Happy Halloween

We were so excited to finally get to celebrate Halloween. This morning our play group met, and the kiddos got to play and eat goodies, and the moms got to run around trying to get good pictures! We managed to get most of the kids into a picture by sitting them on chairs and giving them toys to hold. They did a pretty good job. Sophie had a lot of fun seeing her friends all dressed up. Zoe slept through the party. This evening we took Sophie trick-or-treating in a neighborhood close by called Winterhaven. They are famous for their decorations during the holidays (it's one of their HOA requirements) so we figured it would be fun for the girls. Sophie quickly learned to stick out her pumpkin to get the candy, and she loved that part of the evening. She did not like the teenage boys who thought it was funny to scare the little ones. We went to about 10 houses and then called it a night. Once again, Zoe slept through the whole thing! Oh well, they were both adorable!

5 Months Old

Zoe must have know that she was about to turn 5 months. In the past week she has changed a lot! I think that spending time with her big cousin Lauren must have motivated Zoe to become more active. She is reaching for objects with determination and her accuracy has gotten much better. She rolled over once from her tummy to her back, but she is really close to rolling over the other way. She's still the smiley baby, and her personality is so sweet. I can't wait to see what milestones she reaches during her sixth month!

Road Trip Indiana

Last week the Gieseke family headed to Indiana. Andy's great aunt Kitty turned 90 and there was a big celebration for her in Cincinnati. Sophie and Zoe got to meet many of Andy's relatives for the first time. The weather was beautiful, and Sophie had a lot of fun playing in the backyard on the hammock. In addition to the birthday party, we also spent time at the house where Andy grew up in Greenfield. We got to visit Andy's grandparents at their house, and Andy's cousins came to have dinner with us one night. Sophie had a lot of fun running around with her older cousins, and she also had fun being the big girl with Zoe and their cousin Lauren (who is just 4 weeks older than Zoe). I think Zoe's favorite part of the trip was all of the extra attention and holding that she got! I definitely enjoyed the extra hands!

Tuttle's Farm

While the men were busy working one day, the ladies took the girls to Tuttle's Farm to look at the pumpkins. We got the three cousins all dressed up in matching outfits because we knew there would be some great photo ops at the farm. Fortunately we took some pictures before leaving the house because on the way to the farm Lauren ended up needing an outfit change! Once we were there, Sophie thought sitting on the pile of pumpkins was the best thing ever. Zoe thought we were torturing her. Sophie also enjoyed patting the big pumpkins on display, and inside the little store she got confused and thought the little decorative pumpkins were for batting practice. Then she forgot they were pumpkins and tried to take a bite out of one like it was an apple. Silly girl! Once we got home from the farm we all enjoyed some warm apple cider. Mmmmm....

Road Trip Chicago

We spent the last couple days of our vacation staying with Andy's sister Liz, her husband Jace and their daughter Lauren. It was very cold (for us) and windy so we decided to check out the Shedd Aquarium and spent some time indoors. That evening we headed to the suburbs of Chicago to have dinner with Andy's uncle Paul and wife Pat. After dinner we went back to their house for dessert and Sophie, Zoe and Lauren made themselves right at home on the living room floor. Back at Liz and Jace's house Zoe enjoyed trying out Lauren's toys, and Sophie spent time bonding with their greyhound named Indy. It was really nice to spend time with family, and the Mouse family was extremely gracious for allowing our girls to take over the house!

Matching Outfits

Last week Andy bought the girls a bunch of new clothes. Today they wore these sets from Carter's, which are a steal at Costco right now! It's been hard to keep up with the blog lately. It's not because I don't have time. It's because we keep the camera hidden (away from Sophie) and then I just forget to take pictures! Bad mommy... I will work harder at keeping the camera at the ready to capture the girls at their cutest.

Ouch X 5

Today we took Zoe for her 4 month check up, which included 4 shots plus an oral vaccine. Sophie thought she was going for moral support, but we decided at the last minute to have her get her flu shot while we were there. We asked her if she wanted to get the shot and she said yes. She was very interested in the needle and kept shaking her head yes to tell us how excited she was about the shot. We watched with anticipation as the nurse administered the vaccine. Sophie's face quickly turned to horror and she began shaking her head no and making the sign "all done." Next it was Zoe's turn and before long that small room was filled with lots of crying. By the time we got home they were all better, and each took turns sitting in the bumbo. Zoe has her own lovey now, and I hope she becomes attached to it the way Sophie is to her loveys. In Sophie's picture she is looking up because she was practicing her Heffalump call. If you don't know what that is, then you need to get the Pooh Bear Heffalump movie. Oh- Zoe's official four month stats are: 25 1/8 inches tall (75th - 90th percentile) and 13 lbs 5 oz (50th percentile). Her head is 40 cm (25th percentile). She's really getting big!