Happy Halloween!

For Halloween I borrowed Red Hatter stuff from great Gramma and James was an old man! Our little chicklets looked adorable too :) We had a great time hosting our annual halloween party on Friday night, there were lots of great costumes and we played a fun new murder mystery game to mix things up a bit. There was a winking killer on the loose, and if someone got winked at they had 3 minutes to act out their death. At the end of the night there was a prize for the best death (Papa in his gangster suit with his machine gun) and for the best costumes (the wizard of oz crew). It was funny to have random people jumping off chairs, melting to death, banging their heads into walls and catching fire all night! James sister Becca spent the night with us and we spent halloween morning watching scary movies and playing with the girls, it was lots of fun!

Halloween night we trick-or-treated a few houses in our neighborhood with the girls and then went to see Carrie, Christian and Pete - the turtle :) There was a halloween festival with bounce houses and then we had some great pizza and wine. It was a wonderful weekend, the only downfall being that the girls now have a taste for candy and they LOVE it!

Home Sweet Home

Sometimes it just feels good to spend the day at home together! Here are some random pictures from around the house...which by the way is looking really good lately after James and his Dad put a new roof on and James replaced the screens, repainted the windows and stained the pergola again! We have officially repaired all of the hail damage from that summer storm.

This is our patio after an October blizzard! We couldn't wait to hit the slopes after seeing all that snow!!
The girls first time in their little snow-suits, playing in a much lighter snow fall earlier that week. They love the snow!

They were sitting inside these barstools and racing across the floor

Cutie pies!

We spent Sunday morning reading the paper together, it was pretty fun for all of us!

Cousins!

Montana Visit

I had so much fun taking the girls to Montana with Mimi and Papa to spend some time with everyone there. Funny how the plane ride seems to quadruple in time when you have a little one on your lap, but the girls did fine and we survived yet another airplane ride with twins :) We realized on our last night there that we forgot to take any pictures the whole weekend, but we had fun visiting with Great Grammy and Papa, going to Staacks Suzuki shop, visiting with Auntie Geri, Steve, and Wendy and Ed, JoAnne, Brian, Erin and Bradie, and going to Lydias for Great Gramma and Grampas 60th wedding anniversary. Auntie Geri and Great-Grampa babysat the girls one night so we got to go out to dinner and enjoy some time with Great-Grammy. Geri had a blast with the girls and by the end of the night they were all running around screaming and laughing :)

The girls spent lots of time running up and down the hallway...then stopping in the corner to shriek and laugh - so cute


They enjoyed playing with Uncle Ed. He taught Isabella how to do this crazy cough where her whole body shakes and she looks like the incredible hulk, she still likes to do it constantly!

Sitting with Mimi and Great Gramma in their little ballerina pjs

So much fun to see them on Great Grampas lap, I remember when I was little there was a whole line of us cousins waiting to sit on his lap! The best seat in the house!

We were packing up getting ready to go to bed on our last night there when we discovered Great Grammas enormous collection of Red Hatter stuff. It was Mimi's idea to put some of it on and go surprise her!

We laughed so hard, what a great way to end a fun vacation! We will miss everybody in Butte and hope to get back again soon

Just before the trip to Montana Mimi and Papa went on a hot air balloon ride for Mimis 50th birthday and Papas 52nd, just wanted to throw in a few pictures from their adventure.

Beautiful Girls

Sharing a snack
We took them to the museum this weekend - their favorite part was running around in the park afterwards....freeeeeeedooooom!

Cute patoots!

Proud daddy showing off his cutie pie girls!

Isabella talking on the phone at home - this might be a hint that I'm on the phone too much :)

Sophia playing Peek-A-Boo!

Pumpkin Patch

We took the girls to the Longmont pumpkin patch last year and decided to go back again this year, even though it is a long drive we love it there. The girls had much more fun this year than last as they actually got to participate in some of the fun things for kids. There was a petting zoo, carnival rides, and their favorite - the bounce house!

Mommy pulling the girls around the patch in a wagon The girls under the magic tree - by this time they spotted the bounce house and only wanted to go there!

Finally! Isabella got fed up with dilly dallying around the pumpkin patch and got out of the wagon to run over to the bounce house :) It was cute, they had so much fun in there!

In fact, they has so much fun we went back again a few days later - this time they were in there with lots of big kids and they held their own, we were proud of them!

We can't wait for next year already!

18 months

The girls will be 18 months old on November 4th, and they had their 18 month check-up on Thursday with Dr. Knott. He said they are doing great! Sophia is still in the 25% for weight (22.9lbs) and height (30.75 inches). Isabella is 5% for weight (20.4lbs) and 10% for height (30 inches. They both still have big heads 90 and 85%!

They are right where they should be with motor skills and language. Such big girls lately, they mimic us constantly and have lots of new words. Sophia says mama, dada, dog, whats that, uh-oh, hi , sock and there (when she's handing us something). Isabella says mama, dada, dog, uh-oh, hi, whats that, car, and sock. They babble all the time and do some games like pretend to sleep and high five. Isabella likes to hide behind things when it's time for nap :) and she can give kisses. Sophia is so close to giving kisses but she makes a funny fish face instead, very cute. They both have 16 teeth already so we are done with teething until the 2-year molars - whew!

They are getting pretty good at eating with forks and spoons and lately we give them a plate at the table instead of using the high-chair tray. So far they love it! They can even feed themselves yogurt or cottage cheese using spoons and a little bowl. It's fun having all four of us around the table, our little family :)

Birthday Brunch

This year was the big 50th birthday for Mimi, and Papa turned 52 a few days later....we had a birthday brunch at our house to celebrate. Happy Birthday Mimi and Papa!

James and Bradley manning the waffle station, they look like they are up to something....


Yep, definitely up to trouble! No wonder the waffle recipe didn't make as many as it should :)

Turned out to be a beautiful day so we had brunch outside

Papa and Isabella snuggling on the couch - they were watching the bronco game

So cute!

Kid central!

Playing dress up

Sophia just loves to play dress-up! She tried on her christmas hat and got her purse out, then she was trying on my shoes and she looked like a little old lady getting ready to go out on the town - she cracks us up!

We found these chicken outfits for their halloween costumes this year - they are so cute! We have had little chickens running around our house ever since, the girls would live in these outfits 24/7 if we let them :)
Our girlie girls absolutely love to try on new clothes and parade around the house...these cute little dresses came from Great-Grammy at my baby shower

Sophia was putting on everything she could find :) Bronco shirt, coat, hat, sunglasses, check!