Christmas!

We had such a wonderful Christmas, and we hope that you all did too!  Our fun started out on the 21st when Grandma and Grandpa Flanagan came up from Ocean Isle, and we had a great visit with pizza and presents...Erin's and Anna's two favorite things!

We went to Concord from the 22nd-24th and got to have lots of fun family time with cookies, presents, brandy slush, and hot juice.  The girls both did wonderfully with opening presents and they loved all of their gifts.  Thanks, everybody!

We came back home on the 24th and had a fancy dinner of ravioli and chicken nuggets, read Christmas books, and set out cookies for Santa.  Lo and behold, Santa did come that night and left even more presents!  We had so much fun opening everything on Christmas morning, then went to church since we did not tackle the crowds on Christmas Eve.  We also had a ham lunch, and Uncle Dale and Cole came over for awhile to play.

We had a nice week at home after Christmas, with lots of trips to the Y (going on 7 straight days for Erin), errands, and playing with presents.  We also were fortunate enough to have fun visits with neighbors Nina and Lily, neighbor Ella, new baby Andreas, and our old friends Bellamy and Dalton.  It's been so nice to catch up with those we don't get to see very often.  We took the Christmas stuff down yesterday, and now our poor house looks bare!  Tonight, we're going to the girls' first NCSU basketball game.  We're all excited about that!  Tomorrow we will get to see our friends Mr. David and Ms. Liz, and hopefully Oliver and his parents too.  So, it's been a really great holiday season for us!

Let's see...earlier highlights in the month - I had grand plans of a Christmas extravaganza on the weekend of December 1st-2nd, but Erin was hit hard by the post-trip stomach bug that we all got.  We had to miss seeing Santa, but Anna and I did get to go to the dance school holiday cabaret.  Anna loved that!  We went to Erin's school for the Fun Run on the 7th, which was lots of fun.  We were back in Concord the weekend of the 8th for big boy Ben's 1st birthday party and Cookie Fest, then had Liz and David's Christmas party on the 9th.  Erin's class had their holiday party on the 14th, which was really great.  I love going to her school and seeing her "in action".  She has truly wonderful teachers and classmates...especially her "boyfriend"!  Erin went to dance class on the 15th, and we had Cole's 1st birthday party that afternoon.  We had a second Cookie Fest with Cole on the 16th.  Our neighborhood party was rained out on the 16th, so we missed both easy opportunities to see Santa.  Oh well, maybe next year.  That about wraps up December, other than the day-to-day school, work, Y, church group, a little Cole time, playing outside, and Christmas prep!

We are looking forward to a happy and healthy 2013, and wish the same to you!

Indiana Trip!

Well, we made it back from our whirlwind 4-day trip to Fort Wayne!  We left on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and came back yesterday, Sunday.  The girls were so good in the car, even though we wouldn't let them watch a whole lot of DVDs due to carsickness (Anna has had trouble in the past and Erin threw up on the way there).  Kids' Dramamine seemed to help too.  We got there on Thursday around 6pm after 11-1/2 hours, got to be a part of the Lothamer Thanksgiving (50 people!), then got the girls' rooms settled and went to bed.  Friday, Bob went to see his friend Mike in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while we girls hung around Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Friday evening, we made the perfunctory trip to Meijer, then out to dinner at Bandido's.  Saturday was Katie and Matt's wedding!  It was beautiful and wonderful and they looked so happy.  We were able to let the girls take a 1-hour nap between the ceremony and reception so they were ready to party.  And party they did!  They loved the party food and the dance floor.  Anna particularly loved the pink cake, and Erin had 3 plates of fruit salad.  It was a wonderful time, and we had so much fun!  Yesterday, we got back in 12 hours including lunch and dinner stops, and they did so well.  We had a great time!  

