Winter is Here

It seems winter has come early this year.  Before Thanksgiving, we've already had well over a foot of snow and a snow day!  The girls have been so excited to look out the window each morning and see more snow.  We were able to play outside and make snow angels and snow critters one morning while baby sister napped and had such fun together.

Our little family is developing a deeper bond with Sadie, and it is evident as of late that she feels the same and is becoming invested in us as well.  This past week I found her comforting Tierney in her car seat by curling up in her lap while she waited for Mommy to help.  We have also found her sitting by the crib as Tierney cries and much more tolerant of the girls and their games that involve her.

 Baby sister continues to cruise along, and is now climbing!  One evening, as I put away groceries, she entertained herself and learned how to climb on top of the toilet paper package.  I also found her standing up inside the fridge as I put away cold food.  This kid is unstoppable!

At church, this past Sunday, my little nature loving investigator and her friend Allie found a Woolly Bear caterpillar hiding in the church.  She was determined to bring it home so "she" could spend the winter in our home and we could watch her grow and change.  Sure, why not?  So, we did a little research on our new friend "heart"...

 And created a habitat for her to hibernate in until spring.  It has been fun watching Ezri observe the caterpillar and given us plenty of opportunity to learn and talk about what the caterpillar will do and what it will turn into in the spring.

Full of Fun

We're running behind again, we've sure been busy the last couple of weeks!

A few days before Halloween, Daddy picked up some big pumpkins for the girls to carve.  Ezri and Alora were very excited about how big they were and could not wait to get started!

 Tierney was just as eager to get into the pumpkin and play in the pulp and seeds...

 All three girls were busy for quite some time, focused on their pumpkins and happy as could be.

 Alora took the "all in" approach...

 Ezri was a bit more particular, pulling out all of the seeds first before pulling out the pulp

 Tierney just enjoyed playing and digging around.

 Ezri was a big help to both little sisters, and was eager to show Tierney how to do the job.

 Alora was happy to share her seeds and pulp with little sis.

 After we got all of the pumpkins cleaned out, we put our littlest pumpkin inside Ezri's big pumpkin!

 And then we got busy carving.  Ezri and Alora picked out their face designs by drawing them on paper first.  The worked together to help design Tierney's.

 My silly little girls!

 Thursday before Halloween, I had the honor of being invited to attend an award ceremony for a very good friend.  It was an opportunity to get dressed up and spend the night with lovely ladies whose friendship I treasure, Kathy and Kelly.

As Tierney's sole food source, she got to tag along :)

Halloween, which was Friday night this year, was cold and miserable!  Windy, temps in the 20's, just plain awful!  I loaded the girls into the car and we trick-or-treated around the farm before dinner, making sure to spend a little extra time at Great Grandma's.

 Our friends, the Sebrights, joined us with their two boys about 5 to trick-or-treat around Hopkins.  The tolerance was low on the part of the kids, so we spent much of the night enjoying one another's company in the house as the kids played and then laid down for a little mini slumber party.

On top of all the Halloween activity, Tierney has been very active the past couple of weeks.  She has learned to crawl on her hands and knees, and also pulls herself up to stand.  Quite proud of herself, she is happy to show off all the time, and we're afraid this little peanut is going to be walking the floor well before 1.

 She also really enjoys bath time now, especially since she can sit up and splash around.

Another month has come and the girls continue to grow...

We have snagged up the opportunity to play outside as much as possible as we knew the weather would soon be changing.  The leaf pile was a lot of fun!  

Even Sadie got in on the fun in the leaf pile.

Alora and Tierney enjoyed playing in the swings together

We got the chance to spend a morning playing with Great Grandma last week too.  The girls really enjoy going to her house, as does Mommy!  This time, we spent quite a bit of time playing dress up together upstairs.  Even Sadie got to be part of the fun, though I'm not sure she enjoyed it as much as the girls did.

 We also got the chance to go to the Grand Rapids Museum with our friends, the Sebrights, this past Saturday as well as Uncle Andy, Jay & Becci - what fun!  The kids had a lot of fun playing together, especially in the Doll Room.  There was a kid friendly doll house to play in, and Alora took that opportunity literally.

 She also loved riding on the big bike!

 We got the kids to sit still long enough for one group photo... and then they were off and running again.

An outing to the mall after the museum and lunch did not end quite so nicely - over tired kids were carried out of the mall screaming, and all this mommy could do was laugh.  Life sure is full of fun around here, and we are sure glad we have such wonderful friends with which to share it.