Colts Game

     I mentioned a few weeks ago that James and I were getting Christmas presents early this year.  Jim's Christmas present included tickets to a Colts game!  Last year our team was not exactly good, but our new quarterback (Andrew Luck) has been showing some potential.  James and I bought our tickets early in October, and it's a good thing we did.  This game was the first game this season where the tickets were sold out!  My mom and her friend, Marcia watched the girls at our apartment for us.  We are so thankful that we were able to go!  We had a great time on our date, and the Colts won!  It was very nice, and James was very excited!  It was the first time either one of us had been to a professional football game!

Us! = )

Happy Halloween

Trunk or Treat

     This past Saturday my side of the family gathered at a church to participate in "Trunk or Treating".  It was much colder than we would have liked it to be, but everyone was prepared for the coldness!  My mother and I arrived before everyone else, so we went inside the church to wait.  We were able to get some pictures of the girls in their costumes!  We had them go as "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" from The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.  It was one of my favorite books when I was a child.  Katie was Thing 1, and Jubilee was Thing 2.  We based it off of their birth order.  We had purchased some hilarious, blue clown wigs.  I was so excited to see them with them on!  At one point we had both girls on the floor, and they were both rocking back and forth on their knees.  It seemed like we almost had a crowd of people stopping and looking/laughing at them.

Jubilee (Left). Katie (Right).

     My grandparents arrived with Madelynn, and then my brother arrived.  Madelynn's costume was an angel.  She loved seeing the girls, and she loves to help take care of them.  She likes to make sure everything is fair.  If Katie/Jubilee has a toy, then the other one has to as well.  We went outside so Madelynn could participate in the activities.  She spent a lot of time in a bouncy house, but her FAVORITE thing was riding a pony!  For the past few months she has been fascinated with "riding the horsie" on someone's back.  This person usually ends up being me or my brother.  When Matt (my brother) asked her if she wanted to ride a pony, she was ecstatic!  She kept saying, "I'm going to ride a PON-AY" (She pronounced it like a little French girl).  She was all smiles while doing it! 

Madelynn riding the "Pon-ay"

    

New Camera Lens

     James and I have realized that we have reached the age where Christmas gifts don't have to come exactly on Christmas.  A prime example of this is my "Christmas gift" of a new camera lens (50mm).  I have wanted this lens for some time.  I have seen pictures taken from this lens, and I have LOVED them.  For the common person to understand, this lens blurs the background easily.  I mentioned to James that I wanted this for Christmas, and then I mentioned to him what I had been planning to get him for Christmas.  I will mention in a few weeks what Jim's present is, but until then I will discuss the lens that arrived today.  As soon as I opened the package, I began snapping away.  I then developed a plan to take the girls outside in an area with trees near our apartment and take pictures.  We ventured out, and I started taking picture after picture.  We had a lot of fun!  I really enjoyed looking at them, but there are a few things you can't tell from these adorable pictures:

1. Katie had just woke up from a nap, and her right eye was COMPLETELY red.  I suspect that she might have gotten some spit-up in her eye...I had to edit the pictures around her eye.
2. The girls kept trying to eat the leaves on the ground. I would get one leaf out of one of their hands, and then the other girl would be putting something in her mouth. It was pretty comical.

Jubilee (left). Katherine (right).

Katiebug

Jubilee

6-Months-Old

Jubilee Faith (left). Katherine Jean (right).

 

     It is official!  Our girls are six-months-old!!  We can't believe that our once little babies are now half way to one year!  In many ways they have changed, but in some ways they are the same.  We had their portraits done yesterday, and I think they turned out well. 


     Katie-bug squirms like there is no tomorrow!  It is hard to hold her because she feels like she is going to wiggle out of your arms.  If you hold her under her armpits, she will proceed to jump up and down until you change positions.  She was the first of the girls to get on her knees and rock back and forth!  She can sit up if she is in the mood, but she just can't sit still for that long!   She also says little "words".  Her first one was "Mama"' however, she hasn't said it since.  She then discovered "Ba", which is her favorite.  Yesterday, she started saying, "Dada".  Katie is still the better eater of the two of them.  Katherine has been affectionately called "Little Jimmy" or "Jimmy Junior".

