The Semenick Family

Olivia comes to visit!

2012-01-12T12:58:00.000-05:00

Right after Christmas we had a visit from the Schuberts! I was so happy to see Kim... we really don't get to spend enough time together... I am secretly hoping that they move back to MD soon! It was great to see Olivia again too.. she wasn't walking the last time I saw her, and now she's saying words and running around! She wasn't too sure about my camera this time, but gave some smiles to the dog while trying to feed him some cheese :)

Big brother's room

2012-01-12T12:56:00.003-05:00

When big brother's away... baby girl will play! I'm scared to show Will these pictures because I think he's going to be mad that little missy was in his room while he was at school... who knew that at 5 months she'd already be terrorizing her brother's room! She loves going in there and playing with his slippers and pulling his books out to chew on. And whenever she is downstairs she makes a be-line for his playroom now too. We had to put a gate across the playroom to keep her out of it... so now she crawls over there and yells at the gate! She is a silly little thing, and very determined! It still cracks me up that this little peanut can crawl and pull herself to her knees, but still can't fully sit up by herself!

Alyssa 6 months

2012-01-12T12:40:00.001-05:00

Oh my baby girl... half a year?? How can this be! I remember sitting in your rocking chair when you were only a week old thinking... holy smokes what did I get myself into?? How are we going to handle two?? And now, 6 months later, I don't know how we'd do just one kid!

This past month was a HUGE month for you little girl! On Dec. 19th you decided that you would like to be mobile and learned how to crawl... and not just a slow army crawl like most kids do... a full on hands and knees, chase after the dog crawl. We ordered gates. On Dec. 20th you had your first taste of solids. We started you on sweet potatoes just like your brother... you made a face when you tried them for the first time, but quickly gobbled them right up! You have really taken to food and will yell and lean forward in your highchair if we aren't feeding you fast enough! We had Beth, Steve, and Katie over right before Christmas and Daddy was holding you and a cookie... you lunged toward that cookie faster than he could move it away from you and shoved it in your mouth. We let you suck on it for awhile and then took it away... you were not very happy when we removed it from your mouth :) We have found that you do have some issues with fruits though... I think they cause gas for you and it has made for a couple of sleep deprived nights for Mommy and you.

You met Santa for the first time and enjoyed staring at his beard while your big brother told him everything that he wanted for Christmas. He made sure to throw in that you wanted some sippy cups and toys also :) Surprisingly, you were interested in your Christmas presents and seemed to know that the packages contained things for you. You tore open a couple of presents, and enjoyed chewing on the wrapping paper. Your favorite present this year was the weeble ferris wheel that Nana and Grandad bought for you.

You have finally started sleeping for longer stretches during the day... you take 2-3 solid naps a day totaling about 4-5 hours. Your night sleep is still pretty good... you sleep from about 6:30-7:00 pm till about 2 am, eat 4 ounces, then go back to sleep till about 7 am. Sometimes you wake up in between, but you either find your pacifier or I put it back in your mouth and you go right back to sleep. You are still not a big fan of the car and will yell and yell when I put you in your car seat. As soon as it gets warmer outside I'm moving you out of your infant seat and into your big girl car seat. I'm hoping if you can watch out the window you will be a much happier child.

Towards the end of this month you started to get real adventurous and pulled yourself up onto your knees in your crib. I peeked over at you and your little head was above the railing looking at me! We promptly moved your crib down a level... but that hasn't stopped you from trying it again! We have a feeling you might walk before your big brother did if you keep going at this rate!

Daddy and I have been noticing that you are not responding as much to your name these days, but instead respond when we call "Moopers" (that's your nickname). We are thinking we should make a bigger effort to call you by your real name from now on :) It's adorable though, each time I call Moopers you turn around and give me this sweet little grin.

Well little missy, I think that's about it for this month... what a busy 4 weeks you have had my dear!

Mommy and Daddy love you very very much little one :)

Wild Shepherds watched their flocks by night...

2012-01-10T15:33:00.001-05:00

Several weeks before Christmas Will's preschool held their second annual Christmas production! It is a big to do and Grammy made sure she got there a full hour before it began in order to save us some fantastic seats this year. Last year we had no clue how packed it would be and managed to arrive way too late to sit together... and sans a video camera. Oops!! No mistakes were made this year though and I maned the camera while Dad maned the video camera. Will's class was adorable, and performed a Christmas play for everyone. The kids did a fantastic job and looked super cute in their costumes! Will still maintains to this day that he was a "wild" shepherd. Someday when I figure out how to upload videos to blogspot again, I will try to post the video of him singing. Until then... lots of pictures to enjoy!

** Wild Shepherd story... When I asked Will one day what he was going to be in the play he told me "wild shepherd" I said huh?? and he said, you know, like in the song... "wild shepherds watch their flock by night..." I don't think I've laughed so hard ever! His teacher's loved the story as well :) **

How cute is this guy posing for the camera!

Christmas with Great Aunt Linda

2012-01-10T15:29:00.001-05:00

The day after Christmas we got to have a second Christmas with Great Aunt Linda! And yes, it was a full second Christmas with both kids (and the adults) spoiled rotten :)

I love this picture of my mom and Alyssa!

Chris and the last piece of ham...

Alyssa 4 months

2012-01-06T19:25:00.000-05:00

Well my dear, you can see that Mommy is once again behind on the monthly updates on you :) But don't worry, Mommy writes down every milestone in her planner as they happen so I won't forget.

This was a busy month for you little girl! You are growing like a weed and are now 13 lbs 9 oz. and 24 inches long... your head still is peanut sized and in the 10th percentile :) You are still on the Zantac once a day and the Prevacid twice a day for the reflux. We are really hoping that sometime soon we can take you off of the Zantac. You want to crawl so badly! You get up on your little knees and rock back and forth. You stare at your brother running around and I know that you want to be running around with him.

You are starting to sleep a bit better... some longer stretches during the day, and partying less at night :) I've started just feeding you one time during the night and then just replacing your pacifier any other times that you cry. Mommy is looking forward to the day that you can put your pacifier in your mouth on your own!

We felt so bad for you in mid-October when you caught your brother's cold. The exact day you started to get sick was Oct. 19th. We had to run the warm mist humidifier in your room for several nights, and I elevated your crib. We felt so bad for you... it was hard for you to eat because you were so snuffly, and sleeping was hard too because you love your pacifier so much.

I know I say this all the time, but we seriously can't believe how big you are getting, and how much you are changing every day.

Alyssa 5 months

2012-01-06T11:58:00.000-05:00

Mommy has no idea what your stats are this month because we thankfully did not have to see the doctor at all!! I do know that you are growing like a little weed and I am about ready to move you to 6-12 month clothes... sniff sniff. You went through about a week period of time where you were always hungry... you were eating over 30 oz. a day at one point! You typically eat around 24 so it amazed me where you were putting all the extra food. Daddy says you are storing it in your thighs and bum... Mommy thinks they are the cutest thighs and bum around!!

