Halloween Happenings!

This Halloween season we had lots and lots of fun. We were able to do and go to everything we wanted. It all started with going to the pumpkin patches and picking out our pumpkins. Once Savannah found the perfect pumpkin, which let me tell you she took forever finding it, we took it home. She carried it around for days treating it like her baby and pampering it. Finally she let us carve it out. Here are the kids cleaning out the pumpkin guts. Austin, however, was not a big fan. One day while we were shopping (surprise) at Toys R Us, we were checking out the halloween costumes. Savannah saw the perfect outfit and spotted a very sparkly dress. To my surprise she did not want to be a princess, but she wanted to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I loved the idea and my mind went wondering from there....

Bear got lucky and got an outfit this year too. Not that he was any too happy, but he sure did make a good Bat Bear. Thanks Kermie for being to little for the costume and sharing it with Bear.Here is Savannah and her best bud, McKinley at the Indianapolis Zoo Boo event. They make such a great pair. I hope it continues and they remain friends for years to come.
The best part of this Halloween was coming up with the family costumes. I had a great time. Once Savannah decide to be Dorothy, I decided we would do the Wizard of Oz theme as a family. Usually we don't dress up, but since my aunt was having a Halloween Party and you were supposed to be in costume, I thought this was perfect. So I found Austin the cutest Lion outfit. Last was coming up with the scarecrow and the tin man. If you can imagine, Ricky was not too fond of my ideas, but being a good man that he is, he went with it. Well after a lot of thought I finally found and came up with the tin man gear. Above is Ricky the Tin Man and to my surprise, he won the best costume at my aunts party.
Here we all are as the Wizard of Oz. I really got into the Halloween season this year. Not only was coming up with the cosumes fun, but this year trick or treating was just as fun. Savannah really got into this year. Last year we had to carry her and only go to a few select houses. This year was a totally different story. We started off with a few houses in our neighborhood then headed out to the Calleja's (1 of their sitters) to do some trick or treating. Once in the other neighborhood, Savannah really took off and was eager to go. She walked the whole neighborhood and it is not a small hood to say the least. She even walked up to every door by herself, but before heading to the door, she would repeat, "are you sure?" It became more of a joke than anything. Here she is trick or treating and getting into the Halloween spirit. My little girl is growing up and Austin is not too far behind.
Happy Halloween and next year will be hard to top.

Pumpking Works 2010

Monday, we went to one of our favorite fall activities. About 20minutes from T.H is a place called Pumpkin Works. Here they have corn mazes, hay rides, and all kinds of inside mazes. There are many activities for the kids to enjoy and have fun in at, both scary and non scary. There were to many pictures to choose from so here is a slideshow of how much fun we had.

First Baptist Preschool

Well as I stated back in August, Savannah is now an official
Terre Haute First Baptist Preschooler. We thought this would be a hard transition for her since it is early in the morning, but we have had no problems. She now wakes up daily before 9:00 am, which is not always good for mommy and daddy, but we will take it. She absolutely loves preschool and has already learned lots. She comes home with something new every Tuesday and Thursday. Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with the class and see how Savannah acts and handles things while in school. When I first arrived, Savannah didn't see me enter the room, which I was glad. I got to see her reactions and actions towards Miss Dawn and how she does follow instructions. When Savannah did spot me at the door, she stood up and loudly stated, Hey that's my mommy at the door. It was priceless. That day was a beautiful day. Dobb's Park is right across from the school so we walked over there and toured the park. On our travels to the park, the kids were to pick up leaves and any cool treasures along the way. There were many pretty leaves as it is starting to turn into fall.

Here is a picture of everyone in her class.They are all so cute and well mannered little beings.

Lowe's Build and Grow Clinics

Since before Austin and when I was on bedrest, Savannah got to partake in these clinics. One Saturday morning, our good friend, Lynn, took Savannah to one of these. Lowe's has these clinics for kids to make their own projects using hammer and nails. They make fun things like tic tac toe boxes, basketball goals, bug boxes, etc. Savannah has been to a few with Lynn and McKinley and Lynn has even just picked up a few for us. Several weekends ago, the whole family got to go for the first time. We had a great time.
Mommy and Savannah using the hammer and nails to put together our project. Savannah has got quite the skills for this especially since her daddy hasn't taught her anything she knows (being a handy man and all.)
Austin had to be a part of this experience. You see Savannah received an apron and goggles for safety the first time she came. They are supposed to wear these while building, but Savannah did not want to wear hers so Austin got the chance.
Here is Savannah and her final project for the week. It is a dog leash holder. It works well in the garage and she smiles everytime we use it. This is great fun and gives great experiences to kids and the best part is it's FREE. What else can I say?

