{Little Pumpkins! }

Our pumpkins are 11 months old!! Getting so big around here! We have had a busy October and we can hardly believe that it's almost November already.

The month was kicked off with a quick trip to the UP for Jared and I to see some color and have a short vacation without the kids since we haven't done that (or anything much for that matter) since they were born. It was a brisk trip as we stayed right on the shore of Lake Superior in Grand Marais. From there we went sight seeing during our days. It was beautiful. We went to Jared's favorite spot (Pretty Lake) to see if we could catch any fish but alas we didn't stay too long as it was cold and I didn't have a very good pole. I did catch some leaves! I guess that's something.

Pretty Lake

But let's rewind a little...before we got to Pretty lake we went in search of the famed "Tank Lake" that I've heard so much about. Hmm. I'm beginning to think this lake doesn't exist. ;) So you don't just drive to these places on main street like you do under the bridge; you have to go on 2 tracks with your trucks and 4 wheel drive and maps and make sure you don't get totally lost. So we didn't get totally lost! We only got a little lost and ended up taking a slightly wrong turn on one of the 2 tracks and ended up at Pratt Lake instead of Tank but decided to get out of the truck to follow a path that looked like it might lead to something... Here's a few shots from that. :)

As you can see this goes no where. :) We were driving down this path until there was a tree we couldn't avoid so we stopped and got out to walk a bit. 

Beautiful color was worth getting lost! 

So after we got lost and then went to Pretty Lake to fish and then back to Grand Marais for the remainder of the trip, all in all, it was a good trip. We saw some beautiful color and enjoyed a nice long weekend kid free. I can't wait to bring the kids there though, they will just love it! Here are some shots from the sunset we caught on Lake Superior. This was taken along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore just south of Au Sable Lighthouse. It was stunning.

Scruffy and all mine! <3

So enough about that subject on to the babies! Who are turning out to be not so much babies anymore... :( They are 11 months old now and getting to be such big kids. They walk along everything and try to stand on their own but so far no one has done it yet without falling right away. Soon enough. Joline now has 3 teeth on bottom and 2 on top and Anders has 4 on top and 2 on bottom. They love food of all kinds. Both have successfully dropped the bedtime bottle! Yay! So we are just down to 3 small bottles before their meals and then they are learning to master the sippy cup with milk at meal times. Once they can hold their sippy cups better we will drop another bottle. They are growing so fast!

We went to pick out pumpkins on their 11 month b-day! :) It was pretty cold but they stayed warm and cozy.

Carving pumpkins with Papa & Nana Parcels' the next day. 

Not the best picture but it was the best of what we got! :) Jared's pumpkin didn't get carved yet.  :( Boo. 

In other news...

This past Sunday we finally got our latest cousin! Little Zuri Sophia Vanderson was born and Joline couldn't be happier to have another girl cousin to play with! So far The babies have not met their newest cousin so we will hopefully have pictures for you soon when that meeting occurs! I did get to see her and she is absolutely beautiful! Her mommy even had a pretty hair bow on her head and she was just as sweet as could be during our visit. Congratulations to Dan and Abby and Big brother Fitz!

Well that's all for now, we can't wait to share all of the happenings for their big first birthday coming up!! Happy November!

God Bless,
-CW

Weaning....

So we are dropping the babies night time bottle this week. We have been in the process over the past month of slowly reducing the amount that they get at night and now we've finally dropped it completely. Tonight was technically night #2, however, last night was different because they fell asleep in the car and then were transferred to bed so I'm not really counting that one. :)

Normally at night we would wind them down with a wagon ride around the property, then have a bath and get PJs on followed by bottle and books and then right to bed. So tonight because we had night church we went to the service where the kids played in the cry room and then they had their baths and I let them have their sippy cups with just a tiny bit of water while we were reading books (they weren't too interested in the sippy which is fine with me.) After a few books we put them down. Anders was out like a light as usual; no problems there. Joline, on the other hand, was not too happy. She cried and cried. We went back up once to soothe and reassure her that we are still here and we love you but bed is where you need to be now. We have done this since day one by picking them up rocking them a few minutes (not to sleep-just until they calm down) and then laying them back in bed. Tonight she fought the rocking and was downright mad! Yikes. She is my type A girl and she knows that something is different about her night time routine. We try very hard not to do things exactly the same every night because we do not want them to get 'stuck' on doing things a certain way. I do believe that a healthy dose of change is good for kiddos so that they stay flexible. However, this is hard. I hated that she cried for a while and that it was so difficult for her. It reminded me of when we cut night time feedings back when they were only 2 months old. Then it took about 3 nights to break them of the routine of the feeding so we will see how long it takes for this to pass. I know that she will get there like all kids do and I know that she does not need the bottle because, as I said before, we have been weaning them down slowly over the last month and they have been down to practically nothing for a few days now and have had no trouble sleeping.

She is sleeping sound now and I am thankful. I love to see my little babes all cozy in their beds!

God Bless, Sleep tight
-CW