....And Baby Makes Four!!

Christmas Day

2012-01-17T09:08:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures from Christmas day. I don't actually have to many or at least not that many that came out somewhat decent. There is something wrong with my camera and I can't seem to figure out what it is. Anyways, the boys woke up on Christmas morning but Eric and I were the ones that had to remind them that Santa had come the night before. Once we got downstairs, the craziness ensued.

Hey mom...what are these?

Santa's footprints!

Jack trying out his new bike

Dr. Jack is in the house

Everyone came to our house for Christmas day celebration. The boys couldn't wait to open their presents so Will and Jack got to open their gifts first. They tore right into the gifts...there was no stopping them at that point.

Jeff and Martha got them a bear bigger than the two of them.

And here is what they like to do with it.

Then Jack got his first motorized bike so he can now keep up with his brother. And boy was he excited about it. Can you tell from his face?

Brotherly Love

2012-01-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

My Little Munchkin

2012-01-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

When did Jack get so grown up looking?

Quote of the Day

2012-01-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

"Mommy, I just burped in my underwear." ~ Will Dugas

Happy New Years!

2012-01-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

The Writing on the Wall

2012-01-01T17:56:00.000-08:00

Literally! I thought they were a little too quite but I was giving them the benefit of the doubt that they were playing nicely together at the art table. They were playing nicely all right drawing pictures side by side on my wall!

Little stinkers....

Christmas Eve

2012-01-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! Okay well I am a few days late on that one but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I know I did. I've been pumped for Christmas ever since Thanksgiving was over. Kids really do make the whole christmas experience so much more special and exciting. You can't go through a day without talking about Santa or Christmas so there is always the constant reminder and anticipation of what is to come. Will really understood the concept of Santa this year especially with the help of our elf friend Joanie. As we were getting closer to Christmas, I was telling Will that Santa was going to bring him so many toys. Each time I said that, Will's response was always "I don't want a lot of toys, I only want a little." Really? Is this my child?! Ha!

We spend Christmas eve at my parents house. Before dinner we had a visitor stop by the house to say hi to the boys. We didn't tell Will ahead of time who was coming and when he opened the door he got a big surprise.....

Santa!!

I was a little unsure how Will would react but he jumped right up there on Santa's lap and made sure to tell him what he wanted before Santa left.

Jack was a little more hesitant but he warmed up at the end and gave Santa a high five.

Then onto a little present opening for the boys before dinner. First round of presents and these boys made out pretty darn well thanks to Grandma and Judu.

Time to Make the Donuts....

2011-12-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

Elf donuts that is! Since Joanie was going to be leaving us on Christmas night, we wanted to send him off with some snacks to eat on the way back to the North Pole. Will and I set up a donut assembly line and got busy making some yummy donuts for Joanie (and his elf friends) to eat after their long trip back.

The finished product! Chocolate covered with sprinkles, powdered and cinnamon donuts! ~ aka Cheerios rolled in powdered sugar, cinnamon and dipped in chocolate. Perfect elf sized donuts :-)

Joanie enjoying his donut. We'll miss you Joanie. Looking forward to seeing you next year!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

2011-12-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

Ugh....I'm having major guilt that I haven't touched my blog or taken a picture for that matter since Thanksgiving. There are not enough hours in the day to get things done. I've been meaning to post these pictures for a month now and now with only two days before Christmas I guess I better get moving.

We went to visit Santa before Thanksgiving at Bass Pro. I figured going before Thanksgiving on a random Tuesday afternoon, there would be no one there. Wrong. We had to wait for 30 minutes before seeing Santa. But it was worth it. Bass Pro has the best (and nicest) Santa I've ever seen. I'm getting close to having a picture with both boys together with Santa. I think next year is going to be the year.

We spent Thanksgiving at the Cape this year and while we were there we got to see Santa for a second time. Only this time, we watched Santa sail in on a boat. How often do you get to see Santa on a boat?

And here are a few random pics from Thanksgiving weekend.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving literally everyone in our neighborhood is out in their yards putting up their Christmas lights. When you drive around that night, everyone also has a fully decorated tree in their house.

The week after Thanksgiving, we were the only house in the neighborhood that still had a yard full of leaves and no christmas lights on top of it. So comparatively speaking, we were a little behind this year. Our neighbors three houses down hire a Luminere (who knew such a person existed!) to put the lights on their house. While we can't compete with a Luminere we do have to represent the neighborhood. So last weekend, Eric was outside putting up our lights and then afterwards we went to a tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree.

I am anal about my christmas tree and the tree we get has to be perfect (probably not surprising to those who know me). In past years, this has caused us to go to three different tree places in search of the perfect tree (Eric was ready to kill me) or 1+ hour at one place (again, Eric was ready to kill me). Fortunately, this years search went pretty quickly and everyone was happy with the tree we found.

I wanted a big tree this year and we definitely found it. When we were driving home, everyone who drove past us either pointed at our car or drove by with their mouth wide open. One woman even started clapping as we drove by!

