Christmas Card 2011

Dylans Gifts to Us

After receiving Emersyn's Christmas gift, I was anxious to get Dylan's. Gifts made by my kiddos are the best!
Dylan gave us a cinnamon Christmas tree ornament and an ornament with his handprint on it. They are both cute and he was so proud of them. My favorite is the snowmen made from his tiny handprint. I let him hang them both on the tree.

We leave tonight for Buffalo. We are driving 12 hours through the night, in hopes the kids will sleep.. ( sigh)
We can't wait to get there!

Stay tuned.....

Snowman Foot

I wanted to share the gift we received from Emersyn. Her teachers helped her make it :-) It's a pot holder with Santa on one side and her snowman footprint on the other. We love it! It's hanging in our kitchen.

Emersyn is 7 months

On December 10th Emersyn turned 7 months. Every month I wonder where the time has gone. She is growing leaps and bounds developmentally and in size. This month I ordered a bunch of headbands for Emersyn, so I decided it was flower power time! It was nude shots (with a diaper on), and some of the headbands I bought her. I was so excited about the headbands, I forgot to use the 7 month sticker and her teddy bear. Oops!

Emersyn almost weighs 20lbs. She is very tall and a solid rock! She isn't crawling yet, but rolling all over to get to her destination. She has the beginning mechanics of crawling, just isn't quite there. She grabs at anything and everything, and puts EVERYTHING in her mouth! I have a feeling teeth are on the way. She is eating infant oatmeal, veggies, fruits, and the occasional rice bar that melts in her mouth as she nibbles on it. Emersyn is a happy baby and loves to laugh. She has a hearty laugh too! She can be sweet and cuddly, but has a sassy streak. (I have NO IDEA where she gets that from..wink, wink!) She is taking interest in the dogs, loves her Daddy, and thinks Dylan is hilarious. She is a Mommy's girl lately and I love it!

She completes are family and we love her to pieces. I still can't believe she is 7 months!

My sweet angel! How can you not love those chubby rolls on her legs?!?!?

I tried and tried to flip this picture, but it just wouldn't cooperate. I love her expression here.

I love the color teal on her. It brings out her eye color. So far we've been lucky with those baby blues. I hope they stay. Her auburn hair, fair skin, and blue eyes make her the beauty she is!

Her hair is growing so much, the scar from her surgery barely shows. Up close you can see some areas but for the most part it's fading and her hair covers it nicely.

A baby girl, one of the most beautiful miracles in life, one of the greatest joys we can ever know, and one of the reasons why there is a little extra sunshine, laughter and happiness in our world today.

Big Girl

We've been feeding Emersyn in the swaddle seat or her Bumbo. We finally decided to pull out the high chair. She is sitting up independently and fully ready, but this means she's officially a big girl! I guess I can't delay the inevitable!

Elf On The Shelf

Last year my sister gave us Elf on the Shelf as a gift. This year we started it, hoping to start a new tradition. For those of you that aren't familiar with the concept, I copied and pasted the description so that you would get an idea of how it all works.

HOW IT WORKS: The kit comes with an elf doll and a book. The book explains
that Santa has sent an elf to watch over the children and the elf reports back
to Santa each night. The kids get to decide the name for the elf together - this
is a touch decision! You read through the book with your child, it explains all
the rules, then each night you move the elf to a new spot. One of the rules is
that the children cannot touch him - this is a great rule because although he's
a sturdy doll, I think he might get loved out much too quickly if they were
allowed! The author was so thoughtful to think of all these helpful
rules.
Rules: * The children cannot touch the elf or he will lose his
magic * The elf can listen to what the children tell him, but cannot talk
back, that's Santa's law. * The elf flies back to the North Pole each night
and tells Santa what he has seen - when he comes back he goes to a new spot in
the house.The kids start searching for the elf immediately when they
wake up! Knowing Santa is watching has definitely motivated them to be a behave
a bit better! This cute little tradition makes the Christmas season more fun.
It's a very special tradition in our house. I love that the book has an old
fashioned feel to it, the illustrations are wonderful.

Our Elf's name is Jingle. Jingle has been busy reporting back to Santa over the last few weeks. It took Dylan the first few days to understand and get the hang of it, but now he looks forward to finding Jingle each morning. As he walks down the stairs he yells "Where's Jingle?". He looks and looks, and with excitement he points and smiles daily when Jingle is found.

Zack is in charge of moving Jingle. Finding new spots for him is a challenge because we don't want Dylan to touch him. If given the opportunity, Dylan WILL TRY and touch him. That brings me to poor Jingle. He has been a busy little elf. Overall, Dylan is a wonderful, sweet little boy, but these days he is entering a new stage. He spends many moments in his room or in time out. So we are constantly reminding him that Jingle is watching and that Santa won't come if he has to many 'naughty' days. For the most part it's working, but there are moments Dylan gives us the " Who really cares if that dumb elf tells Santa, I don't' want presents anyway" look. Yes my son has an evil side. Forget the terrible two's, he is almost three and we are going to be experiencing the terrible three's.

