Tuesday, December 16, 2008

34 weeks pregnant


Dylan is getting pretty good at taking pictures for his mom. Here's a belly shot of me at 34 weeks.

Reindeer cookies




I'm not a very creative/artistic person but I saw these reindeer cookies in Family Fun magazine on Saturday and wanted to attempt to make them for Dylan's Christmas parties this week. I cannot tell you how easy they were to put together. I was able to make 24 of them in 15 minutes! They are adorable...check out the pic. Dylan couldn't wait to show them to all of his friends this morning.




Oh Christmas tree!!!


I let Dylan and Brynnie have a field day and decorate the Christmas Tree. You can tell if you look at the bottom of the tree Brynnie did that. It does look beautiful at night all lit up though.

Monday, December 15, 2008

The Polar Express


Reading this book is quickly becoming a holiday family tradition in our house. The story and illustrations are fantastic and both kids will sit down to hear the entire story. I love watching Dylan's face light up when he gets to the end and says "Santa gave him the bell back mommy!". I want him to believe in the magic of Christmas for years to come. If you don't have this book, or movie, it's a must have this holiday season!!!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Spike the Dinosaur




Okay I'm going to admit this (but don't tell my husband)...I love to shop! Not only do I love to shop, I really enjoy Christmastime, more now than I ever have. Dylan really understands "christmas" this year. Not just the part about getting toys, he believes in Santa, we try to teach him how important it is to give to the needy and he understands that Christmas is the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus. I have to give his preschool and Sunday School teacher tons of credit for teaching Dylan the religious aspects of this holiday.




We sat down weeks ago and wrote our official letters to Santa where Dyl asked for a couple Thomas the Trains (of course), The Night at the Museum DVD (which he already has), a dollhouse for his Brynnie and Spike the Dinosaur. I honestly was not going to buy him such an expensive toy but Dylan has mentioned this toy daily to me. Black Friday Stephen woke me up early and I headed to Wal-Mart to finish (yes finish) my holiday shopping. I walked around the store and found Spike. Thankfully I purchased it because I know how much Dylan really wants this from Santa. He has seen a couple of "Santa's helpers" here and there at holiday parties and has mentioned to each one that he really wants Spike. It is a pretty cool toy and I think Stephen is going to enjoy playing with this more than Dylan is. You got to love watching kids this time of the year...



Cheese and Crackers

Here's a cute clip of the kids. There new favorite saying when I take pictures of them is "cheese and crackers"...Brynn is too funny when she rocks her head back and forth and says "cheeeesse and cwackers"

Monday, December 1, 2008

Matching pjs


My husband doesn't like when I dress our kids alike but I couldn't resist these matching pjs!

Christmas dresses


As long as I can remember I always said when I had a little girl of my own, I would always put her in dresses. Anyone who knows me, knows how I love to shop and my new weakness is girls outfits. I have to buy everything that matches, tights, hair clips, you name it! Now that Brynn is older, it is so much more fun shopping for girly things. Luckily she doesn't mind wearing dresses (although we do fight over her putting tights or stockings on in the mornings). This past weekend I went to the mall and went to Gymboree where they had the cutest winter outfits. I found last month though in Sears this Christmas dress that I fell in love with. It is red corduroy material and has holiday embroidered decorations all over the bottom. Brynn will probably be able to wear this dress again next year since I bought it a little big. Look how cute she looks (well minus the hair...this pic was taken right after her nap)!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Dress up


Brynn has finally taken to wearing a princess dress that I bought last year from the Children's Place clearance rack after Halloween. She can wear this dress all day, every day, in fact, she wore it almost all day Thankgiving Day until I made her change to go to her grandfather's house for dinner. I managed to get a picture of her and Dylan sitting nicely together---too bad I already had our Christmas cards already made because I would have definitley used this one.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Letter to Santa...


You decide....naughty or nice?

32 weeks...




The countdown has begun for the new baby...Dylan took this pic of me over the weekend. I'm feeling very large. I'm also posting a 4D pic of the little one that I had done last Monday at the high risk ob. I can definitely see Brynnie's nose and upper lip but the rest of the face looks so much like Dylan. If we could only decide on a name now...

