We went up and down the hill with Mommy and Daddy (Abby in blue/yellow coat and Claire in pink coat)...
And even a couple times by ourselves!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
They always bring us such fun things, like this dancing musical Snoopy.
Sharon made the adorable jingle bell hats that the girls are having a blast with. She also made Ryan and I some amazing wool mittens. She's such a good seamstress!
Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa! We hope you come visit again soon!
The girls got to spend lots of time with Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich. They really loved playing at their house. That's Abby above pretending she's a monkey. They also came to visit us at CTV, where Claire found something that reminded her of Daddy...
And Abby had fun running under an easel!
The following weekend, we got together withSteph, Andy and Alex, as well as a couple of folks from Ryan's work, and went to 5 Guys Burgers and Chuck E. Cheese.
The girls mostly stuck to the cars that rock back and forth, particularly the one above with Chuck E. Cheese himself (next to Claire), the CLifford one below (Abby driving)...
And this school bus one (Cousin Alex at the wheel). The Chuck E. Cheese mascot came out eventually, too, and the girls were beside themselves with excitement. So cute!
Daddy also built us a fort in the sun room, which we've gotten to play in a lot on these warm November days. Cousin Alex came over to play, too, which Steph, Andy and Ryan did some painting on the Mays' renovated house. (They added a whole second story! Check out their blog at http://andystephhouse.blogspot.com/ if you want to see the changes - it's pretty amazing!)
Alex especially loved the fort and kept the girls entertained in there for a good hour. I loved having Alex over to entertain the girls for that long! I'm starting to seriously see the value (for me!) in having playdates.
We got to spend Thanksgiving with our other cousin, Lily! Isn's she cute in her pink dress and new bob haircut? All three girls are sick (Claire has a cold, Abby a cold and an ear infection, and Lily a cold with a bad cough), but that didn't stop them from running around and laughing hysterically, especially when second cousin Blake crawled around them in cirlces.
That's been the Life at the Lamberts this November, and off we go towards December and Christmas! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
What a perfect Halloween! It was Ryan and my first time taking the girls out trick or treating and we had a blast! Before we got to that part, though, we had lots of people to visit.
We had spent Friday night at Cousin Lily's house and had a great time playing with her. On Saturday, our first stop was to visit Great Aunts Pat and Joy. We weren't quite sure how we felt about wearing costumes yet, but we put them on to show them off (Claire above, Lily and Abby below).
Grandma Sharon made all three adorable Lamb costumes - amazing! They definitely needed to be shown off to more people, so we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Campbell's house next. There's Abby, Claire and Lily below posing for pics.
After all our photo shoots, Claire...
... and Abby had to rehydrate.
After a quick stop at my coworker Sarah Kurachek's house, where we also met up with our third coworker JV and her son Demetrius, dressed wonderfully as Mr. T, we headed home for some neighborhood trick or treating!
Claire (above) and Abby (below) got really excited about the whole thing. They loved wearing their costumes, carrying their Winnie-the-Pooh buckets, going up to neighbors' houses, seeing everyone else out in cute costumes...
After we got that out of our system, we stayed up a bit longer playing with toys (Claire)...
Reading (Abby)...
And helping Daddy hand out candy.
While I'm sure most people did not enjoy it, the girls had a blast playing in the snow yesterday! They weren't quite sure what this crazy white stuff covering their little car was, but eventually got the jist of it and were running around squealing and saying, "Snow!"
I've also discovered that Claire is NOT a morning person. Lately, when she wakes up, she has to gather up everything in her crib before she'll let me take her out of it. This is how we ended up with Elmo, gorilla, puppy, and two blankets in our high chair the other morning.
We've also been having fun on little trips. A few weekends ago, we took a trip to Emma Krumbee's (about an hour away), where we looked at scarecrows, walked a rope maze, jumped in hay, rode tricycles, took a hay ride, and went down the big green slide. Here's Abby and I post-slide. Lots of fun!
Ryan and I also took a trip without the girls to Mt Horeb, WI, Troll Capital of the World! It was the weekend of their annual fall festival, so there were food and craft vendors all over. We also got to check out their famous mustard museum. Who knew mustard was so darn exciting?