Katie

      Jubilee cuddles and LOVES to sing!!  She squeals and giggles frequently.  Sometimes she squeals so loudly that I have to double check to make sure she isn't crying.  She is very ticklish around her neck, and it is so cute to see her dimple pop out when she smiles while being tickled.  When we get in the car, Jubilee will start singing, "AHHHH" until I turn on music.  Jubilee still loves to cuddle, but she can still get very active.   When she gets going in the jumper-seat, she can go insanely fast!!!  She can also get on her knees and rock back and forth.  She can sit better than Katie because she will stay in one position longer.  Jubilee can also say, "Ba", but she prefers to vocalize through song. Jubilee is still the sleeper of the two of them.   Jubilee has been lovingly known as "Little Holly with less hair".

Jubilee

Pumpkin Patch

     Even before I had children, I have had grandiose expectations about "family traditions".  My family has always been big on traditions, and I've always wanted to start some of my own.  One of these traditions included going to a pumpkin patch around Halloween.  In my head I had this perfect image of us walking to a little patch where we would get the girls out of the stroller and we would get some pictures of the girls smiling by pumpkins.  We would then pick out two perfect baby pumpkins and take them home with us.  What really happened was nowhere near close to my dream, but we still had fun making the memory.

     After experiencing some rain earlier this week, James and I decided to go ahead and go because we weren't for sure when the opportunity would come again because of Jim's work schedule.  When we arrived we tried to quickly get the stroller together.  In the process of hurrying, I didn't notice a yellow jacket on the car door.  I shut the door and quickly felt a stinging sensation on my left middle finger, which definitely caused me to cry out!  I saw the pesky insect fly away fine.  Since I have NEVER been stung by anything, I was a little shocked.  It hurt, but we were determined to have fun!

     In my head I had envisioned us being able to simply walk up and pick out some pumpkins.  This pumpkin patch required a hay ride, and the line for it was pretty long.  We hurried to the line.  After about twenty minutes in line, we were finally to the front.  We looked around and saw everyone getting out tickets.  We didn't have any tickets!  We were planning on paying in cash.  So Jubilee and I set off to find a place to buy tickets, while Katie and James went back to the end of the line.

     With our tickets in hand, we got on the hayride.  James and I looked down and saw nothing but mud from the previous day's rain.  The tractor that drove us was older than James and I.  It teetered and tottered, and James and I were pretty nervous.  Once we got to the area with pumpkins, we couldn't find ANY baby pumpkins.  Since both of us had a baby to carry, there was NO way either one of us could carry one big pumpkin.  We walked around hopeful to find one baby pumpkin.  However, after walking around for a while, we decided to get some pictures of the girls with a pumpkin and purchase pumpkins at a grocery store!

     We walked back to the spot where the tractor would take us back to the main area.  This driver was dressed like a scarecrow, and he had a younger tractor.  We felt much more safe on the way back.  Once we arrived back, we decided to walk around because there was a little festival going on.  We found a tree that had numerous baby pumpkins on them; however, they weren't for sale.  James and I had a lot of fun chit-chatting while walking around.  The girls did get very smiley observing everything else going on. 

     Once we left we went to Firehouse Subs, which is our favorite sandwich places.  We then went to Meijer and purchased two baby pumpkins.  Those pumpkins made an appearance in the girl's 6-month-portraits.  Even though the pumpkin patch did not go as planned, it will be fun to tell the girls about later on! My finger didn't swell up too badly, and the girls had their first hay-ride!!!  Here are some picture of our fun day; if you click on them, they will become larger:

Tree of baby pumpkins

Girls in the stroller.  Jubilee in the back. Katherine in front.

Katie bug

Jubilee playing

Trying to get a decent shot.lol. Jubilee (left). Katie (right).

Mommy and Jubilee

    

Senior Picture

     Here is my Senior Nursing Portrait.  This portrait will be the one the State Board of Nursing will receive when I apply for my license!  This is the traditional picture of nurses where you see them wearing the "nurses cap".  The cap has gone out of style, and now we just wear white button-up shirts, thank goodness.  I'm so glad to have this picture!  It was definitely worth the wait!!!  For our pinning ceremony, we have to submit a baby picture of ourselves.  I think this is the picture of me that I'm going to choose.  This is me at 3-months-old!!!  I had A LOT of hair!!!  I've come a long way since then!!