Milestones

Today has been a big day for our family.

Clara got brave enough to ride her bike off the curb - the big curb. She's so excited and proud of herself!

Jonathan rode his bike (2-wheeler) a little on his own. Chris is still running right behind him with his hand just inches from the handle in case he starts to fall, but it shouldn't be too long before Jonathan gets it down! Jonathan still thinks falling is fun. If he falls, he laughs and gets right back on.

Matthew laughed for the first time today. The first time he laughed was actually in his sleep this afternoon, but Chris and I just got a couple more giggles out of him by tickling his belly!

What a day!

Waking Up is Hard To Do

Can you see him?

Yes, he's STILL sleeping on the floor.

Camouflage really works!

Booster

This is how Jonathan ate dinner the other night...

In his 'big boy panties', with sunglasses on, sitting on a basketball.

At least he was sitting at the table and eating :)

Jonathan on Potty Training

"The smarts tell me the poo poo is coming."

"I can't poo poo right now but I can smart."

After pooing (thanks to Chris' excitement the time before), "Mom, I go poo poo! Look, it's giant. It's brown. It's a bird."

Later I asked Chris, "You taught our son the word 'turd'?"

We're At It Again...

...Potty training, that is.

Only this time, we're having some success! Jonathan is FINALLY catching on. He's been wearing big boy 'panties' all week (He insists they're panties). Still in a diaper at naptime and bedtime, but it's progress.

Tonight he placed the last sticker on this chart. He seems to have it down if he's at home, in the house. Of course, outside he often forgets to take the break from playing, and we have yet to get him to use a potty away from home. Using the potty at a store presents a whole new set of issues. At home we're using the potty seat insert that sits on top of the regular potty seat and has a guard, eliminating the fear of falling in and the need to 'aim'. I haven't quite figured out how to tackle going to the potty in a store. He's too short to pee standing up, but I'm not sure how he'll balance and aim all while sitting on a 'big potty'. Any suggestions?

Pumpkin Carving

Monday night Chris began carving our pumpkins. I got out the 2 books of templates I had from previous years and as the kids were looking through to find which one they wanted, my neighbor brought over about 10 more books of ideas that she's collected over the years. Jonathan zeroed in on a 'smiley pumpkin' and wouldn't budge. Every time I tried to show him another option, he simply insisted, "Smiley pumpkin!" So Chris went about carving the design.

Jonathan sat right next to him the whole time.

The tooth was Chris' addition. Jonathan was sooo excited when Chris finished it. He said, "I told you! Smiley pumpkin! I told you!" It was so cute to see him so excited. The funny part is, if you tried to carve a Jack-o-lantern that embodied Jonathan's personality, it would look something like that smiley pumpkin :)

Clara changed her mind about 5 times about which pumpkin carving she wanted, but she settled on the scary witch. I was shocked she didn't choose one of her Disney princess templates again, but in a way I was glad. I'm looking forward to the stage after princesses...a time when 'everything princess' no longer consumes all her thoughts and opinions. I think we're just now tip-toeing into that next stage. She has decided to be Belle for Halloween this year, but has already stated that it would be fun to be a witch next year!!!! Looking forward to moving on a little...just a little though.

Guy Smiley

I was trying to get a picture of Matthew in his new shirt, but he decided to flash me some of his biggest smiles. I couldn't decide which picture was cutest, so you get to see them all :)

Sleepyhead

Last Saturday I got a chance to go out with the girls! That's right, me and 3 girlfriends shopping, with no kids around. I love those little guys, but every mom needs time with the girls. Chris stayed home with the kids and got them all off to bed in the evening.

When I came home Chris mentioned that Matthew had been asleep for a little while, but was starting to make a little noise and was moving around a good bit. I peeked over at him and saw the reason why...he was not swaddled. Matthew will not sleep unless swaddled tightly, with his arms bound to his sides. As he started to get too big for a regular receiving blanket (kicking himself free in a matter of seconds) I had to invest in some of those swaddling blankets that Velcro into place. They are a lifesaver (or at least a sleep saver). Anyway, since I knew Matthew wouldn't sleep for long unswaddled, I finally had the chance to take pictures of him sleeping without the fear of waking him. Of course it didn't hurt that perhaps I had missed him just a little bit while I was out with the girls and really wanted to pick him up and snuggle him :)

So peaceful!

The flash started to wake him, so we only got a couple pics. I'll have to get one of him sometime in his swaddle blanket, it's pretty funny to see him all papoosed up!

Bathtime

I'm about to designate Chris to be 'Person-in-Charge-of-All-of-Matthew's-Baths'. Matthew doesn't seem to care for the baths that I give him, and is not at all shy about vocalizing it. However, 90% of the time when Chris bathes him, he just sits back and enjoys it.

