She's 2!

We love this feisty little fireball, and we can't believe she's 2! Some of her current favorites: reading, being outside (no matter the weather), dogs, cereal, tablets (iPads & Kindles), whatever Grandma Sheri is drinking, the word now, pretending to talk on the phone, cuddling her toys.

Here are our favorite pics of Sophie from the last 6 months.

She was Amelia Earhart for Halloween.

hide & seek (with brother)

expert-level thumb-sucker

cheering for the Razorbacks (like a good girl)

adept at getting into tricky situations

She loves swimming
(and any activity with her brother).

"Baby Jesus"

We have this board book about the birth of Jesus. Sophie loves it. It's page after page of "Baby Jesus...Baby Jesus...Baby Jesus." Well, see for yourself:

(Please don't notice the messy house.)

Gavin is 5!

 I can't believe it's been 5 years since I met this incredible guy for the first time! He's grown a lot in the last year: learning to ride his bike without training wheels, learning to READ, discovering his love of hiking, and so much more! He's continued to take swim lessons and excels at that. His favorite color is still blue, and he loves teaching his sister everything he knows. We love how often he makes us laugh, and we love the wonderful person he is. Happy birthday to Gavin!

5th birthday party

 We had Gavin's birthday party today at the YMCA, and it was lots of fun. This is his facial expression when he saw the bicycle cake for the first time.

Here he's being sung to, deep in contemplation of those 5 candles.

I tried to simulate tire tread with sprinkles...

After cake, it was pinata time; Gavin and his friends loved it. 

(Baby sister took a few swings too.)

After the cake and pinata, we hit the pool. It may be the only time in his life he'll have a pool party for his (November) birthday. They even turned the slide on, and all of us enjoyed that.

If you're a Star Wars fan...

We're not particular fans of the Star Wars franchise, but there's a specific strain of marketing directed at Gavin's demographic. And he thinks he's a fan. He got this Star Wars ABC book from the library and had it memorized the same night. Here are a couple of excerpts.

Halloween 2015

Halloween 2015 was lots of fun for our family. Gavin was Leonardo - the ninja turtle, not the artist (nor the actor).

Sophie was Amelia Earhart.

We had some fun events this week leading up to Halloween, including the church trunk-or-treat, trick-or-treating at the library, Gavin's school Halloween party and program, and trick-or-treating at Kroger.

posing in the Kroger photo booth

trunk-or-treating with cousins

We also carved pumpkins as a family for the first time, and the kids loved it. The designs were both Gavin's. 

Trick-or-treating Saturday night was lots of fun, especially because we were with friends. Sophie only lasted about 10 houses and then threw a tantrum in someone's driveway because she wanted to be eating the candy in her bucket, not gathering more.

loving her facial expression here

The below video showcases Sophie's expanding, Halloween-themed vocabulary. But if I'm being honest, I just staged the vocab video so I could capture her saying "witch." 

(cue my cackle)

autumn fun

We've been loving this Ohio autumn so far. The leaves are at their peak of breathtaking colors, and the weather has been gorgeous. This post is just going to be my favorite autumn photos (of the kids) so far. I'm not even going to attempt to pare it down to a manageable number of photos - if I can't get enough, you can't get enough either.... right? :)

The library's story time this week was held at the pumpkin patch. Can you tell they loved it?
(Also pictured: Gavin's best friend Macey and her bro Zack.)

the kids' festive Halloween shirts

When they laugh together, everything is wonderful. :)

fun on the hayride

picking her hayride pumpkin