Look out world, here she comes!

This is the video I just recieved (via email) from Ayron of Isabella, 10 months and 3 days old, taking her first steps! You'll have to ignore Ayron and his inability to wear anything other than a pair of gym shorts while at home.

Snow Day

We finally got some snow over my winter vacation from work. TJ decided he wanted to help me shovel the driveway. Who was I to turn down free labor?!

Trying to get the hang of the shovel.

Making a snow angel.

Hitting the tree with a stick....isn't that what you do when you play in the snow?!

Warming up with some hot chocolate.

Breaking the Habit

TJ has always been attached to a blanket. Didn't matter what type of blanket, just a blanket. We would take a blanket away and he would simply find a new blanket to carry around the house. Over my vacation from work, I tripped over that blanket (a toddler bed sized blanket of Elmo flying a plane) a million times. I decided that Elmo had to leave. I simply waited for TJ to leave the room and then I made Elmo disappear into the deep dark back corner of our closet. When TJ asked for the blanket at nap time I simply said, "You don't need him." Later that night TJ asked Ayron for Elmo and Ayron honestly replied, "I don't know where he went." Ayron had no clue I had taken Elmo away. TJ hasn't asked for Elmo since. That was two weeks ago.

About a week ago I decided that since the removal of Elmo went so smoothly I should work on TJ's thumb sucking habit. I had noticed that since Elmo disappeared the thumb sucking had decreased, but I wanted it GONE. I started putting band aids on TJ's thumbs at night and one week later, thumb sucking free! He hasn't even tried to suck his thumbs. I have been keeping an eye on him and I think we are in the clear. For every day he goes without thumb sucking, he gets to add a sticker to his calendar. Once he gets enough stickers (we haven't determined the exact amount) he will get an "adventure" with Mommy and Daddy. We are thinking of taking him to Chucky Cheese, God help our souls.

Since he had been doing so well, we decided to give him a little reward. We took him to Penske (where Ayron works) to see "Daddy's monster trucks." TJ thinks that Daddy gets to drive "monster trucks" all day, he couldn't be further from the truth, but why smash a little boy's dreams. We had to go to Penske to pick up Ayron's paycheck anyway, so we took TJ along. When we got to the lot, Ayron was able to take TJ into a semi cab and drive it in a circle around the lot. TJ was in heaven!

I can only hope that we have permanently broken those two habits.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Santa Claus came to the Auburn Birthing Center yesterday. I took the kiddos and they both did amazing! TJ really wanted to talk with Santa but then clammed up as soon as he climbed up on his lap.

TJ's shirt says, "Dear Santa, my sister did it!"

The woman responsible for my children!

Laundry Basket

Who needs expensive toys when your Mommy has laundry baskets?!

Turkey Day!

I know that Thanksgiving was last month, but I just got around to uploading the pictures. It was the first Thanksgiving where I prepared ALL the food.....stupid me forgot to take a picture of our beautiful apricot glazed turkey breast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, herbed bread and pumpkin cheesecake. I did get some shots of the kids though!

TJ spent the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving at my mom's. They made a hand turkey and a balloon turkey.

Then Ella got a hold of one of the balloons.

This was taken one random Saturday before church. She doesn't seem all that happy to be wearing her new, and super cute, pink dress.

Sibling Rivalry

I know that one day, my kids will hate each other. It happens. But for now, I am trying to enjoy the fact that they love each other. Ella will make a screech and wait for TJ's replied screech. She then will crawl to where he squealed from. It is like her own version of echolocation. TJ loves on Ella all the time. I have to remind myself that as long as he isn't hurting her, it is ok. Here are some recent shots of all the sibling love at our house.

TJ is always smooshing all over Ella. She doesn't seem to mind.

Don't they look suspicious?!

What are those things in your mouth and how do I get some?!

He was playing behind her exersaucer.

The he fell asleep behind the exersaucer.

All Grown Up

This past weekend our Worship Pastor got married. We used the occasion to get all dressed up. Heck, I even had TJ's hair cut! I was uploading some pictures today and I was dumbstruck by how grown up my little TJ has become!

I cropped out Ayron and myself for several reasons. I don't like pictures of myself and Ayron's eyes were closed.

Here he is at the reception drinking his "coffee" which was really just water out of the coffee cup.

How to Turn an Ordinary Boy into a Superhero

Step one: Find a seemingly innocent young boy.

Step Two: Find him a small, look alike toy.

Step 3: Teach him the superhero pose. Also, teach him to be nice to any random strawberries he finds.

Step 4: Test his ability to fly.

Step 5: Teach him to be friendly with fellow, look a like, superheros.

Step 6: Remind him that even superheros need to hold Daddy's hand when crossing the street.

Step 7: Reward your superhero's hard work with a treat.

Step 8: Allow your Clark Kent time to rest with his doggy.

Step 9: Hide the kryptonite!

Pumpkin Carving Time

Thanks to PawPaw Mike (Mr. B for those of you who had him for sixth grade science at DMS), we scored 4 free pumpkins! I also decided to purchase a "large" pumpkin from the store in hopes of fitting Isabella into a pumpkin for some pictures. Well, I forgot that I grow rather large children and that my not quite 7 month old is really as long as a 10 month old....fitting her in a pumpkin was a challenge. Not to take challenges lightly, we made it work!

Too Cute Tuesday

I spent the morning clearing off my work laptop. I was just awarded some money to purchase a new laptop. The current laptop is falling apart, I am not joking. The only thing connecting the top screen to the bottom keyboard is the display wire (I don't know the technical term...the wire that makes the screen actually show what I am typing). The poor thing has been tripped over, knocked off desks, and just plain used to bits...literal bits. A piece of the outside plastic fell off this morning in my hands.

As I was cleaning the laptop off, I finally condensed all my pictures to one flash drive. I found these pics from last week and they made me smile. I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to have two beautiful and healthy children...who know two goofy looking people could create such gorgeous kids!