Adam and Luke started discussing Halloween costumes when I was still pregnant with Annie. I convinced them to wait until we had the baby before making any final decisions. They ended up sticking with their first choice. Maggie was more than happy to be a princess.

Luke decided to be a knight this Halloween.

Adam went with a wizard costume.

And with some modifications to our dinosaur costume, Annie became a dragon.

We took these pictures at a miniature golf course near our house (nerdy, I know). It was perfect for our theme. I just had to change the name on the castle to match.

The kids are already talking about costumes for next Halloween. Right now they are saying Wizard of Oz, but pirates and Harry Potter have also been mentioned. We’ll see what they end up with.

That pretty much describes Mags – or Maggie Paulie as she refers to herself.

One of my favorite things about her right now is her “darlings.” I can’t share a picture of them, because she’s the only one that can see them. They’ll perform circus acts, dance routines, and have tea parties. I asked how many “darlings” she has and she said “like ten or somefing.”

Just over a month late, but they’re still cute.

And so is she.

The boys had their school pictures last week and I was emailed the digital copies today.

We’ve got a couple of handsome boys for sure!

On Sunday, we surprised the kids with a trip to the aquarium.

Adam loved the touch pools and being able to pet the animals. His favorite was the horseshoe crabs.

The aquarium was having a special mermaids and pirates event. Maggie was thrilled to meet Coral, a real mermaid.

Coral taught the kids how to make a turtle with their hands.

After visiting with her for a bit, we went to check out the rest of the aquarium.

Annie took a short nap while the big kids had fun on the indoor playground.

After she woke up we continued our exploring.

We found another mermaid, this one was in the water. Maggie was over-the-moon.

She was less pleased when she had to be the fish for this picture. She wasn’t tall enough to be the mermaid.

Adam stole my phone to take a couple of selfies.

Then we split up for a bit. I had to feed Annie, so Dave took the older kids to revisit one of the exhibits we had seen earlier.

On their way back, they got to meet Calliope.

And play some more with another mermaid.

Here’s all of us, in front of the wishing whale.

And the kids, seeing how they’d look with a tail.

It was a really fantastic day. The kids were all extremely well-behaved and loved the aquarium. The boys especially liked the shark bridge – a rope bridge that goes over the top of the shark exhibit. They went across it twice. Maggie did too, but the mermaids were definitely her favorite though.

One of my favorite things is how Maggie refers to it as “a quarium.” As in, “Mama, I had so much fun at the quarium. Will we go back to a quarium again sometime?” I love it.

Here’s what the other three kids looked like today, because they’re all pretty cute too.

Maggie had dance class. Annie waited (adorably) for ballet to be over.

Luke is learning about Johnny Appleseed and enjoying everything about it. He also found a Papa penny on the bus and was so excited to add it to our bank.

You’re looking at one of the new third grade student council representatives! Adam found out today that he was picked and is over-the-moon happy about it. The students had to write essays explaining why they would be a good choice for student council and the teachers chose three students from each class.

Adam worked really hard on his essay. He brainstormed ideas and had Mabel help him write a rough draft over the phone. He was really nervous about talking himself up too much and didn’t want to sound like he was bragging. It was really sweet how humble he was about it all.

I’m so proud of that kid. I know he’s going to do a great job.

I’m sure you can tell from my lack of posting that my fall semester has started. I did want to be sure to share some pictures from Annie and Lydia’s baptism though. We were able to have both girls baptized at the same time. I’m so happy they got to share this special day.

Maggie fell asleep shortly after the mass started and the poor girl missed the entire baptism. 

Dave and I were so honored to be Lydia’s Godparents, even if it did confuse the poor priest.

I love this photo of the six of us. Dave and I have some cute kids.

Speaking of cute, Annie and Lydie are adorable. My mom made Lydia’s dress and it turned out so pretty. Annie’s gown was made for my Grandma Marge. My mom (and her siblings), Stacy, Maggie, and I all wore it during our baptisms too.

My Aunt Jane made a beautiful cake to celebrate the occasion. I love the saying she chose for it – very fitting for those two little sweeties.

A couple of days after the baptism, I had Annie’s pictures taken.

She wasn’t into getting them done that day at all. She was tired and just wanted to go to sleep. 

I was able to get her asleep (after a stroller ride around the mall). I was hoping for a few pictures of her sleeping and holding my great grandmother’s rosary, but Annie had other plans. She woke up as soon as this picture was taken and that was it for the photo session.

That’s okay though, she’s still pretty cute.