A Break from the chaos- road trip!

School, dance, hockey, work etc.  With no school on Friday, I took the day off and you can imagine the excitement when we realized that Chad was also off and there was nothing else on the calendar.   As we hit a busy birthday time of the year, we decided to runaway and have some fun!  We went down to the cities and hit the Mall of America.  The kids and Chad played at Nickelodeon Universe while I attempted some retail therapy with Alli. She's not quite into that yet sadly.  But none the less we had a fun afternoon..We stayed at the Embassy Suites and the kids went swimming..  Today we stopped by Babies R Us and then spent the afternoon at the Children's Museum.  The kids had a blast playing.  All 3 were fast asleep from Hinckley to home

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Merry Christmas!!

I'm absolutely amazed how fast it goes by.  We spent weeks sometimes months getting ready.. And it's over in a heartbeat..  Well, round 1 is anyways.  Thankfully, we get a few days to rest up and then we head to Madison for Round 2 and New Years with Chad's family.   We were very lucky to spend Christmas happy and healthy.  Several other family members and friends were not so lucky. Christmas Eve began with the Children's Mass at Cathedral.. followed by a little game night at our house.  The dice game and catch phrase are always a hit filled with lots of laughter. 

 This morning the kids were up by 7.. which isn't too bad to see if Santa came.  He left a nice note and reminded them to be better listeners.. But he only had Alli's stocking under the tree.. WHAT?? A he hid Sydney and Tyler's stocking and gifts in the toy room..whew! So the chaos of gift opening began..and what a mess they can make.  After trying to clean it up a bit, Chad started making tetrazinni for dinner.  We exchanged gifts, had dinner at mom and dad's house and enjoyed a nice afternoon there. Thankfully, my allergies cooperated and we were able to stay.  Now it's PJ time and some Packer football.  

Hope everyone else enjoyed a joyous holiday! 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

More pictures!!!

6 weeks old

 Tyler wanted to hold Alli like we do..so bad!

He's pretending to be asleep!! LOL!

I love when the kids just hang out with their baby sister!  He was making up a story about a flower and a butterfly.. so cute!

Boo at the Zoo!!

Saturday morning we took Alli to the zoo for some trick or treating!! She of course, slept most of the time! But the kids had a blast petting a few animals, seeing other kids fun costumes, hayrides and candy! I love being able to spend the morning together with my family!!

 My little bug a boo!!

I attempted to paint Sydney's face.. Sadly, she smeared it all before we even made it to the zoo!!



Allisyn's Baptism

 OOOHH I've been bad!! I can't believe I haven't had a chance to post more updates. Life has been busy. We've got school, hockey, dance lessons, faith formation, laundry, cleaning and of course Alli! The days are flying by and I have to go back to work in a couple of weeks! Insert sad face here!

We were very lucky to have most of our family join us for Alli's Baptism. I was a little worried to have 9 kids sitting together in the first 3 rows of church.. But everyone behaved amazingly well!

 

Father Andy danced with Alli in his arms..so sweet!

Godparents

All of us wearing the same dress! Love it!!

One Month Old!! Already??

My oh my!  How the days have flown by!!  I can't believe it!  Alli has been such a blessing in our lives.  She's a pretty good little baby.  She's starting to stay awake a little bit more throughout the day.  I love watching her look around and focus on things.  She's bumped up her feedings a bit...almost 4 oz every 3-4 hours.  She's usually wide awake and very alert from 9-11pm...just like when I was pregnant.  Chad usually sits with her and watches the Brewers games! (Go Brew Crew!)  Then she sleeps till 3am..eats and crashes back to sleep thankfully! 
  Tyler and Sydney have adjusted extremely well to their new baby sister and a back to school routine.  They are pretty good helpers to have.  Of course, there's still a few arguments over who holds her first and for how long! LOL!

Alli loves her Sleeper Rocker.  She snuggles right in and sleeps a little bit longer than when she's in her crib! Mommy loves it too!

   Alli had another checkup yesterday.. She now weighs a whopping 7lbs 10oz.  We're finally moving on to size 1 diapers.. bye bye newborn diapers after 4 and 1/2 weeks!

Alli- 2 week old update

Her cord fell off this morning.. Sadly it appears she'll have a bit of an outie!  Yikes! Last night she stayed awake and watched the Brewers game with Daddy.   Then got up at 1am, 5am and 9am.. Getting better!  Her cheeks are filling out a bit already.. I'd love for her to just stay little.. our little peanut!  Allisyn has a few nicknames already... Alli, Pip, Pippy, Pip Squeak, Snookers and Alli-Gator! LOL!  We are loving every moment with her.

This Girl is moving and on a roll!!

So a few days before Alli arrived, Daddy thought he'd put all the pads on Sydney and let her try to ride Tyler's old bike.  It's a little smaller than her bike is.  So it's easier to touch the ground and stop if you don't use the brakes!  I sat on the corner and took pictures as Chad ran up and down the sidewalk with her.  She was of course yelling "Don't let go!" LOL!  She did pretty good except for her focus.  She was like the dog in the Disney movie UP.."Squirrel?"  and she'd look at something and turn the handle bars in that direction and crash!

 A few days later they decided to give the roller blading a try!  She seemed to get the hang of that pretty quickly.  She was zooming up and down the sidewalk in front of the house!

 Fast forward another week to Thursday night.  I was inside with Alli..  Chad and Tyler were sitting with Jenice and Deje when I heard all this commotion and screaming. While no one was paying any attention she got back on Tyler's bike and just started riding it around the backyard in the grass.  Unbelievable!!

 In true tradition...last night we went to Gramma and Papa's house to show them her new trick..when she felt brave enough to hit the sidewalks.  She went back and forth..turning the corner was a bit of a challenge..so she'd slow down to a coast and put her foot down like a motorcyle! LOL! I was so proud!  I even loved how Tyler would walk along the side coaching her when to slow down and stuff!

With such determination I have a feeling this girl will go on to do great things!  I hope!