You are trying desperately to crawl but just can't seem to get your arms and legs coordinated at the same time yet. You get your legs going and then just kind of throw yourself forward towards whatever it is that you want. You are very good at scooting on the wood floor though and I have really started to have to watch you closer because of your quick movements. You are also trying your hand at some climbing! I've found you halfway underneath your exersaucer on more than one occasion. So far you are doing everything motor related faster than your brother... we are preparing ourselves for an extremely early walker!

Daddy took a trip to Hawaii for two weeks this month and missed you and your brother a ton! You started giggling right before he left so one night when you were very giggly we left him a message on his voicemail of you giggling for Will and I :)

You are sleeping so much better these days... taking three solid naps and sleeping two large chunks at night. You are the happiest little girl until you get tired, and then you are finished, you need to nap. You nap about every 1.5 hours and you are now putting yourself to sleep for naps and nighttime! We just put you in your crib with a ton of pacifiers and you put one in your mouth and head off to dream land!

This month's big milestone was you ate solids for the first time! You had oatmeal for the first time on Thanksgiving. You did very well with it and Will enjoyed being the first one to feed you. And the night you had oatmeal for the first time, you slept through the night! 6:45 pm till 6:30 am... it hasn't happened since :)

Christmas Day!

2012-01-06T11:45:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! It was filled with family, fun, and an insane amount of presents. I think the kids enjoyed every second of it :) Alyssa even seemed to enjoy unwrapping the presents and seeing what was inside. I took a crazy amount of pictures from that day so I'm going to just let the pictures speak for themself :)

Oh my cuties on Christmas getting ready to open their presents!

The Tag reading system was a huge hit! Mommy was smart this year and loaded all the books onto the pen before he opened it... it was all ready to go the second he opened it!

Bad Santa telling Will he could have cookies for breakfast!! :)

I love his smile in this picture... pure happiness!

We had to sneak in some lunch during opening... a present, a bite, a present, a bite

Dublin was thrilled as usual with Christmas. When we came downstairs that morning, he whined and cried until we got down his stocking and opened his presents for him... such a spoiled dog we have! It amazes me how he knows things like this...

Will's toy... or a Daddy toy??

The favorite toy of the year... I think for all the men! These are beyblades and they played these for hours!

Yummy paper!! Alyssa surprisingly enough was very interested in opening presents!

Will made beautiful ornaments this year for everyone... and even made personalized bags as well!

Someone was a little tired after all the festivities were over.... haha

Christmas Eve

2012-01-06T11:07:00.001-05:00

Christmas Eve was so much fun this year with two instead of 1! Will was super into leaving cookies (and carrots for the reindeer) out on the counter. The entire month of December he was scared to come out of his room in the middle of the night for fear that Santa might see him and then decide not to bring presents. In our house we have a little Santa's workshop in our guest room... Santa can't carry all the presents in his sleigh, so he drops things off sometimes in the middle of the night in the guest room... and he also fills Will's train each year as well. So anyway, because of this fear of leaving his room and Santa seeing him, we had a few middle of the night's with a baby awake because he used the bathroom connected to his room instead of our bathroom to pee. We have him use our bathroom because he's not the quietest child in the middle of the night :) But anyway, back to Christmas Eve! We filled up milk for Santa and filled his plate with cookies, and Will wrote a letter asking Santa to leave him a cookie or two and a sip of milk... so cute! The kids wore their matching elf pj's and even posed for some pictures in front of the tree before Alyssa had to go to bed. Will's excitement this year was seriously too much fun. I just love this age... the understanding, the wonder, the imagination. I can't wait until they both share that same wonder and excitement over Christmas!!

These are pictures of my present from Aaron and the kids this year. They are cute little hand-made cakes. Each came with a fortune wrapped around it. Everything, including the box, was hand-made... and they even chose the color purple for the outside of the box because they knew it was Mommy's favorite color :) We had to freeze some of the cakes because we didn't get them eaten quick enough because of all the holiday treats we had.... I can't wait to pull them out and start eating them again!

Happy New Years!!

2012-01-04T15:05:00.001-05:00

We had a fantastic New Years again this year... keeping with our tradition of having Mike, Gina and Ariana over :) I think this is year 3 now?? The kids had a blast running around together... Ariana would chase after Will and do whatever he was doing... so cute! Makes me excited for Alyssa to be a bit older. We let the kids ring in the New Year the next day with blowers and hats and such... I think Will might have had the most fun with the hats and blowers :) Happy 2012!!!

Notice Alyssa trying to crawl on the train tracks...

Will's Christmas celebration at school 2011

2012-01-04T14:27:00.000-05:00

The Thursday before Christmas was Will's Christmas celebration at school! I was so happy I could come and participate with his class this year :) Mom stayed with Alyssa so I got to go and spend some time with Will alone... it was awesome! We played pin the nose on the reindeer... ate lots of treats, and made gingerbread houses. Then to top the morning off, we got to go outside a play for a long time! The kids did an awesome job decorating their houses... I was actually surprised how little they ate off the houses. Will took a little bit to get into the decorating process, but once he did, man, he did not want to stop!

Christmas in PA

2012-01-04T13:12:00.003-05:00

I didn't get to take many pictures up in PA this year for Christmas because I was too busy with the kids. Poor baby girl didn't get her usual nap schedule while we were up and was a mess for most of the time :( I was able to snag a few pictures though in the very beginning while little miss was still happy. Hopefully next year will be a little easier when she's a bit older!

Piper and Will together again...

2012-01-04T13:12:00.001-05:00

The Friday before Christmas when the kids all had off school, we headed to Piper and Aunt Jessica's house for the day! I left Alyssa with Aaron for some Daddy time... and also so Mommy could have time to herself too :) The kids haven't had many chances to just play together for such a long time because they are both in school 5 days a week now. It was so nice to just relax and hang out, make cookies, exchange gifts and run around the house playing with toys. Jess and I even ordered take-out so neither of us had to make lunch! To say these two missed each other is probably an understatement. Love love love that they are such great friends... and I'm very much looking forward to Alyssa and Aidan developing the same bond in years to come. Let round two of little gym, swimming lessons, and playgroup begin!!

If you give a baby a cookie...

2012-01-04T12:52:00.001-05:00

The week before Christmas we got together with Beth and Steve for a pizza night so the kids could exchange their presents. After we had dinner we brought out the cookies Will and I had made for dessert... and guess who decided she didn't want to be left out! She lunged at that cookie so fast and had it in her mouth in a matter of seconds. We let her suck on it for a little bit and then took it away... you can tell by her reaction she was not at all happy that she didn't get to actually eat it. I have a feeling someone is going to be starting on some "real" food as soon as some teeth emerge in that cute little mouth of hers.

Almost crawling

2012-01-04T12:39:00.000-05:00

These picture were taken a few weeks before Christmas right before Alyssa officially learned how to crawl. I love her chunky little legs and how she experiments with how to move her feet and legs in order to get around places. And that cute little butt up in the air!!

Alyssa and the tree

2012-01-04T12:24:00.001-05:00

This first picture is one of my favorites from the holiday season. I love how she looks at the lights and tree with such wonder... and her cute little hand reaching out to touch one of the branches! Next year is going to be a whole different story with her taking ornaments off and throwing things and taking the train apart. I will enjoy the calm wonder while it lasts!

