Kate's new shoes...

Check out the super cute shoes that Pam sent for Kate! Needless to say, these are just up Kate's alley and she LOVES them. Thanks, Pammy!

Thanksgiving...

Well, so much for that Weight Watchers goal being met. But what is Thanksgiving without gaining several pounds in one day! We celebrated with the Jacobs' on Sunday because John and his brother both had to work today so today was our second day of thanks. Both days were filled with yummy food and fun with family. Here are a few pics from our day with my parents, sisters, brother-in-law, and niece...

Dad getting the turkey ready for the deep-fryer. That's right folks, we fry it up! This is our 3rd year deep-frying the turkey. Terrible for the arteries, wonderful for the tastebuds. :)

Kate kept the babies entertained with a Thanksgiving story.

Pretty much impossible to get everyone happy for a good picture with a toddler and two infants.

Luke and Brooklyn spent most of the day sitting up! They grow up so fast.

An eventful day...

It's a very news-worthy day today, November 19th, 2007. Our very dear friends, Brad and Lauren, had their first baby...Benjamin Bradley Schatzel. Yea! They are going to be the best parents. We are already planning a road trip from Arkansas to Oklahoma to meet him when we are visiting Gramma and Grampa next summer. Congratulations, Schatz!

On the home front, Luke had 2 new experiences today. First, rice cereal. It went as any baby's first time with a spoon goes and was very messy. He didn't love it but we'll keep trying. He also got to sit up in the bathtub tonight. That he LOVED! It definitely made bathtime easier on me. Up until now he's been laying on the bath pillow and I've had to keep one hand on him constantly to keep him from rolling over into the water on his face. Here are some cute pictures of them during bath and all ready for bed.

Family time...

It's been quite a while since we have gone out and done anything on a Saturday. John has worked Saturdays pretty much his whole career and, until Kate was born, I did too. So our "weekends" have always been on weekdays when the crowds are at a minimum...just the way we like it. But yesterday the four of us packed up our wagon and some lunch and walked down to the park for some quality family time. It appeared to be the last day of the AYSO soccer season and there were games everywhere. Kate brought her soccer ball and spent most of the 2 hours running and kicking while Luke practiced sitting up. She has not had much exposure to the game aside from playing with Daddy in the yard but she seems to be a natural. We parked ourselves under a tree about 10 yards from one of the fields where the teams of 4-year-olds were playing. So cute! John was reminicing about his many years on the soccer field and got very excited for the day our kids will be out there. John had to get ready for work so we had to drag Kate away promising to have a "soccer picnic" more often. I love family time!

Tagged...

I was "tagged" by Rachel to share 7 weird/random things about myself, so here we go:
1.) I hate the feel of velvet or velour or anything that feels like it. It makes my hands feel dirty. Blah!
2.) I could watch Lifetime movies all day long and have done so. This was pre-kids, of course, but I spent many a Saturday afternoon folding laundry and watching back to back movies starring many of the "90210" favorites.
3.) I use a chocolate shake as my "dipping sauce" for McDonald's chicken nuggets. Not exactly a Weight Watchers-friendly meal, but so delicious.
4.) With the exception of #3, I usually eat one thing at a time during meals and I don't like my food to touch on the plate.
5.) I don't like walking on freshly vacuumed carpet- it looks so nice and I hate leaving footprints.
6.) I still want my mom when I'm sick.
7.) I love throwing things away. Cleaning out drawers, closets, etc. is a huge stress relief and I measure my success by the number of trash bags have filled.
So, there you have it. Odd, I know, and there are probably so many more weird things about me but isn't that what makes us all so interesting. What about you? Leave a comment with just a couple of weird things about yourself. I'm supposed to "tag" someone else to post an entry of 7 weird/random things on their own blog. So...Lo and Cori/Nathan, you're it!

Goals...

