Nick Pics and Sickie Boy

On Tuesday, we had Nick's 1 year old pictures taken. We had to reschedule once after a bump on the head. It went pretty well. I couldn't convince Emma to sit for a picture and I forgot to put some lipstick on, but they came out great. Here are some from it.

In the news on Nick. He took his first steps - finally! I think he will be following in his brother and sister's shoes of walking right around 13 months. He took a few steps on Tuesday, but we were absent from that (he was with my mom). I saw it yesterday! How exciting to see him finally do it.

In other news, we were back at the ER with Nick last night. He was having trouble breathing and was wheezing. I took him in and spent some 'wonderful' time there calming a cranky baby and watching tv. They took some x-rays and gave him a breathing treatment, and diagnosed RSV (a virus) saying there isn't much we can do. So we are back home with a cranky baby on some snow days. He's getting some good naps, but keeps waking himself up at night. Hopefully, this will pass soon - I hate seeing my baby in pain!

Nick's Party and Snow Days

We had a 1st birthday party for Nick last weekend. A few friends and my mom joined us a CiCi's for some pizza. The kids enjoyed it as well as Nick (as good as a 1 year old can). He smashed some cupcakes and demanded ice cream. Over all, a good afternoon.

We've had snow days for the last two days here. Kris and both agree that we would have had school when we were growing up. I mean really, 2 inches. On Tuesday, they cancelled school before it even started snowing! Ryan was very upset because he was missing computer lab. He wasn't so upset about missing art today, but he is sure hoping for school tomorrow - it's gym day! Sunday and Monday were not the best parenting days for me and Kris was wonderfully able to change his schedule to not travel this week. Thank goodness! Luckily, Tuesday was much better. Peaceful until about 4, when I refused to let Ryan watch another movie. It continued to be hard until I was able to get them out of the house today! And then it was good again. Today, we went swimming and played in the snow. Ryan and Emma were supposed to start their first joint swim lesson, but it was cancelled, much to their disappointment. Yesterday, we did a project that I had been holding onto for just this type of day. I had aprons for them to decorate. We had puffy paint and iron on letters. So you can see the results in the picture.

Also, Emma is on a puzzle craze. My Aunt Dawn bought Ryan a US states puzzle, which I actually thought would be a little hard for him now. But Emma has been working on it for a few days now and this evening was able to complete it all by herself. I think she'll be getting some puzzles for her birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday to Nick!

Nick had a wonderful 1st birthday today. He almost burned himself on the flame, but he really enjoyed the cupcake - demanding more when he was through (luckily I had made exactly 6 cupcakes - one for each of us plus my mom who came down). He opened some of the gifts we gave him which the other kids quickly confiscated. And now he's off to a sweet night of sleep - we hope!

Happy New Year!

We spent a wonderful New Years Eve night with our friends, the McDonalds. They have two sons each about 6 months older than Ryan and Emma. Everyone has a great time together. We had a taco night, whichof course included margaritas. Nick only made it until 8:30 and Emma asked to go to bed around 10. But Ryan and Mason and Jackson all made it past midnight. Although we did have to rewind tv for them to see the ball drop a second time.

Also here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying some of their new Christmas presents.

Happy Buppa Birthday

Ryan was determined to spend my dad's birthday at Chuck E Cheese. And being a good sport my dad let him! Since then we have been discussing where everyone's birthdays will take place at. Ryan has his birthdays through turning 8 planned (but the plans change everytime he brings it up). We did have a great time and for the first time actually used all the tokens we received. They recently remodeled our CEC and we were pleasantly suprised with the results of it.

Amazingly, of all the pictures I took there, there are not any with my dad! But we love you! Happy Birthday!

Merry Christmas!

We have had a wonderful Christmas Season!! It was great to get to enjoy this time - although Kris and I both agree it didn't last long enough. I just love the music, lights and baking. There is never another time where you can get away with baking as much as we did.

My parents and Robin all came in to celebrate Christmas with us. Christmas Eve we all attended service at Kris's church and opened a few gifts from each other. I was excited to receive a gift certificate to get my toes done with Emma (from Emma). Emma was excited to get a hula hoop from Ryan - her favorite gift overall. Ryan was excited for his calendar. Nick didn't really care. Kris was happy for more Reese cups and his Steelers football that Ryan picked out. My dad read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to the kids and Kris and I attended midnight Mass after everyone else was in bed.

On Christmas morning, our living room was filled with presents from Santa and everyone else. Ryan had asked for new tires for his truck and was very happy to find them. He really enjoyed the holiday. He was so excited to pass out presents using his new reading ability to read the tags. He also loved helping anyone open their presents (whether or not they wanted help!). Ryan also received a new bike, which we took outside for an inagural trip. He also received walkie talkies, which he uses to tell me when a commercial is on his movie and to come down and fast forward! He also enjoyed the donuts that are a family tradition!

Emma was a little slower at understanding and wanting to open gifts. She actually left a few for later in the day, enjoying what she had opened already. She received a doll house from my parents, which unfortunately we still haven't opened. She wanted to read every book right when she opened it - she definitely takes after Kris!

Nick as might be expected wasn't all that interested. In fact, he took a nap about half way through opening gifts. And some of his gifts waited a few days to be opened. Of course, he was happy with just having one new toy, that the rest were just a bonus! Amazingly, the other kids really liked Nick's gifts too, sometimes preferring them to their own!

The rest of us were very happy with all the wonderful gifts we recieved. Kris was suprised to get all three tranmitters that he wanted and he suprised me with 6 bottles of wine from wineries that we have visited. My parents and Robin did good as well. We really enjoyed spending time with them and having a relaxing Christmas!