The Great Pumpkin

My Rock stars!

Brendan made his own guitar. All of this was TOTALLY his making. I helped tape a few things together, but this was his brain child!

Happy Halloween!

BOO!

I had to post this one, his face is so awesome!

Ryan and the pumkin!

Pooped out.

Grandma!!

The Glowing Big sis!

Home-made costume!

Teddy was very specific about what he wanted to be this year for halloween. He is slighly obsessed with emergency vehicles. He LOVES police"ma'am's" and "Firemans". The "woo-woo" part is the obvious noise they make. We had this box, so I decided to make a firetruck that he could walk around in. He LOVED it, and so did everyone else. I have to admit, I was pretty proud of my vehicle. Spray paint, egg cartons, construction paper and a box! Viola! Firetruck.

Side view.

Front view.

Pre-Halloween Dinner!

The boys' table. It was a miracle we were able to get a picture of them all at the same time. They vacated their seats pretty quickly after this.

The girls' table. Being girls, they were slightly more subdued than the boys, but only slightly...

The group picture! This was also a bit of a chore to get. They were VERY eager to get their candy!

I liked this one! Lana was VERY animated! Cecelia was "the devil", Teddy was a "fireman woo-woo", Brendan was "Jenga Fett".

They grow so quickly

It's been a little over two weeks now that Ryan has been a part of our family, and he's already getting so much bigger. This pic is from his first week, I am working on getting more pics, it's amazing how my time has been monopolized with feedings, changings, and the other kids. I look forward to my mornings alone with Ryan, snuggling and just getting to know him. He already seems to be more serious than Teddy and Brendan. He has a dimple like Cecelia when he smiles (in his sleep). He's such an easy little guy. The only time he cries is when I have waited too long to feed him, which luckily doesn't happen too often. He sleeps, wakes up, wants some food, stares and moves his arms a bit, then crashes again. I was worried that 4 would be hard to manage, but so far, if I time everything correctly it's not been too bad. We have been VERY blessed by our friends who have provided wonderful meals for the family. It definitely makes Gary and I feel loved. I feel like I am going to blink and he's going to be crawling! I keep looking at my calendar and Christmas will be here, then the New Year, then it seems like Summer will be here again!
Brendan and Cecelia are doing well. Cecelia GLOWS when she holds Ryan. She LOVES feeding him, snuggling, and talking to him. I figure this will continue until he starts taking his toys. Although, I am trying to encourage this relationship to alleviate some of the pressure from Brendan...who is just the best big brother to the three of them. We've had some awkward moments of realization with Brendan, which just comes with age (I like to call them Adam and Eve moments). I got the whole "so how and where does the baby come out?". He's also blown away at the whole "nursing" thing. He said he is "shocked" that the human body makes milk. Needless to say I try to confine myself to the bedroom to pump, but issues in the family come up and they end up making their way to the bedroom eventually. Ah well. Teddy is more infatuated with the noise the pump makes, imitating it EXACTLY!
Gary is an amazing husband. He's kind of taken on the other three when I am hibernating in the bedroom. He's great about trying to allow for a few extra minutes of uninterrupted sleep here and there. I keep counting my blessings at how lucky I am to have a husband who absolutely LOVES spending time with his kids and looks forward to it every day. (Not that we don't have our...."Wouldn't it be great to drop the kids off at our parents house for the weekend and have a weekend alone" moments.)
Tomorrow is Halloween and I promise to get lots of pics of the kids in their costumes. Brendan is going as some Star Wars character. He is excited that he and his buddy Steele are going as the same thing. Cecelia has ironically chosen to be the Devil for the night. She has a tail, horns and a bow tie. I have promised her some red lipstick to boot and she is VERY excited about that. Teddy is going to be "fireman woo-woo". I am making a firetruck FROM SCRATCH out of a box, having him wear that, and he can wear a fire hat and some boots to be the fireman inside the truck. I am hoping the truck part isn't too homemade! So far so good. I don't have anything for Ryan, and since it is going to be about 80 degrees tomorrow, I think the mosquito netting over his stroller will be enough of a costume!
SO! Other than that, nothing really exciting. I will post the pics of halloween as soon as possible. It should be a great night with friends and CANDY! Yum. I already have my heart set on stealing some of the kids candy when they go to bed that night! I figure I am just doing my parental duty of saving their teeth! (especially since we have so many issues with cavaties as it is!)
Lots of love!

