Meeting Santa

The little farmhouse at 'downtown' Dunwoody

I know, I know, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but we are already getting into the Christmas spirit. I don't know if it is because I'm looking forward to the holidays in our new home or because Mason is SOOO excited about Christmas this year. I have to admit, I love his age right now! We have a lot of great conversations these days and he is just the sweetest thing (when he wants to be :). He is also so observant. I've started putting out a few Christmas decorations here and there and he is always the first to notice even the smallest difference at the house! Yesterday, he walked around the whole house pointing out the Christmas decor and finally stopped and proclaimed 'I like it'. I really should start writing down some of the funny things he says. I had to take the boys to school yesterday (which I haven't done in a while) and I turned in to the wrong entrance - they recently switched it up and it was early and I was just on 'auto-pilot'. The second I turned, Mason screamed 'OH NOOOO MOMMY- THAT'S THE WRONG WAY!!!!'. I said, 'I'm sorry, I just forgot', to which he replied, 'It's OK, Daddy did it too'.

I've mentioned how much we love our house and neighborhood, but I also love the city we live in. Dunwoody is a wonderful Atlanta suburb and a great place to raise a family (at least so far!). It's just close enough to the city (although I'm thrilled that both Chris and I both work right here), but it still has a small town feel to it. It was only incorporated into a city a few years ago, and you can tell there is great pride by the residents to finally be a 'real' city. They also have lots of community, family friendly events, the most recent being the 'Light Up Dunwoody' event we went to on Sunday. It was COLD, but the boys had a great time (until the end, when they were tired and done). It was just a little gathering to light up the town tree at the historic Dunwoody farmhouse, but the most important part was that SANTA CLAUS was there!! We waited in a short line to get the boys' picture taken with jolly old St. Nick. It was PRICELESS!! I think the pictures speak for themselves. When we asked Mason what he told Santa, he said 'thank you' (at least he's polite :). We finally got him to tell us that he asked for a 'Jake tent' and a bike.

He was so excited! It only took a little coaxing to get him to go see Santa.

He looks star-struck :) I hope Santa told him to be a good boy!

That face says it all! What a happy boy!

Matthew wasn't so impressed. But this Santa 'pro' understood the importance of the picture... even with a screaming 18 mos old :)

This was about 5 mins later, so you can see there was no major trauma

The boys checking out the giant tree

We are also very excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow. We are hosting at our house and my entire family is driving up from Cochran to join us. I feel so blessed!

18 Months

I think this is my new favorite picture of him, but he looks so grown up!

I try not to be one of those mothers who calculates their child's age in months until they are in college, but until age 2 or 3, a few months makes a HUGE difference in development. Matthew is a totally different child than he was just 6 short months ago when we celebrated his first birthday. I remember being conflicted about this 'stage' with Mason. It is so fun to watch them grow and discover the world around them. It is also so challenging because of the horrid 'terrible twos' (which really start around one). Matthew is proving to be even more of a challenge because he is VERY opinionated and VERY stubborn. And BOY, can he throw a tantrum! He's my fiery little redhead!!

A few 18 month stats:

• 96th percentile in weight (29 lbs) and 85th percentile in height. Still huge, but he actually lost a pound since his last visit.
• He's mixed in his sleeping habits. He's SUPER easy to get to bed or nap. When he's ready to sleep, he will let you know and he just wants to be left alone. We keep slipping up when he's sick or teething and getting him used to an overnight bottle again. We've sleep-trained him about 6 times now, but luckily he catches on pretty quick. He's also an early riser (6am on the DOT), but that's probably because we can never keep him up past 7pm.
• He sings all the time! And he's really good (for a one year old). ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star are his favorites. He can't quite say the words yet (but he's close), so he just grunts the tune. It's not uncommon to be woken up in the morning to him singing in his crib (which is much more pleasant than being woken up by him screaming in his crib :).
• He loves school and he's about to graduate to the next class (toddler's). I know he'll be fine, but I'm bummed because we love his teachers so much. And they love him too - his main teacher gets upset when I even mention him moving!
• He is very social (which I guess makes sense since he loves school so much). He loves getting out of the house and is always a flirt and makes friends anywhere we go.
• He's very smart and determined. He's already trying to do puzzles, 'read' books, climb on anything and do ANYTHING that brother does.
• He's started talking a lot lately. Not too many words, but he mumbles in what sounds like complete sentences. And he really thinks he's having a conversation with you. When it comes to actual words, 'Daddy' and 'Ball' are the two consistent ones. We also hear a lot of 'Mine'. Never 'Mommy'. Seriously. I'm pretty sure he and daddy are conspiring that to drive me crazy.
• As mentioned above, he has a TEMPER and he's not afraid to use it!! And I don't think that 'time-out' is going to work with this one.

