Happy Howaweeeeeen!

... as Mae says it, when she says it. Sometimes she said "tick or teet," but most of the time she seemed pretty confused about the whole Halloween thing. When our neighbors opened their doors, she thought she was supposed to go in or play with their puppies. Sometimes she would take candy from their bowls, other times she might accept the candy offered by the host. One time, she actually took candy out of her bucket and gave it to the guy who opened the door. And Ben -- he really didn't seem to see a point to the outing.

But we had a great time showing off our semi-homemade Sesame Street costumes. Mae is currently in love with Elmo and his many friends on the street. So Mae dressed up as the adorable red monster, Ben was Cookie Monster, Rich donned Oscar the Grouch and Kirsten was Abby Caddabby (Elmo's new buddy). Most people figured out who we were, but just in case we taped the Sesame Street sign to the stroller.

We hope everyone else had a sweet Halloween and scored enough candy to last them until Christmas!!!

Guest at the Gym!

Rich took off the morning to check out Mae's Tiny Tumblers class at Sonshine Gym. Now he has a better understanding for the parent-child involvement and excitement of this fabulous class! The father-daughter pair did very well, but Rich was reluctant to let the girl run wild (Kirsten is not as efficient in preventing the "jail break"), and inturn Mae took advantage of the situation and got Rich to dive into the block pit and help her out (normally she "swims" through the blocks). They both seemed to have a great time!

Tailgating for an FSU win!

After shopping at a scrapbooking-store-going-out-of-business sale, we spent most of the day at Robyn's sorority tailgate. Mae had a great time chasing Josh around the yard and playing with Robyn's sorority sisters. One of the sisters let Mae sign her leg cast, while another one deocrated the rocks Mae kept taking from the garden and putting at our table.

But don't feel bad about Ben; he spent the day flirting with all the Kappa Ladies!

FSU Circus!

For those of you that don't know, FSU is one of only two colleges to have their own resident circus -- and it is AMAZING!!! They held special pre-Halloween performance for Parents' Weekend and it was just the best (next to, of course, seeing Robyn and Julie)! It made Kirsten beg to come back in the spring to see their next show!

Mae seemed to enjoy it, and even Ben was interested from time to time. In fact, he fussed so much at one point just get a closer look at the action (which he got because he fussed so much Kirsten had to stand with him by the entrance).

If you EVER get the chance to see FSU's Flying High Circus, we totally recommend it!

'Nole Country!

It's Parents' Weekend at FSU and we were so excited to be visiting Robyn for all the festivities!!! It rained most of the day, and when it didn't it was pouring but that didn't dampen our fun day on campus one bit! In the morning, Rich sat in on one of Robyn's science classes and then for lunch we met up with Kirsten's cousin, Julie a freshman at FSU, before she went home for the weekend (hi Aunt Charlton and Uncle John!). Then some of us toured the Center for Leadership and Civic Center with Julie (which was awesome!), while the rest investigated the bookstore. Robyn's sorority hosted the family for tour of the sorority house (which was BEAUTIFUL) and that evening, Robyn's boyfriend Josh, a local chef, made everyone dinner before we headed back to campus for the circus (more on this)!

It was a terrific day, and it was really great getting to see what Robyn's college life is like. We had visited her this summer and got to see the campus and the new biology building (her home away from home), but it was really cool seeing the campus when it was full of students... and rain. If you go, we recommend rain boots!







Robyn with her little sister, Mae, and her "little" Lauren!

Busy Bee!

Today, Mae's class took a field trip to Buckwheat Farms where the kids got a great lesson about bees! Mae's teacher got to be the Queen Bee while her classmates took on different roles within the hive. Mae was a field bee who was supposed to go out and collect pollen (colored ping pong balls), return to the hive (a rope circle) and hand it over to the queen. Mae had so much fun that after everyone had a turn, she went and collected all the remaining pollen balls!



While we were there, we got to check out some farm animals, an active honey comb and a little persons' maze. I know, I was thinking another maze -- but this one was perfect for Mae and she had such a fantastic time, she didn't want to leave! Who knew snowfencing could be so fun???

Punkin's Pumpkin

While we were at the corn maze, Mae picked out her very first pumpkin.

For fun, Kirsten let her decorate it with (washable) markers. Check out her handiwork!

We thought we might wash it off and do it again, but what a work of art!

And speaking of pumpkins and works of art -- here's another one of ours (Ben barely fits in his little jack-o-lantern outfit. He's growing so fast!!!)

Giggly Boy!

A few days ago, we discovered that Ben can giggle! He's been coo-ing for about a month now. We didn't notice the giggle right away (if you listen you can see why!), bu when we were trying on our new Halloween costumes he let us know how funny he thought it was! You'll also get a Mae cameo at the end (Rich filmed it "Blair Witch" style).

A-Mazing Fun!

Today we attempted to participate in our first playdate, but due to some communication problems -- we played by ourselves! The "date" was set for the Corn Maze at Hector's Creek, not far from our house.

Despite being on our own, we had a great time! It was Ben's first corn maze (we took Mae to a different one last year) and both babies' first hay ride. Ben's favorite part seemed to be the hay ride, both he and Mae were fascinated by the tractor. Mae loved getting to walk among the corn stalks in the maze that were well over 7 feet high!


We did get very lost, and then little Mae took off (yikes!). Still, a great time -- a big thanks to Miss Tammy and Mr. Raymond -- and we can't wait to go back WITH DADDY! New rule in our house, exciting things like a maze require one parent per child!

Oktoberfest

As many of you know, Rich's Mom (Omi) is German, along with several aunts, uncles and cousins. This year, we decided we'd have our own Oktoberfest celebration with the babies - an culinary introduction to their culture - at a German restaurant less than an hour from our house in Sanford, the Bavarian Brathaus.

We had a great time, great meal, and stuffed ourselves silly! Rich rated the food as pretty authentic, judging from his mom's cooking and his many trips to visits relatives. Like her older sister Robyn, Mae loved the spatzle and red cabbage; she wasn't a big fan of bratwurst or schnitzel ... but Kirsten is confident she will be when she gets older.

Mae doing her new "yummy, yummy food dance". We call it the "spatzlt wiggle"!

Even Ben had fun, finding a new "bottle" (just kidding! The bottle was empty and the boy was sacked out from the car ride).

Big Ben!

With all the doctor visits following our vacation detour, Ben's 2-month check-up was delayed. But we are happy to say we are the proud parents of a generally healthy boy! He is a smidge short of 2 feet in length and a pinch short of 13 pounds! That's half the weight of Mae and two-thirds her height!

Kid-friendly car?

This weekend, when we were at our town's downtown celebration, Rich found his Corvette. He's been talking about this car since we started dating, how he'd love to own someday. While the car wasn't for sale, Rich and Mae did check to see if it might hold a carseat. Too bad we have TWO carseats these days.

The Things Kids Say!

Mae is definately a talker! In the past week, she's had a few real cute moments that we wanted to share but couldn't catch with the picture or Flip. First, while we were at the hospital for Ben's testing, she decided she should tickle Ben so she went up to him and said "tiggle, tiggle, tiggle" as she tried to tickle his belly. So cute!

A few days later, she went to help Rich cook dinner and for the first time noticed we have an oven. She started to lean up against it for a better look and Rich warned her that it's hot -- so she, making perfect sense of the moment, leaned up and blew on it "fooo - fooo - fooo" like she does with hot food.

And for weeks now, we've been trying to teach Mae to say her name when asked. A big fan of reading, Mae has decided that when asked, her name is "book."

We can't wait to see what she comes up with next!