Resolutions

2012-01-03T15:43:00.000-05:00

I'm not big on making resolutions... but this year I'm making a big one... to finally start my photography business.

Announcing... Lollihop photography by Angela Semenick!!

So excited to share more with everyone in the coming months...

Christmas "bling"

2011-12-21T21:11:00.002-05:00

Will's preschool had a Christmas "bling" day. Guess who wore every piece of Christmas bling he could find... yep you guessed it! He even had Christmas underwear on... but according to him that would be inappropriate to take a picture of :)

Houston... we have crawling!

2011-12-21T20:59:00.000-05:00

Guess who is mobile!! She's very slow with the crawling still... but there is definitely forward movement now! Look out world... Alyssa is on the move! She has once again beat her big brother with yet another motor skill... 5 months and 8 days and already crawling. I'm a little scared we might have a walker even earlier than 9 months...

She just started making this cute little face the other day... I kind of love it!

Look Mom... I can make it to the wine bottles!!

Peppermint Bark

2011-12-21T14:11:00.001-05:00

Earlier this week Will and I made some peppermint bark for all his kids club teachers, preschool teachers, and our neighbors. He was so excited to help do this and even helped me take all the plastic off the candy canes before we smashed them! The little stink wouldn't stop eating the chocolate chips though, so I had to banish him from the kitchen a few times... just to turn around and find his little hand in the bowl again. Such a silly little egg he is!

The little stink is eating all the white chocolate chips!

Can you guess what his favorite part of this activity was??

Santa Clause is coming... to our town!!!

2011-12-21T14:02:00.000-05:00

This past Monday we had a visitor in the neighborhood... Santa and his friend the Grinch!! We knew they were coming, so we had been on the look out since 5 pm that evening. Around 5:45 we started hearing the sirens but didn't know where they were. We all went outside thinking it would be soon... just to realize that they weren't yet in the neighborhood. Sooo, we all headed back inside and hung out for a bit and ate some dinner. Will was so funny and insisted on eating his dinner in the dining room, on the floor, with the window open. I'm glad he did, because when we heard the sirens again, they were almost right in front of our house! We got out right in time to see them come around our circle!! They had an engine and two other trucks with them. One of the trucks was passing out candy canes and Will got to walk out into the street to go get his... he LOVED that! We went back outside again when Santa came back around the neighborhood to head out and they stopped the engine right in front of Will so that Santa and The Grinch could talk to him! He was beyond thrilled and soooo excited about the visit this year. I seriously love watching that kids face light up when he's happy. Almost makes all the times he drives me crazy worth it! haha.

Her face is hysterical in this picture!

Mom, I keep slipping on the wood floor!!

William... aka Mr. Moo

2011-12-21T11:42:00.001-05:00

My friend Ellie, who I grew up with, was in town from Conneticut this week. Her parents live only 10 minutes away from me, so we decided to get together one morning. Oh how things have changed since high school!! haha. She has a little cutie named Will as well, so when Alyssa went down for her nap, I couldn't resist snapping a few photos of him :)

Lindsay and Andrew

2011-12-21T11:33:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we headed to PA for our annual Christmas celebration! This year was so much harder having two kids in tow... but I managed to sneak away for about 20 minutes to snap some picture for my cousin Lindsay and her boyfriend Andrew. How cute are these two?!?

Random Alyssa

2011-12-18T13:57:00.000-05:00

These are just some random pictures from the last two weeks. Alyssa and I get bored during the day sometimes and have been making our own fun... good thing this kid likes the camera!!

Adventures in baby and pet photography... note to self... don't mix the two!

She was totally peeing on my floor while I took this picture...

I know she'll hate me for these pictures some day... but some day she won't have all these sweet adorable rolls so I must capture them while I can :)

Can you feel the love??

2011-12-16T16:16:00.001-05:00

He was not all that thrilled that I wanted to take pictures of him... but he cooperated when I told him there would be a treat involved :)

I love the way she's looking at him in this picture! It's the way she always looks at him. If he's in the room... her eyes are on him the entire time. He is so good with her... gentle, kind, thoughtful and sweet. He is truly the best big brother she could ever ask for. I hope she never ever stops looking at him this way!

Moms club party

2011-12-16T12:14:00.001-05:00

All of these pictures are from my Mom's club Christmas party! I have started becoming much more active this year in my Mom's group... partly because most of the ladies live in my neighborhood and partly because my friend Marla from down the street started getting everything more organized for everyone. I'm so glad I stayed in this club! There are some wonderful women in this club who I've become very good friends with over this last year.

The kids had a blast doing crafts, eating, enjoying a read aloud... and of course meeting Santa!! This was by far the best Santa I've ever seen! He really took an interest in what the kids were saying to him, and spent time with each and every one. Mrs. Clause even took notes on what he child wanted! Will was thrilled with his experience and even posed for a ton of pictures for me :)

Best Santa picture ever! Will was totally convinced that this Santa was the real deal. He informed me that all the other Santas were just his helpers dressed up as Santa :)

Wake up Alyssa Jean!

2011-12-16T12:06:00.000-05:00

After an extremely long nap the other day... little miss was very very happy when she woke up, so I took advantage and took some pictures of her in her crib. I love how happy she is when she gets up. Sometimes I'll put her down for a quick nap before we leave to take Will to school and I usually have to wake her up before she's actually ready... and every time I wake her up she looks at me a little confused and then gives me a giant grin and is happy as a clam! A stark difference to her brother who would scream for an hour if you woke him up from a nap. She seems to be a laid back kid so far... if she gets to sleep every hour and a half that is :)

Determination...

Oatmeal... take 2

2011-12-16T11:59:00.001-05:00

We started oatmeal back at Thanksgiving with Alyssa but had to stop because she had a little stomach bug that needed to work it's way through her system. I decided to give it a go again about 1.5 weeks ago and man did she love it! She gobbles that stuff down quite fast each evening... even lunging at the bowl and trying to grab the spoon. The other day I went and bought some stage 1 baby foods for her to try in the coming weeks. I can't believe she's growing so darn fast!!

Will... 4 years 8 months

2011-12-07T11:42:00.001-05:00

Oh my little man... it's been awhile since I've sat down and written to you! You continue to be a little firecracker and are constantly on the move. I took you to the doctor the other week because you had had a cold for 13 weeks and we were getting a little tired of the runny/stuffy nose and cough you kept alternating between. The doctor told us it was probably just several colds you had caught right in a row, but gave us an antibiotic to try nonetheless... sure enough, three days into the antibiotic you were starting to feel better. Mommy wished she would have asked for medicine many many weeks before!! They weighed you and measured you at the doctor and you were 42 lbs and 42 inches tall... you thought that was hysterical that both your measurements matched :)

You continue to be extremely personable and will talk to any child or adult around you. I love that you are so social, but it still makes me very nervous that one day you'll just walk away with someone who strikes up a conversation with you. Daddy and I are constantly reminding you about strangers and what to do if someone tries to get you to go with them. We have also been working with you on fire safety as well. We were changing the batteries in the smoke detectors and we decided that might be a good time to do a fire drill with you. We practicing jumping out of your bed and crawling to the door... feeling the door knob for heat... and then crawling to the top of the stairs. You thought this was the coolest thing ever and I think we played this game for a hour before you got tired of crawling out your door.

