Southern California...

In November, the kids and I flew to Southern California to spend a week in Newport Beach with my parents and my sister, Jillian. The reason we decided to get out of the cold? Paul was out-of-town for two weeks on a dive trip in Mexico with his buddy Jarrid, so we thought it would be nice to get away too! Besides, being at home without him for two weeks would have been pretty lonely :). So, while we were there....

Opa spent some afternoons watching the kids while my mom and I shopped (it was SO nice!!) and one time we came home to this HUGE tower. The kids were so excited about it!!

We did some more shopping...

...and the kids got to ride the merry-go-round, which were reindeer, very cute! Will was scared of it and Kennedy asked me, "how do you make this go faster?!".

...saw Jessica Simpson signing autographs at Macy's :).

...and Kennedy got to pretend she was a window mannequin for Gap! (Is this really an outfit a kid gets to wear in November?!)

We spent time at the pool...and the kids enjoyed smoothies and got to play with life-size chess pieces.

We got to meet up with most of Paul's family at Downtown Disney!! We were SO happy to see them!

Sharon, Stacey, Baby Hannah, Trisha, Kennedy, Mason and Jenny

Can't really see us, but group photo!

And the highlight of the kid's trip...The Pretend City!!! It is located in Irvine and it's just perfect for little kids! The kids had ball "pretending". If you live in the area or are visiting, you should definitely check it out.

They got to go to the Post Office...

Go fishing...

Work at a restaurant..

Be a dentist...

Be a doctor and put on a cast...

Wait in a waiting room...

Be a firefighter...

Play house...

Perform on stage...

Play at the beach...

Shop at the grocery store...

And make a deli sandwich...Kennedy's favorite part!

Night out in Brodhead...

We have really started to make some good friends here and have thoroughly enjoyed having social things to do! Alex and Steph are both from Brodhead...they moved away (Alex to Texas and Steph to Boston) and then moved their husbands here once they started their families. This picture is from a night at the Silver Dollar Saloon in town. It was great, they had a DJ and he was playing really fun dance music, a lot from the early '90s :). Good times!!

Pete, Oscar, Steph, Alex, Me and Paul

Happy Halloween!

I don't have very many pictures from Halloween night because it was FREEZING and we literally only trick-or-treated for 45 minutes, then we went to Alex's parent's house for hot chocolate and coffee with coffee liqueur...it hit the spot!! I thought Kennedy was going to be bummed it was over, but she was even cold enough to not mind going inside. She refused to put any extra clothing when we started, and then as time went on she asked for her sweatshirt, then her jacket, then her gloves :). When a kid is cold, you know it's cold!

Oscar (the cowboy), Paul and Kennedy

Halloween Party...

The last weekend of October, we got invited to Sarah and Brandon's Halloween party. Sarah is a friend of our new friends, Alex and Oscar. It was so much fun to see everyone dressed up, even ALL the adults. Here a few cute pictures of the kids...

Will with my "Where's Waldo?" glasses, I LOVE this picture!!

Gabe, Will and Fiona

Kennedy looking so sweet!

15-Month & 3-Year Checkups

On October 1st, Will and Kennedy had their checkups. Although the kids did not behave themselves very well at all and I was sweating when we left :), I was happy to have both of the checkups out of the way at once. Here are their stats...

Will - 32.5" (88.14%), 23 lb. 3 oz. (54.37%) and head circumference of 48.5 cm (88.13%)

Kennedy - 37.4 " (45.51%), 31 lb. 3.2 oz. (47.26%)

AutumnFest...

The last weekend of September, Brodhead has an AutumnFest downtown. It is an event for the kids to wear their costumes and trick-or-treat at all of the local businesses, there are carnival games for them to play, a hayride, a costume contest, a chili cook-off and a local band playing. It was an 80 degree day and SO much for the kids! As a parent, it makes you get your costumes together early, and I had a request from Kennedy this year (I can't believe that's starting already!)...her costume had to have a tutu part to it!! Will, no request :), so he wore his sister's costume from her second Halloween.

The Sunflower Blossom

The Monkey 

Homecoming '12...

Kennedy got to be in the Brodhead Homecoming parade again this year. It was great day weather wise, a lot warmer than last year and it was so cute to see the little kids enjoying the festivities! Will really loved watching the parade, but kept trying to get closer and closer to the action. Hopefully he will be able to ride next year!

Kennedy's 3rd Birthday...

Kennedy turned 3 on September 19! It was great day and she felt very special! At daycare, her class sang her Happy Birthday and I brought in cookies for everyone. Then when she came home, she got to open presents, have a dinner of her choice (crescent dogs with ketchup :) and then dessert of her choice (brownies). Kennedy now thinks your birthday lasts for a whole week, as we had presents coming daily for her :). It was so much fun, she loved checking the mail every day and still asks me when I'm getting the mail..."present?". Happy Birthday KK, I can't believe you're already 3!!!