Irish by Marriage

Our Little Flower Picker

2012-02-01T06:30:00.003-05:00

Our sweet Sean is 6 months old today. I am actually going to take his picture today…unlike 5 months. You would think we would remember on January 1, but that would be giving us too much credit. Anyway, I thought I would write about some of Caitlin’s latest tricks and funnies being as Sean gets his day tomorrow. (I hope!)

Caitlin loves to sing and she is getting to the point where you can actually make out the words. I took her to Publix with me last weekend and in the middle of the dairy department she began to belt out the words to Barney’s I Love You Song. She gave me an overly dramatic hug and “kiss from me to you” when she song called for it. It was enough that the elderly ladies shopping nearby actually applauded. I love that kid!

My mom always says that I would repeat myself over and over again as a toddler. I wasn’t happy until they repeated back to me what it was I was saying. (Checking for comprehension at an early age. A teacher in the making, huh?) My daughter does exactly the same thing. Heaven help you if you can’t make out what she is saying. There is no way out. I frequently get, “No, Mommy!” before she starts repeating it all over again for me.

She is also starting to parrot things that she hears. It is a matter of time before this one gets us in trouble. You should hear her call the hogs, though!

Caitlin loved Christmas. She (like her father) has tried to hold onto Jingle Bells and “Barney Christmas” as long as possible. Her absolute favorite though? Silent Night. For her first Christmas, the Irishman bought a Silent Night book for his little girl. He wrote a super-sweet note for her inside.

Caitlin LOVES this book. She looks at the pictures and points out Mary, Baby Jesus, sheep, and the kitty cat. When it is out of her sight she goes looking for it. She gets so excited when she gets to shout, “FOUND IT! FOUND SILENT NIGHT!” The other night she insisted that she sleep with the book.

She also loves when the Irishman sings it to her. It is their song.

The other night Caitlin discovered her reflection in the sliding glass door. She enjoyed chatting and giggling with the Caitlin in the ‘mirror’ for about 20 minutes or so while we made dinner. It made me smile to listen to her call the “other” Caitlin pretty.

Stickers are magic. Sunglasses must be worn upside down. Flowers are for picking and smelling. Tickles make for great giggles. A helmet must be worn to ride your bike to “say hi to cars.” Old MacDonald had a very noisy farm. Manners dictate that you must say good bye to everyone…and everything. “Bye flowers! See you soon!” Thank you is good, but “Thank you, Sweetie” is even better from the mouth of my two-year-old.

When we brought out the high chair for Sean, Caitlin was thrilled. She did not remember it at all, but she loves the “new chair.” It is funny that just 6 months ago or so the thing was dead to her. Now she thinks it is the best thing ever. It also seems that all high chairs are now “new chairs.”

As much as she loves the high chair, she loves helping with Sean even more. She loves to take turns spoon feeding him. In the car she has made it her job to update me on Sean’s status. “Sean sleep!” “Sean awake!”

She really is something special!

Little Monster

2012-01-31T06:30:00.000-05:00

There is nothing like a smiling,

happy,

little monster

to brighten your day!

And where there is one monster,

you are sure to find another!

Ruth bought this onesie for Sean when he was born. Our not-so-little monster is now big enough to wear this gift. The rattle was from my cousins. Our little boy is growing up so fast!

The One Where She Stole My Camera. Again.

2012-01-30T06:30:00.000-05:00

When Plunkett was in town a couple of weeks ago we headed to Chili’s for lunch. Back in their camp counselor days, the two Irishmen would frequent Chili’s for the Cajun Chicken Pasta. We went back for old time’s sake.

I’d stuck our little camera in the diaper bag, but Caitlin got to it before I did. She didn’t do too bad at documenting the trip.

At about this point the guys figured out that Caitlin was really taking pictures. Every time she said, “Cheese!” they would jump into action…

It was quite funny to watch them stop mid-conversation to ham it up for a picture, only to pick back up right where they left off seconds before.

We’ll pretend that she meant to take a picture of her shoe…

Even Mickey got into the fun.

But Plunkett and Daddy were the real stars.

At this point the batteries died. Caitlin was not impressed. Crayons are more fun to photograph than to draw with!

I’ve said it before, but my two-year-old has talent!

More Fair Fun

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

While they had big tents with the farm animals set up at the fair, they also had an area set up like an old Florida town. Caitlin was immediately drawn to the animals!

Caitlin loved that the roosters and chickens made the noises she expected them to make. She could easily make out the Cock-a-doodle-doo and was SO impressed by that!

It was super crowded. Trying to convince Caitlin to stay with us and do what we wanted to do was a tad bit difficult at time, but that’s okay. We kept hearing calls on the loudspeaker for lost children. It is easy to see how it could happen in someplace so bustling!

Thankfully the kids sat in the stroller quietly watching a singing pig while the Irishman stood in line for dinner. Pork Parfait anyone?

While I was nursing Sean in the moo-ternity tent, the Irishman bought his little girl bread to feed to chickens.

She was far too scared to go close enough to actually feed the animals, but she had no problem telling her father where to deliver the bread! I love that Caitlin is old enough to tell us what she did. She talked about “baby cows” “Chicken, bread”

and, “Cay, Cay soap!”

Before she emptied an entire hand sanitizer dispenser. It was late. She was cranky. We were too tired to argue. At least it was some good, clean fun!

I can’t help but wonder what it will be like next year once this little fella is chasing around after his sister!

Things That Make You Go Moo

2012-01-26T06:30:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we headed to the fair. We’d tried to prep Caitlin about where we were going and the things we’d expect to see there. The one thing she was most excited about was the cows. She told us the whole way there that we were going to see the moo cows. She told Grammy she couldn’t talk on the phone because she was going to see the moo cows.

Thankfully the cows did not disappoint. One of the first places we found was the Moo-ternity tent. We saw newborn calves. They were perfect black and white, toddler picture book-looking moo cows.

Caitlin got to milk the pretend cow.

One of my friends at work jokes that I am heading to “the farm” when I visit the little closet where I hide away with my breast pump a couple of times each school day. I’ve been known to send a note to her with just, “Moo” written on it in the odd case that I am suddenly without anyone to cover my class when it is time to pump.

Before we left Sean was starving so I sat on a bench in the moo-ternity tent nursing my second born. It seemed more than a little ironic.

There were many highlights from the fair, but Caitlin is still talking about getting to pet the baby moo cow.

I can’t blame her – the whole thing was pretty neat!

Plunkett as the Pied Piper

2012-01-25T06:30:00.000-05:00

Our good friend Plunkett is currently on a cruise ship somewhere near the Panama Canal. He is playing the fiddle and piano on Phil Coulter’s Annual Tranquility Cruise. The cruise left from Fort Lauderdale this year, so our favorite Irish musician flew over early to get to visit.

We all worked together at summer camp many moons ago. Ten years later we are all a bit older and are within a few years of sending our own children to camp. Our former camp director, Sue had the some of the old crew over in honor of Plunkett’s visit. It didn’t take long before one of the kids asked “Mr. Plunkett” to play the piano.

It was as if the Pied Piper had arrived.

He played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jingle Bells, Toora Loora, and the Kampus Kampers song.

The kids were enthralled with him.

He even managed to sing the littlest of the kids to sleep.

Plunkett is a talented musician.

It was great to see our old friend!

Solid Food

2012-01-24T06:30:00.000-05:00

We’ve been saying for the last month or so that we would start Sean on solid food. Such is the life of the second child…we finally got around to it this weekend!

He looks like such a big boy sitting in the high chair. It made me a little sad to see my little man growing up so quick!

The Irishman took some video of the first moments. He’s already e-mailed it to our families, so I’ll spare you that here.

So what did Sean think of rice cereal? You can’t tell by the look on his face here, but he actually seemed to like it more than his sister did.

Always the helper, Caitlin was on hand to take over feeding duty.

I have a feeling he is going to be a big fan of this whole solid food thing!

King of the Car Seat

2012-01-23T06:58:00.000-05:00

Just in case anyone is worried, this “King of the Car Seat” was sitting down with the rest of us for lunch at our favorite local restaurant on New Year’s Day, so he in not strapped in. He might be king, but he never rides in the car that way!

I have tons of lovely photos from this weekend to share…and the weekend before that come to think of it! Unfortunately it is ten minutes before I am supposed to leave for work and I am just now sitting down to pump Sean’s breakfast. Both kids decided to get up just before 5 this morning, so I am running on slightly less than four hours of sleep. Sigh.

Those Baby Blues

2012-01-20T06:47:00.000-05:00

Taking Time to Smell the Flowers

2012-01-19T06:54:00.000-05:00

There is a beautiful bush of purple flowers near our house. I have been saying for at least a month that I wanted to take Caitlin’s picture with the flowers. While there hasn’t been time this week to stop to smell the flowers, a few Sunday’s ago we had a chance to stop after Mass.

The sweater Caitlin is wearing was made for her by a family friend in Ireland. It is AMAZING! Caitlin loves to pretend to smell the flowers on it.

She enjoyed smelling the real flowers, too!

Even the flower bush gets a hug.

She is all toddler though. This is as close as I could get to a picture of her looking at me in front of the bush.

She’s too cool for words with those glasses!

How Sean got his name

2012-01-17T22:43:00.000-05:00

The Irishman has taken over blogging duty tonight… Enjoy!

