Evan's Preschool Program

On Tuesday evening, we attended a little Christmas program at Evan's preschool.  The four of us were there along with Aunt Baba and Uncle Casey.  We first headed to Evan's classroom for some cookies.  It was nice to see all the kids and their parents in his class and also see how he interacted with the other kids.  He showed us where he puts his backpack and some artwork they had done. 

Then, we headed over to the church for the performances. We dropped off the 2 year olds at the nursery where they would hang out until it was time for them to sing.  Evan cried for just a few minutes when I left him.  Finally, it was showtime.  They came into the auditorium and up to the front of the church.  I was very nervous that Evan would just run off the stage or run around (like Thanksgiving).  That, or he would see me trying to film and run over to me.  I tried to hide behind some people while filming so that maybe he wouldn't see me... that's part of the reason the camera work isn't great!

But, he did great!!  He stayed up there for most of it and although he didn't sing, he participated.  I couldn't ask for anything more.  After the performance, he sat with us while the rest of the preschool sang their songs.  Overall, it was so much fun seeing him do his first school concert and I'm really proud of him. 

Here's the video of the performance!


And here are some pictures I took at his Christmas party during school on Tuesday.

Evan icing his Christmas Tree

Looks good!

Tastes good!

Ms. Jenifer handing out Christmas books to the kids

Evan and Ms. Jenifer

Here are pictures from the Christmas Program:

Family photo

Evan and Avery

Aunt Baba, Uncle Casey, and Evan

Santa - Friend or Foe?

This year, I was really hoping Evan would enjoy Santa, and I'd get some good pics of him. In the past, he hasn't been thrilled with the idea of sitting on Santa's lap.  I was optimistic that maybe this year, he'd think differently.  So, the results are in.

First Santa visit was at Evan's preschool.  Let's just say this first encounter was definitely a "foe" vote for Santa.  Evan did not want to sit on his lap (neither did Caitlin as you can tell).  I am actually standing next to Evan as it was the only way he'd even get close to him.  Here's the best picture from that attempt:

This past weekend, the neighborhood we live in had their annual Holiday party.  They have a great hayride around the neighborhood to see the lights and then of course Santa is there. So, we had encounter #2 with Santa!  This time, Caitlin was having none of it.  Poor thing!

Evan, on the other hand, actually sat next to Santa on his own, told him where his car was, and seemed okay.  No smiling or anything, but I thought it was a big accomplishment that he sat next to him without screaming!

Here's the four of us on the hayride!  Evan LOVED it.  We had fun too even though it was a little chilly. 

And our last Santa encounter was at my MOPS meeting today.  This was actually the best looking Santa I'd say and the experience was better than the last. Evan actually sat on his lap all by himself and told him things (nothing like what he wants for Christmas, probably just about his candy cane).  I put Caitlin on his lap too... she again was not thrilled with the idea. Maybe next year we'll have even more success!

Evan and Santa

Caitlin, Santa, and Evan

Evan and Avery!



Christmas is coming!

The Holiday season is here so we've been extremely busy (hence the lack of blogging).  I've been really fortunate though because I actually had more vacation saved up than I'd planned to take.  This has been great because I've taken a couple afternoons off while still having Elizabeth take care of the kids.  I've been able to just sort of relax and do some Christmas shopping without the kids.  Bryce and I even went to a movie one afternoon.  Next week, I'm going to the spa one day.  It's nice to have some time completely to myself.
We did our annual trip to the Downtown Christmas tree lighting with the Blankenships (sad the Krolls couldn't join us).  But, Becca and Michelle did and new friends the Groffs!  We enjoyed our dinner at Hickory Street before proceeding to the tree lighting.  It was fun, but this year we didn't do much singing as the kids just wanted to run around so we spent most of the time watching out for them.

The young ones hanging out in the strollers

The ladies

Caitlin and me

Caitlin and Bryce (Capital in the background)

Best attempt at a family photo

Group shot!

My cutie!

We've also been having lots of fun with friends.  We've been to a few Holiday parties and cookie parties.  One day, we met Ange/Amanda and kids down at a bounce place called Loco-Motion.  The kids had a great time and we even managed a few adult conversations. 

Evan bouncing

Caitlin enjoying the bounce place

Avery serving Evan and Leah

We also celebrated Brian Crandall's birthday with a nice party at their house.

Evan, Avery (behind him), and Aidan hanging out by the fire

Food time!  Evan, Aidan, Avery, and Leah chowing down. Aidan was very entertaining to them all!

Aunt Baba and Caitlin

And last but not least, we've been enjoying family time at home.  Here's a random picture to keep you entertained until the next blog entry!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know this post is a little late, but I just now found time to sit down and blog.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We went to our friends house for dinner on Thursday evening where we enjoyed great company and food.  Friday, we stayed at home and put up all our Christmas decorations and then I cooked a small turkey and sides for a 2nd Thanksgiving with just us and my sister/brother-in-law. It was one of my best turkeys! Saturday, I took Evan to the Greenbergs for the Maize and Blue Crab boil - delicious!  Too bad Michigan couldn't secure a win but IU and ND both won Saturday so at least there was something to cheer about.  Sunday we put up the rest of the decorations and relaxed.  Overall, a great long weekend of fun family time (minus the major cold going around our house).

