Ooops!

Sorry, I just realized it's been a while since my last post. It's just been so busy around here! Anyway, not much to report since Christmas. We had a nice celebration with Dan's side of the family on Saturday. Here's Katie chilling out with Uncle Doug. It's actually a rare moment for Doug, usually he's running around causing trouble with the other kids. :)

Here we all are enjoying dinner.


That's pretty much been the excitement since Christmas, although things got pretty exciting yesterday when my brother-in-law Gary gave us some of his homemade crushed red pepper to take home... He grows the best hot peppers in his garden (I can't even get regular peppers to grow in mine) and we're trying to convince him to sell his salsa/sauces/spices. Anyway, here's another photo I forgot to share the other day. Just before Christmas I came downstairs and found Owen like this.

He just decided he wanted an orange, so he climbed up on the counter and started peeling one for himself.

Lovely Holidays

We had a really really nice Christmas. Well, Katie was pathetically sick and by the time dinner rolled around Dan was too, but besides that, everything was really nice. Owen was SO good. He didn't go to bed until 10pm last night and he woke up yesterday morning at 7:30. With all of the excitement I expected some major meltdowns, but he was really good. Actually, Katie was really good too, considering how sick she was. Anyway, I'll try to give you as many pictures as I can...
Here's Owen getting ready to read "The Night Before Christmas" in our bed. One of my favorite Christmas memories is of my Dad reading it to all of us in their bed.

This is Katie with her first present ever! She didn't quite understand how to open it but she really enjoyed banging on the paper. Even today when I surrounded her with new toys she climbed over everything and went for the light cord.

Here she is enjoying Owen's truck. I think she liked this truck more than he did! She wouldn't leave it alone!

Here's Owen opening his Batman costume...

Santa was a little off on the sizing for that one...

and here he is "spinning a web" ...one of these days I'll get video of him singing the theme song. It's so cute!

Then we had a picture-taking session. At least 5 of the pictures I took had her trying to grab him. She adores her big brother... luckily he adores her as well.


In the afternoon we went over to Meredith and Kevin's to celebrate with the family and have dinner. We also had to open the sleigh-full of toys that Santa left at Grammy and Grampy's house. Seriously, I think Santa filled his sleigh, went to Grammy and Grampy's, emptied the sleigh, and then went home to reload for all the other kids. :) Here's Katie relaxing with Grammy.

And Dan with his "cool winter hat" that Bobby bought for him.

Caroline disguising herself as a present...

Uncle Kevin helping Owen with the new headlamp they bought for him...

and Katie tasting her new gloworm.

So, once again we had a wonderful Christmas and I was reminded of just how lucky we all are. Of course I have more pictures and cute things that happened, including a choice gift given to Caroline by her Uncle Matt, but I think I'll pace myself... just in case my kids don't do anything cute for the next few days. :)

A Star is Born!

The musical talent continues to run in the family...

Stay tuned...

I just wanted to share a quick, though disgusting, story with everyone. At 3am this morning Katie woke up, still miserable because of this darn tooth... so I went in and fed her and sat her up to burp her and she promptly threw up. Luckily I was covered with a burp cloth, so I just had to change her, during which she continued to cry and scream and try to wake up the neighborhood. Once I had her in new pj's I sat back in the rocking chair and started to rub her back... she promptly threw up again, all over the chair cushion and my shirt and her fresh clothes and... wait for it... MY HAIR!!! So of course I started crying. :) I mean, what else is there to do at 3am when you find yourself with a sick screaming baby and vomit in your hair? Luckily I have Dan and he jumped up when he saw I was crying and he changed her so I could clean up myself. Of course by then Owen was awake and had moved himself into our bed. Needless to say, I had a great night's sleep! Anyway, here it is, 9am and I finally get to take a shower. I better hurry before I lose my chance!

Stay tuned for more today... I'm hoping Meredith will let me share a Caroline video with you all.

More teething!

Well, here comes Katie's second tooth. I'm making that assumption because she woke up with a terrible cold, all sorts of green stuff coming out of her nose and a very thick cough. Here she is being pathetic.



