addie lou who

so even though her birthday was in october...my best friend addie celebrated her 30th birthday this weekend with a soiree at the qbix art gallery in philly. even though i couldn't attend, she was kind enough to send pictures of that fun night. i HAD to post this picture...any of you who know addie, know this is the quintessential addie smile...my mother used to say, "that girl can make a room glow!" as usual mother was right.....happy big 3-0 old girl...about time you joined the rest of us asms gals! :)

pumpkin patch

today, we made an unexpected stop at the church pumpkin patch. this is a very old tradition for our church to raise money for the youth group (they even did it when clif and i were there). it was just good luck that i was feeling especially festive this morning when i dressed the kids in their coordinating halloween outfits. (i must pause and give thanks to jill and cathy, the hand-me-down queens!) this time daddy took the pics so mommy could hold her babies....

miss vivian LOVED picking out pumpkins. i think we might have come home with a few more than originally planned. ;)

she also loved holding her brother for a sibling picture. you would never know by HIS face, but she is sweetly singing "rock-a-bye baby" and saying "smile bauer"...she is such a good big sister!


p.s. cathy, this is my proof that not ALL of my picture taking adventures turn out too well!

fairs & birthdays & parties....oh my!

this past weekend was super busy. saturday clif came home early so we could take the kids to the church halloween fair. we were a "themed" family (cathy you would have been SO proud). vivian was a cheerleader, clif was the coach, i was a referee (appropriate don't you think?), bauer was the football, and nene was the football player. yes, i know you are asking where the group picture is posted and the answer is...nowhere. my dad accidentally hit the video button....and so there are NO PICTURES!! i plan to recreate the moment later this week...so check back for the "fake" halloween fair pics ;)....i did manage to get one of miss vivian checking out the candy.....ohhh, and did i fail to mention bauer's costume won a prize!!! that's the only one of the five costumes i actually MADE....so, yeah yeah yeah! :)

we also celebrated nene's birthday (a bit belated). she came over for dinner and insisted upon having her picture made with the kids and her shitzu cake.

and finally on sunday vivian had her little friend isabella's disney themed bday party to attend. here she is trying on her tinkerbell costume. a big thanks to jessie for letting us borrow such a great dress last minute! on a side note i don't know if you can see it but miss vivian is wearing her pink cowgirl boots under tinkerbell's ballgown. that kids cracks me up! :)

here is the proof!!!!!

finally....scientific evidence that she looks more like me!!!

...and bauer, too!!!!!

all smiles...

so the next few posts are just meant to catch everybody (cathy) up. things are going quite well. bauer continues to be a sweet and mild mannered baby. on tuesday he gave us the most beautiful gift...A SMILE!! it still amazes me at what an overwhelming and warm feeling can fill a parent's heart at such a small gesture. i even managed to catch one of these toothless beauties on camera (when i stopped crying of course)!!

but after all with a sister like vivian....who would expect anything less than the most captivating smile ever? ;)

a pleasant surprise

who knew ol' cliffy still had it in him? yesterday i came home from running errands to find these on my dining room table...

nope, it isn't our anniversary or anything else...he said they were just because! he also arranged for his mom and dad to come and stay with the kids while we went out to dinner (he even made the reservations himself!) we had a great dinner at imagine....shrimp and cheese-grit cakes for appetizers and duck with blackened brussel sprouts and chestnut chive pancakes....YUMMY! this man is a keeper for sure!! thanks, honey...i love you! :)

october birthdays

october is filled with some very important birthdays...

our sweet granny b turned "38" on the 17th. vivian made her a card and we got her some chocolates. she is such an amazing lady...and we are so lucky to have her as part of our lives!!

also our dear friend harrison baker turned 4. he had a riding party and even bauer got his picture made with one of the horses!

vivian looked every bit the part of cowgirl in her pink boots and jean skirt (thanks cathy), she also had this great embroidered shirt from aunt shannon. unfortunately, i didn't get a picture of the birthday boy (at age four, kids can move really fast!!) but i promise to post one from our next play-date....happy happy number four, hbl!

faulkner county fair

so a few weeks ago we went to the fair. this was of course bauer's first. vivian had been to the fair with her grandparents the previous week and LOVED the "daddy chickens". here she is giggling uncontrollably as they crow (this is something she did NOT inherit from me....i am disgusted and afraid of ALL birds! germs, germs, germs, eeeeewwwwww!)

but her newest love was the fishing pond...after a small fortune, ten minutes, and turning herself blue (why do they dye the water?) she won a blow up dora and a toy horn.

it was then on to her mother and daddy's favorite. ski-ball!! she took right to it....look at that pitch!

but of course, there was no greater thrill than riding the "ponies". daddy was kind enough to ride three times. (i managed to avoid this "thrill" due to the fact that bauer was in the bjorn!) we had a great time...the perfect size little fair for a first timer and a toddler.

FINALLY..an update!

so we finally have our computer back. a long story short....vista WAS indeed corrupt. darn that vista!! our pictures were recovered, BUT our computer is not quite the same. we still have to take it in two more times for more "testing" and "intervention"...whatever that means. but the good news is that we can at least check our mail and post pictures of the kids!!! HOORAY!! so enough about the silly computer here are those beautiful children.....vivian has finally learned to smile for the camera. here she is with bauer saying cheese (and not the super cheese of previous, cathy!)

i love how bauer is so intent upon watching his big sister....which is apparently EXACTLY the way vivian likes it! here she is giving him a bit of sisterly advice....

but maybe she thinks he ought to pay better attention? because apparently it is VERY important advice!! ;)

...well all is well that ends well! fyi...all is back to normal as far as our health is concerned (or as normal as we get around here!!) i am the only one still on inhalers....but no worries, a mom with a healthy family is a super happy mom! :)