October

Here are some of our recent pics with Muy and Loco. It's been muy loco around here lately. We have been preparing for our big Halloween Open House this Saturday night. Colson and I have done some fun Halloween crafts and decorated the house with them. Ashlyn, Colson and Steve have worked hard carving the "pum-peens"...as Ashlyn says!

The goal was to get through all the party prep this week - I was hoping to get most of it out of the way while the kids were at school. But, Ashlyn got her second sinus infection (in the past month or so) and Colson had a bit of a cold. Colson headed back to school today, while Ashlyn headed back to the doctor's office! I noticed red dots on her and didn't want to take any chances after the penicillin hives. It turns out she had roseola on top of the sinus infection. Ah, new at school with all the little kid germs! Happily, once the rash from the roseola shows up, the worst is done. So, no more 104.3 degree fever like she woke up with on Monday morning! Thank goodness!



Colson the ham, in a pose

This is what the sinus infection/roseola did to her. She fell asleep in the chair while they were watching their new favorite show, "Super Why"

A girl and her Jiggy. SERIOUS breakdowns this week when Ashlyn didn't feel good and Jiggy was not immediately available. Little doesn't care about work schedules!

We're trying to not be too concerned with the glowing eyes! I'm thinking about having Steve photoshop Ryza in to this one. Shut up.

2008 holiday photo card preview! Jiggy got Colson and Ashlyn holiday outfits months ago. I decided to play dress-up with Ashlyn to see if the dress was fitting now. It goes with white bloomers underneath - not the Elmo pajama bottoms she has on here. And, we'll take the tag off by holiday time!

I will not smile for your picture!

Cute baby!

Trying to get her Daddy to flip her

Super lady-like!

Still playing!

This is what she was hoping for!

Seriously will have to put this dress with some hair bows that match. And, ditch the "dink-day" from the mouth!

Always wanting to play together!

Darling - even when she's trying to pout

Ever the ham!

Little in her hand-me-down shorts and her new Halloween tee!

Ashlyn catches lunch!

Here are some pictures (thank you, Grandpa!) from our trip to the river. These are shot we didn't get on our camera. Ashlyn Storm - fisher-girl! She doesn't look too sure of the fish, but she kept saying, "Whoa!" And, our one group picture - taken just before we headed home.

Long time, no posts!

Just checking in here and noticed that it was July when I last posted! Time flies! We've been fairly non-stop here. I had a quick trip to Cincinnati for Lisa & Tyler's wedding. Then, all four of us went to Wellesley Island to visit Grandpa and GG. The kids had a ball entertaining the crowd in NY. Ashlyn didn't even care if she had a crowd watching her as she went into her song and dance routine - always finishing with a "bow" of course! Both kids got some boat and fishing time. Colson even got some jet skiing time with his Daddy!

We do have several pictures to share - unfortunately, just too wiped at the moment to get them on here! I'm hoping those will get organized at some point this week. For now, we are focusing on getting ready for Ashlyn's big event - starting school on Wednesday! She'll only be going part time, like Colson, but that's still pretty big news in our lives! We're hoping she'll adjust to it all quickly...though I may be sitting in the hallway of the school crying. I'm just trying to remind myself that I can offer a lot of things as a SAHM - just not the interaction with a group of little kids!

So, wish us luck and check back for some pictures. Good night for now!

The latest

Here's a group of some pics from the past couple weeks. The kids have been incresingly cute together. They just follow each other around, wanting to constantly do what the other one is doing. We're trying to take lots of pictures and video of it all so that we can show them when they're in high school and don't want much to do with each other!

Ashlyn has definitely learned how to work a crowd from her brother. She's developed a little routine that she does if she wants some applause. It involves singing (we don't recognize all the words!) and dancing (kind of looks somewhat like a mix between a hula dancer and one of those dancing Santa dolls). And, at the end, she claps and then says, "Bow!" and bows! Too cute.

Colson has been enjoying playing "Toy Story" lately. Definitely a crowd pleasing movie here these days! He's also very excited for our trip to the aquarium tomorrow - although he does seem to be confusing seeing the fish there with the fishing we told him he'll be doing in NY at the end of next month. Luckily, he's sure to enjoy both experiences.

Enjoy the pics...

Colson made a "bed" out of the letters and requested the blanket be put on him so he could get some sleep. Ashlyn thought it all seemed like a good idea and joined in on the fun.


This was this morning. After showing up in our room around 3am - following a bad dream - we didn't feel like running him back upstairs. So, he got to sleep in our room - a rare event for him!
Just had to take this picture this morning - it was so cute!

Nate arrived yesterday for a 2 week visit. This was during naptime today - Steve (working from the house today) and I were both on work calls, so Nate stepped in when Ashlyn was having trouble (thank you, once again, teething!) falling asleep. He ended up putting her back in the crib - she barely woke up in the move - and then she fell back asleep for a whole, good nap. Nice work, Nate!

Colson at his school's July 4th parade. He left his classroom without his sunglasses, so he was rescued from the oh-so-bright sun by Daddy's glasses!

Ashlyn in her first nightgown (slippers and wand included - it's a Disney Princess gown) thanks to Grandpa and Grandma. Rogue just felt the need to stop and pose.

Colson wanting to sleep on the top of the couch - just because!

The Boy and his Daddy...

And, the Boy and his Mommy! All inside the Colson created circle of letters.

Where did June go?

Here's the strangest thing - our calendar says that it is July tomorrow. It seems like it should be right - 30 days in June, blah, blah, blah - but, where did June actually go to...that is the question! Another question at our house is - where did the need for the 18 month clothes go? Ashlyn seems to have hit a growth spurt recently - leaving some very cute, extremely lightly used future hand-me-downs for Avery, Gale and Baby Berge.

