October Brings Baby News, Marathons, Grandparents, Birthdays, and Halloween!

Well, this is going to be long so I apologize in advance! October was simply a CRAZY month for us! So, I’ll start with the most important info:We found out that we will be having another little girl on February 22, 2010. Already, I can tell differences with this baby and Brooklyn. The most obvious to me is that Brooklyn rarely moved and when she did it was always a slimy, snake-like motion across my belly. This baby kicks the crud out of me all day like she’s trying to run a marathon in there…maybe she’ll take after her dad!

No names picked out yet but in the running so far we’ve thought of Bristol, Danielle, Ella, Ava, Lilly, and Olivia. We want the middle name to be Kealohi. Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated! :) As previously mentioned…Kevin ran the Chicago Marathon this month and finished like a major stud! WAY sooner than his predicted time! (I almost didn’t make it to see him cause he ran SO fast!)

Grandma and Grandpa Hanks came out for a visit too! It was definitely a highlight for us…especially for Brooklyn!We took them to our cherished Waterfall Glen to experience nature Chicago Style.It was a little cold and wet, but a VERY beautiful day!Kevin made me pose for this…you can already tell by my chipmunk cheeks that I am happily gaining weight for this baby!

Gma and Gpa Hanks also took Brooklyn to the Children’s Museum, which was her favorite event of the week…unfortunately, all the pictures are on their camera!A few days into our visit with Grandparents, Brian and Natalie drove out from Ann Arbor and we all went to the Museum of Science and Industry on a FREE day! (Kevin had to work though…very sad!)The kids were way more into it than I thought they would be. Especially Brooklyn! She wanted to touch everything!That night we celebrated Brian’s 29th birthday! Mom threw a great party with children’s games before bed and grown up games afterward! It was tons of fun!Pin the tail on the donkey was the most successful game…because we apparently come from a family of cheaters and peekers!The next day we took the kids to Johansen’s Farm! It was a highlight for me. The kids got to go on a hayride, slide down a giant bouncy slide (thanks mom) and pet and feed every farm animal under the sun! (Gma and Gpa Hanks and Brian have all the pictures but this one…sorry.) Brooklyn loved every second of it and would have brought a goat home if she could have! It was AWESOME!That night we celebrated Kevin’s 27th Birthday! We ate at Olive garden, then came home for presents and some more games! Kevin got lots of cool stuff! Highlights being a special sports duffle bag and a new mat cutter from his mom! LUCKY!Randomly, Kevin wanted to make his own B-day cake…or cheesecake in this instance. It was delicious though so I have no complaints!During the week we also took a second trip to Waterfall Glen to get some family pictures and let the kids get out some wiggles!Brian and Kevin looking much older and wiser after their birthdays!You can totally tell me and Natalie are sisters in this picture…right? :)Everybody got here at the peek of fall for Chicago! Lucky thing cause a few days after they left a big storm came in and took all the leaves off the trees!On their last day here, Mom helped me to sew this Maori costume for Brooklyn for Halloween! It turned out perfect and Brooklyn loved prancing around in it!The day before Halloween, Brooklyn got to Trick-or-treat at Kevin’s work. She had great manners and impressed enough people to leave the office with 2 new stuffed animals!

The next day we all dressed up like Maoris and went trick-or-treating with our friends the Noordas! It was so much fun and we stuffed ourselves sick with yummo food! But…once again…all the pictures are on someone else's camera! I’ll post them later if I get any! Until then…hope you all had a great October and wishing you an even better November!