You are doing well in preschool this year. We were very nervous putting you in the 5's program with all the older kids... and all the expectations that program brings. But you continue to amaze us with your ability to just go with the flow and excel in just about everything. You have fit in nicely with that class... and from what we're hearing from your teachers... you are doing extremely well in math and science... not a huge fan of writing, or art... but you are doing what they ask you to do and that's all that matters. As of right now, you can write most of your upper and lower case letters... all your numbers, and you are working on sounding out words and also sounding out words in order to spell them! It's amazing to me that you will most likely be reading by the time you head off to Kindergarten next year!! Mommy is a little worried that you might be a little too prepared for Kindergarten next year and will be bored... but I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it :)

We've had some issues with behavior lately and have had to really crack down hard on you unfortunately. There have been many time outs... lost video game time, no tv, no reading before bed... and just recently we've started throwing away toys when you misbehave. It's been hard for you... but we really think you are old enough to listen to basic directions at this point so it is necessary. We also cut out a lot of the sweets you were having because we think that sugar impacts your behavior as well. You seem to have good stretches and bad stretches. We talked to the doctor about it, and she said that we should see a positive change in your behavior around 5 years 3 months. We are very much hoping that she is right :)
You are still smitten with your baby sister and just love her to pieces. We thankfully still are not seeing any jealously or anger towards the new addition to our family. You are honestly just amazing with her. If I walk out of the room and she fusses, you run right over to her and keep her entertained until I get back. You sing to her in the car when she cries, and play with her on her play mat in the kitchen. She is so very lucky to have you as a big brother Will!! There is one thing though that you have informed us you are not sharing.... and that is your tub. Mmmm, I'm not sure how that one is going to work for us little man... but I guess that is yet another bridge we will cross when we get to it.

Star Wars is still one of your loves... as well as angry birds, beyblades, legos, video games and of course your Pappy! You are Pappy's right hand man and you love to build things with him, hang out at his house, and go to Lowes and Home Depot just about every other weekend to make projects with him. Pappy might spoil you just a little bit :) Just today I was bringing you home in the car from spending the morning with Pappy and we hadn't been gone more than 5 minutes before you asked me if Pappy was coming over that evening. Geez kid!!!

Your sense of humor continues to emerge and I love listening to you tell jokes to us and crack up before you even get finished telling them. You are starting to listen to the tone of people's voices and the way things are said, and you now can pick up sarcasm about 80% of the time. It's so funny, I'll say something in the car and you'll stay quiet for a second, and then I'll hear from the backseat... Mommy you are being sarcastic! And usually, I am! You still call elevators alligators...and oh man do I hope you never get that one right... it's about the last thing I have left that makes you not quit yet a big boy! Speaking of funny things... you said the most hysterical thing the other day! We were driving to preschool and you told me that you were going to be a wild shepherd in your play at school. I said... Ummm, a wild shepherd??? And you said Yes! you know like in the song? wild shepherds watched their flocks by night?? Oh wow did I have a good laugh over that one!! I told your teacher when we got to school and she almost died laughing.... I think that is a story she will be sharing for a long long time to come! Your play turned out amazing with your class, and I'm very thankful you were not too much of a "wild" shepherd on stage.

Will... Mommy and Daddy love you oh so very much. You continue to bring us such joy in life and we love that we get to be your parents. You are still and always will be my good egg, and my very favorite bug :) Love you!!

Santa visit 2011

2011-12-07T11:38:00.001-05:00

The other day Mom and I took the kids to see Santa! The rule is that there are no cameras allowed in the Santa area... but since I don't take no to mean no... I persuaded the girl to let me take my own pics :) Of course I still had to buy one from them though... the last two pics on here are the ones the mall took. It's so irritating to me that you have to spend 30 bucks to get a 5 by 7 and a download of your favorite picture! Oh well... the memories :) Alyssa did very well on Santa's lap and didn't cry at all. Will made sure to list just about everything he wanted for Christmas and then told Santa that Alyssa wanted sippy cups and pacifiers :)

My shy guy at first..

Holding Santa's hand... and flipping me the bird with the other :) That's my girl!!

Choosing his candy cane... the girl made the mistake of telling him there was one in there that has two in a package.. it took me 5 minutes to convince him that someone else took it... he would have stayed there forever looking for it!!

November PA visit

2011-12-06T15:46:00.001-05:00

Back in November we headed up to PA for another visit! The kids were very well behaved in the car as well as up in PA. We were able to do some good visiting, and Nana was having a good day as well which made it extra special. We also got to head over to Pappy's and were finally able to grab some pictures of Alyssa meeting him... and some generation pics as well! A great day was had by everyone... and what made it even sweeter was Alyssa slept the entire way home :)

NYC 2011

2011-12-06T15:27:00.001-05:00

What was supposed to be a trip to NY for Aaron, myself, Nancy and Bill... turned into a girls trip instead! Bill and Aaron were under the weather so they decided not to go and offered my mom their seat on the bus! My mom was supposed to watch the kids while we went up, but Aaron watched them instead (and packed for Hawaii as well). We had a blast just walking around New York just hanging out. We had no agenda but to eat at Carmine's at 3:30 pm. It was so nice just to walk around, look at the lights, and pop into whatever stores we wanted to pop into. I even found the toy I really wanted to get Alyssa for Christmas while we were up there... AND I found Will an angry birds hat as well! Dinner was fantastic, and I think we'll be heading down to the Carmine's in DC pretty soon to have some more great food. :)

Floor to ceiling legos!

And so it begins...

What do you do when you don't want to hand a stranger your $2000 camera? Find a mirrored wall and take the pic yourself!

Alyssa's first solid food!

2011-12-06T15:14:00.001-05:00

We waited until Thanksgiving to give Alyssa her very first taste of solids so that everyone could participate in the big day! Big brother Will made it very clear that he was going to be the very first one to feed Alyssa... so he did the honors of giving her her first bite of Oatmeal. Alyssa did fantastic with her first eating experience! Unfortunately she developed a little stomach bug a day or two after we started the oatmeal, so we are just now getting back into the nightly oatmeal routine. I don't know if she's all that thrilled with the taste... but soon enough she'll be on to fruits and veggies! And then the real fun begins... feeding herself finger foods. Our little turkey is growing so fast!

Alyssa seeing the train for the first time... she was totally mesmorized by that thing!

Christmas tree decorating... and other random pictures

2011-12-06T12:48:00.001-05:00

This year we finally went for it and got the big tree! Mom and Dad bought us a beautiful 9 foot tree for Christmas. It looks beautiful in our living room... but took forever to decorate!! Will was thrilled when we put it up and wanted the train and the ornaments on right away. He did a lot of helping this year with bringing boxes upstairs and unpacking things. I love how excited he gets about all the holidays!!

Will was determined to have her put an ornament on the tree... or at least try to put one on :)

Peek a boo Mommy! I put her on her mat... somehow she ended up peeking at me from behind the cabinets while I was cooking dinner a few weeks ago.

My three favorite people watching the train go under the tree. Alyssa is completely mesmorized by the train :)

NY family visit!

