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5 Months

Mallory's 5 month pictures...

Family Christmas

We went to my parents for our Christmas celebration with my mom's side of the family.  It is nice because we now get together a couple of weeks before Christmas when my Aunt and Uncle can come in from Texas and we have the entire day free to spend together.  We play games and eat food all day long. 



The three cutest cousins

Family picture...Mallory's hands never leave her mouth.  That is probably why she gets a new cold every week : (



They love each other so much...nobody can make Mallory laugh like her brother can.



We played this ring game where you have to hold a certain color ring between two body parts.  The first team to drop a ring loses.  I promised Laurie that no pictures would be posted of the event but I feel as if this one of my mom and dad is not too embarrassing. 

Lucy is getting so big...she is just so sweet

The official spinners of the ring game

Mallory just loved watching everyone make a fool out of themselves

Lynn, Katelyn and Jaclyn...this is such a good picture, they all look so pretty

Hmmmm....

Big girl Sophie, hanging out with her cousins

Ethan loves his Ants in the Pants game...it was definitely a hit along with his pillow pet

And the winner is....Jaclyn!  She beat out some stiff competition to win the pool tournament.

Breakfast With Santa

My friend Shari and I were in charge of the breakfast with Santa for our pre-school PTA again this year.  It went really well and the kids had a great time.  Kevin and Shannon were in Floriday on vacation so we brought my parents and Sophia along with us.  Ethan and Sophie had a great time dancing with all the other kids.  Here is a picture of the kids with Santa...one of my favorites.

Mallory with Santa when she was actually awake to meet him.  It went pretty well.

Joe and Mallory's first Daddy/Daughter dance.  So sweet : )

Ethan's Gift to Sophia

I have been wrapping all our presents over the past couple of days.  Ethan has been helping me.  Whenever I am done with a roll of wrapping paper, he gets so excited that he has a new "telescope" to look through.  At one point he told me that I was not allowed to use a particular roll of paper because that is his present to Sophia.  She gets to unwrap it and in the end will have her very own telescope.  I lost an entire roll of paper to this very inovative gift.   Hope she likes it as much as he thinks she will!

4 Months

Here are Mallory's pictures from when she turned four months.  Since she will be five months this weekend, I figured I should post these.  The kids have been sick the past couple of weeks so we are pretty tired over here.  Mallory is on her second ear infection and we are hoping she feels better by Christmas.  She has not slept anywhere but with us holding her the past few nights. 

Ethan Quote #25

Ethan had just finished going potty and called me in to help him.  Unfortunately he likes to show off what he has accomplished...

Ethan:  "Mom, I'm done...come look at this one!"

Me:  "Wow, Ethan, holy poops!"

E:  "No Mom...holy craps!"

I tried really hard to not laugh and tell him we don't use that word but all I could hear was my mom downstairs laughing.  I have no idea where he got that one from...

Getting Ready for Christmas

I am really excited for Christmas this year.  Ethan totally gets it and it is so much fun to experience it through his eyes.  He has been asking since last Christmas to make another gingerbread house.  Every time we are in a restaurant or somewhere that has the little peppermint candies, he takes one to use on his next gingerbread house.  Here are a few pictures from the day we decorated.

He calls the stockings his socks. 

Cheese!



Ethan loves everything about olives, especially the fact that you can put them on your fingers

He helped hang the ornaments...I should have taken a picture because all of the ones he hung were on just two branches. 

I love putting the ornaments up.  Each year I buy Joe, Ethan and now Mallory an ornament representing something from the past year.  I love looking at them all as we hang them up.  I am now wondering if Joe will be reading this and thinking that he never noticed that I have been doing this since the year we got married : )

Clean Up, Clean Up

I discovered the one good thing about working in the Cleveland City Schools Admin Building...snow days!  Ethan isn't feeling too great, so we kept him home from school today too.  He was in his playroom and I hear him singing the cleanup song....over and over.  I go in there and he is actually cleaning.  It was incredibly hard for me not to go in and re-clean since he was putting things in the most random places.  Even though I will never find anything again, I let him finish.  I was so happy he was actually doing it and he was so proud of himself when he was done.  Then he looks at me and says "Make sure you tell Trixie (his Elf on the Shelf) that I cleaned the playroom.  And make sure she tells Santa.  And don't forget I want a Snoopy Sno Cone Machine for Christmas."  I think this elf may become a permanent fixture in our house. 

Ethan Quote #24

Ethan is squeezing Mallory's head trying to give her a hug...

Me:  "Ethan, please stop."

E:  "But Mom, I want to hug her because she is just so cute and I love her."

Awww...okay, keep squeezing then : )

Ethan Quote # 23

Ethan has a cold and doesn't feel good...

Me:  "Ethan, I am sorry you don't feel good."

E:  "It's okay, Mom, I don't mind being sick because you take care of me"

Curious George

I had to post a picture of the airplane my dad made for Ethan's playroom.  He actually made this...from scratch.  I thought it was a kit, but my mom assures me that they spent hours together at craft stores finding just the right pieces.  Thanks Dad...Ethan loves it!

Gobble Gobble!

We spent Thanksgiving over my parents house.  We have so much to be thankful for this year...a new baby, a new house, and amazing family and friends!  We couldn't ask for anything more.  Well, maybe Mallory sleeping through the night, but I won't be greedy.  We have been so busy the past few months it was nice to take time to relax and enjoy the day.  If you can't read Ethan's hat, he is thankful for Mommy, Daddy, Bun, Mallory and Chloe.  Hopefully that is not in the order of importance seeing as Bun made it on before his baby sister.



She is so close to sitting up on her own.  She can do it for a  minute but then falls over.  We are working on it though because she is 16.5 pounds and my chiropractor is making way too much money off of me right now.



Ethan in Great-Grandpa's hat.   It fit him perfectly.



Is there such a thing as too much cuteness?



I don't think Ethan trusts Grandpa very much...he thinks he is going to tickle him or something the way he is looking at him.

 

Ethan Quote #22

Ethan was in his playroom and Joe was trying to get him to go upstairs...

J:  "Ethan, it is time to go upstairs and get ready for bed."
E:  "You sir, need to come in here and learn how to have some fun."

Good luck with that...I have been trying for years.

Is This a Match?

This is a picture of the disaster I found in Ethan's playroom the other day.  I walked in to him sitting in the middle of this mess.  He just looked up at me while holding two cards from his Memory game, and said "Is this a match?"  Seriously?  Needless to say, many of these toys did not make it back on the shelves.  We had our first lesson in donating things to the less fortunate.

Times Have Changed

Three of my good friends, Val, Jen, and Kathy, came over to meet Mallory.  We all used to work together at CGE&Y.  Things are way different from the time we spent together traveling and hanging out.  Random weekends to Italy...not so much anymore : )  It was so much fun catching up and playing with all the kids. 

They are all growing up so fast.  Ethan has a small crush on Valerie's daughter Kate.  As they were leaving, Ethan called out after them, "Kate...maybe you can come over again and we can have movie night!"  I think that was his first attempt at asking a girl out on a date.  I don't think Tyler will be allowing that to happen for another twelve years or so.

Samantha cooking in the kitchen



Sophie insisted on sitting in the bouncy chair. 




Trey is all smiles




All of us.  At least everyone is facing the camera.