I couldn't help it

 

It's almost like I have no choice now but to love my family.

even superheroes have heroes

We were at the doctor's office this morning. Cause, you know, I wanted to add one more thing to my plate today. Packing, cleaning, carrying around a screaming, sick child wasn't enough.

I'll stop whining now.

The twins had their flu sniffs and were rewarded with the ever-popular stickers. 

Ethan threw his sticker on his shirt and later asked me, "Do you know why I put it right there?"

"Nope."

"Because Captain America is thinking about Superman."

 

No words, buddy. No words.

on the topic of "Kids"...

Kate talks just like me.

Sometimes to my dismay, but usually as my entertainment.

She told Ethan today to, "Look alive, buddy."

She sometimes asks me, "Will you hook me up with___". Today it was a pb&j.

The thing that makes it mini-Lauren is that she thinks it's totally hilarious. Sometimes she'll pull it off without cracking a smile, but usually she can't hold it in. She'll say it again and laugh. 

Others may look at that and think, "she's 4. She'll grow out of laughing at her own jokes." 

But I look at her and think, "Yep, that's my daughter." 

Cause growing out of laughing at your own jokes is so over-rated.

As much as Kate likes to follow. every. single. rule. to. the. t...

she's also very interested in the world of humor. She's got a quirky little sense of it that I just get.

And can't help but love.

No, I did not take these fantastic photos. We had them taken a couple of weeks ago. I'm so in love with them. I would post my faves, but there would be too many of them, so I'm sure they'll pop up here and there. This is your warning.

kids

Sometimes I have myself convinced that my kids are the smartest kids on the planet. 

Other times, they resoundingly prove me wrong.

The other day, we were talking in the car about their full names. I asked if they knew what Drew's full name is.

Kate: Drew Bug Packer

Nice. 

Ethan did try to redeem themselves by adding,
"Wait! I think it's ANdrew Bug Packer."

So very close. Sorry, Uncle Thomas. You've been replaced by a bug.

Speaking of the bug, here's a terrible video of 2 things that I find to be of utmost adorableness these days.

One is how he says what a frog says. He's been doing it forever and I had to catch it before it changes. The other is his temperature dramatizations. He is very interested in temperature of things and tells me whether anything (the air, food, ground, slide, etc.) is hot or cold. With these hand motions. 

Without further adieu:

the holiday that never ends

 I'm just going to set the record straight. I don't hate Halloween. I'm just not its biggest fan. There's lots of things I don't like about it (lame costumes, adults who trick-or-treat not even wearing costumes, gross candy, candy in general, kids eating endless amounts of candy, the fact that it goes on and on and on, just to name a few). There is a very short period, however, where Halloween is cute tolerable. And while my kids are in that period, I'll even document it. So there. Ebeneezer, who?

Ward Trunk-or-Treat

 Even ballet was taken over

 T-o-t warm-ups

 Looks like there's a new pose in town. Let's hope it's shorter lived than the last one.

 And they're off...

Then someone saw an inflated lawn spider that moves and he was done. I took him home to pass out candy and Greg and the twins were off on their candy seeking adventure.

...

I just got this picture texted to me. Apparently, sometimes you need to take a pit stop. t-o-t-ing can be very exhausting work.

Well, it's over and now we get to move on to Thanksgiving. Now there's a holiday I can get behind.