2011-12-06T12:42:00.001-05:00

A few weekends ago we had a visit from some of our New York family! We were so happy to see everyone since it's been forever since we've seen them... AND we were so excited to introduce Alyssa to them. Will was so cute when everyone came in... he ran over and gave everyone huge hugs and then grabbed Uncle Lloyds hand and asked him to come play with him. It's a shame we have such a shy child :) I was hoping to get a nice picture of everyone together but of course Will decided to make faces for the pictures... even my bribes didn't work :)

Aaron and Angie's birthday!

2011-12-06T12:34:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago we had everyone over for Aaron and my birthdays. Uncle Chris got some quality time with Alyssa... and Will got to blow out some candles!

Veterans Day Parade

2011-12-06T12:30:00.001-05:00

Many many weeks ago... that is how far behind I am... we headed to the Veterans Day parade with Katie and Beth. We had no idea that our little town's parade was so darn popular! I ended up dropping the kids and Beth off close to the parade, and then parked a mile away and walked back down to meet them... who knew little Brunswick could draw such a crowd :) The kids had a blast catching the candy that everyone was throwing out to them. They worked as a team and collected candy together in Will's bucket and decided to go through it together at the end. Next year we'll arrive much earlier in hopes that we won't have to walk so darn far to the parade.

My favorite picture from the parade

My guy saluting the flag as it passed... I love that he did this all on his own :)

Preschool Thanksgiving

2011-12-06T12:20:00.001-05:00

A few days before Thanksgiving Will's class had their Thanksgiving feast! Thankfully Grammy was able to watch Alyssa so that I could help with the party like I did last year. This year was so much easier because the morning classes did all the work for us! Will's class joined the afternoon 4's class for their feast so the 4's didn't have to eat alone. The kids were so cute! The 4's dressed up as pilgrams, and the 5's class (Will's class) dressed up as indians. The teachers even had the kids make up their own indian names and put them on their backs. Will was striking lightning. The week before the feast each child made a family crest at home that the teacher's laminated and used for the kid's place mat for the feast. I was so proud of Will... he tried the turkey lunch meat! Now, he didn't try anything else strange, but at least it was something!

We were worried putting Will into this class because he was the youngest by about 6 months and we were worried he wouldn't be able to hang with the rest of the kids... but he has really thrived in this class and is doing amazing! Instead of worrying whether he would be challenged too much in this class, now we are worrying that he's not going to be challenged enough when he goes to Kindergarten next year! But I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it :) For now we are just thrilled with what he's doing right now.

Alyssa and some crawling attempts

2011-12-06T12:10:00.001-05:00

My happy little girl is getting so big! She is trying oh so hard to crawl and just about has it. She can get up on all fours and rock back and forth and she can scoot all over the place. I put her down somewhere and come back a minute or two later and she's feet away from where she started. I have a feeling in just a few more weeks she is going to get this crawling thing.... and then I'm really going to be in trouble! Little miss is going to be into everything :)

Will... and the angry bird hat

2011-12-06T11:58:00.001-05:00

I just love this series of pictures of Will. While in NY this past weekend I saw a kid walk down the street in an angry birds hat and immediately knew that that was what I wanted to get Will while we were up there. I checked a bunch of street vendors and no one sold it... thankfully we went into the giant toys r us and I just happened to walk by the angry birds display and there were the hats! Thanks to my child's giant head... the kids size fit him just fine :) He was beyond thrilled with his hat, and has worn it every day since he got it. While we were at Grammy and Pappy's house on Sunday I asked him if I could take some pictures in his hat and he was more than happy to ham it up for me!

The Glenn girls

2011-12-02T12:55:00.001-05:00

The Charbonneau family

2011-12-02T12:43:00.001-05:00

The Sheffers

2011-12-02T12:39:00.001-05:00

The Porters

2011-12-02T12:31:00.001-05:00

The Brannens

2011-12-02T12:28:00.001-05:00

The Harringtons

2011-12-02T12:25:00.001-05:00

The Fishers

2011-12-02T12:21:00.001-05:00

The Volz family

2011-12-02T12:18:00.001-05:00

The Pellicot family

2011-12-02T12:15:00.001-05:00

The Ritters

2011-12-02T12:12:00.001-05:00

Here is what I've been up to these last few weeks...

Leaves!!

2011-12-02T12:04:00.001-05:00

Many many weeks ago at this point... Will and I had a leaf fight! I was picking him up from school one Friday afternoon right after I had a shoot, so I had my camera with me. The weather was right, the leaves were beautiful, and the light was gorgeous! I had so much fun with my guy... and as you can see from the pictures, he had a blast throwing leaves at me and my camera! Now that I have two kids, it's hard sometimes to find time to spend just with him... I'm so glad we decided to take some extra time after school that day to be silly together :)

Christmas shoot outtakes

2011-11-19T19:30:00.001-05:00

This year I decided that since I take everyone else's pictures for their Christmas cards... I could surely do my own pictures for Christmas cards. Ummmm... not a good idea! I plopped Alyssa down on a blanket in the grass, and the little stink actually frowned at me! And Will instead of listening ran around like a crazy person. I did great some great ones eventually but I think next year I'm hiring my friend Rachel to take pictures of my children instead :)

Teething bites...

2011-11-19T19:22:00.003-05:00

I know that I am very very behind right now on the blog. I have been extremely busy this fall shooting other people's families... but I was able to squeeze in a little time between editing sessions to edit a few pictures of my own cutie pies. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on everything by the time Christmas rolls around :)Little Missy isn't showing any signs of getting teeth just yet... but man is she pre-teething! There is drool everywhere and she is chewing on everything! Her favorite things to chew on are her fingers and her teething giraffe Sophie.

Bad parenting moment

2011-11-19T19:22:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I put Alyssa in her green bouncer while I was loading the dishwasher... and when I walked back over to her a few minutes later... this is what I found! Needless to say I've been strapping her in since this happened :) Amazingly enough, she wasn't upset about this at all... I think she might have actually liked this position because she could reach the toys better.

Alyssa at dinner

2011-11-19T19:19:00.001-05:00

Here are a few silly pictures of Alyssa at dinner a few weeks ago. It's been kind of nice over the last month or so having her not be exhausted in the evenings and fussy. She thinks it's pretty fun hanging out with us at the table... and has even made a few lunges towards our plates!

Preschool Halloween

2011-11-07T06:39:00.001-05:00

This past Friday Aaron, Alyssa and I headed to Will's preschool to watch his Halloween parade! It was super cold outside so the teachers decided to parade inside the school instead (thank goodness!) Alyssa loved watching all the kids walk by in their costumes and even helped Daddy do a little videoing :) Will was dressed as General Grievous from Star Wars and even did some Star Wars poses for the group picture... crazy kid! At the end of the morning I went back over for their class's party... man was there a lot of sugar on those plates! We made chocolate mummies on pretzel sticks for the kids... and Grammy made treat bags as well. All in all... a great start to Halloween weekend! We are very much looking forward to trick or treating a bunch of times this coming weekend... lets just hope we don't have to do it in snow!

More random pictures...

2011-11-07T06:29:00.002-05:00

Dublin just had to join in our game of go-fish...

