As the world Turners

We have had so much fun celebrating Halloween this year!!  We started off last night with an impromtu cookie decorating party with a few of Reilly's friends.  They had a blast!  I made some sugar cookies and buttercream frosting and had all kinds of sprinkles and goodies for them to decorate with.  Evan, Sophie and Chloe came over to join the fun...

Since our neighborhood is so fabulous, OF COURSE they do a pizza party to kick off the trick-or-treating extravaganza!!!  So, at 4:30, we packed up and headed over the other cul-de-sac and joined 100+ other folks for some pizza and Halloween pictures!  There are SOOOOO many kids in this neighborhood it's crazy.  At one point, we tried to get a group shot of most of them, but it ended up being pretty funny!  Reilly ended up trick-or-treating with her buddies Evan, Sophie and Chloe while the dads walked with them.  The girls all stayed back at one house with all of our candy bowls handing out candy to the kiddies!  When they were done, Reilly and her friends all just ran in circles on the driveway for about 45 minutes.  Reilly kept coming up to me saying, "mommy, this is so much FUN!"  so cute. 

Wow, the blog has been neglected...yet again!!!  Well, I have a good excuse!  Reilly came down with the swine flu/h1n1 flu over 2 weeks ago and she very nicely passed it on to Braxton as well.  We were all quite a mess around here for about 2 weeks.  Both kids were quite pitiful and required 100 times more attention than usual!  Needless to say, I was exhausted!!  We literally stayed inside for about 10 days...didn't do anything!  Whoa, that will make you really miss the common errand-running-outings!!!  Both are much better now, although Reilly still has a cough and Braxton still a runny nose.  I even got sick in the middle of it all, but luckily, not nearly as bad. 

Also, right in the middle of it all, I took a 2day trip to Chicago, by myself!, leaving both kids at home!!  It was way harder than I thougth it would be to leave them home, especially since they were both sick.  You know, when you're sick, you just want your mommy!!  Anyway, I had an amazing opportunity to attend a workshop by an internationally known photographer in Chicago and I couldn't pass it up.  So, off I went!!  Luckily, Shawn's mom and sister came in town to offer some help:) 

The day after I got back, Reilly's preschool class had a field trip to Patterson Farms to check out the pumpkin patch!!  She had so much fun, but was defintiely still feeling a bit out of it, having missed almost 2 weeks of school. 

Braxton is officially 7 months old and STILL doesn't have any teeth!!!  I honestly thought he was going to have teeth back at 15 weeks when he began teething like a fool!!  But, nothing yet!!  He is scooting on his tummy and moving all around, but not up on his hands and knees yet....which is just FINE with me!!  :)  He continues to put EVERYTHING in his mouth and chew away (and DROOL away!).  The whole eating thing has not been too big with him!  For some reason he just doesn't really care about eating solids!!  It's not that he doesn't like whatever I offer, he literally just doesn't want to open his mouth--no interest at all!!  for the past 2 days, he's done a bit better, and will actually eat about 2.5 Tbsp of cereal mixed with some breastmilk and fruit and about 2 Tbsp of a vegetable (squash is a big hit all of the sudden!).  He's still just a skinny thing...but I guess that's the way he's made! 

Today we took the kiddos to get our pumpkin.  I have been wanting to visit the Bradford Store (up on 73); it's the real cool produce/homemade baked goods, jams, preserves/plant/organic store.  I figured they probably also had pumpkins and sure enough, they did.  But they aren't your typical pumpkin and they weren't in your typical "pumpkin patch".  They were placed on the front porch of this old building that sits on the farm and they were short, squatty looking things!!  Oh well, it made for good pictures....that's all it's really about, right?!!