Baby #3















The room is finally ready! While Stephen was away we were busy getting the house ready for Poley Baby #3. Dylan and Brynn had the same nursery decor since I was too cheap to go out and buy different bedding when Brynn arrived. This time the baby is going in a completely different bedroom and I decided to go with a hot air balloon "theme". It's very cute, neutral and something that no other child is probably going to have.

Manhattan





































I purchased Radio City Christmas show tickets months ago when I got a fantastic deal to buy one and get one free! I wasn't feeling so great last week but after seeing my doctor and thinking long and hard about walking around Manhattan, I thought I would be okay to make a day trip as long as I didn't walk a ton or stress myself out. I absolutely LOVE the city and could spend days just walking around looking at the buildings and now, the decorated store fronts. Dylan shares my love of NYC and couldn't wait to see the Rockettes again this year. Instead of driving down to the show and spending a fortune to park, we caught the train in Middletown and enjoyed the ride. My nephew Ryan and sister Michelle came with us. Again Dylan was all smiles the entire day and passed out on the train ride home. It was so much fun. I'm looking forward to taking Brynn next year.








Make your own Thomas the Tank







After we left Let's Paint, I surprised Dylan. AC Moore had an AD in the Sunday paper that they had a child's project PAINT YOUR OWN THOMAS!!! Now what little boy is more in love with Thomas the Train than my little boy? I didn't mention to him where we were going until we got there because I was afraid that I mis-read something or the local AC Moore didn't offer the children's craft project. I was wrong. When we got there, there was a table set up with little wooden trains for the kids to paint. I thought Dylan was going to explode with excitement.

Let's Paint
















Stephen was in Canada for 11 days and I knew I had to get a game plan together to keep myself busy and keep my children entertained while he was gone. It's not very often that I get to do one on one things with the kids. My goddaughter visited two weeks ago and I promised her we would have a special day together. Last winter a group of friends got together and went to Let's Paint, a pottery place to make Christmas ornaments. Dylan has been asking to get back there and I thought it would be a great opportunity to work on some ornaments and Dylan and Jess could make something special. They enjoyed painting their pottery pieces and our finished products should be ready in a day or two!










Friday, November 14, 2008

Yo Gabba Gabba


Okay I have to say that this is one of the wierdest shows on Noggin. I don't get it but the kids absolutely love it. Brynn does the dance that one of the characters do and Dylan sings all of the songs. I guess that it's really no different than Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, one of the shows I watched as a kid but it's quite bizzare...


Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Christmas pictures














































I was less than pleased with Sears yesterday. Since the baby will be arriving soon and complete bedrest is right around the corner, I wanted to be sure that the kids got their Christmas pics done as soon as possible. Dylan did not have school yesterday so I thought it would be a great opportunity to head to Sears Portrait Studio & get some holiday shopping done also. What a nightmare our trip was. The studio triple booked appointments and we had to wait 2 hours before the kids even went in for pictures. My little princess was not happy so I only was able to get one good pic of the kids together for Christmas and one picture of Brynn by herself. Some pics were okay but not what I was looking for. I'll be working on taking my own Christmas card pic this year I guess...

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Halloween '08





















Oh Halloween! Unfortunately Stephen and I were very sick with the stomach virus Halloween Day. I was not feeling well but determined to take the kids to atleast a couple houses to go trick or treating. We got to 4 or 5 places during the afternoon. Brynn carried her little sack around pushing it at everyone as if she was saying "Fill 'er up". Dylan had the whole "trick or treat, smell my feet" song down pat. Thankfully my mom is up here visiting and my sister offered to take Dylan with them to Trunk or Treat and to the local firehouse for their Halloween Party. Brynnie had a horrible cold so she stayed home with us and gave out candy. She really liked seeing all of the kids come to the door trick or treating and handing out candy. I think she enjoyed wearing her flower costume the most though because she would have worn it to sleep that night if I would have let her.

Carving up the pumpkins





















My job is to take the kids to pick out their perfect pumpkin but it's daddy's job to carve the pumpkins with the kids. Stephen doesn't say much but I think he really enjoys doing this with the kids. Dylan is at such a great age because he drew his own face (even though it was so tiny you couldn't really cute the shapes out), he described exactly what he wanted and Stephen cut it out for him. I was excited because Dylan had sensory issues in the past and actually put his hands into the pumpkin to clean out all of the guts. Something little like that made my day. Brynn watched as daddy designed her happy pumpkin and Dylan's scary pumpkin. We really love making our Jack o Lanterns!!!