Go Irish!

Playing together

Teresa has recently started grabbing onto things and showing interest in objects. Mostly to chew on, but also to grasp. She was fascinated by Sean's fire truck. Don't worry, we didn't let her chew on this toy! She has her own chew toys. Also Sean is very vigilant about things that go in her mouth and helps me keep an eye on her. :)

Here are a couple of pictures of my cute...



...silly...




...creative boy. (Here he is sending a text message via rotary phone, keyboard, and mouse!)

Snowpants

Well, after last week's snow, Sean discovered the exciting world of wearing snowpants. The day after we shoveled (see previous post), he actually did not want to go outside and play in the snow, because then he would have to take off his snowpants when he came in (since they would be wet). So, we stayed inside and made cookies instead, which was fine with me!

I tried a new peanut butter cookie recipe. Note: if you use unsweetened peanut butter as I do, definitely add a little sugar to your recipe! These weren't quite as sweet as your usual peanut butter cookie, so they lacked a little flavor. Still good though, especially with the Hershey's Kisses!

On a completely unrelated note, Cuckoo the Christmas Cactus bloomed! This was exciting for me since I like to pretend I have a green thumb but definitely do not. Also exciting is the fact that I have kept this plant has been around for two years and I have managed not to kill it yet!

Snow

Sean was so excited to have our first "big" snow of the season. That means more than 2 inches around here.

Dad and Sean worked on shoveling the driveway. Sean made trips up and down the driveway with a snow-filled shopping cart.

We made a big pile which he enjoyed jumping in. I am so glad we finally found mittens that go all the way up his forearm, so he doesn't get snow in between his mittens and coat! This had been a major problem before with his old gloves.

Yeah, I'm smiling, but five minutes later I was ready to go in. Those couple of years I spent in Florida just ruined my previously thick blood. I am a total wimp now when it comes to winter weather!

Jeff had to get a picture of my awesome bright yellow ski suit. You laugh, but inside I know you are wishing you had one too. I found it at a rummage sale in California last year. It was pretty much free since we bought a bag full of stuff for about a dollar. :)

Look alikes?

Sean, August 2007 (3 months)

Teresa, November 2010 (3 months)

Or maybe just because I put them in the same position on the same couch....

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we made the drive to Webster, NY to visit the Spoons. We stopped halfway at Jeff's brother's house to break up the trip. I don't think we would have made it the whole nine hours in one day. Once Teresa gets a bit older, and we may get a more comfortable car (yes we are still driving the compacts we had in college), we could probably do it all in one day.

We went to the annual Gingerbread House display at the Eastman House.

Ah, Paris....





Strolling along.

Sean enjoyed running up and down George Eastman's hallways almost as much as he enjoyed looking at all the gingerbread!

Sean is currently into race cars, Nascar, etc., so I think this one was his favorite.

Teresa of course napped in the sling, then woke up for a while. She's so good to bring along places!

In the children's area, there were a bunch of old cameras to play around with.

Sean tried to take a picture through the slots on this (sorry I can't remember the technical term! Similar to a phenakistoscope but vertical.)

Christmas is coming soon!

Hamilton's Christmas Tree Lighting

Just before Thanksgiving, we went to downtown Hamilton's tree lighting ceremony.

The boys.





The gals. (Guess I need to get Teresa a bigger hat! This one keeps sliding off her head because it's too small.)



Everyone together.


Next up, Thanksgiving....

Happy

Around the house

We recently did some online Christmas shopping and got a bunch of boxes on our front porch. Sean has really been into drumming lately, so we made him a drum set.

He loves drumming. He drums on anything and everything nearly all the time.




He is good, however, when Teresa is sleeping, to not drum. At least I don't have to fight that battle, I just have to remind him to do something else for a while.

And we are rewarded with nice big smiles after a good uninterrupted nap!

Sean also has big smiles when he gets enough sleep. He has not yet, unfortunately, made the connection between sleeping and feeling good. All he understands is sleep = no playing, so he thinks sleep is bad. I am hoping that someday soon he will realize he needs to sleep more!

The drum can also be worn.




Does this look like a future ND drumline head snare, or what?

Going a little wild. (Sean has great stick height, which means on occasion the drumming comes to a sudden halt, followed by the look of deciding whether or not to cry, followed by crying and a bruised cheek or forehead.)

My cutie pie #2.

Halloween

This year was the first year we really celebrated Halloween since having kids. Sean met the criteria: he came up with a costume idea, helped make it, and was able to walk most of the way trick or treating. (The past years he was either too young to eat candy, or didn't care about dressing up, so we didn't bother. Actually last year we were still in California and spent the day riding cable cars in San Francisco.)

So, Sean chose to dress up as his favorite snack, a Cheez-It! He got lots of great comments from people as he was trick or treating. I would say it was a pretty unique idea.

Meijer had some trick or treating in the store the day before Halloween. I'm wondering if we send this super cute picture to Sunshine, the company that makes Cheez-Its, they would give us a lifetime supply or something? Mmmmmm......

Sean and Dad also carved a pumpkin. Sean was not too keen on putting his hand in it to scoop out the seeds. At least he did try one of the seeds we toasted, but he said they tasted weird.

Here is the result.

And here are a couple of shots EB took from the weekend before. Grandma and Grandpa H. have some giant sugar maples in their backyard, which made for some pretty huge leaf piles. Doesn't he look so grown up?

Ok, off to bed. Some little people woke me up early this morning, hence the half-coherent and mostly-rambling blog post.

Baptism weekend

Teresa was baptized on October 23 at St. Peter's in Chains in Hamilton. We were so fortunate to have all the family come in to town to celebrate with us.

Sean started the morning raking some leaves with Grandma and Grandpa Spoon.






This is the "I think I might be told to stop what I'm doing in a moment, but I'm going to keep doing it anyway" look.

Teresa was so tired, she cried and cried nearly the whole time until she finally fell asleep near the end of it. (My children do not just fall asleep easily, I think the stories I have heard of kids doing this without fighting it is a myth!)

Still fighting sleep.




Finally.... at peace.




The whole family.




Hanging out at home afterward.



Next post will be Halloween. Yep, I'm behind, but that's the way this blog goes. :)