Alyssa getting some doggie love!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-07T06:19:00.005-05:00

What a crazy day for trick or treating! Who ever would have thought we'd be doing this in the snow!! I thought maybe Will wouldn't want to go out since it was so gross outside... but he had no issues at all. I think Aaron had more problems keeping him out of the snow, and keeping Jack and Will from throwing snowballs, than he did making him stay out to get candy. Our little ladybug got dressed up at 2 in the afternoon after she woke up from a nap. I figured it was probably the best time to get her to smile... and there was some great natural light in my bedroom :) She couldn't have cared less she was in costume and posed nicely for pictures. Will did a great job holding her on the porch next to the pumpkins for some shots. Will was general grievous this year and was beyond excited to dress up each and every time we went out to trick or treat. He got to go three times this year! Once in the morning on the 29thst... the evening of the 29th, and then again on Halloween!! We have a crazy amount of candy in this house right now. Our good friends April, Justin and Jack joined us again this year for Halloween. This year though the girls all stayed inside and handed out candy, and the guys got to brave the snow. Sounds like a good plan to me!!

She makes the silliest faces at me!

Picture compliments of Will...

Our little ladybug sees snow for the first time!

Will's favorite pumpkin from this year...

The Fisher family

2011-11-02T19:53:00.000-04:00

This past Friday I got to spend some time with Will's best buddy Chase and his family! Chase and his brother Parke have spent many a play date being my model for some photography practice. I was excited to get them outside with their parents... and dog Duke... for some family shots this fall. Gummy was a real trooper having lost his tooth the day before the shoot. I hope you enjoy your preview!

Big girl baby tub

2011-10-29T09:22:00.003-04:00

Since Alyssa's been born, I've just been bathing her in the sink and sometimes in the big tub while Will holds her. But now that she's rolling and kicking and twisting all around... it was time to break out the actual baby tub for her. She was not a huge fan the first time we put her in it... I don't think I had enough water in it and she was cold... but the second night we put her in... she loved it! She kicked her little feet and was happy as a clam... that is until her big brother dumped a cup of water on her head... urgghhh. Will was very excited for Alyssa to have her bath in the baby tub and actually did part of her bath for me! He washed her little arms and hands, and even her belly. He was finished helping though after he dumped the water over her head... I was surprised, she was a trooper and only cried for a second. It seems we might have another little fish on our hands!!

I love the way she looks at him...

Someone found the mirror!

Alyssa 3 months

2011-10-29T08:44:00.000-04:00

Baby girl, we can hardly believe you are three months old already! You had a pretty big month little missy! On October 9th you rolled from your back to your belly for the very first time... beating your brother's first roll over by several days... when you get older you can taunt him with that :) You've become a lot more interactive the last few weeks and you make cooing noises and try to squeal to get our attention. You still adore your big brother and if he talks or yells, or makes any kind of noise, you will swivel your head all around trying to look for him.

You still love your bath and now take part of your bath in the sink, and then the rest in the big tub with your brother. He loves to hold you on his lap while I wash your little hands and legs. I don't know how long that's going to last though because you are starting to kick kick kick when you're in the water with him and he's worried he's going to drop you. You are starting to sleep better also... most nights you sleep an 8 hour stretch and then a 4 or 5 hour stretch. You started to think that the middle of the night was party time, so we had to let you cry for a few nights and finally you figured out that night time meant sleep time... not party time with Mommy :) You are still a belly sleeper and when I rock you before I put you down, you try to twist your little body all around to get on your belly. Most of the time I just end up putting you down in the crib and letting you fall asleep there instead. You are starting to do better with naps... instead of taking little 20 minute naps all the time, you are starting to have at least one nap that is a long stretch. We are hoping in the coming months you will start taking 2-3 longer naps that are at regular times. Although, I do have to say it's very nice still being able to take you places and wrap you up in the moby wrap and have you fall asleep wherever we are.

I'm not sure how much you weigh right now because the doctor doesn't see you until 4 months... but we weighed you on the scale at home and you are 12.2 pounds according to that! We had to move you into 3-6 month clothes... and I think that you're going to move into 6-9 month sleepers soon!

I think I finally figured out the problem with you and the car! I took the bottom cushion out of the seat and also added a mirror on the headrest and now all of a sudden you don't scream and cry while you're in the car! It's been really nice having some silent rides to and from preschool.

You are changing so fast little missy... I know we are all excited to see what next month will hold!

Miss Cutie-pants

2011-10-29T08:41:00.001-04:00

I have nothing to go with this... just picked up the camera the other day and told Aaron to hold her up in the air... I love the looks she gives me when I start taking picture of her...

Dye family

2011-10-29T08:40:00.000-04:00

The Dye family is one of the very first families who asked me to photograph them when I started really getting into photography... three years later we are still meeting for their annual holiday photos! This year we decided to meet up at Rose Hill Manor again since they liked the Manor so much last year. Their boys are super cooperative and it makes my job very very easy :)

Many faces of Alyssa

2011-10-25T14:21:00.000-04:00

These were taken a few days ago when she was a little less grumpy... poor baby girl was diagnosed with her very first ear infection yesterday. That would explain why she doesn't want to eat, is having a hard time sleeping, and is just generally a fussy girl. I'm hoping her antibiotic kicks in soon because I'm not sure how much longer either of us can survive without some sleep!!

Aria's Christening gown

2011-10-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago my friend Toya asked me to take some pictures of her daughter in her Christening gown. Well... a few sick kids, one fall, and some rainy days later... we finally made it happen! The gnats were unbearable, but I shot quick and got exactly what I needed... who knew this perfectly lite spot was right in my neighborhood!

Will's surgery

2011-10-18T20:13:00.000-04:00

Today we had Will's endoscopy and biopsy... we waited till the very last possible second for this surgery because we really really did not want to put Will to sleep. But... our Dr. Duffy said since he's been on meds for so long for reflux, that it was time to see what was really going on... so we scheduled his surgery. We didn't tell Will it was happening until about 48 hours in advance... and even then we gave him a watered down hyped up version of how cool this was going to be! Haha. We told him about getting a hospital bracelet, and wearing a gown and being put to sleep while breathing through a mask like the firefighters use. He was really excited... until the morning of and then he was a little nervous. He was a trooper through all the pre-testing.... blood pressure, pulse ox, weight check, chatting with the doctors... they all thought he was cool as a cucumber... Aaron and I knew better though and warned them that he might come out of anesthesia swinging :)

We got him all dressed in his little hospital gown and waited for them to tell us he was ready... when they came for him they gave him the option of walking, or riding on his bed. He chose to push his bed down the hall instead :) Everyone got out of his way and commented how adorable he was... he was pretty darn cute in that little hospital gown! He did awesome until they showed him the mask and said it was time to go to sleep... he practically jumped off the table into my arms and started crying. So, we did anesthesia the hard way... with three people holding him down. I think it was roughest on Mommy :( Thankfully he does not remember the mask, or anyone holding him down... we were very worried he would remember.

