Salt Lake City

J had a conference in Salt Lake City last week, so I took the kids down a few days later to meet him and stay for a couple of days to get a change of scenery.  SLC had a lot of snow remaining from the previous weekend, but it was nice and sunny for our stay.  We spent time at both the zoo and the children's museum.  Owen had a fantastic time at the museum, and we ended up staying there several hours.  They had everything from toy cars and a real helicopter to a green screen (see the giant tortoise attacking the boys below) and a mini river with ping pong balls and boats to float.

SLC has a really cool zoo with lots of animals that we don't have in our local zoo.  I probably enjoyed it more than Owen, but our favorites were the polar bear who was playfully swimming back and forth right next to the glass; the giraffes (with 2-month old baby!); and the torpedo-like seals.

In other news, Hadley can hold her head up well, and she has been rolling both tummy to back and back to tummy for a couple of weeks now.  Her current favorite thing is to stand on your lap while you hold her, preferably facing out so she can see everything.  Oh, and she learned how to screech/scream in the car on the way home, so that was nice.  It sounds akin to nails on a chalk board, but it's her way of talking for now.  Lovely!

Because of her newfound neck strength, we broke out both the bumbo and the jumperoo for her to try out with mild success.  

And lastly, I just can't get enough of sweet, sleeping babies!

Family Portraits

Happy early Thanksgiving!  We captured the last of fall as a family.  If you are good, and on our list, you might just get one of these for Christmas!  :)  Even better, let me know which one(s) you might like to receive, and I'll make it happen.  

Hadley Claire is 4 months old!

I took these pictures on her actual 4-month day, but waited to post them until I had the stats from the doctor.  We had her appointment today, and she is 25" long (71%) and 13 lbs (23%).  She got more shots, and Owen got a flu shot too.  Can't help but compare to Owen at this age.  (Same length, but nearly 2 lbs heavier!  And rolling from tummy to back.)

Hadley has become pretty proficient at rolling from her back to stomach in the last week, but she still can't roll the other way.  So, I often find her fussing after she face-planted and can't get back over.  Here she is rolling on command!  I swear my hands are not on her.  :)

We still think she's teething, and she has the infamous baby witching hour as soon as the clock turns over to 5 pm.  We've taken to wearing her in the Bjorn around that time.  But she's pretty smiley otherwise and still sleeps like a champ at night, so we'll deal!

It's Halloween - Yar!

For the big occasion, we went to a friend's house and trick-or-treated around their block.  Owen was so excited to go with his friends!  Here's the group: Hadley (ladybug), Owen (pirate), Elliott (Gus, the mouse), Abigail (Cinderella), Carson (reflective fireman), and Reagan (dalmatian).

He was exemplary in his enthusiasm, etiquette, and dialogue with the residents.  Often, he'd go up to the house and shout "Trick or Treat!" before even knocking on the door.  So cute!  By the end he was thanking them without prodding, and even wishing some a "Happy Halloween!"  The weather was perfect, by the way.

And thankfully, he wasn't crazy with his candy.  One fun-size Snickers before and a few sour Skittles after dinner, and he was content.  Here he is with his loot - so proud.

Hadley was pretty oblivious, as expected.  She was snug in the stroller and fell asleep about halfway through the trek.

The Sky is Falling!

OK, not really; those falling things would be leaves and snow!  Last week we had our first few inches of snow that stuck around a couple days.  It's melted now and should be a pretty nice week for Halloween.  But this is what we woke up to mid-last week:

Before that, the leaves were turning and slowly falling off the trees.  Owen really loves to crunch the leaves and giggles when he does so on his bike.  He knows his way pretty well through the neighborhood, and we've been on some really long walks when he's leading on his bike.

He's been very interested in people's yard decorations for Halloween this year, too, which requires several minutes of staring and inquisitive "What's that?"s from the sidewalk.  We are keeping it low-key this year, and probably just trick-or-treating with some friends.  We did go to the pumpkin patch, but it was a miserable, windy day, so we didn't stay long.  Just long enough to ride the train and pick out a small pumpkin.

And we carved a pumpkin.  Well, I should say that Daddy did.  Owen took one handful of goop out of the pumpkin and then wanted to wash his hands. :)

Now that it's getting cooler outside, we are spending more time indoors with friends.  They actually play with and talk to each other now, which is so fun to watch!  Carson wanted to build things, and Jacob is in to wrestling these days.  Owen is an accommodating host.  :)

Hadley's getting better at tummy time and is awake a lot more now, too.  We suspect that she is teething (yikes!), because she is very drooly and loves nothing more than to chew on her hands.  She doesn't like pacifiers, which is opposite of Owen, but requires a bit more work with constant motion, conversation, etc.  Check out her big, blue eyes!