It's been awhile since we've seen a pumpkin...

So let's hit another pumpkin patch! We went with our playgroup to check out the Pumpkin Patch at the church for another round of story time - and it was just as much fun the second time around!

Jillian is getting pretty good at pumpkin patch pictures - she runs over, finds one to sit on, and looks to me with a big grin and a "cheese!"
Off to find another photo op...
Ok, so Jillian is blocking the "How Tall this Fall" sign, but I like seeing a picture of them up next to each other like this - although neither are standing straight to really have a good idea of their heights, but whatever.
Silly girl!
Jillian and her best friend, Caleb. He calls her "Baby Jiji" and she calls him "Bub Bub" it is really too cute!
Meredith wasn't as in to posing today (she was a little concerned about the chance of rain) but she humored me for a minute to get this one.
And I caught this glimpse of the girls sort-of cuddling while listening to the story. It looks like Jillian might be being squeezed to death, but I think she was enjoying it!
Happy little pumpkin

Finally, a little posing and smiling from Meredith - just in time for a few sprinkles to fall from the clouds and send us running to the car like crazy! :)

Happy 32nd Daddy!

What fun celebrating a birthday in a house with a 4 year old! Meredith ahs been planning Neal's birthday probably since last year, I am not kidding. She picked a car cake for him last year, but immediately after, she decided that this year, he would want a baseball cake...and she stuck to it! It worked out really nicely because his birthday night was also Ranger's game! So, we picked out Baseball plates and napkins for his "party" (which our Sunday School teacher told us she invited all of her friends to the day before!). She kept talking about a "party" and I think Neal started to wonder if there was a surprise under way - and I really think she had a much grander vision of the night than I had up my sleeve, so I had to prepare them both that our "party" was just us! Luckily, they both ended up being thrilled with the idea (Meredith really was the only one who needed convincing!)

We started off his birthday with what is becoming a birthday tradition at our house - donuts! Then the girls and I went shopping for his present. To stick with the theme, we headed to pick out a Rangers shirt. As soon as Meredith saw the one with the "claw" on the front she was very excited because she knew from watching the games that it had a "reindeer" on the back! That night, we went and got Neal Buffalo Wild Wings to bring home so we could watch the game at home. So everything was pretty low-key but really fun.

Of course, we had to fulfill the cake designer's dream as well. I liked the idea of a baseball cake because I thought it would be easy. But as we started to decorate it, Meredith started telling me her vision of a man batting that we should draw on the cake with icing. She almost started crying when I tried to convince her to go with my vision, but then I told her that "Daddy really just wants it to look like a ball" and she was sold! The best part of the cake, though, was that a few days before, as we were talking about the cake, she had a "great idea" to put chocolate chips in the middle. I really think this girl might have a future in baking with all these ideas! She was super proud of telling daddy about her "great idea" - and it was pretty tasty! :)

Sweet sisters waiting for Daddy to come home!

After dinner and baths it was cake time! Daddy loved it! Notice his new claw shirt too!
Daddy's baseball cake with chocolate chips in the middle!

Petting Zoo fun

We were very excited to end our week last week by hanging out with the Spitzenbergers. We decided to meet up at a pretty great petting zoo near our house and had such a great time - of course, anything is fun for Meredith when you throw "her" Anna into the mix! :)

Jillian trying her hardest to see all the great animals! They were really fun from afar, but when she was able to get in with them, she was a little skittish.
My 3 favorite J's: Joseph, Julie, and Jillian!
Sweet friends enjoying the hay ride.
Getting to pet the baby ducks and chicks was definitely a highlight for everyone! There were also pigs (with lots of babies), cows, a llama, a buffalo, horses, goats, and a zebra!
Cute little Jilly Bean!
And because no event is complete for us this month without a pumpkin, we got to go pick another to bring home with us. Meredith was determined to find a "really big one" this time!
Jillian wasn't quite as picky, she just loved running around and sitting on all of them!