Tada! Here is the finished product! I love having a Christmas tree in the house and wish it could be a year round decoration. I can't wait for Christmas!

Joanie the Elf

2011-12-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

Yay! We started a new tradition this year with our Elf on the Shelf. For those of you who haven't heard of it before, Elf on the Shelf is a neat holiday story in which one of Santa's elf's comes to your house on the night of your choice. The Elf's job is to hide in a new spot every morning, stay there all day long while you go about your business, and then report back to the north pole each night to let Santa know whether you have been good or bad. The fun part is each morning, the Elf is sitting in a new spot which you have to find when you wake up.

Our elf came to our house Thanksgiving weekend. We woke up on Sunday morning and Santa had delivered a wrapped present to our house. When we opened the gift, there was the Elf on the Shelf story which we read and then went on the search for our elf. We had to choose a name for our elf and Will lovingly chose the name "Joanie" (even though it is a boy elf).

Everyday we find Joanie sitting in a new spot and each day Will gets more and more comfortable with the idea of Joanie. He asks us to make sure we tell Joanie he was a good boy. And if we threaten to tell Joanie when he is doing something bad, he starts crying that he doesn't want us to tell him. It is so cute. Occasionally he will go over to Joanie to tell him what he wants for Christmas.

Now the tough part is remembering to move the elf every night before we go to bed since it would be hard to explain why Joanie didn't move to a different spot.

And while we are talking about Christmas traditions, I'll tell you about my Advent calendar obsession this year. I blame my mother on this once since I used to have a ton of Advent calendars when I was little. Every night before going to bed we would open up each advent calendars. I can't even remember how many I had but it was a lot!

In one of my crafty moods, I decided I wanted to make an Advent calendar this year. My plan originally started out where I was going to sew an advent calendar with all the little pockets with numbers. Until I realized that was a little more difficult than anticipated. So I toned it down a little and found a few fun ideas on the internet

So now we have an Advent tree. I bought the little bags and stenciled numbers on each one (with the help of my lovely mother in law) and put a little treat in each bag.

I also made one using my new laminator (which I'm in love with and have been laminating everything! ha!)

And of course we have the traditional paper advent calendars...4 in total. Jack has no interest in them this year but Will asks every day to open "the number". It's fun and hopefully a tradition we will continue every year!

Will

2011-11-26T19:20:00.001-08:00

2011-11-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

Trapped

2011-11-26T18:44:00.000-08:00

We've been having a difficult time with Jack and sleep the past few weeks. I know back when I wrote about moving Jack to the big boy bed I said we had to sit in the room with him until he fell asleep. Well we had broken that habit for about a month or so but then recently we somehow got sucked back into the routine of sitting there with him until he fell asleep. The primary reason was the fact that he figured out how to climb over the gate that we put in his door. So if we left before he was asleep, he would crawl out of bed, open the door and then proceed to either push the gate until he knocked it over, or would just climb over it like a monkey.

I snapped one night after having been in his room for a half an hour trying to get him to sleep. I marched downstairs and went on the internet to find the biggest, strongest gate I could find. Money was no object at that point and I was willing to spend as much as was needed to find something that would keep him in his room. So $60 later here is our new baby gate......

I will say that this thing does it's job and was WELL worth the $60. Jack can't push it over or climb over it. The first night he was not a happy camper but it worked! Now we are back to Jack staying in his bed when we put him there and I am a much happier mama!

Update: The gate DOESN'T work. Back to square on. :-(

Footloose and Kid-Free

2011-11-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back Eric and I had our first kid-free vacation since before Will was born. Yes...it has been almost 4 years since we have gotten away without the boys. We have definitely had plenty of weekends where the kids were off with my parents or Eric's parents. But this time we actually got on a plane and flew to a destination sans kids and it was wonderful! We went to Florida for a family friend's wedding along with Eric's parents and brother and wife.

I actually left my camera at home. Not only was I on vacation from my kids but I was on vacation from my camera. Luckily Martha brought hers and snapped a few from the wedding. I think this is the first time I have actually been in more than one photo in a long time!

Happy Birthday Jack!

2011-11-17T18:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to our big two year old! It feels like just yesterday we were anxiously waiting your arrival into our family. You decided you had your own plans in mind and arrived two days early. Not much has changed since then as you still like to have your own plans relative to most things. We have enjoyed every minute we get to spend watching you grow into our handsome little guy. And we are so proud of everything about you - your loving and sharing personality, your strong will and determination, and your funny personality and infectious giggles.

We love you! Daddy, Mommy and Will

Trick or Treat

2011-11-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

Did anyone notice that Halloween now starts in August.....Christmas starts at what used to be Halloween....Thanksgiving should be renamed "Pre-New Years Eve".....I think you get where I am going with this! The holiday's seem to go by way to fast! We can't even enjoy the first holiday before we are already thinking about the next one.

I'm a little late with this post because I have been panicking about my Christmas shopping so I have been scouring the internet every night trying to put together a Christmas gift list. See, I'm not even thinking about Thanksgiving so I know I will blink and Thanksgiving will be over with.

