Santa's Cuties

Happy Chanukah everyone

Carson and I had a great time creating our Menorah today. And he's so proud.

Have a Happy Chanukah everyone!

We're buddies

Thanks Nana!

We had a great visit with Nana before she officially moved to Charlotte to join Pop. The boys really bonded with her and enjoyed every minute.

Magic!

The day after Thanksgiving, we were in for a special treat. With Pop-pop, we attended a showing of Mickey's Magic Show at the Academy of Music. Our seats were wonderful and we saw an amazing, and truly entertaining, magic show. Complete with some of our favorite characters.

Oooh oooh Eeee Eee!

Just monkeying around!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Santa's here! Recently, we attended a "Here Comes Santa Claus" parade at our local mall.

Such a cute picture

I've been holding off on posting these, because we were debating whether to use some for our holiday card. Enjoy the boys' birthday/fall pictures.

New words

Wes' latest words: duck, ball, football, banana, milk, drink, cracker (which means either cracker or pretzel), bread and he can say animal sounds for quite a few animals.

He now loves watching Baby Signing Time, too. (Remember to click that link and shop!)So he's picking up quite a few signs: more, please, fish, cat, bird, water, milk. He also responds to even more than that, as he understands the meaning of most signs he's seen.

Poopie on the potty!!

Believe it or not, he did it! Whether its sitting in timeout for no reason at all, or walking to the toilet saying "poopoo", Wes wants to be a 3 year old.

So we were so excited when, rather than sitting for a minute and then getting down, Wes actually did something.

No, we're not expecting a potty training miracle. But, hey, this is a big deal!

Halloween!

A few pictures of our kiddos last night. Carson is Buzz Lightyear and Wesley is Nemo. They trick or treated with Leah (cowgirl), Sophia (Mater the Towtruck) and Cooper (Monkey) (who didn't make it into any of these pictures, but he sure was cute!) Thanks to Michelle for the pictures!

Go Stangs!

Just givin' a shout out to my team!! Last night's awesome win made it the best season since '86. And the past 6 home games have all been winners. We're sad to miss homecoming on the 11th... its a tough one against Houston. I'll be wearing my SMU sweatshirt. Go SMU!! Read about the game here.

Ahoy there!

Who says you can't have more than one costume? Not our 3-year-old!

Did anyone notice...

Wesley's teeth in all these pictures? In addition to the excitement for Halloween, we're not sleeping well around here. Wesley is in the process of breaking through about 5 or 6 teeth right now. Oh my!

Its time to get a little dirty!

Last night, Steve brought in the pumpkins for some good ol' carving fun. The kids had a great time, until Carson was told it was time to get dirty. At that point, Carson became the supervisor, and Steve and Wesley did the dirty work.

Halloween Party: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!

Our very own Buzz Lightyear buzzed in to wish us a very happy Halloween. See him flying? We were so impressed!

Halloween Party: Finding Nemo

These pictures are from the Halloween Party on Friday night at My Gym. Help us find Nemo!

Milestones: really walking and talking

October has been busy, really busy. Perhaps its all the new shoes he's been testing for me, but Wes is really walking. He would much prefer to walk now, then to be carried... okay, most of the time.

And talking, too! New words include: "boo!", "bye-bye", "thank you", and he loves to say "hi fish." In fact, Wesley loves to say "hi" and "bye-bye" to everything.

Here are a few pictures of him modeling my friend's line of clothing: Little Lubbaloo, and playing with one of his new favorite toys, a pumpkin!

The Patch II

More pictures!

The Patch

Last weekend, Aunt Pam and her friend, Scott, joined us at the Pumpkin Patch. The weather was spectacular--the sky is so perfect it looks like a fake backdrop. We enjoyed a hayride and pumpkin picking. Then, a great time with the animals. Finally, because its a dairy farm, we just had to dig in and enjoy the farm-made ice cream. My favorite was Pumpkin. Wes truly enjoyed his Daddy's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Notice a pattern?

