SNOW!

Over the river and through the woods....

We spent Christmas upstate with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Dennis, Aunt Stephanie and Baby Wyatt (aka Baby 'Quiet' to McKenna). Somehow we all fit and had a good time listening to McKenna teach Wyatt the word 'NO' and playing with all the good stuff we got.


A word about McKenna's red pants...those were actually my (Jenn's) from 27 years ago...somehow they resurfaced and Grandma wrapped them in a bag for McKenna on Christmas, so we put them on...and I think she wore them well!

Breakfast with Santa

We had breakfast with Santa, and the kids had to be bribed to stand with Santa (see candy canes)...I think they both would have been happy getting stockings full of candy canes for Christmas (oh, and Christmas cookies, too). The picture on the bottom right is of the kids with their letters from Santa...and of course Nolan got into obsession mode and had to sleep with his. He brought it to school to show his teacher and his class, and the envelope had all sorts of food on it. It certainly is nice to have Santa as a behavior mod for December! And when Chris asked him if he was on the nice list or the naughty list, Nolan decided he was on the naughty list...no one told him that, he just decided i guess. Good thing Santa disagreed...Nolan got lots of good stuff for Christmas!

Snowball Fight

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Christmas Tree

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Class Photos

McKenna's class photo

Nolan's class photo

Thanksgiving at Nonna & Papa's

Thanksgiving...at the Beach!

How lucky we are to live at the beach! We had a beautiful morning so we decided to take a walk at the beach...of course most of the photos are of the back of their heads, but I can never pass up beach photos!

Nolan is jumping over the "mountains"...
McKenna likes to take her time and check everything out...
Thank goodness for rainboots...now Mommy needs to invest in a pair!

Pilgrim Nolan

Our school has a Thanksgiving Feast every year on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and Nolan's class and mine (the two Nursery classes) dress up as Pilgrims, and the Pre-K classes dress up as Native Americans. As a teacher, getting the costumes ready and making the food (my class made stuffing and Nolan's class made mashed potatoes) is such a pain in the you-know-what. But I have to say that as a parent, they are so ADORABLE all dressed up! Nolan loved his costume, and his chocolate pudding pie as you can tell from the pictures at the bottom. And the picture in the bottom right is of our dear daughter giving attitude because I asked her to put on the Indian headband she made at school (I thought it would be cute...a picture of the pilgrim and the indian). Miss Attitude...

Tree huggers

I just had to get some photos of the kids in the middle of these gorgeous leaves before daddy picks them up again (for the third or fourth time, i think...and there are still plenty on the trees).

Yep, it's Turkey Time!

We certainly do seem to have a turkey fetish going on, here. Nolan made a turkey puppet at school one day, and was DEVASTATED that he wasn't bringing it home the same day-he literally cried for an hour! So we had to make another turkey hat (if you remember last year's hat that was worn through New Year's) to placate him-and of course we need TWO of EVERYTHING now-a-days! Mommy had class, so after I got them started on it, Nonna helped Nolan and McKenna make their turkey hats and all was well!

Taking Turns

So this was McKenna's idea...everyone should have a turn wearing the Thomas hat. She started with Sedona, who was quite agreeable and even posed for the picture (she really does think she's a person, I think...she always has had that attitude like "dog, what dog?"). Then McKenna decided that it was Granby's turn-but he was less inclined to pose, so he needed a little help. Then it was McKenna's turn, and Nolan barely got the hat on his head when she snatched it away to give Mommy a turn (darn, no picture ;) ). Oh, the things we find to amuse ourselves!

The Twelve Days of Halloween

We got the kids' costumes less than a week before Halloween, but they sure got their use out of them. You can imagine why Nolan is OBSESSED with his costume...he puts it on just about every day, so then McKenna follows and we have our own little Halloween parade around the house! (she's a sugar plum fairy) We went to a party at our school on Saturday afternoon, then a party at Sara & Sidney's Saturday night, then we went trick-or-treating at Chris' work Tuesday evening...so we had plenty of candy (I managed to give most of it away on Halloween to the trick-or-treaters who came to our house). McKenna was sick on Halloween, so we ended up skipping trick-or-treating on Halloween, but we sure got our fill this year! And I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Thomas the Train and his Sugar Plum Fairy.....

1st annual pumpkin carving contest

Chris and I decided to have a contest this year...for who carved the best pumpkin. After the prepping (which the kids helped with), I carved the cat in the window pumpkin, and Chris carved the pirate ship...but we only got a vote from Chris' brother, so I guess Chris won by a unanimous vote--oh well!