We are enjoying this new tradition. Hopefully it will continue to work. It's something fun to incorporate into the holiday season. I included some of the places we've placed Jingle. We can't repeat any spots because Dylan has a good memory. Every few days he will tell me all of the spots Jingle has been.

Hopefully Jingle will have good news for Santa over the next two weeks. Time is ticking and Dylan REALLY wants presents.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Elf Yourself

Every year I upload our photo's to the Office Max Elf Yourself site.

Here is our link. I'm hoping it works!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/xpJhVpFkacrAACiQhtvm

Christmas Program

On Tuesday night, the daycare I work at and the kids attend, put on a Christmas Program. Each classroom sang a holiday song. Dylan's class sang Feliz Navidad, my class sang Rudolph, and Emerysn's teachers recited The Night Before Christmas.

For 2 weeks we practiced Feliz Navidad with Dylan. He knew all of the words and sang them proud. On performance night there were almost 100 people. He quietly sang parts of the song, and in between picked his noes and had his fingers in his mouth. The other kids didn't really sing either. It was hilarious. Some cried, one danced, and the majority just stood there looking scared. 100 parents staring at a group of 2 year olds, yup, that can be intimidating. They were so cute though!!! We are proud of him.

Emersyn and a few of her friends wore pajamas. They were put in Bumbo seats and all placed in one crib. They looked adorable! We bought Emersyn snowflake pajamas that were 6-9 months. She looked like a stuffed sausage!!! A very beautiful stuffed sausage! The pajamas were new and never worn. So it was either the brand or our little baby girl is ready for the next size at her ripe age of 7 months.

The program was cute. Zack got both kids on video. Unfortunately I don't have the time to figure out how to upload it from the camera to here. We will share it with family when we go home.

We are proud of our little holiday performers!

Decorating for Christmas

Over Thanksgiving weekend we decorated the house for Christmas. This year Dylan was very involved and excited about everything. He helped with the tree, hanging ornaments, window lights, and various decorations around the house. The look on his face every time he opened a new tub of decorations was priceless. He would yell " Look at this Mommy!".

Last year was fun, but as Dylan gets older Christmas takes on a new meaning. He understands more, gets excited easily, and makes the spirit of the holidays come alive. Emersyn is still to young, but she is very aware of the tree. She tries to grab the branches if she is close by, and is in awe of the lights. I tried to capture some moments as we decorated. Enjoy!

This year we purchased an artificial tree. I love the smell of a real tree in the house, but the needles are a pain and make our vacuum smell. Plus we only get to enjoy it for a few weeks since we go home to Buffalo each year. Eventually I'd like to have a real tree as well, but that won't come until we have a bigger house.

Dylan was Zack's little helper as he unpacked the tree. I think the bubble wrap was more fun than unwrapping everything!

By the look on Dylan's face, it apparently took to long to get the tree up. He was anxiously awaiting the next step.....decorating it!

My little man! I can't believe he is almost 3!!!! Isn't he so handsome?!?!?!?

I couldn't resist posting this picture. Dylan loves to lay next to Emersyn. He tries to show her how to crawl and move. Zack was talking to them and I captured the moment.

Daddy Elf and his helper! They did a great job helping me throughout the weekend.

Here is our final product. Dylan messed the tree skirt up right as I was about to take the picture. Arrrr!

Happy Holidays!

The Cleaning Man

When Dylan is in the mood to clean, he can be very helpful. Cleaning is on his terms apparently. Somehow regardless of the mess he makes, we always end up cleaning it up. On a good day he will help. This is all a work in progress.
For some reason when I dust he wants to help. I have a dust cloth and so does he. I'm not sure why he loves to dust, but I'll take what I can get. This past week he had just finished going potty and refused to put pants on. So I let him clean pantsless, which as you will see is very cute. How can you resist those cute little legs!!!?? After he is finished dusting, he goes outside and shakes the cloth. I think this part is funny. Hey, whatever motivates him to help is all I care about. So if you ever need a cleaning man who specializes in dusting, I know just the guy!

Ladybug at School

Every now & then I like to take pictures of Emersyn at school. She has now been in daycare just shy of 2 months.

Day 30: 30 Days of Thankfulness

I'm thankful that I did this. I've had 30 days to reflect on things I'm thankful for.

But after 30 days, I am thankful this is over and that tomorrow I don't have to do this! The pressure to blog everyday is tough! I like to do it but I find that some days I just don't have that spare moment.

Goodbye November! Hello & Welcome December!

Day 29: 30 Days of Thankfulness

Today I am thankful for the places we've lived and the experiences we've had.

I'm also thankful the mistakes I've made. Without them, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I've learned and grown from each mistake.

Day 28: 30 Days of Thankfulness

Zack left for a business trip today. It was very hard to say goodbye for a few days. He will be back on Thursday, which seems like forever to me. I hate being home alone and this will be the first time with all four kids by myself. Today I am thankful Zack's flights went well and that he arrived in California safely. Boo to business trips!