On the plus side, she's already taken 3 naps today and it's not even 4:00pm! So Owen and I were able to go play in the snow. I will admit that at first I was not excited about the prospect of freezing my tush off, but we did have fun. We built the coolest snow fort since 1989! We had two different rooms and places to sit and Owen even decorated it with pieces of ice and a bubble blower! Very cool. Then we had some fun trying to walk around the house. Keep in mind here that Owen is not making it all the way into the snow with his 40lb. body while I had snow jamming up my pant legs.



He also had a good time trying to climb the wall of snow next to our driveway.



I'm actually looking forward to going outside again tomorrow. :)

The lull after the storm

Okay, there actually wasn't ever a lull here. I'm pretty sure there was supposed to be a lull.... like, a whole day! Anyway, Friday's storm ended sometime this morning but we're not sure when because today's storm had already started. So Owen and I went out to shovel this morning and I was almost done when I fell on my face... then again flat on my back. Of course both times I was laughing hysterically, probably adding to my neighbors suspicion that I'm a nutcase. Anyway, that's when I gave up and came inside. Just about that time Dan came out to finish the driveway and then had to shovel what I had already done because it was covered again. So here we are, about 9 hours later and Dan has just gone back outside to shovel some more because enough snow has fallen since the last shoveling that he can't get out of the driveway for work tomorrow. Of course, I'm sure he'll be out there again in the morning because the snow hasn't actually stopped yet! Yeah, I don't think I'll be watching the weather channel anymore.

Can you believe I went the whole day without taking any pictures? Here's one from the archives. :)

You are in for a treat!

Wow! There's so much excitement going on here my blog just might overflow today! Earlier we were watching Independence Day on TV... it was that scene where all the spaceships arrive over the major cities, so Dan, Owen and I were pretty glued to the TV. All of a sudden, Dan says, "look at Katie!" and much to our surprise, she was sitting up all by herself!



Then, she spotted the tube that Owen likes to play with and she was off!



Yeah, I know what you're thinking... I'm in trouble. The other excitement of today is this snowstorm. This snowstorm that was supposed to end at about 3am but instead is still going strong right now. Dan, Owen and I headed out this morning to shovel the driveway. Luckily our neighbor came over and used his snowblower to do the bottom where it's always the hardest. After about two hours I came inside to take care of Katie but Owen and Dan stayed out to have fun.



Okay, that's it for now. I'm sure I'll have more fun stuff tomorrow... especially if this snow doesn't stop!

Snowy Days and Christmas cookies

It's been a lazy snowy day. It took us a little while to get moving this morning. First Katie and Owen watched Word World.



Then, as the snow began to fall in the afternoon, Caroline and Meredith came over to decorate Christmas cookies.




Now, it's almost 5pm and I'm trying to decide what to make for dinner with my chicken... it's amazing how a long day of doing nothing can make you so exhausted!

Icy conditions

Today Owen and I went outside and tried to chip the ice off the driveway so it wouldn't be there for the big storm coming tomorrow. For some reason, in my head, it makes sense that we shouldn't have that layer of ice underneath all the snow... right? Anyway, here's Owen enjoying himself.

burritos and beans

We figured out a way to keep Owen under control... it was Dan's idea. I decided it was time to introduce Katie to something other than cereal and applesauce... so we tried green beans, my favorite vegetable. I don't think she was a fan.

Boys are fun?

You know, every time I find out someone has boys I always say the same thing, "boys are fun." I think I'm going to stop saying that. I still think boys are fun, but there's more than just fun... and I'm finding that out these days. Boys are loud and rough and like to yell at you and jump on you and hit things and smash things and create chaos wherever they go. I think I'm going to start saying that. "Congratulations! You're having a boy! Enjoy this next year or so because pretty soon your beautiful sweet little boy will become a crazy screaming shooting hitting jumping madman." Do you think that will scare people off? Does it sound like maybe Owen is wearing me out?

