The Crossler Family

This evening we went to the Harvest Festival at the church. Noah was pretty much a watcher. There was a lot of noise and bigger kids running about, so he stayed back and watched. But before that we took the kids out into the leaves to play, Noah loved running through them but Andy practically had to tackle him to get him to sit in the leaves. After they started throwing leaves at eachother, they were okay. I sat Ava down in them for a minute and she fell over which made her furious. So her and Noah sat together. She enjoyed putting leaves in her mouth and sucking them.

After the Harvest Festival, we went to Tom and Denise's house so they could see the kids in their Halloween costumes. Sophia's beautiful Rapunzel dress was made by her Grandma LeAnn, then Ava's little ladybug outfit was Sophia's when she was her age, Noah is an airplane (although he looks like he crashed) and Eric is one of the Transformers (a very popular costume this year, I am pretty sure their were at least 5 different ones at the Harvest Festival).

Ava has recently started eating fruits and vegetables. She seems to enjoy all of the ones we have tried so far. She doesn't have much of an appetite for pureed food like Noah did. It takes her about 3 days to eat a small container of food, where as with Noah he would eat 2-3 containers each meal.

We carved our Greenbluff pumpkins. Noah got very involved in digging out the seeds, but once we started carving them, he went off and played with his cars. The pumpkin with our names took Andy 2 hours from start to finish. He said he would never do it again, but I think it is the coolest pumpkin ever!!

We had Ava's 6 month appointment today. She weighs 14 lbs, 8 oz. and was 24 1/4 inches. Ava got an A+ in everything except her range of motion in her hips, they are a little stiff, and she still coughs and wheezes regularly still. The Dr wanted us to do and xray of her hips, which was normal. We also started her on Zantac to see if th cough and wheeze are because of acid reflux. She got her shots and also Noah got his flu shot. Not a brilliant plan since I had two crying kids. Oh well, Live and Learn!

We went up to Greenbluff to play for the day. We met Aunt Kris, Cody and cousin Joel at the pumpkin patch. Noah loved riding in the wagon with the pumpkins, but Joel was more interested in pushing the cart. W bought 172 pounds of pumpkins. Wow! Noah RAN through the straw maze. I could hardly keep up! And he rode his first horse. Last year he was afraid of the little pony but this year he chose to ride the big horse. My baby is growing up. Ava was very interested in touching the leaves of the pumpkins and was very happy when I let her out of the front pack. Every year will get better and better!!

Today we went to Grandma Doris' house in Postfalls. Since it was also Ava's 6 month birthday, we took her pictures there. This month Ava has started squealing, the best sound ever. On occasion you can get a small giggle out of her, though it does sound like a few connected grunts. She has become fascinated with her feet, but still adores to stare at her hands. When she is upset, she says, mum, mum, mum, but I don't think she knows the meaning, its just a sound to her. But I can pretend, right? She is starting to become interested in objects besides her toys, like spoons, bibs, paper, and pretty much anything she can get her hands on. Another healthy and happy month, for a sweet baby girl!

At Grandma Doris' we (me not included, I wore around Ava) did all kinds of things for Grandma like fixing the chimney, splitting wood, picking up sticks, and playing with the kitties. Noah loved driving Grandma's farm equipment, the tractors, little red, and especially loved sitting in the jeep playing with the Tonka machinery (which we got to bring home).

After we were done at Grandma's house, we went to dinner at Red Robin with momma, Becky, Gretta, and Corey. We had a great time! Since we planned on going to Greenbluff tomorrow. We didn't want to drive home and then back to Spokane, so we stayed in Spokane. Once we got to our hotel, checked in, and got the luggage upstairs, we went swimming. We had a lot of fun. Both kids were really tired, but enjoyed themselves. Ava loves swimming, but she got splashed as we were taking the picture and got mad. A man in the pool offered to take our families picture. It was super nice! We had a fun time!

We had a fun but LONG day! We all got to bed by 10 o'clock and slept like logs!

Today is the U of I Homecoming Game, Parade, and all things Vandals!! I was able to take the night before off so I could enjoy the festivities. Andy headed to the fire station early, so Corey spent the day with the kids and I. We started out by heading to the Fire Station on Main St for a pancake and sausage breakfast, before the parade. Noah was fully aware that he was going to drive the fire truck with Andy, so he inhaled his pancakes, then RAN down Main St, so we didn't miss the fire truck. As we ran down Main St, everyone googled at how adorable the kids were, especially Ava in her vandals dress and matching korker (made by yours truely). We took pictures on the fire truck of the 3 cousins, then our family on the truck, Noah is wearing Keith's battalion check helmet (which he HATED), and then Noah was holding Ava and almost through her off the fire truck, because he was done being in front of the camera. Before the parade started, the Vandals Marching Band, went by us playing the fight song. After about 15 seconds of that Ava starting crying histerically because it was so loud, then proceeded to cry for the duration of the hour long parade. We had a great time, minus the crying baby.

Ava used to love her hands, now its her feet. The instant her pants come off, her legs are in the air and she is holding onto her feet.