The weather outside is frightful...

This post is for all my southern-dwelling, east-coasters, mid-westerners, and friends and family NOT living in the Rocky Mountains today. This is the view outside our front door:
Isn't trick-or-treating going to be FUN?

In case she needs MORE reasons to hate us when she's a teenager

Look at this cute little goth baby! Fast forward about 14 years and I can just see her telling us "I'm getting a tattoo and I don't care what you think about it!" She probably won't have that big smile on her face either. She's such a good sport. Right now.Okay Grandparents. I apologize in advance for the following statements. Look at our little Boobs McGee taking a bath with her brother! Glenn thinks she's advanced in the chest-y area and was, in fact, a little concerned about it. At her 6-month check-up, he asked me to ask the doctor if her 'development' was normal and I'm happy to report that her cup size is within the normal range for her age. Reina, sorry in advance for talking publicly about your chest size.

Halloween preview

Today the kids and I attended a local Halloween festival and it was a great opportunity to try on our Halloween costumes and get into the spirit. Here's our little sprite/fairy princess in all her happy glory. In true Wyoming fashion, she has to wear pants and a long shirt underneath her pretty dress.

Did I mention that she has wings?

Here's Will at the festival. What else could he be but a fireman, right? He took a break from firefighting to dig in the sand. He walked in and out of this "gold mine" about 50 times. Who needs expensive playground toys?! Get a giant roll of black plastic, a few 2x4's, some nails and you've got yourself a grand toddler distraction. Yes, even fairy princesses need their sleep and this one crashed hard. Didn't even have time to take off her regal garments.
Meanwhile, our trusty firefighter worked on timber management and looked cute doing it.

Next post: Pets and Halloween. AKA Dog Torture. Stay tuned!

Will-ism's

Will's language has really exploded over the last few months. He know communicates in full sentences and seems to be learning new words every day. Last week, I listened to him counting to ten in Spanish as he climbed up the stairs. Thanks Montessori! Or Dora the Explorer, I'm not sure which. You can practically see the wheels turning in his little brain as he masters some new phrase or command. Last weekend, we heard over and over "I don't have to go to school tomorrow - I get to stay home with my MOMMA (or Daddy)!" I started to think that it must have been a rough week at school because we also heard the following over and over again: "Bubbles are for the bathtub!" "We bite our food and not our friends!" and "We don't shoot guns!" We've tried to explain the nuances of not shooting guns at school but it being okay to shoot guns at home as long as you don't aim it anyone blah blah blah. So yes, we don't shoot guns.

His obsession with firetrucks has reached a fever pitch. As I'm typing this, he brought me his extra firehat to wear because apparently we need to be prepared at all times. At night he sleeps with his red plastic firehat, a fire ax, and a small plastic extinguisher. But guess what he doesn't sleep with? His pacifier! Yeah!! We adios'd it over the weekend and other than a few conversations about big boys not needing a pacifier, pacifiers are for baby sister because she can't play with big toys like firetrucks and cars, etc., he seems to be doing okay.

Our big boy is getting ready to move up to the preschool class at Montessori. They had an open house last night and we got to hear about his progress and meet his new teachers. I feel like he's growing up in leaps and bounds and I'm going to turn around and he'll be asking to borrow the car. I wish I could slow things down a little bit, but then I think about doing laundry for the 90th time this week because yet another pair of pants is wet and I think that things are moving along just the way they are supposed to.

Still no pictures but I plan on hijacking Glenn's camera this week. Oh, and Reina continues to be the cutest, smartest 8-month old in all of Wyoming.

NYC

Last weekend, Reina and I traveled to NYC with her Aunt Vicky and our Aunt Mary. We had a really nice time. It was a quick trip but we got to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one of my favorite paintings, spent most of another day walking around New Haven and got up early one morning and jogged here. Vicky and I even got to see this while Aunt Mary bravely had some one-on-one time with Reina. We also ate some great food, bought a few souvenirs and talked and talked and talked and talked. Reina was a great little traveler. She had a few meltdowns and chatted too loudly in the museum once or twice, but for the most part, she was a lovely little travel companion.

So where are the pictures of our trip, you might ask? Well, in a related story, my camera decided that it preferred to live in NYC instead of Wyoming and I can only imagine her (him?) gleefully driving around the city, stopping at all of the sights, eating a hot dog and just generally adapting to life in the big city. Yes, I lost my camera. In the taxi on the way to the airport. At least it wasn't the baby, right?

Toddler Logic

Last Sunday, Will was finishing up lunch and was a little whiny. He told me that his stomach hurt (something that he tells me about 90 times a day - if he really does have stomach trouble, I'm going to feel SUPER guilty for typing that sentence) and I asked him if a cookie would make it feel better. He said yes and I handed him a cookie. When I looked back, he had lifted up his shirt and was rubbing the cookie all over his bare stomach. Makes sense to me!

Look - more proof that they do like each other! We also really like firetrucks and anything firefighter. On a related note, can you guess what Will is going to be for Halloween?