But anyways, going back to Halloween, we had a minor change of plans due to the surprise snow storm. Our town was pretty much entirely out of power so the town decided to postpone Halloween until that Friday. Since were going to be away on the "new" Halloween day, we didn't want the boys to miss out on their trick or treating experience so we went to my parents house since they were fortunate enough to still have power.

Will's new interest is good guys and bad guys and somewhere along the way he learned about Spiderman. So that set the theme for this year's Halloween costumes. Both Will and Jack have very strong opinions about what clothing they put on their body (and they will not be persuaded, trust me, I try everyday) so I had to tread lightly to make sure I found costumes that both boys were going to be happy with. Fortunately both boys wore their costumes on Halloween and there was no crying and trying to rip the costume off. Despite the last minute refusal to wear the spiderman mask, I think they made pretty darn cute super heros if I say so myself!!

Both boys had fun going from house to house. Will was an old pro and Jack picked it up very quickly when he realized he was getting something every time he went to someone's door.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T19:39:00.001-07:00

Mother Nature decided to play an early Halloween "Trick" on us....five inches of heavy wet snow and no power for going on 3 days. This is what our house looked like on Saturday night during the snow storm.

Fortunately, most of the snow melted pretty quickly the next day. However, in honor of the early snowstorm, I felt a snow pumpkin was more appropriate for the weather at hand.

There is something about this little guy that I like. I wish he could stay around a little longer!

Halloween pictures of the boys to come!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Byeeeeee

2011-10-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that in one month Jack will be two years old. I feel like I haven't posted much on Jack's development past the age of one but he has been a very active little boy over the past year. Having his older brother around has definitely helped him to master some of the more physical aspects of development since he is constantely trying to keep up with Will. He always amazes us with the things that he can do.

Then it comes time to talk about language and while I don't want to categorize him as being behind in that area, he definitely doesn't have an extensive vocabulary (okay...he really doesn't say much at all). I will give him credit though because even though he can't talk, he does a great job getting his point across and we can usually understand what he is trying to tell us through his different sounding grunts and groans.

The past couple of weeks he has been trying sooooo hard to sound out words. This week he finally mastered two new words...."Hi" and "Bye". Here is a clip of him showing off one of his new word...

And here is the blooper reel.....

Fall Cookies

2011-10-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

I hope you don't all think I am crazy for posting pictures of my cookies instead of my kids. But I hate to make all these cookies and then just eat them so I figured I'd at least share the pictures with you all! I'm also building up my cookie portfolio in the process. :-)

Since discovering sugar cookies, I've discovered a whole world of cookie blogs out there with others even more obsessed with sugar cookies than I am. So at least I'm not the only one. My cookie idol's website is The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle.

Apples and Pumpkins and Goats, Oh My!

2011-10-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting for fall primarily for one reason, fun trips to all the local farms. Nothing says fall more than picking apples or taking a hayride out to pick some pumpkins. Last weekend was our annual apple picking event which to be honest with you is really more about me taking pictures than the actual apple picking. But does that surprise you? :-)

We headed out to the local farm in town and while the apple picking didn't keep their attention for too long, all the goats and chickens entertained them for a while. We had to drag Will away otherwise he would have stood there all day watching the animals. Here are some pictures from the day....

My favorite picture of Jack. Such a happy guy.

Just chillin' under the apple tree

Off to feed the chickens...

...and then the goats.

Feeding the king of the goats.

And then the chicken came over to see what was going on.

We didn't get to take a hayride this time but we did check out the pumpkins before leaving.

The Place where Fantasy Lives.....

2011-10-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

We visited Story Land a couple weekends ago with our friends for a fun filled kid friendly vacation. I've attempted to post these pictures like 10 different times but I keep having writers block so I close it and hope next time I can think of something to say. It's not happening so I give up. Here are the pictures from our trip.....

Jack gets a big boy bed!

2011-10-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

Yep..the big day has come! Jack has turned the rip old age of 22 months and we decided it was time to make the big move. The first question people asked me whenever I would tell someone we were moving Jack into his big boy bed was "Is he climbing out of the crib?". To which my response was always "No". To which the next question was "Are you losing your mind?" Okay..so maybe we are a little crazy. We've had it really good with Jack on the sleep front. We would read him a few books, kiss him goodnight, put him in his crib and then walk out of the room. On most nights we wouldn't hear from him again until morning. By moving him to his bed, we were taking a big chance but we figured we moved Will at 19 months so we might as well do the same for Jack. Granted we moved Will because we had to since Jack was on his way. But how bad could it be? Well...it's been a few weeks now and I can't say it has been smooth sailing. He does a great job sleeping in the bed. The problem is first getting him to fall asleep in the bed. We are back to the days of having to stay with him until he falls asleep. I know what you are thinking...we need to break him of that habit and fast. It's just not as easy as it may seem especially when he can climb out of the bed, walk to the door, open and it and start screaming. And that boy is stubborn..he could scream forever! But we will get there...for now Eric puts him to sleep since he has more patience for it than I do.

