Fall Photo Dump

 Someone found an Oreo..

Our standard fresh-out-of-the-bath series we like to do at about six months:

Karaoke!

Poppa came to keep us company while Daddy was at a conference.

I was able to attend Kendra's Halloween party at school.  She was one of only 3 Elsas in her class, but they all had different dresses, so it totally worked out.

And Elliot was a fire fighter--he was pretty excited about that indestructible helmet.

Ready to storm the complex!  Our kids still get more out of making the rounds than they do actually eating the candy.

My mom sent a pack of cookies to decorate, and they had a ball.

Bridget's development actually slowed down quite a bit after rolling and crawling so early, but it still happened pretty dang fast.  When she became aware of that window outside, she often tried sooo hard to peek through it!

I found a couple of Paw Patrol costumes on clearance after Halloween to add to the dress-up box.  They were pretty happy campers about it.

Usually Elliot is the one to join a photo op but this time Paxton cozied himself in.

Such a great kid.

She just needed the right motivation to pull up--such a Daddy's girl!

I had lots of mornings like this with the boys this year--Kendra at school, Bridget down for her morning nap, and we got to play.  I super love staying home with them...

Kendra was sent home with a bear to assemble and dress.  She chose for hers to be a rainbow ballerina bear, she did the coloring and chose the other materials and I helped her place them.

This kid can rock a fedora, even when eating lunch.

We don't do Santa.  The kids have seen enough holiday specials from our childhood that they know the story of Santa, but we've never had presents come from him, or written him letters, or taken any of the kids to get pictures taken with him.  But this year a local store had an event with Elsa and Anna, and Santa happened to be there as well, so I made an exception.

And when Kendra was preparing to leave for our outing dressed in costume, Elliot decided that he needed one as well.

Kendra thought it was pretty fun.

And Elliot was pretty shy, which is pretty typical for him around new people.  It always throws me off guard because he's so outgoing at home, but he really freezes up in new surroundings.  Everyone loved the firefighter, though.  I can't say I blame them...

While Paxton doesn't have any official issues and no doctors have ever expressed concern, we really got worried about him this year.  He was born much longer and leaner than any of our other children but he just got so, so skinny.  I started doing some research and kept finding suggestions about using Sensory Play to help kids with this type of issue.  "Sensory Play" basically means activities that make a mess.  The only problem is that I discovered all this right before Paxton broke his arm, so while I wanted very much to start incorporating some things into his days, it had to be dry because of his cast.  So I started with some shredded foil for gifts since it was the holiday season, and it was a pretty big hit.

I tried to put away the Bumbo once Bridget outgrew it...but it somehow keeps getting back out.

Merry Christmas!

One Date Night, I got a text from the babysitter saying that Paxton had locked himself in his room and that cereal was flowing out the door.  I was a little confused by what she was talking about, and we laughed hysterically when I unlocked the door and we found this:

I had purchased a double box of Fruit Loops from Sam's Club, and apparently left the second bag on too low of a shelf in his room (where you can see, he shares his bed with shelving units) and he took it, opened it, and...had some Sensory Play.

Photo Dumps are lazy blogging, it's a fact.  But it sure does cover a lot of ground when you're as backlogged as I am...