January: The Big Chill

Happy 2013, Everyone! I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful year for you!

After all the hubbub of the Christmas season, January was very chill at our house. Gabrielle was very happy to get back to school as she really missed her teacher, Ms. Jayme. She also resumed her Monday afternoon dance class.  This month we tried our best to have a little indoor fun so we went bowling at Brighton Bowl. Gabrielle had a great time! Carter was not too interested, but hey, what can you do? For the toddler bowling time, there are bumpers and ramps, so you're pretty much guaranteed a strike! Well, not really, but it definitely increases one's chances! We also made a trip to Rollerama. We had a couple of playdates, and Gabrielle attended two birthday parties for friends, which was a fun thing to do on a really cold day!!

Let's see what else--Carter continues to talk like crazy. I have lost track of the number of words he knows. He has started using his first adjective: cute. If he sees something cute, he will call it out. One time when I was putting him in his car seat, he called me cute! Awwwww! In the morning we have a couple of different routines. Usually he gets up before Gabrielle, and knows to say Shhhhhhh and put his index finger over his lips as we walk past her bedroom door. (He used to just yell for her ("GAGA!! GAAAAGAAAA!!!) and that didn't work out too well as Gabrielle was very grumpy if she got woken up!) We head downstairs and he usually likes to watch a truck DVD with me, or we will watch monster truck rally footage on Youtube. Just lately, he has wanted to see cute puppy and kitty videos. Carter is a pretty nice little brother. He actually likes watching princess shows with Gabrielle. There is a new "preschool" princess on the Disney Channel called "Sofia the First" and he always wants to watch it with Gabrielle, and she is as pleased as punch when that happens! Carter also will chuck cars at her head, so he has a healthy balance of sweet and sassy. Carter's funny words of the month are "foo-fire" which is his humidifier, "coo-coo" which is  a cookie, "cotton" which is candy, "mix chix" which is Chex Mix, "fooloos" which is Fruit Loops, "Zert" which is dessert, and "chicklet" which is chocolate. Very healthy, huh? You can see what this kid prefers. Thank goodness he'll eat carrots!!

I haven't forgotten about my darling, Gabrielle. She's been doing awesome at school. She's just a really cool kid who does pretty well in the social scene. She can recognize all her letters, lower and upper case, and she is getting pretty good with letter sounds, so she is one the right track. She also is pretty good at writing when she puts her mind to it. She's super stubborn, but even though I find that quality to be very challenging, it makes me worry about her less...she knows how to hold her own.

Enough of this January banter.... February = Disney World!!!! Woohoo! As Mickey says, "See ya real soon!"

Colleen

 

STRIKE!

 

@ Brighton Bowl

 

Carter is watching his ball very intently....

 

Check out this cool activity table--Grandpops made that for Carter for a Christmas present in like 2 days! I wish I was that handy!

 

Fine Motor Practice...Let's just say more Fruit Loops went into his mouth than on the stick! HA!

 

It was a snow day! Time to play with Play-Doh and Floam!

 

This is how Carter spends hours of the day...playing with cars and trucks.

 

What a good big sis playing with Carter

December Rewind

Looking back at December only confirms what I already know. December was, without a doubt, the busiest month of 2012! Was is that way for you too? Probably. Getting ready for Christmas is always fun at our house. It's a really special time of year, so I don't really mind the hustle-bustle that consumes us. However, right after Christmas it's nice to spend the remainder of the year is total relaxation mode!

This month marked Carter's 18th month. He put together a couple of two-word sentences such as, "read book" and "help door" as he was trying to open the door of his ambulance. In the morning when I went up to get him he asked, "Dada work?" So that's pretty cool. At his 18 month check up, he weighed in at 24 pounds, so he's a pretty hefty boy. Solid, you know?! This month he also discovered a love for truck DVD's from the library. Basically, they're mostly footage of different kinds of trucks rolling and crashing around to music. His interests aren't very diverse at this point. If trucks/cars, etc., dogs, or balls are involved... he's happy.

