"Dress-Ups" (for boys)

(Stoker family riding in the car, on the way home from Chick-Fil-A)

Nathan and Scarlett are jabbering about going on another play-date at Lilly's house. Scarlett wants to bring her dress-ups (Lilly has lots of dress-ups at her house) and Nathan says he wants to bring his only dress-up, his doctor hat: "I only have one dress-up to bring--I mean I only have one 'pants-up' (I'm a boy) to bring." Glad we got that straightened out. "Dress-ups" for girls. "Pants-ups" for boys.

In November...

Happy 1st Birthday Mia!

Thanks again to Sarah for the great birthday photos!

Sweet Mia--we just can't get enough of your: kisses and hugs, walking and running, talking and singing, and you tolerating pushes and pulls from two older siblings

We could do without: you getting out of your crib (falling or otherwise).

Still, we love you to pieces.

Do NOT break the rules

Tonight we were at a friend's birthday party. You know the game where you roll the dice and if you get doubles you get to try to unwrap a huge candy bar while wearing oven mittens and two knives for utensils? Well, Nathan rolled doubles, but then he flat-out refused, "I'm not supposed to play with knives."

Preschool Dropout

So in the car tonight, Nathan is rocking some fantastic air-guitar when he loudly (and excitedly) announces, "Hey guys! Guess what?!?! I'm not going to go to school OR work! I'm going to play the guitar in a band!"

The things Nathan says

Nathan: We don't eat stars because they are burning gas, but these (pointing to the starburst candy from his halloween bag that he is eating) are good burning gas.

Walking and Hair

TA-DA! Here's the rundown, for her baby book someday:

-1st steps just before 10 months

-Taking 8 or 9 steps at 11 months

-Never even crawls anymore at 11 months 3 weeks (and always so proud of herself when she walks across the room to you!)

Words: moma, dada, bear, boo, bye-bye (waves), meow, that (points), poo-poo, quack

This is what she does when you ask to see her funny face

Just can't get enough of her stink face

This is a little random, but Nathan has been insisting on a mohawk lately...

Scarlett has started keeping her hair in for a good, maybe 20 minutes or so before she pulls it out -- we are making progress!

Halloween

The kitten, spiderman, and turtle before we went out door to door.

Scarlett saw Amelia's dress and instantly fell in love. Weirdly, Amelia wanted to be a cat, so the trade worked out nicely.
Our kids were burning up. The back of their necks were getting all sweaty. It was almost 80 degrees while we were out. And so humid. Yuck.

Of course we had to have boney-finger breadsticks for dinner. I forgot to take a picture of the plate full of fingers, so here is a pic of the last one. I just painted slivered almonds with red food coloring mixed with water for the fingernails. In the past I've taken the time to make them more realistic (ie: actually sculpt knuckles into them). This year I was in a hurry.