A time to give thanks

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Things here have been a whirlwind the past week or so. All of us have been sick with a cold and it seems I am the only one who is hanging on to it still! We did manage to have a nice Thanksgiving though, despite the nose blowing and coughing. My parents came down from PA on Wednesday and spent a few days with us. The boys love having their Nana & Granddaddy around! Thanksgiving day, Chris' parents, sister, brother and future sister-in-law came over and we had a really nice time. I will say that I felt like I was in the kitchen cooking most of the day, which didn't really make me feel too thankful. I think next year we will down scale a little. We have so many leftovers!

Yesterday, the boys enjoyed having a whole day with their Nana and Granddaddy. We went to their favorite playground and played and then out to lunch. Unfortunately, we had a huge weather change yesterday and it went from being 75 degrees outside on Thanksgiving day to a high of 50 degrees yesterday! It was also quite windy yesterday so the playground visit was only about 25 minutes.






Now that Thanksgiving is over, I feel rushed to get things done for Christmas. We will be decorating our tree either this afternoon or tomorrow and also putting up other decorations. Christmas does not seem very far off to me and I have this sense of being rushed! Whatever happened to that feeling of things going by slowly when we were little?

The holidays also bring on some stress for both Chris & I. Chris is extremely busy at work right now, he is actually there right now. When you work for a retail company Black Friday is a big day, so he has been working extremely hard all week. We are looking forward to the end of the holidays because it means his work will slow down some and I will be on my own with the boys less.

Plays well with others

On November 13th I had a parent/teacher conference with Hayes' preschool teacher. For the most part he got a glowing report. He knows all his shapes, colors, letters and numbers. He is one of the only kids in the class who can write their name. And the teacher said he is pretty quiet in class and plays well with the other kids! I was a little surprised by this, because he is not quiet at home and he also does not play well with Bryce. I'm sure thats a different situation though, especially considering Bryce is his little brother.

We do need to work on some of his self help skills. He can not or will not wash his hands on his own for some reason and potty training, well it basically doesn't exist. I have tried so many things to spark his interest in that and he is slowly becoming more interested. Hopefully one day soon he will decide he is ready.

The last thing she told me was that he refuses to answer a direct question. She will ask him what his first and last name are and he refuses to answer her! Now, she and I both know he knows his first and last names, but as usual my little boy is stubborn! Everything must be his idea! Oh well, hopefully he will grow out of that soon. :)

I leave you with a picture (above) taken last week at the Children's Museum of Richmonds new Dinosaur exhibit.

Happy Halloween!

Hayes and Bryce went trick or treating for the very first time last night for Halloween. We live on a cul-de-sac, so we only went to about 5 houses. Hayes loved it and was most excited by the play spider he got at one house. It was very cool seeing all of our neighbors out and about and in costumes. We tried to get a picture of the boys together, but this is the best we got. It's nearly impossible to get a good picture of the 2 of them, since neither of them ever stays still! :) The 2nd picture was trying to get the boys ready to go out.

Preschool Halloween Parade

This morning Hayes' preschool had a Halloween parade. Hayes was not so sure he wanted to participate, but he humored Mommy, Daddy, Bryce and Mom Mom and did it.

Getting Ready for Halloween & Boo at the Zoo

There has been lots of Halloween preparation going on at our house. Friday, Hayes and I made Halloween sugar cookies in the shapes of pumpkins, bats, cats, haunted houses, ghosts and witches. Hayes helped me decorate them with orange glaze and sprinkles and we enjoyed eating a few too! :)





Saturday we drove to Northern VA to visit with friends and to attend Boo at the Zoo at the National Zoo in Washington DC. Boo at the Zoo is an event where different companies sponsor booths at the zoo and you trick or treat around the zoo, while also seeing some of the animals. We all had a great time especially Hayes who loved seeing his old friend again.






And finally, today we carved our jack-o-lanterns. Hayes picked out 2 templates from a book, one that was a silly face and one that was a ghost. Hayes only stayed interested in the pumpkins for a few minutes, so Chris & I really are the ones who did all the carving. Here are our finished products.