Gabrielle had a fun month. She made her debut in The Nutcracker as a little baker. I had no idea what to expect even after several rehearsals, but the end product was very cute, and most importantly, Gabrielle really had fun and enjoyed it. She has even expressed interest in doing it again. She also was in a Christmas program at preschool which was super cute. She was dressed up as a reindeer and then as an angel. She really missed her teacher over the break which is just indicative to how much she loves school. She is really interested in writing and letters and reading and how to spell certain words.

We has parties and playdates galore! We also spent lovely time with family celebrating Christmas. Gabrielle and Carter had fun on Christmas morning. As Carter says it, "Tonta" was very generous and both kids were in seventh heaven. It was great for Adam and I to see. Gabrielle's hot ticket items this year included anything with a Disney Princess and/or Barbies. Carter's hot ticket items this year included anything with 2 or more wheels and his coffee pot. Somes kids have very varied interests, but mine don't:) This is Gabrielle's third Christmas in which princesses are "IT" and at this point in Carter's short little life, it is trucks OR BUST!

This month more than ever, probably due to Carter being a lot more communicative, Gabrielle has her brother really play together. They chase each other around, she plays cars with him, he'll sit on the couch and watch Tinkerbell with her for awhile, just to name a few. It's so endearing. And this is just the beginning!

We are looking forward to 2013--hope you are too!

Colleen

 

Christmas Eve

 

Christmas Morning 

 Christmas Morning

 Christmas Morning

 G's preschool program

 Gabrielle as a baker in The Nutcracker

 Sledding at G/G Sexton's over Christmas break!

November in Review

One of the best things about a monthly blog is reviewing all the fun that was had in the past month. For me it's a way to look back and not necessarily think about how the time flew, but to look at what can be packed in to 30 days....

November started out with a much anticipated trip to Houghton Lake. We were so busy in the month of October that we never made it up, so it was great to be back to our home away from Howell.  It was very chilly that weekend, so we spent a lot of time indoors, but we did make it outside for some much needed raking and of course, our weekend wasn't complete without a bike ride!! Carter TALKS SO MUCH--it's crazy to me--he wanted to "make" coffee all weekend, and the best toy up there was a rinky-dink coffee pot that we played with continuously. When he wants to play with the coffee pot, he says "make."

The week after out trip we started at the Treehouse in Chelsea. It is a super fun indoor playland where we met some friends. We also went to Rollerama that week. Both Gabrielle and Carter had a great time skating and dancing! The following week we had a visit with Gabrielle and Carter's great-nana at her house. It was fun for them to have her one-on-one attention and see all the interesting things at her house. Carter didn't break anything (thank goodness) but he did hand me a few of her crystal knick-knacks because he knows he isn't allowed to play with anything breakable;);)  We also started a library class, mostly for Carter, because now he is old enough to really partipate, but Gabrielle actually wanted to join us instead of going to her own class, so it's actually quite fun to have both in there with me. Going to the library is always fun, and it will be more fun when Carter doesn't want to constantly play on the stairs.......... Carter and I attended two playgroups this month and the three of us went to family night at Gabrielle's preschool where we saw a couple of folk singers sing some pretty catchy tunes. Gabrielle attended a birthday party AND took her dad to Dad's Night at her preschool where they sang a few crazy songs and together made an awesome candy house!!

Of course, it would be negligent not to mention Thanksgiving! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at Thanksgiving this year. Gabrielle even sat at the kids' table--which I was not ready for--but she did quite well seeing as how she's only 4:) The following day we all went to the Fantasy of Lights parade in downtown Howell. It was the kids first parade, and it was a fun (but VERY CHILLY) event. Adam and I surprised ourselves at how adventurous we were taking the kids to a parade at night in the freezing cold!

Busy month, huh?!? Busy and wonderful if you ask me.

I am giddy just thinking about December.

Until then,
Colleen

 

"Make"

 

Our 30 degree bike ride--the kids were actually hot back there with the wind flap closed!

 

Chelsea Treehouse

 

OMG-the fastest slide EVER. It is hard to see the enormous dip. It's crazy.

 

Look at this chick!

 

Always a good time at good old Rollerama

 

Bathing Boy

 

Being goofy in the hat Grandma brought back from China!

 

Hey! It's Colleen & Adam! (@ Thanksgiving)

 

In line to see Santa...it was snowing....

