October Festivities

I've been working on this post since Halloween, and finally found the time to finish it up now that we are almost through November!

October was an exciting month at our house with visitors, birthdays, and of course, Halloween!

We managed to partially surprise Michael for his birthday with a party.  It is possible that the surprise element was slightly diminished when Audrey told Michael that his friend Dan was going to "distract" him for the afternoon!

Audrey chose Michael's cake:

Kira, Audrey and Lillian.

Lillian ready to go!

Mathilde's birthday brunch at the Cheesecake Factory:

Mathilde & her friend Eva. With the delicious french toast!

The girls had several opportunities to dress up in their costumes.  Audrey had her heart set on this dress and hat, and said that she was Mary Poppins.  Here are some photos of the Pumpkin Festival at Tabora Farms:

Going to the pumpkin patch!

Here's Lillian trying to pose like Audrey again:

And being her silly self:

This wasn't a costume, just having fun around the house:

One of Lillian's costumes!

Lillian didn't want to wear the gorilla suit to Audrey's school party, but dug a Sofia the 1st costume out of the closet instead.  And Audrey got creative and went as Olaf.  She said she was actually an Olaf/Anna/Elsa due to her costume combination.

Being turned into a mummy!

Cityscape by Audrey.

This is an example of the "kid writing" that Audrey is doing at school.  To give them confidence they are told to write things out the way they sound.  This says:

"The book without (I think Audrey hears liff-out, instead of without) pictures.  I am so sorry it is no pictures, it is not the picture book."

I know she still has a long way to go, but she is making great progress and is so proud.  And for the most part I can read everything she writes.  I think it's really neat.

Lillian loves to read as well, and we are working on her starting to trace and use a pencil to work on letters.  She is very bright and has so much energy!

Eleanor is still easy and happy.  She is getting sturdier, although we still have to constantly remind Lillian to be gentle.  She is starting to sit a little and rolls over easily.  The most fun is that she loves interacting with Audrey and Lillian, and they have fun making her laugh.

Here are a few videos from the last month:












I still have more pictures from Halloween itself, and we are headed to Toronto next week to visit family, so I'm sure we will have more adventures to share.  I just hope that Buffalo doesn't get another 6 feet of snow while we are trying to pass through!

Sisters

I've been noticing an increasing echo around our house lately.  Lillian is absolutely fascinated by Audrey and follows her around saying what Audrey says, doing what Audrey does and generally being a little mimic.

I had thought that Lillian was just being silly when she posed for pictures, but I've often noticed that it's difficult to get her to look at the camera because she is usually watching Audrey.  And while I was going through some of my recent pictures I realized that her crazy poses are actually the two-year-old version of what Audrey is doing:

I am so happy with how well Audrey and Lillian get along together.  Which isn't to say it's perfect, but it's very sweet to see and hear them interact a lot of the time.  I can't wait until Eleanor can start to join in the fun with them!

Fall Fun

We have been lucky to have lots of nice weather this fall, even though it's been a little hard to deal with the alternating hot and cold days.  

The girls are still doing really well and settling into a bit more of a routine with me back at work.  Audrey is still enjoying Kindergarten and had her first field trip this week.

Lillian is doing really well with her potty training.  She is doing great over all.  She is so energetic, but absolutely loves to read and will sit for many books.

Eleanor is getting stronger every day.  She rolls over regularly now, and we are working on her muscles for sitting!

The girls having fun in our back lane:

At the Apple Festival:

This is one of Audrey's art pieces.  She asked me to "put it on the internet so that everybody can see."

Nana is in town visiting for a few weeks, and we are having a really nice time:

Audrey's school photo:

Eleanor trying out her hat from Baba:

Lillian holding Eleanor:

Lillian had her first real haircut today, and Audrey decided to go for another bob as well:

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends in Canada!  We will be doing a small thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, especially since we will be in Canada for American Thanksgiving.  We are keeping busy as usual!

End of Summer

We really had a wonderful summer.  I'm back at work now, but we managed to end the summer fun with a bang with an awesome weekend of fun!  Looking back at my photos, it's really pretty amazing how much we did in the last 6 weeks.

