Prelude to Lauren's 1st Christmas morning...

Every year we all get new Christmas PJs to kick off the holiday season. This year was no exception. (Sean picks them out and takes lots of pride in this tradition.) Not only did the kids love their jammies but watching the excitement for both of them was the best part... Especially Anthony's excitement as Lauren opened her present. He was so adorable and cheering her on. Then she got even more excited b/c Anthony was excited. I just loved it!






The presents... such suspense!!
















Anthony is clapping for Lauren and she's looking at Sean as if to ask, "What do I do next?"













Anthony was so proud of her opening her first present ever!

















Lauren got some My First Christmas pajamas.
Anthony got Lightning McQueen!!

Also, our favorite Christmas Elf is back! RED has arrived and is taking notes for Santa! If anyone wants to look up this tradition it's at http://www.theelfontheshelf.com/

It's wonderful! He arrives at our house every year the day after Thanksgiving!

Anthony was whispering seemingly important information to RED every 5 minutes for the first few days after his arrival.

















Our Advent Tree. There are random numbers all over it and each day we find the number and place an "ornament" sticker on it. The tree is Lauren's footprints in light green and Anthony's handprints in dark green. And of course he did enough handprints to negate any footprints that might have been visible at one point.

Anthony's 1st trip to Knoxville

We got our usual minipack of tickets to the Tennessee games this year. Anthony kept asking if he could go. I was dying to take him but Sean wasn't so sure about it. We decided that if it was an early game we'd take him b/c it would be hard to tailgate anyway.

It turned out the game was at noon so we told him he could come w/ us and he got all upset that Lauren couldn't go. He said he wouldn't go w/o her. Finally we talked him into it and he had a great time.

Anthony loved our spot! We were on the 4th row

at about the 40 yard line. The team rested right in front of us the whole time so Erik ainge is now one of his favorite players!

Anthony was good thru the 1st quarter but then he started getting tired as saying he wanted to go home. He really did a great job by not complaining but he was definitely tired. He stuck it out through the 2nd quarter and then we went out for potty breaks, a large soda and a jumbo bag of M&Ms. Filling him full of sugar was the key!

Smokey Dog!

Mimi, Papa, & GiGi got to keep Lauren all day. I think they had a really good time.

Halloween

Finally for some Halloween pics!!


The original batman outfit! This costume lasted all of two hours. We tried it on in the store, got home, he put it on as soon as we graced the front door. HE LOVED IT. Sean walks in and he announces that the muscles were hurting him. He hadn't mentioned it to me at all. Oh well. So Sean takes him back out after dinner and they try on the next costume (the "Au Natural"/"Non-BALCO" version). Anthony loves it. They walk in the door and he comes up to me and announces that he wants to be a fireman. WHAT??!!! I said, "OK, but we are not going back out tonight. Let's sleep on it." He had wanted to be batman since about 1 minute into Halloween last year.

Now he already knows that next year he is going to be Spiderman, a fireman in 2009, and a policeman in 2010. Geez!! What a planner!


















Carving our pumpkins!!








The boys holding Anthony's and Lauren's pumpkins.











In order from left to right: Lauren's, Anthony's, Mindy's, and Sean's.
















Lauren at home before Anthony's school party.
















Anthony w/ his teachers Ms. Amy & Ms. Erin
















Lauren & Hunter enjoyed the party too!















Lauren was the giraffe from Anthony's first Halloween.
Once I got the costume on her I realized that it really
did look quite boyish. Oh well.
















TRICK-OR-TREATING: Batman & The Great Pumpkin.
















Daddy & the kids are ready!! Poor guy... Anthony, of course, was running from house to house w/ Ryan and Will; Little Lady Lauren was asleep on Daddy's shoulder; all while Sean was still pulling the wagon...and the beer was left in the garage. Urgh.















Anthony & Ryan before heading out for the big night. Will joined later and I heard from the one of the other moms that there is a picture of all three of them somewhere. I'll post it if I get it.

