Lots of football talk

It's football talk around here...

Nate is teaching Kevin the proper football stance. No surprise, Kevin always wants to play full blown tackle football. He is showing off his new #85 shirt, just like his Grandpop's football number. My dad sent Kevin a photo of himself in his high school football uniform (circa 1960's) and Kevin just could not believe it was him!

Cousin Isabel took her first steps, finally, during the Iowa/Iowa State game! Nate caught it on video and also snapped this picture of Kevin helping Isabel.

Center Grove Orchard

Well, we have sailed right through our sadness that summer is over and moved directly into fall mode. We might just have to turn on the heat soon if the weather stays like this. It was really chilly downstairs this morning and both kids woke up with cold toes.

We love Center Grove Orchard!

I took the kids for our first visit of the season today. It was chilly this morning, but they didn't seem to mind. The mini-barnyard was just perfect for Katie (and me) because the animals are contained in their pens so they didn't come too close. Kevin loved the corn pool. This was Katie's first "dip" in the pool. I was impressed that she did not eat the corn kernels. We took a tractor ride, played in the mini corn maze and jumped on the giant bouncy pillow. We came home with a peck of apples and peaches.

***Both kids were sound asleep when we got home!*** I could not have asked for a better Thursday. We purchased a season pass to the orchard and have plans to meet Kevin's preschool playgroup there for the next few weeks.

I was only able to snap a few photos on my phone:

Catching up...

Time has slipped away from me, so here are some pictures to catch up!

Kevin was up early today so he had breakfast with Nate.

Kevin received this super cool 3-D dinosaur shirt in the mail from Grandmom & Grandpop last week. He sure loves dinosaurs lately.

2 happy kiddos at the Blank Park Zoo last week:

Adorable! I love this face!

Katie - 15 month check up

Today I took Katie for her 15 month check-up, here are her stats (15 months, 21 days):

Weight: 24 lbs, 6 oz. (69th percentile)

Height: 32.5 inches (93th percentile)

As a comparison, Kevin was 27 pounds & 30.5 inches. Again, I am fascinated by how tall she is! She needs those long, strong legs to run around our house and constantly chase her brother!

"Words" that Katie can say:

-ball

-hat

-hot

-Mamma

-Dadda

-Baby

-NO

-Cheese, trees, shoes (all sounds the same)

When asked "What does a cow say", she responds "Oooohhhh". Sort of.

Here are a few pictures of Miss Katie:

Was giving her her own cup of chocolate pudding a bad idea?

One last photo from the State Fair

Here are the kids on the way home from the doctor and running errands this morning. Katie was wiped out! Kevin is showing off the balloon he got at the mall.

Just hanging around our house

Just goofin' off with the kids yesterday morning (and because I don't think I have posted enough photos of Katie lately).

This is Katie's new "smile" face....

She is looking so proud that she just stole her brother's new toy that he won at the fair. Seriously, she is sneaky and so smart. She will wait until the exact moment that Kevin steps out of the room and she will swoop in and steal his stuff. This happens constantly. I am not sure if I should laugh and encourage her (this is my gut reaction after growing up with an older brother) or act as the peacekeeper and defend Kevin's toys.

All aboard

My parents came to visit this weekend and brought the kids goodies from their recent trip to Alaska....

Kevin was thrilled with his new train conductor costume, complete with a real whistle (so far, the whistle hasn't been too loud)!

State Fair!

We had a busy weekend. Nate and I started the weekend by attending the Train/Maroon 5 concert at the State Fair on Friday night. My mom and dad watched the kids. It was a great, kid- free night out with the Spradlings.

On Saturday we took my parents and the kids to the great Iowa State Fair. There was so much to see, and eat. Kevin's favorite part of the Fair are the rides. Katie was a good sport in her stroller and we gave her some ice cream so she could have some fun too.

Katie was very scared to meet Clifford The Big Red Dog (I think this is a foreshadow for how she will react to Santa Claus this year!)

Very silly, yet very Iowan. (Yes, it really is a cow made entirely of butter. And yes, people really do line up every year to see it!)