Catching Up

Aunt Jennie is due to have a new baby in a couple of weeks. In November, we went up to one of her baby showers in Chicago. We all had such a good time. After being in the car for so long, Laney went crazy in the house, just running laps around the whole basement over and over. She loved playing with her Chicago family.
The following Saturday, Brooke, Sydney, Joey, and Laney went to the Sugarplum Fairy benefit breakfast at the civic center (put on by the Children's Museum of Evansville). That Sunday was a fantastic day! Sargent Art Utley (Joey's step dad) arrived in Evansville for the first time since deploying with the Army National Guard 163rd last year. He was sorely missed when he was gone, so having him back has been amazing. People lined the highway all the way from the airport to the armory. It was a really cool experience, and was amazing to see him again. Thanksgiving was great. Blake's parents had Thanksgiving dinner at their house on Thanksgiving, and Joey's parents had it on Saturday. We ate too much both times, but the food and the company were both very very good. We have been getting all of our Christmas shopping done, and decided last night to get Hadley's ears pierced. She did really well. After only a few seconds, whe was back to her smiling little self again. She is so happy all the time. Laney can pretty much say anything. She still has some funny names for things (like drip drop for the hackey sack, and slip slip for bracelets). Although she has definitely had her two-year-old moments (fits), she is one of the goofiest, funny kids. We just went to a family movie day (the girls' first movie) with Mead Johnson, and she sat through almost the whole movie without barely even twitching. She just kept saying BIIIG MOOVIE!! After about a 10 minute break to play games in the lobby, she was back to finish the movie and dance for everyone leaving the theater during the closing credits.
We are all looking forward to Christmas. On December 26th, we will be driving up to have Christmas with the Chicago family, including the brand new Alsman baby (Grant & Jennie aren't going to find the sex out until the baby is born, so we don't know the name yet).
This year has been pretty intense...Mimi & Pops move into their new house right after mom got back from the hospital with a very bad infection, the night they move in (Mother's Day) Blake blows up the grill and gets burned and gets Randy badly burnt and sent to the ER in an ambulance, Grandpa spent some time in the hospital ICU, Art spends most of the year in Iraq and finally came home safe a few weeks ago, cousin Joey gets mononucleosis in his brain stem and is admitted to the hospital, uncle Bill gets Lyme disease, Hadley was born, Grant & Jennie's baby will be born, and a few jobs have changed.
Friday night, we celebrated Joey's 29th birthday at Turonis and had some delicious (awful) cake that Laney & Blake made. Laney loved frosting the cake and blowing out the candles. You can see how much she liked the chocolate icing in the pictures below. Blake almost lit the cake on fire because he lit two big boxes of candles (he exaggerated her age more than just a little).
Here are a bunch of pictures of lots of stuff that has happened since the last update:

Trick or Treat!

Trick or Treat! This was Laney's favorite new phrase Friday night. Although she technically got candy from the neighbors last Halloween, it wasn't really trick or treating. This year, Laney came to realize how important those 3 little words were as she paraded around Brookshire getting more candy than she had ever seen in her life just handed over. She went as a witch and Hadley went as her black cat (although she ended up looking like a mouse and was eating her fur all night). Both of them were really cute. We trick-or-treated with Brooke, Sydney (and 2 geographically-named friends, Austin and Savanna), Mimi, Pops, Darla & her kids, Auntie B, Jennie & Daisy and of course our foursome. Brooke, Sydney, and Austin were all Bat Girl somehow. They looked great, and Brooke even got a pretty nice action shot. We met up with the Williams' and then partied at the Evans' house with about 50 kids, or at least it seemed like 50. We all had a very good time! Here are some pictures of the trick-or-treating.

What a weekend!

Family Update

Well, Hadley Claire is now over 4 months old! She is getting bigger and bigger by the second. She rolled over for the first time, tried cereal for the first time (which she absolutely hates....she just kept gagging the first time), loves her exersaucer now, and has started playing with her sister by watching her with a huge smile and talking to her a lot. She has started laughing out loud at her sister, mom and dad, and it is the funniest thing ever! She goes for her 4-month check up (to the Baby Whisperer , "Dr. Cochran", of course) on Halloween, and will get shots and will be weighed. She is still nursing full time and it's going great. Hadley is the perfect new little daughter and sister.