Here's a few pictures and videos also.  The first video is from Evan's Thanksgiving program at school.  The two years old were supposed to sing a song but as you can see, it didn't go over so well. I spent most of the time trying to get Evan to sit down with the rest of the class but he just wanted to run around!  It was fun to go and still be a part of it. We got to have lunch with him afterwards at school and see all the neat things he made for Thanksgiving.  The second video is of him actually singing the song they were supposed to sing. I was surprised after the program one day when I heard him singing it as I just assumed he didn't know it.  So, I got him to sing it for me on video.  Too cute!


Video from school - Evan is in the oragne shirt and khaki pants


Evan singing I'm Thankful

And last but not least, a few pictures of my cuties. I made Caitlin this little onesie at a playdate... it's far from perfect but I enjoyed making something for her to wear.  She is wearing a matching hair clip too!

Caitlin and AJ - can you believe she's 3 months older than him?

The Three  Musketeers and their reindeer ears

All the kids

My cutie

Mommy and Caitlin

Aunt Baba and Caitlin

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I know we did and are so thankful for our family and friends.

Caitlin turns 10 months!

Can you believe I'm actually posting her monthly blog within just 3 days of her actual 10 month birthday?  Boy, am I on top of things!  Actually, I have some extra free time this week since I am off of work for the whole week.  And by free time I mean maybe 2 hours in the afternoon when I can do laundry, cooking, and all the other little things that have been piling up.  But, getting that done in the afternoon means time after the kids go to bed to do something else!

So, back to Caitlin.  Our little princess turned 10 months old.  I can't believe I was 7 months pregnant this time last year with a 15 month old... now I have a beautiful 10 month old girl and a running wild 2 year old boy!  Over the past month, Caitlin has just taken off.  She army crawls so fast that you really can't leave her alone for more than a second before she's across the room.  She has started to do all 4s but because it's kind of slow, she ends up just going down and army crawling to get what she wants.  However, she has realized that she can pull up much better from the all 4 position.  And she loves to pull up!  On everything from the couch, the trunk, the sides of the tub, and people!  She still hasn't managed it in her crib yet, but I think we'll be putting down the mattress soon just to be safe. The girl does not like to sit still (which means much less cuddling... so sad). And she is good at standing all on her own.

Caitlin loves to eat.  We have a fruit and cereal for breakfast, a vegetable for lunch, and a meat dish for dinner (all baby food still).  She LOVES to eat cereal and puffs which she picks up wonderfully with her pincer grab.  It's a great way to keep her content and still when we need to eat our dinner or I need to prepare dinner.  Here are a rough guess at her stats (since no Drs appointment and we just did them like 2 weeks ago so they aren't much different):
Weight: 18 lbs
Height: 27.5 inches

This month, we made a trip to Indy for my mom's surprise party.  I travelled on the airplane alone with both kids for the first time and it went fine.  Definitely tough to do, but not too bad and Caitlin was pretty easy for both trips.  She had her 2nd real illness (the first being the RSV when she was just a week old)... an ear infection. She had a high fever for almost 3 days but was a big trooper (just wanted lots of holding).  She's been sleeping like a champ for the most part. 

She usually does a 1-1.5 hour nap in the morning if we are home. Otherwise, it's whatever she can catch in the car while we are going from place to place in the morning.  She will usually nap 2-3 hours in the afternoon at the same time as Evan.  We always do bath time with both kids together at 8pm which is going great.  And then Caitlin will usually sleep from 8:15pm until almost 8am most days.  Most of the time she hardly makes any noise in the morning... just some talking to herself and quietly laying there.  She loves to make sounds and talk - lots of ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba and blowing raspberries.  She often repeats what I am saying.  She loves to clap and wave her hands.  Still a huge thumb sucker.  Still puts everything in her mouth.  We also had her 9 month photo shoot this month... I need to pick the pictures and then I'll post some.  We had lots of Halloween activities this month. She went as the most adorable Dorothy ever. 

Here is Evan's 10 month picture for comparison!!

Well, I guess that's all that comes to mind at the moment.  Hard to believe she'll be one year old in just 2 months.  I know the time will pass quickly since the Holidays are here.  I guess that means I should start thinking about a party!!  Happy 10 months to my absolutely, positively most precious daughter.

 Click on the photo below to see her 10 month picasa album!

Caitlin - Ten Months

Long time, no blog!

Sorry for the lapse in blogging, but we have been busy!!  Well, it just seems that way.  Nothing super excited has been happening so I guess I thought there wasn't much to blog about, But, I will take the chance to catch you up on things and post some cute pics of the kids (which we know is why you are reading the blog anyway).