We had a visit with Avo, explored new beaches, and went to Manhattan, Hoboken and Kentucky.  We've been hiking, to museums, and festivals.  So much neat stuff.

The girls were a little sad about me going back to work, but they are enjoying Mathilde and we still get to spend plenty of time together.

Eleanor is getting so big - she will be four months old on Tuesday!  She is getting quite strong and has rolled over completely once, but she can roll from side to side quite well.  She has also started laughing recently, which is adorable, and continues to be quite vocal.  Thankfully she has also continued to be quite a good sleeper.  And even more importantly, she finally took to the bottle on my second day at work.

Lillian continues to be wild and funny and sweet.  Eleanor loves to interact with her when she's not being totally overwhelmed by Lillian's exuberance.  We are frequently impressed by how smart and vocal Lillian is.  She definitely looks up to Audrey and it often seems like we have a funny little echo in our house.

Our big girl Audrey has made a smooth transition into kindergarten and seems to be enjoying everything.  She and Lillian also have a great time playing with all the kids from the neighborhood in our back lane. On Labor Day it seemed like half the neighborhood showed up in our yard to play on the Slip and Slide, which was fun!

Lillian impressed the staff (and me!) with her excellent behavior at her first real dentist appointment.  Audrey actually had a little bit of a harder time, prompting the hygenist to caution her not to bite her fingers.  Audrey was quite amused by that and laughingly told her, "Of course I won't bite you!"

Audrey & Lillian enjoying the view in Central Park.

The girls with our neighbor/best friend Maya.  Helping me make salad.

Avo and Lillian having fun in the sand.  Lillian was still a little nervous about the ocean, but had much more fun this time playing in the water.

Silly girls in the sand.  This was at Long Beach Island in NJ, which we really liked.

Audrey having fun photographing herself:

Eleanor slept almost the whole time at the beach, but got up for a bit.

On the way home from the beach we discovered a chain called Friendly's which was all about the ice cream!

Eleanor enjoying the outdoors.

Fun face paint at our block party:

Dinner in Hoboken with Uncle Dave:

Our messy girls:

On our way to Kentucky.  This photo makes me laugh because of the way Lillian is looking at Eleanor.  I took a series of photos where Lillian quickly ended up...

Right next to Eleanor!

Eleanor taking a break from the car.  She and all the girls did quite well on the trip.

Waffle House!

Audrey and Lillian loved their new goggles at Papa's house and swam as much as they could.  Audrey got really comfortable in the water and was really starting to swim.

Visiting with her oldest friend, Kennick in Glasgow.

We even went to the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville.  Lillian enjoyed the dancing.  Audrey fell asleep in the stroller and didn't even wake up as we ran to the car through an absolute downpour.

At the White House on our way home from Kentucky.

Visiting with Ingrid at her new house:

Audrey's first day of school!

This was Audrey's first full day of school.  She wasn't actually nervous, although she looks it here.

Eleanor! She is so interactive and fun now :)

Audrey in the pack of a police wagon, at one of the cooler events we went to this summer.  A truck "zoo" where children could climb in and on all sorts of trucks, including a garbage truck, ambulance and school bus.  It was a big hit.

Audrey's amazing balloon tiara:

Elmo!

Eleanor trying facing out in the bjorn:

Lillian and Ingrid in the fire truck.

On a hike at the Haverford Reserve, near our house.

Eleanor wanted to drive.

At Brazil Day for the last day of summer:

This was a really cool art installation at the Fringe Arts festival, it was a self-contained house boat with gardens, chickens, and even bees.

Checking out the sleeping quarters in the houseboat.

We saw a really neat circus type act and the girls got to try the tightrope, spinning plates and were even in the show!

Michael tried spinning plates as well.

The girls had fun taking an art lesson:

My silly goose:

And here are some videos of our summer fun:

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Audrey & Michael enjoying the music at Brazil Day:


After such a great summer, we are looking forward to the fun we will have this fall!