Em is 11 months AND Is walking!

Miss Emily Grace turned 11 months on Saturday and on Sunday started to walk! My little chunka munka will take about 5 steps then fall down. Where has this year gone? I know you read that every single month but seriously, Emily's first year is flying by. I already ordered her invitations for her first birthday and they are sitting on my desk at home waiting to be addressed. What a terrible time of year to have a first birthday but no matter whether her birthday is spent with just us and her brother and sister, family or friends, she'll have a memorable one!

Oh the joy this month is going to bring---she's already tearing things apart (literally), pulling stuff out of my cabinets, climbing the stairs, and touching things she shouldn't.

Christmas Tree '09

Putting up the Christmas Tree on Thanksgiving Day has been a tradition in my family for years. I remember when I was a little girl helping my father take out our artificial tree and decorating it with my sisters while my mother and grandmother made Thanksgiving Dinner. I even remember the train that my father only took out at holiday time.

This year, Thanksgiving morning, Dylan reminded me that it was the day that the Christmas Tree also was supposed to come out. I told him that we had to decorate it this year together and put all of the special ornaments up high so Emily didn't break anything. Brynn and Dylan immediately went to work decorating the tree and it looks beautiful. Suprisingly, Emily has not gone near the tree, nor has any interest in it. My favorite part of decorating the tree is looking at all of the ornaments and remembering their significance. Dylan and Brynn did a great job and again we have a beautiful tree in our living room.

Holiday Parade

Another chilly Jeffersonville Holiday Parade! The kids look forward to heading to Jeff every year to watch the fire trucks, floats, hang with their friends AND getting the candy (which I promptly take from the kids to "hold" then put away for much later). This year was interesting having Emily with us--she was mesmerized by the lights and sirens.

Thanksgiving program

I cannot express how proud I was of Dylan during his Thanksgiving Program. He was one of the only kids in his entire class that did ALL of the sign language and sang the entire song in front of the large crowd that attended this year's Thanksgiving Program. He knew how happy I was because at the end of the song he gave me the "thumbs up"....Here's a pic of my big boy!

Turkey Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, spent with our family. Dinner is always fun and Dylan really enjoyed playing "I Spy" with his aunts and uncles (and winning!!)

Manhattan '09

I was thinking of something special to do with Miss Brynn so we could have a special day together. She's getting bigger now and I thought I might just take a chance and buy tickets for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular but take JUST her!!! This is a big step for both me and Brynnie...My tiny middle child has quite the set of lungs and I was afraid that her sweet disposition would emerge during the show but figured if it happened, I lose the money on the tickets and just have to leave the theater. Since Stephen's away, I made arrangements for the other kids and Brynn and I, along with Aunt Nancy and Jessica took the train to NYC for the day and had a FANTASTIC girls day. Brynn did very well, considering she had to walk throughout Manhattan.

Brynn got to take a bus, a train, a taxi, walk down the busy streets of NYC, got to eat lunch at Planet Hollywood, check out the M & M store, see a wonderful show at Radio City (which she LOVED AND SAT THROUGH), then for the BEST part of the day (in my opinion)---got to pick out an American Girl Doll!!!!!

The child was exhausted and had a complete meltdown after picking out her Bitty Twins (who she fondly named Emily and Dylan)...She WOVES Manhattan and wants to go back soon with her "DD" (Dylan)

Roller skating

Sunday we attended one of the kids friend's birthday party at a roller rink. I have not been to a roller rink in AGES (seriously I think it was high school the last time I was skating). Dylan and Brynn, however, had a roller skating party in October that Aunt Shell took them too. Dylan acted like a pro and put his skates on and went right out on the rink. Brynn also got her skates on and held on tightly to mommy as she attempted to skate on the hardwood. They both did terrific jobs and i was quite impressed that there was no screaming or tears when they fell down All of the kids there tried their best to skate and in a matter of no time, the kids got brave enough to try skating without holding a parent's hand. It was a fun afternoon

Chuck E Cheese

We took the kids to Chuck E Cheese Friday night so they could spend some much needed quality time with us. Stephen left for Canada yesterday morning and it has been a tradition to take the kids some place special right before daddy leaves. Chuck E Cheese is a pretty long ride for dinner with 3 kids but since I had to do some shopping, it worked out perfectly. I haven't been there in months and was surprised to see the changes they made. Everything is computerized now and there are different games to play. My Brynnie is a pretty lucky chick because she was winning LOTS of tickets from the machines. Of course she shared them with her big brother...her favorite is a horse they have to ride. Dylan found a dinosaur machine and was in heaven. Emme was content watching the lights and hearing all of the noise. For a Friday night it wasn't insanely busy which made for a nice evening...

Hunting camp...

Yesterday was Dylan's last soccer game for the season. We had to drive past hunting camp so Stephen spent the morning there and I picked him up so we could ride to Heindle Field together. When the game was over I had some errands to do. Dylan said he was going back to hunting camp with daddy "AND girls are NOT allowed there". That works for me! The girls and I went grocery shopping. The guys were having target practice getting ready for the upcoming hunting season and daddy's trip to Canada. Dylan looked hysterical wearing the headgear that I had to take a pic.