It was a little funny moving Jack out of the crib. When we moved Will into his bed we knew there was another baby on the way to fill his spot in the crib. However, this time around it was a weird feeling knowing the crib wouldn't be set up in the next room, instead we were taking it apart and storing it away in the attic. But hopefully one day we will be setting it up once again.....

Introducing the New Mr. & Mrs. Dugas!

2011-09-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jeff (Eric's brother) and Martha's wedding this weekend. It's hard to believe that more than a year has already passed since they got engaged. The weather forecast for the weekend called for rain all weekend. A bit of a bummer but what can you do since you can't control the weather. However, Saturday came around and it turned out to be a great day..a little on the warm side but most importantly...no rain!

We ate and danced the day away and had a blast. All of Jeff and Martha's hard work planning paid off. It was a perfect day!

Congratulations Jeff and Martha! We are so happy for you guys!!

Will was one of the ring bearers in the ceremony. I was a little unsure of whether he would walk down the aisle but he did great! We were so proud of him.

Papi was the only one that could get Jack dressed in his tux. I tried and Jack kicked and screamed. Papi tried and Jack stood still and didn't say a word the entire time. Thank goodness for Papi!

Helping his little bro fix his tux.

We were so proud of Will. He walked down the aisle like such a big boy and once he got to the end he gave Eric a big hug.

The Dugas family

The happy couple.

Eric giving his best man speech. He did a great job even though he says he forgot some of his material.

Hamming it up for the camera.

A little Something for the Teachers

2011-09-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

I was in a major cookie mood last week. I think I mentioned it before, but I recently discovered my inner cookie obsession. I have been making so many cookies since discovering this that if I continue to keep them in the house, Eric, the kids and I will quickly gain 25 pounds each. So to continue satisfying my cookie craving, I decided to make some apple cookies for all the teachers at Will and Jack's daycare as a little "Happy September" gift...40 cookies in total. Here are the results.....

Flower Children

2011-09-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

First off, I am a little embarrassed to post yet another blog entry where my children are in nothing but their underwear. It is pretty much near impossible to keep clothes on these boys so I've basically stop fighting the issue because it is a losing battle. :-( I guess there could be much worse things than two little boys running around in their under roos all the time.

We were eating dinner the other night and the two of them thought it would be fun to pick my flowers and put them in their hair. They also equated flowers to dancing and started twirling around the porch. Dancing half-naked boys with flowers in their hair....should I be concerned? :-)

Art Project Gone Wrong

2011-09-06T20:25:00.001-07:00

I try to be a crafty mom every once in a while. It usually isn't very often because the effort it takes to get everything ready and then the clean up afterwards takes more time than the actual project itself. Last time was body painting so this time I decided we would try to make dinosaur sock puppets. The project started off well until we discovered that nothing would stick to the socks since I bought the wrong glue (oops). I had been hyping up this project all morning so I had to come up with a plan B quickly in order to keep everyone happy. So instead of sock puppets, we decided to cut dinosaur shapes out of the felt and paint them so we could make magnets for the fridge. This seemed to satisfy Will so I quickly cut out a few dinosaurs so we could get started. As I watched Will meticulously paint his dinosaur......

.......Jack decided it would be more fun to paint himself.

And boy did he think this was hysterical.

This is good but it would look so much better.......

On my head!!!

I had to cut things off once Jack started eating the table cloth.

Well, I guess this is my fault for introducing body painting to a 1.5 year old. Painting yourself is apparently much more fun than painting a boring old piece of paper. Looks like our next art project will not include painting.

What to do...What to do...

2011-08-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

I am always trying to think of a something fun to do with the boys. I was at a lose the other day of what we should do when an idea popped into my head. They love to paint so I thought why not mix it up a little bit....so we tried some body painting! Jack has a tendency to be a little OCD and is always washing his hands if he gets something on them. I didn't think he would be into having paint all over his body but he loved it! Clean up consisted of a wash down with the hose outside so it was actually two activities in one...painting and playing in the water. Go me!

U-Pick Blueberries

2011-08-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. :-( I do not like my job at the moment. All work and no play makes me a very cranky person. Ever since I took on my new role at work, things have been super busy. On a daily basis, Eric hears about how I am going to quit my job and start a cookie business. Only problem is I don't think I will make as much making cookies SOOOO I think I am stuck with this job for a while longer.

Anyways, I digressed for a minute.....I was able to break free from work last week to enjoy some blueberry picking with the boys and our friends. There is a cute little family owned blueberry farm not too far from our house. All they have is u-pick blueberries and it is basically a couple acres of blueberry bushes in someone's backyard. Kind of a strange location but the place is packed on the weekends. I think the boys ate more blueberries than they actually put into the bucket but we had fun. Here are a few pictures.....

Okay...that was my short little break....back to work. Ugh.

Random Pictures

2011-07-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

Nothing better than enjoying a nice juicy plum at the beach.....

4th of July (Part III)

2011-07-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

The final installment of pictures! I have so many I couldn't decide which ones I liked best. I realized that pretty much every picture is us at the beach. I guess you can tell how (and where) we spent our entire vacation.