Has anyone else noticed that the kids always get sick when Steve is in Florida? How does he plan that?!

Luckily, he's coming home tonight. I need a nap!

My first call to the emergency line

That's right. Yesterday was supposed to be a nice, quiet day since the boys were sick. It was a beautiful day, so after lunch, I proposed a walk to the totlot. We loaded Wes into our jogger and were off. We got to the totlot, and happily played on the rocking horses and swings. And the boys asked me to push them (well... Carson wanted to be pushed. Wes just happliy swung.)

Higher and higher and suddenly, Carson's swing was going off to the side and as he swung back the back of his head slammed into the wooden pole on the side of the swing. I mean SLAMMED. It was awful. Like slow motion, but there was nothing I could do until it was over. As soon as I could, I grabbed him and pulled him off the swing. He screamed immediately, then the dreaded, long silent scream. Finally, he jumped out of my arms and ran like crazy in circles... as I chased him. He wanted to go back on the swing and up the ladder, but I knew not to let him. When I was finally able to pick him up again, he started telling me that his throat hurt. So, of course, he vomited--projectile and all over both of us. Which really upset him. When he was able to sit, next to Wes' swing, I called the ped.

Of course, we walked to the totlot, so I needed a ride home. I was so fortunate that a friend was home. We got to her house and her older son (5) stayed home with her younger son (2) who was napping. Deb drove us home, twice (I realized when we were home the first time that my keys were in the stroller in her garage.)

Went to the doctor and he checked out Carson. Everything was fine. We were really lucky. No sign of concussion, etc.

All night, everytime I closed my eyes I envisioned the slam. It was awful.

We're really lucky.

And, of course, this happens when Steve is away!

3 down, 4 to go

That's what I said when the pediatrician told me, Thursday, that the boys have Coxsackie, or Hand Foot Mouth, again! There are 7 strains, so we're almost halfway there.

Its a very common childhood virus. Spreads really easily. The kids are fine, actually they're doing much better. Carson took the day off from school yesterday. He could have gone, the virus is so common and he's not officially contagious as you're contagious 2 days before through 2 days after the fever. (They had fevers a week ago Thursday and Friday).

Just little blisters are left on their hands, feet, and inside the mouth. Actually, Wes has hardly any blisters. Carson had a bigger case this time. It was all over his bottom, as well as his legs and back.

More zoo pictures

There were baby lemurs, I'm not sure if they were 3 weeks or 3 months. We were able to sit within 3 feet and watch them play and play. They were so fun as they tumbled and jumped. The kids and I loved them! Adorable!!

To the zoo...

Yesterday was the perfect day for a trip to the zoo! The weather wasn't too hot, so the animals were playful and the kids lasted a while. It was also empty--since school has started and its the beginning of the school year, ie there was only 1 school bus there!, it was midweek also midweek--meaning locals only. A spur of the moment day trip. We enjoyed no lines or crowds, and docents and keepers who wanted to talk and entertain! This time, we did 2 houses we've never ventured in before: Reptiles and Amphibians and Big Cats!

Carson reported his favorite animal of the day were the penguins. They were fun to watch. It was interesting to see how they move in packs. Wesley loved it all... he waved to every animal. My favorite was the baby primates (lemurs.) They were so playful and the kids sat within 2-3 feet of them to watch.

Visiting with the elephants--who were friendlier than ever before. Sadly, their neighbors, the hippos, were sleeping. Carson really wanted to visit them. But the elephants did so much--I loved how they're ears flapped, and they were a great introduction to the zoo.

Did you know...

that a handicapped sign is really a person on the potty?

Take off!

Steve took the boys to the local airport tonight--and we hear it was an exciting night there. Not only was there a medivac with an ambulance and police cars, but a girl from a PITT atheletic team who was going home with an injury as well as a lot of other action. In the background of the picture (behind the sunglare) you can see the nose of a plane. According to Carson, "the golfclubs were in the noses. That's so funny." The second picture shows Wes standing--apparently he didn't want to touch the fence.


Oh, and Carson went "peepee on the grass."