Where did the name Sean come from? During the time leading up to his birth, there was much debate, discussion and negotiation over which name to pick for our little man. By August 1st we ultimately agreed upon Sean David Paul.
David was the maiden name of Jenny. Paul is my father’s name. Sean was the name we both agreed upon. We wanted something Irish, to fit in with Caitlin. And as we are living Stateside, I had a little more influence over the direction we would go on baby names. One of the things we had always said was that if we were living in America, I would get the propose the name of any children and if we were living in Ireland Jenny would get to propose the name. So far, the Irish names have come through fairly well!
Sean is ultimately named after the Irish Cycling Great Sean Kelly, who was my sporting hero growing up as a child. From one day classics to grand tours, Sean Kelly won almost every race imaginable and was also ranked number one in the world for 6 years.

Sean is such a happy baby and is so laid back. He is growing more and more every day and it is hard to believe that he is almost 6 months old already.
Where does the time go!

Caitlin’s Pictures: The Zoo

2012-01-13T06:51:00.000-05:00

Caitlin brought her camera with us to the Zoo after Christmas.

She took some pictures of the animals,

especially her favorites – the ‘mingos.

I posted before about how she watched the carousel. She didn’t want to ride, but she was thrilled to watch and take pictures.

When we got home we found this photo on her camera.

We have no idea who these shoes belong to. It is quite a pictures for a two year old to take.

The kid has talent!

Blah

2012-01-13T06:50:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I got home from work 12 hours after I left. We had a curriculum fair at school for the parents. It is one of those things that is not required, but I would have been the only teacher in the elementary school not there. I picked up the kids in the afternoon and brought them back to school with me so the Irishman could pick them up from there. He managed dinner time and bed time on his own. Considering the state Caitlin left school in (i.e. screaming) it was quite a feat!

It was a hard day. I am finding that by Thursday/Friday of each week I’m working I have a horrible headache. I am pretty sure it is the lack of sleep and stress catching up with me. The other night I put Sean to bed at 1:30 after his dream feed. I cringed when I set my alarm for 4 hours later. I wanted to cry when Caitlin woke up 2 hours later.

Caitlin has decided she doesn’t want to sleep. I would usually be just say tough and let her cry it out, but by this point Sean is already asleep. I haven’t figured out how to stand firm on her going to bed without waking her brother. It is really frustrating.

Last night I slept through the alarm I set myself to get up for Sean’s dream feed. He woke up at 4:30 this morning hungry. As soon as I got him back to sleep Caitlin woke up and refused to go back to bed. She was watching Sesame Street and eating Cheez its on the couch before 6am. I’m too tired to fight it.

In a funny way though, I got 6 hours of sleep and got to take a shower today, so it is a better start than some other mornings this week. Some days I feel like we are getting the hang of things. Others I feel like we are struggling to keep our heads above the water. We are out of milk and cat food. The computer mouse isn’t working right and making me crazy. At least we have diapers…

Thank goodness for a long weekend!

~~~~~~~

I am pumping at the computer and Caitlin has just come up to me with a pile of books to read. I needed that! It is night to know that I can still compete with Mickey Mouse! TGIF!

~~~~~~~

Edited to add: The Irishman is watching both kids again tonight so that I can go out with some girlfriends. I am lucky to have such a wonderful guy! It is a crazy life we live right now, but we are blessed to have each other to work through it together!

Caitlin’s Camera

2012-01-11T06:42:00.000-05:00

After seeing how much Caitlin loved taking my camera, Aunt Julie decided to giver her goddaughter a camera of her own for Christmas. Let’s just say I’ve learned a lot from this gift.

Christmas morning Caitlin started taking pictures. Up first was Wherearewe.*

She politely asked, “Wherearewe – cheese?”

She answered, “Okay” then snapped the picture.

She patted his arm and said, “Thank you sweetie.”

Then she repeated the process.

“Sean, cheese?”

“Snowman, cheese?”

“Daddy, cheese?”

“Sean diapers, cheese?”

“Star, cheese?”

At about this time she started adding, “One more! One more!”

(Wonder where she’s heard that before?)

“Mommy, cheese?”

“Tree, cheese?”

I think she’s getting the hang of it!

She has taken well over 200 pictures. It is almost scary to watch her imitate me and the things I say. I am pretty sure I’ll get three blog posts out of what she’s done so far. It looks like she may be a regular contributor on the ol’ family blog!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Wherearewe is Caitlin’s name for Big Bird. When the Irishman dropped Caitlin off at school in the morning he he would ask, “Where are we?” After a few weeks she started to say, “Where are we?” as soon as they drove into the parking lot. She is in the Big Bird room at school, so somehow Bird Bird has morphed into Where-are-we.

Too Many Pictures, Not Enough Time

2012-01-10T06:49:00.001-05:00

My Dad and Sandra helped us take a new family picture for the blog on New Year’s Day. These may not be the best photos, but the header no longer has Santa hats, much to my husband's dismay!

He also got some great shots of the kids.

More later!

Edited: As I walked out the door to work this morning I realized I worded this incorrectly. They took many, many great pictures, but I am not sure that I picked the best of the 300 something there were to choose from! Caitlin woke up early this morning so I had a helper with me as I tried to pump milk for Sean and update the blog. Good thing I can multi-task...

Zoo

2012-01-09T07:06:00.001-05:00

A few days after Christmas we took advantage of the nice weather (and a coupon) and headed to the Palm Beach Zoo. It was SO crowded. We were not the only ones with that idea!

Sean was happy enough with Sophie the giraffe.

Caitlin brought the camera Aunt Julie gave her for Christmas. That will be a post of its own once I have a chance to download the photos she’s taken!

Her favorite thing at the zoo by far was the ‘mingos. She is now in love with the pink birds!

We thought we’d end up riding the carousel, but Caitlin was much happier just watching.

(And taking pictures)

It was a lovely day of family fun!

And we all

slept well afterwards!

Holding onto Christmas

2012-01-07T09:53:00.000-05:00

The Irishman is holding onto Christmas. We’ve had negotiations all morning. The current offer on the table is that tree can come down, but he doesn’t have to do it. In exchange we will watch a Christmas movie tonight and have sherry trifle for dessert. At time of publication the negotiations have not yet been approved by both parties.

(To be fair, he is outside with Caitlin now taking down the lights. He doesn’t like it, but he is doing it anyway!)

So, for the Irishman here are some left over Christmas pictures.

(Not that I don’t have another week’s worth to follow, but that’s okay!)

I think Sean just might have his father’s Christmas spirit.

Caitlin and the Baby Jesus

2012-01-06T06:51:00.000-05:00

I found a draft of a blog post I’d never published from last year. The title was “A Trip to the Irish Cribs.” I thought it would be fun to do a then and now kind of thing.

From December 2010:

One of the Irishman's favorite things to do at Christmas in Ireland is to visit the various nativity scenes (cribs) at churches around town. A few years back we took his neice from church to church to look at Baby Jesus. She was most concerned with his cold toes.

This picture is actually from Mass on Christmas Eve. I don't usually take pictures during Mass, but this one begged to be taken.

The crib at the church my husband grew up attending is in a room to the side. You can walk in and see the Baby Jesus. You also must take a small piece of hay with you. The Irishman keeps his in his wallet all year for luck.

After I went back to Florida they took Caitlin to visit a few other cribs.

This one is animatronic and moves. Morgan said Caitlin was impressed with that!

December 2011:

Caitlin has the Little Friends Nativity Set, so she is always pointing out Baby Jesus.

On Christmas day we moved her little Crib into the middle of our advent wreath. My grandmother gave us the Advent Wreath for Christmas this year along with a child friendly prayer book. The Irishman and I have loved adding this to our advent dinner routine….and though she is a little too young to understand it yet, Caitlin loves to blow out the candles!

While we weren’t in Ireland to tour the cribs, we decided to load the kids into the car and see 'Baby Jesus' at the local churches a few days after Christmas.

Some of the churches were open and empty. Some were locked on a Friday afternoon so we walked around enjoying the outdoor displays. By the fourth stop Caitlin was a bit cranky and had blisters on her feet from her shoes, but it was still a lot of fun to watch her reactions. I know the Irishman enjoyed the fact that we were able to honor his family tradition.

My grandmother has a lovely collection of nativity scenes throughout her house. She picked out three or four of them that she has put on a table for the kids to play with when they visit. My dad got some great photos of this when we were there the other night.

It is so much fun to see Christmas through the eyes of a child!

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-05T06:47:00.000-05:00

Christmas morning we headed downstairs to see the surprises Santa left. Caitlin is at an age where no present is left wrapped, so even family gifts arrived suddenly Christmas morning. She was so excited!

The Irishman captured those first moments on video:

She kept the helmet on for almost an hour as she opened gifts.

Sean was impressed with his gifts, too.

He was actually kicking the ball.

Santa brought him a Liverpool kit of his very own!

It was a bit overwhelming!

We spent the day playing with our new goodies

and enjoying each other’s company.

(I’ve left out the photo of the Irishman snoozing away soundly on the couch while Caitlin plays around him. He can thank me later!)

My brother and his family sent us a Cracker Barrel gift pack, so it was pancakes for breakfast!

Caitlin did some cooking for her own,

though it was the Irishman who prepared the feast! Turkey, ham, and eight side dishes. It was amazing!

We had a lovely Christmas. It is nice to travel and see family, but I am learning to love our special time as a family of four!

Sean’s Style

2012-01-04T06:31:00.000-05:00

Check out Sean's style. This is what he wore to Mass on Sunday. I was in the middle of a Christmas post this morning when this little guy woke up wanting some snuggles...and some Mommy milk. He is such a good little boy. It is a chilly morning and nothing sounds better than some quality time before work!

Santa PJs

2012-01-03T06:30:00.000-05:00

I had visions of the kids wearing matching PJs on Christmas morning. I figured that they would wear the ones we wore for our family photos. It was warm, so I even turned down the AC so that we would be comfy in our finest Christmas PJs.

