Touchdown!

Here's a little video from earlier this fall when we were teaching Molly "touchdown."

Playing in the leaves

Random mostly PJ pictures

Just a few pictures of the kiddos lately!

All buttoned up and cute in their flannel pajamas!

Painted face

Trains!

Molly is reading to him

Cozy in his new robe

After-Homecoming picnic

On Sunday afternoon, we got to go to a picnic with a bunch of good friends from Geneva - some who live around the Pittsburgh area and some who came to visit for Homecoming like us. It was a great day of fun and games and catching up and good food and good weather. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. Erin and Jessica did a great job planning and pulling the whole picnic together. The picnic was the best part of the weekend! I tried to take a bunch of pictures early in the day while my kids were still napping, but the group shots I had to get from Jackie, Erin and Carolyn. Thanks, guys!

The guys all played a lot of "corn hole."

(Really? That's the name of the game? Lovely.)

Roommates - Jackie and Jill

Jess and Tallia

Erin and Caleb

Lucy and Aunt Erin

Ella and Emma

Two of the babies - Jess and Tallia and Nancy and Levi

The big kids playing together

Sweet baby sleeping

All the girls got a kick out of watching Lucy eating her Eat 'n Park smiley cookie

John and Emma enjoying a yummy lunch

Jill and Erin - roommates

A group shot of most of the kids (the Gratner kids went home for naps) - of course there was a lot of crying!

Elijah tried to comfort Molly when she caught the crying bug

The guys - Chris, Dave, Patrick, Luke, Nate and Jim

The girls - Nancy, Erin, Erin, Jessica (and Tallia), Jill (and Jake), Jackie, me and Carolyn (with Evans)

Geneva Homecoming and reunion

While we were in Pittsburgh we got to go to Homecoming and our 10 year reunion at Geneva. We enjoyed seeing friends, professors, and the newly improved campus. It turned out to be a pretty nice day, despite the rainy forcast. We got an Orem's doughnut, had lunch at Alex's (aka Alexander Hall), went to the first half of the football game, and had dinner at Pizza Joe's. It was quite the trip down memory lane! We were also glad to catch up with my Aunt Louise. The kids took their naps at her house, and we all went to the game and dinner together.

The kids had a great time with the Rices' dog, who was very patient.

Jackie and Erin

How many cute girls can you hold at once?

The gang, catching up while Mark Rice played a concert on Memorial Lawn.

Up in a tree!

Jackie and Lily

Molly and Daddy

Oh, that cute toddler walk!

Pittsburgh trip - visiting friends

We got to visit a bunch of our wonderful friends while we were in Pittsburgh. Sometimes we were better about taking pictures, but a lot of the time we were too busy enjoying each other to remember to pick up the camera. Sorry about the lack of pictures! Thanks to all of you who made some time to get together - we had such a great time seeing everyone!

Dave reads to the kids - Elijah, Molly, Ella and Lucy. Our kids didn't know what to think of Dave's interpretation of this well-loved and totally memorized book - but Ella and Lucy thought it was great. =)

We also visited Colleen and her family, and had the added bonus of seeing her mom! Elijah had a great time wearing this bike helmet. I guess he's his dad's son.


Nice face, little girl!

Titus, Molly, Elijah and Katelyn sat and colored happily together for quite a while. It was so nice!

One of my oldest friends, Colleen Lynn. This is the first picture we've taken together in 10 years!

Titus, Katelyn, Colleen and Lydia (we were missing Chris), Molly, me, Elijah and Patrick

Girls and the kids.

Pittsburgh trip - visiting family

While we were in Pittsburgh, we got to visit my Grandma and Great-Aunt Jean. Since it is flu season the kids are not allowed to visit Grandma where she lives, so Aunt Jean invited all of us to her apartment for the morning to visit. It was really nice to see them, and for Elijah and Molly to spend time with them.

Elijah and Great-Grandma Jennie had fun coloring

Molly and Aunt Jean

The kids just spread out their toys and books and made themselves at home!

Elijah listens to Uncle Bruce read.

Start 'em young! Molly listens to the story, too.

Pittsburgh trip - Pittsburgh Zoo

Two weeks ago we all drove out to Pittsburgh and spent the week visiting friends and family, and then attended our ten year college reunion at Geneva. It was a fun week, and we enjoyed having a whole week all together with Patrick.

We stayed at my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Margie's house for the week, and enjoyed spending time with them. On Monday we met my friend Erin and her kids at the Pittsburgh Zoo. We have had so much fun visiting so many zoos this summer and fall - the kids have been to the Roger Williams Park Zoo, the Denver Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo and the Pittsburgh Zoo this year!

Caleb and Elijah watching the flamingos

It was a beautiful day to go to the zoo, and cool enough that a lot of the animals were up and active! We had fantastic, close up visits with the elephants and the penguins.

Checking out the fish

The kids - Emma, Elijah, Molly and Caleb

The zoo also has a cool aquarium, including some large sharks. It was Elijah's favorite part!

The boys had a great time running through the shark tunnel. It felt like we had the zoo all to ourselves!

A few more from Pennsylvania

Here are few more pictures from our trip to Pennsylvania last month.

Molly's cute new pumpkin hat that Bobbi made for her - Molly loves to wear it around all the time.

Playing with Roxy

Kids with their Bobbi

Kisses!

Molly's 15 month check up

Yesterday we took Molly to the doctor for what should have been her 12 month check up. It was rescheduled a couple of times and ended up being a 15 month check up instead. She is doing well, and growing a lot! She is 25 lbs 5 oz (I don't remember the % but in the 90s) and was 98% for her height (I didn't hear the actual measurement). I don't know why I'm always so forgetful when we're there, but I forgot to ask if those percentages were based on 12 month charts or 15 month charts. Molly is right on track with teeth, and walking, and is saying a few more than average words, if you are lucky enough to be around when she says them. Mostly she just says, "yeah!" She is learning some animal sounds and is quite the little climber. Molly is working on going from two naps a day to just one. She is starting to be a little bit more friendly with new people, and enjoys being silly. Molly is loving books and videos about animals, especially farm animals and pets. She is still very cuddly and loves her pacifiers and her Bobbi blanket. Elijah has a couple of special blankets, but he never carried them around with him or used them for comfort like Molly does. It is pretty cute, and useful to have something comforting to give her when she is upset, but I sure hope nothing happens to that blanket!

While we were in the exam room waiting for the doctor, Patrick measured Elijah too, just for fun. He was 41 inches tall and 39 pounds - the size of your average four year old, according to the doctor. According to this, that means he'll be about 6'6" at age 18.

Reading with Daddy