Two More Christmases

We celebrated Christmas day with just our family.  It actually ended up being a white Christmas, as we got a dusting of snow Christmas afternoon. 

I wanted to get a picture of the kids in front of the tree in their Christmas pj's, but niether of them had any interest in coorporating.

 

Stocking time...

 

Caden and Annabelle both got an ornament.  Caden hung both of them.

 

Here's Annabelle opening her present from Mommy and Daddy...a pink school bus.  Caden was pretty excited for her.

 

One of the things that Caden asked for was a Cement Mixer Truck.  Here he is opning it with his little helper.

 

He loves playing with his "Mixer Truck"!

 

Today, we had our last Christmas celebration at Mimi & Tia's house.  Annabelle and Daddy opening a present.

 

Caden and Mimi opening Wesley's present. 

 

Caden was pretty excited when he opened up his Cars sleeping bag. 



Juillerat Christmas

We headed to Tyler last Thursday for a four day weekend with my family.  The kids had so much fun playing with Nana, Papa and their cousins.

I attempted to get another picture in their shirts.

 

 

We had all the kids get in front of the tree for a picture before we opened presents, but we couldn't get them to all look at the camera at the same time.  I think this pic is so cute with the way that sweet Jack and Annabelle are looking at each other.

 

Here's Daddy helping Annabelle open one of her presents.

Papa and Jack are helping Annabelle open her present from Nana and Papa.

 

Here's Caden opening his trucks from Nana and Papa. 

 

Caden thanking Papa for his trucks.  He is such a sweet little guy.  Two days later out of the blue, he turned to Nana and said, "Nana, thank you for my trucks."

 

Caden had so much fun playing with his cousins.

 

Hallie spent most of her time on Papa's back.  They liked to sneak up on people, but I turned around and snapped this picture of Hallie before they could surprise me.  She's so precious!

 

Annabelle had fun watching all the big kids.

 

 



Birthday Parties Galore!

We have been to so many birthday parties over the past few months.  We basically have 1 a weekend, and sometimes 2.  But it gives us a chance to scope out locations to decide where we want to have Caden's birthday party this year.  One of Caden's playgroup friends had his birthday party at Pump It Up a few weeks ago, and Caden LOVED it!  So we will probably go with that location. 

Here's a picture of all the kids at Jack's Pump it up b-day party.

 

The party was in the morning, so Brian stayed home with Annabelle, so she could take her morning nap.  Caden wanted me to join him on the slides and obsticle courses most of the time, and it was really fun.  Here's a video of us going down one of the smaller slides.



Potty Training, Take One

I'm a little behind on posts...darn work projects, non-coordinating nap schedules, and Christmas shopping have been getting in the way of blogging.  After our week long domino of the stomach bug, we finally resurfaced a week and a half ago.  I took the kids to the Arboretum one day to attempt to take some pictures in their Christmas shirts.  Annabelle only sort of cooporated, and Caden didn't cooporate at all.  But we did have a nice picnic lunch.

 

Caden was only interested in trying to see the construction work being done on the Arboretum.  The darn fence was blocking his view, but he found a way to see over it. 

 

We had a very nice exit from the Arboretum...Caden kicked and screamed the whole way to the car because he didn't want to leave the construction site.  Then that tantrum continued with a solid 15 minute battle over changing his diaper in the back of the car.  People were stopping in the parking lot and staring.  I'm sure they were making sure I wasn't beating him.  I finally won the battle, and on the way home, Caden said, "I want to wear underwear, not diapers."

 

So the next day, we went and stocked up on underwear, a portable potty for the back of the car, and all the potty training accessories.  One day last week, he insisted that he wear underwear.  He went once, and then he tried to go while he was resting, but he wet himself on the bathroom floor before I could get there because he couldn't get his pants down.  When he woke up from his nap, I told him that we were going to the park and he needed to go potty.  He didn't want to and chose to put a diaper on instead.  I think the fascination with wearing his Mickey undies has worn off, and we'll be putting potty training on the shelf for a little while.



Annabelle is 9 months!

Annabelle had her 9 month appointment this past week.  She measured 27.75" (90th percentile), 20lbs, 3 oz (75th percentile), and her head circumference is 95th percentile.  She also cut her fifth tooth about a week ago. 

Here's her "month" sticker picture.

 

A 24hr stomach bug hit our house this week.  Caden was sick Sunday night through Monday.  And then Brian was sick all day Saturday.  I didn't get the full bug, but I have been completely exhausted over the past 24 hours.  We're really hoping that Annabelle can make it through this without getting sick.  Caden had to stay home from school Monday, but I had a ton of work to do this week, so I had my laptop outside while he played Monday.  But he wanted to use his computer, too.