Laney is now 26 months old. She looks HUGE! Although she is physically much larger, she likes to pretend she is a baby now to get some of the attention that Hadley gets. One of her favorites is to be swaddled in a blanket. Her language is amazing, and advances every day. She constantly surprises us with the things she says. She is in love with her little sister. She tells her she loves her, holds her hand and hugs her, talks to her, and plays with her all the time. She also likes to help Haldley drink from her bottle and will rock her in her swing and car seat when she fusses. She LOVES to sing, and will try to sing along (pretty well actually) with songs she doesn't even know. We can't believe how many songs she knows now. She is great at finding the right pitch and staying on key and on beat even though she is barely 2 years old! She also loves to sing with others and will often ask mommy or daddy to join in with her. Laney has also just started Cheerleading (tumbling) classes [Thank you Nana!]. We can't even tell you how much Laney loves it. Sometimes she gets so excited she just starts squealing because she can't think of any other way to show how much fun she is having. When she finishes a cartwheel or sommersault she stands up tall, throws her hands in the air, and shouts "Tada!"...it is hillarious!

Other than that, life has been pretty busy taking care of the two girls. We just held a shower for our sister-in-law's baby (due in December). We are so excited to get new titles (Auntie Joey, Uncle, and cousins)! We went through the corn maze and on a hay ride at Mayse Farm to pick pumpkins. Laney had some bloodwork done ;(, but was a total champ and didn't cry! :) Blake was just in Dallas. The trip was a work trip, but he got to see our great friends' , Heather & Ryan Schamerloh, new baby Ava Rose. She is adorable! Here are some pictures of the past few weeks.

Do you think I look like my daddy?

Hadley sits in her Bumbo chair all by herself. What a big girl.

Hello!

The girls, just hanging out.

Laney is swaddled to be just like Hadley

Wheeeeeeeeee!

Laney & the Davis twins picking pumpkins

Laney's pink bandage from her blood test

Ryan & Ava

Corn Maze, Hayride, and the Pumpkin Patch

Today was a great day! We took Laney and Hadley to Mayes' farm with Pops, Mimi, Bella (Mimi's new dog), Auntie B, Auntie Syd, where we met up with Chris, Traci, Taylor, and Bayleigh. We started off by running through a corn maze and playing in the straw, then took a hayride to the pumpkin patch. We all found perfect pumpkins and headed back. The girls loved the hayride, and had fun running around the pumpkin patch and maze (even Bella found a pumpkin she wanted to take with her), but were ready to go when we got back.

This evening, we decided to have a family date night. We tried out a new place in town called Gattitown. We thought it would be more like Chuck-E-Cheese, but it is a bit too old for Laney. That being said, she had a great time! She loved to run around all the loud flashing machines, we took some great photos in the photo booth, played basketball and air hockey, and rode a fake roller coaster. It was great to have such a wonderful time with our family. Here are some pictures of the day.

Our Blog Facelift

Hi everybody. Our blog just got a facelift from a lady at Penny Lane Designs. I hope you like it.

The girls just had new pictures taken today! This time Jane Fritchley took the pictures. She has a more spontaneous style than the last pictures we just posted. Hadley just turned 3 months old, so we wanted to get 3-month-old pictures of her. Laney had a bit of a case of the terrible two's, so there weren't a ton of pictures. I think there are some great ones though. Hadley laid down and held her head up high to smile for the camera. I can't wait to see them; we'll post them here as soon as they're ready.

My new FAVORITE pictures

Here are some new pictures of the girls. We had them taken at Michael Gray Photography. We just love his pictures so much. He has done all of Laney's and now Miss Hadley's . He's so fun to work with. These are Laney Grace's 2 year pics and Hadley's newborn. We were just so thrilled with the outcome of these. They really do just melt our hearts. Look at those, "Brown Eyed" girls. Aren't they sweet. We are scheduled for more pictures on the 18th of this month. I'll keep you posted. It takes forever to get them back. That's the only down fall. Oh well they are sure worth the wait!