Happy Halloween!

To all our little ghosts & goblins---have a fun trick-or-treat night and be safe! To all the parents---be sure to grab your roadie... ;-)! The pic above is of Anna's "mickey mouse pumpkin", thanks to the creativity (and patience) of daddy. Lord knows the best I can do is carve out a few triangles that represent the eyes and nose (even those usually don't match) and the mouth?....oh, forget the mouth....the mouth is always some jacked up attempt at a zigzag with teeth!! Poor poor pumpkins of mine...

Happy Birthday to my little sister!!

Happy Birthday little sis!! 28 years...i can't believe it. I just picture you in that home video..."i had it"...you couldn't have been any older than Anna & Cole are now. You were so cute!! Here's to the next 28!

Isabel has her 1st birthday party at Gymboree!!

Why can't I think up something like Gymboree?? It's genius!! For those of you who have yet to embark on the Gymboree experience, just picture an indoor toddler wonderland...full of slides, plastic balls, parachutes and lots of other climbing apparatuses...a place where toddlers must think they've died and gone to playtime heaven. AND parents, have no fear, everything is padded...so little falls are nothing more than something to giggle about. As if this event could get any cuter, all these happy babies were dressed up in their Halloween costumes...parents beaming with pride at their little babies turned zoo animals. The birthday girl arrived on the red carpet wearing nothing but the best...a midnight black/golden yellow bumble bee costume!! Could she be any cuter?...the answer is no, she couldn't. Below is a preview---to enjoy the full birthday experience, click the link in the slideshow section to the right titled "Isabel's First Birthday Party". ***On a side note totally unrelated, I think I just ate my weight in Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby....um, no, if I keep eating this it will be more like Chubby Wifey! :-)

It's almost Halloween!

As I sit here watching Josie admire her big sister, I picture the day (right around the corner) when they are both up and running around together. A time when their only care is just what the other is doing....when they tell each other things that as long as we live, D.J. and I will never know. No one can put a smile on Josie's face quite like Anna. My mommy daydreaming came to a screaching halt when Anna informed me that "Josie poopy". Oh the joys...

This year the girls are going to be Little Bo Peep and her lamb for Halloween. I originally saw this adorable combo costume in a catalog back in August. Of course, I didn't purchase it then but waited a few weeks. Then when I finally decided to purchase them, the lamb was no where to be found...6-12 months, every website, gone, size sold out. And of course, no other lamb costume would do. I went on a frantic search like a little kid trying to find his long lost puppy. Score, low and behold, I found it---for 2x the price! So for a split second I actually contemplated putting this overpriced costume into my shopping basket, but luckily regained my sanity and reassessed the situation. Continue looking. After a tireless search, I did find it, right price, right size. And yes, Josie looks adorable in it!! I'll post lots of pics of the girls at all of their fun Halloween events---the first being Isabel's costume party tomorrow!!

So today Anna and I had a mommy daughter shopping day. Just the two of us!! I am on the mend and feeling much much better. Everything was going smoothly, Anna seemed to be enjoying herself, we were getting all of our things accomplished up until the moment we were about to walk out of the mall to come home. I realize that we had lost Anna's purse...and god forbid we take one step out those doors without her purse. She starts asking me where her purse is and I start asking her where she dropped it!! She has absolutely no idea and neither do I. So here we go on a retracing manhunt for this disney princess purse, asking everyone we see about it. We retraced every single step we had taken to no avail. But, by the grace of God (who must also have a sense of humor), we stumbled upon the purse at our very last stop...the candy treat section at Macy's. Anna must have been so excited about her jumbo peppermint lollipop, that the purse just went overboard without a care. But the purse did make it home with us! When we got home we walked around the neighborhood and picked up a leaf for just about everyone we know. So you all may be getting leaves as gifts!!

Apparently my two year old is fluent in Spanish---I just realized that she has changed the channel and is watching "Primer Impacto...El Fin De Semana"...she is mesmorized. I asked her to change the channel and she changes it (obviously by accident again) to Telefutura where they are playing "Temor Primordial". Again she is mesmorized...hilarious. But that was short lived and she is now telling me "bye bye mommy" and came over to give me a kiss...I asked her where she was going and she got on her tricycle and said "i go shopping"! ha ha...oh lord what have I created.