Snuggle Bug

Pumpkin Patch!

We went to the pumpkin patch today. Everyone, including Ryan, got a pumpkin. Gary's parents are here, so they went to their beach house for the night and are carving them. I will get to see the results tomorrow. Cecelia has been making sketches all week as to which face she should pick for her pumpkin. She takes this very seriously. I can't wait to see what she picks. This is a HORRIBLE picture of me, but I will take one for the team,...it is only ONE week since I gave birth....

My Baby....

RYAN!!!

Well, it only took ten hours for Ryan to make his way into the world once I got to the hospital. Granted, I only pushed for 23 minutes, but getting to that point sure was a while. I went in 4cm dialated, was at 6 cm t 5pm, then at 5:30 was completely dialated. However, because my babies are all INCREDIBLY active in utero, little man had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck 2 times, so that every time I pushed, his little heart rate went down. SO! My nurse didn't have me push until my doctor got to the hospital, which was 6pm. So, 23 minutes later, out he came. Even though the getting there was miserable, VERY NAUSEATED the whole time, the actual "labor" was VERY easy. He is a complete joy and aside from the jaundice, no issues. As I sit here, he is kinda sqawking to be fed....

The VERY proud daddy of FOUR!! AH!

Cecelia is absolutely in LOVE with Ryan. She wants to hold
him and kiss him all the time.

His first picture!

Teddy could not be MORE cute with Ryan. When we brought
him home from the hospital, Teddy helped Gary with the car seat
he whispered to Ryan "I Love you, Ryan."

Her first tooth!

Cecelia was VERY excited about losing her first tooth. The crazy thing was that her adult tooth came up behind her baby tooth. I am thinking that braces are in our future for this girl. Although, because she has so much space between her teeth, there is hope...

Cecelia Turns SIX!!

Birthday morning, Cecelia opened up her gifts from her grandparents. She enjoyed EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! She is very blessed to have such generous grands! THANK YOU!

Blowing out her candles. She had a soccer game on her birthday, so we had her favorites that night when we got home. Pizza and cake! The cake was a little dog. I actually got two so everyone could have a piece. They were very cute, and she LOVED them.

Teddy time!

I realized that the other two had some interesting posts, and didn't feel it was fair to do an update without posting some pics of Teddy. I gave him a haircut at dinner the other night, which he liked and had fun looking at in the mirror after I did it. He said he looked "fancy". This is his smile before school, which he is really enjoying. He likes going in the morning and really looks forward to seeing all of his friends, earning star bursts for good behavior and collecting "notes" of encouragement from his teachers.

This picture was random. He was walking around with his top hat and felt that Santa was a part of his act, I guess, and demanded that we take a picture. He LOVES getting his picture taken then IMMEDIATELY looking at it after. What would he have done before the instant gratification of digital cameras!!?!?

Gone missing...

Well after TWO months of wiggling, one of two front top teeth cam out! There is still one that is wiggling, but no where near ready to be taken out. He received his silver dollar from the tooth fairy and is looking forward to another dollar. He spends most of his down time wiggling that tooth...nothing like a dollar to motivate!

Dance Mom? Huh?

Cecelia's BEST friend Lana invited her to "invite your friend to dance" day. Through an amazing blessing of hand-me-down clothing, we actually own a number of dance outfits. So we dressed her up and got her ready for her first taste of dance classes. The smile on her face and pose (all PRE class) gives you a clue as to how excited she was about this. She HAS been asking about taking classes, and due to my laziness, have not signed her up yet. (that and the cost is nothing to sneeze at!)

She went and got a taste of ballet, jazz and tap. According to the other moms that were there watching their girls, Cecelia was very good for her first time ever, and was GREAT at the leaps they did. Since I only took one season of tap and ballet when I was her age, and did NOT keep up with it, soccer being my passion, I am what they call CLUELESS to dance. I have always been a bit leary since dance seems to be a partner to eating disorders, and this studio can get VERY competitive and serious about what they do. I don't know. (Brendan was very proud of her and thought she "looked beautiful"....he is the BEST big brother!)

She says she likes dance better than soccer. This would be something that she could do that has nothing to do with her brothers, it would be something that is ALL hers. I guess I am taking it one day at a time. I am thinking this might just be a good birthday present for her once soccer season is over. (we have a ONE extra curricular at a time rule). Either way she is ONLY 5 soon to be 6. No major career choices need to be decided at this moment. We can have a taste of it all with no recourse. In the meantime, she can just enjoy and play like every 6 year old should, with no pressure.

