The Fighter's

Ava & Kate had a blast! Ava couldn't wait to get into her Thomas costume...choo chooing every 5 minutes and at one point saying to me..."mommy...what does a train say when it stops?" To which I replied, "I don't know hun ..." and tried to imitate a screeching brake noise. She very confidently exclaimed..."no mommy...it goes..." and she let out a " shhhhhh " sort of noise that sounded like a compressor releasing air. I was impressed...because she was so right! She has this train thing down pat! Grammy came to trick-or-treat, and helped pull Kate in the wagon. Towards the end Kate was anxious to walk, and once out, walked right up to a front porch, arms outstretched going " teet ", " teet ". She picked that up pretty quick (anything with food!). Here are some pics! Waiting anxiously... Us and our girls before the big night... Our little Thomas... Grammy & Kate... Enjoying their bounty... Our good friends the ...

Kate is a character and is constantly doing things to crack us (and herself) up. Tonight at dinner she grabbed the top of a Tupperware container and started smashing her face up against it, and then would make a gargling sound or say " buuue " (her sound for blue), cracking herself up the whole time. My favorite was when she did the gargle sound while licking the container, nose smashed, eyes darting side to side...priceless image for my head! While all this was going on, Ava was having the cutest conversation with Grandma & Grandpa Conover ...talking about going to "Toot- Toot's " this weekend...her favorite train restaurant outside Toledo, and telling them about her day. Every once in a while she would say...."grandpa...see Kate" and hold the phone up to "show" grandpa the face smashing show Katelyn was putting on. Here's a shot of her on the phone tonight...so grown up having real phone conversations now:-)

We carved our pumpkin today. Ava named him Harry. She wasn't so sure about the sliminess of the pumpkin seeds and left most of the scooping up to me, but was particular about what shapes to use for the face and repeatedly said..."we're making a jack-o-lantern " and "Happy Halloween Mommy":-) When we were finished she asked if we could carve another one...so I think she enjoyed it, despite the sliminess.

A Fighter family favorite...Buckeye football Saturdays. Not much gets better than this on a beautiful October Saturday, especially when spending it with family and friends. After an 11 hour night of sleep (yes we...including Doug & I...went to bed at 9 last night and slept until 8 and it was wonderful!), woke up to coffee, cartoons, newspaper and anticipation of a fun football Saturday. Doug was most eager of all...totally giddy. Our great friend Dan was nice enough to share one of 2 tickets to the game...5th row, 50 yard line. Amazing seats for one of the best games of the season against #3 Penn State! We ventured down to campus around noon for a tailgate with good friends. Uncle Robert and his father in law Jim, made it in for the tailgate and game which was an added bonus! Ava is totally into OSU...loves getting dressed up in her Buckeye gear and today asked for "bows like a cheerleader". Throughout the day you could catch her yelling "go Beanie" and singing ...

Here are a few pics from today. We had a great one! Nature hike at Blendon Woods this morning with my good friend Kristin and her mom's group. Ava loved the nature center and all the "stuffed" (aka taxidermy ) animals in it. Kate squealed at the birds and squirrels in the bird viewing area. A few other fun moments from today: Ava & Kate's fascination with their toothbrushes. Ava loves hers because it sings a 2 minute thomas the train song (which she knows all the words to) and I think I heard that song at least 25 times today. Kate just likes to sit with it hanging out of her mouth. Not sure why, but all I know is it keeps that kid still for more than a minute and I'll take it! Ava trying to show Kate the ropes...gently (and sometimes not so gently) with a sweet little.."come on Katie Kate" (her newest nickname for her) and a hand on her back/outstretched hand. Love it! The girls in the back seat doing the motions to "if you're happy and ...

This season I have just been extra aware and thankful for the beauty that surrounds me. Not only have the radiant orange and red Autumn sunsets and the beauty of many colored leaves caught my eye as they often do this time of year. But in the usual season of harvest and giving thanks, I have been especially thankful and aware of the blessings that surround our family. Fall…change. Things happen to stir us up inside. To force us out of our comfort zone to reflect. 2008 has been a year that has stirred us up! It has been a happy year with many, many ups, but also a bumpy year…probably the bumpiest yet, beginning with the death of our dear Pastor Dave after his long battle with cancer, departing our much loved church family to follow our hearts to a new church, illnesses/hospitalizations/hard times for some of our closest family members. All of these things caused our insides to turn. For us to feel out of control and helpless and a little off balance. Stiff feelings as humans to grip and...

Well...now we have proof that we have a daring bruiser on our hands. Kate got her first set of stitches (and hopefully her last) this past Saturday after taking a spill onto a wooden chair at our friend's Buckeye party. At first I panicked slightly inside after seeing my child's head gushing, but after some clean up and a band-aid, we made a calm call to Grandma Barb (aka nurse Barb) and then the pediatrician who advised we hold off 1/2 hour for some of the swelling to go down to determine if stiches were needed. During which time, Katelyn forgot the whole episode, walking around with a bandaid across her forehead, playing with the other kids and hamming it up with the adults. At Children's, they were wonderful. No shot to numb the pain (thank God!) but a new gel to do the trick. We snagged some pics of Kate with the "gel" concoction/bandage on her head...they had to provide "extra" reinforcement as she kept tearing the band-aid off, so it looks worse th...