Halloween '09

The weather put a real damper on trick or treating Saturday night. As usual, we stopped at a couple of relatives houses so the kids could show off their costumes but Emily was so cranky and it was pouring rain, we just decided to let Dylan and Brynn do some trick or treating around our neighborhood and call it a night. I think the kids enjoyed handing out candy to the trick or treaters as they arrived at our house more than walking around in the rain getting candy on their own.

i'm already contemplating costumes for next year (I know I'm crazy)

Happy 10 month Em

There's one word to sum Miss Emily up--HAPPY--she has to be the happiest baby ever! Thankfully she's my last because if Dylan and Brynn were as happy as she is I would probably have a house full-Sweet Emme is 10 months today and I don't know where the time has gone. She is a little love and I cannot wait to see what the next month brings with her

Jack o laterns

We finally had time to cut up those pumpkins last night. Stephen and I were agonizing over this because now we have 3 children which means 3 pumpkins, tons of pumpkin guts and fighting over who was gonna go first...well my children surprised me--there was no arguing or fighting at all! Dylan refused to clean any guts out of his pumpkin (not surprising). Brynn got right in and ripped all of the goo out of her pumpkin. She LOVED every minute of it. Em was as happy as could be watching us and checking out her finished product--Stephen said her pumpkin's face looked just like Emme.

It was tons of fun!

The Poster Child for baby proofing

One of the last warm nights

Last week I think we saw the last of the warm Fall nights so the kids and I played and played. I was able to get a pic of all 3 kids on the swings. It's incredibly difficult trying to get 3 kids to look at you at the same time--They were too busy giggling at eachother

Pumpkins!

I really intended on going pumpkin picking at a pumpkin patch where there's activities to do, a hay ride, apple cider, the works but unfortunately time did not allow that to happen this year. I thought I would make a quick trip to the local pumpkin "patch" but I found out from friends that the pumpkins there were all pretty rotten so the best advice was to skip it.

There's a cute little country store/market down the road from the office that had some nice looking pumpkins outside. That's where I took the kids last year when I was way too pregnant to even think about humping my hiney around a pumpkin field. The kids were very excited that they got to pick 3 pumpkins. There was a wagon that Dylan got to pull and Brynn just wanted a "round one".

We all agreed on a tall skinny pumpkin for Miss Emily.

It was a quick, painless,fun experience for all of us and Sunday night the creative carving begins! (that's a DADDY project that I supervise)

Emily's 9 month well visit

This morning was a busy morning (typical). Emily had her 9 month well visit (little late since she'll be 10 months in a couple of days). She's 22 pounds, 28 3/4 inches "tall" and her head circumference is 17 3/4". She's a big girl and only weighs 5 pounds less than her big sister!

She's growing right on schedule and the pediatrician said his money is also on Emily being an early walker...oh brother!

Christopher Columbus

Boy oh boy I LOVE themed holidays! Today the school had a "dress up like Christopher Columbus" day! The dorky mom I am immediately went on-line and found a Chris Columbus hat, blow up globe and telescope. I found a red scarf in my closet and had him put on a polo shirt and khakis. He looked soooo cute this morning. On the way to school we did a quick crash-course lesson on Columbus (I was quite proud that I remembered so much about Columbus). Dylan went to school this morning dressed like Columbus and was going to tell the kids about the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria (and brought a pirate ship to show what the boats probably looked like). He was telling a little boy when I walked out of the room that "people then thought the world was flat and Chris Columbus (he called him), said no, no, no, the world is round....do you know Chris Columbus found America!" He's so smart that boy of mine!

Coloring

School is back in session which means Dylan gets "mommy homework". It's important to me to also educate Dylan at home. Homework last year used to be so much fun and Dylan couldn't wait to do it...this year it's a little more challenging. He's older and doesn't want to be bothered writing the alphabet after he's done it all of last year and again this year. We actually started READING!!! I'm beyond thrilled. Brynn is also into doing homework now which for her means sitting next to Dylan at the island in the kitchen and coloring whatever print out I bring home that day. Here's a rare picture of the two of them enjoying each other's company coloring---Dylan is instructing her in this pic "you must stay in the lines when you color!".

Pumpkin Party '09

The weather reports for this past Saturday were not the greatest. The forecast called for rain the entire day. What a bummer since the Pumpkin Party is the highlight of October. It marks the beginning of the month AND the start of the Halloween festivities for the entire month! When I woke up Saturday am, it looked a little dark out and I said to the kids let's go and see if it rains. Well it didn't rain, in fact it was incredibly humid and warm out. Dylan chose to be a knight this year (and I was thrilled when he didn't want to be a conductor), Brynn and Em were Little Bo Peep and her sheep. I met Nana Bridgette at the Library and we all had a fantastic yet exhausting day! I have to give props to the Daniel Pierce Library volunteers---they always make it a fun event!