The procedure took about 10 minutes and then we were back into see him come out of anesthesia. He was not a happy camper when he woke up and wanted nothing but Mommy to hold him... and the IV out of his arm... poor guy. He kept asking when we could get out of his place! Haha. Once he drank some juice and calmed down, they took the IV out and we were on our way! The rest of the day was spent playing video games and watching tv. The little man is his normal self and is very excited to show his hospital bracelets to his classmates for show and tell on Thursday :)

** Dr. Duffy said everything looks great from a reflux standpoint.. no damage, no redness. But they did find a hiatal hernia... which is the reason why he's had so many problems over the years! They are hoping that it will get better as he grows, so they are going to do nothing but keep him on his meds. They also biopsied a few spots and they will be getting results of those soon. **

Random kid notes fall/winter 2011

2011-10-15T21:01:00.001-04:00

I feel like there are so many random things that happen each day, or random things that Will says or does that I want to document but never end of doing. So I'm going to try something new and attempt to write a little something here and there to document memorable moments of the kids.

Back in October, Will and I headed to Jumbos farm with Mom and Alyssa to get some Halloween decorations. Will was beyond excited when we got there and wanted to buy everything they had so he could decorate the house. We ended up settling in some small pumpkins for his and Alyssa's room, pumpkins and gordes for the mantle, and some ghosts on a stick to decorate our plant in the kitchen. When we came home he started jumping up and down when I said that we could get all the Partylite stuff from downstairs. He helped me clear the mantle off, unpack the Halloween boxes from downstairs, helped carry everything up, and then decided how it should all be arranged on the mantle. He was quite happy with himself when it was finished, and has been telling people all week about his "spooky" house. That kid cracks me up!

A few months ago Will started to understand what sarcasm meant... and also started to recognize when someone was in fact being sarcastic. Now whenever I say something in the car sarcastically... I hear this little giggle from the backseat and his little voice says "Mommy, you're being sarcastic aren't you!" and most of the time... he's right!

Will... you still call elevators alligators... please don't ever stop doing that!! Love, Mommy

Two weeks ago, while his class was busy practicing for their Christmas play, Will informed me that he was going to be a "wild shepherd" in the nativity play they were doing. When I asked him what a wild shepherd was he responded... you know mom, like in the song.... "wild shepherds watched their flocks by night" Man I love this kid! His teachers thought this was hysterical and I think have told the story to everyone at the preschool. :)

This year I decided to tell you that Santa filled your advent train each night. I didn't think it was a big deal until one morning you woke up and told me that you had to go potty in your own bathroom in the middle of the night because you were afraid if you left your room, Santa would see you and not leave you a present in the train :/ Poor guy! I convinced you that you could in fact leave your room to come potty in my room (so you didn't wake up your sister) and Santa wouldn't mind because he'd be downstairs. You still remind me every single night to tell Santa that you might have to go potty and might be leaving your room. You told me to tell him to hide :)

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-15T21:01:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we all headed to the pumpkin patch to do some pumpkin picking and some hayriding! Will was not a happy camper on the ride to the patch because he couldn't get a seat close to the tractor... but on the way back he did, and as you can see in the pictures...he was thrilled! Alyssa stayed awake for about the first 15 minutes of the trip... just long enough to get her picture taken with her big brother and also one of the whole family. Then I wrapped her up in the Moby wrap and she went off to dreamland for the next hour... oh how I love that Moby wrap! Pumpkins were not very plentiful this year... but that didn't stop Will from walking all over the patch in order to find the perfect pumpkin. At first he wanted a giant white pumpkin... but quickly realized that none of us could get the thing on the wagon to bring it back! haha. He settled for a cute little orange pumpkin and some small pumpkins that he can paint and also put faces on. The day after the pumpkin patch, Aaron and Will headed to the Halloween store to grab some Halloween decorations for the house. Oh my those two... they came back with a giant spider nest, spider webs, and also a zombie that comes up out of the ground! It's so funny how much Will likes Halloween... he is already asking if they can go back soon to get some more stuff. I'll take some pictures soon of the outside of our house so you can see their handy work. Will named the skeleton Bob and the zombie Fred. He even goes out each morning and tells them hi... hysterical!

Random Alyssa and Will pictures

2011-10-15T20:55:00.000-04:00

Meeting Kristen for the first time :)

A little help here Mom!

Some brotherly love... he kept laughing during these because every time he went in for a kiss, she'd try to eat his nose...

Alyssa's boyfriend Aidan... he isn't too sure about her yet... haha

Jumparoo!

2011-10-15T20:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we grabbed the Jumparoo from Beth and Steve since baby girl has been doing so well with holding her head up and seems to love to stand. She is not a big fan of her bouncy seat and will flip and turn her body until she is almost completely out of the seat and onto the floor so I was hoping that the Jumparoo would be something new she'd like. She seemed a little tentative at first... but spent a bunch of time in it today... and LOVED it! She hasn't figured out the jumping part yet, but she sure does love standing there watching her big brother run in and out of the room!

This was her cutie outfit today... I'm having some fun dressing a little girl :)

The Hayes family

2011-10-14T11:05:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I met up with my friend Ivette and her family for their rescheduled mini session! Thankfully the weather that day was a 100% improvement from their previously scheduled time :) I had a ton of fun chasing after the kids trying to get some smiles out of them... and what cute smiles these two little ones have!

Randomness from the last two weeks

2011-10-04T20:19:00.001-04:00

I take a lot of pictures... a lot of which really have no story or event that they go with... just us hanging out at home... here are a bunch of those pictures :)

It's hard to take pictures of your baby when all she wants to do is roll over...

And then everything fell apart :)

Alyssa's first time in the big bath tub! This is Will's new thing now... each time he gets a bath, he wants to hold his sister while I wash her. We've had to remind him a few times to keep her head above the water... hehe

He is trying to make her laugh... and yes, that's a diaper on his head

Lots of love from the boys!

Being oh so very gentle and brushing his sister's hair

The many faces of Little Miss Alyssa

The view from my laptop the other day... super cute view if you ask me!

Middletown Parade

2011-10-04T20:04:00.000-04:00

Two weekends ago we headed out to the annual Middletown Heritage Parade! We attended last year as well, and it was Will's very first time attending a parade... he had a blast! He became a pro at collecting candy from all the passing floats, cars, and fire trucks. This year was no different. He was a little upset in the beginning because he had to wait for the parade to start, but once it did... he was waving and yelling at everyone asking for candy. It was hysterical! This year, just like last, his preschool had a float in the parade. Of course this year his art work was on the opposite of the road from where I was, so I had to make a mad dash in between floats to take a picture of his piece! But I got it and that's all that matters :) Alyssa attended as well.. probably the smallest parade goer of all that day... and slept through about half of it in my moby wrap :)

I have no idea what is wrong with the two of them...

Little Miss Grumpy Pants

2011-10-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

We jokingly call Alyssa "Little miss grumpy pants" because she is constantly taking these 20 minute cat naps all day long that give her just enough energy to make it through the next hour, but not enough to make her pleasant to be around. Lately she's been quite pleasant to be around though and has started smiling much more and cooing and chatting with people. She will even squeal to get your attention and then give you a huge smile when you look over at her! If she keeps this up, we might have to change her nickname to "Little miss happy pants."

Welcome Aidan!!

