'Twas the Night Before...

{Halloween}

Halloween Party

Every Tuesday morning, the kids and I attend a group called "Mom's Time Out" at a local church.  Claire loves her kid's class, and I relish 2 full hours of adult interaction.  This morning we had our Halloween party where the kids parade around the church and collect little goodies.  Claire caught on quickly to the magic behind the 3 little words "Trick or Treat". 

The kids of MTO

Claire is near the center in her pink princess dress.

(I mean, really, was there any doubt she'd choose to be a princess?)

 Story Time

Claire listened well, but the real joy of this picture is the little boy

on the right side who has the orange bucket over his head. 

Henry in his Halloween jammies.

Love him!



Lions and Tigers and...

A big black bear

roaming NE Grand Rapids!

Who would have thought? 

Our list of things to do on Saturday evening did not include keeping watch for a bear that was strolling the streets.  He was seen on Cornerstone University's campus and was apparently headed our way.  I'm not embarrassed to admit that when Joe walked across the street to watch a football game with our neighbor, I watched to make sure he made it safely.  Well, maybe I'm a little embarrassed.  So sad to see that the bear was killed by a motorist as it crossed I-96 by Leonard.  Another eventful weekend in the Puplis household!

Celebrating Sixty

We hope you have a great day and an even better year.

We love you!

Great Grandma Puplis

Second Summer

These past few weeks of abundant sunshine and 80 degree days have been a gift from God.  Much of our summer had been spent in the hospital and then going to and from doctor's appointments, so now that Henry is home and healthy, we've been taking full advantage of the beautiful weather.  It's our second chance at a summer!  Playing outside, taking walks, going to the park.  It's been great!  Here's a couple pictures of our recent trip to the playground with my cousin's kids. 

 

This one is for you, Joe, who insisted on keeping this

picture when I tried to delete it.  I love you!

Monthly Milestones

 [5 Months Old]

or as Grandpa S. would say: "5/12ths or a small half".

Henry, I cannot believe how much you are growing.  In a week's time, you have outgrown all your 3-6 month sleepers.  You eat, eat, eat.  And while you're still not sleeping through the night, you're getting closer.  It's as if you have an internal alarm clock set for 4:00 AM.

As far as your health is concerned, you are doing well.  A physical therapist from an organization called Early On visits monthly to make sure you are meeting your developmental milestones, and while you still need to work on that tummy time, in every other way, you are right on track.  As far as your incision goes, we're still watching it closely.  Awhile back, a suture was removed, and the opening never healed because underneath is the patch that is holding your abdominal muscles together.  You'll be seeing the surgeon later this month to decide what to do: should the patch be removed now or when you're a year old as we had originally planned?

Henry, you continue to be a happy, happy baby - full of smiles and even giggles.  We love you so much, and are grateful to have you in our family.



Weekend Review

This past Sunday we gathered at Ma and Pa Sternberg's house

to celebrate Kelsey's 18th birthday.

One advantage to having nieces:

ample help with opening birthday gifts.

Gracie loves Henry.

Remember a couple weeks ago when I mentioned that these two

seem to dress alike far too often...need I say more?

:::::

Following the party, Joe and I were able to go on a double date with Mike and Laura while Grandpa watched the 5 grand kids. Yes, you read that right. Five grand kids! I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous - but it went flawlessly, and to be honest, I think the kids were a quite bummed to see us return.

The kids with Grandpa (minus one camera shy Andrew)

Thanks Dad!  You did great - now you can go take a nap!

Below I included a trailer for the movie Courageous that the four of us - along with the Slaghs :) - went to see on our double date.  It was a great movie.  One for all parents and even aspiring parents to not only see, but to take to heart.

School Days

Friday, we had a chance to see Joe's new classroom.  This year, he's doing something quite different as he is working in the special ed. department with a young boy with cerebral palsy, so he spends a good part of his day in the kindergarten classroom.   It's been a great experience so far, and it's fun to see his face light up when he talks about it.  

The Classroom

"Daddy Duty"

The biggest bean bag chair I've ever seen.

This is my favorite picture. 

If you look closely, the students have listed things they like.  Most of them said things like sunshine, kittens, trucks...you get the idea.  But there was one little boy, the second one listed, that said, "I like attention."  Now there's honesty for ya. 

Oh, and on a sidenote, I just want to brag about my husband...when I first drove up to the school, he was outside with the kids as they prepared to go home, and I wish you all could have heard the chorus of students yelling, "Bye Mr. Puplis".  They adore him!  And truthfully, I love how he cares for them as well.

Fall Photos

This morning I took the kids to Robinettes to get some fall pictures. I am certainly no professional photographer, and my kids are not always crazy about the camera, so in tackling something like this I always try to go into it with the expectation that the only pictures I'll end up with are of Claire running away, Henry spitting up, or better yet, me chasing Claire with Henry's spit up running down my back. Having said that...our photo shoot went as well as I could have hoped for, and I think I captured some cute moments. In fact, I had a hard time picking my favorites, so you might want to get comfortable...

While Henry slept, I started by snapping some pictures of Claire.

 

Pumpkins!

"Heavy!"

A petite pumpkin for my pint sized Claire.

Needless to say, this pumpkin "followed"

us the duration of the photo shoot.

...and as you could have guessed by the way she's

clutching the pumpkin to her chest -- it followed us home, too.

And look who decided to join us!

A couple pictures of the kids together. 

I had wanted to get more pictures of them together, but it was getting close to lunchtime, and sometimes you just have to know when to quit.  I'm finding with situations like this, it's important to end on a good note! 

Well, thanks for taking the time to look at our pictures.  We hope you, too, are enjoying these beautiful fall days!