As Mama and Daddy were relaxing at the cabin on the lake this past weekend, Grandma and Papa were able to spend some quality time with Sydney and Abigail. The girls took their first trip to downtown Franklin for the Great Pumpkin Festival and saw Gigi, Aunt Amy, and Cousin Jack. Thank you, God, for grandparents. And, yes, the second picture is their rendition of "3 Little Indians"!

Trunk 'r Treat

Our little indian princesses were more interested in the leaves, open candy wrappers, and trash at Trunk 'r Treat last night. Although we did not pick up bags of candy, Sydney and Abigail did experience their first sucker and drooled like a faucet. We could not get them corralled long enough to get a picture with our camera, so this one will have to do. More pictures of the weekend and the girls with our babysitters to come.

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From our family to yours--enjoy a good giggle. "Remember, men need laughter sometimes more than food."

Barnyard_Fun.avi

The pumpkin patch video that I promised...

Baby.avi

Although Sydney only has a few words in her arsenal, "Baby" is one that we can't get enough of...

Oktober

Nothing is better on an autumn morning for a toddler than a trip to a pumpkin patch. The girls were able to walk through the corn stalks, pet the farm animals, and pick out a pumpkin. Walden Farm in Nolensville is set up perfectly for little kids with activity stations, plenty of picture opportunities, all the farm animals you could want, and corn/straw-bale mazes. Without promting, Sydney exclaimed "Mooo" when she saw the calf in the pen, and Abigail communicated with the chickens with her "bok, bok, bok, baaach"! The girls were fearless in touching the animals, and Sydney almost laid a kiss on one of the sheep's noses. We hoisted the girls in our new Kelty Kid Carrier backpacks in the afternoon and hiked around at Nashville's annual Oktoberfest in Germantown. We experienced some good food and music, and it seems like the girls enjoyed the ride. Of course, check out the plethora of pictures on flickr.

Our nephew and cousin, Jack, arrived last Friday, September 29th! We were able to see him in the nursery--through the glass--on Friday, so last night was our first meeting. Sydney and Abigail exclaimed, "BABY!" when they saw him. (By the way, they are so smart.) As you can see, Jack is in the newborn-sleeping-all-day stage and did not mind being passed around. The delivery went great, and Jack is a perfect baby. Check out more pictures on flickr of the girls rolling around with Granddaddy, their first trip to the Dragon Park, and more.

We experienced one of those moments that parents dream about during our night time rituals last night. Abigail and Sydney have noticed each other from a very young age and can communicate with one another--but this time it was different. Typically, one cries for something, the other one feels the same way, and joins in the crying; or, quite often when the girls are waking up from naps, they are both jumping in their cribs and they feed off of each other's giggles. Like every night, we changed them into new diapers and pajamas, they had already had their milk in a sippy-cup, and it was time to take the walk back to the nursery to see Leo the Liger and Paco the Puppy. We were late getting the process started because of Lifegroup--it was going on 8:00 (an hour later than usual)--so Sydney was laying her head on the quilt, pillow and floor to show us that she was truly tired. Abigail walked over to Sydney, plopped down on top of her, and they started rolling around with each other. Syndey would usually be furious and get as far away as possible, but last night the girls both were laughing and acually playing together for a couple of minutes. At one point it looked like Abigail was attempting to land kisses on Sydney! What a precious moment! We are so proud.