Thanksgiving!

We had a lot of fun on Thanksgiving day! We started the day off at Brian's parents' house (since we live here right now), and then went to my parents.

The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins at Brian's family's festivities, but they also enjoyed being the only kids at my parents' house!

Reese did a fantastic job eating her Thanksgiving dinner, but Wyatt ate nothing. Except bread. I was mortified as I watched his other cousins eat every thing on their plates and all he would eat was bread!

Both kids ate through their naptime and passed out on the drive to my parents' house, and then did the same on the way home. It was a beautiful day though, so we were able to squeeze in a ton of time outside!

Reese put on her favorite dress for her first Thanksgiving dinner of the day!
This is what my little eater had to eat on Thanksgiving.

And this is what Wyatt ate (nothing. He did not eat Pilgrims or Native Americans).

Since he didn't eat, he went outside to play in some leaves!

He's watching Baba and Uncle T throw the football around in this picture.

Reesie walking around the backyard.

Checking out the tree that the leaves fell from.

Wyatt and Daddy!

Christmas Shopping!

On Saturday we decided to take the kids to Toys R Us so we could finish up their Christmas lists. Everyone had so much fun (okay, not me. Toys R Us makes me want to pull my own hair out. I was good for the first hour. Around the hour and a half mark my head started pounding...). Wyatt really loved looking at all the toys, and Reese did too. We walked out with a lot of good ideas for Christmas for both kids!

Wyatt and Daddy were trying to decide which Diego toy they thought would be the most fun to play with!

Reesie really loved this Jeep!

But she's a little too little for it!

Pressing the candles on a birthday cake toy. She really loved this thing...for about 2 minutes!

Checking out another Diego toy. They love all Diego's cool gadgets!

Home is Where Our Hearts Are

It's been a week since we stopped sleeping here, returning home from work or Target here, or calling this home,

And it's been a week since this room last had a game of baseball played, a game of tag chased, or an episode of Diego watched in it,
A week since Wyatt and Daddy (and Reesie too lately) last chased each other around the kitchen and into the family room,
A week since Wyatt last walked into this room and picked up the guitar to play, or tried to grab one of Daddy's (autographed) baseballs off the shelves,

A week since we last slept in our big cozy bed, in our room where our babies slept when they came home from the hospital in their little bassinet nuzzled in the corner on my side of the bed,

A week since I last (took an hour and) got ready for the day in our bathroom,

A week since my baby girl last slept in her crib in her beautiful green and pink room, which was blue until a little over a year ago. The most special room in the house, the one both of my babies called their own for the first year of their life,

A week since my baby boy walked in here and shouted "What happened to my room!?," when he walked into to find all of his stuff missing,

And a week since we last saw our main reason for leaving the house behind. A fantastic backyard for the young and childless became a nightmare for the (still young) parents. While not the sole reason for our decision to move, this backyard and it's lack of play area sealed the deal.

And while it was infinitely harder to leave our home, and most of our stuff that went to storage, we are all incredibly excited for what is on the horizon. We're still waiting to hear back about the home we have an offer in on, but we know that no matter what happens, we'll find the right place. And we are all together, and that is all that matters. Our home right now really is where our hearts are!

We've moved!

What a crazy weekend! A Nor'Easter hit town on Wednesday and didn't let up until Saturday, which in my opinion is not ideal moving weather. I had a pretty solid plan for moving us, and it just didn't completely work out the way I wanted, especially when we lost power on Thursday night!

We did a lot of pod packing on Tuesday and Wednesday thanks to our good friend Dave, and even though the house had basically no furniture, there was still a ton of stuff! When we finally find our new home, I know that I won't let things accumulate like we did in that house.

On Friday we packed up our rental truck and drove out to Brian's parents' house, which is where we're currently living. We set both the kids up and they seem to be adjusting pretty well. I was worried about their sleeping patterns, but they've been doing a really great job staying on nap schedules and going to bed at night. They also hung out here for most of the day on Saturday and Sunday while Brian and I tied up loose ends at the house. We were incredibly frustrated by Sunday afternoon because nothing seemed to be going right, but things are looking up. We're finally getting settled!