Pumpkin Picking

We went to our usual spot for pumpkin picking again this year...but made the kids do the work...pulling the wagon and collecting the pumpkins. Nolan just kept putting gourds into the wagon (and we kept emptying them when he wasn't looking)...so we came home with some pumpkins to carve and gourds to play with!

They know how to get dirty....

Nolan and McKenna certainly don't have any trouble getting dirty! And of course, they decided that they should eat the bubbles while washing their hands...not quite sure whose genes are responsible for that good decision-making....and thanks to Grace & Matthew (KIM!!!) for the stamps in the Halloween goodie bags...my kids decided to use them for face art--it looks like McKenna is turning into the Incredible Hulk for Halloween...

These "sparkly shoes" are McKenna's birthday present from Aunt Janeen, Uncle Tim, Ryan and Sofia...and for days, she wanted to wear them all day (and even to bed, but mom vetoed that one). They are quite spectacular....man, she's such a girl!

Just one of the reasons Mommy isn't very fond of pink...who came up with this color anyway? UGH! Looks like she's the spokeswoman for Pepto Bismol...

and I swear she's going to be a paleontologist-she's fascinated with anything dinosaur, and she was cracking herself up with the pop-up book here. She was closing the book, then opening it and acting surprised, then fake laughed (yes, she's perfected the fake laugh)...many times. And the marker...well, you can probably guess-just another art creation, but Mommy gave in and let her use the regular (yet still washable) markers...and this is what we got. I thought that by showing her what she looked like in the mirror, she might be taken aback and maybe we wouldn't see it again. WRONG MOMMY...she thought she looked HYSTERICAL! She got laughing so much that I had to take the picture (even though my plan backfired)...

and just in case you were wondering, Nolan is still INFATUATED with his Thomas the Train collection. We made this big track after McKenna went to bed (otherwise we'd have a remake of Godzilla on our hands) and Nolan was playing so intently that I thought I'd get his picture, but when he saw the camera, all he wanted to do was have me take pictures of his trains so he could look at the pictures on the back of the digital camera. And I had to stop him or we'd have a whole lot more pictures on here...

Happy Birthday McKenna!

As you can tell, her birthday is already very traumatic...

can't wait to see what turning 30 does to her...

Little Einsteins is her favorite...and you can't find LE stuff anywhere, so I made her this birthday shirt. And of course she loves her Rocket backpack (from LE)...we bring it to school every day! And another favorite are her first dress up items...shoes! She just can't decide which to wear, so she ends up wearing each pair for about 2 minutes, then changes.

There really are no words...just a shoe obsession starting already!

Hard at work...McKenna asked to make a picture, and this is what we got. She usually writes left-handed (which Papa will be THRILLED about, since he's a southpaw himself) and was obviously very intent on her work. She made the picture for daddy, which was cute in itself-but when he saw the pictures of her drawing it certainly made it extra-special. And yes, she's tattooed already...she chose 2 dinosaur tattoos for Sara and Sidney to put on her over the weekend, and she won't let me wash them off.

Can't wait to see what happens when they do come off...

I must say so myself...they certainly are good-looking kids when they're smiling! :)

The many faces of Nolan...

and McKenna!

Gabreski Airport

Papa took us to Gabreski Airport this afternoon, to see the airplanes and helicopters that we see flying over our house all the time. Nolan is in awe of them when they fly overhead, but was a little intimidated up close. We got to go inside the carrier and the helicopter, but Nolan is still talking about the glider being pulled by the airplane (a place in the airport offers glider rides)-the picture in the top center...of course, when they're going, they're much more interesting!

Holtsville Ecology Center

We finally got to the Holtsville Ecology Center this morning...and toured the park in record time! It's a small park, and we made short work of it: when the kids were out of the stroller, Nolan was running from cage to cage...then he had to get back in the stroller because he got a little out of control. Then as we looked at the animals, he kept urging "Let's go see something else!" We got to feed the goats (no picture of that, since I had to hold the kids' hands open for the goats to eat), and McKenna was particularly smitten with the recently-shaved llama...reminded me of the shaved white cat from Austin Powers (Mr. Biggelsworth). The kids got face-to-face with an emu drinking from his water tub (second from bottom right), which they thought was funny, and Nolan kept comparing animals to one another...so the emu "looks like a chicken" (I suggested ostrich, but he insisted it was like a chicken...oh well). And I was particularly amused with the fenced in cow (holstein heifer, actually-after careful inspection-the sign read cow/bull, so when I didn't immediately see the udder, I told Nolan it was a bull-oops! ...wouldn't want grandma and grandpa to think I'm teaching the children incorrect terminology)...but I was amused that it was behind two chain-link fences like the bear-guess they're taking extra precautions against mad cow disease on the island...wouldn't want the herd (1 cow) to charge (mosey toward) the crowd (5 people)! :) Sorry, the upstate came out in me just then!

