Balance, Climb, Slide

Balance

Climb

Slide

Just Because...

Just because she's the cutest baby on the planet...

Must Love Dogs

Most of you know Emmie well enough to know she's harbored a deep-seated fear of dogs since babyhood. We're talkin' full-out, hysteria whenever one was near. She loved them from afar, but if a d-o-g came within 20 feet of her, it was NOT good. God forbid one would advance on her! It would take forever to talk her off the ledge, so to speak. We've hoped she'd eventually warm up to dogs and it looks like she has! We've now had three successful interactions with dogs where Emily was brave enough to be close to them, play with them, even pet them! She's still a little fearful, but she has come a loooong way. At the park today, a father came with his toddler and dog. Both Ben and Emily loved watching the dog run around, play fetch and climb on the playground equipment. Emily was all giggles as she watched the doggie and surprised me by not crying when the dog would run near us. She surprised me even further when she walked up to pet the dog for several seconds! She even took a turn throwing the ball for our new dog-friend:) I can't believe how big she's getting; changing and growing every day. Sigh...




Petting Kaia the Dog

Throwing her ball

Standing there, brave as can be as the dog RUNS to her! Huge breakthrough;)

Gobble, gobble

We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at Mimi's tonight, although a certain jive-turkey refused to eat the previously anticipated t-day dinner once he saw the dessert buffet. He knows he must take four bites ove everything before getting dessert and boy did he take those four bites quickly! Emily, as usual, enjoyed the meal with gusto. She tried everything, exclaiming "MMM! I like this!" after each bite. Her favorite was the mashed potatoes, corn, turkey and dinner rolls. At one point during dessert, she switched back to her dinner plate and we laughed about how only Milly would have two kinds of pie AND ice-cream on her plate but choose the dinner roll and mashed potatoes instead:) Callie just enjoyed eating her hands and feet while sitting at the table with us. It was a pretty low-key evening(until the sugar-high kicked in for the Gruesome Twosome!) but very enjoyable!

The Mini Gourmand

The Grinch Who Stole Turkey-Day. Homeboy had to be excused from the table for bad behavior when he found out he couldn't have dessert until we ALL finished. His exact response? "WhatEVER. I'm leavin the table". Sigh...he's already 14 apparently!



Me, with my Mini-Me



Sisters, enjoying some conversation at the dinner table:)


The by-product of a meal consisting of four bites of marshmallow yams, three different kinds of pie, some ice-cream and a mini Sierra Mist: sugar-rush from hell!

Emmie much prefered to take care of her baby instead. She's burping her, here!

As you can see, Callie is not yet a fan of the Exersaucer:( I think it had more to do with the two very, VERY enthusiastic demonstrators she had showing her just how to play with it.


And who doesn't enjoy a nice pipe after a delicious holiday meal? Before you judge me, it came in a birthday gift(bubble set) and he loves it. He calls it a Mo(as in Mo Sizlack from the Simpsons. If you want to judge me for something, judge me for letting him watch that!) and doesn't realize it's a tobacco accessory. Meh...whatever. I played with far worse as a child...just ask my mom;)

Thanksgivings, past.

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the blessings in your life and appreciate all the gifts that have been bestowed upon you. My family is truly my most cherished gift! It doesn't take a holiday to make me realize how lucky I am to be married to my fabulous husband, nor does it take a holiday to make me thankful for the health and well being of my beautiful children. Thanksgiving merely highlights the many wonderful people and things I have in my world.

Thank-you to my friends, for being the lovely people that you are! You make me smile and laugh and sane(ish).

Thank-you to my mother for all the help and support she lends me, even when I don't deserve it.

Thank-you to my husband for loving and supporting our family! You are an amazing father, friend and husband!

Thank-you to my children for making me love with my entire being every second of every day! I'll never stop trying to be the best mother I can be so you'll grow up always knowing just how much I love and adore you.

Now, here are some pictures from Thanksgivings, past!

The beginning of the end of my girlish good-looks! Dan, Ben and me on our 1st Thanksgiving!

My sweet lil baby-turkey, only 2 months old!

Ben's 2nd Turkey Day, wearing the shirt
we made to announce Emily's imminent arrival!
I was 14 weeks pregnant with her.

Emily's 1st Thanksgiving, only 6 months old!

Ben's 3rd time gobble-gobblin' at our T-Day feast!

Two little pumpkins, enjoying his 4th and her 2nd "Happy Tanksgidding"

We hope you enjoy your feast of food, family and friends! We're also thankful that you read our blog:)

Clearly, she has a problem...

She managed to fit four in there at once! I don't know whether to be proud or horrified? Pacifiers Anonymous, anyone?

Pro Pics!

Miss C. had her very first photo-shoot last week and she really IS the Kate Moss of babies! Every.single.picture was completely adorable. We were limited to picking just one(for now) but I so wish you all could see the rest! Here she is in all her pink, fluffy glory!





And for funsies, here's Ben and Emily at 4 months, too!

4 Months Old!

It's official! Callie is no longer a newborn. My sweet little baby is now refered to as an infant. She is clearly getting cuter by the day and continues to be the apple of our eye. At her 4 month appointment, she weighed in at a slender 12 lbs, 10 oz. and a very long 25 1/4 inches long. She's the Kate Moss of babies, I guess! She has been laughing more and more, although I don't believe she'll be a real giggler, per se. It takes a lot to get her laughing and it seems to scare her once she does it. She'll be the stoic child in the family, perhaps. She thisclose to rolling over and continues to work on her sitting.


Four Months Old! Do you like her headband? I made this one:)
Before you get impressed, it came from a pre-fab kit, but I made it nonetheless!

Her eyes are changing. The final verdict is brown=) Sorry, Dan!
None of them got their daddy's baby-blues, although Emily had beautiful blue eyes until she turned 10 months old.

Big Sissy wanted in on the photo-shoot:)

Tootsies! Can you believe how tiny Callie's feet are compared to Milly's?

This is love: Part Two

Ok, so I thought Emily loved Callie because she has been huggin' and lovin' on her tons lately. Today, she confirmed it BIG TIME! Callie started fussing while I was in the other room and I could hear Emily talking to her. She said, "Ohh, don't cry, Callie!" in the cutest, high-pitched voice like I use when I talk to her=) That alone was pretty adorable, but when I came in to check on them, this is how I found Callie:

If giving your baby sister your beloved Tinkerbell doll isn't a testament to your deep love and adulation then I don't know what is! The second pic is of Callie gazing at Emmie with equal love and adulation...awwww!

This is love...

Someone has fallen majorly in love with her baby sister! I can't keep Milly away from Callie lately=) She seems to reciprocate Emily's affections, as well. I know things won't always be so peaceful in Sisterville(the trade-off seems to be that Ben and Emily now fight like rabid beasts all.the.freakin.time!) but we're enjoying the lovefest while it lasts!

Pumpkin Pounding

We all take turns coming up with a special project for the class at Ben's preschool. My work day is Monday, and there are 4 other parents that also work this day, so I have to come up with a new project every 5 weeks or so. This is not so easy but sometimes I manage to hit the nail on the head! Speaking of hitting the nail on the head, my project this time was pumpkin pounding. I brought in some small pumpkins and the kids got to pound golf-tees into them. Sounds pretty simple, but O.M.G. They flipped for this activity! Some of them spent more than 30 minutes at my table and we had a waiting list that had at least 4 kids on it at any given time. I knew Ben would love this activity because he is majorly into tools lately. He did not disappoint, and spent a lot of time woking on his pumpkin=) Phew! My project was a success, and now I have 5 more weeks to think of a new one!