8 Months Old

Ryen is now officially 8 months old and very active.  This girl learned to crawl and pull herself up at 6 months old and hasn't stopped.  Now, her favorite thing to do is to walk around holding onto different pieces of furniture.  I am sure it will be no time before she is actually off and walking.

Now that she is active, sitting and taking pictures for mom was not something she was excited about doing for very long.  Thankfully, big sister Avery was there to...ugh....help?

I feel like looking at this picture, they really look like sisters...

Ryen has also been a great eater!  Her most recent favorite foods are beets and apricots.

She has also started trying to feed herself puffs, cereal, crackers, bits of banana and just tonight we tried mashed potato balls....

Avery is loving preschool and we thankfully get to hear her practicing all of her Christmas songs for their upcoming concert.  Yes, I have already prepared myself to get there super early to get a good spot, make sure my camera batteries are charged in the flip camera, digital camera, and my phone.  No, I don't know how I will hold all of them, but they will be ready.  I have also come to terms with the fact that I will cry (maybe the flip camera isn't a good idea).  I will be that mom...and I will be proud of it and love every moment of it.  There will be an entire post about her concert....you wait.  Or skip it.

Here's a few more pictures of what we have been doing:

Ryen had croup and had to visit our doctor and was very happy about it.

Avery's friend Jaelyn bought her a new shirt.  She loves it!

Dave and Avery spent one morning painting bird houses.  You know, for all the ones that stick around for cold Illinois winters.  :)

Avery also loves reading to us.  She was very kind to share her animals with daddy.  He loved every minute of this.

Preschool!!

Avery has started preschool!  Okay, so it is Tuesday and Thursday for 2-1/2 hours, but it is preschool!  She is really excited (maybe about as excited as mom, but still really happy to be going!)  It is in the same town where I teach and without help from Auntie Thayre, her godmother, this wouldn't be happening.  Thayre is one of the teachers and preschool is from 9-11:30, right when I am teaching.  Thankfully, I get to drop Avery off in the morning and she goes with Auntie Thayre to school and then she gets dropped off at my school just in time for my lunch break.  I run her to Megan's and back to work I go!  Crazy, yes, but so worth it.

Avery's first day was this past Tuesday.  Thanks also to Auntie Beth, I was able to take Avery while she covered my class for a little bit.  Avery sure was ready that morning!

After dropping Ryen off at daycare, Avery and I stopped for donuts and she got to eat them in mommy's classroom.

Once my kids began arriving, she very sweetly found something to do while waiting to leave for school.  She looks like she is ready for school!

Then, it was time to leave and off we went.  She skipped the entire way into preschool and once she saw Auntie Thayre, she squealed with delight!  Quickly she wanted to know where her coat hook was and what the numbers on the floor were for and asked several questions rapid fire!  Within a minute of being there, she quickly spotted her friend Teagan, whose mom is the other teacher, and it was all smiles.  

It was a quick bye mom, a hug, a kiss and off she went.  I snuck around the corner to grab this quick picture before leaving.

She didn't stop talking about it all night, or all this week for that matter.  I am so happy she loved it so much.  When I asked her how her first day went, she said, "Great.  I read a story, sang a song about a turkey 'gobble, gobble, gobble,' made friends with everyone, played with Teagan and the girl in the owl shirt, had a snack, and I LOVED it!"  

In other happenings, these girls have been pretty silly lately.  It makes Dave and I so excited to watch them play together!

Empty box = boat for Ryen

When I found Ryen in the bathroom doing this, I just cracked up!  About the same age, we found Avery doing the exact same thing.  Silly girl!!  I think she could have played there all day!

Now that Ryen is teething and using the freezer rings, Avery has needed one too...

While I was busy cleaning out Avery's closet, Ryen found herself a new hiding place and a place to play the drums!

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween celebration seemed to last the entire week leading up to the actual holiday.  The Friday before, the Antfellners came to visit for the weekend.  That night we went trick or treating in downtown Bloomington at all the stores.

Then, on Saturday. we went to the local pumpkin farm to play for a bit and get some pumpkins.

That night, Dave and I had tickets to go and see Bill Cosby at ISU!  We were so excited....an then we got to our seats.  It was a good thing there were jumbo screens!  That little red dot to the right of Dave's finger is the table next to the chair he would be sitting in.  :)  He was hilarious and we found it all very relevant now that we have our own girls.

Speaking of our girls, they were at home in great hands with Robyn, Ralph, Ashley and Patrick.  Auntie Patrick (as Avery calls him) brought down two of his childhood favorite Halloween books to share with the kids.  They glow in the dark!

That Sunday was our annual pumpkin carving contest!  We had a ton of people, food, pumpkins and kids!  It was so much fun and we loved being able to hang out with everyone.  This year we decided to let the kids paint and decorate their pumpkins rather than let their parents carve them.  By the end of the night, the yard was covered in paint and glitter, but it was all worth it!

The winner!

Playing with Uncle Michael.  She sure loved him since he had her puffs!  :)

Then, this week we decided not to carve our pumpkins this year, but take a drill to them... Avery loved it!

For Halloween this year, Avery decided to be a dragon.  We just bundled Ryen up in her polar bear winter suit and her costume was done!  Don't judge us...

We trick-or-treated at daddy's work with some friends, then Grandma and Papa G. came to celebrate with us.

Also this week, after 3 weeks of waiting, my students got to take care of 8 baby chicks in our room!  This is one of Avery's favorite things because she gets to come in and hold them.  She was so sweet this year and even kissed one of them.