Playtime with Lilly

Lilly helping Brayden with his Christmas coutdown chain

Holding hands in the car.  So Sweet!!

Playing with magnets on the fridge

Lilly loves sitting in Brayden's car seat if it is out of the car for some reason.  She is totally drawn to it.

Having a snack while waiting to see the Dr at her 15 month checkup

Lilly loves this rocking chair :)

And this little chair at daycare

As well as this one downstairs...

Playing with Brother's hat

This is a favorite pastime of Lilly's.  If you leave the cabinet door unlocked, she immediately goes for it and will take EVERY SINGLE ITEM out and spread it across the entire downstairs.

Another favorite place to play...All of the extra bottles, jars, etc of stuff are lined up on the floor of the pantry.  Lilly enjoys taking everything out and lining it all up in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Loving on Grammy and Paw's new kitten, Kali, who seems to take Brayden and Lilly in stride.

Relaxing in the swing after a long day at daycare

We had LOTS of birthday parties in October.  It seems that most of Brayden's school friend's birthdays are in October so we went to Young's Gym several times.  Lilly decided that she wanted to get in on the trampoline action as well!

Football Season

I a WAY behind here, but we had a good NCSU Football season this year.  The kids and I made it to all but the last home game.  Brayden had been sick, it was rainy, and COLD, so I decided to stay home with my mom and watch the game from the comfort of my couch!

Brayden really enjoys going to the games now, especially when we let him run around in the empty parking spaces near us and play football.  Thankfully, we tailgate with some great people who are willing to play football to give Mommy and Daddy a break since we are also either cooking or chasing Lilly around most of the time!

Lilly did remarkably well during all of the games this year.  She would take little naps and we just shifted her from person to person during the games.  Hopefully, next year will be just as good for everyone!  

Football during tailgating

A nice little snack before returning to "the game"

Go Pack!!

For Nana's birthday (which was on a game day), we made the trek to their tailgate. 

Tasha and Nicole - 2 of our great tailgating helpers!

A flag the size of the entire football field for Military Appreciate day.  What a great site!!

Funnies

I started this post a while back and had to stop for some reason so I will go ahead and finish the post now. 

Brayden and Lilly have both been doing some funny things lately.

Tonight for example, I had Lilly in her crib while I was doing some stuff in her room.  She kept saying "Mama Mama" and pointing to the shelf with lots of miscellaneous stuff on it.  She was being VERY insistent about something so after offering her several items of the shelf only to have them thrown back at me, I picked her up and took her to the shelf.  Lilly leaned forward, reached into the basket we keep socks in and pulled out socks until she found the pair she wanted.  Then she proceeded to pull the socks apart and carry them around the rest of the evening.  If one was dropped, she would say "Uh Oh" and look around until she found it.  So cute!

Lilly is also very much into wearing her winter hat.  The other night, she kept trying to get the hat from the diaper bag.  Finally, I put it on her and she walked around with the hat on for the rest of the evening...perfectly content.  Her teacher said that she did the same thing today at school.  Most kids hate to have stuff on their heads, but both of mine have always liked wearing hats!

Brayden repeats the funniest things sometimes.   He often tells Lilly "I don't think so little girl" or "no no little girl" (which is what I say sometimes to Lilly).  He is also into asking what phrases mean.  I sometimes tell him "perhaps we will be able to do (fill in the blank)".  Brayden always asks "What does perhaps mean?"  There are lots of words like "perhaps" that he wants to know the meaning of.  It is so great!

Color Me Rad and Light the Night

Matt's brother, John, is currently undergoing cancer treatments.  Back this summer, John decided that he wanted to do a 5K.  Of course, Matt said that he would do it with him.  John, Dana, Matt, and a bunch of other friends did the Color Me Rad 5K at the end of October as part of "Johnny B's Cancer Team".  The money raised goes to Special Olympics.  I think they all enjoyed it and will do it again next year. 

BEFORE

John AFTER

Joe, John, and Matt AFTER

John, Dana, and crew AFTER

Group shot AFTER

Also, Light the Night was a few weeks ago.  Light the Night is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society walk to raise money and awareness for blood cancers.  John, Dana, Nana, BB, and our friends from church, the Toomey's, formed a team.  We walked in honor of John and in memory of Joe's dad.  The walk is held at night in downtown Raleigh.  Each person is given a balloon with a light inside.  As you walk, you truly are "lighting the night".  It was a very special event and I am glad that we were able to participate. 

John's shirt says "I walk because MY life depends on it" and Matt's shirt says "I walk because someone's life depends on it"

Halloween and Fall Fun

As always, we headed to Hillridge Farms this fall a few weeks ago to enjoy the crisp fall weather, the hayride, train ride, and to get some pumpkins.  Lilly enjoyed seeing the animals and watching the train go by. 

Hillridge Farm Hayride...Lilly wasn't impressed

While Matt and Bradyen were on the train ride, Lilly and I hung out.  I couldn't believe that she actually stood still long enough for me to take her picture in front of this sign!  We will have to do this every year now!

Picking out the perfect pumpkins!

 A week or so before Halloween, the kids daycare held a Fall Festival with games, prizes, and food.  They also said that the kids could dress up in their costumes if they wanted.  Our good friends Amy and John (Scooby-Doo) came with us.  Unfortunately, we hadn't finished getting Brayden's costume so he wasn't in full outfit yet.   The kids had a lot of fun playing and running around on the soccer field.  Brayden also got to show John around his school some.

 

When we got home from the Fall Festival, the missing part of Brayden's Halloween costume had arrived.  He was SO excited!!  He wore it ALL.THE.TIME when we were at home!!

 Once again, our small group got together and went trick or treating together.  This year we went to the Westfall's house, had dinner, and then ventured out with the kids.  Their neighborhood was great...just the right size and number of houses for our boys!

On the way to trick or treat.