Colson had an exciting 3 1/2 birthday event. Alright, not so much of an event...but, a mini celebration. We want to do a little focus for the 1/2 birthdays in this holiday birthday household! For this one, we made our own pizzas from scratch. As Colson was sitting down at the table he asked, "Where is everyone else?" It was just the four of us...not quite the birthday event he's used to! But, he had fun - pizzas were tasty and there were a couple Toy Story guys as gifts. Ah, the Disney Pixar brainwashing continues!

Here are a couple pics from the last few days...


Here's Colson all decked out for Splash Day. During the summer at school, they let the kids run wild through all sorts of fun sprinklers every Friday. I told him I had to get a picture of him being a walking billboard for Disney Cars - the hat, the glasses, the shirt, the suit, the shoes. Not pictured, the towel.




Here's what happens to a boy around 5 pm when no nap mixes with a couple hours of swimming.


And, this was from tonight. They were watching a Leap Frog learning to spell/read video. Ashlyn hung on for a little while, got bored, went to the other room to "read" to herself. Colson was fascinated, headed to his whiteboard and spelled "Cat"...very proud of himself!

Happy Wednesday!

Well, happy almost Thursday...it's 9:35PM here. This will be a non-picture post, but I thought I'd put a quick check-in on here...plus, there was some Kodak gallery pics that were sent out yesterday and not much has happened since then!
This week has been filled with all sorts of fun events. Colson started his first day of Preschool on Monday. He is very excited! He is the youngest in his "group" of kids - so he was greeted by all his friends that had moved up there in the past several weeks/month-ish. He is feeling very much the big boy in his new setting.
Ashlyn is busy being darling. She "graduated" from her Little Gym class last week. Okay, she finished the winter/spring semester last week. There was a medal ceremony. It felt serious! She started this week with the summer semester. We've also been doing playdates with one of her little friends from gym. It is cute to watch her play with someone else her age. Lots of parallel play, but some adorable interaction too.
We'll have more pictures soon...these crazy kids are always doing something picture-worthy!

And, some more!

Ashlyn playing with one strand of pasta...



Slowly eating her meal. Don't you love the sprout-do?!

Finally done with her meal, Ashlyn just wants to hang with Daddy during his.

Taken this morning - Colson decides to tackle his Cars puzzle on his own...

Ashlyn on her road to becoming an Elton...

We're not sure who this Big Girl is and where our BABY went to!!!

Pictures

As promised, here are some pics in these next few posts. First, the kids playing together...

Young Attitude

Long time, no post! We have gotten a couple Kodak gallery doses out lately, so I think most of you are fairly well caught up. I took a few very funny pictures today of Colson and Ashlyn playing together - their favorite thing to do! So, I will add those here later. But, for now, a funny Colson story.

The headboard of Colson's bed has shelves. On these shelves sit several of his stuffed animal friends. And, sometimes, cars or trains. Like tonight, for instance, "Mommy, a few of my cars in my room will help me to sleep better." On occasion - when he isn't a perfectly behaved child :) many to all of the stuffed animal friends are removed from the room. Mostly this happens when he is playing with stuff instead of napping. All of the "guys" were removed at some point last week. Then, he negotiated some of them back in...I believe he asked for all of them, but we try to weed some out, when possible. So, there are a few of the guys sitting on the cabinets outside his room.

Tonight, as he was getting ready for bed, he noticed two of the Beanie Buddies outside his room (yes, shocking to all, the majority of the stuffed animals are of the Ty variety). Our conversation:

Colson: "Mommy, can those two guys sleep in my room?"
Me: "Yes, they can. But, Colson, remember, you can not play with them or the cars we brought in here tonight. You must sleep."
Colson: "I know, Mommy. I will sleep tonight. I won't play with them. Stop repeating everything."

Stop repeating everything. Seriously. My reaction, burst out laughing. How can I not? I then tried to, calmly, explain that I "repeat everything" because he has let the playtime interrupt his sleeping more than once.

I think I'll have to print this post out, put in in some scrapbook and pull it out when he's giving me that same damn line in his teenage years!

Just because...

Had to put this one up here - because she's cute!

New Stuff

Hi! Here are a couple new blogs (this one and the one below) with some pics from our activities in the past month or so. March flew by for us. We're still not sure where it went. But, as you'll see in the pictures, there was a lot going on.

The kids are doing great. Ashlyn's working (STILL) on popping teeth through her gums. She's enjoying the experience, as you can imagine. Other than that, she spends the majority of her time trying to figure out how to do whatever it is Colson is doing. She is quite the character. Very sweet, extremely cuddly and ever-so stunning to stare at! She has sucked us all in with her amazing smile!

Colson is as crazy wild as ever. He is loving all stuff Disney Cars - I am loving that he recognizes it's Disney! Ah, let the brainwashing begin. I'm currently trying to explain how Pixar fits into the picture. A lesson all 3 year olds should have, of course. He has been busy doing what he does best with his "favorites" - memorizing the Cars movie. It's pretty funny to hear lines from the movie in his high-pitched voice.

Here are some highlights from our past month...

We've been busy with visitors, holidays and fun events all around...

Easter Egg hunting...

A visit from Nate. Of course, no one had the sense to get a group picture until JUST before Nate was leaving for the airport. So, we got a lot of "the face" from Ashlyn! She was ready for a snack, not a photo shoot at that moment!

Birthday (Sylvia & Emma's) cupcakes with Gramps, Sylvia and Emma. Probably more sugar in one dose than Colson has ever had before!

And, a ride with our friend, Thomas the Tank Engine!