A Halloween Teaser

Well, today is Halloween at school, so I thought I'd give a sneak peak of the kids in their costumes (sans my little monkey man who is saving his debut for Saturday night).

Four Months Old!!

This post is pretty late . . . Sorry about that. :). My little man continues to melt my heart more every day. He has such a warm and inviting personality. He's quick to laugh and smile and is just as happy being held by anyone who wants to interact with him. He especially loves it when his brother and sister come over to play with him.

He's rolling like a champ both ways and has started reaching for anything he can get a hold of in order to conduct as many taste test experiments as possible. A constant favorite is Mommy's hair despite her discouragement of such grabbing.

He is a good sleeper though of late he's been waking us up at 6:00am for a quick feeding before snoozing again until after 8:00.

I know that the milestones start quickly piling on from this point forward, and I'm excited. But I will hold onto the sweet baby moments with this one for as long as possible as well.

Happy 2nd Birthday Juliet!!!

Juliet is at the age where she doesn't want to smile for the camera.  Robby did the same thing at her age, and it is so sad because a two year old's smile is so sweet.  And, Juliet is so sweet.  Of course, this year her personality has really taken on a life of her own, and sweet is not necessarily the first word people would probably use to describe her.  I would use words like independent, spirited, charming, energetic, friendly, and happy as well.

She has clearly developed her own interests, which include shoes, jewelry, purses, chap (aka chapstick and/or makeup), and she loves the movie Tangled.  At school, they say that she loves to play with baby dolls, but she doesn't do that too much around the house.  She does love to go shopping, either in real stores or with her shopping cart and purses around our house.  She also loves to talk on the phone, especially when she gets to FaceTime with loved ones :)

As with seemingly most little girls, she has her daddy wrapped right up in her little finger, and she and her big brother are great friends.  She also loves hugging Lincoln, and it will be really fun when all three of them can play together.

She truly lights up any room that she walks into, and she makes me laugh and smile every single day.  She so clearly likes to make up her mind about things, and while she is certainly showing a two year old's attitude sometimes, just as often, she is very sweet and obedient.  Tonight, we were over at a friend's house, and I did not want her going up the stairs.  When she headed up, I called for her to come back down and was ignored.  So, I went upstairs and asked her to come down, and she looked at me and thought for a bit about what she wanted to do.  Finally, she said "okay Mommy!" and then every couple of steps on the way down she would say, "Welcome, mommy.  Welcome."  Clearly, she had done me a big service in her obedience :), but her sweet spirit was really shining through at that moment as well.

I am so proud of her and so grateful to have been given the gift of being her mommy.  I can't wait to see what this coming year will bring and what I will be saying about her by the time she turns three!

Look Who Started Rolling Over!

Heaven help us when we get to the mobile stages. :)

Sloan Family Zoo

My kids have created a zoo in our house. Much as in Good Night Gorilla, the animals seem to sneak their way into the zookeeper's bed at night. Fortunately for them, this particular animal liver doesn't seem to have a problem with that :)

New School

With our move this year out to a new city has come a change to move to a new school.  The two oldest kids were blessed to attend a wonderful school in Fort Worth, but when we moved, the drive to TLCC was prohibitive as a regular routine.  So, the kids have been out of a formalized school setting since the beginning of April and home with us full time.  While we love having them home, we also want them to have the benefit of the academic setting and social interactions that school offers, so this fall, we have enrolled them in a two day a week program at First Baptist Aledo.  For Robby, it is a preschool program, and for Juliet it is more of a play-centered environment.  Last week was their first full week of attendance, and they both really seem to love the school and are excited to go on school mornings.

The first pic is from when we took them to Meet the Teacher day a couple of weeks ago, and the second pic is from the actual first day of school.  The little guy will still be home with us full time this year, though based on his grin above, he seems okay with that :)

Happy 3 Months Lincoln!!

> Lincoln is getting so big already! My little man is three months old and has officially promoted upstairs to share a room with his big brother. He's also been going to the church nursery for about a month now and been totally spoiled by the workers in there. :).
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> He's not quite rolling over yet, but he's working hard on it and will be mastering it very soon I think.
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> He's also my first baby who has no interest in this thumb. Why suck a thumb when the whole fist is available for gnawing??
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> He is a complete master at smiling, cooing, and laughing, pretty much enrapturing everyone who gets around him for any time at all. I'm definitely extremely smitten with the guy :)
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