Star Wars Day (and Christmas too)

While most December, we count down the days until Christmas, this year, we anxiously awaited the release of the new Star Wars movie instead. Since seeing the original movies was such a formative experience for Eric, I thought that we better commemorate the new movies here for posterity (and shoehorn a little Christmas too).

After many weeks of shielding himself from previews, spoilers, and other information about the movie, Eric along with Piper, Fletch, and me, went to see the it in the morning on Christmas Eve.

It was so good, although a bit intense for Piper and Fletch. But, it was such a good time to be together. Deke wasn't quite old enough to sit through the long show, so he spent the morning at daycare. We'll show it to him in a few years.

After that came Christmas. We had a great time. Opening lots of presents, playing with our new presents, eating yummy food, etc. Here's the day in photos.

And here was the aftermath.

So much for going lighter on gifts this year. In any case, everyone was happy with what they got, and now it's onto 2016.

Deke: 2.5 Years Old

This post is a bit overdue, but better late than never. Deke turned 2.5 years old about two weeks ago. He did great at his check-up, and the doctor said he looks fantastic (knock on wood). Here are his latest stats:

Birth: 7lbs 9oz, 20.5 inches

2 weeks: 8lbs 9oz (49%), 20.25 inches (32%)
1 month: 10lbs 8oz (66%), 21 inches (31%)
2 months: 13lbs 1.6oz (70%), 23 inches (47%)
4 months: 15lbs 13oz (61%), 25 inches (46%)
6 months: 18 lbs 9oz (71%), 27 inches (68%)

9 months: 21 lbs 15oz (85%), 28.5 inches (57%)

12 months: 23lbs 1oz (76%), 29.75 inches (43%)

15 months: 25lbs 0.9oz (81%), 31.5 inches (73%)

18 months: 25lbs 11oz (71%), 32.75 inches (63%)

24 months:  30.5lbs (87%), 36.25 inches (91%)

30 months: 33.5lbs (85%), 37.75 inches (90%)

So what's Deke doing and like these days. I think this picture about sums it up.

He's a combination of one part insanity, one part adorable, one part baby, and one part kid. He gets into trouble regularly but how can you get mad when two minutes later, he's walking around like this:

His favorite things in the world are playing dress-up (particularly like a pirate or superhero), Santa, reading books, playing with his Jake and the Neverland pirate toys, and his stuffed animals. 

Oh, the stuffed animals. I fear that Deke has picked up some of Piper's hoarder tendencies because right now, he sleeps with the following stuffed animals: Winnie the Pooh, Kermit, Tigger, Peacock, and Dragon. But, that's not all folks. He also has a Kristoff doll, a canvas picture of the aforementioned Peacock and Tigger, a pretend pirate sword, and a few other random items in his crib every night. 

Thankfully, once Deke gets all of his things in his crib, he sleeps fairly well--going to bed around 7:15pm and waking up around 6am, and he still naps 2-3 hours/day. 

In addition to all that, Deke is talking like crazy. Long sentences, hilarious thoughts, adorable sayings, etc. I just can't get enough of hearing him talk and having little conversations with him. I guess he's also quite the comedian at school because all of his teachers say that he has them laughing all day long. My dad would be so proud. :)

That about sums up Deke these days. 

Seeing the Big Man

It's been an exhausting weekend, between dance class, picking up a new-to-us stroller (after our old stroller was stolen while at the zoo :( last weekend), buying and decorating a Christmas tree, getting cookies for Piper's Girl Scout cookie exchange, me working, grocery shopping, etc.

Even with all that, we did manage to squeeze in a visit to see Santa. The kids were so good in line during the one hour wait (and that was even with arriving there 20 minutes before opening). And, they were so happy to meet him. Deke was most excited, which was just adorable. But, that excitement meant that no one could sit still long enough to get a pic of all of them looking at the camera at the same time. It still came out really cute.

Piper asked Santa for a holiday Barbie doll, Barbie house, hair accessories, legos, and a tree house. Fletch wants an Imaginext dinosaur and Iron Man hand. Deke wants "blue presents."

We just finished celebrating Hanukkah, and now we're slowly getting into the Christmas spirit here. This December is flying by.

Super Halloween

We had a super Halloween this year. Not only was it a super good time, but we also had a blast with our superhero themed costumes.

The fun started with the Fall Festival at P&F's school. They had games and bounce houses. It was terrific seeing all the kids that Piper and Fletch know already.

