Another milestone...

We had a feeling this little one was having trouble seeing... and boy were we right! She's totally amazed at all she can see now... and looks pretty darn cute too. :)

Two Toofers!

Look real close...

aren't those cute little nubs?

Scrunchy face!!

How hysterical is this? Lincoln got up from his nap the other day and started the "scrunchy face" that Emma did as a baby right around his age! I was cracking up!! That's Emma at 9 months on top and Lincoln on the bottom at 6 months. I have so many pictures of her making this face and am so happy I get to experience it all over again! So sweet.

Election Day!!

On Election Day, we stood in line for an hour and a half with all 3 kiddos to exercise our right to vote. It was lots of fun doing this with the kids so they can see its importance and the great responsibility we have as American citizens... and with a name like Lincoln Samuel Nottingham, he just may BE president someday. :)

Happy Birthday to Reese- real birthday (night)!

Yep, still not over... Uncle Scott and Aunt Heather got Reese a build-a-bear gift card for the specific purpose of building none other than a DINO!! I had discovered that there is such a store as Build-a-Dino, but there are only 5 in the country, so the T-Rex choice of animals at Build-a-Bear had to suffice. ;) Grampa Larry so sweetly gave Emma a $20 bill to make one of her own (it's so hard for a kiddo to be left out)...

Sipping a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake at the food court with Grammie and Grampa.

Hmm... he picked the t-rex!

After choosing the "roar" sound, he stuffed it...

I love this pic of his famous cheesy grin!

"Yep, Emma, we did a good job!" Check out that Ariel costume complete with the wig!!! haha

Happy Birthday to Reese- real birthday (day)!

So in our family, we like to stretch out birthdays as long as possible. We talk about them for months and constantly talk about whose is next and what theme we will be having and on an on. (Mommy likes to plan parties). :) Let's just say that if your birthday happens to actually fall on the Saturday we have your party, we'll probably just move the party to another day so we will have to celebrate it on two different days. So... here are pics of Reese's real birthday! Maybe this is why he's kind of confused about his bday coming and going. It just keeps coming!

Our plan was to go to Bounce Zone and the kids were SUPER pumped. As we were pulling into the parking lot I vaguely remembered that they might be closed on Mondays. And after some phone calls and tears, we realized that EVERY stinking bounce place must be closed on Mondays for cleaning. So... we moved on to the zoo- one of our family's favorite places to go- especially on a GORGEOUS 75 degree day in November!
Josh wonders why they want to play on the playground at the zoo when they can see animals... maybe to act like monkeys?

Thanks to Sara and Kelly for the ADORABLE (that's for you, girls) shirt!

What a trio of cuties if I do say so myself. :)

Happy Birthday to Reese!

Reese is 3??!!

I cannot believe how fast time goes. There are days that feel like an eternity (mostly in the winter when we're cooped up and the kids do nothing but bicker and make messes), but most days flyyyyyyyy by and I wonder how my kids are growing up so fast. :( Seems like Reese was just born... sigh. Anyway, the big kiddo is now 3 and we had a very fitting dinosaur party on Saturday. He was totally into the dino decorations, food and cake, but is still a bit in denial that the party we have talked about for so long has come and gone. He keeps still referring to it in the future! (He just came in and saw this post and said, "Is that my cake? I didn't go to my party." Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, buddy.

Eating his dinosaur nuggets and his favorite... applesauce!

The dinosaur cupcake cake- when he saw it in the morning, he traded me for the blue triceratops on the top and added a few to get it just right!

Trick-or-Treat

This was the big night...We've been anxiously awaiting getting to go out on the town in costumes without looking like freaks! ;) Reese the dinosaur has been spotted around the Indianapolis area for weeks now in his. We went over to the Warners for some yummy food and trick-or-treating with pals. Check out Macy and Emma's matching Barbie Bride costumes!! Aunt Kara even got to come...

Halloween Flashback

So as I mentioned in the previous post, the kids have been pretty into their costumes this year... in fact, Reese has been wearing this costume nearly every day for the past few months. We have to pry it off of him some days just to wash the crusted food off of it- or him. Check out this picture of Reese TWO YEARS AGO in the same costume!! He calls it his "Dinosaur Halloween."

We Love NY

Our first big road trip to NY! My mom and I took the kids to visit family... we got to see the great grandparents, go to the Zoo Boo, the apple orchard. After looking at the pictures, you may be wondering, "Is it Halloween in NY every day?" No, it isn't. My kids are just obsessed with their Halloween costumes. Can't say I didn't get my money's worth!

Kristen with Linc the Monkey

Posing for a photo opp at the Zoo Boo... hold on, Lincoln!

Great Gramma with the monkey and bride

Great Grampa with dinosaur, monkey and bride
Lincoln, zonked after a late night at the Zoo Boo on cousin Coley's comfy chest!

Emma, art extraordinaire

After collecting bag after bag of art from preschool and the start of kindergarten, I decided it was high time to sort through it all and pick our favorites (and quietly dispose of the rest). Emma has quite a talent and I wanted to showcase her hard work! These are the ones we LOVED and we're soon going to frame them and make an art gallery in the playroom...

"Farm"
"Balloon Factory"

"Our House"

"God"

"Tornado" "Apple Tree"

Could the kid be sweeter?

Nope, sure couldn't.

Punkin Patch

The pumpkin patch just wasn't quite the same experience as a normal fall since it was about 85 degrees. We were all sweating to death while we sipped cider and picked pumpkins. :)

Can somebody make this thing GO?

Emma, the animal lover.

Two cool dudes

My first black eye

We just couldn't get over how utterly sad this looked... Reese tripped and fell at Grammie's house, hitting his eye on the corner of one of his trucks. It does make him look pretty tough, though.

The (actual) Big Day!

A FULL day!...

Banana Chocolate Chip pancakes with whip cream for breakfast (in bed)

School

Get picked up by Grammie

Eat Fazoli's for lunch

Go to The Children's Museum

Come home for dinner with Grammie and Grampa

menu: grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, yogurt, milk and cake!

(She has simple taste.)

Always looking for a good reason to eat a Costco cake!

Photographer of the Year :)

Need some amazing pictures taken? I have just the lady for the job! Kelly Warner is fantastic... just one little example:

check out http://www.hisimageportraits.com/ for more!

EMMA IS 6!

I think she's been claiming to actually be 6 for a couple months now, but she is officially six! I tried to keep the "flower party" identity a secret, but she made me tell... and I'm not exactly known for my stellar secret keeping when it comes to birthdays. :) We had a few little girlfriends over in the morning for a pool party/sugar fiesta. We hopped the kids up on as much junk as we could in an hour and half's time and then sent them home and began our family party! It was such a great time with family and friends. Everyone brought Emma gorgeous flowers that were ALL hers and she was overjoyed. It was a beautiful day with perfect weather and we were thankful for all who came and we missed those who couldn't. :(

Movie Night

Refer to Kindergarten Update post below for details, but here is Emma walking into school for her Movie Night... we gave her this owl sleeping bag birthday present early so she would have one to bring along. What a big girl!!