Caitlin wanted nothing to do with her red and white striped PJs. so I talked her into her Minnie Mouse PJs. (Thought they are actually just pink flannel with white polka dots. There is no Minnie Mouse on them, but they look like something that Caitlin’s favorite mouse might wear, so she likes them.)

As I opened the packages from our families to wrap those gifts on Christmas Eve I found a pair of Santa PJs Nana bought for Caitlin that almost perfectly match the Santa PJs that Grammy got from Sean. They were bought on opposite sides of the pond, but you wouldn’t know it!

Caitlin wouldn’t wear them on Christmas morning, but a couple of nights later she cooperated.

Getting her to pose for a picture was another story. She takes a little while to get going in the morning!

They bring a smile to my face!

~~~~~~~~~

And just in case you were wondering, you did not miss the pictures from Christmas morning. We are back to work and school today, so I needed something a little quicker and easier. We were up WAY too late last night getting ready for the week ahead. I know I went back for a week before winter break, but I knew I only had a week and the person who covered my maternity leave was there to help me transition. In a way, I feel like today is my first “real” day back. Sigh.

Is it Friday yet?

Top 11 Photos of 2011

2012-01-01T23:55:00.000-05:00

I saw this post yesterday and challenged the Irishman to help me pick our top 11 photos of the kids from the year. Rang in the new year looking back at all the photos of our little blessings while eating fast food. It was not the most exciting, but we loved it!

So, I’m linking up:

There was some debate as my husband and I went through the pictures. He wanted this one and this one. I wanted this one and this one. We compromised.

Here is our top eleven in calendar order:

1. Our little Valentine stole our hearts early in the year.

2. It was a year of exploring and making discoveries.

3.Of course St. Patrick’s Day is best at the beach!

4. And if it works for St. Patrick’s Day, why not Easter?

5. Caitlin loves her Daddy.

6. Caitlin is growing into a beautiful little girl.

7. Sean joined our family in August.

8. He is our little angel.

9. Caitlin has a new friend.

10. Our little Santa was four months old this December.

11. The best things in life come in small packages.

It had a rough start, but 2011 turned out to be a great year. We are so blessed and looking forward to 2012!

Calendar from Pint-sized Prints

2011-12-30T00:53:00.002-05:00

It was a homemade Christmas. Thanks to being home on maternity leave until mid-December, I had lots of ideas from Pinterest and planned out some thrifty projects. My favorite homemade gift started as an idea back in October. A copy of the finished product made it across the pond to my inlaws yesterday, so it is safe to share now!

I began pinning hand and foot print ideas on a board on Pinterest. In college I thought I wanted to get into scrapbooking. I bought all sorts of papers, stamps, punches, scissors, etc. I had a hard time figuring out where to start, so I didn’t. I used to make homemade cards, but after half a dozen moves from one apartment to another, it has been a while since my supplies have seen the light of day.

After stamping plain footprints and handprints from the kids onto construction paper, I pulled out all my supplies again for this project and I had a blast! I used ideas I’d seen before and created my own. (The sheep and the footballs were things I’d thought of myself.) Thanks to the grasping reflex it was almost impossible to get Sean’s handprints, but his little feet are so darn cute it didn’t matter!

Cover:

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

The Irishman scanned the originals for me so we would have a digital copy. I added some of the text using Picnik. I recently upgraded to their premium service, but you can do a lot with the free version, too. We’d bought a Groupon for Vistaprint so that we could order calendars for our family and close friends at a great price. I also made one for my classroom.

I had SO much fun with this I am already planning for next year’s calendar!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-28T23:41:00.000-05:00

On Friday night Caitlin we thought Caitlin might have been tugging at her ears, so we decided to pop into the pediatricians’ office on Christmas Eve to have it checked out. It didn’t seem that bad, but we had a fear of was seemed like nothing becoming a Christmas disaster. Thankfully we got the all-clear!

(Side note – I LOVE our pediatricians'’ office weekend hours. They do not take appointments. It is drop in only for three hours Saturday morning and two hours Sunday morning. Just enough for peace of mind!)

Anyway, after leaving the doctor, Caitlin and I headed to Target to pick up some stocking stuffers for the Irishman. Caitlin repeated, “Daddy – Treats!” the whole time! I was more than a little nervous about venturing out with a toddler on Christmas Eve, but she was great.

(The handful of stickers we swiped from the doctor’s office helped. I figure in the last month my co-payments alone have been far more than enough to stock the sticker basket, so we make use of it!)

Once home we ate some lunch before deciding to head off to get Caitlin’s haircut. She wasn’t thrilled about it, but they offered her multiple lollipops, so she let them cut her hair.

(There seems to be a trend going here with our daughter and bribes…)

After a quick stop to pick up one last Christmas gift we headed home to get ready for Mass. We met my cousins and their parents there. It was not our usual parish, but I wanted to find a Children’s Mass. It was a little too long for our kiddos, but it was a beautiful service in a magnificently decorated church.

(My cousin Amy took this first picture with her phone after Mass)

In the car on the way home the Irishman was able to video chat with his family in Ireland from his phone. Technology is amazing! They opened the gifts we got them for us to see. It was pretty neat. It was almost like being there!

We’d baked cookies earlier in the afternoon, but once we got home Caitlin ate the plate of cookies and milk we left for Santa. She just didn’t get the whole thing!

As I mentioned before, the Irishman and I had a very late night. By the time we went to bed Santa had already come and gone.

In Ireland, Santa always left a pillowcase of goodies for each member of Morgan’s family. My family had stockings. Our family tradition has become Santa Sacks. We leave stocking and Santa sacks under the tree for the man in red to fill. A wonderful former co-worker sent us a gift card when Sean was born that allowed us to order these beautiful Santa Sacks from Pottery Barn for each of the kids. They are fantastic. The Irishman and I hope to upgrade our Santa sacks next year!

Between Santa, family, and friends these kids did VERY well!

We went to bed looking forward to the morning so see our babes’ reactions!

Warm Holiday Wishes

2011-12-27T23:29:00.000-05:00

I have many, many pictures from Christmas. At 3am Christmas morning the Irishman posted on Facebook, “The NORAD Tracker says Santa is in Las Vegas. Let me assure all of you, he is still hard at work in Florida.” That should give you an idea of the kind of night we had!

We may have only had three hours of sleep, but we had a lovely Christmas! I’m overwhelmed by the sheer number of those photos, so I will start with the day after. Like we did for Caitlin’s first Christmas we took a trip on St. Stephen’s Day to the beach.

I’ll be honest… it wasn’t my idea. It was late in the afternoon. Caitlin was fussy. Sean was close to feeding time. I wanted to stay home, but I knew it was important to Morgan, so we convinced Caitlin to put on more than just a diaper and we headed out.

It was lovely. The weather has been warm even by Florida standards, but it was a treat to feel the sand between my freshly painted toes.

(The photo is for my mom. She enjoys bright nail polish. I told her that Santa brought me a shade of blue I would not typically wear and she mentioned something about me actually wearing it. The proof is in the photo…and the sand!)

We said we’d go back another time this week to take pictures, but a random woman on the beach stopped and offered to take our picture. It was a great moment to capture.

I know we likely won’t live in Florida forever, so we try to enjoy things like this when we can!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:53:00.000-05:00

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

A Train, Some Deer, and the Man in Red

2011-12-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Friday morning we called our friend Lyndsay to see if she and her boys would like to join us on an adventure. With three adults and four kids we loaded our the Tri-Rail train for Bass Pro Shops.

Lyndsay’s twins had been to the outdoor store before to see the fish, so they knew all about this particular photo spot.

Our primary reason for the trip was to see Santa’s Workshop. As soon as we walked in and saw the display at the front of the store we knew it was worth it!

(Though they did enjoy the fish as well!)

The kids had a great time with the trains and cars.

Caitlin found something to add to her Christmas list. She climbed up herself and was thrilled to “ride” it.

The Irishman had wanted to go to Macy’s to mail a letter to Santa, but we hadn’t made it out that way. He was thrilled to see that we could write a letter to Santa here!

When we first lined up for Santa, Caitlin was not impressed. Along the way I mentioned to her that Santa was going to bring her surprises. That was all it took to change her mind!

Dylan and Logan did a great job!

This is the first picture of the kids and Santa without an adult. It isn’t perfect, but I considered it to be a success!

We had a lovely time. I’d heard wonderful things about the Santa’s Workshop at Bass Pro Shops and it did not disappoint. Add to that a train ride and you have three very content kiddos!

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-23T22:09:00.000-05:00

Thursday night we ventured out past dark to visit the 100-foot Christmas tree. Festive dress was required…

Caitlin has a thing for stars, so she was thrilled to see the top of the mammoth fake evergreen. The tree is visible from a couple of blocks away, so we got to listen to, “Wow!” and “Star!”

Sean slept most of the time.

Caitlin was also pleased to see Mary, Baby Jesus, and the sheep. Poor Joseph didn’t get any attention!

We decided to treat Caitlin to an ice cream cone from the family-run place across the way. The Irishman had to wait while the machine was warming up, so they gave him this huge ice cream cone free of charge for his troubles. It was late in the evening, so thankfully Caitlin lost interest before eating too much ice cream!

The carousel caught her eye right away. She begged to go on the “horsies” but as soon as we bought a ticket and got on she decided she wanted off. Thankfully another father saw what was happening and had his school age son move off the bench for us. She cried for the first couple of trips around and then warmed up to the idea. I wanted to post a sign in front of the screaming toddler saying, “This really was her idea.” I guess we’ve all been there before!

Sean woke up for some family pictures before we headed home.

It was a great end to a fantastic day!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

2011-12-23T00:04:00.000-05:00

It has been quite a week! It has been such a blessing that both the Irishman and I are off for our Christmas break. It all started last Friday…

We had a half day at school so I hadn’t checked my phone all morning. When I did I found half a dozen missed calls and a text and e-mail all from the Irishman. He’d dropped off the kids at day care, but then the car wouldn’t start. After a long saga of nothing going right, the car made it to the shop.

We were supposed to go to a party that night, but we had to arrange pick up of Caitlin’s latest medicine while we were down a car. She won’t take liquid, so we thought we would try capsules and mix it into applesauce. When that didn’t work I tried mixing into melted white chocolate. I had a tiny pit on my finger and tasted it. It was TERRIBLE! We realized then that there was no chance of mixing the capsule contents into any food. To say I was stressed might be the biggest understatement of the year.

Thankfully Caitlin never ceases to amaze us. The kid can swallow the capsules. We hand the “no bite” pill to her with a cup of juice. She will swallow it and then cheer for herself. It is most impressive!

Saturday we met some friends at a boat parade.

At one point we thought we saw Caitlin tugging at her ear, but we didn’t think much of it because there were fireworks at the parade and it was loud. By Sunday morning she was complaining about an ear ache. By Monday afternoon we had a follow up meeting with the ENT.The double ear infection was showing no improvement and her hearing test was not so great. After going over our various options we were scheduled for surgery for tubed for the next morning.

We had to be at the surgery center at 6:30am Tuesday, so we kept our PJs. Caitlin was so brave!

We didn’t have a sitter, so Sean came, too!

She was away from us for only about 20 minutes. When we got back to her she had just woken up from the anesthesia and she was M.A.D. We have never seen her like that! I’d been warned that she would be upset, but I was expecting sad and weeping, not screaming and violent! She crawled around on the floor, she yelled, she kicked, she bit us. The Irishman got her to the car and she refused to talk or look at us. We were relieved when she fell asleep!

When she woke up we were at Sonic. The Irishman cautiously asked if she wanted something to eat. The reply he got back was a sing-song, “Okay!”

Our baby was back! Caitlin loves breakfast burritos, so she was thrilled.

By the time we got home she was all smiles. We could tell a difference as soon as the drugs wore off!

Caitlin is really good about taking her medicine, but right now there is a lot. She has a chewable allergy pill once a day, 4 antibiotic capsules a day, and ear drops 3 times a day. Needless to say we have stooped to bribes. Take your medicine and we’ll give you some chocolate. You want a marshmallow? Take your medicine!

Her favorite though are the lollipops!

My parents made this lollipop trees years and years ago and I recently ended up with it. Caitlin is in love!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was a wonderful day. The Irishman dropped the kids off at school this morning so that we could finish up our Christmas shopping. We’d planned to do a lot more early in the week, but we ended up at the doctor, surgery center, and the mechanic instead. (BTW, the car us okay. It spent 4 days in the shop, but the repairs ended up being minimal!) This afternoon Morgan moved some boxes for me in my classroom. We made gifts for the kids’ teachers. We had a lovely lunch. We bought the last of our Christmas gifts. It was fantastic.

Tonight we enjoyed more Christmas festivities as a family of four, but more about that later. For now it is late and past my bedtime. The kids are sharing a bedroom tonight for the first time, so we will see how it goes! Let’s hope we all get a good night’s rest!

Photos by Caitlin

2011-12-16T06:34:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning and realized that I had no pictures to use for a post today. I thought about uploading pictures from my phone, but it was 5am and that didn’t appeal to me. Then I remembered that while there were no new pictures I’D taken, there were quite a few saved that were taken from a certain pint-sized photographer.

It usually starts out simple. I try to take her picture and she begs for the camera.

Once you hand it over there is no stopping her!

It is fun to see the world through her eyes.

A Cookie Exchange

2011-12-15T06:43:00.000-05:00

A couple of weekends ago….back before I went to work and before Caitlin got sick…we had some friends over for a Cookie Exchange. As people arrived, the Irishman took family pictures with our friend Frosty.

(Lyndsay, Dave, and the twins came too, but the boys were not cooperating for a photo, so I’ll skip that one!)

We did invite some families with little girls, but as luck would have it none of them could make it. Caitlin was a bit quiet with all those older, louder boys around, but she warmed up in the end!

We made fake gingerbread houses by covering mini orange juice cartons with graham crackers and lots of candy. Most of the kids cared more about the candy than the houses, but that is part of the fun!

By far the most popular thing to do was play with the train! There were more than a few lessons in sharing!

Jack loved checking in on Sean. He just found out that he is going to be a big brother!

And of course there were cookies...

...and more candy!

We’d wanted to do something like this last year and didn’t get around to it. I’m glad we fit it all in before I went back to work!

Breakfast with Santa: More from Caitlin

2011-12-14T06:33:00.001-05:00

Ironically enough, Caitlin’s favorite part of Breakfast with Santa was actually leaving. She loves walking around the spacious campus. There are trees, fountains, statues, and green space. It is a two-year-old’s dream.

On this particular morning she also had a giant balloon and a stuffed animal.

It doesn’t get better!

Breakfast with Santa: More from Sean

2011-12-13T06:26:00.000-05:00

Sean is a very laid back kind of baby. We dressed him up for Santa and he was happy to wait his turn to see the man in red.

There were lots of people, balloons, music, and more. Sean was looking around taking it all in!

He is getting so alert!

Of course when you look that cute everyone wants to hold you. He’s learning quick how to be a lady’s man!

All that smiling can really wear a guy out!