Sometimes he'll even crack a smile...

Love this picture! Chris and I are still learning with our new camera. Chris often forgets where the light is and as result, casts a shadow on many of his pictures. Still, this is one of my favorite Matthew pics!

Tummy Time

Matthew is starting to get the hang of this tummy time thing!

Who's that handsome fellow?

Love this little guy!

Chris' 35th Birthday

On the 23rd, Chris turned 35. We celebrated with a yummy Chocolate Volcano Cake (I was watching Paula Dean one day and just had to try it myself!)

Happy Birthday, Chris!

Chris had the usual help blowing out his candles

One of Clara's favorite things is licking the candles after pulling them out of the cake. She likes to make sure the candles are divided evenly, so that everyone gets the chance. It's always the little things :)

Christmas Shopping

It's that time of year again, Time to start thinking about what the kids want for Christmas. Last year I unwittingly introduced Clara to circling her 'wish list' in the Toys 'R' Us toy book that came in the mail. It never goes well...last year she circled the things she liked and then passed it around to all her friends on the street, who each made their own entries, making it impossible to decipher which things she had circled. This year she spotted the toy book as soon as I pulled it from the mailbox and marched straight in the house in search of a pen. This year she circled for herself and Jonathan. She was so excited to go over her work with me, but she'd point at things she had circled and say, "What's that?!" ...Really?!!!!

At least it kept her occupied for a while (with helmet on and everything)!

In the end, her big want items seem to be a Wii and a Barbie Doll. Lucky for me, I caught a good sale on the Wii about a month ago at the Exchange and decided to break down and join the wide world of gaming. Now to find some games...

Bike Riding

Jonathan told Chris to take the training wheels off his bike today. I'm not sure how close he really is to catching on, but we're giving it a try. He made some improvements already today. He's determined and tough. At one point he asked me to hold on to him and as I was, he began to lean the bike too far to one side. Instead of correcting, he just let go and fell off the bike. He had all his pads on and since the bike was leaning pretty far, he didn't get hurt at all. He actually thought it was rather fun, and insisted on falling off his bike again! I don't think I'm ready for this sort of reckless abandon!

Daddy's turn!

Back to Bed

Jonathan almost made it back into his bed for his nap today. This is how Chris found him when he went to wake him up.

Tonight at bedtime, he was back to sleeping on the floor!

Big Guy, Little Guys...My Guys!

Matthew's finally big enough to wear Jonathan's old 'Little Guy' onsie. So Chris and the boys dressed in matching outfits yesterday and got ready for a photo shoot!

Jonathan wasn't so much in to the photo shoot as usual, he was more interested in the worm Clara found for him!

I could just eat up those little cheeks!

Whassup!!!!!

So handsome

Big Guy, Littlest Guy

My Guys!

I love these guys!

Jonathan loving on his Daddy and brother.

Christmas Trees

The pumpkin patch also has a Christmas tree farm attached to it. I thought it would be great to try and get a picture for our Christmas cards, but like I said the kids weren't the most cooperative and the heat didn't exactly put us in a 'Christmas-y' mood either! Here are some that did turn out alright though.

With sunglasses...

Without sunglasses.

I got in this one!

Just the kids!

Pumpkin Patch

Chris didn't have to go into work this past Friday, so we decided it would be a great day to visit the pumpkin patch. One thing we didn't take into account was the weather. It was a beautiful day, but hot! It was in the mid 80's that day, not exactly fall weather. So when you skip naps to go to the pumpkin patch, you can not expect to get the kids to sit still with smiles on for pictures. Somehow we still got some really cute ones...but it was not easy!

Mr. GQ, himself

My 3 Pumpkins

Matthew was the most cooperative for pictures.

Too Cute!

Clara picked a white pumpkin to take home. She was sure to ask Chris if they could keep the seeds to bake and eat this year. Last year I didn't go through the trouble, but her preschool teachers did, and she hasn't let me forget how I just threw the seeds away without letting her eat them!

After picking pumpkins, the kids played on the playground for a while. I love this picture Chris took of Jonathan.

I insisted on dragging the kids away from the playground so we could get a family picture. I was met with a lot of resistance, but allowing them to sit on the pumpkins was enough to get them to cooperate. (It's always the little things!)

Even Matthew got a kick out of sitting on the pumpkins!

My Little Pumpkin! (That's Jonathan's hand in the picture. You can't get him too far away from Matthew. We already have a ton of pics of Matthew with Jonathan's hand on Matthew's head.)

Don't ask me - She certainly doesn't get that confidence and sassiness from me!

Farmer Matthew

Farmer Clara

Farmer Jonathan

There was even a little petting zoo there -- literally, all the animals were the miniature versions of their kind: Miniature horses and donkeys and pygmy goats. The kids had a great time.