It's a good thing I'm cute, because I can be TROUBLE!

Halloween 2013

I have to admit, I may have been more excited about Halloween this year than the kids. One of my requirements when we were searching for our 'forever home' was a good trick-or-treating neighborhood. The Branches did NOT disappoint! All the families gathered at the clubhouse for pizza, snacks and games before heading out to collect candy. We truly have the best neighbors and friends - most of the adults dressed up and and many houses handed out 'treats' for the parents :). My mom was here to hand out candy at our house. I'm happy to report we went through TWO Costco size bags of candy! This is after 11 years at our old house of never having a SINGLE trick-or-treater! My back was bothering me, so Matthew and I headed home after hitting a few houses, but Chris and Mason stayed out until most of the porch lights went dark. Here are a few pictures.

Heading out to trick-or-treat!

Playing on the swings before dinner.

He loved playing with Jake's pirate swords

My cute dalmation and Jake the pirate

Decorations at our house. Not bad for our first year?

Fall Update

I'm not supposed to be typing, so I'll make this quick. I have a severe herniated disc causing a lot of pain and numbness in my right shoulder and arm. I'm currently on medical leave and seeing lots of doctors trying to treat it without surgery. This requires me to stay reclined most of the day, stay off of the computer and no lifting of any kind (including the boys, which is the hardest part). I can use my smart phone with my left hand, so that's how I pass the time (along with daytime TV which SUCKS :)

The boys are having a fun fall thanks to their awesome grandparents helping out while I recover. My mom has stayed with us for weeks and Chris' parents visited last weekend. I am so grateful and the boys LOVE having them around! Here are a few cute pictures from our (very brief) trip to the church pumpkin patch and the boys' costume parade at school. We're looking forward to trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood on Thursday. It's going to be fun!!

Mason (I mean Jake) with his best buddy Bryce (Peter Pan)

My adorable little punkin :)

Love that sweet sweet boy

And this little cutie too (who would not give up his 'monkey' for the pictures)

 

Still can't get them both to smile, but they're still cute!

One lucky mommy with both of her boys

 

Nana and Grandpa at the pumpkin patch

Curls!!!

I'm not sure where he gets it from, but I just LOVE Matthew's curls! It's not overly curly, but by the end of the day, he's got the cutest ringlets in the back. I know I'm probably going to have to cut it soon (he's been mistaken for a girl a few times recently), so I was on a mission to get some good pictures the other night in the bathtub.

Aren't they the cutest?

No curls here, but he's just as cute :)

Fall is here

I think my mom is mad at me because I don't update the blog as much as I used to. That is mainly because: 1) we've been so busy and 2) even though we're busy, it's nothing terribly exciting that is 'blog worthy'. It's football season, which is our favorite time of the year and we have had several play dates to watch the games and enjoy this wonderful fall weather. In the south, we usually have about one month of pleasant weather between the muggy, hot summer and the cold winter months. Last weekend, we had some family pictures done. Our dear (and talented) friend Liz took the pictures and it was quite an adventure. The setting was beautiful, but it was over an hour from our house, so let's just say the boys (and daddy) were cranky after the long drive. Then trying to keep both boys still and smiling for a few shots was not easy. I hope Liz is better (and quicker) with the camera than I am! Here are a few that I got with my camera phone after the session while the boys were playing at the park. I can't wait to see the final results!

The sweetest 3 year old!

I can't believe how BIG he is!

There's that sweet smile!

Bye Bye Pool and Kick-a-Roos

The pool buddies (Reeves, Mason, Katelyn, Katie & Sadie)

Last weekend, we sadly had our last swim at the pool before it closed for the season. What a great summer we had in our new home and neighborhood! We've made lots of new friends and become closer to some we already knew from school. I know we'll see them in the 'off-season'. Mason also started playing soccer (kick-a-roos) a few weeks ago. There are several kids from school and the neighborhood on his team. At this age, it's a bit like herding cats, but they enjoy it and they are getting better each week. Here's a few pictures from the past few weeks.

And fall pictures are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/chenretty/Fall2013#

Last day at the pool!

Cupcakes for the last pool party!

Matthew loves his car

Mimi came to visit for Mason's soccer game.

Mason hustling at Kick-a-Roos

Listening to coach at soccer.