Holiday season is here!

We had a great thanksgiving up in Maine!  Dana loved every bite of her meal while Alice definitely preferred her dessert. I believe her question before eating her turkey was, "how many bites do I need before I get dessert?"  Typical! We had such a relaxing dinner - the food was fantastic and the company was pretty good too!

 

Dana was ready to eat!! 

 

Alice was suffering from not having an afternoon nap at this point.  She didn't even want to wear her turkey hat!

Dana was still loving life right through dessert!  Chocolate pie was a hit!

We finished the day off with a little Sound of Music - just so the adults could enjoy their dessert!

Here are some pictures of the kiddos at the Brunswick middle school playground thanksgiving morning.  They loved it!  

 Swinging and eating - life doesn't get better for her!

 Look at that little bunny rabbit!!!

 Could barely get big sis to stand still for a picture.

 More smiles on the swings!

  

 

The day after Thanksgiving we spent some time on Hermit Island which was really fun.  Alice loved running around on the beach with Grandma Sue, Reeves and Grandpa Chris got in some good bird watching and Dana and I had fun exploring the parking lot!

 

Checking out the birds!

 Like father, like daughter!

 

  Playing in the sand with Grandma Sue!

 Dana was pretty much done with being in her stroller at this point.  This prompted our decision to go to the parking lot to play!

 

 Ahhh...much better!

Dana is hysterical these days.  She is so playful.  She loves to dance and climb.  We've already had two broken tree ornaments thanks to her endless curiosity!  But she is growing in terms of her independence.  She can entertain herself much more easily these days.  In fact, her favorite thing to do is feed Alice's baby doll.  It's pretty cute.

Alice is growing in her independence as well - sometimes in a productive way, sometimes in a difficult way.  But she is making strides in terms of getting herself dressed on her own and using the potty on her own.  We obviously welcome these marks of self sufficiency but she is also becoming much more stubborn.  She is developing her vocal chords by screaming much more frequently than we would like and definitely pushing boundaries to test us.  Reeves is really good at holding firm - I'm learning to be better...

So we are gearing up for the holiday season.  We were able to get our tree on Sunday and brought Reeves along for the first time!  We had a great time decorating.  Alice admitted it was a 'special' day!

 

 

 And a first this year! Lights on our tree in the backyard!  Reeves obviously can tell how much I love the holidays so he voluntary (it was really his idea!) put lights up on the tree in front of our big window.  I love it!

 

 Dana waiting for her turn to play with Santa!

 

 Alice with the Santa that recites 'Twas the night before Christmas.  He's her new best friend who she doesn't like to share!

Lastly a few Halloween photos that we never posted....

 The princess and the pig!!

Alice preferred to wear the crown she made (as opposed to the plastic crown that came with her wand).  She loved every second of being a princess!  Dana made it to the first house and then Reeves took her back home as she wasn't psyched about being in her stroller at that time of day.  Overall, it was a pretty fun evening!

Iphone Update - Fall Pics

 

 

 

Fall Happenings

 We took a little hiatus from our blog updates but I'm finding some quiet time during Dana's nap to give a brief report.  We just returned from Dana's allergy appointment.  Confirmed: she has a peanut allergy.  We just filled a prescription for 4 epipens - 2 for home and 2 for daycare.  They cautioned me that this is a peanut allergy but could become a tree nut allergy so we should avoid those nuts as well.  They also warned that the allergy reaction could get worse over time (or perhaps she could grow out of it, but that's more unlikely). We are waiting to see if she develops asthma since it is common for kids with allergies to have asthma as well. So we'll see.  But certainly good to know the allergy is for real and now we have all the information we need to deal with it. 

 On a different note, we have been having a great fall. We have seen Gumma quite a bit as she has driven down for short visits to help out when I have to stay late for field hockey games.  The kiddos love this surprise pick up from school and enjoy having all that comes with Gumma (cupcakes, clothes, treats, etc.)!  Here are a few pics from a short visit when Kristi and Janet joined us as well.  Love this pic of Gumma with Dana and Janet.  Reminds me of pictures we've seen of Mom holding me and Kristi when we were that age. 

 

 And at last Reeves was able to join us for our annual trip to the Pickin' Patch.  This is the third year we have gone pumpkin hunting and the first year we've had Dad come along - it was very exciting!  We were a little late to get out there so the fields had been fairly picked over, but we found some decent ones (or Alice did).  In typical Alice fashion, she found a small one for Dana and a bigger one for herself.  Dana was more interested in poking through the mud so we tried to keep it somewhat brief!  It was fun and they seemed to enjoy the hay ride!

While it's hard to believe that October is almost over, we are looking forward to the winter season as it is a slower time of year for us with no Saturday games to juggle.  We are especially looking forward to getting up to Vermont next weekend for Momere's 100th birthday celebration. How incredible is that?!

But before we get to VT, we have Halloween to prepare for.  This is the first year that Alice has expressed interest.  In September informed us all that she will be a Princess, Daddy will be a King, Mommy will be a Queen and Dana will be a flower.  How nice of her to grant Dana flower status.  I think I might upgrade Dana to something a little more exciting, but we will certainly grant Alice her wish of being a princess.  In fact, Gumma has already supplied the outfit, so we are good to go!  It should be a fun holiday for us this year!

Wishing everyone the best.  We miss you all!