Typical

The kids were so sweetly playing with some small wooden nativity figurines this afternoon as they were decorating the Christmas tree in the playroom. They were so quiet and sweet and cute that I ran for the camera...just in time to catch Autumn tackling Joshua because he touched something of hers. Welcome to our life.



Oh, and then they decided to hang small glass balls on the tree which Joshua discovered "pop," as in break, when you squeeze them between your fingers. He discovered this three times. In two hours. Much to the dismay of everyone in the family, including himself. We have never seen the pouty lip and tears before but they sure came out tonight when he was reprimanded. And that's not even the real tree. Luckily most of those ornaments are handmade and unbreakable (I think!)

Guess what my favorite word is?!?

Taken tonight (Wednesday) after dinner....

Silly guy

Our 5 Year Old!

Autumn had a super fun 5th birthday week! She had about 7 friends over the weekend before her birthday. She wanted a castle cake, which was Mommy's first attempt at making a homemade cake. (There is a cake under all of those ice cream cones).



They all lined up to pull strings on the pinata (kids don't swing at them blindfolded anymore!)



Lots of candy and big lollipops were enjoyed by all. Then we sent everyone home!!



We also had a "family" party the weekend after her birthday.

She had yet another cake and more presents too.



Opening gifts with her cousins, Hope, Adi and Brooke.

(Joshua's wandering out of the picture).

All in all, she had a great time. When she went to bed after the last celebration she asked, "Mommy, how many days until my next birthday?"

Sorry so long!

We've been fairly busy lately but somehow I haven't thought there's been too much to post about. We are happily busy - getting ready for fall with outdoor projects, Autumn started dance class a few weeks ago, we've enjoyed some cooler weather for running and Chris and I have been doing a number of races. The kids just keep us laughing CONSTANTLY and every night one of us is saying..."It was so cute today when Autumn did..." or "Joshua had me cracking up today when he...." Their personalities are very different yet they compliment each other and play so nicely together. He is definitely the clown and will be content to be on stage anywhere. And Autumn is his audience and is constantly laughing and egging him on. I am enjoying these times immensely and know that they go too quickly so we are holding on tight to every moment. Hard to believe that Autumn will be 5 tomorrow! She had a party with her friends this past weekend and we are having a cake and ice cream party with family this weekend so I will be posting more pictures soon!

We had some family pictures taken a few weeks ago. Autumn is "almost" 5 and Joshua is "almost" 1 1/2 in these pictures. I just had my birthday on Friday but never mind my age! :-)





Here is Autumn celebrating Uncle Robbie's birthday on September 11. She adores him and can't get enough of his silliness! (Something tells me Joshua is an Uncle Robbie clone. God help us! Just kidding Rob! (Sort of.)




And here's Mr. Disaster in the refrigerator. Yes, those are his pants hanging off like a rapper in the making. Hopefully most of the 12 month size clothing that I have from this summer will fit him next summer - never mind that he'll be over 24 months then!

Will send a post again soon with news about the 5 year old!!

Before and After

Well, it was time to get rid of the mullet. Yes, Joshua had his first haircut today (at least, his first non-mommy haircut) and joined Autumn and me at the salon. He was such a good boy and sat still for most of the entire cut. I can't believe how different he looks! He is such a sweet, handsome boy (not that he wasn't before, but he was getting a big straggly). Here are the before and after shots:





Oh yes, and Autumn was the official photographer to chronical the big event. At first, she didn't quite get the hang of it and here's what we got:






But she soon became a pro and took some nice shots for his scrapbook.






And the most important thing of all to a 4 year-old:

A new walker in the house...and it's not the dog!

Yep, we finally have taken a few steps!! It was last night (Thursday) after dinner when we put Joshua on the kitchen floor and he pushed up to standing and took 5 steps, then fell forward to his hands and pushed back up to take 7 more. He was so excited (because we were making quite a commotion) that he just laughed and giggled and crawled all over the place not quite sure what to do with himself. This video was taken this morning. My cousin, Colleen, arrived for a visit last night and we are glad she got to witness his first steps too! Very exciting times in the Garges house!