Stay Tuned....

Over the summer we decided that we were going to start Savannah in preschool. We visited and toured many schools and decided on Terre Haute First Baptist Church Preschool. This Thursday we have a parent meeting and then on Friday Savannah gets to go and meet her teacher and see her classroom along with some of her classmates. The next Tuesday, August 31 Savannah will have her official first day of preschool. Stay tuned for pictures and the outcome.

Savannah's 3rd Birthday Excitement!

On August 6, 2007, we officially became parents to a beautiful baby girl. Here it is 3 years later and oh my, where did the time go. Savannah Lynn has become a special and wonderful girl. She is so smart and witty. Not sure where she gets it all from but we love her and would not change anything for the world. You have and will continue to make us a proud mommy and daddy.
Her birthday started with the day before Elyse coming over and babysitting for a couple of hours. Elyse knows what Savannah likes and brought her a delicious cupcake. On Savannah's official birthday day, we started off with a mommy and daughter festivity. We got pedicure's. Savannah loves her toes to be painted so I thought this would be a special treat. She sat there and loved every moment of it. Oh and of all colors to paint her nails, she chooses blue. What the heck, they turned out pretty anyway.

Mommy and Savannah's final outcome.

We then went home packed up and headed to Brownsburg, for yet another suprise for Savannah. Savannah has developed a love for horses. There are horses that live just down the street from us and almost everyday we have to pass them and say hello. She is always talking to them. My mom's boss and his wife have 2 horses of their own. We thought how cool would it be to see a horse up close and personal and let her have the opportunity to ride one. So once in Brownsburg, we headed over to the Hostetter's. Savannah had no clue what we were doing and when she saw the horses, she was thrilled. Well, she was a little bit frightened at first, but who wouldn't be with these extra large animals right in front of you. She warmed up and eventually sat on the horse named Mic with daddy. They even got to walk around in the yard some.

On Saturday, the next day, we threw Savannah a birthday party. As usual since it is sooo hot in August, we had her party at Pam and Ralph's pool. The theme to her party was Toy Story. Here is the fabulous and delicious cake with slinky dog. It was so good that we did not even have any left overs for later. What a disappointment, guess we will have to get a larger cake next year or not invite as many people.

Savannah hanging with the gang, Woody, Jessi, and Buzz Lightyear.

Savannah was spoiled yet once again and got many great presents. This year mommy and daddy bought her the Thomas the Train we promised her when she was a big girl and went potty on the toilet. It just happened to be a few weeks before her birthday so we lucked out and were able to pull being a big girl off along with her birthday. My uncle Dan even made her an awesome train table for it. He did an awesome job and we greatly appreciate his time and hard work. Savannah and Austin will get much use out of this present for many years to come. Happy Birthday to our sweet, well most of the time, little girl. I would say angel, but that might be stretching it a little too far. We love you.

Sunday and Monday after her birthday we headed to Santa Claus, Indiana to Holiday World with the Miller's and Nanny. This was everyone's first trip to Holiday World. On Monday when we went to the park, it was one of the hottest days of the summer. This is why there were only a few select pictures. It was too hot to take any pictures. Most of the day was spent in the water park, especially by mom and Austin. Those two sat in the baby pool with there bottoms in the water and while mom was holding Austin he slept. Savannah was a little whiney and slow to warm up, but once comfortable she had a good time. We nearly closed the park and headed home.

This birthday weekend was a success. Savannah says she loved it all and it brings a smile to her face. That is all mommy and daddy wanted for this special day. We love you Savannah Lynn:)

4 Months

Austin was 4 months old on July 3. This has been a big month for the little guy. At the Dr office he weighed in at 15 pounds and was 25 1/4 inches. That puts him in the 75th percentile for both wieght and height. Way to go, buddy!

Not sure at this moment, but here is Austin already getting his first haircut. My sister did a little trimming job around the ears and in the back. He was developing a mullet and needed a little something done. She did a great job and now he looks like a little handsome guy.

Austin also had his first giggle out loud this month. Of course he was laughing and looking at Savannah when he did it. Go figure, the boy loves his big sister.