So, I'm guessing our blog will go from this moment on but I'll do a little recap. I am now at home w/ the kids. I was laid off in August and I have been loving every minute of it. I thought I might post a couple of pics from the fun we've been having.

We've been to:
Isle of Palms, SC w/ Mimi & Papa





Anthony & Papa enjoying ice cream after a long day at the beach. We built a sand castle, flew kites, played frisbee, played in the water. What a great day!






















NJ for Anthony's Godfather's wedding (Brian & Jackie Duff)


The wedding was in Cape May, NJ. It's the most southern point of NJ and it was just beautiful. We had a great time and Anthony was a real trooper. He lasted through a rehearsal dinner, beachside wedding ceremony, and reception sans a meltdown. We couldn't believe it. As you could guess, the cuisine wasn't exactly PB&J pockets but he did great. We were so proud of the little man.




The Local Pumpkin Patch: Ashland Berry Farm


Anthony & Lauren in front of the "How Tall This Fall" sign. Every year since Anthony was born we have gotten him in front of this sign. It's so neat to see how much he has grown over the past year.
































Baltimore for cousin Danny's wedding

Danny and Katie Skelton. They are such an adorable couple. The wedding was wonderful and they danced to the best song I think I have ever heard at a wedding. Better Together by Jack Johnson. If you haven't heard of it you must go to iTunes and download it. It's a perfect first dance song. Congratulations to two wonderful people. We had a great time.






Baltimore Aquarium


Anthony loved the aquarium. I think his favorite part was the dolphin show. We have recently discovered the public library and he found Curious George goes to the Aquarium.
He was so excited so we immediately checked it out!








NC to visit the Shaboskys & the Moricles



Anthony & Cole. They are such great buds.















Junior Women's League Touch-A-Truck


Anthony & his best friend Thomas loved this event. I would say there were over 30 vehicles. They allowed the children to climb up in them, honk the horns, work the controls, whatever. There was a digger, excavator, front loader, tow truck, mack trucks, ambulance, police car, fire truck, recycle truck, large vehicle tow truck, hummer, POD transporter, dump trucks, cherry picker, etc... Anthony was in HEAVEN!!










Maymont Petting Zoo



Anthony and his neighborhood friend Ryan at the petting zoo. Ryan's mom has also been laid off recently so we are enjoying finding all the free events we can. And the boys are LOVING it!















Crump Park

Finally, a picture of Lauren. She's growing and eating tons. And she loves a swing! She's now 7 months and trying her best to crawl but not there yet. She can roll like crazy though. She can definitely get anywhere she wants.









Pumpkin Craft Festival @ the mall complete w/ Gourd Orchestra

Those ears!! He wears Sean's hats and they push his ears straight out. I keep telling him to tuck them in but he refuses!! HA!


















The Gourd Orchestra
Anthony is still talking about the band and how much he enjoyed it. They even had a song called Kudzoo. Too funny!









Build-A-Bear for Hunter's 1st Birthday















Hunter is Thomas's little brother. Thomas and Anthony got matching Triceratops and matching baby dinos for Hunter and Lauren. they are great big brothers. Thomas' dino is named "Dinosaur" and Anthony's is named "Spidey" b/c he's wearing spiderman pjs.

Hi All!

So it's Halloween night and I'm the designated candy-giver-outer! Blah. Sean is toting around Lauren and Anthony and HOPEFULLY loving every minute of it. This is Anthony's first real trick-or-trick outing. He went to maybe 5 houses last year and wasn't really into it tonight but then two of his little friends showed up and they all went together. Three 3 yr olds boys w/ two little siblings under 1, and I think 4 or so parents. Too Funny! Hopefully it'll go great! They haven't come back yet so all must be well. We got a picture of the three boys (Anthony, Will, and Ryan) so hopefully I'll get it posted soon.

Ok, so it's 7:20 and I'm already running low on candy. Geez! Love to all!