2011-10-03T20:32:00.001-04:00

Aidan Collier Robinson joined the world 8 days ago... weighing in at 8 lbs. 6 oz and 22 inches long. Everyone is doing wonderful, and big sister Piper is thrilled to be a big sister. I had the opportunity to photograph the little man when he was less than 24 hours old, and also a few days later as well... here is a little peak at those two sessions...

1,2,3 blast off!

2011-09-23T20:22:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we headed over to Mom and Dad's to celebrate Chris and Dad's birthdays. After the celebration, Dad decided that Will needed to go set off some rockets again! He had went out and bought a new rocket for Will that had a parachute in it. Apparently the rocket has to be built in stages... and when Dad asked Will if he wanted to help build it, he told him no because it took too long and he couldn't wait that long to set it off :) So Dad put it all together for him and had it all ready to go on the weekend for him to set off. Setting off rockets brought back lots of memories for Chris and I... the three of us used to build rockets and then set them off up in PA in the football field. I can't wait till Alyssa can join us in all the fun!

Nerf wars

2011-09-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

Last week Will and Aaron went down to Beth and Steve's for a bit... and came back with some toys! It started out with Will and Aaron just shooting each other... but quickly turned into them attacking me. Most of these pictures were taken while I was hiding behind the island attempting to stay out of target range. Alyssa even joined in the fun chasing me around the house in Aaron's arms. I had put Nerf guns on Will's wishlist for Christmas... but after what happened last weekend, I am seriously thinking of taking them off :)

Random Will pictures

2011-09-20T20:59:00.001-04:00

Will is 100% boy that is for sure! Whenever Alyssa goes down for a nap, I try to spend some one on one time with him as much as possible. A couple weeks ago when I asked him what he wanted to do while she napped... he told me he wanted to do jumping pictures! And then a few days later... he wanted me to take pictures of his squinkies as he lined them up on the floor. I'm kind of enjoying this new found love of photos my little man is showing lately!

I love this picture! He's chatting with Daddy on the phone while he was away in Wisconsin for a few days. I love the look on his face while he talks to him :)

Go fish!!

2011-09-20T20:56:00.000-04:00

Go fish has become part of our nightly routine! Will has graduated from needing one of us to help him play, to totally playing on his own... and actually winning fair and square on his own! Alyssa can't play yet, but joins us most nights while we play... here are a few pictures of what little missy does while we play. The last few pictures are of Will showing off his new way of holding his cards... he is such a character!

First day of preschool 2011

2011-09-20T20:45:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that this is Will's very last year of preschool! Next year I'm not going to be able to walk him into his classroom and kiss and hug him good-bye each morning... instead he's going to do that all himself after he gets on the big yellow bus each morning.

Will was very excited about his first day of school and made sure to ask Daddy to take off work to join him for his first day. We took lots of pictures out in front of the house that morning, then all drove to school together. Will did fantastic his first day... no tears, no worries. Two weeks later, he's still loving his class... and his teachers!

This was Will's very first homework paper! As you can see from the tongue hanging out... he was concentrating very hard on those M's he was writing! I'm so proud of my little man... he is the youngest kid in the class and seems to be hanging with the older kids just fine with all this new learning going on.

Will doing his morning routine. Each morning they have to flip their name over, put their folder in their bin, find their name and put a sticker on the date, then get their composition book and do their morning question. Such a big egg my little one is becoming!

Alyssa 2 months

2011-09-19T14:42:00.000-04:00

Mommy isn't going to lie... she totally wrote this when you were almost 5 months old :) What can I say... we are busy around here!! Nevertheless, I wanted to make sure you had a post for each and every month just like your brother did... at least until you're 1.

Not much has changed from your first month till now. You are holding your head up even more, and you are starting to be awake more and more during the day.... and at night. Your jaundice has gone away completely!! For some reason little missy, you think that it's party time from about 3-5 am each night. Once 5 am hits, you are back down and like to sleep till 8 or 9 am. This has been hard because your brother needs to go to school at 8:30 so I end up waking you up and feeding you in a rush so we can get out the door. Plus, Mama is tired from being up with you so much!!

You are 10 lbs and 14 oz. and 22.25 inches long. You are holding steady in the 50% for weight and height but still have a tiny little head... so unlike your brother :) You have also mastered rolling from your belly to your back... and you can hold this over your brother's head later in life... you rolled a few days before he did! We shall see if the rest of the motor skills follow suit... we will be in trouble if they do!!

You were officially diagnosed with reflux this month. I saw the signs several weeks after you were born, but was hoping that it wasn't true. They put you on Zantac for a week, and that didn't seem to be doing it, so they added prevacid twice a day. You seem to be doing much better with that and are more comfortable eating now... thank goodness! We are very thankful you just spit up and aren't doing the projectile vomiting that your big brother used to do. Our carpets and furniture thank you for that my dear!

In the streets

2011-09-17T21:52:00.001-04:00

Last week while Aaron was up in Wisconsin Mom, Dad, Will, Alyssa and I headed to downtown Frederick for their In the streets celebration. It was insanely crowded and it was really hard to even walk through the streets... which was oh so much fun with a stroller... but the various booths had lots of giveaways and games and prizes for kids... so Will was very excited! As we were about to leave, Will decided that he wanted to ride one of the paddle boats on the creek. Pappy was very happy to oblige so out they headed on the boat! Will had some difficulty keeping his hands inside of the boat... but all in all he did a good job with the ride and had a great time! My mom even took a pictures of Alyssa and I! I think it might be the only picture I have of the two of us in the last 8 weeks... I think Aaron might have to step it up with the camera :)

Cheese heads!!

2011-09-17T21:47:00.001-04:00

Last week Aaron headed out to Wisconsin for his "mancation." While he was up there, he attended the Packers game, and of course... he had to buy him and Will matching cheese heads! Will was so excited about the cheese head when Aaron came home, so of course we had to go outside and take some pictures :) Aaron had such a great time, and loved it up there so much, I think he is ready to pack us all up and move there... if only the winters weren't so darn cold!

Will and Alyssa

2011-09-17T21:44:00.001-04:00

I think it's safe to say these two have bonded over the past 9 weeks. Will is so in love with his little sister and loves snuggling up to her while I'm feeding her, he loves holding her, and lays right next to her on her play mat while she plays. I know we've said this so many times before... but he really is an amazing big brother to her. I have a feeling he's going to be extremely protective of Alyssa as she grows up.

It amazes me how much smaller Alyssa's hands are than Will's...

I couldn't forget the biggest baby in the house... sometimes I wish I had his life... if only for a day :)

Random Alyssa pictures

2011-09-17T21:38:00.004-04:00

After being without our computer for almost two weeks... I am thrilled to finally have it back and working! I had a huge back log of pictures and I've been working a ton to get through them all.. and I'm finally finished! Stay tuned for lots of posts and pictures of the cutie kiddos!

I took her outside and put her in her bouncy seat while I was picking tomatoes... you can tell by her glare she was not all that thrilled :)

Alyssa is loving her play mat these days! Over the last two weeks she has really started to interact with the toys and tries to grab and or bat at them while she is laying on the mat.

I was trying to take a picture of Alyssa on her play mat... and Will just couldn't help himself and jumped in the picture :)