Trick or Treat

Halloween was a lot of fun! The girls got to go trick or treating for the first time. We only went to a few houses, but they were thrilled with the candy. The hard part was waiting until we got home to eat it! Then we let them stay up a little later than usual to watch us pass out candy to other kids. So Avery and Kara sampled a milky way and twix, and it must be true that candy makes kids hyper, because they stayed up laughing and jabbering in their room for well over an hour after we put them to bed. I guess they had a good time. :)

Excited little trick-or-treater

Collecting candy is serious business!

We visited a nice older couple on our street first. Avery tried to invite herself inside.

So many choices...

Kara took a liking to a Milky Way and wouldn't put it down until we opened it at home later.

Hanging out at the house waiting for trick-or-treaters

"How can I weasel more candy out of Mommy & Daddy?"
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The weekend before Halloween, we took the girls to our church's Fall Festival. They were very excited to wear their princess dresses. We had a good time exploring all the fun activities...games, petting zoo, fire truck & police car. They're favorite activity was playing with balloons of course. That never gets old! And sweetly harassing all the poor animals in the petting zoo.

Little princess #1

Avery attempts to play a game and is overwhelmed by choices. She finally picked up a duck and won some candy.

Little princess #2

Knocking the balloons around...ah, the best game of all

Avery always has to stop and pick up rocks whenever possible

The little princess meets a masked man and has a staring contest

She's got the bunnies cornered

Avery tried to hug all the animals in the petting zoo. It was very sweet, but probably very terrifying to the poor animals. She scared away several ducks, chickens, and bunnies before going after the goats.

They did not want to leave the petting zoo. They would have stayed there all night if we let them.

Relaxing before going home for the night

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Before the Fall Festival, we took a trip to the pumpkin patch. The girls had so much fun running around and investigating the pumpkins. We ate lunch, and then they tried their first snow cone. It was a big hit!

Wow, that's a lot of pumpkins!

Kara thinks pumpkins make a good chair

Avery went around hugging all the pumpkins. Guess she thought they needed a little love.

The one picture I got of them together

They loved opening and closing all the doors

Peek-a-boo

I see you!

Fun around the house

Avery said her first sentence a couple weeks ago. The girls were pulling a bunch of stuff out of a cabinet, and I came up and asked what they were doing. Avery stands up and declares "What a mess!" like she didn't have anything to do with it.

Sitting in their chairs drawing. A rare moment of peace and quiet!

We had to wear these adorable sun dresses and our summer shoes one more time before it got cold.

Kara's favorite activity in the whole world is riding her horse.

Showing off our Halloween shirts.

Look at our cool hats!

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A few weeks ago we went up to Arkansas for our college homecoming. They had a choir reunion, so I got to see a bunch of my old friends. We stayed in a hotel room, and it was the first time the girls spent the night away from home. Kara had some trouble going to sleep in a new crib, but during the day they had a lot of fun. JBU provided childcare, so they got to play all day with other kids.

JBU Cathedral Choir sang a few pieces, then the alumni came up and joined them. It was a lot of fun!

Playing with balloons outside the childcare area. Avery's pant got dirty, so she was pantless when we picked her up.

Dallas Cowboy fans

Steve is attempting to create two new sports fans in our house. Obviously my feigned attempts to seem interested in sports aren't believable. He's hoping the new generation of Whitsons will share his love of football and basketball. We got them each a "Biggest Little Cowboy Fan" shirt for the opening game of the season last Sunday. I don't think they watched much of the game, but atleast they looked cute. :)

Kara and her two penguins watching the game

Showing off her new shirt

Yes, that's right...I've resorted to taking a picture of them trapped in a grocery cart to get them both in the same picture looking at the camera.

Mother's Day Out

We started twice a week Mother's Day Out on Tuesday at our church. I can't believe they're old enough to go. I was a little sad dropping them off. I've never left them anywhere before, but they did great. After crying for a minute, they were fine. My mom is the director and I really like their teacher Miss Jackie. I must say it's awfully nice to have a few hours to myself. I'd forgotten what the peace & quiet was like!

Checking out our lunchboxes before leaving for our first day of school

In the car on the way to the church

Two Silly Girls

In the last couple months, Kara has become very concerned with cleanliness. Lately, Avery is too. It's so funny. They find tiny specks of dirt on the floor & say "uh oh" over and over while they hand it to me or take it to the trashcan. They've obviously noticed my less than stellar housekeeping abilities. Thanks girls! They also want their hands kept clean when they eat, and most of the time they let me know if they need a diaper change. Maybe we can potty train in a few months. No more diapers!!!

Hanging out after church

Playing with rocks

As usual, my attempts for a picture of the girls together never work

Sitting with Gigi & Grandad

I leave the room for a minute, then come back to find Kara has climbed onto the dining room chair. Atleast she isn't on top of the table...I'm sure that will come next.

Miss Smiley

Showing off her pretty bracelet from Gigi

Playing outside

Finally....new pictures

Avery & Kara are 20 months old now. Their favorite things to say are "What's that?" and "Uh oh!" I hear them both about a million times a day! Kara is climbing on everything. She can climb into her crib and somehow stealthily climbed into her highchair when I wasn't looking. Avery's trying out lots of new words, and they both use quite a bit of sign language. We have a few sign language videos that they love. They're very into puzzles and shape sorters...and stealing things out of cabinets and off counters.

They're personalized chairs I couldn't resist buying. Ofcourse they each prefer the chair with the wrong name!

Attack of the stuffed animals

...and again

Attempting to use our spoons. Getting better with practice!

I'm not sure what they were doing when I took this pic, but it looks like they're dancing with Kara taking the lead

Avery looks like a little nurse. We were out to eat with Steve's parents.

Yes, Kara is nibbling two big pieces of chicken at the same time. She wouldn't let us take either away from her.

Poor little Edgar had surgery to have a growth removed...non cancerous thankfully. We've renamed him Frankenbeagle.

Keats took good care of his buddy while he felt bad

We went to the Dallas World Aquarium a few days ago. It was hot & crowded but fun.

Checking out a giant fish

Watching the flamingos

It's a bird...it's a plane....ahhhhh, it's a flying saw shark!

New Professional Pics

I had some new professional pictures of the girls taken a few weeks ago. The photographer, Brad, is wonderful! He's the only photographer who's ever gotten them to smile (he took their one year pics). Brad came to our house and set up all his equipment while the girls watched. It put them at ease and everything went really well. Here's his website: www.rembrandtstudio.net
If you need a good photographer, call him!

Little miss giggles!