~~~~~~~~

Yesterday was my first day back at work. I am going to have a lot to do to play catch up, but I have a nice group of students and I like my class schedule. There are is new administration at the school and they have made a lot of positive changes. It is going to take some time, but I think it will be a great year. (I wanted a stronger adjective there, but it is too early to think yet!)

As for his first day of school, they told me that Sean is a “very happy baby” but then again I knew that already! He isn’t quite as handy at taking his bottles as Caitlin was, but he hasn’t had as much practice. I’m sure he’ll have it down in no time!

Caitlin had a good day for her first day back. She loves school, but I was worried about her going back after being so sick last week. It seems to have all worked out though!

That being said….only three and a half days until Christmas vacation!

Breakfast with Santa 2011

2011-12-12T06:29:00.000-05:00

Saturday was the annual Breakfast with Santa at the Irishman’s place of employment. We love this event! We actually stopped at the doctor so Caitlin could get another antibiotic shot on the way to see Santa. There was a line, but the doctor saw us right away when she heard that we were on our way to see the man in red. I guess there are a few perks to seeing the pediatrician 6 days in a row!

Sean went first. He decided to wear a penguin suit instead of his Santa gear. He is a pretty easy-going kid and didn’t mind at all visiting with Santa.

We’d talked with Caitlin all morning about going to see Santa, but as we suspected she decided it was much safer if Mommy and Daddy were around.

Looking back

2010:

2009:

I love how our little family is growing!

Choo! Choo!

2011-12-11T07:11:00.002-05:00

For this year’s Black Friday sales we had babysitters, so we had to go out one at a time. I sent the Irishman to Home Depot to pick up a few simple things: Christmas lights on sale for $2.50, a wreath, ornaments for a Pinterest project, and batteries. He called to let me know he found something NOT on the list he was going to pick up.

I joked about it on Facebook and had friends try to guess what his “extra” purchase was that morning. Truthfully? It was a great find.

Caitlin and every kid who has been to our house LOVES the train. There is a remote control that allows it to go forward, backward, or even play Christmas music. Caitlin initially thought the remote was a phone, but now she knows!

I am sure our Choo Choo will be a hit for years to come!

(We just upgraded our Picnik account, so the collages are a result of me playing around to see what we can do.)

~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow is the day I go back to work. Everything is falling into place. Sean has a spot at the daycare. Caitlin is not 100% yet, but the doctor has cleared her to return to day care. (We will see the ENT later in the week.)

Today is going to be a busy day of getting everything ready. Installing the car seat in the Irishman’s car, menu planning, grocery shopping, ironing, packing bags. It is only a week until Christmas vacation. I can do this. I know I can – but please say a prayer for us as we make this transition!

