It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To

On Monday, Dec. 6th, Brandon turned one. The Sunday night before we had invited a few families over for cupcakes and ice cream to help us celebrate. However, Brandon had been sick for several days prior and I came down with the same illness that day. We were feeling rough. In the end we cancelled on them to save them from the horrible illness and just gathered our little clan together. Because of Brandon's illness, it hurt his throat to swallow anything, so his first few bites of cupcake made him cry. However, like any good kid, he persevered and was able to eat not one, but 2 cupcakes and a bit of ice cream. he he. Here's some video and pics so you can feel like you were there:

A Little Mouse

Today as I came inside from getting the mail I heard a quick scurrying sound.
I followed the sound here:

Upon closer inspection I found this (and couldn't help but laugh out loud):

Three's a Crowd

Tonight I overheard this conversation between Emma and her two imaginary friends. (All said by Emma of course.)

Emma: Did not. Did too. Did not. Did too. Did not. Did too. Did not. Did too.
Emma: Stop fighting Girls!

Glad Emma's the peacemaker...I think.

Kisses

This morning Emma said she gave Brandon a "marrying kiss." Unsure exactly of what that was, I had her show me. She proceeded to do an "air kiss" by turning her head and closing her eyes. Too cute.

Halloweening 2010

The kids had a great time dressing up for Halloween this year. Last night we took them to a Trunk or Treat at our church, then trick or treating at a nearby neighborhood that was holding the festivities on Saturday night instead. Check out more pictures of our spider, skeleton and witch on my facebook page.

Where???

Emma was banned from chewing gum after I found it 1. on the stairs 2. on a laundry basket handle and 3. (which was the ULTIMATE offense) in the clothes dryer. All over the clean load of laundry. I told her she couldn't have gum for at least a year. Then I proceeded to tell my good friend Felicia of this new rule since she often provided the good to said offender. There was NO WAY Emma was going to get gum.

Until today.

When she was super nice and did mommy a big favor. (of bringing me my shoes. I know. It really wasn't THAT big, but she was so cute about it and had such a sweet disposition.)

She was thrilled that I caved. When I handed her a stick of juicy fruit I held it in my hand and asked her where gum goes when you are through with it.

Her response, "The trash. NOT under mom's bed."

Hmmm... guess I'm going to go search under my bed now.

Anatomy Lesson

We've been practicing for the upcoming primary program at church and I've been working with the kids to learn the song "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission." I just have to laugh every time Emma sings, "I hope they call me on a mission, when I have grown a leg or two."

**For those who don't know, the lyrics are "when I have grown a foot or two" meaning when they are older.

Dishwasher Part 2

Brandon quickly graduated from pulling himself up ON the dishwasher
to climbing IN to the dishwasher.

Brandon and I Share a Love

A love of crockpots, that is.

I love them for their ease of yummy dinner making with little prep time.

Brandon loves them for their loud clanking and for leverage to pull his little body on.

Doughnuts with Dad Lives On

Lucky for me Andrew has continued his Saturday

morning outing with the kids to get doughnuts.

Even Brandon tags along...

which leaves me with at least an hour of "anything I want to do" time.

Like paint the bathroom green!

Do I Dare Admit This?

So now that Brandon's been crawling around, he's sometimes hard to keep track of. For instance, a few days ago I was doing dishes and he was playing happily at my feet. About 10 seconds later, he was gone. I turned off the water and followed his little baby noises about 10 feet away. He was now playing happily...with toilet paper...in the bathroom. (He only looks upset in the pictures because as soon as I saw what he was doing I picked him up and carried him with me to go get the camera, then set him back down to "recreate the moment"...he was not too thrilled with that idea.)

Wilson's Visit...Caught on Film

Back in July, we had a visit from the Wilson family. Christy, Ryan and their 5 kids drove 2 days from Kansas for a week at the beach with our crazy clan. Needless to say, we had a blast. There were lots of wave jumping, boogie boarding, sand castle building, sand hole digging, late night swims, settlers games, movie watching, cousin bonding, treat eatings, rollyup makings, and Pizza Hut dine-ins.

But after the visit, I was a little sad because in all the fun, I forgot to take ANY pictures.

However, about a month later I was downloading pictures off of our OLD camera and I found these gems. (Emma had apprently been playing with the camera with Mia, and they seemed to capture quite a bit of the fun. I'm apologizing NOW to Christy! Love you!!)

Quotable Quotes

Emma and I were doing our hair Sunday morning in preparation for church. I had just taken my hair out of curlers and this followed.

