Things I Thought/Said I'd Never Do....

They only look sweet and innocent...

Things I thought/said I'd never do....

1. Dress my kids alike

2. Put crib tents on their cribs

3. Spank a bum

4. Install a DVD player in my car

5. Lose my mind....

(Check, check, check, check, check)

Is it Friday yet?

First Crush....

Ode to Jacob...

Oh Jacob D. how we love thee

We fight to have you play with Lilly or Addy

We loved having you come to our house and stay to sleep

We love when you play with our stuffed cows, horses and sheep

We adore your silly laugh and always want to hug you

We know you are secretly admiring too

At our young age, it may be too early to stalk

and we know our daddy's watching you like a hawk...

It's no secret we've had a love affair with our friend Jacob since he was born. Some highlights here. This affair has intensified since toddlerhood has arrived and the last couple gatherings have confirmed what I already knew, they have both confessed...."I love jacob".

Lilly can't get enough of the little man during our sleepover last week.

(Jacob's uncle got married, so we got him for the night!)Addy looking for snuggles before bed...

Breakfast with our buds.

HALLOWEEN SPOILER ALERT!

We gathered at our house for our second annual Halloween playdate with friends. I'll post the group shot later in the week. But here we are rocking our angel costumes with Jacob as Donald Trump...they were too cute!
They sat still long enough for a few pictures and then had enough with the costumes! We'll see how they do this week.

Addictions start early...

Daddy Jeremy's comment e-mailed to me, with this picture taken with his blackberry...

"Oh no, not the shoes....anything else....just not the shoes!"

My sister and I both did the happy dance :-)

Pumpkins aren't just for carving...

Those who knew me well in college will think its pretty entertaining that I'm putting recipes up on my blog considering I lived off of grilled chicken breasts for most of my 20's. However, with 1 picky eater and 1 who will eat almost anything, I've had to get creative, especially when it comes to sneaking in different flavors and veggies. It's bad enough that they ask for chicken nuggets every time we pass the golden arches. Anyway, here's what we've been cooking...

(DISCLAIMER--THE GRIDLE WAS NOT PLUGGED IN ON THE COUNTER)Pumpkin Pancakes--Recipe courtesy of 4tunate

2 cups pure canned pumpkin

6 eggs

1 cup flour

2/3 cup milk

6 T brown sugar

1 t baking soda

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t salt

1/2 t nutmeg

4 T Butter

*Combine all the ingrediants in a large bowl, stir until blended, add butter & batter to a hot skillet and flip when set.

Addy gave it 2 thumbs up!

Pumpkin Penne--Recipe courtesy of the November issue of PARENTS magazine

1, 12 oz box whole wheat penne

1 T olive oil

1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup fat free evaporated milk

1, 15 oz can pumpkin

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 t pumpkin pie spice

1/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Fresh parsley to garnish

1 1/2 oz grated parmesan cheese

Cook pasta, drain, return to pot, cover to keep warm

*Meanwhile, heat oil on medium. Whisk in broth, evaporated milk, pumpkin, and spices. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, simmer, uncovered for 4-5 minutes, occasionally stirring.

Toss pasta with the sauce and cheese, spoon into bowls and top with parsley...yum, yum!

Lilly LOVED this dish!

Bedtime blunders--multiplied

Mommy Confession: My Lilly has cried herself to sleep almost EVERY night for as long as we can remember. Call her strong-willed, persistent, stubborn or just a pain in the a$*, but it's true. Sure there was a point when we laid her down swaddled and she went into a blissful sleep, but neither Jeremy or I remember that. What we do remember is the 20-60 minutes she spends yelling in her crib before she falls asleep. We've tried everything (and continue to welcome suggestions) and have just accepted the fact that bedtime in our house is LOUD. This coupled with the fact that sometimes this keeps Addy awake and sometimes they take turns yelling, has assured me that they will stay in cribs as long as possible.

Even though the night rarely ends well, we do make the best of it and LOVE the time before bedtime around here. I love clean kids, right out of the bath in cuddly jams ready for storytime, cuddles and a sippy of milk. And despite the CRAZY hair, it's the best. Favorite books right now include "Are You My Mother?" and "Noisy Animals", they are also loving their children's bible that came from Grandma & Grandpa Sadler. Here are some bedtime pictures....

"Snack....snack....snack"--Lilly with some of that crazy hair...

Addy wanting to play with her toys until the very last minute....

One more "horsey" ride...

Teeth brushed...check!

Still time to CHEESE to the camera...

A little cuddle time with Daddy...

A little cuddle time with each other...

A little cuddle time with mom...

Fall Family Fun...

Just when I thought I couldn't sing "It's raining, it's pouring the old man is snoring..." one more time, the sun came out for the weekend! We ventured out for some good fall fun...

"Follow the leader, sissy"--Addy
"Look, dad, I picked this one just for you."--Lilly
"I got the goods, let's check out the pumpkins."

Lilly, thinking she could be a supermodel even in the middle of a dirt field...
These girls LOVE Saturdays and spending time with their daddy
Lilly among the sunflowers

Addy, taking time to stop and smell the flowers....

Have I mentioned that I LOVE our new camera. We splurged on a Nikon D90 for our 30th birthday presents to each other (with a bit of help from both sets of parents). I'm still learning a lot about digital SLRs and am hoping to enroll in a workshop in November so I know how to use all its amazing features, but we are having fun with it. I'm trying my best to capture the wonder and amazement on their faces as they soak up each adventure. They are soooo eager to learn and remind me every day to SLOW down and teach, they can talk endlessly about a caterpillar on the sidewalk or the blueberries that found their way into their pancakes and when I'm rushing to get out the door, I have to remember that almost every minute of their day is a chance to learn something new. This is my newest mommy challenge.

New Fall Adventures....

From Butler's Homecoming Tailgate to our first trip to Chuck E Cheese AND our first fall bonfire with s'mores, these girls have been in HEAVEN!

"Cornhole, what? I thought this board was a seat made just for us..."

"Marshmallow, Chocolate, Graham cracker, what's not to love."
Lilly, figuring out the best way to eat it--open or closed--she chose opened
What makes a fall bonfire better---FRIENDS!

The pink crew L-R, Carolina, Lilly, Mallory, Addy

Riding the flying bike at Chuck E Cheese...they had a blast trying out the games...

Addy, deep in contemplation, which game will be next? I can't remember if this is before or after her 4 pieces of adult-sized pizza. This girl can put it away....

Wrapping up the day at home, talking to Daddy about our Chuck E Cheese adventure, Lilly looked at him with VERY serious eyes and said, "Jacob, I love Jacob"....and who can blame the girl really--I'm not sure they get much cuter!

New Blog Layout

Okay, so after all your nice comments about the pictures, I decided it was time to change the blog layout. Calling on BLOGS FOR A CAUSE, Nikki did a great job again! What do you guys think?

As for the kiddos-we are fighing the "unny nose" and cough that comes from drastic weather changes here in Indiana. Hope you all are a bit healthier!

Portraits that may make you melt....

We headed down to my old stomping grounds at Butler to meet our wonderful photographer (click here for blog) for 2-year-old portraits. The girls become more and more challenging to photograph, but she manages to capture their personalities and I'm afraid if we continue to use her, we will soon run out of wall space! Leave me a comment and tell me which ones you'd hang up!