Well, Katie had her 6 month checkup yesterday. She's 15 lbs. 13 oz. and almost 28 inches long. She made it through all of the shots and seems to be growing perfectly. Here she is having a nice conversation with Owen during dinner yesterday... also a good example of the loud factor.

4-year old for sale (DISCLAIMER: the following post is not a serious offer to sell my child)

Attention everyone! I am currently selling a 4-year old boy. He's extremely cranky, opinionated, and thinks he's in charge wherever he goes. If you know of anyone who might be interested, I can guarantee that he'll be a perfect angel for you... as long as his parents aren't around.



So you all may have heard about the ice storm. Actually, I think most of you reading this experienced it firsthand. I think we were pretty lucky here. We lost power from 1am Friday to about 6pm the same day. It was unfortunate for me because I was supposed to have a pampered chef party that night and had to cancel it. But it was fun too because we loaded up the car and went down to Grammy and Grampy's for the night, where Auntie and Caroline were also staying. We made the decision to drive down at about 3:30 that afternoon and about an hour after we arrived Dan called to say we had power back. Here are a few pictures of Kaitlyn enjoying the storm before we left the house.

rub a dub dub two cuties in a tub

Owen and Katie took their sort-of first bath together. I seem to remember trying it once before but it was too hard to hold her up in the tub. Anyway, here they are trying it again now that Owen can comfortably hold Katie for short periods of time. Of course, as soon as I stopped taping he decided to try to lay her down in the tub. Don't worry, I know never to leave him alone with her, in or out of the tub... just in case anyone was worried.:)

grandkids

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Really really quick!

I only have a minute because Dan is sick so he's sleeping in the guest bed tonight so he doesn't keep me awake or get me sick again. The rest of us are pretty much over our sickness so hopefully it'll end with him. Anyway, no pictures tonight, just two really cute stories.

First Katie. She completely adores Dan. It's really funny, he can hold her for an hour and as soon as I take her she looks at him, starts grinning and laughing like, "Oh! It's you! I didn't know it was you holding me the whole time!" So today something like this happened, and I was holding her and she was grinning at Dan and she said, in this perfect little voice, "Da da." Up until now it's been more of a dadadadada. Today it was just da da. I know, I know, she doesn't know what it means. But it seemed like she did! And we both melted and got all teary eyed like a couple of first-timers. :) She's just so darn adorable!!!

Now Owen. We were sitting eating dinner and I showed him a picture of a rice cooker that I wanted from a catalog. Then I said, "I'm going to get it from Ava's mommy." Sidebar, Ava's mommy is Corinne, who sells pampered chef, and I'm hosting a party next Friday and I want to order this rice cooker. Anyway, Owen said to me, "but how far do you think you have to go to get it? because Ava lives in Kingston and that's near Grammy and Grampy and you have to go through Halifax and Bridgewater to get there!" No joke! These words actually came out of his mouth! It's been at least a few weeks since we've seen Ava or talked about the town where she lives, so obviously my kid is a genius!

Okay, that's my quickie for tonight. I'm off to bed. More coming tomorrow. :)

Christmas Elves

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For Mom and Dad

I'm only posting for Grammy and Grampy because they're on vacation and probably missing the kids like crazy, so here's something to hold them over. This was yesterday when we were waiting for Meredith to come pick them up. Usually about this time in the day I run out of ideas and they start getting antsy. Also, that is Katie in the background rolling around on the floor trying to figure out how to get close enough to grab the tree.



Sorry to disappoint, but that's it for today. I'm going back to making dinner. Dan will be home at 6:30ish and then I'm going upstairs to crawl under the covers and be sick and feel sorry for my sniffling self.

Gingerbread mania!

Caroline came over and we made gingerbread people today. Now, I call them gingerbread people because I put dresses on some so they aren't all men, not because I'm trying to be politically correct. Anyway, it was fun and messy and sugary. Now that I think about it, those three adjectives usually describe what we do when Caroline comes over. I'm about to make some sugar cookie dough to freeze for the next time she's here. So here are some pics of the day.
Here is Caroline working hard on decorating her last cookie. She worked so hard and then she ate it! I tried to convince her to bring it home but she wanted to eat it.