I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I did on our trip last year, but here are a few of the wedding:  

Belated October

I realized that I've posted about the 2 most important happenings in October - Erin's birthday and Halloween - but did not update on the rest of the month!  As usual for us lately, we had a busy month.  Erin was tracked out of school for the first 3 weeks, so we had a really great time together.  We started it off with Anna's last dance class (that Erin got to attend too) on the 4th and a very fun outdoor family concert on the 5th, at which Erin really shook her tail feather.  We love watching her dance!

The next day, we had a fun baby shower for Sofia at our house coupled with an "emergency" vet visit for Bella's ruptured cyst.  Two weeks of oral and topical antibiotics (plus sporadic cone-wearing) later, she's as good as new.  Here are most of the shower attendees:



We sustained flu shots x 3 (Bob refuses to get one and I refuse to pay for Bella's) with minimal tears. Mommy and Daddy had their first-ever getaway to Niagara Falls from the 12th-14th.  Erin and Anna stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Ambrosini, to whom we are very grateful!  The girls did really well with them, and we had a great trip.  My only stipulation was that I did not want to go anywhere hot, so that's kind of how we ended up going north.  We had lots of fun and could definitely take another trip without kids; hopefully it will be sooner than 4 more years until the next one!



We had Erin's birthday celebration in Asheboro on the 20th, family/4th birthday portraits on the 21st, and back to school on the 22nd.  Daddy went camping on the 27th-28th and made it back in one piece.  It is always uncertain if that will happen with his man trips that involve hatchets, pocket knives, and bows and arrows!  Then we had a fun Halloween week to wrap up the month.

I'm trying to do some structured activities with Anna when I can work them in.  She is really interested in cooking projects and some crafts.  We made bird feeders, which was really just her eating peanut butter. 




So, all of these events, plus quality time with Cole, trips to the Y, library, parks, Bible Study, church, playing outside, helping out our neighbor friends, doctor appointments, chores, and errands filled up our month for sure!  Some house projects just never seem to get done because we have many more fun things to do.  Anyone want to paint Anna's room???  How about stain the deck?  We had a great one and are looking forward to the upcoming holidays!

Halloween!

Well, I'm only 5 days late for posting about  Halloween...not bad, right?  We had such a great time!  Erin got to wear her (actually, Logan's) Nemo costume to school for "Dress as a Book Character Day" since Halloween is evil and public schools cannot celebrate any holidays any more.  Anna was homemade Dory, thanks to Grandma A.!  We chilled out after school and then got ready for fun.  The girls got their costumes on and we took salad and drinks over to our neighbor friends Nina and Lily's house and had pizza with them.  They inhaled their dinner and then hit the street.  We also had Nick and Laney with us because their parents were stranded in England due to Hurricane Sandy.  Drew and Ella met up with us too, so we had a nice group of friends together!  The kids probably went to about 8 houses and they all did so well.  Nobody was scared and everybody stayed together.  Erin was leading the pack, and she even ate a sucker for the first time ever!  Their most favorite treat was glow bracelets from one house...until they woke up the next morning to no more glowing, which made them very angry.  After trick-or-treating, we went back to Nina and Lily's driveway and the kids sat around the fire pit eating candy, drinking juice boxes, toasting marshmallows, and watching all the other kids come to the house.  It was such a fun time, and the kids had a ball.  I loved it because this was the first year we really got to enjoy it, since it rained last year and every other year we had a baby who didn't like it.  Anyway, that was our fun night, and Anna has already proclaimed that next year, she will be Belle and Erin will be the beast.  We'll see what Erin has to say about that!

Happy Birthday, Erin!

Our baby turned 4 on Tuesday!  I am not one of those moms who says "wow, I can't believe it's been 4 years", because, either due to the fact that I am home with them, or for whatever reason, it feels like she's been around for 4 years...not in a bad way, just in a "4 year" kind of way!  Erin is our super special, smart, sweet, silly girl.  We love her so much and are so proud of all that she has accomplished in 4 years.  We have our struggles and challenges, but we are so very proud of her and love her so much.