Doug and I had a blast with the girls at Jaquemin Farms …scaling over the patch to find the perfect pumpkins, playing in the corn sandbox, roaming through the corn maze. I love this time of year. Kate loved riding in the wheelbarrow, and Ava was determined to find the best pumpkins with her dad. Below are my favorite pics. You can also go to our Kodak gallery where I've uploaded some more... http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=uad8zci.3lr5t0xi&x=0&y=-viqdsd&localeid=en_US

What a fun day to ring out my favorite month of the year... 7am...work & coffee (I love my coffee!) 8:30am...girls up, breakfast, playtime (and a little bit of laundry) 10:30am...Depart the Fighter residence for what turned out to be a four hour outing with the girls that included rare shopping trips at Old Navy & Macy's, lunch at Chick- fil -A, play-time at the mall playground, and gummies from the candy shop. Some favorite moments... Ava trying to try on clothes with me in the Old Navy dressing room. I looked over and she had 2 tank tops over her head and was asking for more. Where's the camera when you need it! Kate rapidly throwing her hands up in the air with a big smile (her gesture for the so big game) after I finished telling Ava that she is going to be 3 and is getting "so big". Kate heard those 2 words and couldn't help herself. She repeated the "so big" gesture for about 3 minutes until it was time to leave...cracking herself up the w...

Here are a few shots of the girls from this past week. Love this weather, so we've been spending lots of time outside!! Hope you are enjoying your first few days of fall!!

In the car on the way to Ava's gymnastics class tonight... Ava: "Mommy...where can I scream? Can I scream inside?" Mommy: "No, you can't scream inside. You can scream outside." Ava: "Can I scream in the basement?" Mommy: "If mommy and daddy give you permission, you can scream in the basement. Otherwise you have to scream outside." Driving, driving, driving...change of conversation, talking about the sounds cars make, gymnastics, the grocery store, yaddy, yaddy, yadda. Arrive at rec center, open van door, Ava jumps down and as soon as her feet hit the ground, she exclaims... "I'm outside and can scream....AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" The loudest scream I've heard out of her ever. After a few seconds of this and me figuring out that she was screaming for fun (not out of anger or pain for once)...I said her name about 5 times and asked what she was doing. With a big smile on her face, she looked up at me and laughingly said......

Trying to figure out this bubble stuff...Kate just wanted to eat the bubbles. Ava's new pastime ...going down the slide backwards. Kate crawling over to cause havoc and succeeding.

Grammy's house.... Welcomed by sweet hugs and kisses every time, the scent of delicious food cooking in the oven (sometimes a Sunday lunch, other times a mid-week dinner), warm, cozy, loving. Favorite toys include the coasters (both sets...the beige coasters and the hamburger coaster set), fire place blower thing (not sure the official name), fridge magnets, the recliner, wooden wine cups, and the green bag of toys (which includes puzzles, books and other trinkets). Ava loves to build a fort with Grammy's blankets between the couch and the recliner (she also loves to make her poor Grammy crawl through the fort with her 50 million times). And lately she's been stealing Grammy away upstairs for an application of clear nail polish, lip gloss and blush. She comes down every time strutting her stuff, saying...look mommy...with pursed lips, feeling like a queen! Kate loves getting into Grammy's cupboards, messing with grammy's cd player and/or the VCR(which is off limits....

Whoever thought that my two little brothers Rob & Pat (aka Robby Bobby and Patricia), who I used to kneel on and perform spit tortures to, who used to chase me up and down the stairs in all out physical warfare while our friends sat on the couch (watching in wonderment)...would ever grow up to be two of my very best friends. Cheesy line…yes. But it’s true. They have grown to be such kind-hearted, great guys who are so much fun to be with. I am truly thankful. Doug and I were blessed to be able to spend the weekend with the two of them and their amazing better halves. My parents took the girls for the weekend, and we (minus Doug who was at a golf outing) started the day out at Pat’s for bagels and coffee. We then headed down to campus for OSU/OU tailgating. After a painstaking game for the Buckeyes who ultimately won (but barely…go Bobcats!) we took naps, cleaned up and headed downtown to Martini’s for a fantastic dinner out. It was fun to look around the table and see how “grown up...

Here is a shot of Ava's new do. She had about 3 inches chopped off into a cute little bob. Adds to her spunkiness (and it's so "trendy" that I'm thinking of following in her footsteps)!!! The girls are headed to grandma & grandpa's and Doug and I will be spending the weekend here in Columbus with my brothers and their better halves. Can't wait! Hope you all have a fantasticly fantastic weekend!

Gotta love it! I know I adore my thomas the train loving, movie star princess!

This is my absolute favorite month. Nothing better than September...fall is coming (my favorite season), college football, school is back in session (I always used to love going back to school!), beginnings of crisp autumn air and leaves, autumn sunsets and skies...I could go on and on! And we rang in my favorite month with a wonderful day! Here are a few pics from the picnic we had with neighbors. We are so thankful to have such great friends living right next door, all with kids the same age. It can often times be sort of crazy with 6 kids running around under the age of 3 (and 1 on the way), but it is so nice to be able to relate as parents...and the kids have so much fun together. I just love watching Ava & Kate running around, laughing and giggling and having so much fun with the other kids. So much joy! What are you doing Kate? Haiden & Ava cooking with their hard hats on... And now grocery shopping... Kate checking out Carter...