Decked out

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Bob has decided to reverse his normal Scrooge role this year and pressured me to get going on decorations early. So, after some struggling and grumbling from me, we got all the decorations done! And I must say, I'm glad they are up. Enjoy!

Food Lion special:

Tree branch advent wreath:
The village:

Stockings:

Outside (bonus room will have a wreath shortly):
Garland with fancy new LED lights since the old ones stopped working:

And...the big finale...our new addition this year:

18 months old!

THIS:

is 18 months old today! Our baby, sweet little Anna, is a year and a half. She went to the doctor this morning for her checkup and weighed in at an approximate 24 lb. 10 oz. (55th percentile), 34" long (97th percentile), and 19.25" head (95th percentile). She's our big girl. Everything checked out good, especially, ahem, her lungs. She was NOT happy to see the nurse or Dr. Bowman and made sure they knew it! She had to get the hepatitis A vaccine (well, it isn't required at a specific age, but they offered to give the first dose now), and luckily she has plenty of thigh to handle it. He didn't have much to say because he couldn't get a word in edgewise, but basically other than some keratosis (skin rash), she looks great. I do worry about her not eating as much as the human trash compactor that Erin is, but he said it sounds like she is eating fine and just keep offering a variety of healthy foods. Her growth and appetite will slow down and speed up and that is normal. She has almost got her top 2 canine teeth in, so we'll all be happier when that happens. Hopefully the bottom 2 will be quick and easy after that.

What else about Anna? She is an opinionated, talkative, bossy, adorable little girl. She is a climber and a reader and LOVES balls, cars, bubbles, playing outside, and Elmo. She can't stand to have her hair in a ponytail, hence the comb-over. She has definite opinions about everything and really does boss us all around, including Bella. She is already proving to be a "discipline challenge". She now runs and can walk up and down stairs while holding our hands. She can throw and kick a ball and find a picture of one in almost any children's book. I am starting to think that she was meant to be a boy! Oh yeah, she's also a huge help around the house. We've got to make her earn her keep!

We love you, Anna! We are so excited to watch you continue to grow and develop into a sweet little girl!

October!

Well, apparently this is turning into a once-monthly-updated blog. October was a busy, fun, and exciting month for us! We started off the month at the pumpkin patch, which was a huge hit.

The next day, Bella got blessed for the feast of St. Francis...we will be needing a booster or something, because the initial dose did not take!

The girls made their first and second trips to Marbles museum in Raleigh this month, and had a blast both times.

We had our yard sale on the 8th and netted $112, plus $50 for the double stroller via Craigslist this week. The remainder of the stuff went to Erin's old preschool's yard sale the following weekend, where they made over $900 for the playground project. And we got to clean out some stuff!

We had a fun trip to Concord on the weekend of the 15th where the boys took Logan camping, and they all had a great time, and we did a dry-run Halloween there. Erin had her last day at White Plains part-time preschool on the 20th, and got a week and a half off around her birthday before starting at her new school on November 1st.

We went to the State Fair on the 21st and they both enjoyed the animals and mini-donuts.

Her big ABC birthday bash was the 23rd, and she had so much fun with her family and friends at Crowder Park!


Despite her wishes, Erin had her 3-year checkup on the 28th. She weighs in at 32 lbs. 6 oz. (69th percentile) and is 39" tall (91st percentile). I wish I could tell you her blood pressure or vision screening results, but she, ah, declined those! She checked out good otherwise and got the good ol' flu shot.

We had a rainy Halloween here, but Erin (flower) really enjoyed going to the 4 houses that we did get to...Anna (bumblebee), however, cried the entire time!

We've also enjoyed a mediocre season of Wolfpack football so far:

So, it was a fun and busy month! Everyone is happy and healthy, not counting Anna's possible teething and a couple of little runny noses. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and more fun this month!