Eight months old!

Amelia turned eight months old yesterday. She is finally sleeping through the night (for the most part). She is trying to crawl and is pretty mobile on her belly, especially on the tile or hardwood floors. She still does a lot of babbling. She loves her brother and her dog and she wants to be in the middle of all the action. She still only has her two bottom teeth. As a special treat, we met Nathan for lunch yesterday while Seth was at Lunch Bunch, and she thought she was very special going out to eat without big brother!

Seth at eight months....yeah, can't tell they're siblings, ha!

Pre-Halloween Festivities

We started celebrating Halloween early this year. Monday we had all the kiddos from my work playgroup over for our second annual costume party. It may have been even crazier than last year, but it was a lot of fun! (This isn't all the kids...I can think of at least eight off the top of my head that didn't get in the picture...)Monday night was the Fall Festival at Seth's school. The kids wore their costumes and we got to see some of their artwork and have some refreshments. The kids sang their Wiggle Worm song and then did "Five Little Pumpkins". Seth was too shy at first to participate, but he loves the pumpkin chant so he sat down with his class by the time Mrs. Long got down to two pumpkins.Seth is Tigger this year...Tuesday night was pumpkin-carving time around here. Cleaning out the pumpkin was a family affair. I traced the template and Nathan did the carving...

Here is the finished product...

Seth's New Bed

We bought Seth bunk beds over the weekend. Nathan had the ingenious idea of folding down a blanket to make the bottom part a tent, so Seth has been sleeping on the lower bunk.

He loves his new bed!

Election Year CPKs

(Courtesy of the Star Tribune again...)

On Thursday eBay will auction off candidate Cabbage Patch Kid dolls...

You've got your Joe Biden...Your John McCain...

Barack Obama...

And Sarah Palin...

By the way, Cabbage Patch Kids are 25 years old now...anybody else feel really old besides me?

Until there are pigtails...

...there are hairbows!

I think he finally gets it

Sunday the kids and I took an overnight trip to see Lisa and Michael. Even though it's been almost three months, Seth still doesn't seem to understand that she doesn't live at our house anymore, so we went so he could see where she lives now. They have a playground right next to their apartment, Amelia loved the swing (while Seth made Michael cater to his every whim).Seth and Lisa playing Wii boxing...

Boo at the (Riverbanks) Zoo...Seth's first attempt at trick or treating. He did a fine job!Leapin' Lizards...not as cool as Monkey Joe's, but it'll do!Amelia playing peek-a-boo in the baby area!
I think the trip did the trick...Seth talks about how much fun Lisa and Michael's house is now!

First Field Trip

Yesterday Seth's class went to the pumpkin patch. No good pictures this year. Amelia was tired and Seth was not on his best behavior.

Flying like bats in the pumpkin patch...Looking at white pumpkins...Mrs. Long (his teacher) is on the left, and her assistant is in the pink shirt. Seth loves them both.
Snacktime...
Each child got one small pumpkin...Seth gave his (see below) to Amelia and picked out one the next size up for himself. This is the same pumpkin patch we've gone to in the past and they are awesome. I'm not sure how much the school had to pay for the little pumpkins, but I got a bag of apples and Seth's pumpkin for $10!
Amelia played briefly in the big pumpkins...

a run of "perfect days"

The past four days we've had great weather; sunny skies and temps in the low 80s. Every day Seth has said they were "perfect days". We've gone to the playground and spent lots of time outside. The above are pictures from our "perfect days"...Seth looked like a goof getting ready for school Tuesday, and Amelia has brought her smirky smile back out. I introduced her to Gerber Puffs and Cheerios while I was in Minnesota, and she immediately perfected her pincher grasp. She has made it her personal mission to find any crumbs on the floor (or ants on the deck yesterday). She's got eagle eyes!

I never thought I'd see this again...

Gas under $3/gallon in Clemmons! (And I had just gassed up for $3.47/g two days before, and I thought that was a deal...)

Friday update: I just drove by this same station and it is $2.88/g...99 cents cheaper than 10 days ago...amazing. And just in time for another little roadtrip this weekend!

