Halloween Weekend

Mike and I visited Doug and Julia this weekend and had lots of fun with the girls. We had a couple of days of vacation so took Thursday and Friday off. Julia let us watch the girls on Friday and then while Mike and I gave out treats on Halloween night, Doug and Julia took the girls trick or treating in the neighborhood and then over to Granny Martha's. Of course I realize I'm prejudiced but I've never seen any cuter little trick or treaters!

Before Costumes

Julia dressing Olivia

Olivia ready for trick or treating

Alyssa, all dressed up

Happy Campers!

All right, what's next?

The natives are getting restless.

After the look Olivia gave us, it must be

time to trick and treat!

Phenomenal!

Now you might think as a grandma those are my words but they're not. They're the doctor's words about the change in Alyssa's head. I went with Julia to both the technician (who makes adjustment to the helmet) and the specialist. They said they don't see it often but the shape of Alyssa's head is almost normal after only a month. The change is significant and the technician measured her head 4 times to make sure he wasn't measuring wrong. We knew something was up when he said, "holy crap", and we knew it wasn't something bad. The specialist was a little more discreet and didn't use those words but said that she was amazed at the change. They are saying one more month with the helmet and Alyssa should be through with it. I've included not only the latest photos with her helmet but also the procedure a month ago in the doctor's office to make the helmet. As bad as it looks Julia said she was smiling and laughing through most of it until the end.

Getting started

Putting the gauze on

Next Step

And the next....

Still doing fine

The last step and Alyssa has had it!

Everything has been removed and the cast

for the helmet is formed

Ahhh, a happy baby, in Granny Martha's lap!

Mizzou Tailgate Party

Allright, keeping to my motto. Less talk, more photos. Just let me say thanks to Mike and Jen for the invite. Weather was wonderful as was the food, and Mizzou won over Colorado an amazing 59-0! Go tigers!


























Hey, it's not funny, when ya gotta go,
ya gotta go!

October 17 Weekend

Been a while since I posted but to tell you the truth Mike and I have had a boring month--just busy with yard work and house chores. My new motto: More photos and less talk. We'll see if I can keep to that! Carol Chappel, Mike's sister from Oregon, was visiting family in the area and we drove her to St Louis on Friday to catch her flight back to Oregon on Saturday. We all stayed at Doug and Julia's on Friday night so Carol could visit with them and their girls. Altho the girls had already gone to bed by the time we arrived at Doug and Julia's on Friday everyone got a nice visit on Saturday before Carol had to leave for her flight. The girls are in that almost stage: almost crawling, almost sitting up without support, and almost cutting teeth. They're so much easier to hold as they support themselves almost entirely, and changing diapers is a breeze--they just lay back spread their legs almost as if they know exactly what's coming. Their toes continue to be an amazing new toy to them and they are getting much better at transferring toys from one hand to another. They also love to stroke Mike's beard. (And Mike thought that his beard might be a little scary to them!) They are beginning to eat some solid foods--cereal, green beans, peas, and squash so far with Julia introducing new foods every week. Oops what happened to my new motto? Anyway here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend. (And if I can ever get the photos from Doug and Julia's camera I will post some photos of Carol and the girls.)

Alyssa eating squash

Olivia-mmmmm!

Alyssa left, Olivia right in their bumbos

Alyssa playing with her toes, makes diaper

changing soooo much easier!

The best photo I could get of the girls,

Alyssa left, Olivia right

And another one

Here's the reason I can never get a good photo,

it will be nice when they can sit up on their own!

Going.........

Going......(with the help of the cat)

Going......

Gone!!!

Alyssa's New Helmet

Alyssa finally got her helmet about 3 weeks ago and we can already tell a difference. As she grows her head will fit the shape of the helmet making the flat side of her head rounder and making her whole head a nice shape. As you know since her birth one side of her head seems to be flatter and a little misshapen. This was caused by the way that Alyssa was laying in the womb probably against Olivia since it was a little cramped in there! At first everyone has the tendency to feel bad for Alyssa and we did too, but it doesn't take long before you realize that it's not bothering Alyssa at all. It does provide a nice hand grip for Olivia, tho! Alyssa is in the helmet pretty much full time with a few breaks for feeding and baths. The doctors say that she should be out of the helmet in about 4 months or less. I just love these photos:

Mike calls her Tron, I like to think
of her as our little Bionic Woman

Raylee's Birthday

Happy 10th Birthday Raylee! Raylee turned 10 last Friday and Rikki had a hot dog roast at Dan and Carole's on Saturday to celebrate. One of Raylee's gifts was an Easy Bake, hope you haven't burned anything yet, Raylee! We're expecting great desserts next time we're at your house! Thanks for the invite Mark and Rikki, we really enjoyed ourselves. Hot dogs always taste great over a fire! Here's the photos.

Raylee and a few of her friends

Mike supervising Mark's cooking. Good job, Mike,

the hot dogs and hamburgers were delicious

Gavin and Hayden, 2 wild and craaazy guys!

Roasting hot dogs and singing (not really)

around the campfire.

Gavin, Hayden, and Grandpa Dan

Dad, lighting all 10 of those candles

Happy 10th Birthday, Raylee!!

Blowing out the candles