Here is Austin trying to figure out how to eat some rice cereal. We have given it to him a few times and he is still trying to figure it all out. I suppose one day he will figure it out and then we will be on our way for him to eat us out of house and home. I will regret this someday.

Our little guy is getting so big so fast. I cannot believe where the time has gone. And guess what? Savannah will be 3 years old and heading to preschool in August. Will keep you updated on that soon. Stay posted........

Fourth of July

This 4th of July was much better than last years. If you can remember it was the coldest fourth of July and on top of that it was raining. This year it was nice and sunny. Here we are starting the day off at the Brownsburg parade. We met up with the Miller Family and watched the parade. Savannah was not all that into the candy part, while Libby and Chloe were collecting as much as they could.

After the parade, we headed to the Robinson's Annual 4th of July pool party. We swam the rest of the day away and enjoyed every minute of the sun. Savannah was a brave girl. She wore this ring all day long and would go about and swim by herself, with someone watching, of course. The little thing is such a stinker and can you believe she is darker than her momma.

Of course, what would be a 4th of July party with Andy and Christina surprising everyone and showing up in Indiana. Almost every year they say they aren't gonna make it and then here they come rolling in. We loved having them home and seeing them once again. They love too far away in Vegas. Austin just loved Andy, here he is meeting and just smiling and talking away at him for the first time. I think they need to hurry up and get married and have some kids of their own.

We ended the night with some sparklers, which Savannah thoroughly enjoyed.

Summer Fun!

We have had a great summer. Here are a few pictures of just some of the things we have participated in.

Daddy and Papaw finally got a sand box put together for Savannah. It has been part of our playset outside for over a year now, just never stopped and set the sand in or anything like that. Savannah likes to play in the sand, but being the girly girl she is was a little hesitant at first with putting her hands and feet completely in the sand.

During the summer, each week the Terre Haute's Indiana Theatre puts on a movie for kids and it is free for all. The very first week we were able to attend and went with Lynn and McKinley. This was McKinley first movie in a movie theatre and Savannah had just been to 1 before. They absolutely loved it. We saw Ice Age 3 and of course had to get some popcorn. The Indiana Theatre is an old, but beautiful place. I had never been there and was quite impressed, well minus the old beaten up seats. We had a great time.

Here was Savannah playing with letters and thought we would involve Bear somehow. Do you think he is enjoying this? At least he posed well for me.

This was when we went to the Strawberry Festival here in Terre Haute. Early that day we had just shown Savannah that the back seat comes off on our stroller and you can sit or stand. She loved it and wanted to take it that night and use it. It worked out well because all the kids actually fit in it and were fighting over who got to sit where. It was too cute.

Over a span of 6 weeks, some girls from high school all had babies pretty close together. Starting from the left is Sarah (Sullivan) Davis boy, Luke and girl, Norah. Middle front, well you know those 2. Middle back is baby girl Ava and big brother Ethan. Stefanie (Harter) Purdy's kids. On the far right is baby Lilly and big sister Alana. Amy (Denny) Spenos's children. Austin is the oldest and Lilly was born 6 weeks after him with the others all in between. Since we were all on maternity leave, we decided to meet up and have a play date. It was nice to catch up and see what everyone is doing, all while they kids had some fun.

Savannah has been a little on the wimpy side this summer. When it is hot, she says it is too hot for her to play outside. This is just killing Ricky, he loves to go outside and sweat. Occassionally she will go outside to play in her water sprinkler. But it has to be on her terms and she has to have the level of sprinkle just where she wants it. Here they are having some fun. So far Summer 2010 has brought us much fun and have enjoyed every minute. Love spending time with our little family of 4.

St Louis Trip

Toward the end of June, we took a little vacation to St Louis, Missouri. I have never been there myself and it had been a long time since Ricky had been. We have always heard that there are great and free things for kids to do, so we wanted to check it out ourselves. We were actually able to make it work where we could also go with some great friends. Savannah, of course, was in heaven because she got to with McKinley. We all packed and headed out of T.H. early on a Wednesday morning. We weren't sure how Austin would handle a 3 hour car ride, but to our surprise, he did a great job heading down, but riding back to T.H was a different story. Besides our fast and short trip to East St Louis (thanks to Ricky) our first stop was Grant's Farm. Here was Ricky and Savannah feeding some baby goats a bottle. It was quite funny. These baby goats were quite aggressive and acted like they never got fed. This was when they first entered the gated area. See Savannah standing, well just a second after I got this picture the goats spotted the bottle in her hand and plowed her over. Excuse me for laughing, but it was hilarious. Savannah, however, did not think it was quite so funny. Ricky to the rescue.