Playing with his new friends.

4th of July (Part II)

2011-07-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from 4th of July week.....

Helping Papa with the Kayak

A little beach baseball anyone?

Chillin in "The Condo"

I'm going to catch a fish dad!

ooh...look. I caught something!

This was right before he decided to put the fish directly into his mouth.....

Happy 4th of July! (Part I)

2011-07-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July a little late. We spent the week at the cape and couldn't have asked for better weather. We spent lots of time at the beach, did a little shopping, watched a parade and RELAXED! It was wonderful. I've got lots of pictures to post so here is the first round. 4th of July parade in Orleans......

Are you talking to me?

Will's first trip to the Dentist

2011-07-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

Will had his first visit to the dentist a couple weeks back. I decided it would be a little embarrassing to bring my camera into the dentist which is pretty unusual for me. But I had my phone so of course I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures. For the record, I do not make my son where pink sunglasses. The hygentist gave them to him to wear so the light overhead would bother him. Will hopped right into the chair and they did a full blown cleaning with a polish at the end. He is so funny. Nothing seems to bother him....he just goes with it.

A few more.....

2011-06-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pictures from our weekend at Nana and Papi's cape house.....

Our House

2011-06-07T18:43:00.001-07:00

Since we moved into our house almost 2 years ago (wow!) we have done a lot of work on the inside and outside. I took a picture of the front of the house the other day and thought I'd post the before and after. I think it looks much better after!

Before...all the same color and an ugly red door.

After..a little white to jazz it up...a new red door and lots of new lanscaping makes it look a whole lot better.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-07T18:07:00.001-07:00

Last Day of Tball

2011-06-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

I know I already posted some pictures of tball but Friday was Will's last class so I thought I would bring my camera again. I was hoping to get some pictures of him actually hitting off the tee since they had only hit once during the 6 classes. Unfortunately there was no hitting today either. Maybe they should have called the class "Tball (without the tee and hitting part)". But overall Will seemed to have fun and I think actually learned a few things. Every time he throws the ball now he says "Step and throw". Now we just need to work on getting the stepping and throwing down simultaneously.

Yes..that little boy is wearing eye black. This is serious tball.

Don't be fooled...he wasn't actually hitting here. He was pretend hitting....no tee and no ball. Huh?

Wow...I just realized my last post was the first tball post. I am so behind.....

First Day of T-ball

2011-05-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

We signed Will up for t-ball through the town recreation center. I was very interested to see how they were going to teach t-ball to a group of 3 and 4 year olds but figured it was a good outdoor activity regardless of what he actually learned. The class is an hour long which for Will is about 15 minutes longer than his attention span but overall he seemed to have fun. Here are a few pictures.......

The coach started out by asking everyone to go around the circle and say their name and their favorite ice cream. When the coach asked Will his name, Will said "Ice Cream".....apparently the question was a little confusing to Will. :-)

And they're off!

Will is one of the youngest ones in the group but he did a good job keeping up with the older boys.

I don't know about you, but this does not look like a t-ball to me.

Playing catch with his friend Kieran.

And that about wrapped it up for his first t-ball lesson...a little running and a little throwing. They didn't get to bat and my only guess is that the two coaches saw a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds and figured maybe it was best not to introduce bats into the mix just yet. So the next day we took our our t-ball set and practiced a little hitting in the hopes that maybe next week they will be able to hit off the tee.

How to Catch a Rabbit

2011-05-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

This post is for Nana Betty who I know gets a kick out of the fact that Will is always running around without his clothes on. Today was no different and on top of the clothes coming off, he insisted on trying to catch a rabbit that was in our yard......

Items needed to catch a rabbit:

- One pair of Toy Story underoos.

- One pair of Lobster pajamas

- One tape measurer

- Two not so quiet boys

Here bunny, bunny, bunny....

ahh...there you are you silly rabbit

Gosh..he's fast. Where'd he go this time?

shhhhh...maybe if we stand real still the bunny will come back.

Look Jack...it's working...here he comes!

haha...time to get him!

Maybe not...he's looking at us...run Jack!

Hmm...now what?

Maybe he went on the other side of the fence?

No, no, no Jack. Let me show you how to do it.

Will..I think he is over there! Get him!

Mom...it's this big!

Maybe I'll get him next time.....

Pheww...I'm safe for now but these boys aren't going to give up.

My Happy Boys

2011-05-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

My Little Man

2011-04-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

Finally!!! Nice weather!!! It was such a beautiful day out today. The first day it really felt like maybe the winter is behind us (fingers crossed). Jack and I spent some time outside and I discovered the key to getting Jack to take pictures is to make sure to do it while Will is napping. I can't resist that little smile...I just want to eat him up. Here are a few from today....

Krazy for Kuerig

2011-04-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

We just recently bought a Keurig coffee maker and I can't keep Jack away from it. The second he sees us turn the machine on, he immediately drags a chair over to the counter, climbs up and yells until we let him make a cup of coffee. It amazes me that he has figured out exactly how to use the machine and could pretty much make a cup of coffee all on his own. Here is a video of Jack working on his barista skills.....

