Thanksgiving fun and the Elves have arrived!!!!

Last week we took our yearly family photos ... the kids were so cooperative (unlike their dad who I had to bribe to go). Then we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house and my parents and Chris and Cindy joined us. The kids all like the dinner and the next day we went to Homestead to see all the Christmas decorations. We also began decorating our house and putting up the tree.

Speaking of Christmas .... Gramma & Grampa told Santa the kids would love to take care of some of his elves .... so 3 of Santa's elves arrived at our house special delivery from the North Pole!!

Hailey's elf is Cinnamon (named after her favorite beach on St John), Josh's is Jingles and Kyle's elf is McKinley (the only elf who kept his name from Santa).

The elves sleep all day and get into mischief at night while we all sleep. We have awoken to find the elves playing Candyland, having drank a whole can of soda and eaten candy. They also found their way up onto our kitchen island where they helped themselves to Thanksgiving leftovers!

One night Kyle's elf was found in the manger holding baby Jesus! All in all the kids think it is hysterical and are having so much fun with them.

We hope everyone enjoys the wonderful holiday season .... Happy December!!!

It has been a few weeks and a lot has been going on .... Kyle is officially walking, he now uses a sippy cup (no more bottles - they are out of our house for good!), and he is cutting/has cut all 4 molars and some of his eye teeth.

Joshua is thriving in preschool and learning so much. He wants to go to school every day like his sister and his teacher says he is ready so after the holidays he will be going every day from 8am-1pm. He thinks everything is silly and funny these days .... he has also gone back to tumbling and is having a lot of fun. Since he has been going to the mall with me to shop for xmas he has seen Santa now 4x and everytime he is sure to tell him how good he has been and that he really wants the batman castle :) He has also become my little helper - he helped me today make the turkey cupcakes for his class feast tomorrow.

Hailey had a fantastic first marking period in kindergarten and is reading on her own - she is doing very well. She has started gymnastics and loves it. She walks around practicing her 'bridge' (backbend) and trying to do a handstand. She is also excited for xmas and her new baby cousins. Hailey has also joined Daisies (which is the group before Brownies in Girl Scouts) and is enjoying it so far - she keeps asking when will she sell the cookies?!

Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Halloween and some....

It has been a busy last few weeks ... Kyle had his 1 year checkup and weighed in at 24 .6 lbs (90th%) and 31 3/4 in (95th%) - he is following his big brother almost exactly!

On 10.28 Scott and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary!! He sent me 2 dozen absolutely gorgeous roses (Hailey later told me she told her dad to send me flowers :-)

On 10/30 Hailey lost her 1st tooth at her school's fall harvest, I was lucky enough to be volunteering so I was there for the 'big' moment! The tooth fairy came that night leaving her $5 and a pack of stickers. She was soo excited and just told us today that the next tooth over is loose now. Scott told her he thinks the tooth fairy always leaves more money for the 1st tooth - he got himself into this!

That same afternoon Kyle took his first real steps to one of Scott's co-workers while we were visiting Scott at his office. He took 3 good ones, paused and caught his balance and took 2 more. He took a few more on and off to the coworker but still isn't sure about it.

Josh had a western day at school on Fri - he was a cowboy (he wanted to be an Indian with a boy and arrow since he has become obsessed with guns and bows and arrows). Hailey had a parade/Halloween party that we all went to Fri afternoon. She also got her 1st report card and scored Mastery in most of the areas, we were very proud of her.

Halloween night was a beautiful fall night and the kids had so much fun - even Kyle hung with the big kids for the whole time! He even left his lion mane on the whole time. Josh was so happy with all his candy (he LOVES candy).

Today (11.1) was over 75` so we took the kids for a boat ride ... we had lunch and the kids had fun fishing as well.

Enjoy the extra hour of sleep tonight!

Kyle John is ONE!!!

We have been very busy the last week or so.... on Saturday we had Kyle's 1st bday party with lots of family and fun. He had so much fun eating the cake ... he actually put his face into it to eat it! He was covered by the end. Kyle got lots of nice gifts and officially turned 1 on Tuesday 10.14. He celebrated by having some pizza and gelati at The Italian Market in Annapolis.

Hailey had her 1st kindergarten field trip on Monday ... I chaperoned and we went to a pumpkin patch/farm where there were lots of activities. Her favorite was a corn maze.

Joshua had his 1st K3 field trip on Tuesday ... Scott chaperoned and they had a great time at the pumpkin patch. He had a lot of fun on the hayride.

Last week I took Kyle for his 1 year photos and also got some of him in his costume - he actually 'growled' at the photographer when she asked him too ;-)

Enjoy!!

Busy Busy Weekend!

Last Thursday night we headed to NJ for a fun and long weekend. Hailey brought home the class bear "Benny" to spend the weekend with us ... Benny went EVERYWHERE we did! On Friday, my mom and sister and I took Hailey and Josh to NYC .... we went to Mars 2112 for dinner (took a space ship there and met aliens) and then to see The Little Mermaid on broadway. The kids had a blast and the play was amazing! (Hailey told us we had to take a cab ride for Benny - we drew the line here and just did the subway ... we were so worried about losing that darn bear! :-)

Saturday was my dad's bday so we all went out to dinner, my parents, Kari and Jon, Chris and his girlfriend Cindy, and all 5 of us, oh make that 6 bc Benny the Bear came too :-)


Sunday we had Kari's baby shower - it was fun and she got a ton of nice stuff for little baby Cooke. You guessed it Benny celebrated at the shower too!!

