Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins tonight! The kids had fun drawing faces on the pumpkins, scooping out the guts, and carving (with some help from Jeff).

Alex with his similarly toothless pumpkin

With the carved pumpkins at their new home, the front stoop

Big Dave

When David grins, we often joke that it looks like he wants to eat you.  He smiles with his whole big happy mouth!

Smiling Brian

Mrs Schiller, the twin's nanny, took this great photo of Brian.

Pumpkin Patch

Alex and Elena were home on fall break, so we headed to the pumpkin patch at Stoney Creek Farm today to find the perfect pumpkins.  The kids had a blast on the hay ride, pumpkin train and other fun activities. 

Fall Leaves

Alex worked very hard after school one afternoon to gather the leaves into a pile.  He and Elena enjoyed the results!  

Cute Hats

Preying Mantis

The kids found a preying mantis outside our house today, so we cut a hole in the lid of a formula can and brought him inside. Apparently the air hole was bigger than it should have been, because the creepy looking bug kept peeking up out of the can to look around our kitchen, and it startled me every single time!

Elena's preschool teacher, Mrs. Spicer, has a terrarium.  So the preying mantis was brought to school to share with her class!

UPDATE: Elena came home from school a few weeks later and announced with authority that the preying mantis "got dead." Interesting way to share that news...

Alex's First Grade School Photo

Such a classic first grade photo, complete with the missing front tooth! Since this photo was taken, he has lost two more front teeth.  We joke that the babies have more teeth than him right now.

Elena's Preschool Photos

One of the mom's at the preschool, Sonja Clark, takes photos of each of the kids each year.  She does a great great getting each child to be natural and genuinely happy for their photos, and the results are remarkable. 

Yet another great school photo!  Which one do you like best?

Snow White

 Elena has watched the Snow White movie almost every day since picking out her Snow White for Halloween this year!

Big Dave

Don't you love his chubby cheeks?

Halloween Costumes Have Been Chosen!

We ran into Costco tonight after dinner out, and the kids picked out their Halloween costumes.  Alex picked Iron Man, and Elena picked Snow White.  Let's see if these costumes last a whole month until the big day!

A Girls' Day at the Zoo

Cousin Ellie and Maddie met us at the zoo on this gorgeous day for a little girl fun!

Starting with Technology a Little Early

The babies are fascinated with Jeff's iPhone. 

Grandma Liz and the Twins

Liz has been a godsend these past few busy months, lending an extra hand to our family. Although she never had twins of her own, she is a natural with both of these babies at the same time!

The Green Dragons

Alex's soccer team was called the Green Dragons with the Carmel Dads Club this year.  The team had a good season, but it was more competitive than the league that he played in last year.  There were some surprisingly big kids on the other teams.  The Green Dragons had a great season, didn't win every single game like Alex's team did last year.

That much green could make ANYONE look a little sickly!

The Twins are Officially Walkers!

The twins officially became Walkers today!



The Walkers, with our family court judge at the bench in the court room, after the proceedings were complete.



Grandma Liz came along to lend an extra hand and watch the big event at court. 



Later that afternoon, we all headed out for ice cream at Baskin Robbins to celebrate.  It has been a tradition for me to give ice cream to the other kids in the hotel room on the day they officially became Walkers in the Russia and Guatemala courts. Since the babies are now five months old, we thought it would be a good occasion to give them their first taste of the sweet stuff.

Jeff with David, picking out their ice cream

Grandma Liz helping Brian try his first bite of ice cream

Alex sharing his ice cream wih David

Go UNC!

Logan Rosenberg, who I grew up babysitting for and now babysits for our family, now attends UNC.  He is a terrific cross country runner, and received a full scholarship.  Alex likes to wear the shirt Logan gave him and run laps around the house doing "running races, just as fast as Logan."

The Mega Babies

Princess Elena

We have some pretty smiley kids!

Trying Out the New Highchairs

The babies seem to like their new matching highchairs so far!

The big kids are excited to have them join us at the dinner table .

Bears versus Lions

Today the Bears played the Lions, Jeff's favorite team.  Alex thought it would be funny to pull out a football jersey given to him by cousin Jonathan and cheer against Jeff.  Not so much. Alex ended up watching most of the game in the basement!

Happy Birthday Aunt Melinda!

Happy Birthday!!!