Mc Cutie

2011-12-08T21:42:00.001-05:00

Forget McDreamy or McSteamy -

I have my own McCutie!

~~~~~~~~~

Caitlin woke up feeling a bit better this morning. The doctor decided not push our luck with the oral antibiotics after the gagging incidents. Instead Caitlin is getting at least two more days of injected antibiotics. The doctor said her ears were less infected and her white cell count is down. We’re hoping she continues to get better!

Our big news is that we found out today that the day care does have a spot for Sean for next week! We were waiting all day for the final word and are thrilled with the news. In a funny way we have been distracted by Caitlin’s illness this week. I have truly had my ‘mommy hat’ on this week and have not even thought about school yet.The Irishman and II both went from joy and relief that our child care is sorted to a kind of melancholy over the fact that I have to go back to work on Monday. At least there is only a week before the winter break!

I should be sleeping…

2011-12-08T01:27:00.001-05:00

I should be asleep right now, but with the week we’ve had there is no telling when I will have time again to sit down at the computer!

At her two year check up, the doctor found that Caitlin had an ear infection. She hadn’t been complaining about her ears, but she had had a cold/upper respiratory infection/cough a few weeks before, so I didn’t think much of it. Sunday morning she started running a low grade fever and was a bit congested.

By the time she woke up on Monday I decided to make an appointment with the pediatrician. Even though she’d been on an antibiotic since Thursday, her ears looked terrible. (It had only been one ear infected when we were there just a few days earlier.) The doctor was shocked that Caitlin hadn’t been complaining about them bothering her. They gave her an antibiotic injection and scheduled appointments to repeat the shots for three days. Yesterday they added a breathing treatment to the mix.

This morning our little girl woke up a hot mess. Literally. She was running a fever of 102. Her cough sounded terrible. I was glad we had an appointment with the doctor already scheduled.
One ear is improving, but the other is not. Her lungs are gunky even after a second breathing treatment. We left the office today with another oral antibiotic, allergy medicine, and a list of pediatric ENTs. It is her first ever ear infection, but after all the antibiotics the doctor doesn’t think we are seeing the improvement we should. I’m supposed to make an appointment for next week.

Caitlin’ fever has been between around 101 all day. She played and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She is a trouper, but she sounds terrible. I tried to give her the antibiotic after lunch and she gagged and spit until she vomited. I tried to hide the medicine in some applesauce, but she took one bite and spit it out. When we gave her the medicine after dinner we had a repeat of lunch. She didn’t eat that much to start with today. I decided to give up and focus on rehydrating.

We go back in the morning to see the doctor again. I’ve already asked for tips on giving her the medicine. The whole gagging until she gets sick thing is not going to work. I’m not sure what else we can do.

On top of it all, I am supposed to go back to work on Monday. We found out last week that the day care does not have a spot for Sean yet. We are next in line, but we are waiting for one of the other kids to start walking so that there will be a spot for him. It isn’t looking good. I won't even mention the fact that I've been ignoring my own sore throat for the last couple of days...

We don’t know yet what we are going to do. It is in my best interest financially to go back before the winter break. I tried to fly my mom in for the week, but she couldn’t get the time off work. We have had a couple of offers from friends who have said they could watch Sean for a day or two. I may go back on the Wednesday instead of the Monday. Now that Caitlin is sick who knows! We will have to work in an ENT appointment as well. At this point we are praying that it all works out!

We have been very fortunate that Caitlin has been a healthy kid. This week has really thrown us. The Irishman posted something on Facebook about how there is nothing worse than watching your child when they are sick. He’s right. (Though I did add that getting puked on while watching a sick child is worse…)

It isn’t a post without pictures. These are from before Thanksgiving, but we have been painting and making salt dough ornaments the last couple of days. We have to find something to keep the cabin fever at bay!

Painting has become one of Caitlin’s favorite activities!

We’ve gone through rolls of freezer paper. I use painter’s tape to hang it on the walls to dry. This is our Christmas wrapping paper!

Please say a prayer for things to work out.

The Best Things...

2011-12-06T07:57:00.000-05:00

come in small packages!

Four Months Old

2011-12-05T00:28:00.000-05:00

The Irishman and I found not one, but TWO Santa suits for Sean at a consignment sale back in September. One is a little more involved than the other. I dressed Sean for his 4 month picture and was sure to tell him it was his father’s idea!

At one point he fell on his side and like a turtle stuck on his back. This thing is the Santa equivalent of a snow suit!

I quickly switched him to a lighter Santa costume. How many kids have a selection of Santa suits by 4 months?

I love this one – that is some look he is giving Santa!

He’s getting so big!

~~~~~~~~~

I would usually post links to Sean's previous month pictures and to Caitlin at this age, but I am worn out! We hosted a Christmas Cookie Exchange and I am exhausted. Feel free to use the search bar at the side if you would like to find pictures to compare!

A Trip to the Theater

2011-12-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

For Caitlin’s birthday, Nana treated the family to tickets to see a children’s play. The show was A Bear, A Caterpillar, and the Moon and it was a black light puppet show of some of Eric Carle’s most beloved stories. The Irishman and I are both huge Eric Carle fans, so we were thrilled to get to take Caitlin to see the show.

We brought some Eric Carle books and toys with us to the show. Caitlin loves her animal noises right now, so Brown Bear, Brown Bear is a favorite!

The show was really well done. They declared it a, “No Shh-ing” show, so we didn’t worry when she shouted out the name or sound of the different animals. It was just right for little kids! Caitlin sat through the whole show.

I found this video from another show by the same company to show what it was like:

At the end the two puppeteers came back on stage to show how some of the puppets worked.

(We brought no camera with us, so all photos are from our phones. You get the idea though!)

After the show the nice people from Whole Foods were handing out snacks.

We talked around and said hi to the ducks,

the water,

and a fountain

(or two!)

On the way home we stopped at Ikea. I had never been before…wow! We picked up some Christmas presents for the kids and a playmat for the living room. I could have done some major damage, but I was good.

By the time we left Caitlin was tired. She’d been so well behaved all day. We are now at that fun age though where she tries to wiggle out of the car seat. We learned when we got home just how important it is to put the top buckle even with the armpits. We won’t make that mistake again!

We had a lovely day! Thank you so much to Nana and Granda for the tickets! Caitlin really enjoyed herself and has been asking to read “Bwown Bear Bwown Bear, Waa See?” ever since we got home. We hope to make it to another couple of shows in the spring.

The Bribe

2011-12-03T07:00:00.001-05:00

We took a lot of pictures in just a few days. Caitlin is only two. While she was very good, and she does typically enjoy having her picture taken, during our photo session at Sears the Irishman promised her ice cream after the photos.

We’d talked about going to a fancy ice cream place on the way home, but I saw some kids walk by with a soft serve cone from a fast food place in the food court. I decided that her two year old taste buds wouldn’t know the difference.

I was right.

The only thing Caitlin finds more enjoyable than a $1.50 ice cream cone is eating said cone in front of the fountain. (Or WaWa as she calls it.)

During a trip to the mall with Granda and Nana a while back, our toddler learned about throwing a coin into the fountain. The Irishman took this video of his little girl begging for money.

As Caitlin was walking around the fountain her cone started to melt. I could see that a fall was imminent, so I took action to prevent it. As I took her cone to clean up the drips, Caitlin screamed, “No Mommy! Mine!” The Irishman recognized what I was doing, but he laughed and asked if I knew how it looked to everyone else. Yes, I was the one taking ice cream from a child. You win some, you lose some! Thankfully she quieted down once I returned her drip-free ice cream.

Sean was great – even without an ice cream bribe!

It was a lovely way to end the day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a bribe for day two of the photos as well. Caitlin LOVES her ice cream. This time we’d taken our photographer for lunch, so Caitlin got the kids “build your own sundae” as her reward. Ruth took lots of pictures of Caitlin and her ice cream. You can see them here.

Holiday PJs

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

We had a Groupon for Sears Portrait Studio that expired before Thanksgiving. We went round and round about what to wear. The kids had lovely Christmas outfits, but the Irishman and I couldn’t find something nice to wear to match their holiday duds.

In the end we decided to pull out our very best PJs. No one in this family can get away without holiday pajamas!

(Or a Santa suit!)

Caitlin refused to take off her sandals. I’d planned on us all going barefoot, but that’s okay. It is a shame I didn’t think to bring her Cookie Monster slippers!

We were so happy with the way they came out that we splurged and bought the disk of the photos. It is actually the first time we’ve had professional photos taken of the kids, so we figured we would want to be able to send them all to our family across the miles.

Capturing the Moments

2011-12-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite parts of our trip to the beach with Ruth was the candid shots she got. I love the posed Christmas card pictures, but some of these are just as special to me!

(Yes, he wore his Superman swimmers under his Santa suit. He is his father’s son!)

(Photos by Ruthie)

Shutterfly Cards 2011

2011-11-30T23:49:00.000-05:00

I love Shutterfly. They have given me 25 cards to blog about my Shutterfly Christmas card experience, but I honestly order from them all the time. Last year we created ABC books with photos from Caitlin’s first year. Sean’s Baptism invitations? Shutterfly. It was pretty enough that we used it as part of the decorations.

Valentine's Day. St. Patrick's Day. Easter. Fourth of July. You name it, we've created a card for it.

I’m pretty good at remembering events thanks to e-mail reminders I’ve set up, but we stink at actually sending cards and gifts on time. Being able to create a greeting card online with photos of my little darlings to send directly to the recipient is worth its weight in gold.

I am a bit of a photo card snob. I check the back of the cards we get in the mail to see where they are from. To each their own, but I love the look of Shutterfly photo cards. These are not the plain boring photo cards of years gone by! We went to she beach dressed in Santa hats and the mall dressed in Christmas PJs. We take our cards seriously!

The Irishman and I sat down and went through hundreds of options tonight. We quickly narrowed it down – we wanted a 5x7 folded card. I love the new compare feature. (They didn’t tell me to say that. I am a regular user so I noticed it. Such a great idea!) We used to click back and forth to decide which card we like best.

We had a lot of fun playing with the different options. I saved each one as we went along until we came to THE card. As soon as we plugged in our pictures we knew our search was done. I’m not going to share the finished product on the ol’ blog, but let’s just say I’m looking forward to getting my orange envelope in the mail!

