loving fall

we took a little trip to the pumpkin patch at Berry Patch Farms with the Verdigets girls one evening last week.  These girls are beyond cute together and it is so fun doing things like this with them because we are all so much alike!  I think at this point "treats" for pictures is the unspoken rule of our group ;)

we took a hayride, played in the pumpkins, posed for tons of pictures, played on the playground and then treated ourselves to a nice dinner that night!  Thanks girls, we love spending time with you!!

everybody say tttrrrrreeeeaaaatttttsss

kk might need a little practice on her "forced" smile ;)

welcome baby reagan!!

I recently took a trip to austin-- all by myself!!! Dean took a few days off of work to take care of the girls so that I could go spend some time with my new niece!!  Reagan Christine Brown came into this world on October 4th and I was so excited to meet her!  She is such a beauty and a perfect little baby.  Laur and Aaron are naturals, I was shocked at how mobile they are-- up and about the entire time I was there.  They were at least three steps ahead of where I Dean and I were with Quinn!

What a beautiful family they have!! Love you guys and I can't wait to see you & my sweet little niece again!!

Happy Birthday Quinn!!

I cannot believe my baby is 5 years old already!!! She is growing up so fast and I am so very proud of the little young lady she is becoming.  She is so smart and kind, and she is just a good little girl. She LOVES reading with mommy or daddy and is big into chapter books these days. Quinn loves to cuddle and also to be silly but she is big into learning and works hard to earn computer time.  She still loves art projects, working in her school workbooks and playing tennis.  She is working now on learning how to ride a big girl bicycle.

We were deciding what to spend her birthday money on and told her we would send half to the college fund and she could spend the other half however she wanted.  She took that money straight to the book store!!

Her birthday party was at a local ice cream shop and she has been planning it since the summer.  She invited all of her little buddies and had the BEST time!

Quinn's last doctor's appointment was a rough one.  She had to get 2 more vaccines before kindergarten and a flu shot.  Sweet girl was less than thrilled about this to say the least.  It took 3 nurses & myself to get the job done and she ended up with popped blood vessels all over her face from screaming in protest-- a traumatizing moment for mommy for sure!!  But aside from that she had a great visit- perfect hearing & sight, everything is right up to par and we are going to keep an eye on her feet for a while (still turning in some).  She is 45" tall (90%) and 40 lbs (50%)

new bike #1 (she also got a smaller used one to learn on)

So glad Bampa made the trip!!

being silly with mommy, she loves having me take pictures while she makes funny faces

Her birthday shopping trip-- she picked these out and was so thrilled.  After this we found a camera that she wanted to take to Disney.  I told her we could find it cheaper at Target and we ended up with a leapster game that also takes pictures ;) 

Love you sweet Quinn!! Thanks for being the wonderful daughter & friend that you are!!

first day of school!!

the first day of school came so fast this year!!

The first few pictures are of Quinn's first day of Pre-K and Kathryn's first day of her new dance class.  Quinn has Miss Teensy this year- she is in the 4 day, 3 hr class and 2 days a week she stays for lunch for a 4th hr.  Kathryn has Miss Laura for 3 days, 3 hrs and has stay n play for the same 2 days as Quinn.  Both are loving school so far!!

 LOVE my girls!! I am such a proud Mama! This year will be tough one for me... Next year Quinn will be off to Kindergarten for full days in the Big Kid school and Kathryn will move up to Pre-K, her last year at Northbrook and they won't be together.

They love when I do car pool and I tear up every time, because I know Quinn holds Kathryn's hand all the way down the hall, bypasses her own room to walk Kathryn to her class, give her sister a hug & a kiss and gets her settled before backtracking to her own classroom.  Such sweet girls, how did I get so lucky?!