We had such a great weekend with Dama & Katie here. But now the last two days have been LONG. Margaux is on day 3 of 102 & higher temps. No other crazy symptoms of any sort. It's very ironic. I'm praying it just goes away & avoiding calling the doctor for now. Lots of cuddling. Marin is just testing me today, probably because I'm giving extra attention to Margaux... but she's been difficult to say the least! Anyhoo, I thought I'd post some fun pictures from a few days ago. Our leaves have finally all fallen. Lots of raking & the girls had so much fun playing in them. (Margaux thought they were a tasty snack of course!) Hopefully we don't have to bust out the snowblower for quite some time yet!! xoxo

A little dark but you can see the excitement in Margaux's face. She LOVES walking behind anything she can push... boxes, chairs, etc. It's only a matter of time until she's walking on her own. We can't wait!! xo

A few pics from our trip to the Zoo today. It was a great day. The sun was shinning & there weren't many people there. It was great to let Marin run off some steam w/ her friends Camden & Brinley. I'm hoping we have a few more Zoo visits yet this year before the snow & REALLY cold temps arrive. Also looking forward to 60's this weekend! xoxo

Do we have the cutest duck & bumble bee in town or what??!! We had a fun afternoon @ the Danen's celebrating Brynn's 1st birthday. It was a costume party so we were all dressed up. Gary was only mistaken for a scarecrow a few times. We were quick to correct & tell them that he is a broom... the witch's broom of course! Margaux was so flippin cute in her bee costume. I could have photographed her all day. Marin had oodles of fun Trick-or-Treating & used her manners well. Gary had taught her to say "Trick-or-Treat.. now give me some candy!" Thankfully only the 1st part of that phrase came out while we were walking around! It will be a sad day tomorrow knowing that Halloween has passed. Time to start prepping for Christmas I guess!! xoxo
p.s. One shot of my delicious masterpiece...Carmelized Garlic Cheese Ball

Well, I think we did it! She seems to be completely potty trained & I hate to say it, but the experience was much better than expected. Obviously, still diapers at bed time but other than that she's doing fabulous & we couldn't be happier. Thank god for Skittles & Candy Corn... great rewards. (With a few for mommy too!) Marin is just SO proud! Each time she goes continues to be a mini-celebration which includes lots of clapping, screaming & dancing! Margaux thinks it's a big party. I feel like I owe her a big reward to compensate for all tlhe $$$ she'll save us in diapers. We're all very excited for Halloween tomorrow. The whole fam. will be dressing up for the occasion... watch for pics sometime Sunday. Happy Halloween Everyone! xoxo

The girls had a blast @ Pottery Barn Kids Sing Along this morning. It took Marin a few minutes to warm up but Margaux wanted to dive right in. Lots of fun songs & even instruments to play. Margaux wore out her little hands from clapping so much. We opted not to wear costumes since we're on day 4 of potty training Marin. (No accidents in two days, not even @ Pottery Barn while we were gone!!!) So it was much easier to just bring the witch hat & Margaux wore a Halloween shirt. The girls' friend Brynn also came along. We're super excited for Halloween in two days.... xoxo

The pumpkins are here! It took the entire day but they're all finished & we're exhausted. We cleaned them out this morning which was a challenge. Marin dug right in this year & actually enjoyed it. Last year I had to force her to put her hand into the pumpkin. Margaux did all she could to help also. Seems fine except we couldn't keep her from putting the seeds in her mouth. That was the end of that... she enjoyed all 30 seconds she got! Then this evening we carved. Three of them are mine, one is Gary's. I'm sure you can guess which one he'll take credit for!!! I'm anxious to light them tomorrow evening for M & M to see. Did I mention the seeds are cooked & delicious?! Marin didn't really care for them. More for us to enjoy. xoxo

Tonight we dressed up the girls & went to Boo @ the Zoo. It was far more fun this year with Marin actually being excited about Halloween & seeing all the carved pumpkins/lights. Gary took her through a mini-corn maze which she enjoyed until what she thought was a fake scarecrow, decided to move & totally freak her out! We've got the farm animal theme going with Marin. Last year she moo'ed all Halloween & this year we've got a quack. The little tail on her butt is the cutest thing ever. And our little mini Margaux fit into the pumpkin costume that Marin wore when she was 5 months old. We have another costume for her but this one was much warmer for the cold evening. Fun night... Marin was thrilled that she got some candy corn & a glow stick... too many treats today. We also went to Halloween story time this morning which involved treats. I'm not sure how we'll get her to sleep tonight with all the sugar she's inhaled today. xoxo

