I wish I had more to report on. Let's see....this past week Tom was away for a few days in Chicago on some work thing. It was rough to say the least. Tuesday I headed up to visit my friend Stacy. It was a nice distraction but the children were not exactly on their best behavior and it stressed me out a lot.

This week we are headed up to Traverse City to celebrate Thanksgiving and spend some good quality family time together. I promise to have a mountain of pictures. Including many outdoor snowy adventure pictures. We are so excited to enjoy the plentiful snow in TC.


With the Christmas season quickly approaching, well actually it is upon us, Noelle has taken a great interest in the real Christmas story. She seems to grasp the concept that we celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas, along with her own! Although she does understand the birth of Jesus it does not deter her from wanting EVERY toy that is advertised on TV, in the paper, in magazines, and of course, in stores.

These days Max is very very troublesome and keeps me on my toes all day long. Because he can walk so well, he is able to get to things quickly, for example the fridge. If he hears it open, he bolts toward it. While Tom was away he was able to grab a bottle of chocolate syrup out of it. While I was cleaning up he was silent and I rushed to finish some chores. A few minutes late I found out he was so quiet because he unscrewed the top of the syrup and poured it all over the carpet, then proceeded to put his feet and hands in it. When I rounded the corner he was spreading it all over the floor and Zeus was trying to lick up as much of it as he could. Those type of stunts are typical with him.

Stories:

I let out a frustrated huff and Noelle quickly responds with, "Mom, don't you huff like that!"

Max has become very quick and very mischievous lately. He gets into Noelle's things and one time Noelle came up to me with her arms crossed and said, "Max is NOT my brother, he is YOUR son and you take care of him!".

While Tom was replacing the vacuum belt Max runs up to him with a piece of the hose and swiftly hits him over the head and runs away with a huge grin planted on his little face.

When Max does something silly Noelle says, "What are we going to do with this kid?".

Right before being disciplined Noelle runs up to either Tom or I and wraps her arms around us, plants a big kiss on our lips and says, "but I love you really really much and I'm really really sorry." It just melts our hearts.

That's all folks...Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Baby R3

Today I went in for an hour long routine anatomy ultrasound. I have been feeling his/her little kicks for awhile now and it was incredible to feel the kicks while watching them happen on the screen.

Unfortunately, Baby R3 is very stubborn and again would not let him/her self be known to us. He/she kept his/her gender hidden from our view. There wasn't even a glimpse of between the legs. I guess I will have to wait until December 3rd at my next OB appointment to hopefully find out.

The technician gave us horrible pictures. I wish we could make them out, but the baby looks like an upside down, inside out alien! We were hoping for some nice head shots that we saw on the screen, but were given two very disappointing photos. I guess pleasing the parents with fantastic photos of their in utero baby is not high on their priority list!

Can't Think of A Title...

I wish I had more to write but not much has happened around here. We enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather this week by heading outside as much as possible. Noelle told me that she "really really needs a swing set". That is the plan come spring.


On Wednesday, I went in for another doctor's appointment. I expected to find out the sex but baby R3 refused to cooperate. The baby is growing well and looks great, he/she just would not let their sex be known. I go in again this Thursday for the more comprehensive hour long anatomy ultrasound, hopefully it will yield a positive result as far as gender is concerned. If not then I go back on December 3rd and will again be given another ultrasound. We will find out the sex of this baby !

Max is starting to talk. He can say ball, hi dada, and dog. Noelle gets very excited when he does say something and tries to encourage/teach him all day long.

That's about it...here are a few pictures because I'm out of words:

Happy Halloween!

We have had such a great weekend it's nice to be back home, but we all seem to want to be back in Traverse City.

The five hour drive up went very well. Noelle was very excited about Halloween and seeing Granma, Granpa, and Uncle Alex (now affectionately called "Unkie"). We arrived in early afternoon and let the children run around and play in the beautiful weather.


After dinner it was time to get all dressed up and head out for some candy! We decided that Max was going to be a tiger and wear Noelle's costume from last year, we searched many stores and could find nothing that seem to suit him better. He made a very cute tiger, and Noelle was an adorable, studious doctor!
Noelle loved going up to house and saying in her sweet little voice, "trick-or-treat". Max was quick to pick up on the concept and reached his little hand into the bowls to grab the brightest candy to gnaw on. We would only have a few minutes before Max's thick slobber soaked through the candy and he was eating it. We went to a handful of houses around the block and then my two little munchkins were tired out.

Tom and I dropped off the children, gave out many hugs and kisses and headed out for our adventure! We booked a hotel room for the night, alone, no children, all by ourselves...completely amazing! The Cherry Tree Hotel was wonderful, our room perfection. We had a little suite, complete with a huge jacuzzi tub, nice flat screen, and a more than comfortable big bed. Needless to say we had a great time!

The children did very well with Grandma and Grandpa. Yes, I had to call a few times, Tom begged me not to but for my peace of mind I just had to hear it. Saturday morning Grandpa and Noelle went to Toys R Us together. What an adventure they had! Right around noon we arrived back at Castle Goodhue to find Noelle playing with her new toys which included, a back pack full of sparkly makeup, a princess baby carriage, a little Dora the Explorer puppy with stethoscope, a pink dolphin, and an elephant for Max! Noelle pointed out exactly what she wanted and Grandpa got it for her; that's what Grandparents are for, spoiling.

After an afternoon rest period for Noelle and Max's nap we headed out into the woods for a walk. It was beautiful crisp weather and got some great pictures.

After our walk, "Unkie" cut down one of his old hockey sticks and proceeded to teach Noelle how to play a little street hockey. She had such a great time! Max was given his own little stick and decided to use it as a club on the nearest vehicle, such a brute!


It was a fabulous, wonderful, (insert many more descriptive adjectives here, I'm tired!) weekend. It was hard leaving. I can't wait until Thanksgiving.