Thanksgiving

Our trip to PA was crazy.  Thanksgiving in Cook Forest, thanksgiving in Clarks Mills, Grant's B-day party, a couple days in State College, and a trip to Washington, PA.  Thankfully our kids are great travelers.  Grant had a bout of diarrhea that made the trip a bit more interesting but otherwise was smooth.

Here is the whole Standfest crew.

Here are a couple pics from the day.  Jenna thought she would try to nurse on Grant's cheeks.

A little brotherly love.

The next day it was off to Clarks Mills for Thanksgiving with the other half of the family.

Carly and Grant had a ton of fun pretending to fix a train.

He must have had fun with her because I was surprised that he gave her a big smooch when it was time to leave.

Our other notable trip was to Aunt Peg and Gram's.  We were so happy to see them and visit.  We were also excited to meet Hugo, their new dog. 

Unfortunately it was the last time that we were able to see Gram as she passed away a week later.  I can vividly remember how softly and sweetly she kissed each of the kids before we left.  I felt like it was a special moment before her passing and obviously now that moment holds a particularly special place in my heart.  We are lucky enough to be a part of a family where a legacy of love has been carried on through generations.  Although Grant and Gracie will never know/remember the love of their grandmother and great-grandmother they will certainly feel it through Lara and I and be reminded of it often.
 

We love and miss you Gram.
 

An Overdue Birthday Post

Grant's B-day was nearly a month ago and we have yet to get pictures up!  Jenny and Jed graciously allowed us to have Grant's party at their house.  Thank you guys soooo much! Also, thank you everyone for coming!

Grant wanted a cake like Sparky.  Sparky is a yellow (Grant's favorite color) truck in a book that he has.  Lara made an awesome truck.  When Grant first saw it his response was, "he doesn't have eyes like Sparky!"  However after we said we worked hard on it and he should appreciate that, he said he was happy and liked it.  Our boy can definitely pout and fuss but if he thinks he hurt someone's feelings he can change his tune pretty quick.

    
Here's Grant with some of his favorite girls.

If you know our boy, you know that he is quite shy in group gatherings.  As we all sang happy birthday this is what he did.

If we ask him what he did when everyone sang happy birthday he can give the same look to a "T" and says, " I was being shy".

Of course Gracie Marie was at the party.  I didn't take many pics at all and Gracie is snoozing in most of the ones that I have of her.

Happy Birthday 3-year old.

Chef Grant

Here's a short video of Grant cooking.  He has been helping out a lot in the kitchen.  Actually as I write this he is helping Lara make mac-n-cheese.  As you can see here, he is in a bit of a why stage.

Leaves, Leaves, and MORE Leaves!!!

If I thought we had a lot of leaves at our old house I was sorely mistaken.  This was round one of leaf pick up.  We have since done it at least 2 more times and it could probably use it again.  Grant does enjoy "raking" leaves.  

This is one of my favorite pictures of Grace!!  It captures her so well.  

Happy Halloween!

We had a great night trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  It took Grant a few houses to warm up and then he really loved it.  We weren't sure how Halloween would go because a few weeks ago he said he didn't want to be anything and didn't want to go to houses to get candy.  When we went to the store and he saw this "dinosaur" costume he definitely was a bit more excited but still wasn't too keen on wearing it around the house.  We were happy that he had such a great night.  We also thought Gracie was going to miss going out because she was sick and finally napping when we ready to leave.  She did end up waking up on her own in time to dress-up.  We all enjoyed having quite a few trick-or-treaters and by the end of the night Grant was grabbing the bowl of candy and running to the door. 

 We sure missed being with family and having a Sigel Halloween.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Children's Museum!!

It was a huge bonus when we discovered just how close our house is to the children's museum.  Thank you so much Fiscus family for the membership.  We have already enjoyed it twice!!  The kids love it there.

Where did my baby go??

Grace sure has been moving around A LOT.  She is crawling for sure now and there is no stopping her!! 

 Brother/Sister time!!

Just the other day for the first time when I went into Grace's room after a nap this is what I saw...

SHE'S STANDING!!!  

She is pouting so bad because after  I saw her I had to leave the room to get the camera.  She wasn't very happy with me coming in and then leaving her.  Poor girl!! I scooped her up right after this shot. 

Birthday celebration

As soon as we got here Jeff has been talking about taking the train to the Zoo.  He really wanted to go the weekend before his birthday but we had just gotten all our stuff the Thursday before and I really thought we should use that weekend for unpacking.  So it worked out perfectly that we ended up going ON his birthday.  We took the train there, which for Grant could have been the whole day.  He did enjoy the Zoo and Grace was very interested in everything we were seeing too.

This was the start to our day.  It was quite chilly and this is the face Grant usually gives me when I ask him to smile.  

 I loved watching Grace looking at all the animals!!!!

 This bear was SO active!! It was so neat to see. 

 

After a long, fun day this is how Gracie fell asleep.  She couldn't have given Daddy a better birthday gift!!