Thanksgiving

I'm so thankful...really, really thankful. New job, new state, new house, and new baby. What a difference a year makes. I'm also acutely aware of where all of those blessings have come from. I know Heavenly Father knows us personally and loves us.

Our Tiebreaker

Today we went for our 20 week ultrasound. Everything looks great with the baby and we found out we are having a baby boy! Here is a picture of our little guy.
Boys - 3, Girls - 2.

Halloween 2009

This Halloween turned out to be a great one! The kids both had strong opinions this year about what they wanted to be. Ben really wanted to be Mario. I had tried to find the costume everywhere, online, Halloween stores, I even had my mom go to 3 stores in Georgia. I couldn't find it anywhere. Rick and I were trying to convince him to be something else. He wasn't budging. Then thankfully a costume store online got a second shipment. Hallelujah, crisis averted! Olivia said she wanted to be a 'naughty' witch (her words). Since she loves ballet, I asked her if she wanted me to make her a witch tutu. She was a happy camper too. About a week before Halloween she decided she was a 'nice' witch. She also had a sparkly broom too but we left it at a Halloween party the night before.

Don't you love his cute tummy and furry mustache

Mario and the Witch

It was the first Halloween the kids had to wear coats while trick-or-treating. It was quite chilly and the wind was whipping. I made them stand outside for a couple of pictures without coats, so you could see their costumes.

Trick-or-treating starts early here (3 p.m.), but we didn't head out until 5. It just seems funny to be trick-or-treating in the afternoon. Lucky for us, our sweet friends and neighbors let us tag along. The whole trick-or-treating gang!

Our pumpkins this year

Grandma & Grandpa Nutty's Visit

In October Rick's parents came to visit us. We were grateful that they came to Chicago and we enjoyed showing them around. G & G Nutty had never been to Cheesecake Factory so we had lunch.

Chicago skyline

Grandma & Grandpa Nutty & the kids

At the park

At the pumpkin patch

Birthday Parties for Everyone

On labor day week, my parents came up to visit us. We were really excited to see them and to tell them the big news. They were very excited about the new baby but probably not that excited that I barely left the bed or couch the entire time they were here. They were so great and helped us so much. In fact, we had two birthday parties in two days. Don't be too impressed, it was out of necessity. Olivia's birthday had passed 3 weeks before and Ben's was a little early. Since there was no end in sight to my nausea we decided to do both.

My mom made such a cute and yummy cake that was fit for a princess.

We got Olivia ballet lessons for her 3rd birthday. She was really excited about the outfit.

Practicing ballet moves

The next night, we had Ben's party.

His new bike

I can't believe he is six years old. Happy Birthday Ben!

My dad actually requested that this picture be put on our blog. So funny! He looks like he is 'special'.

This is the only picture I took the entire time they were here. I really hope they come back when they aren't forced into working all week.

One thing that I learned that week, is that kids birthday parties don't have to have a theme, friends and lots of cute decorations. I had some guilt about it but the kids were genuinely happy with the parties we had. We love them so much and can't believe it has been another year.

Look...no training wheels!!

Ben had been wanting to take his training wheels off for awhile and we finally got around to doing it. He was anxious to break in his new bike, sans training wheels. Our neighborhood pool has a big flat parking lot that is perfect for learning. Ben is a little perfectionist and when he doesn't get something just right the first time, he gets very frustrated. This was no exception, but with a little help from daddy he had it down within the first 30 minutes.

Lots of help

A little help

Solo

First Day of Preschool

Olivia started preschool this year. She had been watching Ben go to school for the last couple of years and was very excited to join in the fun. She had no fear, no anxiety and a lot of enthusiasm for having her very own backpack.

When we got in the car to go to school, she said "STOP!!! I forgot my homework!!!" I'm not sure where on earth she knew to say that. Ben had never forgotten his homework and she definitely had never been assigned homework to forget, but it was funny!

At preschool

No Fear

At the door of Ms. Cramer's class.

I gave her a kiss, told her I loved her and she ran into class. This time, I held it in until I got to the car to breakdown (maybe because I had recently had some practice in leaving a school crying). I called Rick so that he could tell me that it was only 2 mornings a week and I wasn't losing my baby just yet. Once I got off the phone, I started driving with a list of errands I had to run. It was quiet, really quiet. Quiet and wonderful, and I realized that it hadn't been that way in 6 years (since Ben was born). Olivia loves preschool, loves her teachers and really loves saying that she is a big girl. I am loving grocery shopping by myself, at least for a little while.

First day of school - Sniff Sniff

I've had plenty of time to get used to the idea of Ben being in school. His birthday is September 20th and missed the cutoff for kindergarten by 19 days last year. So there was no question, that he was ready this year. We had all been looking forward to it, me included. About a week before school started, I was reading about the schedule for the first day. His teacher had asked all parents to kiss the palms of their kindergartners hands before leaving them that morning. They would be reading a book talking about if you are missing your parents you could just hold your hand to your face and know that they are thinking of you. This just made me cry. Anyone that knows me, knows I 'm very easy to tears but it surprised me. I was genuinely sad that my little Ben was starting school. Over the next few days, I kept thinking "he will always be in school the rest of the time he lives with us"!!

The night before school started Rick gave him a very sweet blessing and then Olivia insisted that she get one too.

When I was growing up, my mom would always make a special breakfast for us on the first day of school (thanks mom). I had carried on that tradition and had asked Ben what he wanted for breakfast. He said cinnamon rolls in bed. I wasn't anticipating the 'in bed' part but I obliged.

That morning Ben was so excited about starting school, he woke up very early and then stayed in bed until I made the cinnamon rolls. I came upstairs with the tray and he yells "I'm just so excited!"

First day of school

The original plan was the kindergartners were to line up outside the school and when it was time the entire class would walk into the school together. Since it was raining, parents were just taking their kids into school individually. Rick and Olivia said their goodbyes in the car and I walked him in. It was short and sweet. I told him I loved him, kissed his hand and he ran into his class. Wisely I had listened to my friend with older kids, who had suggested I wear sunglasses for my walk back out of the school. I was glad I had them to cover the tears but it was pouring down rain so I felt a little foolish.

This is what I saw when I picked him up. A happy boy means a happy mama.

Since he has half-day kindergarten we went out for a special lunch too. Lucky kid. He picked McDonald's, not lucky mommy.

Butterflies & Pudding

The last 2 days we were in Key West I had started feeling sick. I spent the next two weeks either in bed or on the couch. It was the second to last day before school started and I was feeling very guilty that the kids had been trapped in the house watching too many movies. I was trying to think of something fun to do with the kids. The requirements were: #1 had to be close to the house #2 I had to be able to sit down most of the time. The Butterfly house fit both. Ben liked trying to identify the different types of butterflies from a card they gave him. Olivia just thought she was Fancy Nancy and kept yelling "an azure butterfly!"

Waiting for the butterflies to land on them.

Sweet Boy

Sweet Girl

When we got home I pulled out the slip-n-slide out and made some pudding. I have to admit it was pretty funny to see their little faces when I told them they could paint it all over themselves or have a pudding fight. They kept putting their fingers in the pudding, then looking up at me like "really this is ok?"

Slow Start

Taste test

The crazy escalated quickly