P.S. I love their special offers and coupon codes. I have a coupon code for $10 off a $50 purchase that I got in the mail. It was one of those “One for You – One for a Friend” deals that expires Dec. 15, 2011. If you would like the code, leave me a comment with your e-mail address and I will send it on to you.

~~~~~~~~

I recieved 25 free cards from Shutterfly. All opinions are my honest thoughts.

Daddy’s Girl

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

(Photos by Ruth)

Santa Sean

2011-11-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

(Photos by Ruthie)

Muppet Memories

2011-11-28T21:51:00.000-05:00

The Irishman and I have spent a lot of time in the last week working on the house. We had almost gotten things the way we wanted them after acquiring the new entertainment center when it was time to take out the Christmas decorations. A lot of what needs to be done is easier to do when a certain 2-year-old is not around. We’ve had a lot of late nights lately!

Last night we decided to take the night off. Caitlin hadn’t been to “school” in a week. I go back to work in just two weeks, so I don’t want it to be too great a shock when she is back to full weeks. (I’ve been keeping her home 2-3 days a week)

The Irishman was off today but we decided make an effort to get as much work done as we could. We ordered a car seat. We did laundry. We hung the last of the lights outside. We planted poinsettias. We unpacked boxes of decorations. We filled picture frames. We made plans and ordered Christmas presents.We packed away boxes that used to hold decorations.

Then Morgan left to pick up Caitlin for a Daddy/Daughter date. He had been planning this one for a while now. You see, the first movie my husband saw in the theater was The Muppets.

He has always been a huge fan. I’m pretty sure he started planning today as soon as he heard the movie was coming out.

The Irishman picked up his little girl from school just as nap time was ending.

Kermit the Frog came with them to the movie.

I’m told Caitlin did very well. She cuddled up with her daddy to watch the film. They took a break in the middle and headed out to the lobby.

Caitlin loved the “kitties” she met there.

They went back into the theater for the finale. I think the Irishman was a little disappointed to have missed part of the movie, but I know he enjoyed getting to share the experience with his little girl.

After the movie Daddy, Caitlin, and Kermit all sat on a bench outside.

They finished the slushy

as they chatted about the film.

I would have loved to have joined them, but I am thrilled that they had such a nice time on their “date.”

Photos by Ruth

2011-11-27T22:42:00.000-05:00

The Irishman took a whole week off for Thanksgiving this year. What he didn’t mention was his real motive behind the time off. This week has been devoted to Christmas-ing our lives! He is one of those people who gets the Christmas bug early. We have agreed to wait until Thanksgiving to start the festivities, and he takes it seriously!

The first order of business was taking pictures for our Christmas card. Last year we took pictures at the beach when my mom was in town. He LOVES these photos. All year long he has been working on ideas for recreating or “topping” last year’s photos. I caught him googling Christmas card ideas in July.

(This is his favorite picture from last year)

The first order of business was finding someone to take the pictures. My husband asked Ruth months ago if she would mind taking our pictures. We were both thrilled when she agreed!

Up first was to recreate the poster. It was this sight that had strangers on the beach taking out their cell phone cameras.

We weren’t sure how to show off Sean. He is only (almost) 4 months old, so sitting and standing were out of the question. We tried a basket.

It wasn’t long before we gave up on that idea.

Ruth took about 400 pictures for us. We have spent the last few days going through them and trying to decide what to use for Christmas cards. The Irishman ordered prints today. I’m pretty sure he is hoping to leave them up year-round.

A trip to the beach like this is not complete without an outfit change. We have framed some of these pictures from last year, so we tried to recreate that as well. By this point the kids had had enough, but you can see how our family has grown!

I’m not sharing our Christmas card pictures just yet, but this is the 12x18 inch poster that will be hanging in my husband’s office beginning next week.

Expect more pictures to follow soon. The family shots are lovely, but some of the other ones are just spectacular! Ruth as a talent and we are grateful that she was willing to accept the challenge of taking pictures with Santa hats, a toddler, and an infant.

~~~~~~~~

Ruth also took the pictures I used to make my new blog header. It may still be in the mid-80s, but we are feeling festive with all these photos!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T00:11:00.000-05:00

In the last week we have taken well over 500 photos. Interestingly enough, I did not take most of them. We had a Groupon for a department store portrait studio, so Tuesday afternoon we used that up before it expired. The Irishman and I were thrilled with the pictures, but then…

Wednesday we were fortunate enough to have the wonderful Ruth take family pictures for us at the beach. (Sadly our computer is not the healthiest these days so I am having a hard time adding links without the computer freezing up. It doesn’t like visiting blogs…including my own. Thank goodness it doesn’t hold a grudge against Google Reader or I would never get to keep up with my favorite blogs! Point is, I am going to *try* to link to Ruth’s blog here, but I’m not sure it will let me!)

Back to the pictures…

Let’s just say that I saw more than one stranger on the beach with a cell phone camera out taking pictures of us.

Ruth sent on the photos this morning. The Irishman had just gotten home from a quick trip to the store for a newspaper. He was more excited about the pictures than he was the ads. This from the man who starts his Black Friday Ad research months in advance and has an app on his phone that allows him to search the sales. The pictures are THAT good.

We have so many wonderful pictures to chose from – it is almost overwhelming! We hope to pick out the Christmas card photo tomorrow before we decide which ones to share. Ruth has posted a few pictures she took of Caitlin on her blog, so you can check them out there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was a WONDERFUL day. It actually ranks up there in best Thanksgiving Days ever.

Last night I was on Pinterest and I followed a link on menu planning to a blog where I found a recipe for kolaches. Now, going for kolaches is one of our favorite things to do on Thanksgiving morning in Houston, so this was exciting. I discovered that Walmart sells the dough used in the recipe, so I talked the Irishman into going there to buy the paper in the morning.

The Irishman declared them good, but decided the dough to be not quite sweet enough. Regardless, they were a nice treat this morning and something we will make again.

We were eating kolaches. Caitlin had a new pack of dollar-store play dough that she transformed into food for her play kitchen. For over an hour we marveled at how she entertained herself. The parade was on in the background and she would stop when one of her favorite friends came on the screen.

As I started preparing a few dishes to take with us to my grandparents, Caitlin came over to help. I was worried about time and not crazy about the pint-sized assistance. As it turned out, she did a great job snapping the green beans. We worked well together on the task, and after a bit she said, "Thank you Sweetie." Then she kissed my hand.

Be still my heart. It was all worth it!

We finished up with the green beans just in time to see Santa in the parade. Caitlin hasn’t been too impressed with the man in red so far this year, so the Irishman REALLY made a fuss over his arrival on TV.

Caitlin has started talking SO much more these days! She was shouting, “GGB!” as we turned the corner to my grandparents’ house. (Okay so it sounds more like BBD, but that’s okay. It is the thought that counts!) We had a lovely meal!

I had pictures of Caitlin’s first Thanksgiving at GGB’s house wearing this same bib.

She was a lot smaller though when she wore it! Much like Caitlin’s first Thanksgiving, Sean slept through the meal!

My grandmother was holding Sean after dinner and Caitlin decided we should take a picture.

Here they are giving Sean some sugar.

Caitlin blew kisses to Daddy behind the camera, too.

She wanted her picture taken again. And again. And again. She’s too funny!

Both kids fell asleep on the car ride home. It isn’t that far, but they were worn out from such a great day! Once they were both in bed Morgan and I made our final plan for Black Friday shopping. (He is out now picking up a few Christmas gifts for the kids.) I think I have the 5am shift. Oddly enough it is Home Depot I am most looking forward to in the morning. It makes me feel so “grown up” to WANT to go to Home Depot. As a kid that trip was considered a form of punishment! Oh, how things change!

It has been a lovely day. I really am so very thankful for the blessings in our lives!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Future Rugby Player?

2011-11-23T22:54:00.000-05:00

While the Irishman and I are more into soccer and American football, Sean has his share of rugby gear. I took these pictures during our last cold front. It was so long ago I don’t even remember it happening!

I’ve heard there will be another front tomorrow. Here’s to hoping that Thanksgiving is not in the mid-80s!

Caitlin’s Birthday Morning: The Presents

2011-11-21T15:38:00.000-05:00

Okay so her birthday was a while ago now, but I still have pictures and video to share. We were back at the pediatrician's office again yesterday. Even though Caitlin has been acting fine and seems to feel fine, I thought she was wheezing at little at Mass on Sunday. The doctor confirmed that yes, she was wheezing just a little bit and he gave her some medicine for that. He warned that it might make her hyper.

Oh. My

Last night she was bouncing off the walls. We (foolishly) decided to do fingerpainting and she was staring at her hand going, “Wow!” I’ve never seen anything quite like it. She could breathe better, but it was too much! We lowered the dose (like the doctor suggested) and she has been much better today.

That being said, a sick toddler does not make for blogging time! Thankfully the Irishman is off for the rest of the week so we should have some nice family time coming up. I’m looking forward to it!

So, here are pictures of Caitlin opening presents on the morning of her birthday. She had a second round of present opening a few nights later when a number of the out-of-town packages arrived in the mail. I *think* the Irishman got video of that…for some reason I didn’t take out the camera.

Grammy got Caitlin a musical card and a very soft doll. (And the car bed, but that was already in use!)

I found the baby swing on clearance a few weeks ago. It fits the doll perfectly!

Aunt Julie sent an adorable jumper and the Aquadoodle. Caitlin was so excited she tore open the box herself!

Of course Cookie Monster was a big hit!

Nana got Caitlin the barnyard version of her favorite cat book. She loves it! Nana also bought us tickets to see a play last weekend…more about that soon!

The felt dolls were a hand-me-down from a co-worker. Her daughter is now in college and she thought Caitlin could use them. I took one of our old cookie sheets and spray painted it before gluing a sheet of felt on the inside. She now has a felt/magnet board to play with.

She loves all her goodies!

Thank you to everyone who sent out little birthday princess goodies! She is working on her thank you art!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, Caitlin has been dodo –free since Thursday of last week. It started almost as an accident when we couldn’t find one and I went with it. She found one hidden in her play kitchen this morning, but I managed to hide it away after breakfast without incident. I am SO happy to have the pacifier out of her mouth!