Disney Here We Come!

2011-04-12T09:44:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone...not sure if anyone is still out there checking the blog. I've been a bit delinquent with my posts but have been trying to get back in the swing of things. It's been a long and cold winter so we've been stuck indoors way too much which is no fun. But now that things are warming up, we will hopefully be out and about a lot more, with more things to report back on.

We just got back from a trip to Disney World with the boys so I wanted to share some pictures from our trip!

Day 1 of the vacation was a washout. Fortunately, we had a 2 bedroom condo so being stuck in the room wasn't all so bad.

We watched some movies to pass the time....

And when they got tired of the movies, running around in their underwear seemed keep everyone occupied.

We were able to get out for a little in between the storms so we went to Downtown Disney to walk around. And of course, the first thing we see when we get out of the car....the T-Rex store. Will was in his glory when he saw the store and we spent a good 30 minutes walking around and touching every dinosaur in the store. Of course we didn't make it out of the store without a dinosaur purchase.

Fortunately, by day 2, the rain was gone and the sun came out. We went to Animal Kingdom which turned out to be a disaster due to the crowds. But we did manage to see Mickey and a few other characters before calling it a day.

Hmmm...what can I do to Donald's hat?

Come day 3 we were ready to just sit by the pool and relax (not that we were really doing too much relaxing chasing after these too).

Watch me jump mommy!

And me, Mommy!

Later than night we visited family friends who live in Orlando. The boys had a blast playing together.

We had lots of funny playing outside and walking around downtown Disney.

And also got to enjoy some evening entertainment...

We got to spend some time with another friend who lives in Florida and his son. It was great to catch up and let the boys play since they had not seen each other since we left CT.

Will and Justin entertained themselves the entire two days they were together and had so much fun playing in the pool.

And could have spent hours throwing sand into the water and talking to each other about who knows what.

We went to the character breakfast at Chef Mickey's which was so much fun. Will and Jack got to meet Mickey and all his friends. Jack wasn't too keen on having the characters anywhere near him.....

...but Will loved every minute of it!

Will thought Goofy was hysterical and Goofy was loving Will.

Goofy kept coming back for more....three times he circled back to our table to play around with Will.

And Will even got Goofy to climb under the table with him!

Our last night, we just hung out at the hotel and had a picnic dinner by the water. Overall we had a great trip and were sad to leave the Florida and the beautiful weather.

Quote of the Day

2011-04-10T18:47:00.001-07:00

Will: "Mommy, I need....mommy...I..uh...mommy...I need"

Me: "Will spit it out"

Will: (pauses and thinks for a minute) "thpwwwttttt" (raspberry noise and literally spits)

hahaha! I had to write this down so I wouldn't forget it!

An Ode to Binky

2011-02-19T19:04:00.001-08:00

Dear Binky,

I just want to say a big thank you. You have been with us, in various forms, since the very beginning. I had some hesitations at first but after giving you a try and seeing you work your magic, I threw caution to the wind and had faith that we would some day part ways.

In the beginning, you seemed to be the size of Will's head...

Over time you kind of turned into a 4th member of the family. We didn't go any place without you and we knew where you were at all times. While your time was mostly spent hanging out with Will while he slept, you did get to participate in many family activities and other important events.

You came on family vacations with us.

You helped us with big transitions where Will may have otherwise felt a little scared.

You spent holiday's with us even though I wish you weren't there for the sake of the picture.

You also became a big brother.

And of course, you came with us on many car trips and saved us from a car ride of ear piercing screams.

Will has decided that he is a big boy now and is ready to move on. We support his decision but we will never forget all the happiness and comfort you brought to Will. We are sad to see you go but at the same time happy that Will is growing up.

Once again, thank you. We wish you the best.

Happy Monday!

2011-01-24T12:37:00.000-08:00

Jack's 1st Year Book

2011-01-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

I did it! I finished Jack's first year book. Whoo! I had a lot to live up to with Will's first year book so the pressure was on. I've been working on the book for the past few months and just wrapped it up today. Here is a peek at what it looks like!

My First Year Book | Make Your Own Book

Jack's 1st Haircut

2011-01-17T18:13:00.000-08:00

We took Jack for his first official haircut this past weekend. The curls were cute and I hated to cut them off but we couldn't put it off any longer. Jack was better than I expected he would be. I envisioned him kicking and screaming but he sat still for a good 10 minutes which allowed the hairdresser to cut most of his hair. The last 5 minutes Eric had to hold him down but overall a good trip.

The before...a little (okay maybe a lot) shaggy.

Hey..what are you doing lady?

Ooh...now why are you spraying me with cold water?

You're no help mommy but at least you brought me puffs to help pass the time.

Hey...I'm looking good!

We're not done yet?

Tada! The finished product.

Okay, I'm out of here now.

A few more after shots...

