A Week of Thanksgiving

Amazing Outside

It is 68 degrees today! The boys just spent most the day playing outside and the weather is just beautiful. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Are you full yet? Today was day #2 of thanksgiving meals and we are pretty much full for a few days. Finn ate turkey like I've never seen before yesterday and today, and Ethan talked about pumpkin pie all day. Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone!

Nice to be Home

It is chilly outside today! I spent the whole day inside and loved it. I did some cooking and more laundry (I'm not sure how we produce the amount of laundry that we do!).

Ethan had his preschool Thanksgiving party/meal today. His preschool class got to go to his teacher's house and have a party and play, then she fed them (all of them!) Thanksgiving meal for lunch. She had several volunteer parents to help her. I was sad that I didn't volunteer, but maybe next time.

Finn and I were able to hang out for the 3 hours Ethan was gone. We just played the whole time and I made his favorite lunch for us (nuggets and yogurt). He wasn't a fan of the broccoli I made us:)

We're having Thanksgiving #1 tomorrow afternoon at my parent's house. We'll spend about the whole day over there with my brother's family. Then Ethan and his cousin will have a sleepover at my parent's house. Finn won't really sleep anywhere but his bed with his snuggle bear...which means he gets mommy/daddy all to himself at home tomorrow night!

Mark is home now for the rest of the week, which is so nice. We don't have a lot planned, just spending time together with fam and the boys. We decided not to travel at all this holiday just to be on the safe side with the baby and all. Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving!!

The story of the Cousin Photo

Task 1: Getting everyone to sit down....Finn did not want to

Attempt #2

This is where Finn ran off and the other two started playing with the Wii gadgets

Then he tackled her.....

Then Finn came back

More tackling

Then Finn started tackling and Ethan cared more about his Wii toy

Then jumping on each other started

More tackling...

Then everyone sort of sat in front of the camera, except Finn fell over....

So I decided to let Finn do whatever and I got a picture of the 3 year olds!! They are both looking at the camera and both smiling...somewhat success!

My Helper

Today I cleaned my closet and organized all the clothes for all three of the boys. I also folded a ton of washed clothes and went through more baby stuff that was hiding in the playroom closet. I asked Ethan if he wanted to play or read books, but all he wanted to do most the time was help fold, sort, and clean. He helped me make the bed and put stuff away. He is such a big helper. I didn't even have to ask him and that's still all he wanted to do. I'm hoping he still feels that way in about 4 weeks, I could really use someone to hand me burp clothes and diapers soon!

A Break

What are you doing for Thanksgiving Break? Ours started this afternoon with a week off. What do we plan on doing.....

Sleeping, eating lots of turkey, a little shopping, sleeping, hoping my mom cooks sweet potato casserole, taking lots of naps, and enjoying time with family.....I realize I have sleeping on here several times:)

Thanksgiving Break!

We are 5 hours away from a week long vacation! YEAH!

Are you thinking Christmas?

I sure am!! I posted some random pics from last year around Christmas time. Beyond the normal excitement of the coming season, we have a baby to make us even more excited. This year I'm doing two things differently: Cooking less (the rest of the family can cook this year...I'm having a baby) and I'm not limiting my Christmas card list (it was too hard last year when I tried to save money and limit my list:) Hopefully you're looking forward to the holidays as much as I am!

Baby!!

My friend is having a baby boy today! I'm so excited for her! Her boy will be so close in age to our baby boy when he is born. She also has a 4 year old girl that we used to drive to preschool (before her daughter changed class times). Ethan loves seeing her and her family. Best of luck today Sarah!! Wishing for good health for you and baby!

Random pics from our weekend

Ready for a walk on a chilly afternoon

Blowing kisses

No idea what he is thinking/doing:)

He likes to store his food in his cheeks before he swallows it

Update

Sometimes I feel like I should update on our family for the blog, but then I don't really know what to update on! But here is goes....


We have 3 weeks of classes left this semester, then finals. Then Christmas break for both of us. I'm due the week of Christmas! YAY! So I have about 5 1/2 weeks left till my due date. Sometimes I can't even believe it.


The baby looks good, at least he did at the last doctor's appt. My next appt is scheduled for Monday, then I start going every week. I always get asked if I'm going to get induced or if the baby will come early. No, I'm not going to get induced. And I'm usually on time with my due date. Ethan was born on my due date and Finn was born 4 hours after his due date. I guess I just deliver babies on time. We have a first and a middle name picked out now. I had an idea of announcing the name on our Christmas cards we send out at the beginning of December, but we'll see what we decide.


Ethan is growing up so much. He turns 4 in a couple months! He loves preschool and has a new best friend. He enjoys gymnastics and we're blessed to have a nanny who comes every afternoon and takes him to the park for 2 hours when the weather is nice. He is starting to read small words, which is both exciting to me since I love books and scary because that means he is on his way to being even more grown up!


Finn turned two at the beginning of the month. He is always trying to do what his brother does. He loves to brush his teeth and dance to music. He still cuddles with his teddy bear at night, which is super cute. He can point out some letters of the alphabet and sits during about 1/2 of story time at night, then goes and plays. I'm planning on starting him in gymnastics this spring which is when I started Ethan. He says Mom first every time he wakes up in the morning now which I love and Mark does not...I think Mark wishes he said daddy sometimes in the morning.


