The fair!

We went to the fair.

{hey wait, wasn't the fair a long time ago?  why yes.  yes, it was.  

I'm just getting to it, you see......}

For whatever reason, signs are hilarious to me.  Like this one.

and this fellow!  Seriously.  Look at that face!

The petting zoo was lots of fun.  For all.

camels are funny.

Ok.  Look at the 2 signs on the left.  

Anyone else getting the Veggietales reference and giggling?

Cause I am.

feeding a zebra.  Soon after this, a goat ate her dixie cup of feed.  oh well.

riding the tractors

Viewing mom's quilt on display

watching the pig races

And riding some rides!

rides that make you DIZZY!

This picture doesn't accurately capture how small that airplane was.  I'm not sure how Robert fit in there....  

Halloween girls

Look how cute they are....

seriously.

Halloween was really awesome this year.  For one thing, Audrey could participate!  

and you know what?  she really got into it.

She even wore her hat.  and told us "HAT!"

And look at my pretty Genny!

Our gnome decided she needed a nap between carnival and trick-or-treating...

look how sticky she is!

And even though it's not a great picture, you can at least see Gen's costume!

See, I got her to wear the hat.....

and I finally finished the mermaid costume.  It's a miracle.

Happy Halloween you guys.  

Audrey's Words

So here's a video demonstrating that occasionally Audrey speaks.  It's hard to get her to talk!  Oh and at the very beginning, she's telling me "cheeze" since I'm holding a camera.

With Genny, we kept a list of her words that she knew.  And at 18 months, she could voluntarily say 67 words.  Of course, now she never stops talking.  She's a very verbal child.

And with Audrey, we gave her until 19 months, just to be fair.  you know, she arrived early but more importantly, she also has to wait for Genny to stop talking in order to speak, 

so she has far fewer opportunities!

But at 19 months Audrey has 25 words.  And we're proud of that.

Her favorite words are still "ball", "baby", "duck" and of course "DOG"!

My favorites are "cheeze", "juice" and "more."

look! we match!

I so wanted a picture of the girls in their matching shirts.

and matching hair bows.

I took 15 pictures.  These are the best ones.

There's another 20 days till halloween.  Maybe we'll get another chance....

Daddy's shoes

Look what I found!

What size are these things anyway?  They're huge!

My Genny is 4!

Dear Genevieve,

Today you are 4 years old.  You are so big!  You started preschool this year, and you love school so much.
It was a joy to get to meet your school friends.  You love them so much.

You have such great love for people, little girl.  You adore your friends, and they like you too.  You are a leader.  You have good ideas.  You are exuberant.

We had a unicorn party for you tonight and it was a hoot.  You love unicorns and horses and animals of all types.  And you LOVE parties!

You are such a talker.  That really characterizes you right now.  You talk all the time.  And you have good thoughts!  And lots of them.  You often surprise me with the things you notice ("What would happen if we got stuck in the elevator?") and the words you use ("Audrey, yooooouuuuu are detestable!") and the questions you ask ("Why don't cars go inside houses?").

4 candles.  Can't believe it.  Weren't you just born?  oh dear how time flies.

You love your mommy and daddy and sister and dog, and we all love you too, baby!