Peter and Stephanie's wedding video

I made a little movie for Peter and Stephanie...

See you soon, Grandma Sandy!

We had a nice visit from Grandma Sandy. She spent many hours sewing barbie and american girl dresses for the girls and distracting the boys. She stayed for 2 weeks and got to enjoy Thanksgiving, read in Ellen's kindergarten class and see Anais in one of her holiday dance performances. It was a great visit. Thanks for coming and staying a few extra days!!! We miss you already!

First Snow

The first snowfall seemed to come awfully early this year, much to the delight of the kids whose film du jour is "Frosty". We spent 30 minutes bundling them up in snowgear for 15 minutes of play in the snow but 3 out of 4 loved it. Dylan was still on the mend and didn't make it out of the garage. Ellen and Anais scrounged up enough snow for a snowman and Nic was fascinated by it all. Of course the excursion ended with hot chocolate and marshmallows all around.

School Lunch

Grandma Sandy and Nic joined Ellen for lunch at school. They got to sit at a separate table from her class and Ellen was able to "invite" a friend. Mom seemed to think the pizza lunch wasn't too bad and Nic very much enjoyed the experience.

a couple uncomfortable guys

Shawn and Dylan both had a rough start to December. Shawn had minor surgery on his elbow and wrist to help with some nerve issues he's been having. The doc made it seem like he'd be back mountain biking the next day but it ended up being a bit more painful then that and he took it easy as best he could for a couple days. Dylan went to the doctor on Wednesday with croup but by Friday had a consistent high fever and it seemed that the croup had evolved into something a bit worse. He was put on antibiotics but the fever knocked him out for a couple days. Poor bug!

Holiday Party

With Shawn and Dylan out of commission I took the healthy 3 to our local twins club holiday party. We took a lovely "family" photo with Santa and while Nic literally ran the other direction when it was our turn to step up to the chair, we managed a nice calm shot. Ellen and Anais even had a pleasant conversation with Mr Claus. We did get many strange looks from many club members trying to figure out who the twins were in our little family!

Another birthday

Now that I'm "over the hill" I look at my birthday as a day I'd rather forget and while this year lacked any big trips to Cabo or extravagant meals out in Philly, we did manage to celebrate. My mom and the kids made a star shaped cake and each decorated a point which they had claim to. Shawn made blackened fish for dinner and I found a little bit of time for myself.

Air Hockey

We went to a birthday party over the weekend and Dylan spent a great deal of time at the air hockey table. He didn't quite get the concept of getting the puck in the opposite hole but still got a kick out of how fast he could make it slide.

Black Friday

Itching to do something as a family but still in a turkey coma without the energy needed to head into Philly for the Please Touch Museum, we decided to once again go to the local natural history museum. The kids loved showing Grandma Sandy their favorite parts of the museum and we had a lovely, lazy morning and were still back in time for naps. Even managed to do a bit of shopping online to catch some deals :-)

Turkey Day!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. My mom was visiting from Nebraska and we had some friends over with kids close in age to ours. I cooked a Trader Joes turkey this year which was quite good. And I made a cornbread stuffing that everyone liked and that I think will be on the menu for years to come. The day was again relatively low-stress and very enjoyable.

Mitchfest

Some friends of ours host an annual party called Mitchfest. I think it was once a post-college, all-night beerfest but because everyone has kids, it has now evolved into a late afternoon kidfest. Still live music and lots of beer but the juiceboxes are also free-flowing and the sugar spiked kids outnumber the slightly tipsy adults. While Ellen spent most of the time in the playroom and Dylan grazed in the kitchen, Anais and Nic loved getting their groove on! The 2nd video shows what appears to be Nic's signature dance move which I'm going to dub "the zoom zoom". He is holding a matchbox race car in his hand :-) Needless to say we all had a great time!



A friend at the party also uploaded a video to YouTube with Anais and Nic dancing in the crowd.

Firehouse

The local firehouse had an open house over the weekend and we weren't going to pass up a chance to let the kids climb all over firetrucks. They let the kids try on the gear and climb on the trucks. They also put on a demonstration showing how a fire spreads, how they put it out and what the damage can be. Of course the next day the boys woke up begging to go see the firetrucks!