At the Park Playground

After running around the animal habitats, we ran around the playground a little (actually, I got to sit on the equipment for a few minutes while they made this mess of wood chips on the slide-I actually thought to myself 'Go ahead, put wood chips on the slide...if it means I can actually sit for a minute...they'll wipe right off'). Nolan was less interested in actually playing on the equipment than playing with the wood chips...but he gets to play on a similar playground at school, so the novelty is lost on him. It still amazes me that McKenna is big enough to play on the playground by herself...she had a great time running up and down, and going down the slide all by herself. Man, they're getting big! One woman in the animal habitat was pushing a stroller with a boy (maybe 10 months old) and her dad was with her. They smiled as I wheeled Nolan and McKenna by in the stroller, and he said to her 'can you imagine?' and she said 'no way'... then I turned and told them that they aren't even twins-and she said 'close enough...I can't even imagine!' So that pretty much sums up my day... :)

Just for our Jumpers

We got this very cool mini trampoline for the kids...maybe it'll save Nolan's joints from so much wear and tear (instead of jumping on the hard floors). They both liked jumping...nothing too daredevil-ish (yet)...but I'm sure it will come soon! Chris blew it up (as you can see in the pictures) and Nolan stood next to him just about the whole time asking "Daddy, watcha making?" It was cute the first couple of times-but it took Chris 20 min or so...that wasn't fun.

Our First Beach Day

We took a little walk to the beach this morning...thank goodness for our wagon! The kids had a blast-and mommy didn't go too crazy trying to keep track of them both. McKenna was slightly disturbed by the sand-she came up to me twice holding her hand up, saying "kaka" for me to wipe it off. But not long after that, she was licking the salt off her hand (bottom left)...must not have been too bad! And we found a small crab (bottom right) but I didn't let them touch it-he was very intent on trying to pinch me, so I figured with our luck he'd get ahold of one of them and not let go! And Nolan found the only stick on the beach...so we have another 'show me your stick' picture. Can't wait to go back next time!

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a wonderful Mother's Day morning today...Chris and the kids conspired to send me on a 'scavenger hunt' with cards from each of them. Chris' card had directions ('turn left at the light and continue for 1.1 miles, then turn right...) to our favorite breakfast spot. Then Nolan's card gave directions to our favorite park (pictures above), and after we played at the park, McKenna's card gave directions to get to the store for a new watch! They certainly put a lot of work into the whole thing...and it was a fabulous surprise!

Don't let the cuteness fool you...

She really is an instigator!

McKenna's new favorite thing to do is tell her brother "NO!", pointing her finger at him and saying it over and over until he cries. And she doesn't even say it in response to something he's doing...he can be sitting watching Thomas the Train, or playing with his trains, and she just walks up to him, points her finger, and says "NO!". And of course the immediate reaction from him (crying) just eggs her on...

TRAINS TRAINS TRAINS

Nolan got three new Thomas trains for his birthday, and as soon as he opened them he went right to playing! He also got this cool Thomas train tracks rug to play on, so he can lay down and play without worrying about knocking the tracks over or keeping them on the rails...it certainly was a hit!

Happy Birthday Nolan!

Nolan turned 3 on Saturday, and we had a little party for him on Sunday (of course it HAD to be a Thomas the Train Party!). We heard "Mommy/Daddy, where's Thomas and the red caboose?" ALL MORNING...he had no idea that they were on his cake, and he was so surprised to see them when we brought out the cake! And in the big picture, you can see that he had to play with Henry (the green train in his hand) when he couldn't find Thomas.

And thank goodness the sun came out and the kids (and adults) were able to play outside...

...and McKenna ate and ate and ate...and the cake in the picture wasn't even hers! We looked outside and she was alone on the deck (everyone else was in the yard) eating a piece of cake that someone left on the table. It was all about the watermelon and the cake for her...