Gobble, Gobble!!

We spent Thanksgiving with Nana, PopPop, and Aunt Amy this year, and it was nice to get away for a few days!  We were joined by Brian's aunt, uncle, grandfather, 2 cousins, and his cousin's girlfriend.  It was nice to spend the day with everyone, and the kids loved having the extra playmates around :)

board games with Sarah

Cheers to sisters!!

Time to eat!

The kids ate their meals in record time (seriously, there was no sound coming from Liam's highchair.  Not a peep.  That kid was FOCUSED).  They both stayed at the table & did some coloring while everyone else finished.  In the first picture, please note Scooby licking the footrest area below Liam; we kept hearing Liam say, "no!  no!  ew!"  finally, I figured out that Scooby was under there, trying to lick crumbs off of that footrest, but actually licking Liam's feet instead :)

ice cream with Aunt Amy!

mmm....turkey for Gracie.

Some shots from the photo session that I insisted on....everyone loved it, don't let the pained looks on their faces fool you:

We have so much to be thankful for.

Tickle Attack!!!

This video makes me so happy.  We had finished dinner the other night, and all of a sudden, Jake disappeared under the table.  He crawled over to Liam, and started launching a secret tickle attack on his feet.  The giggles that came from that are some of the best sounds in the world.

Happy 18 months, Liam!!

Oh, um...hello there, blog readers.  Sorry that it's been awhile.  I find myself completely wrapped up in holiday preparation, traveling, new appliance buying (dishwasher breaking = tragedy), new car buying (say what??  yeah, that will be another post), and just work stuff in general.

But...I'm here today!  Liam had his 18 month check up yesterday, and I shall now rename him "Chunkers".  Brian says that's mean and will cause him to be in therapy later in life, but whatever.  It's a compliment at this age. 

Height: 33.5 inches (80th percentile)
Weight: 27 lbs (82nd percentile)
Head circumference: 49 cm (87th percentile)

So, yeah....Chunkers it is.  :)  To be honest, baby fat is one of the things I miss the most when they start to slim down more into the toddler years!  The little dimples, the rolls...I love it all.  I'm so glad he's still squishy. 

The appointment went well, he is right on track developmentally.  I've lost count of his words at this point, it seems like he had a major explosion a few weeks ago, and all of a sudden, can repeat nearly anything you say, and has new words that he's using on his own everyday.  He got 2 shots at the appointment, but now he's done with vaccines until he turns 4. 

It wouldn't be a post without some cute pictures!  Here is one of him, doing what he does best.....checking out his big brother, and doing the same thing!

2 of my handsome guys:

Oh hey, you didn't need these pumpkins, right?

It's been a fun 18 months, Liam!  We look forward to all of the rest.

Take your time healing, Big Ben.

We've found a replacement for you until you're completely recovered:

Surprise date!

I had been wanting to have a "date day" with Jake for a little while now, so when the new Pixar movie, "Wreck it Ralph" came out, I figured that was a good excuse to take him somewhere special.

I took a 1/2 day from work yesterday and didn't tell Jake what we were doing, and just picked him up as a surprise at school in the afternoon!  He was so excited!

The movie was only showing in 3D, which I was a bit nervous about for him, but he was totally fine with it.  What he wasn't really fine with, was the movie itself.  :(  I take that back--he was ok with it until about the last 15 minutes or so, then something happened in the movie and I felt him stiffen up in his chair and he said, "Please take me home.  I don't like this movie anymore!"  Oops.  We were able to stay (he just climbed in my lap), and he was ok by the end, but still said as we were leaving, "I never, ever want to see Ralph again, mommy". 

Personally, I enjoyed the movie.  It wasn't my favorite Pixar movie (that spot will always, always, always belong to Toy Story), but it was good, and it really did have a good moral story to share.  I enjoyed the cameos of characters from old school games (it was nice to see you, Pac Man!). 

Recipe: Taco Soup

This was a hit with everyone in our house, especially Liam, who consumed an astounding 4 bowls.  I originally found the recipe on Pinterest (of course!)

Taco Soup

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 Lg chopped onion, cooked with beef
• 2 cans kidney beans
• 1 can corn
• 1- 15oz can Ro-Tel
• 1- 15 oz can Tomato Sauce
• 1 packet taco seasoning mix
• 1 packet ranch dressing mix
• 1 1/2 cups water

The best part of the recipe---there are 2 steps involved to making it!

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Bring to a boil and then simmer for fifteen minutes.

Trick-or-Treat!

Most local neighborhoods pushed back their trick-or-treat last week, thanks to the storms, so we headed out on Saturday for some treats!  First, we had to distribute the buckets and bags.  Please note Gracie in the first picture, hoping that there was a bucket to be used for collecting dog treats.  Sorry, Gracie!

Fill 'er up!

Next, the obligatory pictures with the pumpkins.  Normally, this would have been pictures with the pumpkins and mums, but my mums have already died a horrible death this year.  RIP, mums.  You were nice to look at for a few short weeks.  Now, you're just depressing.

"seriously mom, are you done yet?  I'm so exhausted, I need to put my feet up."

Our neighborhood always has a parade prior to trick-or-treat (complete with a fire truck!) so I wanted to at least take Liam to that, then let him hit a few houses after that. 

I didn't figure he would be too interested much more than that....I should have known that the little boy who wants to always keep up with the big kids would have other ideas!  He LOVED it, and walked his adorable little puppy dog self around for almost 30 minutes before wanting to get back in the stroller.  The sun just went in and the temperature dropped dramatically after that, so I wanted to get him home anyway. 

 Jake was excited to walk around with his friend, Amelia, and of course, loved showing off his awesome Iron Man costume!  He made it for about an hour, then said he was cold and wanted to come home.

  All in all, a great night! (especially since we ended it with me eating some of their Reeses Cups...shhhh, it's our little secret!)