It's been a blast running around and getting all our energy out before winter hibernation set in. Wake me when it stops snowing!!
And this past weekend was my personal favorite September event: Scrapbooking in Wabeno! I joined my friend Amanda, her mom Lynn, her sister Teri, and about 14 other wonderful women for a girls weekend away. We stayed at The Crystal Bell Inn & Spa in Wabeno and had a marvelous time relaxing, pampering, and of course, scrapbooking. I mean, seriously, 
It was awesome and a great break from taking care of the girls (poor Ryan had them all weekend, but don't worry - he survived). I even made a scrapbook of the girls' first year, which I'm glad to finally have. Only 361 more days until Wabeno 2010 - I can't wait!
...and with Grandpa, watching Ryan and Greg set off fireworks for us. It was a great time, and hopefully the first of many annual family trips to the cabin together!
The girls and I then headed to the Woyaks for a sleepover playdate. There wasn't much playing for the little ones when we got there because they all went to bed, but the growups got to play! The girls got some play time in the next morning and then we all headed to Uncle Greg's new apartment in the afternoon to celebrate the Campbell women birthdays: Mama's is the 14th, Jill's was that day (the 16th) and mine is the 23rd.
Abby really liked the video game area of Greg's new apartment - she's just like her daddy that way! - and all the girls loved going swimming in the outdoor pool. Sadly, there was one casualty as Greg accidentally left his phone in his pocket when he jumped in the pool, but we managed to get past that and still have a wild and crazy time! 
And of course, it's not a birthday without presents! There were tons of good ones opened that day: gift certificates for me (exactly what I wanted), a Wii fit for Jillo, and pictures of the granddaughters for Mama. Hooray for birthdays!
We also got a couple of visits from Grandma and Grandpa Lambert this summer. They came first at the end of June (above) - over their wedding anniversay no less! - and then again in August. It's always so fun when they come visit (lots of Settlers of Catan after the girls are in bed) and I love when the girls get to spend time with them. Of course, it just isn't a visit from Grandma and Grandpa without a trip to a chinese buffet - yum! Claire and Abby especially loved the jello. 
One of the main reasons for Grandma and Grandpa's August visit was the girls' baptism, which took place on August 23rd (my birthday!). Yes, most people don't wait until their children at 18 months old to have them baptized, but what's the fun in doing things the normal way??
First Lutheran Church in Columbia Heights is a church my extended family has gone to for a long time, and since Ryan and I don't yet have our own home church, we went there for the Baptism. It was a very nice service and the church was so nice to us. The men of the church carved these very nice chests for Claire and Abby to each have to put in momentos of their faith journey, and the women made cozy blankets for each girl. Here Jill and I are with Lily, Claire and Abby in front of a door in the church that bears our Grandma and Grandpa Stinson's names.
After the Baptism, Aunt Pat hosted a lovely little party so the family could get together and celebrate. We don't get all sides of our family together too often, so it was nice for everyone to be able to see each other and catch up. It was really a very nice day!
By now, you're probably thinking, "Wow! How could you possibly squeeze any more excitement into your summer?" Well, it's just not summer without a trip to the MN State Fair! This year was extra exciting because our friend Val and her adorable daughter, Kendall (above), came all the way from Maryland to join us! Her husband (and our good friend) Jon couldn't join them on the trip because he's too busy learning to be a doctor. Whatever, Jon!
Sean, Kari and Zach Shipman were there (above, on left) and so were Bob, Michelle and Jenny Dettmer. That's Jenny below, trying to look like she doesn't know the crazy woman next to her. Ha ha! Just kidding, Val! Val tried her first ever corn dog at the fair, which would make anyone giddy with excitment.
We tried out the Reptile House, Dinosaur World, and the Butterfly House. Okay, well, I actually didn't go into any of those places, but the people who did thought they were pretty cool! 
... playing in the bathroom sink...
...and talking about Daddy! Seriously, he's our new favorite topic. The girls love him so much! And who can blame them? Here's Claire expressing her undying devotion to a picture of Daddy.
