Holiday Pet Spectacular

We have visited Purnia Farms before and loved it. I found out that they had a holiday event and I was ready to go. Brian found out it was free so he was ready to go too. Although if we are honest there were some rough moments on the way out. Brian threatened to turn the car around while Will screamed and screamed. Eventually we figured out that he didn't want any music and the drive got better.

One side of the building had several different bounce houses.  The boys were in heaven!  I'm always so impressed with Will's climbing.  He is tiny, but strong!  Max flew through the big kid obstacle course with no problems - in fact he started racing random kids through it.  I think he got Brian's competive genes.

After watching the dog show - which was a huge hit - we explroed the other room at the center.  They had several farm animals that the kids could pet and Jack just lvoed it!  He cried when we tried to take him away from his new friends.  Maybe he is a country boy deep inside. 

 Max realized that while he was standing near the chickens one of them laid an egg.  In theory Max knew that eggs came from chickens, but I think seeing it in real life may have scarred him a bit.  I better give up getting him to eat eggs for breakfast, not that I had been successful with this before.

The only charge was for the kids craft area.  The boys were able to decorage their own sugar cookies and I don't think there was any part of those cookies not covered in about an inch of extra sugar.  They ate them in the car on the way home and loved every last bite.

They each made an ornament and a bird feeder as well.  Will was so proud of his bird feeder.  In fact he took it to his speech therapy session on Monday and told Miss Lolo all about it. 

 

Now I just need to do a little research to find another fun holiday actviity for us to visit this weekend!

Santa at the Fire House

Santa and firetrucks.  The stuff little boys dreams are made of.  On Saturday the fire department had an open house with Santa to collect toys for Toys for Tots.  The kids were pretty excited about going.  The line was crazy slow, but Santa was super sweet and Jack didn't even scream.  He just gave us a little 'help me' type look.  Progress compared to last week.

 

Santa was really sweet, especially with Max.  He listened intently to what Max had to say and gave him a bit of advice.  Write me a letter in case I don't remember.

Jack was a trooper.  I think a big part of his good attitude was the chocolate cookies they were passing out while we waited in line.

 Max and Will liked the cookies too :)

When we arrived there were several tables with coloring sheets and crayons.  I asked Max if he wanted to color a picture while we waited and he was quick to tell me no.  Then another boy told him it was a contest.  Whoever colors the best picture gets a ride to school on a fire truck.  Well you didn't have to tell Max twice.  He was all about it.  Today he even asked if they called yet.  I have to say this really is his best coloring ever.

The biggest hit of hte day for Will?  This fire hat.  He loves this thing.  He has been wearing it all over the house.  Last night before bed he put on a pair of my garden gloves - unused thank goodness - his hat, his snowboots, and a lunch bag.  He then informed us that we were safe becuase he was there to "do the hard work and fight the fire".  This morning when he came to our room he had all his gear on again and was ready to go.  Good to know we are so well protected.

Breakfast with Santa

Well that was fun.  Lots of family, lots of chaos, and lots of fun.  We met up with Aunt Carm, Uncle Mike, Nonno, and some other family members at our old church for mass and breakfast with Santa.  It always makes me smile because it's where Brian and I were married and where Max was baptized.  Not to mention the fact that is beautiful . . . I think Brian just like the lightning speed 40 minute mass.

 I'm still holding out hope that someday, somehow I will get a picture with all three boys smiling - or maybe at least looking at the camera. 

The line to see Santa took a little while.  There were lots of boys and girls very eager to see the big guy.  Poor Jack was exhausted and very cranky.  I didn't hold out much hope that he would like Santa very much and I was right.

 Max was so brave and didn't have any problems with Santa.  Will has been terrified the past two years, but today he did great.  He let Santa hold him and it was adorable.  As Nonna says he is growing up.  While I love watching the boys grow sometimes when I get reminders of how quickly they change it makes me sad. 

I don't think Jack really liked me much better than Santa at this point in the day.

And he really didn't want Aunt Carm holding him.  This picture just cracks me up.  The more she screamed the more she laughed.  You would think she was torturing the poor guy. 

Just for the record he got a great nap and was very happy for the rest of the day :)

Gardenland Express

The past few years we have taken time out the day before Thanksgiving to visit the Gardenland Express exhibit.  This year we went the day after :)  This train and flower exhibit is one of my favorite holiday outings.

It was so much fun!  Last year was all food related - and it was a bit lame.  This year was so much better!  They focused on changes in the garden over time.  There were lots of pictures from long ago compared to today.  I even think Max got a bit of a history lesson out of the whole thing.

 As in years past there was a scavenger hunt for the kids to complete.  Both Will and Max took this task very seriously.

I feel like Max is just looking so grown up lately.  I'm going to blink and he will be in high school and driving.

 

 Jack has so much fun exploring everything!  It was tough to try to keep him from pulling the flowers, but he just couldn't contain his excitement.  I just love those big blue eyes and that wild, pin straight, super fine hair of his.

