Swallowed

Here's the story that Riley told me on the way home from our appointment with the orthotics guy... It's a doozy, and I'm trying to keep it as close as possible to the original.

One day, I climbed up really, really high on a house, and I fell really, really far down, last Thursday!  And then, I got swallowed by a BIG WHALE!  And I was in his tummy.  And then an alligator swam by-- right by me!-- and swallowed me.  And I was in his tummy for two weeks!  Then a store helped me get out.  Then a shark swallowed me!  It was a mean shark, and it was a boy, and it had lots of teeth!  It had 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15 teeth!  Then a fish swallowed me-- a really, really big fish!  It was yellow and had lots of tears.  Would you miss me?  (Me: "Of course!  We'd all miss you!")  Daddy would miss me, and Noelle would miss me, and Uncle Steve would miss me!  And then I got home.  I walked... on the street.  And then a mean car swallowed me!

(editor's note: it's my personal opinion that this is where the story starts to go off the rails a little and gets slightly unbelievable, but please hear it out till the end.)

And then... a mean leaf swallowed me!  And then a house swallowed me-- a mean house!  (If you're wondering if it was the same house she fell off of on Thursday, I asked.  It was.)  And then a garage swallowed me.  And then a mean bike swallowed me!

The End

I'm a fan

I've been really uncomfortable for almost this entire pregnancy.  It's been a rough one.  The first two weren't always walks in the park, but there were moments of reprieve.  And I never really got to the point where I was telling people that I was ready to be done.  But let me tell you all now: I am ready to be DONE!  Get this Little Man out! :) 

You can see by the ticker at the top of the page, I'm a little over 35 weeks along.  Praise the Lord for that.  37 weeks, I read, is considered full-term, so let's hope the little guy is just as ready to be out and about as I am. 

Granted, it's not like life really gets easier with a newborn, but at least I'll be able to bend over to put socks on and paint my toenails then, right? ;)

Anyway, the whole point of telling you that is to tell you this: it's just about time to sit down and record a few of the things that I'm super grateful for because, after all, God is so so good.  And the girls are still sleeping, so now is the time!

Let's start there...  I'm grateful for sleeping girls!  They both have been really great in this area, for the most part.  They've made the transition to a girls' room really easy.  I truly thought it had the potential for disaster and many sleepless nights.  However, they have proven me wrong and have slept great, even though they're just separated by a few yards.  And, like they're doing today, they even sleep in sometimes! 

I'm grateful for dear friends.  My morning started off pretty wonderfully.  Not only are the kiddos still sleeping, but I got to eat a couple pieces of toast, in peace, enjoy a homemade cinnamon mocha, and get an email from a sweet and amazing friend, Clare.  She lives in Wisconsin, and we don't get to see her all that often (even though the Cheesehead state isn't all that far away).  She sent out an email to all the old "roommates," and it warmed my heart, just hearing her voice, updating us on life in the Cook house.  And I naturally have to mention that all the email recipients happen to live in our area.  How much of a blessing is that?  Nearly all of my closest college friends still live right here.  Wow.  And on top of that, as evidenced by many recent posts, I have some new "college friends" who I didn't know all that well at Wheaton but who are a blast and a blessing.  Celeste, that would be you. :)  Even Erin, who is now at business school at Notre Dame, has been traveling to Wheaton so much that the girls and I don't have to miss her too much.  And holy freaking cow, most of the tennis team is still in Illinois, too.  I mean, seriously, how do I have it so good? 

I'm grateful for comic relief.  The girls are now awake, but I hear them doing some kind of Jersey Shore-esque chanting and possibly fist-pumping (who knows?!).  They are funny, those two.  Really, Noelle is a an absolute crack-up with her expressiveness, and Riley is hilarious in what she says.  But more than their humor, I'm grateful for how deeply they love each other.  And I'm even more grateful for how I see a love of Christ developing in them, especially Riley, who is able to express it more clearly.

Sigh... that'll have to be it for the moment because the chatter won't last forever.  Soon there will be yells for MOMMY!!!!  And goodness, I didn't even get to mention our recent weather.  How incredible has that been, eh?  More later, but have a lovely day!

Pumpkin Painting!

