Since then...

I must have had a little bit of photo burnout after our vacation because I really haven't taken very many pictures since we got back.  But I was able to find a few to sum up our lives since we got back.

The first two were actually taken the night we left for Costa Rica.  We took the kids to Kneaders for dinner on the way to dropping them off at Grandma's.  I love their sugar cookies and was excited to see that they had their fall-ish ones for sale because, at the time, it still felt very much like summer 

 We stopped by my Grandma's condo one last time so S could pick up some things he had left behind.  My dad had closed on it that day.  It felt really good (probably more so for S) to be done with it, but as I sat looking at it from the car I realized how sad it was that this would be the last time I was here.  So many good memories.

This next one is courtesy of Aunt B, who watched Bean and Boy for several days while we were in Costa Rica, including the night that we got home.  Bean and S had made a cute countdown with a piece of candy for each day that we were gone.  As you can see, she is very excited that she made it to day 10.

It was so hard coming back to work and even harder coming back to snow.  Like, two snowstorms within the week that we came back.  Brutal.

Boy has probably had the capability to walk for several months now but completely lacks the motivation to do so.  Crawling is so much faster.  I don't think he realizes that walking will lead to running.  Anyway, he's content to scoot behind this thing all over the house.

Aunt B is getting married at the end of the month.  This little darling is going to look just darling at the wedding.  I love bow-ties.  He does too, I promise.  His angst is due to the fact that I am dangling my iPhone in front of his face and not letting him have it.

October was the month of showers.  We had a fun baby shower for a coworker who's little boy was born last week.  And then a few weekends ago we had a bridal shower for Aunt B!  

Bean has developed quite the imagination.  She loves to play princess with all of her dollies now and she has become an excellent playdough chef.

Bean gave up her naps a really, really long time ago but, for some reason (maybe it was all the hard playing) she has fallen asleep a lot during her quiet time in the last month.  I love this picture.  It looks like she just plain wore herself out.

We met a friend for a playdate at an awesome brand-new park.  Boy was so close to crawling through this tunnel but he chickened out at the last minute.  Reminds me of someone I know...

S spotted this buck in our backyard the other day.  Holy cow--it was huge.  I'm hoping this picture will make any hunters who happen to read my blog very, very jealous.  At least you know where they are all hiding now.

The Daddy Files:

S got to play stay-home dad during our time home in September because he took the whole month off.   The following photos are ones he sent to me while I was working.

We had initially planned on going to Lake Powell 4 days after we got back from Costa Rica.  We didn't realize how dumb this idea was until both kids had meltdowns as we were trying to pack and get out the door.  Needless to say, we didn't go.  But he did get a picture of them trying on their life-jackets.

The night after we got back I had to work so S took Bean and Boy to see a local Disney-themed production put on by the kids in our town.  Bean was in heaven.  Princesses everywhere.  Plus I heard one of the mayoral candidates was sitting right behind them and he kept sneaking Bean candy.  I know who she's voting for now...

Bean loves playing dress-up at Grandma H.'s.  Her one request from Santa Claus this year was a box of dress-up clothes which he may or may not have already filled.

Gardening in our corner of the valley is tough so S was excited to see that our crabapple was actually doing something this fall.

On one of the warmer days early in October, S took Bean and Boy up to Silver Lake for a hike.  Shortly after this picture was taken...

...Boy lost his binki in the lake.  See that white thing in the middle?  That's it.  See those ducks?  They thought it was food.  I can only imagine what a duck must have looked like swimming around with a binki in it's mouth.

Bean loved the hike so much that they ended up hiking all the way up to Mary's lake.  Not an easy hike for a 4-year old.  Not an easy hike for a dad with a 4- and 1-year old.

There is nothing like getting a text message in the middle of a shift with a picture of these cuties.