Oliver in the wars!!

Not too much to report but I know I haven't posted for a couple of weeks and I have loads of photos as per usual!! We've been playing a lot outside while the weather has still been nice. We've had a little taste of winter the past couple of days - no snow, just chilly temps! Since my last post Oliver managed to get a black eye. He fell off the train at the playground and hit his eye right on a metal bar - ouch. And a few days later as it was starting to heal he was running upstairs and ran straight into a wall hitting the same eye again. So he's been a little bit in the wars but it's almost cleared up now. In the midst of all that we had our family pictures taken so Oliver got to wear some make up to cover the bruise!

Emily had her 18 month check up at the docs and weighs in at 29.2lbs and is 34.5ins tall. Her weight has slowed down a little but she continues to be off the charts for her height so she's definitely going to be a tall girl :) It's very noticeable with her 2T shirts that are starting to get a little short on her after only a couple of months.

In two weeks time, Oliver and I will be in England. I will try to squeeze another post in before then :)

Emily loves pasta!

Emily desperately wants to go on this swing but she's not quite big enough yet - maybe next year! Until then, she's content pushing it around.

Happy playing :)

"Mummy, I have a big cheek!" (he has a grape stored in there....)

Oliver did a great job helping me babysit Jackson the other week

Oliver and Daddy checking out the Sunday paper

Oliver's school picture :)

Ah, that was a good nap!

The kids having fun in the leaves!

And Oliver buried in the big pile!!

Devil child :)) Mummy made her hair look silly then the camera made her eyes go freaky!

This huge sheep is outside a store we pass most days in the car - so Oliver finally got to have his picture taken with it!

Emily had her book all ready for nappy changing time

All clean - time for some proper reading!

Oliver brought several bears to breakfast this morning!

Emily trying out her snow pants - she's all ready for the cold weather!

Finger painting time - Oliver has been wanting to do this for AGES!!

This was the extent of Emily's artwork. The rest of the paint was on her stomach and chest - and around her mouth where she decided to suck her thumb!

Oliver rubbed all the colours all over his hands!

Big girl Emily - eating her lunch at the table with us today - she was so, so excited!

Fabulous fall!

We are enjoying some wonderful fall sunshine at the moment (same as everyone in the UK I hear!!) so plenty of time for playing outside and enjoying it while we can :)

A couple of weekends ago we visited the local corn maze which both kids loved. The huge corn pit was a big hit and Oliver loved being buried in the corn!! Emily had fun just figuring out how to move around!! Oliver went down the big slide all by himself (see the video below) which was something I never thought would happen!! We hope to make it back there one more time before it closes but we'll see.

We had a great play date with some friends here where the kids gathered leaves from the back garden and then did art projects with them. It was a little tricky trying to persuade them all to come back in but the cookies helped ;)

We think Emily is working on growing some back teeth. She has certainly been chomping on her fist a lot!!! Today she did come out with her first sentence which was "bye bye duck" after she saw the wooden ducks at Oliver's school. Super cute!!! She then went on to have a very good swimming lesson. She is so excited about going these days and loves all the songs and games we play. I think her favourites are the bubble bucket (pushing a bucket into the water to create bubbles) and ring a round a rosy where they sit on the "magic carpet" and then "fall" into the water at the end of the song. She does great going underwater and is not phased about it at all.

Oliver is getting excited for Halloween and loves to look at all the decorations in Target. He doesn't seem half as scared as he was last year but we'll see how that goes on the actual night! He has his costume now which is Francesco from Cars 2. He is also very excited about the trip to England which happens the day after!! He is always playing the "driving to the airport" game at the moment :) Just keep your fingers crossed that my US passport arrives in time (it's being processed at this time......!).

Oh my :( What a sad Emily after nap time!

18 month picture

Mummy is an American!!

Fun with leaves

Emily joining in the colouring fun (and laughing at Miss Rachel!)

Sitting on the step stool

Oliver trying out mummy's American crown!

Bounce house fun!!

Cutie!!

Emily pretty much ran around the same few bales of hay but loved it all the same :)

Emily up to her bum in corn!!!

So let's just bury her!!!

Oliver doing "corn angels"

I'm not entirely sure what that cow is thinking......

Having fun on the play equipment

Oliver eating his first fajita!! Well, he got about a third of the way through and decided he didn't like it!

Emily's favourite game to play in the morning - grab the step stool so she can steal my cereal!!

Bargain chairs we got for the kids in Target - they are a hit!

I think he's in the middle of asking mummy what she'd like to eat and drink - the restaurant game is Oliver's favourite game to play outside

Awwwww :)

Oliver loves polar bears!!

Yup, she grabbed the potty seat and brought it into the kitchen. I admire the enthusiasm although I hope she manages to get the location right in the future :)

Piano playing :)

I just love how the sunlight is coming through the window :)

Oliver's newest polar bear called Fluffy! They seem to have matching smiles :)

We went out for lunch with our friends today. Here's Oliver being rather silly with a piece of lemon!

I'm not entirely sure about Emily's style of dancing but there you go......