Happy Halloween

Although my posting has been very sparse lately I didn't want to miss Halloween.  I hope everyone has a fun day.  I got my teeth cleaned by Wonder Woman.  Halloween makes even the most unpleasant things mildley amusing.

What you are really here to see are the girls.  We had a trunk-or-treat over the weekend so we don't really have any plans to go out tonight.  Noelle was so excited to be Elastigirl.  She could hardly hold still.  Ivy is sporting an incredible shirt too--she's Jack-Jack.  My time is limited so I'll just cut the chit chat and share some pictures:

We told Noelle to stretch like Elastigirl.

Best Shirt

One of the best shirts I've made Noelle is her green shirt.  I made it out of a cheap stretched out shirt I had. Little did I know she'd still be wearing it two years later.  Originally it was more of a dress but she's grown into it.  It's funny to see how small she was when I first made it.  

Why don't they make all kid clothes that versatile?

I need to remember to make more shirts for the girls out of stretchy stuff so I they can sport them for a while!   

This and That

I always have a hard time thinking about what to report when I finally sit down to blog.  It couldn't be the two awake girls who should be sleeping distracting me (Noelle is currently knocking on her door)  :)

Ivy loves to stand.  Noelle is getting better at smiling cute in pictures.  If you ask her to give you a "beautiful smile" she flashes a pearly white smile.  Sometimes she asks Corey or I to smile and says "good job" or "oh, beautiful".

Noelle is often sporting a fruit punch mustache.  Why must they put so much food coloring in the punch?  It seems a bit overdone.  Ivy isn't so sure about sitting.  She likes standing much more.

Here's a video of nothing really, but Noelle was acting cute.

Life

We are a busy bunch around here, leaving me with not nearly as much time to blog as I'd like.  But here's a few glimpses of the girls.

Ivy appears to be teething.  Who knows when some cute pearly whites will show up.  In the mean time she loves to chew on anything (our fingers are her favorite).  She hasn't had any solid foods yet.  We will probably introduce them in the next month.

Noelle loves to be in pictures with Ivy.  Look how grown up she looks next to her sister!  Also, she is getting very tan from all her outside escapade-ing.

Ivy is dying to move.  She's always doing little baby crunches while lying on the ground.  She wants to be walking already!

I took these this afternoon.  We really love our house, but it has terrible light for indoor pictures.  That's part of my excuse for why I can't seem to get pictures taken as often as I'd like.  I love how happy Ivy is a good portion of the day.  It's especially nice on afternoons when her sister is being a stereotypical two year old (in other words a pill).

Ivy has the cutest cheeks ever.  As her hair is getting longer she sports some crazy bed-head much of the time.  Just after bath time is when it's the tamest.

Noelle requested a photo of her playing in the blinds today.  She's not supposed to play in them but is often found rattling around behind them.  This week has been better for naps (we feared they were going away completely), but they still aren't a daily guarantee.

Just for fun here's a look at Noelle and Ivy about the same age.  They definitely don't look much alike do they?!  Both cute in their own way.  They have similar noses and both have darling smiles though.

Unexpected Package

In the prior post I mentioned a big surprise that came in the mail.  We decided it was best to wait until this evening to open it and why not video chat with the senders so they could enjoy it too.

What was it?  Oh, you know, just a BOUNCE HOUSE!  Goodness.  If that doesn't scream love I don't know what does.

Noelle knew exactly what it was and that it was from Papa Larry when it came ("jump a papa's house!" in Noelle speak).  She's been dying to play on it again since we left (and often requests to see a video of her cousin 'Brina on it to live vicariously through her).  A few Sundays ago it was mentioned on our video chat that 'Brina was going out to jump in the bounce house and Noelle ran and grabbed her shoes and told us she was going to Papa's house.  Melt their hearts why don't you.

Noelle's face looks like she's thinking "is this real life?"

Noelle enjoying a jump.  I couldn't get her to sit still and smile.  I think she was having too much fun.  She had that big smile and giggle that kids get on Christmas morning.

Another "am I dreaming" look as she takes in her BOUNCE HOUSE!

She had quite the circuit training going on.  Run around in circles, bounce, go down the slide, run around to the back, climb on, and repeat.

She played for quite some time this evening and can't wait to play again tomorrow.  Corey enjoyed the sights from within as he was becoming a mosquito buffet.

Chatter

Ivy loves to chat now that she's figured out how to make noises.  In fact, at 5 this morning she was having a ball chatting to herself.  

I tried to get a snippet of some of Ivy's talking for you:

Also, Noelle (and her parents) received a big surprise in the mail yesterday.  She knew immediately what it was and who it was from.  We hid the box from view temporarily but will probably set things up tonight or tomorrow.  In the meantime she keeps asking to see the little video of her cousin jumping.  She can't wait.

The Boy Who Lived

Corey and I were watching the Harry Potter series last Christmas time, and apparently Noelle was paying attention because she loves Harry Potter.  At least she thinks she does.  She can pick out all the movies off the shelf and asks to watch them sometimes.  We've only watched parts of the first two with her so far.  I'm reading Harry Potter to the girls, but Noelle usually offers to put it away for me after a few minutes.  I think she's delicately saying she'd rather do something else.