Family Week

Will and Eric carving a jackolantern.



Will and Aidan making silly faces



Will coloring a pumpkin with markers. FYI-they don't dry-EVER!



Will was playing with his magnadoodle the other day and brought it to me to show me how he wrote his name-sorry for the brief "have to show off my son's new trick" moment! Am I the only one who can tell it says Will?



At the cafe halfway through Fossil Rim



Will driving the truck on the "safari"



Don't worry-the window was rolled up when this ostrich was checking Maggie out



A giraffe eating out of Eric's hands. Will wasn't sure what to think about all this.


Will literally fell asleep while drinking some water on the way home.

Another busy week in the Mittig household. As most of you know, last Friday was Eric's last day of work, so we've spent the last 5 days doing lots of fun stuff with Daddy! We've gone to the park several times, gone on walks almost every day, carved pumpkins, stomped in puddles, and lots of other fun things. Our friends Aaron and Collette brought their two kids, Aidan and Ella, over on Saturday. All the kids had a blast playing together.

Today we drove about an hour out of town and went to Fossil Rim. It's so neat-I'm not sure why we never thought to do this before. We drove through for about 2 hours and fed all kinds of animals-it's amazing to see them come right up to your window and look at you like "Where's my food?" Zebras, Deer, Goats, Llamas, Ostriches, and some other things with special names that aren't in our childrens' books. The giraffes actually ducked their heads into the truck and ate right out of Eric's hands. Will and I weren't sure we wanted to participate. They also have cheetas and rhinos, but they're in a fenced area where you can see them but for some reason they don't allow two year olds to feed them :)

As for updates on the kids. Maggie is now starting to walk behind one of those push walkers-only on the carpet. She is also pulling up on just about everything, including our brick fireplace surrounded by slate floors-not a comfy landing for a wabbly 7 month old. So it's nice to have an extra set of hands around to help keep an eye on her. We're starting to work more on potty training with Will, but I still don't think he's ready. It will be so nice to only have one in diapers-someday!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy halloween!

Fall Fun

Will splashing in the puddles behind my parents' house.



Maggie loves to show off another new skill



The new Cowboys stadium as it looks today-I took this picture by holding the camera out the driver side window from a turn lane. The top of my truck is what you see in the bottom of the picture. Sorry I have short arms and couldn't get it taller!



As you can tell from the pictures, we made another trip back to the pumpkin patch this past weekend. This time Kristy and I just took the boys for some special Mama/son time. It was SO much more crowded this week, but of course the kids still had a blast.

Maggie is now 7 months old-SO hard to believe! I didn't realize the month had already gone by until I was telling someone she was six months old and realized that she wasn't anymore! She is changing so much everyday. She is pulling up on EVERYTHING and you practically have to bend her at the waist if you want to sit her down. I'm finding new challenges with having two little ones. Maggie loves to blow bubbles with her mouth and has now discovered that when she does it with food in her mouth, she can watch it fly across the room. Originally she was in awe of the whole thing, but once Will saw her do it and laughed uncontrollably, she realized what kind of reaction she could get by doing it over and over!

I posted the picture of the new Cowboys stadium being built because it is something positive to focus on regarding sports. I'm having a rough football season because all the college teams we support are pretty much out of it (although Michigan is making a comeback!), and the Cowboys showed Sunday that being the "best of the NFC" doesn't mean much when you're playing the Patriots. AND, the team I picked in our Survivor pool (Chicago-I know, what was I thinking?) LOST, so I'm one loss from being eliminated with 11 weeks to play. At least we have the new stadium and the Super Bowl that comes with it to look forward to.

I guess that's all for now. Eric has a lot of work stuff going on right now, so please say a special prayer that it all gets worked out soon. I'll post more when I know more.

Pumpkin Patch and Papa's Visit

Papa and Will

Tyler, Maggie, and Will on the hayride. The boys loved the tractor that pulled it. Maggie just loved the hay!

I love this stage where you can just prop them up next to something and they can't run off before you take the picture!

Big brother introducing Maggie to hay. I'm sure the washer will be full of it when I wash these clothes.

Will and Tyler and their annual picture at the pumpkin patch. It's amazing how much bigger they are compared to last year's picture!

How cute is this little sweetie?

Tyler, Maggie, and Will driving the train.

I wanted to get costume pics at the pumpkin patch, but the weather started rolling in and the kids started giving out by the time we got around to it. Will loves his fireman costume!

Will and Tyler loving the slide-about a hundred times!


Well it's been awhile since my last post. The first week was because we passed a stomach bug around for the better part of a week. What a helpless feeling when your six month old daughter is throwing up constantly. It's pretty upsetting when it's a 2 year old, but at least we can explain things to him and he can tell us he doesn't feel well. Maggie just gave me this pathetic look everytime like "Are you really just going to stand there and let this happen to me?" Oh, so sad...But we're all better now and we were ready for Papa (Eric's dad and Will's middle name sake) to come and meet Maggie!

Papa got here on Thursday afternoon and flew back to Michigan this afternoon. We had a great time at Toys R Us, riding the carousel at the mall, playing outside, going to the park, and at the Pumpkin Patch. He was also here to witness Maggie crawling for the first time! She can also get into a sitting position from her stomach now, and she's loving that new skill! I can't believe how fast time is going-I know I always say that but it's true!

