Cars and More Cars

James is 3!!! And we celebrated with "Cars". He is really into the movies and has been talking for a month about having a "Cars" cake.

We decorated with a balloon. He saw this when we went to get some for Jonathan and knew he wanted a Lightning Mcqueen balloon for his birthday.

James was invited to a friend's birthday in December and has been talking about inviting him to his birthday. We heard about a family event that the movie theatre was having in the month of February, so we invited some friends to come with us and James went to his first movie. We saw "Winnie the Pooh". He said he enjoyed it. It was a good first movie since it was only a hour long, and he only got wiggly once at the end.

We headed home for pizza, cars cake, and presents.

Our friends that we celebrated with. All in their cars shirts.

We also had an ice cream cake to celebrate the evening with grandparents that couldn't be there earlier in the day. He had a great birthday and really enjoyed himself! The hard part now is explaining that this coming Saturday is not his birthday.

Chomp!

Last week Alyse had 2 teeth poke through. Her bottom center teeth. She can bite pretty hard now on your finger when she starts chewing.

Look closely!
She likes to keep her tongue on top of them making a picture difficult.
Here they are because I'm mad!

Snow Days!!

After the warmest January on record, we finally got some snow. After the warm days, it is now cold and there is over a foot of snow. James was ready to go outside in it right away. He was ready to shovel and was hoping there would be enough for a snowman!

It was a wet and heavy snow, so we all were busy shoveling while it was still coming down. (Sadly part of the snow blower broke)

Here's James on top of one of the piles of snow from the driveway.
Once it stopped snowing and was a little warmer we took Alyse out a few days later. She enjoys the outdoors!

Here's James with one of his snowmen. I think he wanted a bigger one, but it works.

This is his "basement" or snow fort. He plans to build the walls all the way up to the sky! He needs to borrow Papa's tall ladder to get it there!

I'm sure he will enjoy some more time in the snow since it seem to be sticking around.

Six Months

Our little girl is growing and growing, although she isn't that little. She is 18lb 4oz., 87% and 27 1/4" (92%). She is all smiles and quite the little talker. She has lots to say, including da-da. She is moving around more and more. She is rocking on her hands and knees, and will roll or army crawl a bit, especially if she is after something she shouldn't have.

Surprise!!

After a few weeks of planning, sneaking, lying, and his parents helping to get him out of the house, I managed to pull off a surprise party for Jonathan's birthday. I invited several friends over for the evening.

Here he is coming in. (Sorry it's blurry, it was the best I had.) He was completely surprised! I was glad it all worked because I was getting worried that he knew.

James helped to decorate the cake. He wanted cars, and this was the best and easiest way for him to help. He enjoyed doing it. James was also surprised by all of our guests. I was careful not too mention the party to him because I knew he would tell jonathan, since he had mentioned his present and cake previously. He had fun playing with all the kids (14) that were here!
Alyse was wiped out after the party. We all were. It was a fun time, and I'm glad that Jonathan enjoyed it!

First Food

Alyse had her first taste of food! She has been wanting food for some time and with her waking multiple times a night I thought maybe some solid food would help her sleep better. We started with squash. She made some bad faces, and most of it came out, but I think she was excited to have some "real" food.

4 Months

She is 4 months old! Alyse began rolling off of her back and is getting better at each day. She has also rolled off her tummy a few times. She is weighing 15lb 91/2oz and 25 1/4". She gained 2 lbs. in the past month. She still loves to smile and enjoys laughing, especially with James when he is playing with her.

After bath buddies! Alyse had just rolled over, so James showed that he could do it too!

Fall Fun

Fall has kept us fairly busy. We've been trying to get out enjoy the days while they are still nice and before it gets too cold and we have any more snow.

We took a trip to the zoo. It was Alyse's first trip. Since it was the last time we were going to make it for the year. We did it all. Fed all the goats, camels, rode a pony, and

Finished the morning with a ride on the train.

We also made a trip to a pumpkin patch with our flock group. It was a nice warm day.

James had fun going down the slide,

riding on the hayrack,

finding corn in the corn maze,

Alyse spent the time in her car seat because it was pretty windy,

and of course we picked out some pumpkins.

James picked a little one just for himself.

We also went trick-or-treating.

We went to the children's museum for our treats. James got a few and was done pretty quick, and ready to play, especially when we found our friends. It was a fun evening and a good way to spend Halloween.

I also took him to a few homes in our neighborhood for the first time. It was a nice warm evening and we couldn't have asked for anything better. For the first time trick-or-treating he caught on quickly. At the first house he was a little unsure, but as soon as he saw what he got, he responded with "I go to more houses. I get some more treats!" It was a good time!

We've been busy and now we are shifting gears to get ready for the holidays.

3 Months

Alyse is just growing and growing. She has become quite a smiler. She loves looking at you and smiling back. She has also begun laughing!

She now weighs 13lb. 8oz.

She has rolled from her tummy to back. She's only done it once which is fine with me. I'm not ready to chase two kids around yet, so she can stay immobile a little longer. She has also become very attached to me making it difficult to leave. We tried to see Moneyball the other night and only saw half of the movie. (The first half was good.) She seems to notice if I leave the room and someone else is there. My solution is to leave more often for short increments to get her used to a babysitter. We have also made many trips to the doctor this past week, to discover that she has an UTI. Hopefully, this next month will bring us all good health and new excitement as she learns more and we prepare for the holidays.

2 Months

I'm a little behind with this, but oh well, such is life. Alyse has continued to grow. She is now 12lb 7oz in 85% and 22 1/2in and is 54%. She has really begun smiling lots. She loves to look at you and grin. She will then become bashful as she smile. We are really enjoying the sweet smile.