Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone has a joy-filled holiday!

Going and going and going...

It's been forever since I last posted, and I started to feel a little guilty about it. We have been very busy and having two very active 2-year-olds can really take it out of you! I pretty much always take pictures, so if I could remember to just post one photo with a line or two, I could have a post every week. There's something really De Ja Vu-ish about that last thought, like maybe I had that idea last year and it never worked. I guess I'll give it a go again.

The photo above was taken right before trick-or-treat, which is about where I left off. Hunter was Link, of course, and Olivia and Gryffin went as Steve and Blue from Blue's clues.

Tom's sister Sarah and her adorable baby Matan came to visit at the end of October. We spent the day with them on November 1st and walked to the park where I got some really nice shots of all the kids. It was a beautiful day and a really nice visit. Sarah lives in Israel and this is the first time she's visited since Matan was born last January.

It was a perfect day and the trees were very beautiful and colorful. Sarah wanted to collect some leaves to bring back to cousins in Israel who have never seen leaves change colors at all! I thought that was a great idea and Olivia was very eager to help.

This beautiful sweater was knitted by a client of mine who is very talented. She saw the pattern for this and thought it would be fun to make and wondered if Olivia would like it. Olivia calls it her rainbow and she adores it!

We also celebrated Noah's 10th birthday on November 5th. It's so hard to believe he's already 10! We had Ice cream cookie sandwiches instead of cake which has never really been Noah's favorite because he hates icing. I have to say, I prefer the ice cream cookies as well!

Olivia and Gryffin loved the Polar Bear tunnel on a recent trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo.

Over Thanksgiving break, my nephew Eli came over to hang out a bit and spent the night too. The boys played video games and had popcorn and tried to watch a movie but were just too tired to stay awake. They were very cute snuggled up together on the couch.

Thanks to Nina for these adorble new hat and mitten sets for Olivia and Gryffin. They're so cute, maybe they'll actually keep them on!

I promise to try harder at posting. I have to blame the lack of posts on facebook. Because I post so many photos there, I feel like I've done my part on keeping up to date with friends and family. I do miss the blogging aspect though.

More to come...

Happy 6th Birthday and first lost tooth Hunter!

Hunter's birthday party had to be indoors this year due to inclement weather, but we still had a great time and Hunter lost his first tooth to boot! We're pretty sure he swallowed it while eating bat shaped PB&J sandwiches though because he noticed it was gone right after eating and we scoured the floor and didn't find a trace of it.

A quick game of "Hot pumpkin" before cake eating.

Hunter opening his present from his dad, a superhero video game he's been waiting for to be released for about a year now. Tom, being the trickster that he is, has been telling Hunter that the release date had been pushed back to December and that maybe he should put it on his Christmas list instead. Hunter was pleasantly surprised if you can't tell by the expression on his face!

Gryffin giving me his best mischievous face as he cheated at bobbing for apples. We had to resort to pears because my kids kept eating all the apples I bought for the party and we were only left with about eight apples for the game. Pears don't float...except for the red ones!

Blowing out the candles!

Mom mom used trick candles a few family birthdays back and Hunter has been waiting and waiting to have his turn with the trick candles. He thinks they are about the coolest thing and he's grinning from ear to ear as he watched them relight!

Thanks to Aunt Aubrey for her homemade dark chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate buttercream. Hunter's absolute favorite!

Hunter's good friend Ella and cousin Nadia reconnected for the first time in months and were super happy to see each other and play together at the party.

I always feel overwhelming anxiety when I'm about to have more than 20 people in my house, but everything turned out great and my sisters helped me so much with the preparations and clean up and didn't seem that bad at all. Thanks to everyone who made Hunter's birthday so special!

Super Mom...or at least striving to be!

We have settled into a great routine for weekdays that I can't help but feel proud of. I am gone most mornings until it's time to pick up Hunter at school at 2:00 PM. We walk home together and he tells me all about his day. I love this little bit of time we have together and I can see how much he has grown in just one month of Kindergarten. None of the material is new to him as he had 3 years of preschool at Noah's Ark, but his social skills are ever increasing and he LOVES his classmates, teacher and school in general.

When we get home, mostly, the twins are still napping and Hunter gets to have a little bit of down time. He can choose either an hour of TV or an hour of video games. (yes, I let my 5-year-old play video games, some one call child services!) When Olivia and Gryffin wake up, we head over to the school playground for some energy release and to keep the peace between the kids. They never fight or pick with each other there because there are other kids to keep them busy and no toys to fight over! An added bonus is I get to interact with other mothers and actually get to have conversations that don't involve Blue's Clues, string cheese or more goldfish crackers!

We head home around 5:45, or whenever the crowd disperses. I feed the kids dinner and clean up while they play in the bath. Hunter is starting to be annoyed by the toddler bath antics and I usually have to wash the twins quickly and remove them from the bath before the bathroom becomes a small pond.

Olivia and Gryffin usually need to be in their cribs by 7:30 or the situation can get quite hairy. There is usually very little resistance if any at all. A book is read to them by either Hunter or me, brush teeth and up to bed. Again, Hunter and I get to have a few moments together to reflect on the day and read some books together before he heads up to bed.

It's usually about 8:30 PM by the time I get back downstairs for a little bit of me time. I have about 2 hours to finish cleaning up, do laundry, blog or load pictures off my camera onto the computer, read or just watch TV before Tom gets home at 10:30. The routine is working great for now and I'm not really looking forward to the cold weather and being cooped up inside. I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it...