When Nonna is around he wants nothing to do with me.  On Friday that love extended over to Nonno too.  Jack was pointing out all kinds of things to his Nonno and jibber jabbering away about it all.

 

 

 Then there was our man in the middle.  As I mentioned, he took his scavenger hunt task very seriously.  So seriously that he refused to let me take his picture. 

 Whenever I tried I ended up with something like this.  Which was actually pretty cute because he would just laugh and laugh.

We tried to get a shot of all three boys, I guess I will have to settle for this.  Aren't they just too sweet!  I love them to pieces!

 I love the holidays, it is such a joyful time of the year and there are so many fun things to do!  Tonight we read the Elf of the Shelf before bed.  I think our little Elfie may return from the north pole to keep an eye on the boys.  We did this last year and it was so much fun!  I can't wait until the boys wake up in the morning to see if Elfie returned.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

So thankful today and every day!  I'm so glad we are all healthy and were able to celebrate with both sides of our family today.  It was wonderful!

Max was in heaven because he had people to play Battleship and Uno with - Mommy and Daddy were in heaven too because it wasn't us :)

 The cousins were in town so there was lots of fun.  The boys thought the Macy's parade was pretty neat - especially the cirque de soleil pirate ship float.  They looked too cute in this chair watching together.

Jack had so much fun playing with gandpa Jack.  This cute little bus has been a hit for all three of my kids.  But I have to say that this little peg game with Great Grandma was his favorite part of the day.  He would have stood there with her for hours just putting those little pegs in and pulling them back out again.

 Daddy's shoulders are Will's favorite place to be.  Each night Brian takes him up to bed on his shoulders.  Will thinks it's extra funny when he covers Daddy's eyes.  I don't think Daddy always finds that part so funny.

 While it isn't all the kids I think they make a pretty cute group together.

After a yummy meal and lots of fun and grandma and grandpa's we headed over to Nonna and Nonno's house.  Today was even extra special because Aunt Sue, Uncle Will and sweet cousin Madeline were in town.  Jack and Maddie were born on the very same day - just four hours and about 1,500 miles apart.  It was too cute to watch them chase each other all over the house.

Once again my mom made us all say what we are thankful for.  Growing up as an only child it is fun to now have a father and two brothers, not to mention a sister in law and a Josie:)  I love how much my family has grown from the days of just mom and I.  Such and amazing holiday and I look forward to many more to come!

Thanksgiving Take One

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving with my extended family.  It's a bit early, but it was so nice.  No one had to rush off to another meal and everyone hung out for quite a while.  We even played a game of Trivial Pursuit.  Max was the official roller and I was reminded once again that I am awful at Trivial pursuit.

 Sweet Baby Jack took turns hanging out with Aunt Anna and Nonna.  I don't think he could decide who he liked more.  Max was the big man playing with toys and watching a bit of TV. 

After Trivial Pursuit Max really wanted to play Go Fish.  It was too cute.  Too bad Jack kept messing things up.

It was another wonderful holiday.  Before grace my mom made us join hands and say what we were thankful for.  I think it was pretty unanimous that we are all very thankful for the family in our lives.  I may have rolled my eyes a bit at moms suggestion, but it was really sweet.  Family is so important and I'm so happy that my boys are surrounded by such wonderful family members.  We truly do have so much to be grateful for!

18 Months

Wow.  A year and a half already?  I just can't believe it.  I feel like I can barely remember life before Jack joined our family, but then again it feels like just yesterday I was longing for him to be born.  Crazy how things work like that.

So eighteen months in and he is doing great!  This little man has no fear.  Gross motor things are a bit tough for Jack, but that doesn't slow him down.  He keeps up with his brothers and climbs on everything!  One day I was doing dishes and looked up to see him standing in the middle of the table on the screened in porch.  He was so proud!  He was clapping and yelling yay.  It was so cute - too bad I have to discourage that kind of thing.

He loves having me all to himself on the mornings when Will is at school.  We run errands, hit the gym, and once a week we go over to the early childhood center for a play class.  It's so funny to watch him at hte play class.  I can tell that his brother rub off on him.  He gets a bit ticked when other kids try to get in his space.  At least I know he can stand up for himself, as for the pushing we will have to work on that one.  I don't get a lot of one on one time with my baby, so I enjoy this so much.

He is talking up a storm.  Sometimes Brian and I look at each other and question if he really just said that. Some of the words that come out are just so clear. He probably has about thirty or so words and he is beginning to put things together - like when he insists "I see" when Nonna gets out he ipad.

His eighteen month check up went well.  He continues to be long and lean like his big brother Max - 85th for height and 50th for weight.  One of his favorite things to do is color.  He especially loves to use markers, although I think part of the fun is just taking the cap off and putting it back on again.

I have to thank cousin Marichu for this gorgeous picture.  It sure if nice to have a talented photographer in the family now.  Too bad she lives so far away.  I guess she should just visit more often :)