This one is Owen eating his last cookie. Can you believe they both lost interest after decorating only three cookies each!

Here's some of the final product. I obviously enjoyed decorating the 14 cookies they didn't want to do.

This is the two of them watching The Jungle Book afterwards. My way of trying to keep them calm while the sugar works its way out of their systems. Yes, those are Caroline's socks next to her on the couch. She never wears socks!

Well, I hear Katie crying. She's still sick so I can't really let her cry too long these days, makes me feel too guilty. Until next time!

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse...

Now they're both sick. The worst part, aside from them being sick, is that when Owen is sick you only know it because he's very cranky and disgusting things come out of his nose. Needless to say, he didn't go to school today.
And I really thought Katie was getting better, but now I think she's worse. Poor thing. Of course, I was also convinced that she had teeth a month ago and they have yet to appear.
Here's another example of pathetic Katie. Loosely translated, she's saying, "oh mommy, i just don't feel well at all, and i'm so tired but i can't seem to sleep, but maybe this pluggy will help if i can just get it into my mouth."

Pathetically sick

So Katie is sick. It's pretty pathetic. She's all red cheeked and red nosed and leaking out of everywhere. And even though she's really tired, she's not really sleeping. This picture doesn't really do it justice.
Poor thing, huh?

Owen on the other hand, is doing just fine. He seems to have the energy she's lacking. As I write this, he's helping Daddy shred old bills, even though he should be going to bed. Don't worry, they're being careful.

He and Caroline had a nice time with Uncle Bobby and Hillary. We picked them up this morning and within 5 minutes of leaving the house they were arguing and then both of them promptly began crying. I'm guessing they didn't get much sleep. Luckily, Dan and I just decided to laugh about it. Then, when the situation became more dire, we stopped and gave them donuts to eat.

Ahhh.... peace and quiet

So Dan and I enjoyed a nice, quiet night to ourselves while Owen is sleeping over with Caroline at Uncle Bobby's. We took Katie and went to dinner, then came home and watched a movie. Now I'm about to go to bed. It's been quite the struggle trying to stay up this late (9pm). I was ready for bed at 6:30. Anyway, it was a fun day. We put out the Christmas decorations and tree today. I love the holidays! Last year we decided to get a fake tree. It was a financial thing. I like to think that when we are more financially stable we'll get real trees every year, but for now we have this one. So here's Dan putting it up... I used the taking pictures excuse so I didn't have to help much (it's so annoying to put up!).

I gave Owen the job of laying out all the ornaments and candy canes. Then he decided to taste a candy cane while Katie decided to taste an ornament. You can just barely see the string hanging from her mouth. :)

Owen got to put the star on top of the tree this year.

All in all, it was a really fun day. Then we got to ship Owen off to Uncle Bobby's! Perfect!

On another note, Katie stood up holding onto the couch!

Just kidding! :) I totally put her like that. It took me at least three tries before I got the picture. She kept falling over, but at least she was having fun. Kidding again, I caught her every time.

Smorgasbord of kids

I don't really have much creativity today so I think I'll just show off my kids... as opposed to what I usually do. :)

Owen watched a Curious George episode the other day which led to us making ice cubes colored with food coloring. We made a bunch in an ice cube tray and one big one in a tupperware container. This is the one he wanted to take into the bath. So here's Owen enjoying a colorful bath. I had to use this picture because he refused to cover up his "private parts." This was the cutest picture though. :)

This morning Katie was especially excited to play with her baby gym.


Then I left her alone to turn on the dryer and this happened.

my kid is a genius!