These are a Few of Her Favorite Things

2011-11-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

Sean and the Crib

2011-11-17T22:54:00.000-05:00

Sean has started taking naps in the crib in the nursery. Caitlin was not thrilled at first to see her brother in ‘her’ crib, but she is warming up to the idea. They will start sharing the room at night over Christmas.

As for the little guy himself, Sean isn’t so sure about the pink sheep mobile, but we are working on that!

He is such a sweet baby boy!

Caitlin’s Birthday Cupcakes

2011-11-17T15:47:00.000-05:00

Even though we decided against a birthday party this year, I wanted to make a special treat for Caitlin’s 2nd birthday. I have fond memories of the elaborate cakes my mom made for us as kids, and I really want the same for my little ones. I started a board on Pinterest with ideas. In the end I kept coming back to the Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes. (Click on the link there to see my inspirations!) Caitlin loves both characters so I decided to do a little bit of both.

This was my first attempt at any sort of cake decorating. I made my own frosting and all. I won’t lie - it was a lot of work. I almost panicked when I realized that the marshmallows I’d planned to use for eyes were too big. Thankfully I had extra buttercream that I was able to make look like eyes.

Just after midnight I realized that in four trips to the store over two days we’d forgotten to pick up the cookies for Cookie Monster’s mouth. I learned that the “in” thing to do at our local 24-hour superstore is to ride the electric carts around the store. I could have done without knowing that, but I needed the cookies!

For her birthday we met the Irishman at work for a birthday picnic. We ordered her favorite pizza – ham and black olives. (I’d been up WAY too late making cupcakes…packing a picnic lunch and getting two kids out the door on time was going to be pushing it!)

After she finished her “-eet-za” the Irishman brought out the cupcake so we could sing to her.

Her reaction was priceless.

Thankfully she warmed up to the whole “birthday cupcake” idea and decided to taste the goodies. Up first? Elmo’s nose.

After switching back to “eet-za”, the birthday girl decided we should give the whole candle thing another try.

Again.

And again.

And again!

She is such a little ham!

The whole process was repeated again at home for the next three nights. I’m pretty sure Caitlin would tell you that is the best part of birthday cupcakes!

~~~~~~~~~

Was it worth it? Yep. I’m already planning to make a cake at Christmas so we can sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Do you think He would mind an Elmo cake? ; )

Tired but blessed

2011-11-14T22:15:00.000-05:00

The last few days have been exhausting.

We live in a two bedroom townhouse. We have no attic or garage. Storage is a constant battle. Other than a closet under the stairs we have no storage space. With two kids and lots of baby gear, we’ve had to get creative at times. I decided a couple of weeks ago that a ‘real’ entertainment center would help make the most of the space we have. I’d been scouting out Craigslist for a while and Friday I found two good possibilities.

Saturday morning the Irishman had to work. We kept e-mailing and phoning about the Craiglist ads. The one we really liked was a bit more than we had to spend, so we e-mailed them and made an offer within our budget. Our offer was a fair bit below what they wanted, but to our surprise they accepted it. Saturday night Uncle Ken and Morgan headed out to pick up our new furniture acquisition.

The thing is huge. I was a little worried when they first brought it in due to the size, but it really is what I had in mind. We were up until 1:30am getting it in place, but we still had books, DVDs, and the like all over the place. The last two days have been spent putting our house back together. We have swapped out three bookshelves, a coffee table, and a side table for the entertainment center and still gained storage space. (This also meant I had to arrange for a local charity to come and take away the now unneeded furniture!) We took down Caitlin’s play area in exchange for a more open plan. It has been a lot of work. I like what I see, but I am ready for it to be finished!

I had big plans for the week. I figured I would work on the house today while Caitlin was in school. I scheduled play dates for Tuesday and Thursday. It was all looking great!

Saturday morning I noticed that Caitlin’s lingering cough had gotten a little worse. We skipped a birthday party on Saturday and took her to the doctor on Sunday. It seems to be a sinus infection with a lot of congestion and drainage. She has not run a fever at all and is doing okay, but she just can’t quite shake this cold that she has had for the last month or so.

We kept her home today. On our walk to see the ducks this morning I noticed a rash on her arms. This led to our second trip to the pediatrician’s office in as many days. Fun times. They are pretty sure the rash is related to the cold/infection/ yuck that she has and not an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. We are going to keep an eye on her tonight and tomorrow.

All this means that we are moving into our fourth day of quarantine. Between the sick toddler, the new furniture, and the getting-out-of-the-bed-at-naptime issues, I am worn out. I managed to turn on the computer this afternoon but never even sat down. (As I discovered after bedtime when I found the pile of stuff I cleared off the table then they came to take away the furniture!) My guilty pleasures – blogging, Pinterest, and Google Reader - are calling my name, but I have to time to answer them!

Tomorrow is not looking to be much easier. We have been up late every night for the last week or so. I am tired, but it is a good tired. I look at what I have and I feel blessed. I can see the work around the house paying off. Several times today Caitlin has taken my hand out of the blue and given me a kiss. I may be worn out, but I am fortunate. A month from now when I am back at work I know I will miss these moments!

So, for now I’ll leave you with some birthday photos. There are SO many more to go through…these are just before bath time on the big day. The balloons were a huge hit. Caitlin opened all her birthday presents with one hand because she wouldn’t let go of the balloons. With Elmo AND Mickey you can’t go wrong! It was so darn cute to watch her with them!

The shirt was a gift from Ruth. It is a personalized Elmo shirt. Caitlin LOVES this shirt. She actually went to bed tonight wearing the shirt. I was getting her PJs out when she found it. There was no way she was going to wear anything else!

Ruth also got her personalized Elmo pillow cases. (They were in the dryer when these pictures were taken, but they are now a permanent addition to the bed!) Seriously adorable!

Sean was also dressed in his Sesame Street gear for his sissy’s birthday. I wasn’t sure if she would notice, but it was the first thing she said to me!

It was a lovely day!

I’m starting with the end first. I’ll post more later about the goodies she got, the cupcakes I made, and our picnic lunch with Daddy. Eventually.

For now I am off to bed!

The Zoo, Part 2

2011-11-11T21:53:00.001-05:00

I won’t even begin to tell you how many pictures I took from Caitlin’s birthday yesterday. We had a lovely family day. I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the photos actually, so I figured I would finish the zoo trip instead!

After the splash pad we came across the gorillas. As the Irishman was looking through the observation window, one of the gorillas came right up and sat in front of the window. It was amazing to see such a large animal up so close.

Caitlin wasn’t really into the petting zoo this time, but she was impressed with the birds. This one said, “Hello” and blew kisses.

By this point we were all tired. The zoo is HUGE. We should have rented the bike things, but we didn’t. We all got our exercise though!

Caitlin insisted on walking most of the time, but as closing time came closer and we realized we were no where near the exit she didn’t have much of a choice but to get in the stroller!

This sign was such a sweet sight. At one point we were not sure we would ever get out! We had to rush past the giraffes and other family favorites as the time flew by. We will have to head back another time.

So that is the end

of our trip to the zoo -

part two!

Two Years Ago Today

2011-11-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday Caitlin!

Daddy put together a little video looking back at the last two years. Believe it or not that baby in the pictures is YOU not Sean! You have grown up so very much. We are proud to be your parents and look forward to watching you grow and learn. You are our amazing girl and we love you so very much!

Happy birthday sweetie!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

The Zoo–Part 1

2011-11-09T09:46:00.000-05:00

The Irishman was recently named employee of the month at his place of employment. As part of his prize, he was given an extra day off. We’d been talking about taking a trip down to the Miami Zoo, so the day off was put to good use before Nana and Granda headed back to Ireland.

It was a LONG day, but we had fun! We left the house at about 11am and didn’t get home until 8pm. Let’s just say everyone slept well that night! We’d packed a picnic lunch that we enjoyed before we headed into the zoo. A passerby offered to take our photo on the way in. Notice we are all still fresh and ready for fun at this point!

I have a thing for flamingos. I love that they are the first thing you see when you come in. Caitlin was all excited and wouldn't stand still for a photo!

Our little girl’s new favorite animal is the elephant. She learned on this trip how to say ‘elephant’ and she has been pointing them out to us ever since. You’d be surprised how often a toddler sees a picture of an elephant!

Mid afternoon there was a slight tantrum, but Granda came to the rescue with ice cream for Caitlin. Dipping Dots will fix anything…even a cranky toddler!

Sean agreed to take a picture with the lions. He had lions on his outfit, so it seemed only fitting!

Thankfully we came across the splash pad at just the right time. Sean needed to nurse and we all needed a break. I’d packed a suit and swim diaper for Caitlin, so we turned on the water and let her go!

She had a blast! After our break we were all refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the zoo!

~~~~~~~~~

(Part 2 to follow…probably Friday. Tomorrow is a big day for a certain little girl!)

3 Months

2011-11-08T10:41:00.001-05:00

I’m playing catch up, but a certain little girl has a birthday this week so I thought I better post her brother’s three month photos before then! The trip from the zoo two weeks ago will have to wait…

Sean is SUCH a good baby! He is very easy going. He nurses like a champ, and thankfully he will now go two hours between feedings! (That eating every hour and a half thing was wearing me out!) He may eat a lot, but he has been sleeping through the night for the last three weeks or so, so I have NO complaints!

(The miracle blanket is wonderful by the way! Best. Swaddle. Ever.)

