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