Mimi just loves her new jammies from Dama. Once she puts the hat on she slips into character & we start to hear "I'll get you my pretty," over & over! Unfortunately, she's not dressing as a witch for the big day. It would have been pretty cute now that she's got the phrase down. Maybe next year! She is definitely in the holiday spirit. We've spent endless hours in the Halloween isle @ Target, Walgreens, etc.! Taken many trips around the block counting the pumpkins & finding all the scarecrows we can. Not to mention every time we go to Sendik's she thinks she needs "another pumpkin mom!" The bottom picture is Marin giving Margaux her nightly kiss & squeeze. She squeezes her so hard, but Margaux just smiles & loves every minute of it before she heads upstairs to bed. Love them! xoxo

Just ignore the "Happy Thanksgiving" on the side of the blog design. I enjoyed the background far too much to not use it for fall!! We're just extra "thankful" already!! Plus, it's almost November right?!

A few pictures from our family-packed weekend. We were happy to be there to celebrate my mom's b-day with her. Although instead of relaxing, she spent most of her day chasing Margaux & telling Marin to get off her end tables!! She has a new appreciation for nap time :) We enjoyed a fun visit w/ Grandma Betty, my cousin Rachel & her two kids Caleb & Addison on Thursday afternoon. Marin & Margaux had a blast with all the new toys Grandma Betty had for them. Then Saturday afternoon we celebrated an early Christmas w/ the Goessl's before Gram & Gramp head to Arizona for the winter. LOTS of pictures but they all turned out so well. Again, more show-off time for Marin & a new house to terrorize for Margaux! It's always hard to leave after being there, but nice to be home in our own beds @ the same time. xoxo

Margaux @ 9 months!

I simply can not believe that Margaux is 9 months old already! I can say it over & over, but where does the time go? She had her doctor appt. on Monday. Growing well but soooo tiny! 15lbs 6oz (5%) and 27 in. short (20%)!! She definitely doesn't look like she's too skinny w/ the rolls but the scale says otherwise!! We need to work on fattening her up a bit. The doctor did mention that her high activity levels could attribute to her low weight & we all know that's the truth. She never stops!! We're headed up to Green Bay today for a long weekend. We're all very excited to spend some time @ Dama & Dapa's. Hope everyone is having a good week! xo

Now that Margaux is a bit bigger we've brought back the bubbles during bath time. Marin loves to pretend that the bubbles are shaving cream & shaves like daddy. Which explains the bubbles on thier chins! Margaux obviously doesn't get it at all but she thinks it's super funny. Marin also just got some new kitty rain boots that she insists on wearing everywhere. I had a battle this morning before we left for Target b/c she had to wear the boots. I think both Marin & myself may be getting colds. Such a bummer. Hopefully I'm wrong & it's a quick adjustment to the cold weather. We'll see! xoxo

Apples Galore!

Saturday was our 3rd annual trip to Nieman Orchards with our friends the Dunn's. It was a great fall day & the trees were FULL of apples. We picked a great day to visit & had a wonderful time as usual. Marin was so afraid of the tractor ride out to the orchard, but once we got going she was quite excited. The ride back was far more exciting since she wasn't so scared. She and her friend Henry had a great time running through the trees & climbing the ladders to pick apples with their daddys. Margaux was happy as can be "gumming" an apple...her little legs kicking with excitement. The house smells great...apple crisp, squash & apple bake and much more to come! Yummy!

Some footage of Miss Margaux. She's so silly & full of laughs. We love her so much... can you believe she's almost 9 months old?!

We spent the day outside soaking in the warm weather because it could be the end. I took a million pictures of the girls. No way I could post them all.... more to come.

Great video of my little chatter box! Grandma disregard the comments... she really does want you to come visit, she's just extra excited to see Aunt Katie!! xoxo