Soccer Mom, FINALLY!

Here is my guy, red faced and tuckered out after a long practice. We skipped last year's soccer season (because I was too late in signing him up, woops!). So we were very excited this year to get them on the rosters. This is Brendan's second year playing and he starts his games this coming week. He's only had practice so far and Gary says that he is doing very well. I haven't been able to make it yet, but am VERY excited about seeing him play in his games.

This will be Cecelia's FIRST year playing. Unlike her brother, she is not as active or in want of running around....which is exactly why I feel like she needs soccer. She's already complaining about the running, but has a remarkable natural talent. She is aggressive and does not run away from the ball or get discouraged when someone else has it. She likes to elbow (which internally I smile at, externally encourage her not to), and is very good at dribbling. I am thinking I might after this year to sign her up again. Because she is so young and is on an under 7 team that still has those kids that are counting the blades of grass or number of birds in the sky, as opposed to really wanting to play, she is not getting the REAL feel for soccer. Gosh, I sound awful! But she is really into the game when she's on the field, and complains about the ones that are literally sitting on the ground in front of her, keeping her from being able to run with the ball. We'll see, I won't push, I PROMISE. I can't wait to actually see her play in a game. THEN I will reevaluate and see about her future soccer career....

She sure does make a beautiful soccer player though...

Crazy Cat woman

Every night either Gary or I go into our kids rooms, readjust covers, turn music down, remove toys from bed, you know, the usual stuff that I am sure most parents do before we turn in. Well, one night last week, about 2 hours after Cecelia went to bed, I went in to check on her. I found her SOUND asleep WITH her cat ears headband that she had for halloween last year. These stayed on all night. I always wonder what goes on in her brain...not sure what this clues me into....

TEDDY'S FIRST DAY!

Ah, to have all three in school FIVE days a week! It started the week before, leaving Teddy a whole week to wait for his first day of the three year old class. This is his first year of going EVERY day of the week from 9 - noon. He will also have the opportunity to stay at school for lunch bunch until a little after 2 pm! This will come in handy once the new Wieder is here. Teddy was very excited to sport his new back pack.

Here's the infamous Lightening McQueen backpack. My child LOVES the movie Cars. He makes me watch it with him at least twice a week. Sadly, this week, Teddy was struck down with the stomach flu for a day, but kept him home an extra day. So he didn't get to enjoy his first FULL week of school. That will kick in next week. WOHOO!

Here are my guys, walking in together on the first day. TOO CUTE! The HILARIOUS part was there was the Chik-fil-A cow just beyond the pillars. Teddy REFUSED to make direct eye contact with it. Teddy had a look on his face like he wasn't quite sure if we were seeing what he saw. He wouldn't even really turn his head toward it, only his eyes. Once we got into the classroom, the cow came to the window once, TERRIFYING one poor little girl, but making the rest rise up, screaming at him through the window. Good thing for the cow there was a wall and window between him and the kids....

Hanging up the important backpack. He's very excited because his best girl friend, Spencer, hangs her stuff up next to his. He informed us he was going to marry her...(sorry Elliotts! I will say he DOES adore her though!)

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! AH!

We've waiting a long time for this day! Cecelia was so excited to finally be joining her big brother at the elementary school, she had a smile GLUED to her face for an entire 24 hours before she woke for school this morning. She had her clothes picked out, down to the hair bow. She is doing GREAT and LOVES LOVES LOVES her teacher, Mrs. Claudia Marshall. We were very blessed to get one of the teachers we really wanted for her. She is also REALLY looking forward to riding the bus home, unlike her brother who has an understanding that the bus takes almost a FULL hour longer to get to the house. UGH.

SMOKES he looks older. Anyway. Brendan is going into the 2nd grade and was a wee bit nervous about this. Apparently last year, there was a girl who got transfered into Brendan's First grade class FROM the 2nd grade because she just wasnt' ready to move up. So he is under the impression that 2nd grade is REALLY REALLY hard. We had a fantastic first week, and have allayed some of those fears. He seems to get that it's not as hard as he thought, and that this might just be a good year (minus the bus).

My big kids!

