Christmas Card Out-takes

No explanation needed, just my attempts at getting everyone in their holiday garb. It is quite an adventure to get 4 looking at the camera...and not crying. :)

Catching up...

I'm using the break to catch up on our holiday fun. We had a pretty quiet December in terms of picture worthy activities, but not in terms of actual volume. The kids have been very excited for Christmas and I think they all had a great day yesterday. I will post our Christmas pictures soon.

In the mean time, here are pictures from our post-Thanksgiving weekend traditions. We went downtown on Black Friday to do a little shopping and enjoy the fireworks and tree lighting. Then on Saturday we picked out and cut down a Christmas tree. It is probably one of my favorite weekends of the year. I love the start of the Christmas season.

The boys waiting for the tree lighting. We bought them light sabers from a street vendor to pass the time. I'm sure the people around us really appreciated the sword fights in the middle of a huge crowd. Lucky for us, they were both broken by the end of the next day.

Trying to pick out a tree and coral the kids. It felt like they were constantly running different directions!

"The" tree. I think we're blocking it, but its the one behind us. :)

Headed to the car...
Mmmm...hot chocolate!
Laney Beth decorating the tree. This was her first time to help. She took a lot of decorations off the tree too, but she had fun.

I will post more pictures in the next few days. I have some good outtakes from my attempt to get a picture for the Christmas card! Happy Holidays!

Just playing around...

I just wanted to share some recent pics of the kids playing around. They're getting so big!

Doing a little shopping for dinosaurs. The "middles". They are always together and usually in trouble.

Candy!
Happy kiddo! We finally found a place he likes to be and I can get 10 mins without tears!
She's ready to go!
Will helping Laney Beth change her dolls.
Delaney carries her babies everywhere--even to play with cars.

Happy Halloween...Finally

I'm not going to lie. I somehow managed to get through two Halloween parties and trick or treating without taking any pictures. So, after a request from Aunt Kristin, I made the kids dress up again just so we could get some shots. :) Here are a few of the kids in their costumes. It was a somewhat reluctant photo shoot, but Obi Wan, Super Why (yes, AGAIN--he insisted) and two little monkeys finally complied.

We have a 6 year old!

It doesn't seem possible that Ian is six, but its official, 6 going on 18...

Too early to get up, so he curled up with Conor for a morning nap. Had to share this sweet one...

Conor says hello

I've been trying to get some video of Conor talking, but he usually stops as soon as he sees the camera. Finally got some on video with the help of Michael. He is SO loud! :)

(sorry about the video quality...I am having technical difficulties)

Delaney at school and other updates.

Delaney started school a few weeks ago and has really been doing great. We did have some crying last week (I think the honeymoon was over), but she is back to enjoying herself and there were no tears yesterday.

This is the same program that Will was in at Kindering. She goes twice a week for an hour and a half. Laney obviously isn't receiving services so she is considered a "peer model". I'm not sure how much "modeling" she is doing since she rarely talks or interacts with any of the other kids, but oh well. :) One thing that has been fun is that four kids in the class had older siblings in Will's class so now all the "babies" are in school together. It is great reconnecting with the other families.

It has also worked out well for me since William goes to OT every other week while Laney is in school. I was worried I would be making another trip, but we were able to make the schedule work. Pretty convenient. William is working with an OT now rather than a PT to help with balance and coordination issues. They are concentrating on the sensory aspect of Will's balance problems. It seems that he has the strength he needs, but he needs to learn to use his eyes and also learn to block out distractions. Hopefully we'll see some improvement with his new therapist. She really seems great!

Conor is really growing. He is so quick to smile and babbles so much. I could just hold him and talk to him all day! We are still having some crying jags, but they seem to be getting shorter and I'm hoping they will start to disappear. I'm not sure if the reflux meds are working or if he's just growing out of it, but I'm glad to say that things are definitely better.

On to the pictures...

Laney Beth in circle time. She was taking it all in and would NOT look at the camera. The parents join the kids for opening and closing circle. Laney cries if I'm late or even the last one in the room at closing circle. I'm trying to get better about getting in there fast! :)

Look how big I'm getting!

Big grins!

Delaney needed to show Conor how to do it. She doesn't like to be left out of anything.

The kids are doing well and settling in to school. Ian's teacher said they would start bringing homework home in October. We'll see how that goes. He is really working on learning to read and I think he'll get there soon. He doesn't like that anyone in his class can do anything that he can't, so I think the peer pressure is going to be a good motivator. Ian is also starting chess club tomorrow. I'm excited to see what he thinks about it.

That's all our news. Hard to believe its almost October but this time of year always seems to fly by. Probably because I'm always rushing to get something done. I think I'm always a step behind until February. Just when I settle into the routine its summer time! :) Oh well...life with little ones I guess.

First Soccer Game and Blackberry Picking

We had a great weekend. Summer finally arrived (I think it is warmer now than it was in July or August) and seems to be sticking around for awhile. We've had lots of sunny days in the 80's lately and I even had to buy Ian shorts for his uniform. I'm not complaining though, I'm glad that it waited until after Conor was born so that we could all enjoy it. The kids have enjoyed getting outside and we are soaking up as much sun as possible before it disappears for the winter.

Ian had his first soccer game on Saturday afternoon. His team won 3-1 so he was a very proud kiddo. He is playing on a CYO team and most of the kids on his team are in his kindergarten class. St. Joe's is really turning out to be a great community. We are already seeing a lot more of the other families and I can see why everyone loves the school so much.

Ian loves anything to do with sports these days so he is really enjoying soccer. He is anxiously waiting for the day he can start football and we're looking for other sports to try once soccer is over. And of course, he can't wait for baseball season to start. So far, baseball is still his favorite.


A few action shots...


Throwing the ball back into play.

A tip from his coach.

All smiles after the game.

Sunday afternoon Ian and I went out to pick blackberries. They grow wild all around the area so this has become a tradition for Ian. One year Nana took him and one year Grammi took him so this was my first time. We found plenty and we're planning to make a cobbler tomorrow.

Standing on a step stool to get the high ones. They trimmed back most of the bushes so we had to work a little harder this year. Notice the gap in his smile. He lost his second tooth a few hours after this picture was taken so the gap is even bigger now and the tooth fairy keeps having to make late night runs to the ATM...she really needs to keep more cash on hand!
Look at all those berries!

Filling up his bucket.

It was a fun relaxing weekend. Lots of football and family. I love the fall!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Ian started kindergarten this morning. He goes to school all day and I picked up one exhausted, but happy kiddo this afternoon. Last night he told me he was worried, but he was all smiles when I dropped him off this morning. He really enjoys both of his teachers (one is the K teacher and one is the kindergarten enrichment teacher) and we have heard nothing but positive things about them from all the other parents at St. Joe's. Most importantly (to Ian), he has some friends in class and gets to see all the other boys from pre-school at recess. Speaking of recess, it must be fun because he was as dirty as he was tired...sign of a great day for a 5 year old boy!

Getting settled for the day, finding cubbies and putting away their lunch.

Checking out the kindergarten enrichment room with his buddy Chris.

All in all I think we had a successful first day of school. I managed to have no tears, but I still can't believe our baby is in "real" school now. Time is flying...

Bellevue Botanical Gardens "photo shoot"

We spent the morning at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens taking pictures. If I were a better (much better) photographer, some of these might have turned out (i.e. might have been in focus). The kids are cute though...when they aren't blurry. I think I need a faster camera or shutter speed to keep up with them. We had a fun morning looking at flowers and mostly playing in the dirt/gravel pathways. Enjoy the pictures!