I almost didn't post anything today. I'm just so tired! The demon decided to inhabit my adorable 4-year old's body again this afternoon. Luckily Auntie and Uncle Kevin came to the rescue and promptly removed him from my house. It was great. I think Meredith realized that I needed a break when she surprised me with a new pair of yoga pants and I started crying. :) Anyway, Owen wrote his letter to Santa yesterday... well, I wrote it, he dictated it. Let me just say, I didn't get a chance to write down half of what he wanted. He just went on and on. Where does a 4-year old get the idea that "Santa" would bring him all this stuff?!?! So now I'm trying to figure out how to make Christmas a more symbolic, giving holiday for him. I'll keep you posted. Here is a cute picture of his letter. Now, on the Katie front... we're pretty sure she said Dada tonight. Dan came in to tell me she said it and then I took this video... you be the judge.

Leave me alone already!!

I know, I know! It's been a while since the last post. It's truly been nutty in this house, plus, Dan had last week off. That alone threw off my whole schedule. I love having him home, it's a huge help, but frankly, he gets in my way! We have a certain way of doing things and it's all messed up when he stays home. :) We made giant strides at the beginning of the week in our painting project... then we stalled and did nothing the rest of the week. It was too cold out, and as I've said before, I don't like the cold. The one big exciting thing we did was go to the Children's Museum in Boston. I actually can't wait to go back. We brought Caroline with us and Mom and Dad met us there and it was so much fun! Especially since Mom wouldn't let me take Katie the whole day! Anyway, here are some pics from the day...

Owen showing off the boat he made in the Home Depot workshop... possibly the coolest thing there.


Katie taking it all in... not sleeping. Yeah, she didn't sleep the whole day... from 7am until 6:30pm. I think it was a record.


Dan and Dad trying to play a game on the wall. Well, we think it was a game. Although, there could have been a bunch of museum workers nearby laughing at these two old men trying to catch the balls on the wall.


Owen and Dan in Arthur's airplane. I seriously almost took out a couple of these kids. They were far too pushy for my taste. Luckily Dan was in the plane with him... if it had been me I would've "accidentally" elbowed a few of them.


Owen on the climbing thing. He wouldn't come off of it until I forced him. I know, mean Mommy.


This one was outside when we were heading home... just before Caroline fell and bashed her head. Yeah, we almost made it the whole day without injuring her, but I had the great idea to race down the sidewalk. I know, that's why she almost never goes home from our house unscathed.


This last one is in the car on the way home when no one fell asleep.


Now, sorry for the long wait for this lame post, but tomorrow we're going to write a letter to Santa so I'm sure I'll have some fun things to say about that. For now, I have to run off to yoga for my weekly alone time in a room full of sweaty people.

All of a sudden I'm the parent of a teenager

Owen got his library card today. It was really neat. They have a whole setup. They let him borrow a special book about getting your first library card. They string the card with a piece of yarn so you can wear it around your neck. They give you a sticker, and they let you pick a book out of a special box that you can keep forever. He was very excited to have his own card. He picked out books to borrow and carried them up to the counter and handed over his card. All by himself! When we walked out to the car, he was holding all of his books and talking about how Daddy would love the dump truck book and I realized how old he is. It was really sad. :( I know, I know, it was happy at the same time... he's just getting so old!!


Now, Katie is not yet allowed in the library, for the following reason. (make sure you're volume is up)

I WILL be intimidated by the cold.

I decided recently that I would not be afraid of the cold. I don't want to be one of those parents that keeps their family inside all winter because it's too cold to have fun outside. I decided all of this despite the fact that I hate the cold and the snow and winter. Well, today Dan and I thought it would be fun to take the kids for a little hike at Mt.Pisgah here in Northborough. The trail is 3/4 of a mile out to a nice view and then back. Somehow it felt like 10 miles but at least Dan and I were able to keep laughing.

It started out nicely... Owen collecting sticks...


Katie and me all bundled up and ready for the cold...


Finally we made it to the lookout!



Now, Dan had carried Owen the last tenth of a mile or so, but on our way back things went downhill quickly. The boys decided they would campout for the night...


Even though Katie was hanging in there, cold face and all.


Finally, we loaded Owen onto Dan's shoulders and made it back to the car in record time.


Needless to say, I've decided I will be a prisoner to winter. I will hunker down in my house in cozy clothes with hot chocolate and I will not come out until springtime. Well, maybe for a quick snow angel, but that's it!