Yesterday I ran out of formula for Kyle and rather than wait the 2 more weeks until he is 1 I just gave him whole milk. He had no allergic reactions and devoured the whole bottle immediately (like his older sis and brother did) ... so we are officially off formula!! Yeah.... now I can't wait for 15 months so I can get rid of the bottles :)

Happy October!!!!
Hope you all have a good rest of the week and weekend!

BIG NEWS .......

This morning at breakfast Hailey was complaining of her mouth hurting well it turns out she has her FIRST LOOSE TOOTH!!! Ok, well to us this is no big deal but this child has been waiting for this for so long! She was all smiles and just couldn't wait to call gramma and grampa and tell them!

Of course Josh decided that his bottom tooth is also loose - so he is now telling everyone (obviously it isn't).

Poor Kyle who is miserable without his Tylenol because he is cutting his 2 bottom molars just looked at Hailey and Josh today like "what is going on, why are you happy? teething hurts!"

Have a good day!

Some changes....

About 2 weeks ago now I took Kyle off his Prevacid completely .... he hasn't been spitting up or having any of the old symptoms so I think his reflux is finally gone!! Yeah!! He has also decided he no longer wants baby food (by grabbing it and pushing it away) so he is now eating our food. He loves pancakes, cheese quesadillas, meatballs, chicken nuggets and even just had his first meal from McD's!We also moved his carseat forward facing - he was sooo happy in it today for the first time!

Joshua is loving school and asked me this past week if he could go everyday, his teacher asked if he could come each day as well. She really enjoys having him and said he is doing awesome (still not sure if she is talking about MY Joshua :-) We are thinking about it but maybe not until after the holidays. Josh is starting to wrestle around with Kyle (who holds his own very well) and is also keeping us busy with his sense of humor.

Hailey has been helping with Kyle bc she can now pick him up and move him. She has also been playing 'school' with Josh. It is funny to hear her bc I know she is repeating things her teacher has said. The other morning we were in the office and Hailey said "mom, a fish died" and I looked at the tank quickly and said "no it didn't" bc nothing was floating. She said 'yes it did" and I said 'no hails' and tried to get them out. She said ' well then why is the one fish upside down at the bottom and not moving?? he is DEAD!" I looked again and yup she was right, so I saw Josh's face and said "Oh he is sleeping" and headed them toward the kitchen. Later Hailey asked "what did you do with the dead fish?" I was afraid where this was going so I said "well Hails I had to flush him" she responded with "oh, well you couldn't just leave a dead fish in there" and off she went!

Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather!

New Steps......

Kyle is now taking steps while holding onto things, he will walk along the couch or move from chair to chair. We got him a new pair of shoes and he LOVES them! He has also become very quick in getting himself up our stairs .... if he sees me and hears me say "No!" He smiles and moves even quicker! He also began his first tumbling class this week and had so much fun! He cried when we had to leave but fell asleep within a minute of getting into his carseat! I had to take him to the drs last week bc I thought he had an ear infection - turns out it was just his bottom molars starting to come in, but he did get weighed and the MOOSE weighed a whopping 23lbs, 11 oz! He isn't 11 months old yet!!

Josh continues to like school - even ran into his teacher and her children while getting his haircut last weekend. He thought it was funny to see his teacher not in school.

Hailey is enjoying school as well and now likes to carry her baby brother around bc she can!

Enjoy the upcoming weekend!

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend we stayed at our friends' beachhouse in Fenwick Island (thanks Rich & Renee!) - we had great weather and lots of fun! We did some shopping at the outlets, ate some yummy food and went swimming. We also played some miniature golf where Hailey, Scott and I all got a hole in one. Josh seemed to think the rules of the game were to hit the ball with the club, then run after the ball, pick it up with his hand and put it in the hole. Oh well... he also kept himself and everyone around us amused by being the goofball he is! The kids had fun walking on the boardwalk and beach at night with their glowsticks and they also had fun riding the boardwalk rides. They did not like the funhouse as they called it "The NOT FUN funhouse" when they came out in tears!! The did get a good laugh though when the disgusting seagull pooped on my arm! Better me than the kids!

Hope everyone had a fun and beautiful weekend!

First Day of School ....

Hailey started Kindergarten on Aug 20th at our local public school. It is directly across the street from the Chesapeake Bay! She was so excited to start school - her face was all smiles especially when she saw the bus! One of her good friends from her PreK is at her bus stop and rides the bus and another friend from her old school is in her class.

Joshua also started preschool this year. He goes to the private school where Hailey went last year. He is in uniform and to my surprise had a fabulous first day! No tears and a glowing report from his teacher that he shared, was kind and listened very well (I did ask her if this was Joshua Mattison she was talking about!) He did have some tears day 2 and 3 but after Scott left the teacher emailed us letting us know he stopped and was happily playing ... phew!

Kyle was very lonely last Monday with both his big sister and big brother gone. In the 2 seconds I left him alone playing in the family room he decided he would 'look' for them. He climbed all the stairs up to Josh's room - which is where I found him!! I couldn't believe it! I not only could believe he got up all the steps without falling but also that he didn't go down the front steps (we have a split staircase)! Needless to say the gates we never used for children #1 and #2 are up!!!

Trying something new....

Well after seeing some blogs online I decided why not try one out. Especially for those family and friends who don't live near us. I am going to try and update this once a week and you can check it out whenever you feel like it (or not!)