Gaga's visit

Gaga (Grandma O'Brien for those of you who don't know - Alex came up with that name all on his own and it has stuck) came up the last weekend of September to help Aunt K babysit the kids while Drew and I went to a friend's wedding. The kids and I think it's safe to say, their aunt and Gaga had a great time. The kids learned how to play "Simon Says" from Aunt K and needless to say, we have to play it every night now. It's hilarious. Both kids and their parents doing silly things because Simon Says and laughing hysterically! That's us every night at about 7:30! And then the kids and I spent the next day in Stillwater doing some shopping and visiting the Teddy Bear Park - the kids were so excited to show Gaga one of their favorite places. And of course we had to visit a park by our house too that every time we drive by Alex exclaims, "Mom, we need to go to that park with Gaga sometime." So this was the time. Here's some pictures that my mom took with her new camera - yes, she's getting better!

Yup, they love each other!

Alex and Lauren's new favorite thing is to hug and wait for our praises. Alex will say, "Give me a big hug." And Lauren then wraps her arms around him super tight and then they both have huge grins. Lauren first did this unprovoked and Alex was so happy that she hugged him, he told us, "Mom and Dad, we're best friends." Talk about making us melt. Well since they saw our excited reaction of the newfound sibling love - they now do this every day - even posed for the camera!!

Our trip to the Apple Orchard

Drew and I took the kids to the local apple orchard this weekend. We had a great time and the kids loved it. We took a hayride behind a tractor - both kids went wild over this, picked a bunch of apples (Alex loved picking them - Lauren loved eating them), and played on piles of hay. It was a beautiful day and it was a nice fall activity. We brought home $15 worth of apples that we picked ourselves so tomorrow Alex is going to help me bake an apple crisp. Alex was so hot after running around a bunch, he asked for his water, took a sip, and said, "AHH, that hit the spot!" Hilarious - where he learned that I will never know.

Alex is ready for Halloween

So, the kids and I were in Target last week, where we spend at least 3 shopping trips a week - Alex once exclaimed, "Mom, we always go to Target." Sad. Anyway, we happened to walk past the aisle full of kids' Halloween costumes and I kid you not - Alex said, "Mom - STOP the cart!" I was like, "What?" And he told me over and over again that he had to be this puppy for Halloween. I tried many times to talk him out of it as the costume is HUGE and I thought he wouldn't actually wear it, but he assured me that he did not want to be a police officer or a racecar driver or a doctor or a pumpkin or anything else - only this GIANT St. Bernard dog. So - here's a preview of our Halloween, I made him try it on when we got home to see if he would actually wear the costume and while in it, he wanted me to take a picture because he looked "cute" - his words, not mine. So - here you go. He also told me that Lauren wanted to be a bumble bee. Because apparently she told him that - yeah right. Not a princess or a fairy or even a ladybug - but a bee. Apparently nobody told him that mom hates bees.