On a side note, I got home from work, fed the dogs, fed the kids, walked the dogs with the kids in the stroller, played with Dylan and Emersyn, put Emersyn to bed, read to Dylan and put him to bed, started a small load of laundry, and now I'm off to complete the rest of my parenting tasks before sitting down. So hopefully the kids and dogs sleep well: Day 1: Success!

Day 26 & 27: 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 26: Today I'm thankful for forgiveness, to forgive and be forgiven.

Day 27: I'm thankful for having a great 4 day weekend with my family. I'm also thankful today for quiet moments. Our life is so busy and constantly crazy that quiet moments are appreciated more than ever.

The Carousel

Dylan is not one for adventure. He is hesitant to try new things. For example, it took us forever to get him on a slide.

We've been to the mall many times and many times we've asked if he wanted to ride the carousel. What kid wouldn't? Dylan is the kid that loves to watch but not ride. So yesterday when we asked him if he wanted to go on I expected the same answer as usual. I was surprised when he was practically jumping out of his shoes with excitement as he shouted 'YES!'. $1.75 later, Daddy and Dylan were happily riding the carousel. Dylan smiled the entire time as his horse went up and down. He waved to me every time he passed by. When the ride finished he got off and asked to ride again.
We praised him for his bravery, something we've been working on.

I wanted to share his experience because he's come a long way. We are very proud of him!

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving started off bright and early at 6:30. Sleeping in is not a possibility in our house. We spent the morning playing, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, making arts and crafts, and webcaming with my family. I'd have to say, it was very relaxing and enjoyable. Emersyn is suffering from a bad cold, so she napped periodically throughout the day. Zack prepped our turkey a day in advance. He uses a new recipe each year and this year the turkey had lots of prep work. Zack loves to make the turkey year after year. We ate around 5 and it was mighty delicious. Poor Zack, he slaves in the kitchen for over a day and we eat in 15 minutes. It was tasty and he did a wonderful job making everything. I am lucky to have a husband that cooks! The day was what we envisioned, fun, fattening, relaxing, and making memories together.

I tried to capture Emersyn when she was happy. Suffering from a bad cold isn't fun for anyone and she was fussy most of the day. The times that she was happy I tried to capture. Dylan on the other hand is challenging to photograph. He doesn't sit still and won't look at the camera. I could do flips and he won't look. So lately all I'm getting is the goofy faces.

When Emersyn was sleeping, we sat and worked with foam shapes. Dylan loves to peel the paper off of the stickers. He made the yellow one, I made the pink one, and Zack made the blue one. As you can tell, Daddy really got into it!

Of course I had to share a picture of the cook and his master piece. Oh, and we had windows open as it was in the 60's yesterday.

I thought this picture was funny. Niko & Blitz love Thanksgiving for obvious reasons. We always include them in our feast. They never beg from Zack because he doesn't share. So Dylan and I are the targets. Dylan gets mad at them for begging and staring at him.

We had apple pie for dessert. Dylan only ate the whip cream. Go figure!

While the kids were sleeping at nap time, we decided to goof around and take silly pictures of ourselves. We used to do that all of the time, but now I'm always taking pictures of the kids. So here we are....the Mr. & the Mrs.

Oh I forgot to mention how amazing Zack is. My plan was to hit up Walmart late in the evening. They had a toy sale at 10 and I wanted to get some deals on Dylan's Christmas gifts. As the night approached I was exhausted. My wonderful husband volunteered to go for me. The store was crazy busy, but he was successful in finding what we needed.

We hope everyone had a wonderful turkey day. We are thankful for so many things in life!

Day 25: 30 Days of Thankfulness

I'm thankful for my husband going out last night at 9pm with all of the crazy shoppers. We got Dylan some cool things at a great discount. Zack volunteered to go because I was so tired. What a guy!!!
Today he put up the tree, hung lights, and cleaned out my car. I'm thankful for his hard work!

Day 24: 30 Days of Thankfulness

I am thankful for this day. Good food and making memories with my family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Boys Day Out

Dylan has been in need of some one- on- one time with us. Sharing the spot light can be hard for him at times. Today Zack had the day off and decided to make it a Daddy & Dylan day. They went to Chick- Fil-A for lunch and played on the indoor playground. After Dylan's nap Daddy took him to Crowder Park. They had some male bonding time before picking up Emersyn. Once home, they continued to play with Legos, cars, and wrestle. They both seemed to have an enjoyable time together. Below are some pictures Zack took at the park, plus my one bad cell phone picture of them building a Lego robot.

Day 23: 30 Days of Thankfulness

This fortune says it all. I am thankful to have everything I need in life. Family, friends, a home, a job, food, love, and laughter.

School Feast

Today was the Thanksgiving Feast at daycare. Each class had their own feast. Families were invited to join in on the yummy food and fun. Zack brought Emersyn (who was home on a sick day) and ate lunch with Dylan. I stopped in and took some pictures before heading back to prepare my own class for lunch. I took Dylan's picture with his teachers Ms. Brittnay and Ms. Megan. Both Daddy and Dylan ate lots of delicious food and had a great time.