I have a confession. We have been REALLY bad about tummy time. We are getting into a bath time routine though and that should help. We fill the tub and put Sean in first in his little bath chair and then switch off. I bath Caitlin and Daddy coaches Sean in his tummy time. Listening to them makes me smile. “You can do it, Sean!” Good boy! That’s it! Turn to the other side! Way to go!” The Irishman is a great father!

Sean is a very happy baby. He is very alert and makes all sorts of lovely baby noises! His coo-ing, and laughing, and giggling will warm your heart. He left a voicemail message for his Grammy last week to show off his “talking” skills. Sean very rarely cries – usually just our way home when he is hungry and tired of the car seat. The boy recently found his thumb though and he finds it far superior to any pacifier we could offer him.

As far as Caitlin and Sean, she doesn’t seem to remember life before the baby. She still gets a little jealous from time to time, but it has gotten much better! I love to listen to her talk to him in the car when he gets upset. Big sister is also very generous with her kisses for Sean.

Caitlin also has a newfound love for her baby dolls. They are all named, “baby” right now, but she feeds them, burps them, puts them in Sean’s swing, and covers them with blankets. “Shhh! They’re sleeping!” It is funny to watch her mimic how we care for Sean. It has been going really well, but we’ll see how she does once Sean moves into her old crib. I suspect that might not go over so well, but they are going to be sharing a room shortly, so she’ll have to get used to it!

For comparison sake, here is a photo of Caitlin at the same age. The outfits are almost the same – just different holidays. I’m a sucker for a cute design on the baby’s bum! I think they really do look alike.

Our little man is growing so fast! He is comfortably in 6 month clothes. (I’ve even put in in a few 6-9 month outfits already!) He is a little angel!

We are so very blessed!

Nana and Granda

2011-11-06T23:43:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy few days around here! Nana and Granda headed back to Ireland after a lovely month or so on this side of the pond. The Irishman and I both really hate the fact that we live so far away from our parents. Caitlin is only just old enough to get to know them now…and the saying good bye part is that much worse when you have to explain to her that her grandparents had to go back to their home far away!

Nana really wanted to get some pictures with the kids, so we dressed them up in their matching Cork gear for a photo op before they left!

(We *might* have used food to bride Caitlin to join in!)

By this point a certain almost-two-year-old had had enough,

but she didn’t like me taking pictures without her. This is her “cheese” face. In the last week or two she has turned to me while doing something cute to ask, “Cheese?” That kid cracks me up!

She is a photographer in the making. This photo was one she took.

We had a great time with Nana and Granda! Now we are re-adjusting to life without the extra hands around. Tomorrow will be a big test. I am going to attempt story time at the library on my own with both kids. We’ll see how it goes!

Caitlin saw me editing these photos and starting waving to Nana and Granda. She misses them already!

Driving into Dreamland

2011-11-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

I noticed a few weeks ago that Caitlin was trying to climb out of her crib. With the sleep sack on we were okay, but our days were numbered. I spent a couple of weeks looking for a toddler bed. Caitlin’s crib converts, but we’d decided that we would use the crib for Sean and get a toddler bed for Caitlin.

We were thinking that with them sharing a room it would take up less room that way.

My favorite consignment shop posted a photo of a bed on their Facebook page that caught my eye. The price was right, but I knew from the comments that there was another person interested in the item. I got there the next day when they opened. I examined it and almost waivered, but I ended up buying it then and there.

The Irishman was THRILLED. I paid $62 for the second-hand bed. It is in great shape, but there are a few scuffs if you look closely. My husband can’t find anything wrong with the bed. He LOVES it.

All of these photos are from his iPhone. I’m pretty sure he would sleep in the toddler-sized race car bed if I’d let him.

Caitlin is enjoying it, though truthfully I bought it for Sean. I figured that it will be his in time and he is using purple bath towels now. With that in mind, Caitlin can sleep in a blue race car for a while!

According to my toddler the front of the car is really a slide. I wouldn’t mind so much, but she makes us slide with her!

As for sleeping in the bed, it has gone okay. The first day she napped and slept through the night without getting up at all. Day two…I popped in to check on her during nap time and found that the had silently slipped out of bed and was playing with the wheel of the car. She was up at 4am Wednesday morning, but she went back to bed until 7 after I told her it was still night time. Wednesday she only napped for about 30 minutes before making getting out of bed a game. We’ll see what the morning brings!

This is how the Irishman found her when he went to wake her up on Monday morning. It looks like a rough night, huh?

She’ll be two in a week. I cannot believe how much she has grown! Thankfully the transition to a “big girl” bed hasn’t been has bad as I feared. Now I’m just hoping that getting rid of the Dodo and potty training will work out as smoothly…

~~~~~~~~~

This post was brought to you by:

The bed is Caitlin’s birthday gift from Grammy. We could have picked out something new, but it wouldn’t have had wheels. ; ) Granda bought the wood board for the mattress to sit on. (Creating my soon-to-be secret baby clothes storage compartment!) The mattress is a birthday gift from GGB - though not having a mattress in the bed did not seem to bother them much! Daddy took Caitlin to Target over the weekend to pick out the new Minnie Mouse blanket.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T07:00:00.001-04:00

We have had a very full Halloween! We started at Caitlin’s school festival. When Nana, Sean, and I got there we saw Caitlin waiting quietly in her spot for the fun to begin. They had a pumpkin carving contest, a storyteller, and a costume parade. When we took her back to the classroom after the fun she decided that she wanted to come home with us. I decided there was no harm in that, so we headed back to the house.

After naptime Caitlin put on her other costume and we headed to Daddy’s office.

There is not much in terms of Trick or Treating in the townhouses where we live, so the Irishman picked up candy and cracker/cookie snack packs. He handed them out to his co-workers so that Caitlin could come Trick-or-Treat for goodies.

The cowboy and his big sister were a big hit!

After dinner we headed over to show off the costumes to my grandparents.

Our last stop of the evening was to Trick-or-Treat at Sue and Bob’s house. We had some sleepy kiddos by that point, but it was great to see them!

It was a busy day, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It is even more fun now that Caitlin is just getting to be old enough to enjoy things like this. She is taking it all in and figuring it out, though at my grandparents’ house tonight she returned all the candy in her bag before we left. I’m sure by next year it will be a different story!

My Husband the Super Hero

2011-10-31T07:00:00.002-04:00

The Irishman was a fan of super heroes from an early age.

Some things never change…

Now he’s training the next generation of super heroes.

It must be working. Caitlin went to Target dressed like that on Saturday. Just because.

(She plays with the donuts and cookies more than she actually eats them. I just realized the amount of junk food pictured with Caitlin here! She ate three half donut holes and two bites of cookies. She will tell you they are all hers though. We are in a “mine” stage.)

They are my SUPER family!

Love it!

Another nameless beach post

2011-10-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

Just the Girls

2011-10-28T07:00:00.001-04:00

The hotel had a 10am check out time, but when the kids wake up at 7am a trip to the beach is not out of the question! The Liverpool game was on TV, so Nana, Caitlin, and I headed off for a quick trip to the beach.

It was glorious!

(This one is a video – for the family who get an e-mail when I post you will want to click over to see it!)

I tried to get a video of her in action, but she wasn’t having any of it.

I got it in the end though. I love the grin at the end.

Caitlin seemed to enjoy the trip with the girls.

I just wanted to soak it all up. It was absolutely lovely.

I love getting to spend one of one time with my girl.

I hated for the week to end!

~~~~~~~~

I *thought* this was the end of the beach pictures, but I just found another batch. Who needs chronological order?

I’m out of beach related titles…

2011-10-27T13:53:00.000-04:00

I guess it is no surprise if you know us that we love the beach. I'm not even going to guess how many times I've used "Life's a Beach." I’m still going through pictures from our Sanibel trip so I'll have to work on a few more titles.

We remembered visiting this particular beach on our previous trip to the island and have talked about it…as in, “Wouldn’t it be great to take Caitlin to the lighthouse beach?”

We spent hours here over the week we were on vacation. These pictures were from our final full day. It was also the day the iPhone 4s came out. We’d unsuccessfully (more on that later!) lined up at a Sprint store before they opened, so Nana decided to stay at the hotel and nap while the rest of us headed to the beach.

I swear each day we went was better than the day before. The weather was perfect. The beach wasn’t too crowded. It was lovely!

I also discovered on this trip that I have minivan envy. We had to rent a car big enough to fit four adults and two car seats. I have always been against SUVs and big vehicles. I have no problem with my car…except that now we cannot fit anyone but our family of four in the car. This is problematic when you have company as often as we do. It stinks to have to take two cars every where we go!

We are not buying a new car anytime soon, but gee it would be nice!

By the Light of the Moon

2011-10-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

On the evening of our first full day in Sanibel we decided to squeeze in a second trip to the beach that day. The idea was to drive to a different beach to test it out. The adults didn’t plan on swimming, but we put Caitlin in her suit in case she decided to wade into the water.

It was a beautiful harvest moon.

Caitlin dug in the sand.

The adults admired the moon and the sunset.

I took pictures.

What you can’t see are the bugs! The mosquitos were like nothing I have ever seen before. As soon as the sun went down they were all over us! We literally ran back to the car to escape. Needless to say we decided not to head back to the beach at dusk!

Going Green at the Beach

2011-10-25T07:00:00.001-04:00

While in Sanibel I was determined to get a nice family picture. We brought these outfits with us. After a morning swim we handed the camera over to Granda and tried to get a photo of our family of four.

The subjects were a little squirmy, but he did a nice job!

Full disclosure? Caitlin had taken off and was running towards the parking lot until the garbage truck drove up and frightened her. We’ll just pretend that she was happily holding my hand as we walked along the beach…

I’m a sucker for matching outfits…

and for these cuties!