Big Kid Rooms

M&A's new bedroom furniture has arrived and the transition has been fabulous! The rooms look pretty spiffy; if I do say so myself!


Big girl Bed (theme of the room is Pink & Pigs - of course):



Her own fancy bureau that she is very proud of (the lamp seems to be her favorite part):




More decorations:




Her Reading Corner:

Aidan's Captains Bed - so tall it requires a set of stairs to get up into it:

Aidan's bureau:

Aidan's Reading Corner:

In case you can't guess the theme of the room:

M&A have these fabulous rooms while Mom & Dad sleep in a smorgasboord of furniture leftover from their childhoods. Someday....

Candy Apples

Fall is our favorite time of year and brings lots of great things:


YUMMMMMM



STICKYYYYYYEEEE





And this one's just here to prove that there was a day in history when Maddie actually let me put her hair in pigtails :)

Pumpkin Time!

This weekend we found ourselves at Ward's Berry Farm on a beautiful fall day. They have alot of fall activities for the kids. The biggest hit by far was the tractor-pulled hayride:




The kids shouted "WEEEEEE" and loved when the ride got very bumpy:

I've never been to an official pumpkin patch before and it was pretty cool. Here's Aidan picking his pumpkin right off the vine:

And here's Maddie with her choice:

Although, not shockingly, Aidan preferred to explore the landscape - we're pretty convinced he'll be a naturalist when he grows up:

And, of course, we picked a larger pumpkin for carving:

Things were fabulous, despite a slight snafu at the checkout where M&A decided they didn't feel like waiting in line. I don't blame them :) Next up is the Big Apple Farm for a hayride and some apples. Fall is definitely my favorite time of year!!!

Onward & Upward

A little bit too much of this:



has brought us to this:

That's separate bedrooms folks! While it is absolutely adorable that M&A want to sleep in the same bed together, it is not restful for ANYONE in the house. Sometimes we hear them having a party in their room at 3:30 in the morning and other times they are sleeping soundly until Aidan rolls over and squishes Maddie resulting in lots of crying & screaming.

We had pretty much always planned to separate them after they turned 3 anyhow. And we did order their big kid bedroom furniture a couple of months ago. But we just couldn't hold out for the October delivery date & had to move Aidan's crib ASAP.

After anticipating some major separation anxiety issues, I think I had a harder time with this than they did! Both went almost immediately to sleep in their own beds in their own rooms and we all slept through the night - ALL THE WAY THROUGH!!

And the best part is how happy they are to see each other the next morning at breakfast. Some mornings they hug & kiss and other mornings they tell each other they missed each other. This morning Aidan slept in and Maddie refused to eat anything until he joined her at the table.

Ah, the twin bond has survived the new sleeping arrangements...

P.S. - If Aidan's room looks a little sparse, it's because we didn't have time to decorate before the big move. Lots of really cool design plans in the works. And lots of pink for Maddie's room.

We're turning 3 birthday bash #2

We finished off the birthday weekend with a trip to Southwick's Zoo for the Maas side of the family. It was an absolutely beautiful day for the zoo (especially one that requires so much walking). We saw birds, monkeys, goats, lions, tigers, PIGS, and walked through a deer forest. I do think the biggest hit with the young'uns were the kiddie rides. Such a fabulous day!


On Daddy's shoulders for an upclose look at the monkeys:




Maddie absolutely HAD to have the purple car. Even the little boy who had already chosen that car for himself didn't stop her!

Cousins Morgan & Vivi in the airplane (I think this may be the last year they fit inside them!):

Not only did Aidan ride a carousel horse;

He also rode a real live pony!! We were so proud of how brave he was and VERY impressed that he refrained from sucking his thumb for the entire ride (his other choice was to fall off):

We spent lots of time gazing at the tiny, little pot bellied pigs:

It was the shock of the year for me to see Maddie so comfortably petting the goats. After a run in with the neighbors' dog a year ago, she has been petrified of animals (which makes for tough holiday celebrations at Auntie Deb's):

It's official, the favorite gift was this crazy hot wheels shark bite car ramp thing:

Despite Maddie refusing to admit that she is 3 (some days she's 1 and other day she's 2), M&A seemed to really enjoy all of their birthday activities!

We're turning 3 birthday bash #1

Hard to believe, but my babies really are 3 year old kids now. Here's a recap of their birthday weekend.


Lovin' their new scooters. (Aidan is saying "Um Mom, don't I need a helmet).




Why yes Aidan, you do! Maddie was pleased as punch that hers was both pink & purple:




Then on to Mimi & Buppy's house where we thoroughly enjoyed they bouncy house they had for us in their yard:

Here we are forcing Daddy to give us horsie rides inside the bouncy house (much more difficult than you might think!):

Then a pizza party with all of our Willner cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents & Friends:

And of course a MICKEY MOUSE birthday cake. This is the first year they really blew out their own candles!

The gang:

We're very lucky to have such wonderful family to make this such a special birthday :)

Belkin Lookout Farm

Labor Day Weekend, the kids and I headed to Lookout Farm in South Natick with Grandma & Peepa while poor, hard working Daddy cleaned all of the carpets in the entire house. Here we are on the train ride out to the orchard. Maddie looks frightened, but she wasn't!




Peekabo

Bouncy House

Yes, there were PIGS!!! (not pink ones which was duly noted by Madelaine)

Despite her expression, Maddie couldn't get enough of this ride. And Peepa got his exercise for the day walking next to the "caterpillar" so M&A wouldn't get scared touring the park on their own.

Aidan enjoying a front row view of Mike the Music Man. He really got into it and was dancing around!

We spent a good 2.5 hours at the childrens play area as you can see above. That left us about 15 minutes for apple picking if we wanted to avoid major meltdowns. Here they are exploring the apples that fell to the ground.

I wish I'd had a better angle, but I think this photo is pretty sweet :-)