Jillian is 18 months old

How is that possible?? Our whole family is just loving this time with her - she is so fun! Some of her favorite things are books - she will stop anything to read one, she loves all kinds of animals and impersonating them, too, of course or telling them "shhh" when they are sleeping, and has an obsession with babies - she spots them everywhere! She loves to climb and go down slides...sometimes giving me near heart attacks! I am really going to have to watch out on this, too, since she learned to climb out the dog door to our backyard. Yeah! She is shaping up to be a girly-girl, loving to steal jewelry from Gigi's arms or adding it from our dress-up box as well as loading herself down with purses and bags. Jillian is also a big fan of praying at meal times. Even before any of us can think about it, she has her arms extended so we can hold hands and starts singing "Gaaaa..." (as in "God our Father...") She really loves to sing in general (and dance, too, of course) and on top of that, the girl can whistle! She started that several months ago - which really impressed me because I STILL can't whistle.

Her vocabulary is growing and growing...favorite words are "mine" (yeah!), "go, go, go" (to the Rangers or at Meredith's soccer games and practice), "baayy-bee" (baby), "aayyee" (as she pokes you in the eye!), "lide" (when we get anywhere near the park), and "duck, duck, duck" (especially in our duck themed bathroom). Luckily for my little photo habit, Jillian is also into posing and saying "Cheeese" for me, too! She also loves calling out to her favorite people - she gets really excited when she goes to my parent's house - and yells out excitedly "PAAWW PAAWW!" She also loves spending time with her best friend, Caleb, who she calls "Bub Bub."

Best of all, I just love how much she loves Meredith (who she now mostly calls "sissy") and how much Meredith loves her too. Don't get me wrong...there are fights over toys or whose turn it is to do something, but they really just love being around each other and doing what the other does. I am so blessed by these two little girls in my life! :)

Go Rangers!

Arlington is quite a happy place these days with the Rangers doing really well! The day of one of their big playoff games, I remembered that we had a really cute Rangers dress from when Meredith went to her first game at about Jillian's age, and pulled it out for little Beans to wear. She was pretty cute! I was really excited for Neal to see her in it, so I even washed it after it got covered in Mac n Cheese at lunch! The game was going really well, and I asked Neal to get her ready for bed. As soon as he started to put on her PJs, the other team started doing better. So he refused to go any further. So, Jillian stayed up until past 10 o'clock watching the game with Daddy, still in her outfit! She had so much fun, yelling "Go, Go, Go" at the TV, finding a hula skirt to add to her outfit to dance in, and just being a little silly!

A quick rest on the floor as the game is ending, but she is still full of smiles!
Celebrating the big win with Daddy! (Notice her PJ bottoms underneath the dress!) Thanks for the added luck Jillian!

Who wants more pumpkins?

Every year, our playgroup heads out to a big pumpkin patch a little way from our house and we have been lucky enough to get to take Landon and Aunt Katie with us every year, too! Meredith and Jillian love their cousin, so adding him to the mix of pumpkin patch fun makes for a great day!

The wooden character cut-outs are always a big hit! And this year, we even found the inspirations for the girls Halloween costumes!

Wait till you see our cute little Strawberry Shortcake!

And her sidekick Custard (who does an amazing kitty cat impression, I might add!)

Jillian was excited to find Barney, but he was hot to touch. She tried to blow on him to cool him off, but you can probably tell by her tears that it didn't work as well as she hoped, making her very sad!
We have never seen Chicken Little, but Meredith has a video that shows a preview of the movie - and she loves it! He dances and shakes his little tail, so she needed to go dance with him.

There were also lots of fun things to play on - all three kids were very sweet playing together.

Look how sweet - Landon shared the tractor seat with Jillian and Meredith helped out by pulling on the break or whatever that is!
Thinking this will be what I will be able to see in my driveway in 12 or so years. Scary.
Jailbirds!

Next up, we checked out all the pumpkins!

All the kids love the pumpkin house every year
Look at these cuties in their matching froggy boots!
"Don't cry Jillian. We'll let you hang out with us even if you don't have froggy boots."
Big Sis and Big Cuz cheered her up!

Continuing our love of pumpkins!

This year we have taken full advantage of all the pumpkin patches around town! Just a week after heading out to Mainstay farm, we hit a Pumpkin Patch at a church near our house for a fun story time with the Lacy family and friends. We were lucky enough to run into my friend, Melanie who is a fantastic photographer and she snapped a few shots of the girls for me! I love em!


I, of course, had my camera too and the girls were pretty happy to participate in posing!

First, I grabbed a shot of all the kiddos together - they had lots of fun together!

Here Meredith is showing off her "Blender" which was her mixing splinter and blister, however, I don't think she had either, but it was cute to hear her tell everyone that!