Paint is scary when paired with toddlers.  This is why we haven't used paint in this house-- not even watercolors.  But Riley paints nearly everyday in preschool, so I thought I'd man up and give it a shot.  Plus, it's been gorgeous out, so we could do it outside and not risk having the floor and walls covered with acrylic. 

I've been seeing lots of adorable painted pumpkins on Pinterest, so that's the direction we went.  I got super-cheap paints at Joann's, some foam brushes (which were only something like $2 for 6 of them), and two pumpkins. 

And we invited Clayton (and Aubrey, kinda) to join us. 

First, we had to get outfitted.  Full coverage outfitted, that is.  Good thing we've had a bin of "for a garage sale" clothes in our garage for forever. :) 

Celeste provided some awesome butcher paper, so we didn't even paint the grass.  Wow.

I love the focus of these kiddos! :)

And Aubrey hung out, crawling all over and (somehow) avoiding getting totally painted.

Clayton didn't fair so well, though. :)

Riley would have painted all night, I think.  But these two tired of it fairly quickly.  They did agree to sit next to each other, even if they didn't smile at the same time. 

Then, after getting hosed, Noelle liked the foam stickers I cut out. 

These are, more or less, our finished products!

The proud artist...

The verdict-- we will definitely be painting again!

Fall Fest, Green Style

They had Fall Fest at Cantigny this Saturday, so, even though it was crazy crowded, we decided to head on over.  Since there were so many assorted activities going on, the gardens weren't as busy as I expected.  Not bad.  And it was fun, getting to have Mike there with us.

Plus, I just wanted the girls to get to run around in the a-maz-ing weather!

Happy Fall!

Noelle wasn't sure about the tomatoes...

... but she turned out to be a fan!

And, holy cow, the roses are gorgeous!

Why go outside if you're not going to picnic?  That's what we always say...

Since I'm not really in tank-climbing shape, the girls had tons of fun on the tanks with Daddy.

And our squirrel-hunter, extraordinaire... :)

Grubbiness

 I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog before, but Noelle is a very grimy, grubby girl.  To make it sound better, the girl sure loves her some nature.  She has no problem with dirt, mud, rocks, leaves, bugs... she'd probably be fine playing in sewage.  Sorry, that may have gotten a little too gross. 

Because of Noelle's love of all things dirty, I would like to recognize myself as a recipient of the You-Love-Your-Children-So-Much-You-Let-Them-Do-Fun-Things-That-Make-You-Squirm Award.  You'll be surprised to learn that I just made that award up, right now, right on the spot, but I'm still claiming it. 

It's not that I don't like dirt.  It's more that I just get a little OCD when I think about all the things that Noelle is touching and how she also really likes to put her hands in her mouth.  Ugh.  I mean, we've caught her carrying around a cicada carcass, and she will poke and prod anything and everything she comes in contact with.

Here's just a sampling from our fun playdate yesterday...

Don't be fooled by that look.  She's not grossed out.  I'm pretty sure she's just inspecting.

 Now, this one is A-DOR-ABLE, no?  And it looks relatively clean, too, but it resulted in...

 I am growing every day, being a mom, and not just because I'm pregnant and have a very swiftly expanding waistline.

Riley had a blast, too, and I have to say, she's getting more and more adjusted to messiness, too.  She tends to be more like me (in every human way possible).  She still MUST wash her hands immediately if she's eating and gets something on them.  But when she plays, she's lost a lot of her inhibitions.

 Check out Riley's shoes.  Would you believe she volunteered to wear this skirt that I just made?  It's one of the few times our clothing preferences for the day have aligned.  But she wouldn't budge on the shoes.  She was going to wear her "running shoes."  She also seemed to be confused as to what smiling looks like.  I got some of the most hilarious attempts at smiling out of her.  It reminded me of this:

The lighting in these next ones reminded me of an enchanted fairytale forest. :)

I can't believe how old Noelle is looking and getting these days!

My goal for the day, photo-wise, was to get a good sister picture.  Uh... fail.

 It's hard for me to decided which of the following two turned out to be the best one.  Option A...

Or Option B... Ha!

And since this post has been all across the board, we'll just leave you with some cute solo shots of both girls, in no particular order. :)

 Oh my goodness... that face. :)