Enjoying the First Snow

2011-01-05T18:46:00.000-08:00

We bundled up and headed out for some playtime in the snow right before Christmas. Both boys seemed to enjoy the snow this year and I had to be the one to drag them inside because I was cold. I think they would have stayed out there all day. Bear with me...there are a lot of pictures. I couldn't decide which ones were the best!

12 Months (a little late)

2010-12-23T11:15:00.001-08:00

Dear Jack...

You are the happiest little guy I know. Always with a big smile on your face and very rarely are you sad. You are my funny man...making me laugh all the time with your infectious giggle and raspy little growl. You've learned so much in your first year of life that it sometimes amazes me that you are only one. Between walking at 11 months and starting to use a fork at only 12 months...you are quick to pick up on things. Your sweet and lovable but I know you have a little mischievous streak in you. Whenever I say no to something, you wait for me to leave the room and head straight back for whatever it is you shouldn't be doing. And when I catch you, you have the biggest smile on your face because you know you shouldn't be doing it. You are also very strong willed...if you don't want something, you will make that clear whether it be refusing to put a sippy cup of milk anywhere near your mouth (bottles only for this boy!) or demanding that we pay attention to you buy grabbing our legs and pulling us to where you want to go. You love your brother and enjoy being where ever he is. You are always on the go and I have no idea where you get the energy. There is never a moment of down time for you...if you aren't sleeping...you are on your feet and moving around. We couldn't have asked for a better little guy. Happy 1 year...onto many more fun years.

oops...and I almost forgot. You are weighing in at 24 lbs (70th percentile), you are 31 inches long (85th percentile) and your head is 19.69 inches. I just noticed that there is no percentile for your head...hmmm...I wonder if that means you are off the chart?

Oh..I'm not supposed to touch this? This plug right here? I can't just touch it a little?

Okay..how about the tree then?

What mess? I didn't make a mess.

Santa and Some Skating too...

2010-12-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again...time for pictures with Santa! We took the boys to see Santa today in the hopes they would actually sit on Santa's lap so I could get my picture. The entire wait in the line I was giving Will a pep talk about how nice Santa is and kept asking what he was going to tell Santa he wanted for Christmas. When it was our turn to see Santa, Eric and I made a big deal about how excited we were which I think helped a little bit. Will actually stood next to Santa instead of crying and grabbing at us to get him away. He still wouldn't sit on his lap but I'll take standing next to him as progress! Poor Jack then just got thrown into Santa's lap and he was not happy about it. I snapped as many pictures I could before we had to rescue Jack. Here are a few...

Yes..that is a shark you see hanging in the upper left hand corner of this picture. We were at the Bass Pro Shops where they do free pictures with Santa. However, we never got our free pictures because the boys didn't sit long enough for the girl to get a picture!

Will was skeptical from the start but going with it. Poor Jack didn't even know what had hit him. One minute he was having fun standing in line, the next minute he was getting thrown into a strange man's lap.

Uhh...Santa..what are you doing to my brother?

Well...I still didn't get my nice picture of the two boys sitting on Santa's lap, but I'll count today as a success. Maybe next year's picture will be Will sitting on Santa's lap with a smile and Jack standing next to him.

After our visit with Santa, we took Will ice skating. We thought it would be a fun activity to do with him but wasn't sure if he was going to love it or absolutely hate it. Turns out Will likes to ice skate! For the first time on ice skates, I was very impressed and proud of him! He had no problem walking around in the ice skates off the ice and did a good job on the ice for it being his first time. We couldn't really tell if he was enjoying himself but everytime we asked if he was having fun or did he want to stop, he said he was having fun. He lasted for about 30 minutes which was great. I might start looking into ice skating lessons for him because he did so well today! Here are some pictures and a video of our ice skating adventure (there are a lot!)....

Don't Touch Your Brother

2010-12-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

Wow..I just realized my last post was right after Jack's birthday. It feels like just yesterday Jack turned 1 and now we are only a few days away from Christmas! The boys have been keeping us very busy to the point where we can't even enjoy a cup of coffee without one of us having to go to the rescue of someone crying because one boy touched/bite/pushed/stole a toy which then results in the other one crying. I was standing in my kitchen today telling one of the boys to stop doing something when I stopped and thought to myself...this is what it is going to be like for the next 15+ years. Them pushing each other's buttons and Eric and I trying to referee the situation. It just made me have to sigh and laugh at the same time. Also as I yelled not to touch your brother...I started thinking about how these words are becoming standard in our house along with the following:

1. Will put your pants back on. (weird yes..but he likes to run around without his pants on)
2. Will stop licking Jacks face. (yes...I have said this on more than one occassion)
3. Don't put Jack's hand in your mouth!
4. Jack..stop hitting Will in the head.
5. Will don't knock your brother over
6. Did you just bite him?
7. Don't touch the (insert anything they shouldn't be touching).

I am going to preface this video by saying I do not usually just let the boys continue to wrestle as I watch. I break it up so that no one gets hurt. Just didn't want anyone to think I was refereeing WWE Smackdown matches at my house on a regular basis!