She started her birthday week by meeting Grandma and Grandpa Ambrosini, Uncle Chris, Aunt Leslie, Logan, Ansley, Ben, Uncle Dale, Aunt Maria, and Cole at Lake Lucas Park in Asheboro (halfway point for the 4 families).  We got Bojangles food and Grandma made yummy chocolate princess cupcakes with "pink" icing!  We had lots of fun playing and checking out the boats.

On her actual birthday, she took cookies and goody bags to her friends at school.  They sang to her and enjoyed the cookies.  She had spaghetti at home that night and took it easy after a busy day.  She even had to stay home from school the next day with a mysterious illness that vanished by 10:00am.  Mommy, Daddy, and Anna gave her a bike on Saturday, and she also got a camera from us on her actual birthday...and a super fun book from her neighbor friends Nina and Lily.  Her birthday celebration continued today with a special gift from Uncle Tom, Aunt Pam, and Jimmy that came in the mail!  Erin LOVES her new jewelry :)

Happy birthday to our big girl!  We love you so much!

September

Maybe someday I will get organized enough to post more than once a month...but at least this way I don't have to think about what to title each post...

Let's see - September is over already?!?  We had lots of fun last month, but I don't have a lot of pictures to show for it.  Labor Day weekend, we started out right with an adults-only party at our neighbors' house, then mostly hung out around the house and caught up on chores and errands.  The following weekend, Grandpa A. came up to pick up our old crib for Cole to use at his Grandma and Meemaw Andruzzi's house.  The week after that was somehow filled with extra appointments and meetings, and Daddy and Mr. Josh had a boys' night at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham for the Science of Beer event.  I hear it was fun!  Erin's teachers came to our house for the Family Partnership Day on the 14th, which disturbed Erin immensely.  On the 15th, we had a really fun time at neighbor Ella's birthday party at Sonshine Gymnastics.

That Sunday, we had our neighbors over for a shrimp boil, which was a lot of fun, despite the rain.  The kids' table was the place to be.



I seem to have a knack for having parties in the rain!  We went to Concord the weekend of the 22nd-23rd and had fun watching Ansley play soccer, going to eat Mexican food, and lots of fun with cousins and grandparents...despite Mommy losing her wallet (arrgh).  Erin's last day of school was last Friday, now she'll have 3 weeks off for her track-out.  This past Saturday, Erin got to check out Monkey Joe's for Mason's birthday party.  She loved it!  Yesterday we had a fun time at brunch and the pumpkin patch with Oliver and some big people:

We've watched our mediocre Wolfpack football season thus far, but continue to hope for improvement.  We also started back up our Friday morning moms group at St. Andrew, which we all enjoy.  We've been watching Cole once or twice a week and LOVE spending time with that sweet little guy!  We try to get to the Y 3-4 times a week in between everything else. The girls really enjoy playing in the nursery there.

Possibly the most  noteworthy event of September has been Anna's dance class.  The first and third (of 4) classes were a big hit, but she was a little off the second week.  Last week she learned how to tap, and she definitely liked that a lot!





We are looking forward to some fun days with Erin at home, and Mommy and Daddy's trip to Niagara Falls next weekend!  It will be our first night(s) with both of us away from the girls in 4 years!  That will be great.
We're also looking forward to the big 0-4 for Erin on October 23rd.  What happened to our tiny little  baby?!?

August

So, what have we been up to?  August was busy and fun for us all!  Erin started back to school on the 2nd at her same school, but with a different teacher and classroom.  She adjusted well and is happy to be back at school, learning lots and having fun!  We had fun with Grandma A. visiting at the beginning of the month to help with Dale and Maria's move.  We went to a party at Oliver's house and had lots of fun!  Anna and Mommy went to a puppet show at our library with our neighbor friends on the 7th and really enjoyed it...once Anna got comfortable with it, that is!  We went to another party at Erin's ex-classmate's house on the 11th and enjoyed that a lot too.  Daddy had yet one more trip to California the week of the 12th, but hopefully that will be it for awhile.  The following weekend, we went to the beach!  Our little beach bums were right at home:

They loved the playground nearby too, even though it was SUPER HOT:

Mommy has been trying to plan more activities for Anna lately.  She is really artistic and was all over our homemade sidewalk paint.  Bella liked it too...I guess dogs like corn starch...?