We closed yesterday and Brian immediately flew to Vegas for his annual trade show. Last year we were able to turn the trip into a family vacation, but this year we weren't quite as lucky! Fortunately he'll be back Thursday afternoon so he won't be gone too long. Both kids are already missing him like crazy and asking where Daddy is!

We're both really looking forward to the holiday season this year because there's so much we'll be able to do with the kids now that they're bigger, and I know that Wyatt is really starting to get it. I need to take him for a haircut today before all the pictures get taken though....

Why I Love Dinosaur Train

Dinosaur Train is a show that has been on PBS Kids for about a month now. Wyatt absolutely loves it. He has been really interested in dinosaurs for the last few months, and when this show started we knew he had to watch it. It has been so educational for him. He has learned a lot about the different types of dinosaurs and the periods that they lived, but it's also helping to reinforce his colors, teaches him about trains, he's learning about herbivores and carnivores, and it includes the message that even though everybody is different, they can still get along or be family. (Although, I'm not sure how realistic it is that a baby T-Rex lives with Pteranodons and doesn't try to eat them).

Right after Wyatt started watching we got him a new dinosaur on a trip to Target. Not being a dinosaur enthusiast myself, I was unable to classify the dinosaur and he began to call it a dinosaurus (yeah...that's a boy's imagination for you). A few days later an episode of Dinosaur Train came on where they talked about the Ankylosaurus. Well, Wyatt flipped when he saw it, and ran to his playroom to get what, apparently, is in fact an ankylosaurus. Not only did he recognize it, but then showed it to Brian and said "Look at my Ankylosaurus, Daddy."

Here he is on the day of his discovery!

I Want to Play with Trains, Too!

One of the great things about this time of year is Brian's schedule. Until February he is off on Fridays, only working Monday through Thursday. This makes it easier on our Moms who now only watch them Tuesday through Thursday since I have Mondays off, but it also gives him all morning with the kids on Fridays! He takes them to the zoo or aquarium, and by the time the afternoon comes we're able to go do something together or we all hang out and play.

Last Friday he was finishing up the breakfast routine (which belongs to him every day anyway since I have to leave for work before the kids are up). and Reese ran off the the playroom. He looked in to check on her, and she'd found a way to reach the train table!

Standing on the matchbox car holder and playing with trains!
She knows she got caught!

Wanna come play with me, Daddy?

Dance, Dance!

Here's a little snapshot of Wyatt breaking it down at Busch Gardens. I'm not really sure what prompted this little performance, but we were cracking up!

Catch Up!

We finally got the laptop back last night! I was probably too excited to see it, but it is what it is. Fortunately our hard drive wasn't replaced so nothing was lost.

This week has been a little crazy for us. We close on the house next Monday, and our goal is to be out by Saturday (or at least have everything moved by then). We've had a POD since Tuesday and we've been slowly filling it up. I've been packing boxes for week, so it's nice to finally have a place to put them. Thanks to my sister I've been able to get a lot done over the last two days. Yesterday she came over so I could put stuff in boxes and today she came over so we could unload the garage. We didn't finish it, but we got a lot done. Most of our furniture still needs to be loaded, but there's so much we can't do until we're ready to move out.

We haven't heard anything about the house we put an offer in for (because it's a short sale), so we're moving in with Brian's parents next week. The house we're hoping to get needs work anyway, so we weren't counting on moving right in. It's just kind of stressful because we know we need to go look at more houses, but there just isn't time this week!

I'm hoping to get some pictures of the kids uploaded tomorrow (if you're really lucky I'll show you Wyatt's new dancing moves), but frankly, I'm too tired to deal with it tonight!

Busch Gardens!

We have really been trying to get to Busch Gardens this fall, but with the house on the market and going to look at houses and everything else, we just haven't been able to. We decided to go on Halloween because the forecast said it would be warm and sunny. The sunny part was wrong, but it was definitely warm. We had a nice breeze so it wasn't too hot and we had a great day!

This is the view from one of the bridges. While it did actually look like fall, it didn't feel like it. The breeze kept the leaves moving, which resulted in Reese shouting "Leaves! Leaves!"
Wyatt wanted to show us that this is a map, and that it could tell us where to go. I'm not going to lie...he was totally singing "I'm a map, I'm a map," from Dora.