Our Halloween celebrating isn't over yet. Tomorrow the boys and I will be attending a Halloween party for my Moms group, Tuesday Hayes has a Halloween parade and party at school and on Wednesday we will be doing some trick or treating at our neighborhoods shopping center with some friends, as well as trick or treating in our cul-de-sac.

M's wedding!

On October 19th, I had the pleasure of participating in one of my closests girlfriends weddings. The whole affair was gorgeous and just amazing, as I expected from M. Even though we did get some rain that day, everything worked out perfectly. I had such a great time being in the wedding and getting to spend time with my best girlfriends from highschool. It had been so long since we had all spent time together and we had a blast!

Fun in PA

What a week and weekend we just had! The boys and I drove up to PA to stay with my parents on Monday and had a great time. We were up there for one of my good friends weddings, which I participated in, but that was not until Friday. The boys had such a great time playing with Nana and Granddaddy and their cousin Austin. Here are some pictures of them enjoying themselves at the park near my sisters house the day we went over to stay with Austin. Bryce loved playing in the leaves!





I will do another post about the wedding. But the day after the wedding we went to Pumpkinfest in Doylestown, PA with my parents and the boys had fun. The boys really loved the music and Hayes was even dancing!

Pumpkin Picking!

Today we went to Chesterfield Berry Farm for their Pumpkin Festival. We took a hayride out to the pumpkin fields and got to pick out our very own pumpkins! Hayes had a blast running through the pumpkin fields and deciding which 2 pumpkins he wanted. Bryce really liked riding on the hayride and we all had such a great time together.

Bryce's First Hair Cut!

This past weekend we took the boys to get haircuts and Bryce had his first professional haircut! I have trimmed his hair before, but this was his first time at a salon. He did great. Sat on Chris' lap and didn't cry one bit! :) Hayes on the other hand was a mess, but he hates getting his haircut. Here are some pics of the big day. :)

Surviving

First, I want to share a picture of Bryce having his first bowl of real oatmeal. He could not get enough of it! He finally gave up on the spoon and just started trying to pour it from the bowl into his mouth!






Not a whole lot to report around here. All 4 of us are working through a cold at the moment. It seems to have hit Bryce the hardest though, so Chris, Bryce and I are not getting much sleep. We are hoping to get some relief soon though.

Over the weekend, I was in PA for a friends bridal shower. It was very strange being at my parents house with out the boys! The first night, I didn't know what to do with myself. Saturday brought lots of shower preparations though and I was kept quite busy until 6 pm Sunday when I had to make the drive home. It was an exhausting, but fun weekend.

Chris stayed home with the boys and I think he enjoyed his boy time. He seemed pretty happy to have me back though. :)

Bryce is trying to say everything. He often "tells" himself something funny and starts laughing. I would love to know what he is saying!

Hayes is doing well. He is really enjoying school and was quite proud that he is now able to put his backpack on himself. He had been struggling with that since school started.

That's all that is new with us!

Busch Gardens

Today we took a trip to Williamsburg, VA for a visit to Busch Gardens . Circuit City sponsored a family day, so we went as a family and spent the morning there. We did meet up with a friend and her son while there. Hayes had a wonderful time. He played in The Land of Dragons, rode the carousel, rode on the sky ride, ate ice cream and rode the train! It was quite a day for him, and he was completely worn out. Even fell asleep while Chris was helping him into his carseat! Bryce also had fun splashing in the water at Land of the Dragons and playing with his friend, G (my friends son.) Overall, it was a really great trip and we are looking forward to going again!

Weekend!