First day of school! First day of school!

Well, we've made is through the first week of Kindergarten without a hitch. Hunter seems to be adjusting well and having a great time in his new school. He's made some new friends and gets along well with his teacher, Mr. Shaffer. His only complaint so far has been that "It's a really long day, Mama!"

This is Ella. She lived next door to my mom for the first 4 and a half years of her life. She and Hunter get along quite well and we were a little sad to find out that they didn't get the same teacher. Hunter says that they "stick together" on the playground though.

He was very excited to enter the building and get to his class. Olivia and Gryffin were sad to see him off and Gryffin ended up being the only one to shed tears as we said goodbye to our Hunter Bean. He tried so hard to get back in the school. Olivia and I had to literally walk away from the school to get him to come with us!

The whole walk home both of them asked "Where Hunter go?" about 50 times. We miss our Hunter in the mornings and look forward to picking him up at 2:00. He has learning to do and people to meet and adventures to go on. He is such a sweet boy and kind brother and will be an excellent student too.

I think I'm more proud of this drawing than Hunter is but I think it is so cute! On his second day of school, they practiced writing the letter "A" and then were supposed to draw something that begins with the letter "A". This is what he drew.

Sweet boy Linky...

Three weeks ago, I read my friends Sayward's blog about her dog Hagrid, who had become ill and she made the difficult decision to put him down. I cried when I read it. Two weeks ago, we took our dog Link, who seemed to be having quite a bit of trouble with his leg, to the vet. We got some very sad and quite shocking news that he had lymphoma, and probably had about a month to live, at best. I cried when when we got the news, a lot. A week ago, we were scheduled to go back to the vet to see how Link was doing. He had been prescribed some prednisone to make him more comfortable and help with the pain in his leg. It seemed to work for a few days and he had quite a bit of energy and didn't seem to have a problem walking. However, that didn't last long and he started to become more and more sick as we approached the appointment. Tom and I discussed that we would not allow him to suffer, and if the vet suggested it was time to let go, we would. It was an extremely difficult decision and I cried a lot, again. We said goodbye to our sweet Linky dog on Tuesday, August 18 at 11:30 AM. We took him to Tom's Aunt Kathie and Uncle Paul's property in New Castle and buried him in one of his favorite places to be. We miss him terribly and treasure every moment of the past seven years that he spent with us.

Looking quite regal in his old age

Looking handsome and golden in his younger years

Rides in the Wrangler were his all time favorite

Feeling quite sad as Tom left for the army...at least we had each other!

Quite possibly the cutest puppy ever!

...even when soaking wet!

One of all time favorite pictures. Maya drinking at the sink, Link drinking at the tub!

They were the best of buddies... finally together again.

Maya teasing Link by eating his food right out of the bin!

Helping newborn Hunter to drift off.

Not really sure why we're paying so much attention to that tiny human that makes so much noise.

Check out Linky's tongue sneaking a taste of Hunter.

Halloween doggy's all time favorite candy...wildberry Skittles

Winking Link

Smoking a licorice on Christmas.

How he would wake up Tom when I told him to.

Looking a bit frail and sad but still as cute as can be.

Having a moment with Gryffin.

Taking care of our babies is what he did best. That and eating used tissues!

Link, you will be forever loved and missed!

...while writing this post, I cried...a lot!

Happy 2nd Birthday Olivia and Gryffin!!

Olivia and Gryffin celebrated their 2nd birthday on August 3rd. I can't believe how quickly the time seems to have gone by! We had mostly family and some friends come to celebrate with us at the house. The day was a weird one with periods of heavy rain and periods of sunny skies. A fun time was had by all!

Here is the lovely and expecting Aunt Danae with the masterpiece of a cake she created! I picked out a homemade vanilla cupcake and buttercream recipe off of the internet and Danae was kind enough to do the baking while her sister Gloria and I prepared other foods for the day. I found an adorable Very Hungry Caterpillar cake that I had my heart set on creating and Danae did an absolutely perfect job. Unfortunately, we never got to eat the cake because a light bulb broke right over where the cake was sitting. My mom quickly ran to Giant Eagle to buy some "cookie" cakes from the bakery. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit upset about it. After all, Hunter has had a homemade cake for every birthday and my sister Aubrey made homemade chocolate cupcakes for the twins first birthday. I quickly got over it and everyone seemed to like the cookie cakes just fine... disaster averted.

Olivia was very pleased with her Maclaren baby doll stroller. Gryffin covets the stroller as well and it has become the number one thing that causes arguments. Thanks to Gloria (Aunt Boo Boo) for the stroller.

Tom's Aunt Kathie made these adorable hats for Olivia and Gryffin. They are super cute on and the babies couldn't love them more! Thanks to Aunt Kathie for a beautiful and practical gift!

Olivia admiring the Hungry Caterpillar cake

Having their cookie cake on the steps

Happy boy Gryffin at their birthday lunch at Bahama Breeze

Aunt Danae and Uncle Aaron stayed with us for a week while they we waiting to close on their new house. Luckily for us it happened to be the birthday week and we had some extra sets of hands around the house for preparations and kid watching. The soon to be parents did a great job and Hunter, Olivia and Gryffin all loved them so much and were so sad to see them go! They will be great parents to their little guy and we can't wait to play with him too!

Olivia and Aunt Nae Nae playing peek-a-boo at the park