Smiles, smiles and some more smiles

Simon started smiling a few weeks ago. I was able to catch it on video and there are a few things I do that almost always ellicit a smile. However, Rick has been unfortunate enough not to glimpse any of these goofy grins and jokingly accuses me of misleading him. Here are some pictures for proof.

Halloween Part 3

Tonight we went to the church Primary Halloween Trunk-or-Treat. Piper had a fabulous time. We played games, watched Charlie Brown Halloween, and went trunk or treating.

Piper and Eliza


Our Primary president dressed up as a scarecrow and had a story time.

The Lemon family as lion tamers. Lauralee made these awesome costumes.

Auriane and Sophie

Shay and Carlee Coil - two supercute witches

Carlee and Piper

Halloween Part 2

Piper and I are doing a co-op preschool with a couple of friends. This week we had a Halloween party at our house for the kids.

Ellie, Piper, and Wes

Sunday Princess

Piper loves cuddling with Simon. Here they are after church with Piper in her "new" princess dress that Rick got with her at Goodwill.

Pumpkin picking

We went pumpkin picking on Saturday. We ended up with two pumpkins; we'll be carving them on Friday I think.

Halloween part 1

On Saturday we ventured to the Rocky River Early Childhood PTA Halloween Party. This officially kicked off our Halloween festivities. Our little witch had a fun time. Then we made some Halloween cookies.

Trick or Treat

Cheese!

More sleeping

The traditional ghost cookies with some cats, witches, and pumpkins added in for good measure

A close-up

Zoo trip

We had rain on and off last week but on a beautiful day last week so we went to the zoo for the afternoon.

Lunch before seeing the animals

Piper took her binoculars to the zoo and decided that this was the most convenient way to carry them.

Simon slept through most of the animals but did manage to wake up to see the sharks and lemurs.

The kids

Looking all pimped out


Piper and Simon hanging out. Also, disregard the skeleton in the background.

Kid's Night at Chick-Fil-A

Monday nights in Rocky River are Kid's Night at Chick-Fil-A. We went and had a ball. Piper and I split a chicken strip dinner though I could have got her a kid's meal as it was free with an adult dinner purchase. She met the cow mascot that we frequently see on the side of the road in front of the restaurant. She made a trick-or-treat bag craft and got a small bag of candy. Then I let her play for a while in the indoor playground. I was slow to coming around to Chick-Fil-A (Rick is a fan.) but I do love their customer service and the food is quite healthy and cheap too.

Lovin' the cow

She couldn't get enough of Mr. Cow.

The boy slept through it all.

Ballet

Last week Piper had her first ballet class. This is her all kitted out. She seemed to like it and even showed me first and second position when we got home. She'd wear her ballerina skirt all the time if I let her, thankfully she has a dress-up one from my mom that she wears EVERY DAY.

Simon's blessing

This last Sunday was Simon's blessing. It was my first time back to church in six weeks, what with being sick, Piper having croup and Simon a cough. It was good to be there and it was eventful too since they released our bishop and called a new one. Later we had our friends the Mussos over for chicken piccata and pumpkin pie. It was a wonderful day.

Don't you love the shoes?!

Pictures with Grandma and Grandpa

Just the four of us


Simon and me


Wearing the sweater and hat I made

A visit from Grandma Ann and Grandpa Rich

Ann and Rich came out this last weekend for a visit. It was their first time visiting us in Cleveland. They came also for Simon's blessing which was on Sunday but that's another post. We had a fun time together. We were able to find the apartment in Lakewood where Rich lived over 20 years ago when we interned at NASA.

We're sure glad they could come and miss them now. Here are a few quotes from Piper after they left.

Piper: Why we bring them here (airport)? I want to keep them.
Me: Who?
Piper: Those guys (meaning Ann & Rich)
Me: Because they need to go to their house.
Piper: But I like them at our house.

Then the next day Piper said, “I want my grandma back.”

Our boy

I belong to the local early childhood PTA and serve on the board in a minor role. Part of the committee is responsible for organizing a meal for families that have a new baby. They also get local bakeries to donate cakes. This is the one we got. It was scrumptious.

Cutie

First day of school

Last week Piper started at the co-op preschool we're doing with two other friends. She really wants to go to proper school on the school bus but obviously she's not old enough yet.

She's looking sad because she was tired and wanted to stay home to rest. I had had to wake her up for school.


This is her smile after I told her that she could play dress-up with Ellie at her house.

Baby announcement

I sent out about thirty announcements for Simon's birth. I premade the outsides and just filled in the information and put in the photo after Simon arrived. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out; I had tried out a few different options before landing on this layout. I especially liked the photo corners because then you can remove the picture. We also put an announcement in the newspaper which I hadn't thought of doing for Piper.