Back to Normal

Everything here is back to normal. Nothing too exciting. Well we sold our Explorer and are in the process of buying a minivan. I know, I didn't want one but they are so useful! We put up our Christmas lights yesterday and are starting to decorate the house. I'm inundated with laundry to get us ready to leave for PA for Thanksgiving this week. Ryan was sick on Friday (all over me), so we've been bumming a little here. We actually thought we brought home a different kid from church yesterday because while we were making lunch, he cleaned up his toys in the living room and went and played in the basement by himself! He wasn't even asked to do any of it! So we were pretty impressed. But I'm glad to get him back in school for two days this week.

We got a little snow last week, so here is a picture I took of Ryan outside (not that you can tell it's snowing). I also taught him to cheer 'Go Blue', which corresponds nicely to both Michigan and Penn State. Kris had brought home some pom-poms from the game he went to and Ryan loves playing with them. Ryan would prefer to say 'Go Green', but I told Ryan that if he said that during this past weeks PSU game, that Daddy would be mad. So anytime he said it, he would stop and say 'No, Daddy mad'. Too cute.



Yesterday, I dressed Emma up in a Christmas dress I received from a friend of mine in her hand me downs. I put her in it for church, but was too lazy to change her. So later on, I found the santa hat I bought Ryan that said My First Christmas and put it on her to take some pictures like I had of Ryan. The funniest one is of her posing. Seriously, she did this all on her own!!

Pots and Pans Day

Today, I let the kids play with pots and pans in the kitchen. Although Ryan didn't consider it 'playing', he did have fun.

Boston and Back

Last week, our family, along with my parents flew to Boston for Kris to attend the MIT LFM Alumni Conference. We went to this last year in Seattle and look forward to having an excuse to travel next year. Kris seemed to enjoy himself, especially the tour he took of Legal Sea Foods. The rest of us kept ourselves busy by going to the aquarium and on a trolley tour. Ryan got to touch a jelly fish, but overall, he is not really a fan of the aquarium as I've realized out here. He liked riding on the trolley and chasing the birds when we stopped. Emma spent these two days sleeping in the stroller and wrap, eating whenever we would feed her and generally just tagging along.

On Saturday, we all went to the Children's museum. We met a friend of Kris's from school and her son, but they weren't able to stay long. Ryan had a blast climbing to the top of this climber (we were sure hoping he would come out on his own because there is no way an adult would fit in there). Ryan and Daddy played bubbles and played in the digger machines. Emma finally got a place to play at the museum and loved the water bed that they had to lay on and discovering her own Bubba Jane (her reflection - we called Ryan's Bubba Joe).

We came home on Sunday, completing Emma's first flight(s). She did really well on the flights but can't say she's gotten any better about sleeping in a pack n play. By the last night, she was up every hour and a half because she rolled over and was uncomfortable. It's taking almost a week to get her back to where she was before we left, getting up only once between 8pm and 8am. Both Kris and my mom came home with the flu and the kids and I came home with colds, mine which has since turned into a sinus infection. Lucky us!

Before our trip, we took the kids out hiking by the creek and 4 wheeler paths behind our house. The colors back there are beautiful. I took some great pictures of Ryan. Here are two of them.

Emma has been doing good in her growing up. She's starting to like water a little more now and enjoys chewing on her cup. She is army crawling all over and has started to venture a little farther each day. Because she is doing so good sitting up, I decided to let her sit in the big bath tub, which she is really enjoying. Today, she discovered she could splash and loved it! She's eating really well now. She'll take almost everything you give her and is a pro at chewing the fruit puff and Cheerios (just not a pro at getting them in her mouth yet). And after a week of no pooping, she's finally gotten a little more regular. Amazingly, that corresponded with her taking more food. But she's growing up so fast. Although she hasn't outgrown her infant seat yet, we plan to move her to the convertible before our trip to PA for Thanksgiving to give her a little more room. She's getting better at sitting in a shopping cart, but tends to lean to the side! At least she has fun.

Congrats!

Congrats to President-Elect Barack Obama! Ryan and I are happy for the person we voted for (Ryan got to do the kids vote thing by picture and picked Obama). Not that my vote really made a difference since Kentucky went to McCain, but I'm proud of the other states that chose him. I was going to say chose well, but I like McCain too. This was a tough election for me because I've read both candidates books and liked them both personally. But I liked Obama's change message and I like his VP better (sorry not a Palin fan).

That's it. We're off to Boston for the MIT conference this weekend. Should be fun.