Reesie got to ride the carousel on a horse again. She had a ton of fun riding the horsie!

She loved this horse!

Wyatt wanted to ride the "dragon eggs" and he actually allowed me to ride with him. Impressive, I know. I typically get overlooked in favor of Daddy, but we had a lot of fun. We were up at the top for a few minutes (it takes forever to load this thing), and he had a lot of fun watching the roller coasters creep to the top and then drop!

....but while I was riding Reese kept shouting "Mommy! Mommy!" and looking all over the place for me!

Wyatt and Brian rode the scrambler three times in a row without getting off. I'm not sure how they do it. I would hurl after the first 2 seconds!

Waiting in line to see the Clydesdales for the last time. The park was recently purchased by a new owner and they've decided to get rid of the Clydesdales. I'm not sure what Wyatt's going to do when they aren't there anymore because he loves them!

Everybody with the horsies!

We had a lot of fun. Wyatt was making us laugh because it was like he knew his way around the park! As soon as we got to one spot he would tell us where we were going next. At one point he looked at us and said "Okay, we're going to go get pizza now!" We didn't because we weren't eating there that day, but he apparently knows our Busch Gardens routine.

He was also open this time to watching the Sesame Street show. He usually tries to avoid seeing the live show at all costs, but this time he actually wanted to watch it (as long as I was holding him). He loves the rides over there, but he tries to hide if he sees a character!

I'm really looking forward to taking them next year when they're bigger. It's always fun to watch them get to ride new rides, and next year Reese will be able to ride everything, and who knows what Wyatt will be able to do!

Trick or Treat!

We had a lot of fun Trick or Treating last night! We prepped Wyatt over the last few days about what he should expect (some scary costumes, but they just looked scary, the kids inside the costumes aren't), what to say ("Trick or Treat!", and "Thank You"), and about what his own costume would be. He was really excited, and thanks to a dancing ghost that my mom got him from Hallmark a few years ago, he's been walking around the house singing, "I want candy, Halloween candy!"

Brian's parents met us over at my parents' house for a pizza dinner before we went Trick or Treating. As usual, Reese ate everything in front of her (she's partial to Hawaiian pizza), and Wyatt ate nothing. I'm pretty sure he was more interested in playing with his favorite part of his costume...

This is Darlin' and Screwy from Everyone's Hero. We went and bought the bat and ball at the toy store the other night, and Brian's mom did an amazing job painting them to look just like in the movie! Wyatt absolutely loves his bat and ball, and keeps saying "This is Darlin', she's the Babe's bat."

(It's a long story, but basically in the movie a little boy named Yankee Irving has to get this bat to Babe Ruth who's playing in the Word Series in Chicago after it's been stolen by a sheisty pitcher. It's the Babe's lucky bat that he got the first year he hit 50 home runs.)
Here's Reese in her wagon. She really loved taking all the candy out of her Halloween bag!

Little Yankee Irving Trick or Treating. Right before we got to this house he took off his backpack and pulled out his bat and ball and said he needed to take a break...because he wanted to play baseball...

And this would be Reese trying to eat Halloween candy...that she's not even allowed to have because it has peanuts!

Wyatt and Daddy checking out the big spider. Brian got a comment about his Jeter jersey from just about every house we went to. Most people told him that if he was Derek Jeter, they hope he pulled out a win last night!

After Trick or Treating (we went through a court and to two other houses), we went back to my parents' house to check out Halloween episodes of Dora and Diego before we rushed home for the game. I am so happy that we went to my parents' house. It looked like our neighborhood had been invaded when we got home. The entire street was full of cars and it was jam packed! I think we've only actually done Halloween here once, before we even got engaged. I handed out candy at my parents house the first year we were married, and we've taken Wyatt there every year since. I don't know what we'll do next year at our new house, I guess we'll have to wait and see....

Wyatt has been playing with Darlin' and Screwy since last night. He's gotten up to 8 hits in a row with the bat (and this is being pitched to, he won't use the tee), and he plays over and over again. This morning he walked up to Reese and said "Hey Reese, this is Darlin', the Babe's bat. Don't touch it." He MIGHT be obsessed....