We got to visit with Aunt Pam and Jimmy in Monroe on the 25th, and had a great time at the park and at Chick-Fila!

That evening, we went to a fun cookout at Uncle Chris and Aunt Leslie's house.  Erin demonstrated her daredevil ways:

And Anna had fun in her own way:

Speaking of Anna, our sweet tiny little baby has successfully talked us into getting her a big girl bed.  She spent a week on her new twin mattress on the floor, and her bed from JC Penney arrived this morning (and induced a successful nap today!).  She loves it and is doing very well!

Ahh, yes, the potty saga continues.  We have resorted to dueling potties, thanks to Ansley for sharing hers!  Bob and Erin participated in Potty Boot Camp this past weekend with great success!  Can't wait to hear how Erin does at school today!

My little baker hard at work:

We have had lots of fun this past month watching Cole...he is so cute and happy all the time!



So, that's the run-down from here.  We've had lots of fun playing outside, though our pool time has dwindled due to Mommy being lazy, basically.  We are all ready for some cooler weather and Wolfpack football!  Anna comments on our new flag every chance she gets.  We hope you are all doing well!  (I apologize for my formatting problems - technology eludes me very often!)

Playroom!

Our playroom transformation is complete!  We have painted, decorated, had the shelves installed and painted, and reorganized.  We love it, and the girls are really enjoying everything!  We now have room for our new (to us) train table/play table, and Mommy tapped into her creative genius and painted the little table and chairs this weekend.  I'm no artist, but I think they came out pretty well!

Our Summer So Far

Well, I have sure been slacking on this blog...let me give a quick update on events around here over the past month or so. Let's see - Erin was in school for the month of June, so we stuck around here most of the time. Bob had a fun Father's Day at home,



and we spent the following weekend in Concord, where we got to check out the awesome splash pad and train ride in Kannapolis!



Erin "tracked out" the week of July 4th and goes back to school next Thursday, so we've really enjoyed the time together this month.

We had lots of fun at Oliver's pirate-themed 5th birthday party! Erin and Anna tried a 1-day dance class through the Holly Springs Parks and Rec, to which Anna asks EVERY SINGLE DAY to go back.



I'm trying to remember to sign her up for the 4-week toddler class in the fall when registration comes out. We were here for July 4th and had a great time at our neighbors' house for Erin's favorite kind of summer meal - tacos! Sadly for Mommy, it was a no-nap day, so the girls were in no shape to stay up for fireworks. We made our first-ever trip to the NC Zoo on the 9th and had a great time, except for Erin, who had a cold that turned into an ear infection (that thankfully cleared up without battling with her to try to give her antibiotics). We only made it through half of the zoo, so we'll have to go back when it's cooler!



We have checked out the Lake Johnson pool/splash pad twice and have enjoyed it a lot. It's been too hot to do our usual frequency of going to parks, but we did check out Kids Together park one morning, which was awesome - except for the big black snake that I spotted.



Erin did a preschool day camp at church last week and enjoyed that a lot too. Mommy went to Chicago last weekend for her cousin Beth's wedding while Daddy held down the fort here. That was a LOT of fun for everybody (I think)!

Those have been the main highlights. We've also spent a lot of time beating the heat at the "Y/pool-Y" and the neighborhood pool.



(After seeing these pictures again, I think I really should invest in some type of photography class. I apologize for them!)

Other items of note are the purchase of our new king-sized (Bella-appropriate) bed and bed frame, and Mommy's church book club gathering here last week. We are also enjoying some time with Bellamy and Dalton's dog Peyton this week while they're at the beach. Bella really seems to enjoy the company! They must be bonding in sleep, because that's all they do.

