Quack Quack Please...

Instead of "Trick or Treat" this year, Sam used the only words that seemed fitting as we went from door to door spreading Halloween cheer..."Quack Quack Please". The evening was too fun watching Sam run around in his duck costume and seeing our sweet Kate with her big floppy elephant ears. Even though the nights festivities didn't last very long (which is a good thing with an 18 month & 5 month old) the laughs and memories of the night will last forever. Sam was hilarious hamming it up in his costume. My mom laughed saying "that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree". I am not quite sure how to take that, but I will just take it as a complement? We visited Aunt Kaye(Khaki) and Uncle Stanley's house first and she had made some yummy homemade Halloween cookies that I ate most of:) After visiting with them we then went to their sons house (Michael and his wife Alexa)! They have the most precious 3 month old Boykin Spaniel puppy (Scout) who Sam loved! Their neighborhood was teeming with children all dressed up for the night. The next and final stop was to Debbie's house. She had the most healthy of all treats. She knows how healthy Sam usually eats so she was prepared for our knock on the door. She filled Sam's bucket with an organic rice krispie treat & an avocado!! For those of you who don't know, Sam LOVES avocados!! We all got a great laugh, but I was glad for the healthful treat!! She also gave us some applesauce for Kate. Debbie gets the prize for the most "mama friendly" Halloween treat. After Debbie's house we packed it up and came home to give Katie her last Halloween bottle. The night was very fun for the whole family, but I think Rob and I had the most fun seeing our precious angels all dressed up.

Great Grand Pappy

We took the kids to visit their Great Grand Pappy at his assisted living home on Sunday after church. This is my (Loran) dad's father. He has been going through some rough weeks recently as his body is beginning to grow tired. He has prostate cancer that has unfortunately spread to his bones, but they have been able to manage his pain quite well with medicine. His outlook and spirit are remarkable as he is an inspiration to us all!! Rob and I try to make regular visits to all of our grandparents now that we are living so close to them. They love seeing the children and I know it brightens their day as it does ours to see them smile! Great grand Pappy is a retired Baptist minister and has lived a full life. We all get a chuckle at some of the comments and memories that come up during conversations we have with him. Some days we are just thrilled that he remembers our faces and that we are family. Others the thoughts and memories are crystal clear. It is funny how the aging mind works. I have said on several occassions that I am already having senior moments, but I think it might just be the "mommy" brain of having 2 babies under 2:) These pictures below are of our visit.

A little R -n- R (Road Trip & Reunion)

This past weekend we packed up the family and made a road trip to Westminster to visit all of Rob's family. Rob has a large family, for which I am very grateful, because I have a very small extended family and I love to experience all the fun, joy and little bit of craziness!! The trip got off to a somewhat rocky start when we realized the battery was dead in our van. Luckily we discovered this the night before, so we were able to tackle this roadblock before the early morning departure. Long story short we ended up taking Papa's (my dad) big suburban bus, because we weren't able to get the battery situation worked out in time. Nonetheless, we were able to leave on Saturday morning as scheduled around 9am! We were glad to have Papa's big bus because it has a DVD player and Barney is always handy when Sam gets the wiggles. We arrived in Westminster in time to stop and visit Grandmother and Papa DeFoor before the reunion. They were so happy to see the kids and Sam was happy to ransack their house. After our first stop we decided to stop in at Bebe's (Rob's mom) and grab a quick snack and change diapers. Once we all had a chance to regroup we were off to the reunion. By the way, the weather could not have been more perfect. It was 75 degrees and gloriously sunny. When we arrived they were getting ready to bless the food and have some lunch so we jumped right in! There were about 80+ people there and it was so fun to get to meet a lot of Rob's family that I had not ever met before. Most of the family lives in the SC, NC, GA, AL area but some came from much further away. I think I forgot to mention, but the reunion was held at "The Farm", which is not a farm at all, but is this beautiful tucked away property in the hills of SC, that is truly a haven. It has a house and a 1 acre pond with lots of trees and most important serenity. Everyone had so much fun and they had some family members who brought their guitars and they played and we sang along. Sam especially loved the music and they even played "Jesus loves me" just for him. What a special memory for all of us. By about 3:00, we decided to pack it up and head back to Bebe's to see if the kids would rest at all, but unfortunately they were way past the napping idea, so we just hung out and visited with Bebe. Around 5:30 we gathered everyone back up and went to Los Amigos Mexican restaurant in Seneca and grabbed a bite to eat. I think we really pushed it expecting Sam to be ready to behave after a long day and no nap, but in the end I think we all ate and then it was bedtime (thank goodness)!!

The next day we went to Bebe's church and then came home to a great lunch with grandmother and papa (rob's grandparents). Then nap time was a must!! We were all tired and definitely needed some downtime. After naps we started our trek back home with a special stop! We stopped in Greenville to visit some our best friends, Matt & Amanda. They have twins (Sadie & Jack) that are 7 months old and absolutely precious!! Sam was completely taken with Sadie and was making her laugh. We can't wait to get moved and be closer to them. I know watching our kids grow up together is going to be wonderful. We ordered pizza and caught up with everyone and then made our way back home.

The weekend was so much fun. We will look forward to next year's reunion with much anticipation!!

Fun at the Park

On Sunday we packed up the kids and went to the park in hopes of giving Sam a chance to burn off some energy. Sam, Kate and I have been a little under the weather with our first cold in a long time. We are hoping it won't stick around for too long. The fresh air did us all good. Sam loves to swing, although you will see that daddy swings him much higher than I ever do. When mama pushes Sam it more or less puts him to sleep and when daddy gets a turn I see smiles and giggles from ear to ear. That's what daddy's are for...right??

Gratitude

Things I am Grateful for...

• Kate's smiles & babbling
• Sam's ever expanding vocab
• cool breeze while sitting on screen porch
• quiet house when kids are in bed (at 7:30)
• singing silly songs that only my kids could love
• soothing music after a hectic day
• long talks on phone with Tricia
• grandparents:)
• hot showers
• fitting back into pre-pregnancy jeans
• hearing Sam say "Amen" at the end of the blessing
• a Barney video while I am cooking dinner
• sweet tea
• dove dark chocolate
• rain
• upcoming holiday season
• gracious & forgiving God
• worship and praise music
• my wonderful husband
• my parents who are the most unselfish people in the universe.
• and so much more...

Who's Who??

Who's Who?? We have laughed at how similar Kate and Sam's baby pictures are. As a matter of fact, I need to get going on organizing all the photos I have to make sure that we will be able to discern who's who. We feel so blessed to have two healthy children and thank God daily for their beautiful little personalities. Kate is just as sweet as she can be and has such a tender little heart. You can just look at her wrong and that little lip pokes out and starts to tremble. As for Sam, his very independent and strong will is going to either take him real far in life or get him into lots o' trouble. Mostly trouble right now, but from what my parents tell me he is following right in my footsteps!! We haven't quite figured out how to handle some of the challenges he throws our way, because time-out doesn't seem to phase him alot of the time. We will just have to keep experimenting. By the way, Kate is at the bottom and Sam at the top for those of you still guessing:)

I Wear My Pink Sunglasses at Night

Sam thought that Kate's sunglasses were too cool not to try out. Proud Daddy holding Kate while she tries out her pink sunglasses.

Looking very chic...don't you think???

Kate got a chance to try out her pink sunglasses that she received as a gift from her friend Isabelle. I think she kind of enjoyed the shaded view as much as we enjoyed seeing how cute she was. Sam couldn't keep from trying out the cool shades, but I think we will definitely have to find some more suitable shades for him.