(Emma) Mom, I love your curly hair. You look like a pretty old girl.



I think it was a compliment...

Did I Ever Mention...

...that Nate played soccer?

I didn't?

Well, he did.






He was pretty good, but HE didn't think so and didn't like it too much. I think we're going to try basketball this winter and baseball in the spring.

Like Brother, Like Sister, Like Brother

Brandon has reached an important milestone in our family...
climbing up on the dishwasher...

Brandon, 9 3/4 months, 9/29/10

Just like his brother and sister before him...

Nathan, 7 1/2 months 2/22/05


Emma, 7 1/2 months, 12/15/06

So, how's the weather?

**Update** Just got a call and school is canceled for tomorrow in anticipation of the "torrential rain" we should be getting this evening. Here's to hoping we don't float away in the night. :)


I'm sure you are all wondering how we are here in "Coastal Carolina."

So, I'll tell you. We had a drought for about a month, maybe longer. I can't remember the last time it rained. Until Monday. Then, it rained...and didn't stop. By Tuesday morning our county had declared a state of emergency, roads were flooded and the schools were delayed. Then Tuesday it sort of cleared up. Sort of. This morning it started again. HARD. We are under flash flood warning until Friday morning thanks to Tropical Storm Nicole. Schools got out at 1:30 today due to inclement weather. Who knew? We are fine. No worries. In fact, we celebrated Nate's early release with chocolate chip cookies. Yum.

So I'd say the weather is pretty nice.

Emma's First Day

September 6th, 2010 was Emma's first day of four year old preschool. Her teachers this year are Miss Jamie and Miss Kasey. They are both former elementary school teachers and are so nice. Emma is having a ball!

First Day of First Grade

Nathan began First Grade on Wednesday, Aug. 25th. His teacher is Ms. Yantachka, and she is fabulous! That's a mouthful for first graders, so they all call her Ms. Y. Nate came home from his first day and exclaimed, "It was the BEST (pause) DAY (pause) EVER!!!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Smoothie Smiles

I got a blender and a camera for my birthday so here's the test run of them both.
I think they (the smoothie and the pic) turned out quite nicely, don't you think?
Emma does!

Quotable Quotes 6/30/10

Emma came running down the stairs screaming because Nate turned the wii off in the middle of their game. (I just rented "just dance") Nate was quick on her heels, "Mom! There's something wrong with the wii...Emma keeps winning even though I'm doing the right moves!"

Beach Preview

We just spent a week in Myrtle Beach with Andrew's parents, Dennis and Kay. I just downloaded all of the pictures and will write a longer post later...this one was just too cute to wait on...

I Heart Coupons

Thanks to my good friend Felicia, I have gotten back into couponing.

Check out my most recent spoils:Last Thursday I got all this for $8.50!!!

And then today, I got all this for $4.91. Can you believe it?? Thanks Harris Teeter (that's my grocery store...where they give free COOKIES and BALLOONS to Emma and insist on helping me out to the car IN THE RAIN.) For $4.91 I can't complain!

Snow at the Beach

This Christmas the kids kept asking when it was going to snow...you know, just like in all the movies. We had to keep telling them that now that we live at the beach it won't snow at our house. (Although, in reality we've never lived anywhere where snow at Christmas is normal.)
Anyhow, the weekend made liars out of us. We got a few inches of snow Friday night and it was perfect...just enough to play in, and then melt by midday. Here are some pics of the fun we had.

Of course we had to have a snow ball fight. It wasn't long before Nate yelled out "Boys versus Girls!" and they got me pretty good while I tried to take pictures.

Andrew had to demonstrate how this was the perfect type of snow for snowballs!

And it wouldn't be a snow day without snow angels.

Emma said she wanted to play in the snow longer (since Andrew and I were worn out and going in) ONLY if she could have some hot cocoa first. Of course, we obliged.

Thumb Sucker

I think there's not much cuter than a little baby sucking his thumb.
All 3 of mine have been thumb suckers.

2 Month Update

So we've made it to the 2 month mark. Life with this little boy is fabulous. Our family is happy and healthy (at the moment...except for Emma who occasionally has "the sneezes") and just loving life right now.

All went well at today's well check (despite the dreaded immunization shots!) and here are his current stats: (mostly for the grandparents than anyone)
height: 22 1/2 in. 50 percentile
weight: 13 lbs 9 oz. 90 percentile
head circ.: 15 3/4 50-75 percentile

oh yeah, and YES, Brandon does look a little worried in that top picture... and the following pics are the reason why: He has two VERY loving siblings who can't get close enough!!