More portraits...

Sweet baby girl



The kids with Granny



I think this is so funny-sweet little Maggie loving her GG and pulling Will's hair!



Will and his Daddy



Love those big blue eyes!



Sweet feet



Maggie and her Daddy



As you might have guessed by now, I'm a little obsessed with having pictures taken. This time we went to the Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens for some family pics, Daddy/Kiddo pics since he had to miss the last two "sessions" and some of the kids with my Granny. Considering Will and I had some serious allergy issues last week, they turned out better than I had expected.

Maggie has two teeth now, and she likes to use them. She's still not officially crawling yet, but I really don't know how! She and Will are getting cuter both individually and together everyday. Will is enjoying school and Maggie and I are enjoying our new girl time!

Playgroup and Turning 29!

Maggie in her seat in bible class. She loves Ms. Toni!



What a contrast to the first picture-this was her first experience with blueberries. So far we haven't found a food she doesn't like.



Our hottub cover kind of sinks in and collects water when it rains-Will didn't take long to find this puddle one night. It's amazing how fast a 2 year old can find trouble.



We've started doing bedtime stories together-Will loves reading to Maggie.



A picture from playgroup-Allie Grace, Carter, Will, and Ethan. I got my camera out late and Caroline had already made it back inside.

It's been another busy week in the Mittig household. Will had his first full week of school last week and we did playgroup at our house on Friday. There were 4 two year olds, 1 three year old, a one month old and a six month old. The weekend flew by, as usual, and my birthday week started Monday morning when my new maid started! Talk about the gift that keeps on giving-thanks Eric! Eric took today off and booked me a spa day-it was so nice! Will picked out the biggest red velvet cake at Red Oven because it had sprinkles, so we'll be eating that forever. Maggie took two "steps" in crawling today, but the video cam wasn't out so I'm not really counting that.

Thanks for checking in on us.

Maggie's SIX months and Grandparent's Day

Will on the slide at the carnival

Go COWBOYS!

Will is so obsessed with slides lately-as soon as he got to the bottom, he was running back toward the ladder to go again!

Not the greatest picture, but by the time I got Will to sit down for a minute he was tired and fussy and not in the mood for picture time. We had so much fun with Granny/GG at the Grandparent's Day Carnival!

I think Maggie has such an adorable smile-she's such a happy girl!

She's SO close to crawling-she's on all fours and rocking, but she gets everywhere she needs to be by rolling and scooting (mostly backward) so we may have a little longer.

Will "working" on the computer like Mommy and Daddy.

I think we're still a year away from qualifying for a t-ball team, but we're working on it!

We literally had to pull him out of this bouncy house.


I'm a little late on wishing a Happy Grandparent's Day and a little early on wishing Maggie a happy 6 month birthday, but I'm pretty close on both. Will and Maggie are blessed with four wonderful grandparents and 2 great grandparents!

Maggie is changing everyday-her first tooth just broke through (finally) and from the looks of her puffy gums, there may be more to come soon. I don't know where the last 6 months have gone, but then I don't remember ever NOT having 2 children either! Since Will is in preschool 2 days a week now, Maggie and I are looking forward to some good girl time together!

Will had his first full day of preschool today and he did great! I was worried about him taking a nap, but he did! I'm guessing he's going to crash pretty early tonight though because he's used to 2-3 hour naps and I think he slept for about an hour.

Labor Day Weekend

Will and Ethan after their first day of school this morning!



My new way of getting Will interested in the potty. George wears a diaper and sleeps in a baby bed (the bassinet) but Puppy wears Thomas undies and gets to do lots of big boy things like sit on the potty-Will's been taking him pretty often, I'm just hoping he'll decide to do it himself one of these times!



Maggie got her new big girl car seat this weekend. She was loving it!


She loved looking out the window-she sat in the middle in her carrier, but now she's got a window seat! By the way, she is still rear facing-I was sitting back there between the kids for her first ride to take pictures, so it looks like she's forward facing!

Will and Carter on the top bunk-we went to see Carter's new brother Vance and the boys had a blast together.


Will and Ruby, Stephanie's little girl. We got to see them for lunch on their shopping weekend-I didn't get any great shots because Will fell asleep soon after this picture-I think it's funny that Ruby is looking at me and Will is looking at Stephanie.


Still trying to get a good picture of Will holding Maggie. He's doing it more often now, but when he sees that camera come out...


We had a busy weekend, but it was so much fun. It was exciting for Eric and I because college football kicked off, but after Michigan forgot to show up and was upset by Appalachian State (who?), the season came to an ubrupt end for Eric.

I've been trying for the last couple of weeks to get Will back on a "school schedule" since he's been waking up around 9:30 all summer, so I've been moving his wake up time up every week with a goal time of 8:15. He's having a little trouble adjusting-when we met Stephanie and her family for lunch on Saturday he ended up falling asleep at the table.

We spent the holiday with my family at Scott's new house. Will loves swimming SO much and Maggie loved watching all the action. By the time she had napped and eaten and was ready to get her suit on to join the fun, the thunder rolled in and we had to call it a day.

We had a lot of growing up this week-Maggie got her new car seat, Will graduated to a new class at church, and he starts preschool this week.