Sophia & Helena

Winter Wonderland

This past Friday, we visited a nearby park with some friends to see the "Winter Wonderland" Christmas display. They had over a million lights this year, and the girls enjoyed seeing everything. We decided to rent a carriage to take us through the park, and although it was cold, it was a great way to see the lights:

Helena - 16 Months

It's hard to believe, but Helena is 16 months old now. Yesterday, we went to the doctor for a checkup and some shots. Helena is now 31 3/4 inches tall (80th percentile) and she weighs 22 lbs, 14 oz (45th percentile)! Here is a recent photo:

And here's another recent photo we just wanted to share (this is what happens when Helena "helps" me bake - she samples all the merchandise):

New Pictures!

This weekend we went to have some new family photos taken, and we just wanted to share a few that we really liked:

Fall is finally here!

For the past several months, it has been unseasonably warm here, but the past few weeks have brought us cooler weather and the leaves have been rapidly falling off the trees in the backyard. Last weekend, much to Sophie's delight, we finally decided to rake. Sophie really looks forward to jumping in the leaf piles every year, but Helena wasn't so sure at first:

Although Sophie doesn't usually like making a mess, she can't get enough of playing in the leaves:

Although Helena is usually my child who loves being in the middle of the mess, she initially hated the leaves. She eventually warmed up to them, though:

Happy Halloween!

Earlier this evening, we went trick-or-treating. Sophie has been looking forward to this day for weeks! She was very excited to help me choose the theme for this year's costumes. Sophie ultimately decided on superheroes. Here are a couple of shots of the girls in their costumes (I especially like the first one because Helena looks like she's getting ready to take down a bad guy):

Pumpkin Carving

This afternoon, we did our annual pumpkin carving. This was a special year because Sophie actually touched the inside of a pumpkin for the first time (she normally refuses to participate in anything that involves getting dirty):

Helena, on the other hand, would have loved being in the middle of the mess, but we had to keep her contained for safety's sake (I did carve a baby pumpkin for her, though):

Of course, Nick was excited to be able to use power tools, although he did do some of the work by hand:

All in all, I think the pumpkins turned out pretty well. We can't wait for everyone to see them next weekend!

10th Anniversary

Yesterday was our10th anniversary! It's hard to believe it's been that long already. We celebrated by spending some time alone (without kids), which is something we rarely do anymore. The most exciting part of the day was our helicopter tour of the city. Although we've already visited all the landmarks and I was very nervous about being in that tiny helicopter, it ended up being a pretty amazing way to see everything: