... love as we know it ...: Whose behind? :)

... like that pun on words? :)
So, it's been a while! SO. MANY. THINGS. have happened while we've been away from blogland. I guess there's no other way to do it than just jump right in!
Will's 3rd birthday party was so much fun! We had a bounce house and about 8 of his friends came over and jumped their little fannies off. Will L.O.V.E.S. birthdays. He doesn't care whose birthday it is - he loves them. And, October has no shortage of birthdays in this family. He's a candle blowing machine.

Will has thoroughly enjoyed "school" this year (at a church, where he gets to play with friends for 3 hours and sing Jesus Loves Me). His teacher is wonderful - so patient and kind. Will continues to crack us up with all he has to say... and speaking of talking, he started saying the "k" and "g" sound appropriately!!! WAHOO! He is still ambidextrous - now somewhat favoring his right. He likes to practice "down, up, down, up" (a "W"). And now when he's "drawing" he tells me what it is that he has so artistically drawn, "mommy, see that? that's a cowboy!", or "look mommy I colored a pumpkin!" Oh this boy, he's got me wrapped around his finger and he knows how to pull on my heart strings. He fell asleep in my lap last Sunday night. It was heaven - I relished in it (especially after a VERY trying evening/bewitching hour where he was put in time-out no fewer than 9 times in 3 hours... poor kid was exhausted and didn't know how to handle it). He is still the greatest hugger of all times - a "Will hug" is something that could cheer up the grumpiest person on the planet.

So, Riley... WOAH, where to begin on this sweet baby girl? I haven't done a 9/10 month post - so I'll start there! At 9/10 months, Riley started really loving big girl food - chunks of avocado especially! Which is funny, because, if you'll remember, her brother HATED them. She loves hunks of bananas, sweet potatoes, blueberry bagels, squash, cheese and the girl LOVES cinnamon raisin bread. She, just like big brother, will say a version of "num num num" if she REALLY likes something. She started saying "hi!" "mamama" (music to my ears since I had to [impatiently] wait for big brother to say mama/mommy until he was 15-16 months old), "dadada" (of course... that was her first, then "hi" was her second), "buh buh" that sounds like bye bye, "bebe" (I'm sure Bebe hates this :) ...what's neat is she calls her baby, "bebe" and her Bebe has the nickname because her older brother called her the "bebe" [for baby]), and lots of rambling sounds that we love to hear.

Riley also started pushing her (Will's) shopping cart around at 9 months and Monday, October 3rd, she took her first steps and as of about 2 weeks ago is a full fledged walker... oh. my. goodness. Her frankenstein gait is adorable :).

I want to get back to her baby - she just loves her baby. If you ask her where her baby is, she'll go and get it and hold its hands and bounce the baby like we bounce her, then she'll hug the baby and kiss the baby... melt my heart. I'm a puddle of goo around these kids.