Trick or Treat

This year we went to a Halloween party at a friends house and the went trick or treating in their neck of the woods. Shawn and I even wore costumes - the first time since before we were married! Shawn was a crashed mountain biker complete with brains and blood oozing from the stick that was impaled through his head and a broken collar bone coming out of his jersey. The kids seemed to enjoy the gore - I think it helped that they painted on the blood for him. I was Mrs. Ratt with rats pinned in my hair and crawling up my clothes. For some reason Ellen was uber-shy around the camera so I didn't get a photo of her in her Thumbelina costume. Great party, Mallory! Thanks for having us!!!

Vocabulary Parade

Instead of a Halloween parade, Ellen's school did a Vocabulary parade. They had to choose something from nature and make a costume with a sign. The sign had to include at least one descriptive word. She was a "Black Queen Ant".

Halloween Parade

It's that time of year again at Anais's preschool and we all went to watch her in their Halloween Parade. Anais was a very beautiful Snow White although found the wig a bit too itchy. The boys were Monkeys or those familiar with Go Diego Go, the Bo-Bo Brothers :-)

Science

The boys are taking a science class at the local Natural History museum. It's a 6-week session and they learn about a different subject each week. Here they are learning about the solar system.

Pump It Up

Anais was invited to a friend's birthday party at a local moonbounce place. Here's a little video of her going down one of the big slides. She had a great time. Happy Birthday, Richie!

Her 2 front teeth

Ellen lost her first and second tooth within a week. Now she can say "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" although I have a feeling there are several other things on her list that she would prioritize :-)

The twins

Here's a recent shot of the twins side-by-side. Doesn't happen very often these days but still just as cute!

Apple Pie

Shawn's sister, Susan and her family came up for a day to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with all of us and I made an apple pie with a little help from Nic.

Helping Ghio

Dylan and the girls helped Phyllis with her embroidery during her visit with us.

Auburn Heights Steamin' Days

Papa and Ghio came out for a visit and we all went to the Auburn Heights "Steamin' Days" in Yorklyn. This is a museum that has Stanley steam cars and 1/8 size steam trains that you can ride on. The kids enjoyed themselves immensely but I think Phyllis and Jim had the biggest smiles that day. It was a great family day together. Thanks for the treat, Papa and Ghio!!!

MS Bike to the Bay

I decided to start road riding this year so Shawn found a good used road bike on Craig's List last spring and I started training with my Moms In Motion team for the 75 mile MS Bike to the Bay. After months of anxiety ridden rides, a lonely crash thanks to wet railroad tracks and I'll admit, some fun training rides at the end, I geared up for the big day. Shawn was quick to prep me for what could possibly be "the worst day of my life" but I got up bright and early on Saturday and drove down to Dover for the start of the ride, with PowerBars in hand. I rode with a couple who were on my MIM team and had a very fun (gasp!) ride! It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought although 5+ hours on a bike seat is not something your butt thanks you for! At the end of the race I met up with the Air Liquide team (Shawn's work) and managed to get in on their victory photo. Thank you so much to Phyllis and Jim, the Lopshire-Bratts and the Gibbs for your generous donations in helping my meet my fundraising goal, to Matt for all the training and advice and to Shawn for watching the kids so I could ride and for maintaining my bike!!!

Pinwheels for Peace

To celebrate World Peace day at Ellen's school, the students planted Pinwheels that they made in the field next to their school. Anais and I walked up to the school to take part in the event. It was fun to meet some of Ellen's new friends and the experience was very uplifting. Ellen wore a peace shirt she painted over the weekend. As you can see, she is studying patterns.

Kindergarten

Ellen started Kindergarten this year and her class "pet" is a stuffed frog. She brought it home for the weekend and we took him to the Creamery. Ellen glued the photos in Froggie's journal and wrote all the fun things she did with him.

Potty training...

We have begun potty training the boys. I'm assuming this will be a very slow process as my past experience has taught me that pushing only makes things harder so it's all about fun and no pressure. And as much as I look forward to a budget that does not include purchasing 250+ diapers a month, I'm dreading the next year of desperate dashes to random bathrooms all over town!