****there are FOUR more posts under this....so keep reading!!! ****

Things have been quite busy around here lately.  Not only is this the busiest time of year for photography, but I was once again the chairperson for the annual Young Life banquet.  It requires a LOT of time and energy, especially during the last two weeks leading up.  It was an absolutely AMAZING night....best banquet we've ever had, by far.  Reilly and Braxton are growing like weeds...seriously!  Reilly is loving preschool and frequently talks about her friends.  She also does lots of imaginative play with her "Friends" when she gets home...carrying them one by one from room to room on her shoulder and talking to them about what she's doing.  It's pretty cute.  I think we've finally gotten past the drop-off issues we were having a couple weeks at preschool and now she asks if she can go to school on days that she's not supposed to!  She LOVES playing with Braxton and he really enjoys her too.  Reilly spent the past few days with my parents in Greensboro and Braxton looked for her every time he was awake!  It was really sweet.  He just laughs and smiles at her when she talks to him.  Braxton is sitting up and playing with all kinds of toys these days.  He's even starting to scoot on his belly and gets into all-4's sometimes.  Today he finally started real babbling sounds:  "babababa"....SO cute!  He's so iffy on the whole eating solids thing.  One day he eats all the cereal and veggie I fix and the next day he doesn't want any of it.  I'm sure it will click with him sooner or later, but right now he's not too terribly into it!  So far, he's had sweet potatoes, avacado, carrots, pears and apples.  He doesn't LOVE any of it, but seems to tolerate it ok when he's interested.  We had some rainy days last week, so Reilly loves for me to make her a "tent" to play in on days when we're stuck inside. 

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"Braxton, the phone is for you":

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Reilly is obsessed with taking pictures!!!  (go figure)  Funny thing, she's actually pretty good at getting the camear pointed in the right direction!

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We had a very special evening last Wednesday.  Not only was it my mom's birthday, but Braxton was Dedicated at church in a very intimate and significant service.  It was so special.  Our pastor, Jim, said a special prayer of blessing and dedication over Braxton and Shawn and I made public commitments to raise him in a Christian home where we model what it looks like to walk with Christ, put our marriage first, and teach him about a relationship with Jesus.  It was surreal having Reilly sitting next to us the entire time since it seems like just yesterday we were at her Infant Dedication service!  After the service, we went out to dinner to celebrate mom's birthday.  Of course we went to On The Boarder, where they made her stand up in her seat, wave a napkin above her head, and dance while they sang to her!  It was great.

Well, we finally decided it was time to put up the "big girl bed" that's been hanging out in our garage for the past 2 weeks since it was delivered!  as always, there's a little bit of anxiety associated with change, and I've kinda been putting it off to prevent having to risk any hiccups in Reilly's sleeping routines!  But, Shawn convinced me that there would never be a "perfect" time to do it, so today was as good as any other day!  We let Reilly say "bye bye" to the borrowed crib she's been using since we moved into the new house last year, as we knew her old crib would go straight to the nursery for Braxton's arrival.  She was super excited about all the new big-girl stuff:  bed, bedding, dresser, etc.  Of course, it took a few extra visits to her room tonight to assure her that she would indeed be able to fall asleep if she just closed her eyes.  She made sure I would come get her in the morning and asked, "mommy, you come get me when I wake tomorrow, right?"  so cute.  It's so hard watching her grow up!! 

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sleep tight my little buddy!!

I remembered my camera at gymnastics last Monday, so here are lots of video clips to help share what fun it is!!

The other night we took a walk up tot he pond to feed the ducks (one of Reilly's FAVORITE things to do) and stopped by the park on our way back home.  We decided to let Braxton have his first "ride" on the swings!  Boy did he love it!  He just sat there, as happy as ever, while the swing went back and forth.  He could have stayed in there for hours!

Tonight, I had THE MOST FUN with Reilly!!!!  We started a gymnastics class for 2-3 yr. olds!!!  Two of the little girls in her preschool class are doing it with us and it was SO much fun!!  Having spent countless hours in a gym myself growing up, I was in heaven being in an old, warehouse full of gym equipment!!  I was blown away at all the things they teach and let little ones do!  Reilly did fabulous!  and boy did she have a blast!  She had a smile on her face the entire time!  She got to do handstands, bars, walk on the balance beam, jump on the trampoline, do forward rolls, and other fun things on the floor!  And, I totally forgot my camera!!!!!  Seriously?  what kind of mom am I (or photographer, for that matter??!!)!!!  But, lucky for me, one of the other mom's had a fancy phone and took a couple pics for me.  Trust me, I'll not only have photos but videos as well after next week's class!!  For now, check these two out...

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