October Love

October is always such a great month. We really love all the sights and smells of a Michigan fall. It was a busy month for us. So busy, in fact, we didn't even have a chance to visit our cottage. This months marks the one-year anniversary of buying it! It has brought us some great memories this past year, and we are looking forward to making many more. Adam and I also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this month. We had some fun plans that we made, but unfortunately the plague ripped through our home and it just happened to hit me over our anniversary, so we have rescheduled our fun plans until December when the babysitter is available again!

Something really momentous happened this month......Gabrielle wrote her name!! Now I have been working with Gabrielle on letter recognition and letter formation for about a year, and that is just proof that kids truly accomplish things only when they are ready. She was just like, "I'm gonna write my name, Mom." And sure enough she wrote it small and neat as she signed a rather small Halloween card. We were so proud! Gabrielle is not the easiest name, that's for sure.

Onto some Carter news: he is a talking maniac!! Some of his new words are up, get down, bub-bye, apple, grape, pumpkin (although his version sounds like ba-pump), milk, Amen, and book. He just put two words together, too, which was cool..."Bye-bye, Dada." He may talk even more than Gabrielle did at that age! I need to go back and look. He loves to play with his cars and trucks and he also loves to play in Gabrielle's kitchen. He also loves to read his car and truck books. He brings them to either Adam or myself and plops down in our laps. He has a book that has baby faces in it, and he loves that one. He likes to look at pictures of dogs, cats, and other animals!

This month is better said in pictures, so below are several of our highlights! See ya in November!

 

Carter loved the three light up pumpkins, and he liked to take me to each one to show me.

Carter also loves throwing dirt out of my hydrangea. 

 

 Gabrielle had a field trip to Spicer's!

 

 My furry little Pooh Bear

 

Little Blondie in the leaves

 

Gabrielle was Rapunzel for Halloween

 

Money Shot!

 

 

September Stuff

September started with an unexpected long trip to Houghton Lake. We headed up on August 30th to stay through the long, holiday weekend. However, on Labor Day, I realized that I could stay up for another week due to the fact that I didn't have to work and Gabrielle's preschool didn't start until the 11th. Poor Adam had to pack it up and head home, but he joined us again the following Friday. The only real bummer was that I forgot my camera again, so I was rather annoyed with myself.

We came home to the start of a busy week and the beginning of our new fall routine. Gabrielle started dance on Monday and began her 4-year-old preschool career on Tuesday. She was super-excited for both to begin. Luckily for me, she skipped off down the hall as she waved goodbye to me. There seemed to be plenty of other crying kids saying goodbye to their moms, so Carter and I high-tailed it out of there before she could change her mind! Gabrielle is going to school for two full days per week. That means I pack both Adam and Gabrielle's lunch.... It is a long day without her, but it is good preparation for all day/everyday kindergarten next year. She hasn't complained about the long day, so everything seems to be going just fine!

Carter had his 15-month well-baby check-up on the 13th. He weighed in at 24 pounds, 2 ounces. (44%) He was 30.8 inches tall (39%), and his noggin is still in the 90th percentile at 19.25 inches! He doesn't look nearly as big as he did before he was mobile, and he has really thinned out, although I would never describe him as skinny! He's definitely solid and very healthy. I really wish I could just freeze Carter at this age. He's so sweet--quick to give hugs and kisses and snuggle up. He continues to be very verbal repeating everything as best he can. He's learning body parts such as eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, and tummy. He is also learning animal sounds such as that for a dog, cat, duck, and frog. He really loves dogs and bears. He likes to carry around those particular stuffed animals and snuggle and kiss them. He's very sweet. Every night when we say goodnight, he leans in for a kiss with a real pucker. He also will lean in for a kiss when we say good-bye, such as when we drop Gabrielle off at school. Again, he's a sweetheart. He likes to be rough and tumble, but he has a real tender side which is just the cutest thing ever.

Pictures are a little low this month although you may not be able to tell by this post. Happy fall, everyone. Looking forward to October!

Colleen

1st day of 4-year-old preschool!

 A sibling pic just wasn't happening!

 

Some fun that fall brings...

(She actually made this one just as I snapped the pic!)

 

 

Cartie is looking more like a big boy!