Who's ready for turkey?

Can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving!  The Christmas music is already playing and one little girl is too big for all of her hand me down Holiday PJs.

It's been a good few months.  This post will start and end with special visits from two of my Colby friends with an additional two seen in the middle, plus first days of work and school, a baptism, a wedding, and of course, Halloween. 

Right before I went back to work, Hillary came to visit.  It was the perfect mix of fun times spent with kids and fun times without them. 

Jack and Kevin's first days of school came next.  Kevin wasn't as excited to pose for a picture as Jack was.   

Here he is posing by his cubby at school.  Seriously, where has my baby boy gone?

Going to school is an old habit for Hope, but she too got a new back pack.

 

Here she is waiting for the bus in the morning. I heart her brown puffy vest.

Before I knew it, the end came and my days of having lunch with this girl were over. 
Kevin bought me a cake and some pumpkin beer to celebrate/cheer me up upon returning to work. 
Going back to work wasn't terrible.  I was very comfortable leaving Erin with our nanny Danna who'd spent time with her over the summer.  Getting Hope and Jack out the door for preschool has made the mornings a lot busier.  I'm not as organized as I need to be and should do more before going to bed to make the mornings more seamless, but I'm working on it.  I've been spoiled by all this time of leaving H&J in their PJs, milks in hand, watching Mickey Mouse.  

We had Erin's baptism in mid September.  Here she is with her Godparents - Kevin's cousin Lisa and our friend Tim.

The baptism was soon followed up by a weekend trip to DC for my cousin Jeremy's wedding to the lovely Liz.  They bravely opted to invite our entire family to their party.  We had a lot of fun dancing with Hope and Jack and Erin got in a lot of cuddling time with some of my extended family. 

While in DC, we managed to get in a visit with Liz, Carrie, Jay and Baby Morgan.  

Halloween was celebrated a few weekends in a row in October.  I found the Pooh and Tigger costumes at my multiples club sale.  Erin makes a perfect piglet to round out the trio. 

Our annual visit to Linvilla farm to pose with the pumpkins and take a sunset hayride.

 A couple more shots of one particular Piglet.  If you saw her thighs, you'd agree . . .

 A speedy Tigger on his way to school on Halloween Day.

 The preschool paraders

This was the first year that Jack seemed to really enjoy trick or treating.  He got very excited going to all the houses and telling them that he was dressed as Tigger.  "Mom, can we go to another house and get MORE candy?"

Here's another cute photo of Hope sporting her vest before school one morning.

We have continued with Hope's riding therapy. Here she is having a blast getting to spend Saturday mornings with her regular horse named Clyde. 

Along with starting school, I am happy to finally say that Jack (and his mom and dad) have conquered potty training.  It wasn't easy and required a few days of boot camp, but we did it!  Finally!

We also transitioned Jack out of his toddler bed and into a big bed in a new room.  He's sharing a room with Erin for now and gets the treat of a full size bed to sprawl out in. 

 Here he is supporting both of his parent's alma maters.  As if I will ever be able to compete . . .

 Helping mom with the leaves . . .

We all continue to be completely smitten with Erin.  She is eating and growing like crazy and wrapping everyone around her fingers with her adorable coos and smiles. Here are a few adorable shots.

This past weekend, Courtney and clan swung in for a pre-Thanksgiving visit.  I remember when they used to come with just their 3 older kids and Kevin & I would feel completely wiped after a 24 hr visit.  Four additional kids added to the mix does not make things any less crazy, though we did have a few moments for the adults to catch up and have a few laughs.  

Here's Courtney, me and all our kiddos. 

Hopie had to get in on the snuggling action going on between Peyton and Erin.

We think we've figured out who Erin looks like.  Danna has said all along she thinks Erin looks like my dad and I didn't see it until I checked out one of his baby pictures at his house. What do you all think?

That's all for now!  

Gobble Gobble!!!