First thing is that our Accord is in need of a new transmission soon.  It's an old car and we've debated what to do. We are leaning towards trading it in before the transmission gets bad and buying a new car.  Yeah!  New cars are fun!  However choosing a new car... not so fun.  We spent last weekend looking at cars and test driving them.  We have narrowed it down to the GMC Acadia and the Honda Pilot and that's as far as we have gotten.  I like both for different reasons and just can't seem to pick one.  Maybe I should do another post about it with all my thoughts and y'all can tell me which to get!! I'm a Libra so I am blaming that for my indecision.  But seriously, if anyone has an opinion or knows much about either model, please let me know!  All I do is stress about what to do.  And I suppose we could always forgo the new car and fix the old one, but I'm afraid we'll just keep putting money into a sinking ship at this point and might as well get a good trade-in before the transmission really gets worse.

In other news, Evan had his first dentist appointment this week.  Just a real quick look at his teeth.  He did really well and the dentist was super nice.  The teeth look good she said. No decay.  Bad news is that he has REALLY tight spacing so she said we should try to floss if possible which she normally doesn't recommend until age 4.  And she said she will probably send him to an orthodontist earlier than other kids to make sure we start down the right path earlier rather than later.  Otherwise, good job Evan with the appointment and our brushing!

Caitlin is doing great as well.  I'll post more about her when I do her 10 month update this weekend. But, I will tell you that she is starting to do a lot more on all 4s and she loves to stand at things like her little table or holding onto the couch.  And she does a great job imitating sounds we make. 

Okay, and here are the pictures!  Enjoy and send me car comments! I'd love to hear what you think about either model.

Caitlin and Baba at the Gypsy picnic - great food!

Evan and Caitlin on their first wagon ride together

Fun times at the Blankenship Wienie Roast!

Evan and one of his best friends Avery enjoying smores

Caitlin crawling on all 4s!

Yo, Mom, look at me!

Caitlin turns 9 months!

I know, I'm late again but so much has been happening that it's hard to keep up!  We had to push Caitlin's 9 month appointment until this past week because we were out of town when I'd originally scheduled her appointment and then we couldn't fit it in until this last week.  So, that's my excuse :)

But, she turned 9 months a few weeks ago.  Crazy!  She's doing great. Here are the stats from the Dr. 

Weight: 17 lbs. 7 oz (25%)

Height: 27.5 in (50%)

Head: 17.5 cm (70%)

Note, that her weight is actually kind of low, but just 2 days earlier she was at the Dr. and weighed about 17 lbs. 13 oz... between then and her appointment she was sick with an ear infection and just not eating much so I think she might have lost a little weight.  Still, she seems very healthy.  Overall, the Dr. said she is doing great and right on with her milestones.  She now will start eating solids 3 times a day and we will add meat at her dinner feeding.  She seems to really love all the foods.  She has liked everything we have tried so far.  She is picking up puffs/cheerios with her thumb/finger really well and putting them in her mouth. She is exclusively eating formula now but is doing great with it.

 She passes food and toys between hands.  She loves to bang on things either with her hands or toys on the ground.  She is crawling EVERYWHERE and loves to be moving... although she still is doing a sort of modified army crawl (not really doing the traditional on all 4s thing yet).  She enjoys standing and tries to pull up on things.  Her newest thing is to stick out her tongue all the time.  She wants to grab everything and put it in her mouth. 

This past month was busy with her baptism (which I blogged about).  We had a very full weekend then and seems like every weekend since with playgroups, birthday parties, halloween parties, etc.  We went to the pumpkin patch one day also which was lots of fun.  With Evan in preschool, she gets two days a week where it's just her and the nanny so I think she is really enjoying that. She says ma-ma, ba-ba, da, ga, and loves to just babble to herself.  She still has just the two teeth although I think she's getting more soon. 

She has been sleeping great.  Usually about 11 hours at night.  If we are home, she'll take a morning nap for about an 1.5.  However, most of the time we are running around with activities so she just kind of naps a little here and there.  She will take a long afternoon nap of at least 2 hours (longer if there wasn't much of a morning nap).  I really can't complain!  The best part is that she and Evan nap at the same time for the most part in the afternoon so I can really get some time to myself - by that I mean clean house, do laundry, cook dinner, do work. 

One of my favorite pictures from the month

I'm trying to think what else she was doing by 9 months but I can't think of much at the moment.  She's doing wonderful though and is just a joy in ours lives.  We love her so much and are thankful everyday that she's part of our family.  Time is just flying by... hard to believe it's almost Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and then her first birthday!  And actually since I'm so late writing this, she'll be 10 months in just under 2 weeks. I uploaded her 9 month pics to the blog (see the right hand side of the blog for her album or just click on the very last picture which will take you to the picasa web album).  Enjoy!

Caitlin with our nanny Elizabeth and her daughter Lucy (who just loves Caitlin and whom Evan loves to play with).  They helped me try to get Caitlin to sit still for these pictures... we weren't very successful at getting a great shot, but what can you do!

Click this picture to be taken to her 9 month album!