That was about a week before Halloween. On the Thursday before Halloween, my office was supposed to have a costume contest, and my coworkers swore they'd wear costumes that day. Here is what I wore.

Joke was on me though because I was the only one who showed up that morning in a costume, and I had no other clothes with me. Pretty embarrassing, but I survived and rocked the costume, and everyone got a kick out of it.

Finally, the big day arrived. We all went ToTing dressed like this.

I LOVED having a family costume. It was so fun, and made me feel like a kid again. And, isn't that part of why you have your own children--so you can relive part of your youth!?! We got a ton of candy, impressed lots of neighbors, and just had a really special Halloween. I can't wait to to do it again next year.

School Pictures

We got school pictures back from all three kids. Two of my kids smiled beautifully for the camera. The other one had a cheesy, weird smile. Can you tell which is which?

 

The best part of the pictures, the part that makes the exorbitant cost of the digital downloads worthwhile, were these awesome backgrounds that Piper and Fletch's school had to choose from. They are all amazing and crack me up every time that I look at them.

I'll end this here so you can all just keep enjoying those backgrounds.

First Field Trip

I was lucky enough to be a chaperone for Piper and Fletch's first field trip earlier this week. All of the kindergarten classes at their school (so like 100 kindergartners) went to Burke Nursery. First though, we had to get there, which meant P&F's first time on a school bus.

I envisioned it being a little pumpkin patch like our beloved Nalls, but instead, it was a huge pumpkin playground, where the kids were given two hours to play wherever they wanted.

The kids had a blast, but OMG, it was a lot of work. I was in charge of Piper, Fletch, and then two of Piper's friends (Kylie and Ethan).

I have never been so grateful to have been a camp counselor and a mom to three little kids in my life. I had to pull out all my tricks from both experiences to keep track of these kids, who were running around in a sea of other orange shirts, along with kids from at least 5 other schools. I estimate there were at least 200 other kids there.

We all had a great time, although by the end, we were ready to go. Piper had to go to the bathroom and couldn't wait to get back to school. Fletch heard a balloon pop (which is one of his least favorite things) and freaked out. I was so glad when we got back on the bus and this happened within 5 minutes.

Being a chaperone on a class field trip was one of my "mom dreams"--you know, those things you imagine doing with your kids before you even have kids. I'm so happy that I was able to check that off my parenting bucket list.

Columbus Day Weekend 2015

On Columbus Day weekend, we did our traditional trip to get pumpkins, but we also jammed in a few other fall activities. It was a fun, busy time for all of us.

We started the weekend with a hike at Huntley Meadows. It was a beautiful morning, and we all loved being in the woods.

We're really lucky to live near such a cool place. After tiring ourselves out, we headed home for naps/quiet time. After resting, we got our second wind and went to Nalls for our pumpkins.

This last picture pretty clearly represents our life right now--someone paying attention, someone looking at the wrong thing, and someone throwing something.

It was such a funny moment that I made it into a gif.

Piper and Fletch insisted on carving the pumpkins on Monday. They drew the faces, and I carved. I don't have a picture, but between my "awesome" carving skills and their desire to have cyclops pumpkins, our jack-o-lanterns basically already look like a deer snacked them, which is probably why no deer have attacked them since we put them outside.

Anyway, we followed up that fall fun with a trip to Cox Farms on Sunday. It's a pricey place, but so.much.to.do. We had a great time, but were so busy that we didn't get a ton of pics. Enjoy these few and the cute barn animals.

That concluded our fall weekend of fun. The pumpkin/Columbus Day tradition lives on for another year. 

First Day of Kindergarten

After a tearful goodbye to Kindercare last week, we said a happy hello to Groveton Elementary School this week, as P&F started kindergarten (my babies!). They were so excited to go to school. And, I was excited too, mainly because I was so excited about Piper's dress.

First some indoor pics:

And then some pics on our front walk.

And of course, they wanted to show off their backpacks.

After those pics, it was off to school. When I picked them up at the end of the day, they declared it AWESOME. We celebrated with a trip to McDonald's for some happy meals.

The second day was great for them too. But, they are absolutely exhausted. They're back to needing 7pm bedtimes, which is hard because it doesn't leave very much time at night. But, it's what they need, and it's better than dealing with two cranky kids. Let's hope this awesomeness keeps up for the rest of the year.