Dixie Classic Fair (2008 edition)

We spent half the day Saturday at the fair. The weather had prevented us from going on a weeknight, and we were a little leery about going on a weekend, but the crowds weren't too bad in the morning. Amelia was a trooper riding around watching her brother have fun. She did NOT like the barn with the chickens and roosters. We had to sit outside while the boys explored that one. His idea to wear the hat...
Ah...the greatest thing ever...$8 got Seth this wristband and unlimited kiddie rides...
I'm not sure why I had to ride on the bird with him....
My guys on the slide...I guess Seth was pretty pokey at the top, and all Nathan wanted to do was get back down as fast as possible (I did the spinny ride thing that Nathan hates, so don't feel too sorry for him)

I think the "fair ride" gene is recessive, either that or he's not our kid...
...we didn't think he'd like it, but no, he loved it!
Seth photography at lunch...the turkey leg Nathan's been waiting all year for...
Time to go home for a nap, but not without getting some cotton candy for the ride home!

More pictures from Warroad

We had a direct flight from Charlotte to Minneapolis. It was Amelia's first time on a plane. I remember Seth being a little easier his first time on a plane, but he was only four months old. Playing around in the Minneapolis airport...unfortunately we didn't make it to the Mall of America to see any of the other Snoopys. (snoopies?)

I don't think Amelia appreciated that she was the guy Viking...
Sunday night we had one of Grandpa B's favorite combos, beer and popcorn. Michael actually drank a beer. I had to take a picture...
The Stuart Blackorby legacy...(from left) Michael, Lisa, Amelia, me, Bryan, Dad, Mom, Aunt Linda, Uncle Ron, Krista and her husband Nick, Karen (Mike's wife), and Mike. We took a lot of group shots but my camera took CRAPPY pictures, so I don't have one to share of the infamous Jose Blackorby...but you can google him, he's published lots of things (yes, my dad has a cousin named Jose. And he is Caucasian.).
Amelia got spoiled by everybody being the only little one there. Here she is with her GrammyGram...
Yes, it was a sad trip, but as usually happens, a lot of good stories came out. Warroad is a small town and Grandpa had lived there almost 50 years. It was very nice to hear stories from people who had seen him in the Care Center these past few weeks. But at the house is when the "good" stories came out. Here are a couple of my favs:

• While Grandpa B (GPB) was superintendent, there was a bus driver who used to speed while driving the bus, and GPB threatened to fire him if he saw him do it again. One day, the bus passed GPB on the highway, and Grandpa went speeding after him...and got pulled by the state trooper. The bus driver kept his job.
• Dad introduced Aunt Linda as his older sister to a resident at the nursing home. She looked at Linda, looked at Dad, and said, "BALONEY!!!"
• Back when we were kids, we went out to Nadine's cabin at the lake and were told to go outside and play but not to get wet...in the rain. This happened probably about 20 years ago, so I've always kind of wondered if story had gotten twisted in my head over time, but nope...that's really what happened. The end result? Four of the five Blackorby grandkids fell in the drink (Lisa was still pretty little back then)...what we can't remember is how intentional it was!
• The best story involved Halloween, an outhouse, high school students, and shotgun, but there is no way I can do it justice here...we were just kind of stunned about the shenanigans kids got away with back in the day!

Minnesota in Fall

Once you get out of the Twin Cities, there is no interstate route to Warroad, it's all two-lane highway. You tend to encounter a lot more wildlife on the road than you do here. We even saw a porcupine at one point. We literally had to come to a complete stop for these turkeys. They actually got closer to the car, and Michael fed them Cheerios...(It rained the entire ride back Tuesday...as I was driving in the rain, I kept reminding myself that the rain was probably keeping the wildlife in the woods, although I did see one mink run across the road in Baudette.)

Here is the view from Grandma's back deck... And one coming towards her driveway...I took this picture as we were getting close to the Cities Tuesday...yes, this is a functioning gas station. I actually saw gas for $2.99 in three small towns that day. Since our local favorite station has been stuck at $3.87/gallon since Ike hit Texas mid-September, and Clemmons was almost completely out of gas until two days before I left, I thought I would document the cheap gas. (Gas was still $3.87 that evening when I got home, but has dropped about 20 cents in the past three days...)

playing at the house

Before these get too old, here are some pictures from earlier in the month...
Seth's new jumbo paint/coloring book
Two silly kids sitting on a ladybug
This baby doll was mine when I was a kid. I gave it to Amelia while I was doing laundry last week. She loved playing with it, but the poor doll took a beating.