Happy Halloween!

My Growing Belly: 28 Weeks

Things are certainly moving right along . . . hard to believe that tomorrow will be November already!! CRAZY!? And even worse, that Kinsey will be 2 on Friday . . . how is that possible?! Anyway, here is a 28 week picture of me. My doctor's appointment went fine on Thursday . . . Kayleigh was measuring just 1 week ahead (at 29) and her heart rate sounded great 130-140. I had my glucose test and got my rhogam shot (since I'm rh negative). Getting that was a story in and of itself, but thankfully that LONG wait is over and I may not need the second one if she shares mine and Kinsey's blood type. I go back in 3 weeks, on November 18th, at 31 weeks (just the way it worked out with my midwife and her schedule). So the whole crew will come with me then, since they will go ahead and do my 32 week 4D sonogram a week early!! It will be great to see Kayleigh again and even better to find out if the placenta previa issue has corrected itself or what the next several weeks will hold for us.

Trick-or-Treat

We took the kids trick-or-treating tonight . . . Jackson was SO excited that he didn't nap today! Thankfully the monsoon stopped and we were able to go around our neighborhood. They both had a great time going door-to-door and saying "trick or treat" and "Happy Halloween"! And Kinsey didn't quite understand that she should wait to sample all the goodies until later . . . so after the first house she was already eating a sucker!

Lunch Concert with Jackson

Jackson is so wound up after Tuesday morning Sonshine School. And today was no exception . . . after lunch he asked to play his guitar and proceeded to give us a rather lengthy concert of random songs he would remember or make up. It was HILARIOUS! He is definitely his Daddy's boy : ) Here are a few excerpts of our lunch concert with Jackson:

Carving Pumpkins

We had a fun night tonight carving our pumpkins and watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". Obviously, I love fall and all the fun activities and outings . . . hence the overload of pictures this month! However, I must confess that actually scooping out a pumpkin to carve it is not exactly my favorite!

Thankfully, Dave loves to help the kids carve the pumpkins and all the yuckiness involved. He worked on the first one and neither of the kids were interested in scooping it out or helping with that part at all. In fact, Jackson said, "that is uscusting!" (disgusting). But by the second one, they were fighting over who could use the little shovel to scoop it out. I got several pictures of Kinsey with her arm all the way down inside the pumpkin . . .proving once again, that she definitely has her Daddy's DNA in her!!
Daddy was a good sport and did a great job duplicating the faces each kid picked out for their pumpkin. After supper, we lite the candles inside and they were both really excited to go out and see their pumpkins glow!

Playing in the Leaves . . .

Marlow's Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to Marlow's Pumpkin Patch again this year. My mom was down visiting, so she joined us. It had rained all night last night, so it was a bit muddy, but the kids still loved exploring. Kinsey really liked seeing all of the characters, especially Elmo.


























We did get to take a hayride on the "pirate ship", which both the kids loved! It was a fun morning and of course, we got several great pictures!

Hawkins-Schwartz Apple Orchard

We went with our MOPS group for an outing to Hawkins-Schwartz Apple Orchard. It was a very chilly morning, but the kids had fun exploring the straw maze, playing a few games, tasting some apple cider and then taking home some yummy apples and a little pumpkin.

Kinsey could not understand the "apple toss" game and instead wanted to eat the apples rather than toss them! We finally got her a clean one at the end that she could enjoy and only the core was left by the time we got home . . . my kids LOVE apples! I posted all of these pictures on facebook, but here are a few for the blog!

Kinsey's ABCs

Kinsey singing her ABCs . . . of course, when Dave got home from work at lunchtime, she sang the whole thing start to finish without any help! And as usual, I didn't have my camera going then!! Oh well, this version is still pretty cute too : )

Pumpkin Picking

Some friends from church offered to let the kids come and pick a pumpkin out of the field behind their house . . . however, we had to come over Sunday after lunch. Kinsey was really worn out, so she and I stayed at home. And Jackson and Dave went out and picked out two pumpkins. Jackson was so proud to show me the two he had picked for us when he got home!

Cardinal's Playoff Game

My parents scored some tickets to Saturday night's Cardinal's playoff game against the Dodgers. They had enough that Dave could take Jackson and my brother-in-law Brent could take their little boy Blake. Unfortunately, the Cardinals never really came alive in the post season, so it didn't turn out to be much of a game, but it is always fun to experience the atmosphere of Busch Stadium!

Day Out with Thomas

My sister and mom asked us if we all wanted to go over to Granite City on Saturday for a "Day Out with Thomas". The kids had a great time, though muddy, it was a beautiful day! They got to take a train ride on Thomas, play at the train tables, in a ball pit and inflatables, meet Sir Topham Hatt, ride a little train, get "choo-choo" tattoos (as Kinsey calls hers), and more. Here are a few pictures for the blog of our fun!

Mommy's Little Helpers

Little Egypt Parade

This past Saturday was the Little Egypt Festival and Parade in our town. Originally, I was going to walk with our MOPS group and push the kids in the stroller, but my midwife thought that might not be the best idea. So instead, I got to watch with Dave and the kids. A few pictures of the kids all sugared up as they literally ate their way through the parade. . . at one point Kinsey had multiple suckers that she was trying to shove in her mouth all at the same time! I am sure the BIG bag of candy we collected will more than carry us over until Halloween!!