A couple of my personal goals were accomplished this month that I'm pretty excited about. I made the first promotion level in Arbonne, District Manager. It's been fun so far and I am really enjoying myself. I also got to my goal weight at Weight Watchers this week! Yea! This means my Christmas list will be full of clothing requests. =)

Luke has made some accomplishments this month also. He is reaching and grasping anything and everything he can get his little hands on. This includes hair, food, clothes, etc. Today he almost pulled Kate right over onto himself. He is also sitting up more and more every day. It's more balancing in an upright position than sitting but today he stayed up for about 30 seconds. The little booger refuses to put his hands down in front of him to "tripod" so when he loses balance he just topples over. It's still so amazing to me how fast they develop at this age. He had his 5 month doctors appointment this week. (Our new doctor sees his patients every month rather than every three months since he does an alternate schedule with vaccines.) He was 14 lbs. 3 oz. and 26 3/4 inches long. That put him in the 20% for weight and 80% for height! So, as the doctor put it, he is getting longer and leaner. No shots this month since Luke is still recovering from his mild bout with croup. He is feeling much better now. The doctor told us to go ahead and start introducing rice cereal and then some fruits and veggies. I'm not rushing out to the store, though, since that means I'll have just one more thing to do. =) Luke is going to love it though. He does not appreciate it when we don't share what we are eating. =)

Kate is, as usual, keeping us quite entertained. Her new favorite terms are, "That's amazing!", "Oh, she's beautiful!" (said anytime she sees someone wearing a dress, especially a wedding dress), "I need to run errands.", and "I love you guys!". She's so funny and we get a kick out of watching her pretend. Here she is with her new favorite hair style: the ponytail. Doesn't she look like such a big girl?!

California Adventure...

Last December, we decided to get annual passes to Disneyland. They turned out to be a great purchase, very well worth it. So for the past year we have enjoyed meeting friends and spending a couple of hours in Disneyland. Today, we visited Disney's California Adventure for only the second time ever. While very different from Disneyland, we really enjoy many of the things California Adventure has to offer. It's much less crowded and has a lot for toddler aged kids. Today, we met our cousins, Marikka, Jonah & Javan, and our friends, Andrea & Ryan and Emily, Rebekah & Anna. We rode a few rides (not Kate's favorite part), saw a couple of shows and had lunch. Luke fell sound asleep after lunch and since Kate was still going strong I decided to let her continue to enjoy herself well past naptime. Quite unprecedented but fortunately she did not make me regret it. On our way to the parking lot we decided to warm up with some coffee and hot chocolates. The girls felt very grown up with their "coffee".
Thanks, Emily, for the great pictures!

Just like mommy...

We were off to the grocery store today and had to get a picture... Kate has turned into quite a good little mommy to her baby "Tony" and loves to copy everything I do. So cute! Our shopping trips are getting much easier thanks to the genius who invented the Baby Bjorn front pack. Luke could not be happier than when he is in that thing and I'm hands free to load, unload, and deal with Kate if necessary. Fortunately, today that was not necessary as, despite feeling under the weather, she was very cooperative and we had a pleasant experience.
And Luke in the "exersaucer" so generously loaned by the Irelands.

Halloween...

It was a full week of Halloween fun! On Monday, we had a Halloween Potluck Party at our cousins house. Jonah and Javan , the blue and yellow M&M's, were great hosts and Kate had fun coloring, playing, and eating yummy food. Monday night, we headed to Pa's Pumpkin Patch for our 3rd annual photo shoot with the Ostermanns. This year we added Luke and Brooklyn to the mix, although, it proved to be too difficult to get a good picture with 3 two-year-olds and 2 four month olds. And impossible to get a good one of Luke at all since he was hungry and would not cooperate. Wednesday morning, we had our Toddler Club party. The treats were abundant and Kate had her first sucker which she LOVED! Then there was Halloween night...we had practiced trick-or-treating and were very excited to go get candy but...2 houses into it and it was over! Kate walked into our neighbors house (thinking we were visiting) and got embarrassed when she realized she was supposed to stay on the porch. Poor thing. She had a complete meltdown and cried, "I want to go home!" all the way back across the street! We tried once more to venture out but made it as far as the corner before she hightailed it back home. Oh well, she doesn't need all that candy. =) It was really fun passing out candy and Kate ran to the door every time someone knocked. She stayed in her costume until 8:30 pm when she finally got her paci and called it a night. Dressing her up was Mommy's favorite part! We got sparkles for her hair and face and applied sparkly lipgloss! So fun. I can't wait for the dance recitals. =) Needless to say, this little girl loves her "pretty dress" costume and as I type is wearing it for the 4th day straight, dancing and singing all over the house!