We just had a great weekend! Hayes and Chris started soccer yesterday morning, Chris is one of the coaches of Hayes' team! Hayes wasn't completely interested in playing soccer, but he had a good time. Evidently, he really liked the cones they used. :)


Later that day, my brother and his wife and daughter came to visit. Hayes and Grace, my niece, had such a great time playing together. We had some lunch and then went to the zoo, where the kids had a great time. It was a really nice day, so all the animals were out and about. We came back to our house afterwards and the kids played and enjoyed some pizza for dinner! They stayed the night and left this morning. Hayes was sad to see his cousin go.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Hayes' first day of preschool at Brandermill Church Preschool. He is in Mrs. Hunters 2 day a week class. He was very excited about going this morning and hopped right out of the car when the teacher came to get him. When I picked him up he said he missed me, but he had a lot of fun! He wouldn't give me specifics on his morning, but he did say " I built towers with blocks that kept falling down, so I built them again." He also had purple ink on his hands, from his stamp art. :) I would say the first day was a huge success. Hayes is already asking when he goes back.

A Visit with Friends

Yesterday, Chris and some of his friends went to the NASCAR race here in Richmond. For those of you not familiar with NASCAR this is an all day event for a race that starts at 8 pm. The guys left our house around 11 yesterday morning and stayed the night at Chris' parents house, which is much closer to the track than ours.

While the boys were out, I invited friends from Northern VA to come visit. Kelly, Caitlin and Megan came and spent the day with us. The kids had so much fun together and neither Hayes or Caitlin wanted the day to end. Bryce and Megan got to know each other a little better, since they have only been around each other as smaller babies. And Kelly and I enjoyed chatting and catching up. It was a nice day and something we plan on doing again. If only there wasn't a 2 hour drive between us!

Here are some pictures from our day.



The older kids


Bryce, Hayes and Caitlin eating dinner


Miss Megan



The beginning of a long goodbye!

Preschool Visit and Orientation

Last night, Chris and I attended parent orientation for Hayes' preschool. We learned all about the fun things he will be doing and the things he will need, including a real size backpack! We met Hayes' teachers and they are both extremely nice and seem great.

Then this morning, I took Hayes in to see his classroom and meet his teacher. He was quite apprehensive at first, but once he saw his room I could see how excited he was! He played with the toys a little, while I talked to his teacher and we did paperwork. Then he put his handprints on his placemat, which he will use for snack time. The teacher showed him around the room and asked him a few questions. I was quite proud that he was not shy at all! He answered her questions and even impressed her with his knowledge of the colors. :)

He is very excited to go back and actually did not want to leave this morning. His first day will be Tuesday, Sept 11th. I am a little nervous that he will get upset at drop off, but hopefully he will be fine. Chris will actually be out of town most of next week for a conference in CA, so it will just be me and the boys! Keep me in your prayers.

Officially on the Move!

Bryce is officially walking! He started Sunday afternoon with a walk across the family room and hasn't stopped since. Although, he still finds crawling to be more efficient. He is walking more and more everyday! It seems so strange to have 2 walking children, but my back is happy! :)

APT F Reunion

This past Saturday I drove to Newport News, VA to my friends house for a reunion with the ladies I lived with in college. It has been 6 years since all 5 of us lived together. The 3 other ladies drove to Newport News from Northern VA and we spent the day together just chatting and doing a lot of eating! We had such a great time. Can't wait for next year! Sunday morning we had a very small little shower for one of the ladies, who is expecting her 2nd child in December.

Pocahontas State Park

Today we had a family morning of fun. First, we headed to the YMCA for Bryce's swim class. Yes, Bryce is taking swimming and he loves it! The instructor even told me today he was like a little fish. At 13 months old he is already holding onto a kick board and kicking! It's great. I really must get pictures of it.

After swim class, we headed to Pocahontas State Park where they have a great pool. One of the pools has a huge playscape that shoots water and does all kinds of things. Hayes loved it! He and Chris had fun and had to take a dip in every pool there, there are 4 I think. Bryce and I had fun too, we mostly played in the baby pool but did go over to the play area pool to get cooled off by the water falls. :) We wish we had gone to this place sooner, since next weekend is the last weekend it will be open. We are planning on getting season passes next year though! Here are some pictures of the boys enjoying the water.