We are in the middle of Christmas shopping (which I never thought I'd start this early), finishing up grad school papers for both of us for this semester, and preparing for the baby to come next month. Mark starts intramural volleyball with his team this week and I am really enjoying the girls bible study group I'm in with some friends of mine. We had wanted to go to my grandma's house for part of Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure my doctor will clear me for travel then. Either way, we'll spend Thanksgiving day with either extended family if we go or immediate family if we don't. I feel like I could write a 3 page blog post about everything I'm grateful for right now, but I'll stop here! Enjoy your weekend!

New England here I come!

I'm one of the sponsors for the New England study trip this May at YC. We will spend 10 days immersing ourselves in the New England region’s rich history and literary heritage. During those days, we'll travel across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. I could not be more excited, but then again, I love historical places!! Below is a link to the article posted today about the trip on YC's webpage. At the bottom of this post are just some of the places we'll be going during the study trip.

http://www.york.edu/pantherpress/new_page_5.htm

Some of the places we will go include Boston and the Freedom Trail, Paul Revere’s House, Bunker Hill Monument, the Boston Massacre site, Old South Church, Old North Church, USS Constitution, and the Boston Tea Party Museum, plus other important Boston sites. In Lexington we will see Battlefield Green and Buckman Tavern; at Concord, North Bridge, the Hawthorne home, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s home and Walden Pond; Lowell; the historic town of Deerfield, MA; Lenox, MA and the home of Edith Wharton; Amherst and the home of Emily Dickinson; Pittsfield and the home of Herman Melville; Hartford, CT and the homes of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Facebook Status

How often do you update your Facebook status? I never really used to, but lately I've been updating all the time. Why? I'm not sure, but I thought it would be fun to put on here my last couple updates:)

Today: Summer has 6 weeks left until baby boy #3 showers our hearts with blessings and reminds us of our creator!

Yesterday: Summer has discovered the key to happiness: it is sleep.

Tuesday night: Summer wonders if going to bed at 8:00 p.m. tonight makes her a loser or just really smart for getting sleep while she can.

Tuesday afternoon: Summer wishes you could order a Christmas gift now so it doesn't sell out, but not have it delivered till the day before Christmas....(to avoid the "I really want to open this now" dilemma).

Monday: Summer Dickinson is glad the government extended the $8,000 tax credit for 1st time homebuyers till April, yet is still unsure on when they should buy and what they should buy.

Brothers

As my due date gets closer and closer, I start to think about when my 2nd baby boy was born and how Ethan's world changed from that moment on. I start to imagine how Finn will now be an older brother instead of the baby of the house. I still remember Ethan's eyes sparkling when he saw Finn for the first time and how much he wanted to hold him and cuddle with him. In a little over 6 weeks we'll have a new beautiful baby boy and I can't wait to meet him and introduce him to his brothers!

How?

I often get asked, "How are you going to handle a 4 year old, 2 year old, and a baby?". Or I get asked, "How in the world are you able to be 8 months pregnant, have a toddler and preschooler?". I usually don't have an answer.

I was thinking today about these questions I get lately. I still don't have a very good answer or really an answer at all. My parents often say that I am "calm during chaos". I think what they mean is that I don't really mind that my house is always loud...I mean always. There is usually at least one boy running around, the volume in our house is unreal to most outsiders. We try to get the basic chores done everyday, but there is always something dirty somewhere. I don't stress out about much with the kids (unless it is their health, then I'm a mess!).

For example, last Thursday Finn was having nose bleeds. He never gets nose bleeds, so I was concerned. Around 4:00 p.m. he got a nose bleed that wouldn't stop..at all! I tried everything and it kept coming. I called Mark and we decided to take him to the ER around 5:00. His nose was still bleeding everywhere when we got there. The doctor determined he had a blood vessel too close to the surface and when his skin cracked a little (from being so dry outside), the blood started coming and it doesn't stop unless you seal the vessel.

So after about an hour of Finn screaming because they had to get the blood to stop enough so that the doctor could chemically cauterize his nose with silver nitrate which essentially "burns the skin" so it is painful to kids. After about another 20 minutes of screaming from the procedure, he somewhat calmed down. Then we had to wait for an hour to make sure the bleeding stopped otherwise the hospital was going to call a specialist to come and use electrocautery and put him to sleep to do it. The bleeding did stop and we didn't end up leaving till about 8:00 or 8:30, with a very upset Finn.

I, of course, was stressed during this whole thing. I don't handle well the sight of my kids in pain. I'm not calm at all. We had to watch Finn for 48 hours to make sure the bleeding didn't come back, which it didn't. Mark was not at all stressed and very calm during the whole evening at the hospital and calm for the days after with Finn. He is a "calm during stress" person.

I'm convinced that is why we are perfect for each other. I can handle just about anything on a day to day basis. Mark can handle just about any actual stressful situation with the boys with ease. Neither one of us is very good at what the other does well. So how am I going to handle three kids? Well, I'll continue to stay calm and enjoy the daily chaos. And I'll stay married to my husband who can easily handle all the other stuff that isn't daily chaos:)

Jumping in Piles

Finn doesn't like playing in the leaves, so these are of daddy and Ethan. Finn is standing by me holding onto my leg:)

Daddy hiding in the leaves to surprise the kids