After that episode Savannah decided she would feed the goats from outside the fence.
We chose 3 of the hottest days of the summer to be in St Louis. It was scorching outside, but we had a great time. The next day we got up and headed off to the St Louis Zoo. Here we are at the beginning and able to get a family picture, plus 1. Thanks McKinley, maybe in a couple years this is what our family will look like with 3 kids. We will see.Savannah wanted to get her face painted and chose to get a butterfly. McKinley decided on a giraffe. These 2 kids are the cutest and when they are together they have an ultimate blast. I hope this continues as the get bigger.
If there is a carousel around, we are there. Here is Savannah and daddy riding and having a good time. Who knows what Savannah is looking at?

As we were leaving the zoo, McKinley wanted to ride the train so the Vernon's chose that route, while the Semmlers hoofed it on foot. We were unable to take the stroller on the train. Now our stroller is a sit n stand stroller and as we were leaving Savannah was riding on the stand part while Austin was in the sitting part. Savannah was so exhausted that she was falling asleep standing up. I literally had to take her and place her in the seating part and hold Austin. Here is the picture of her sacked out and she ended up taking a good hour nap. McKinley on the otherhand, was raring to go and could not understand why Savannah was sleeping.

After leaving the zoo, we decided to head towards the Arch. The Onstar navigation people had no idea what the St Louis Arch was so we ended up having to locate it all on our own. It took a little longer to get there but we finally made it and somewhat safely. I am not sure how many curbs we curbed while on this trip, but we made it.

Here we are at the top of the arch and looking out the windows. Savannah did well with the gettign up there and looking out, but after about 5 minutes she was ready to head back down. The Vernon's decided to stay grounded because they were unsure how McKinly would do with heading to the top. I was a little nervous at first but decided to go anyway. The elevators were a little small, but nothing too bad. We survived.
Here is our family photo while at the top of the arch. I am sure glad we chose to go up and see. We all enjoyed and you can see that Austin really enjoyed it. Austin did not see a thing, he slept the whole entire trip to the arch. Apparently the zoo was too much for him.

After the zoo, we ended up getting lost once again. We were going to go to some Incredible Pizza Place where they have a pizza buffet and glow in the dark bowling and putt putt, but when we finally arrived they were officially closing. We were so disappointed. We ended up heading across the street to TGI Fridays. This is where McKinley will tell you that he went poopy in the potty for the first time. We ate dinner and headed back to the hotel to recooperate and see what the next day brings.

Friday before heading home we stopped at The Magic House (Children's Musuem.) Austin absolutely loved it here, as you can see by his expression. There were tons of kids running around to watch, millions of colors, and lot and lots to do.

While Lynn and I waited in line and bought lunch, Cary and Ricky took the kids outside and they played in this little water canal. Here is a picture of Savannah being a little lady while McKinley is driving the boat. She looks a little scared?

We ate lunch and then we had also purchased a special dessert surprise. We bought cupcakes that you got to decorate yourself. McKinley had his cupcake decorated and devoured while Savannah daintily decorated her cupcake.
Finally after decorating her cupcake, she decided to taste it and was quite pleased with herself.

We headed indoors to partake in all the activities. Savannah kept going back to this little ice cream parlor. She loved to scoop the ice cream, put it on the cone, and then hand it out. Here she is making some ice cream for some little girl. It was adorable. She loved it so much that I just had to purchse the item (minus the stand) in the gift store. To this day she still passes out ice cream to her daddy and I. I have gotten my money's worth.

At some part in the day, we decided to wait in this line to touch a ball and it had static and made your hand stand straight out. When we got to the front, for some reason, Savannah got scared and would not partake in it. Therefore, mommy had to do it and here is the picture. Don't you think I look beautiful? We ended the trip with the Magic House. We would be returning to Terre Haute from here. We had a great trip and glad we got to share our fun with Lynn, Cary, and of course McKinley. Definitely a place to go with kids. We were tired, hot, and just plain exhausted. We were ready to go and be home, especially mommy and daddy after the lovely car ride home. Austin decided he did not want to sit in his carseat and he was not giving up. We pulled over once and he was fine, but when placed back in the car it started all over again. He cried for at least 1 hour. You name it, we tried it. Eventually something worked and he cried himself to sleep, but not for long. Finally we were home and able to rest and recooperate.