The Lucky Ducks: this post brought to you by the color YELLOW!

Well, it's been quite a while since I've put anything here so there's lots to update about. I think we're finally rid of a few bugs that have been keeping us all sick around here for the past month to six weeks. We've all shared sniffles, sneezes, coughs, and fevers and I'm really tired of it so I hope it's gone for a while. Aside from the colds and yuckies, Owen and Anna Claire are growing and learning new stuff every day. We had a great time for Halloween, a very filling Thanksgiving and we're looking forward to a wonderful Christmas.

Owen was his favorite color for Halloween - YELLOW! He loved the crayon pointed hat the most and wore it proudly to go trick-or-treating. He was a little intimidated for the first few houses so he didn't say much but finally did say "trick-or-treat" a few times towards the end. We had a huge turn out for our gumbo/party that night and we all had a great time. Anna Claire was just a cute pumpkin with a pink hat (so everyone would know she's a girl) and she was happy just being carried by Nanny the whole time.

Owen has developed a few new skills in the past couple of months and he is perfecting his language skills. He is asking full questions instead of just stating what he wants and he often uses phrases and expressions that we use (we've got to really watch it now!). He really "gets" what is going on with stuff and is able to explain "what happened" in a picture, on TV, or in real life. He still loves Curious George and has developed a recent fascination with Caillou. He uses scissors to snip (and yes, he snipped his hair... now we only use scissors with adult supervision). We've started to play with play-doh and he really likes that - mostly to flatten and then cut with the play-doh scissors. He can draw lines (he says, "down, down, down" while he draws) and circular scribbles - and he knows it's a circle! Today, he drew a bunch of scribbles and said he drew mommy, daddy, and Owen! I asked him who was missing and he thought about it for a while and then finally said, "Anna Claire!"

Anna Claire is growing and weighed in at 16 pounds at her 4 month visit. She rolls from her back to her tummy and will put weight on her hands and push up. While she's done it once or twice, she hasn't mastered rolling back to her back from her tummy so she fusses after a few minutes and wants to be rolled over. She reaches for and carefully grabs a toy and then jams it to her mouth. She seems to be bringing anything and everything she can to her mouth as she's teething! And her two bottom teeth are proof! They popped out within two days of one another just after her doctor's visit in mid-November. I'm going to be introducing rice cereal soon since she looks at our food and drools (it's really pitiful - if she wasn't in the 95th percentile for both height and weight, I'd feel bad...) She is a really happy baby and except for when she was not feeling well, she's been sleeping all night!

We feel so lucky when we look at the two of them and still can't quite believe they are ours. Here are a few pictures from Halloween and November. I'll be back with more very soon.