Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Iowa with my family. We went to my aunt and uncle's (Donna and Dennis) house for the big celebration with my entire extended family. We had a very nice day and a great weekend spending time with Gaga and Papa O'Brien. Here's a picture of my Grandma Betty with her 4 great-grandkids on Thanksgiving. I just love this picture. Every time Alex sees this picture, he always says, "There's GG (he calls her that - short for great-grandma), me, Lauren, Carly, and Baby Elise." We look forward to Xmas with both of our families!

Oh Kids Say the Darnest Things!!

First - here are 2 pictures of Alex "reading" to Lauren. He basically has every book memorized that we read to him and he recites it to Lauren. She loves it and he loves making her happy. He really is a fantastic big brother - he is so good to her, it's just amazing. He'll often tickle her tummy gently and say, "Hey cutie cutie." And he always asks how her day is going - her answer is always "good." So we must be doing something right??
Second - I often laugh at how funny my children are. So the last couple of days, I thought I'd make a list of some of the things that they have said or done. Here's a recap of just the last couple of days.....

1. Zeus is acting out a bit lately. This evening, he peed all over Lauren's dollhouse. Needless to say, I was ticked!! Alex said, "Zeus, dad is going to take you to a farm." Then he said, "I'd cry if I never saw Zeus again since dad is going to take him to a farm." Then in the next breath he said, "Zeus, I'm mad at you. But I'm going to need a new puppy - a yellow one."

2. On our way up the stairs last night, we were counting the stairs. Out of the blue, Alex said, "Mom, count in Spanish." I was like WHAT?? But ok, so I counted to ten in Spanish. I kid you not, his jaw dropped and he just looked amazed that I knew how to do that. He said, "Ahh mom, you are soooo smart." He was SHOCKED to see his mom was smart!

3. Yesterday, after we got dressed for the day - Alex took a look at Lauren and said, "Mom, she looks pretty today." Then looked at me and said, "Mom, you are supposed to be pretty, but you look bad today. Dirty." Apparently, my 3-year old now is aware of when I need to put more effort into the way I look! Keep in mind, this is also the 3-year old who told his Aunt K that she needed to wear black shoes with her outfit, not purple shoes. Fashion forward I guess!

4. Today, I wouldn't let Alex do something that he wanted to do so he told me, "Mom, you make me mad sometimes." Too bad!

5. Alex thinks he growing so fast now. Earlier this week, he said, "Mom, I'm older now, can I go to preschool?" And then today he said, "I'm almost big and then I'm going to go to college." Apparently he wants time to fly and he loves school!

6. Lauren and I were counting cheerios the other day and she, by herself, counted to 10. Clear as can be. I couldn't believe it. Alex couldn't do that until about 6 months ago. I guess I see the benefit of having an older sibling!!

Just thought I'd share a few things - my life is constantly entertaining! I need to remind myself of these moments when the hard ones seem to never end sometimes! :)

As promised...Bob the Builder and Wendy

As promised, here is the picture of Nana and Grandpa Vohs on Halloween aka Bob the Builder and Wendy. If you could have seen the looks on Alex and Lauren's faces....priceless.

Lauren has a new backpack!

So Lauren's new favorite thing is Minnie Mouse (luckily she's getting one for Xmas). Nana and Grandpa Vohs were in Orlando last week and they brought her back a new Minnie Mouse backpack. She was SO excited. She's been wearing it all week, carrying her baby doll in it. She even had to wear it to school this week!