Watch out...The mommy paparazzi is out!!

Spotted at an undisclosed location...the little 2 year old fashionista...complete with hollywood sunglasses, Patagonia vest, princess purse, camera, sparkly shoes and pigtails.

70 days til Christmas and the madness has begun!

Let the shopping bells ring!! Come on everyone, go spend your money---The economy is in disarray, so let's boost it by being very good at consumption. Maybe that's what I am going to tell myself as I start the season off spending. I was innocently minding my own web surfing, when I fell prey to these adorbs Christmas jammies---cut out cute catalog girls, insert mine!!!! With their names on the front? How cute. Also, in pure Kara fashion, I have already purchased little Josie's stocking and have made several other internet orders. I figure if I can't enjoy this great weather, then I may as well spend some money...um, i mean get some necessary shopping done!! :-) But really, how cute will these kiddos look on Christmas eve??

Thank you...

for all of the well wishes! Nick, Nicole & Isabel---thanks again so much for the flowers. They are so sweet. Hazel--thank you for the cookie bouquet, it's basically the only thing I ate the first 2 days! and my mommy... :-) thank you for all of your help with the girls, laundry, cooking, and everything else. We love having you here with us!

So I am home and feeling better, but who knew that something so small could cause so much agony? I will have this stent in for the next week! Ugh!!

On a brighter note, Anna is successfully singing her ABCs and counting to 10!! She also keeps asking me about my boo-boo and wants to kiss my tummy. She is telling everyone that "mommy fall down". I guess in her small little world that is the only thing she can relate to when feeling bad or hurt. Or maybe she just hears my constant words of...Anna don't do that...you'll fall down and it will hurt!! ha

A Perfect Fall Saturday

Today is October 11th---little Isabel will be 1 year in just a month. Happy 11 months Izzy!! It's crazy how time flies! I'm actually in bed with another kidney stone affliction. But Anna is keeping me company jumping up and down, up and down on the bed decked head to toe in tiny Notre Dame apparel...that's what happens when Daddy's in charge. We have some news...Josie finally rolled over (see pic) below)! I thought she would never roll. Of course, I am always fishing out Anna's baby book to compare Josie's progress to hers. Although it wasn't long ago, I just can't seem to remember when it was the first tooth appeared or when Anna sat unassisted for the first time. So Anna rolled over for the first time at 10 weeks, Josie is 5 months!! Now I can't picture Anna's little 10 pound body rolling over so early, but back then she must have seemed like such a big girl to us. I also met a little 3 weeker at Babies R Us the other day. Her parents were browsing aimlessly through the highchair aisle when we striked up a conversation. Anyway, this baby seemed teeny tiny...almost premature....or like she shouldn't be out in the world just quite yet. I asked how big she was...they said 9 lbs!! I couldn't believe it. Josie was just 7 1/2 lbs when she was born...how is it that I can't remember my baby being that little after just 5 short months?

Speaking of Babies R Us, it is such an interesting place. It's so easy to pick out the newbies and the veterans. The newbies are still pregnant or are one of the lucky ones with a peaceful sleepy newborn, full of joy, paying precise attention to every detail on every product, usually a husband is tagging along willfully and sometimes maybe even a soon-to-be grandmother. The veterans, on the other hand, are either alone and making a b-line for the diapers and formula, having perfected their total shopping time to under 60 seconds. OR under unfortunate circumstances had to actually bring along their little pride and joys and are performing a miraculous balancing act of pushing the cart, attending to a toddler meltdown, feeding a screaming baby, all the while finding what they need and somehow paying and exiting the store without blinking an eye. I've been there and done that...i prefer to shop alone.

What was my point? Oh, I guess just that time goes by too fast and already next to a newborn, our little Josephine is such a big girl. Here's a pic of her holding her own bottle even!!

And here's what happens when daddy is in charge!!

So Monday they are doing the ureteroscopy (kidney stone retrieval). It sounds terrible, but I can't wait!!! I'm ready to enjoy this weather!!