But all wrestling aside, how can you resist these faces?

What Jack was really thinking....

2010-12-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to

2010-12-12T13:59:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Jack's actual birthday on a Wednesday with a family dinner and some cake. I wasn't expecting the reaction we got when we put the cake down in front of him. I think the pictures explain it all....

I'm One!

2010-11-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Jack's birthday a couple of weeks ago with our family. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Good morning birthday boy! Are you ready for your big day?

Hey everybody..I'm one!

Jack got to open up some presents.

And had a great time tearing through the wrapping paper.

Until he lost interest and then the big boys took over.

A monkey cake for our little monkey.

Jack was a little unsure of the cupcake at first...

So Will jumped right in to help him blow out the candles...

and steal a quick taste while he was there.

It took a little while for Jack to warm up to the cupcake..

But then he finally started to dig in and get messy.

The fun didn't last too long and overall he wasn't too impressed with the cupcake.

Finally a few pictures of the cousins. Poor Jack wasn't too happy about being strangled by Will.

Happy 1st Birthday Jack!

Birthday Boy

2010-11-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Jack! Oh how quickly a year went by. You are a happy, silly and loving little guy and we are so proud of you. You have already done so much in your short life, we know you are destined for great things! Happy birthday my little monkey! We love you.

Potty Training 101

2010-11-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

Today was day 1 of the big potty training weekend. We had a successful day! 12 trips to the potty and only 2 1/2 accidents (the 1/2 is because I caught him mid stream and was able to get him on the potty). Will is so excited about wearing his underpants. Here's a summary of the day.....

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T17:17:00.001-07:00

We started off the day carving a few pumpkins. Will enjoyed the first few minutes and then lost interest.

Jack rolled up his sleeves and dug right in.

In the end we were pretty proud of our pumpkin designs. Here are our pumpkins by day.....

and pumpkins by night.

Then onto a little photo time before the trick or treating festivities began. This was round 5 in the costumes. I was a little nervous they wouldn't want to wear them again but surprisingly they enjoyed dressing up.

We went trick or treating with some friends in the neighborhood. A little food to fuel the system before heading out into the cold.

Cheese! Trying to get 2 1/2 year olds and 11 month olds to sit still is near impossible. We decided in 5 years we might be able to get a picture where everyone is looking at the camera.

And we're off!!

Wagons=happy parents and happy kids. Especially wagons with a nice little drink cooler attached to the back for a few frosty beverages.

The first stop and the kids wasted no time heading straight to the door.

Trick or Treat!

Happy with their loot.

Jack got in on the action too.

And had a blast going from house to house.

11 Months

2010-10-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Happy 11 month birthday Jack! One more month before the big 0-1 celebration. I've had a bit of writers block lately which is why I didn't post Jack's 10 month blog but Jack has grown so much over the past two months. Here is a run down.

Eating.....

Jack loves to eat! Some of his favorite foods are pizza, strawberries, pasta, meatballs, grilled cheese and peas. Mealtime usually ends up with an outfit change because he hates to wear a bib. This is how it goes....I put the bib on and he pulls it off...I put it on....he pulls it off...until it turns into a game of how quickly he can get the bib off after I put it on. So usually he wins and I give up and then his outfit is a lost cause. But how can I get mad at that cute face?

Jack started using a sippy cup this month and has a grand ole time taking sips of the water and then letting the water dribble out of his mouth which ends up in another outfit change because he is soaked.

Talking, Tears and More....

His vocabulary still consists of the occasional da-da, ba-ba, and every once in a while a na-na. However, his growling has progressed from single syllabel growls to full on conversational growls. Jack growls when he's happy, sad, angry, excited, curious...you name it, Jack has a growl for it.

Jack also tend's to be very dramatic when it comes to doing something he doesn't want to. Like when he doesn't want to get dressed, he screams and flails and turns on the waterworks. Once we are done, he stops crying immediately and continues on his way. Here's his "I'm pretending to cry even though there really isn't anything wrong, but I just want some attention" face.

Despite the dramatics and tears, Jack is such a happy little guy. He loves to give hugs and snuggle right into your neck. My favorite is when I pick him up from daycare and he immediately crawls over to me with a big smile. I pick him up and he wraps his arms around my neck and holds on tight. Instant heart melting.

On the move.....

Jack is all over the place and gets into everything and anything he can get his hands on. There is no getting this boy to sit still which is to be expected at this age. We find him in places like this...

...or behind the tv which is where Eric found him today. He also started walking right at his 11 month birthday. Go Jack!

Sleeping....

Jack was doing well in the sleeping department until I went to Chicago for the week. And then he took 2 steps back and we haven't been able to get back to sleeping through the night. He now wakes up in the middle of the night and won't go back to sleep until we bring him into bed with us. Granted I can't completely put all the blame on Jack for this behavior since we encourage it by allowing him to come into bed with us. Call us selfish...but we need our sleep so I haven't been able to bring myself to suck it up and break him of the habit. Secretly, I like snuggling with him and I'll take advantage of it while I can.

Here are some other pictures from the month....