. It is very fun to watch our friends' families grow up with our children.

The host of the bonfire is a Tulsa police officer. You can imagine the fun that Caleb and his buddies had in the cruiser. Hopefully this will be the only time that Caleb's in the back seat of a cop car!

Harper has had ongoing ear infections in the last few months; she finish a round of antibiotics and have an ear infection in the next two weeks. We went to the ENT on a Tuesday, her ears were clear and he wanted to get tubes in while they weren't infected, so two days later we were at a local outpatient hospital getting her tubes. Just like Caleb, they gave her "goofy juice" to make leaving us and going to the OR a little easier. Funny girl!

Unlike Caleb after his tubes, Harper was a challenge when waking up from anesthesia. She was groggy and grumpy but took a great big nap when we got home and woke up happy as a clam.

Aaron had taken the day off, so he and Caleb tackled the pumpkin carving. We had located a set of Cars templates and Caleb thought all 8 designs would be going on his pumpkin. He was a little disillusioned that only one would fit.


While C wasn't so eager to get his hands dirty with pumpkin innards, Harper was very curious.


Here's the finished product...nice job, Dadda! Lightening McQueen never looked so good!

I think I had just started my "Couch to 5k" running program when I last blogged. Well, my friends and I kept at it and made it to our goal race: the Tulsa Run. We had run several 5ks around the school so knew we could actually run that far. However, I had not accounted for the hilly path through downtown that we would be taking. We made it though! Because it was a chilly morning, Harper and Aaron stayed home and Caleb, my parents, and my sister came to cheer me on. Caleb and Mom missed me going by because Caleb had to "take a turn" but their support was much appreciated. After we got home, Caleb pinned on my race number and ran around the front yard for awhile.

Harper had her own kind of race.

Another new trick- blowing kisses. She also can say "dog" and will "ruff" like a dog if you ask her what a dog says but we couldn't see to capture it on camera because every time we ask Harper, Caleb thinks he needs to answer too. Yes, Caleb, we know that at almost 3 you know what a dog says. :)

Halloween ended up being a gorgeous day, almost 80 degrees. We joined friends at the Boo Ha Ha parade on Brookside mid-afternoon. Here's our little flower.

She LOVED the drums, cars, sights, and sounds of the parade. Maybe because she could actually hear them with her tubes in. She has said 5 or 6 more words since her procedure.

Caleb and his friends were Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. Of course, Caleb had to wear green so he was Theodore. Here are our cute Chipmunks checking out their candy. The costumes were so cheap (our friend Leslie found the men's turtlenecks at thrift stores and the brown sweatpants were $8.) but I couldn't believe how many people kept complimenting us and saying how adorable they were. We were wishing we would have entered them in a costume contest.

Later that night, we went to "Simon's" house to eat pizza and trick-or-treat in his neighborhood. The last two years, we've gone to the church for their event so this was the first time doing the whole "knock on the door and say trick or treat" thing. We moms weren't prepared for all the etiquette lessons needed like saying please and thank you, not ringing the doorbell a million times, taking turns ringing the doorbell, not grabbing candy out of the person's bowl, etc. It was fairly exhausting keeping up with these excited boys but lots of fun.

Harper on the move. She lost her headpiece as we were walking (totally mom's fault, sorry!) but looked cute here.

After the trick or treating, we moms dropped the kids off and headed out to look for Harper's missing costume. The dads were apparently a little over-involved in the OU game because here's what transpired while we were away!

The weather has continued to be unbelievable. We took several walks, including Harper's first venture out in the wagon.

Here's Aaron's most recent work with the photoshop app on his iphone. Not too shabby; but the subject is adorable to start with!

We've been enjoying Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA" lately. In a scary testament to how much your infant takes in, here's what we found out Harper can do!

Other items of note:
- I ran another 5k this weekend - took 2:40 off my Tulsa Run time. Signed up for a 4 mile run downtown next weekend. No aspirations for longer runs at this point, but I am really enjoying the activity (and the fun t-shirts!).

- We've had fun times with friends including a lake weekend in Arkansas and a girls retreat with my friends from Covenant. Yippee!!

- Caleb's potty training has been very successful. He is in underwear all day and at naps and has had several overnights with dry Pull-Ups. Knock on wood but never would have thought potty training would be this easy.

- The OU season is down the drain but it is still fun to get together with friends to watch.

- Our god daughter Ellison started at Riverfield a few weeks ago. It is going well so far and is very fun to have a 3rd little person to check in on during the day. Plus, Caleb loves to tell me when he sees her during the school day. She and Harper are in different classes this year but the younger and older infant classes are integrated when they reach Toddler classes next fall. Watch out boys, here come the cuties!

- Our thoughts and prayers have been with the Hedrick family over the last several months. Truman, their 9 year old, was diagnosed with bone cancer in his leg this summer. He has undergone several procedures and treatments, including an above-the-knee amputation two weeks ago at MD Anderson. Their boys used to go to Riverfield and they go to church at Asbury. Please send your prayers their way. For more information visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/trumanhedrick

- I entered both kids in the Gap Casting Call contest. If you want to, please go to http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/cswhgw12/ to vote for Caleb or Harper as the fan favorite.

Have a great week!