Oh! How could I forget the most miraculous event of the summer?!? About 6 weeks ago or so, we noticed that Erin had stopped sucking her thumb. I figured that maybe she had a canker sore or something and just didn't want to suck it. Well, 6 weeks later, she still isn't doing it! I saw her try to suck her thumb once when she was sick and she didn't seem that into it. We are in shock!

We are looking forward to our trip to the beach with Grandma F. in a few weeks, as well as another trip or two to Concord, and also seeing Cousin Jimmy when he's in Monroe. We are also super excited about Uncle Dale, Aunt Maria, and Cole moving up here next week. We can't wait to have them close by! It's been a fun and HOT summer!

Potty Help, Please!

Ok, here is my plea for any help/ideas/suggestions that you all might have. We have been trying to potty train Erin on and off for 11 months...her teachers at school have also been trying, albeit less aggressively, and to no avail. She knows what the potty is for and will sit on it as long as we ask her to, but will not consistently go...or she will sit on the potty, get up, and have an accident right away. It is incredibly frustrating. I've heard everything from "just forget about it" totally to "boot camp" it in the bathroom, literally sitting on the toilet for 12 hours a day (that doesn't seem healthy for anyone). I am at a loss! Here is my (non-inclusive) list of what all we have tried, most of them many times...but not all at once! Does anyone have any other ideas, or what has worked for your kids?

Stickers, charts, bribes, treats
Books (4 different ones for her, 2 for parents), videos, songs - both potty-related and her favorites for distraction purposes, Elmo and dolls "pottying" with a syringe for demo
Little plastic potty, big potty with padded seat and stool
Threats (I'm not going to lie), attempts at reasoning, talking about being a "big girl"
Wetting herself, diapers, pull-ups, cloth training pants, underwear, naked time
Timer, scheduled sitting
Picture chart of potty process and also in her daily schedule at home
Mommy even went to a conference that covered this, went to the Project Enlightenment resource center, and have consulted/whined with teachers, etc. countess times

I am really discouraged because I think she is capable of this mentally, but either doesn't have it quite together physically or just plain doesn't care. There's also the communication aspect in that she doesn't want to tell us that she has to go or that she has had an accident. Maybe there's something else that we could do to help her along. Thoughts? Suggestions?

New Shelves!

So, Bob and I somehow managed to agree that some shelves in the bonus room and finishing out our shoe nook by the garage would be nice and useful for organization, and I managed to convince him that he didn't have time to do them himself. **Though, OF COURSE he could have done them himself, and would have definitely done a fabulous job...we decided to stimulate the economy of our buddy Tom from church ( http://ajslegacyhomes.com/index.htm) and got him to build some shelves. This whole affair has taken exactly 2 months between initial estimate, waiting, building, waiting, and painting. The painters came today and finished up, and both projects turned out great. I can't wait to pile the shelves with stuff on Thursday (per the painter's instructions, we have to wait 3 days). Here are some pictures!

Hilton Head 2012!

We had a wonderful time at the beach with Mommy's family this past week!  We went to Hilton Head and rented a big 7-bedroom house at Singleton Beach.  The first few days were windy and a little rainy because of Tropical Storm Beryl, but we didn't let it get us down.  A few highlights include visiting the Coastal Discovery Museum.  Anna loved it!  Here are Anna and Grandma looking at a loggerhead turtle egg exhibit:

 Anna celebrated her birthday again with an Elmo cake and presents:

  
We went on a dolphin cruise and saw lots of dolphins!  Note the girls sporting their matching Family Beach Week t-shirts that we made for everyone:

We rented bikes and the girls loved riding all around the island in their kiddie cart:

And, of course, we hit the beach.  The girls LOVED the sand, waves, and especially the tide pools:

The house had its own private pool!  We loved hanging out there too:

The rest of our pictures are HERE.  We will be stealing pictures from everyone else and adding them to that album, since we didn't get pictures of all the fun.  It was a wonderful week, and we loved spending lots of time with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents!  The girls did great, slept well, and only had a few meltdowns.  We really enjoyed Hilton Head and can't wait to do it again!