Here they are getting ready to go into school on their first day. The school brought out the BIG GUNS with the school mascot. They were so excited to get their picture taken with "it". Of course, later that morning Brendan saw the mascot take off it's head piece completely destroying the magic. (They should take a page from Disney World regarding their characters!) So now anytime he sees a costumed character he screams "you're a sham!" Great.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Here is my wonderful little family singing me happy birthday. THIRTY FIVE YEARS OLD! UGH. They got me a Wii fit to play with. Brendan decided that I needed something on the wii since they had their games. It's actually a lot of fun and I am really looking forward to doing some of the yoga once this baby has decided to join us. Between that, the treadmill, and the weights, I am on a MISSION!
Anyway, if you look closely, Teddy is blowing out my candles, which was fine, because I have nothing more to wish for!

Science Center

We loved our time in Pittsburgh. One of the highlights, that Brendan even highlighted as what his favorite part of summer was, is the Science Center. For anyone that has kids, this had a little more to offer than the Children's Museum. There are four floors, each one offering a little something for each kid. Cecelia LOVED the puppet show area. I think she was a lemer (sp?) Brendan enjoyed the water section and the robots. (I didn't get any pics of the robots because I was WAY too motion sick from the simulator at that point). Teddy enjoyed the "balls" section. We will definitely go back to this when we go home next summer. I am really looking forward to the sports museum they are building too! Yay for fun!

Big Daddy and his BIG fish...

Gary enjoyed his time fishing....especially when he caught this wide mouth bass!

Gary's way of thanking the fish for his time. We do the whole catch and release thing. Noone in our "camp" likes to clean and gut fish, so we let them get fatter for someone else a little more rugged.

Summer with the Grands!

Early morning on the lake, catching our fish.....Brendan caught his.

Cecelia caught hers....

And Teddy held his rod. He caught a fish once at Lake Lure...got so freaked out that he slammed the poor thing down on the dock so hard, it broke free from the line. We figured we'd spare the fish this time.

Northern Exposure

While we were home in Buffalo, Gary's family celebrated their parents, George and Dorothy's FIFTIETH Wedding anniversary! Not a milestone you see too much nowadays. It was a lovely intimate family celebration and an honor to be able to be a part of. Because of these two amazing people and their love for each other and their children, I get to reap the benefits and am married to an amazing man. Happy Anniversary! You two are a GREAT example to follow. XOXO

This is a picture drawn in pencil of their wedding photo. It was an amazing drawing!! Doug, your son has a wee bit of talent I'd say!

Cutting the cake again! And to think, this was probably the first baked good I have had with this family that WAS NOT cooked by Dorothy! It was still ok though. I managed to choke down a few pieces...but not as good as the mint chocolate pie or buckeyes!

Brendan showing us his "gun" show....

Cecelia and her cousin Lauren....who was without her other half, Jimmy. Look at this, it's July, and my daughter has on a SWEATSHIRT!

Some of the cousins gathered on the couch. Lamarr was AMAZING with the kids....and with Jessica and Lauren. They really enjoy their family time with them.

This is Teddy's "cool" smile. He already looks like that frat boy/dumb jock that is too cool for everyone but the "ladies." I am sure he will master it by the time he is old enough to notice the ladies....

Family Vacation!

The kids at the pool. Man, I swear, this baby pool is WAY nicer than we had it. Ah well, at least my kids have fun now....ok. SO I have fun with it too!! If you step on most of these geisers, the ones that aren't covered spray high and higher! I had, I mean, the kids had fun plugging them...

We had to take two seperate pictures of the family....my mother has a DEATHLY fear of heights, and well, being this high up didn't quite lend itself to her relaxing or being able to concentrate long enough to take a picture. Teddy was also twirling my hair in his fingers to the point of almost pulling it out...hence the lovely grimace on my face!

Holding up the "fish" outside the museum. They liked them because when the wind blows they spin...

Brendan and his "invention" at the water section of the museum. He spent about 15 minutes putting this together....he was very proud of the fact that he got four pipes connected. Pretty impressive!

Cecelia at the water exhibit. Although we left this one soon after this picture, watery floors with no covers equals LOTS of falling. Three kids fell and almost cracked their heads on the CEMENT stairs. The "wonderful" museum workers wouldn't let us put the non-slip mats in front of the stairs....can they say LAW SUIT???

Teddy at the Children's Museum at his favorite exhibit....CARS!