 

Last Saturday, we went to a Christmas party and took the kids picture with Santa.  Annabelle wanted NOTHING to do with Santa.  She started crying the second I set her in his lap, which meant that Caden had this really worried look on his face the whole time.

 

I finally got the kids Christmas shirts done.  I am going to try to get a picture of them in them later today.  Hopefully, Caden will cooporate.

 

 

 

 

 



Christmas Decorations!

We're all decorated and getting ready for Christmas...despite the 80 degree temperatures.  We put up the tree and all of our decorations the day after Thanksgiving. 

I put the tree up with this little helper.

 

I wasn't planning on having Caden help decorate the tree, but he did.  I turned around and he had just started putting up ornaments.  He ended up decorating the bottom quarter of the tree, and he had so much fun.

 

All done...

 

I got this idea of taking a silhouette picture of your kid in front of the tree from Pinterest.

 

I tried to get a few pictures of Annabelle and Caden in the pretty fall leaves.  Annabelle cooperated.

 

Caden didn't really cooporate.  But I did get this cute picture of him talking to Annabelle.  No one can make her smile like he does.



Thanksgiving and More Teeth

I'm a little behind on posts.  We enjoyed our long holiday weekend having Brian off of work.  We headed to Tyler for a few days, and then we had Mimi and Tia over for a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday afternoon.  Annabelle had a few rough nights of sleep because the three days following Thanksgiving she cut two teeth.  She now has a total of four, and there are two more that are really close to coming in.

Here is the best picture I got of our turkeys on Thanksgiving.

 

Annabelle and Daddy. 

Caden wanted no part of our family picture.

I took the kids to the Arboretum the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  It was the last "Tiny Tot Tuesday" of the Fall, so the petting zoo, face painting, and other activities will be on hiatus until the Spring.  It was also the last week of the pumpkins being out.  Caden refused to let me take a picture of him and Annabelle, but here's one of Annabelle by herself.

Caden had a blast running around the pumpkin village with his friend Caroline.

Here are Caden and Caroline in the carriage.

 



Two Little Turkeys

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving.  This month and Fall are just flying by.  Annabelle is still all over the place.  About a week and a half ago, she started pulling herself up to stand.  She doesn't do it often; she actually prefers to just stand up on her knees next to her toys.  Caden has been working on his 2 year molars over the past month.  It's been a rough process; two are through and one is on the verge.

 

Caden had his second trip to the dentist this week.  He was a little apprehensive and wanted to sit on my lap during his cleaning.  After the cleaning, he was okay sitting by himselft while the hygenist flossed and then while the dentist checked him out.

 

His frozen "boo boo elmo" feels good on his teeth.

 

I made turkey shirts for the kids.  I think they turned out great.  We are planning on heading to the Arboretum on Tuesday.  And I'm hoping to take some pictures of them in their shirts and other pictures that I'm hoping to use for our Christmas cards.  I made the shirts to match the little turkey hair bow that I bought for A. 

 

Here's the best picture I got of Caden in his shirt. 

 

And my other little turkey...I love that she now has enough hair to hold a bow; even if it's only for a short amount of time. 

 

 

Caden's curriculum for his Kindermusik class during the summer was all about a zoo train.  He loved it.  We have never rode the train at our zoo, so we took a quick trip to the zoo just to ride the train this week.  Here we are in front of the entrance sign. 

 

And here we are on the train before it started.  Caden enjoyed the ride.  So we'll have to do it again.    

Halloween

Well, we survived last week with Brian being out of the country for 5 days.  We kept pretty busy, and by the time Brian came home, I had a cold and was totally wiped out.  On Halloween, we went over to a friends house for a picnic dinner before we headed to a few houses to trick or treat.  Here's a group shot of most of the kids.

 

Here's a picture of me with my bear and construction worker.

 

We headed home pretty early so that Annabelle could get in bed.  Then Caden and I hung out with our next door neighbors to hand out candy for a little while.  Here's a picture that our neighbor took. 

 

Annabelle started crawling up the step out of the living room last week.  So I can't contain her in any room anymore.

 

The kids and I went and met Nana in Canton on Thursday morning to go to First Mondays.  I found a cute little romper that I'm hoping to have Annabelle wear for her 1 yr pictures.  Of course, I had to try it on her and snap a few pic's with my phone...

 

 

Some random lady gave this kind of gross little chick to Caden.  Annabelle thought it was pretty funny, though.