Sled Riding with Daddy

It's all down hill for sledders at Chagrin River Park (with video) - news-herald.com

Eddie did it again.... he made the paper and made a small clip in the video too! My boys had a great time sled riding together!!!

Do You Believe?

Now that I have children of my own, I find it hard not to "believe" in Santa and the meaning of Christmas. The past month has been filled with Christmas activities and visits to Santa. Every year, I take the kids for their picture with Santa the day before Thanksgiving where we smile pretty, ride the train, and then have lunch. Another activity that has been a tradition, is dinner with Santa at my school districts high school. Dinner with Santa is an evening event ran by the high school students who dress up as elves and of course one as Santa. All the kids are given a gift (brought in by their parents) from Santa and then they get to decorate cookies with the elves. And finally, we were able to venture out on our first dinner date as a family of four before watching the lighting ceremony in our very own downtown area. I loved and enjoyed doing all of these activities with my children. The special look of excitement and anticipation while waiting for Santa to arrive was enough to make me believe!

Eddie 4 yrs

Andi 8 months

Lighting Ceremony- Downtown

Santa

Santa

Santa

Lego Returns

Ginger Bread House- made  by Eddie and Daddy!

Polar Express

Each year around Christmas time, Eddie and I enjoy reading the book Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg  together before bedtime. From the first moment we read the book together, we were hooked but for two very different reasons. Eddie was hooked because he could relate to the boy riding on the Polar Express and I was hooked because of the joy "believing" brings to my child's life. After reading the book and watching the movie the last two years I decided it would be worth it to take Eddie to ride on the Polar Express. The ride truly tried to replicate the tone and mood of the book and because of that all children paid close attention, including my own. Eddie was so excited and so attentive that my heart melted every time his eyes widened with amazement. Here are a few pictures of our ride on the Polar Express together.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we traveled to my sister-in-laws to spend the day with the Alberts side of our family. We started our day together with dinner during which we went around the table saying what we were thankful for and we all had one thing in common, family. As I get older, family with out a doubt has become the most important thing in my life. I look back at the experiences I had as a child and can only hope that my own children get to have the same experiences. I want my children to understand how important all family is and how family helps to shape us into the people we become. I am proud to say that on Thanksgiving Day both of my children had one of those experiences. At the end of the day, Eddie looked up at his mema and said, "thank you for this thanksgiving dinner." I couldn't have been more proud if how he express his gratitude for the fantastic day we had together.

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat, for us, began at our very own city downtown where all the shops and pubs passed out candy to the kids during the day. Nana was in town for a while and was able to go with us to enjoy the celebration of Halloween. We were also joined by our good buddies, the Trentenellis. Then, the day before Halloween super storm Sandy rolled in causing trick or treat to be postponed until today. It is a good thing young kids really don't have any concept of time because last night daddy carved the pumpkin with us and today we had family dinner and trick or treat with grandma and peepaw Mueller. Another great trick or treat for the record books!

Halloween 2012

Thanks to hurricane Sandy, trick or treat has been pushed back to the Sunday after Halloween. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining over here at all. As a matter of fact, we are very fortunate to have a warm home, power, and each other to come home to on this Halloween night. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have lost their loved ones and homes in this horrific disaster. In the spirit if Halloween, however, I did take some time off of work to attend Eddie's first school parade. And then when we got home from school and work, I decided to dress Andi in her costume for a little bit anyway.

All At Once

My baby girl is growing so quickly. In just a few short days she will be 7 months old. About a week before she turned 6 months it seems like she hit all of her milestones at once. Andi is now able to roll in both directions, talk by saying ma ma ma, ba ba ba and occasionally a da da. She can push herself up using her arms and can bare wait on her legs. Surprisingly, she is even beginning to make the hi/bye motion with her hands. Andi is already such a beautiful loving happy little girl. She's makes my heart feel filled with love and happiness since she has been apart of my world. And all at once I feel like time is going by so quickly and my baby girl won't be a baby girl for long. Love you Andi Jo!!!!

Danger

 Danger, has been the resounding theme at the Alberts household for the month of September. And it has this mommy looking forward to the cold weather so that we can all be quarantined in the house and away from danger. Our little man is an outdoors man with the best of them and unless it's raining or freezing cold, it's hard to keep him in doors. He loves to catch frogs, ride bikes, and most recently loves riding his new four wheeler (insert-mommy having panic attacks) that his daddy bought him. Then, there's my little Andi Jo. She is now mobile and can roll across the room. She is reaching and grabbing at everything, which means it's time to clean up all the bits and pieces lying around the house to keep her away from the danger of chocking on small objects. And did I forget to mention that she is dangerously cute and is talking up a storm with da da da's! 

We have had a great start to our fall together. And although danger is here, there, and everywhere, I know that my babies are safe each night I get to tuck them and shower them with hugs and kisses.

Here are a few pictures of my dangerously cute little monkeys:

Camo boy frog master Eddie

Perry homecoming parade. The only semi-good danger of  being pelted in the head with candy.

DANGER!!! Look at him go! 

Crazy Four Wheeler's

Dangerously cute!

My little lamb and Nana

Preschool

Our baby boy started preschool today. He was excited and ready to go when I picked him up from daycare. He walked into his classroom with a big smile, curious eyes and never looked back at me.
We are so proud of the boy he is becoming and this mommy can't believe that the time has come to start packing book bags. Here are a few words that describe our little boy on his first day of school!
Proud
Real
Eddie
Silly
Charming
Helpful
Optimistic
Out going
Loving

August~Special Guests

The month of August started with a special two week visit from Nana. Nana was kind enough to stayed with our Andi, while Ed and I took Eddie to IdleWild for two days.  After our return from Idlewild, Nana and I spent some time with the kids. We went to the ice cream shop, took in Lake Farm Park, got our pictures done at JCPenny's (photos to come) and had some fun in the pool. Nana also helped me reorganize the toy room and all of Eddie drawers in his room, not to mention the endless amounts of laundry she did for me! 

While Nana was in town, we had another special guest stop by, Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob only stopped by for a very short time on his way home from a sale but he manage to squeeze in a picture with our little man. We enjoyed having Nana here with us and we were happy to see Uncle Bob! We love our special guests.

Here are a few pictures of Nana and Eddie:

 We had a great time learning how to play marco polo:

 And Andi looking cute after her big brother put his hat on her:

 Eddie and Uncle Bob:

 And to finish off the month we got to be special guests at Peepaw's high school football team's game at the Brown's Stadium. Eddie and Ed were given a field pass to hang out with Peepaw and watch the game up close. Watching a game on the big field was a neat experience for all of us!

 Andi even found a great seat in the shade around the 50 yard line! And she was treated like a very special guest by all who were seated around us!

July~In Review

What happened to July? Really? What the heck happened to July? I can't believe we are already two weeks into August and that I go back to work in just one short week. July felt like the fast and the furious around here as did my maternity leave. And although our time off together is coming to an end I am looking forward to fall, football Sundays, cooking meals for the week ahead, the routine of the work week, and the weekends with my family after a long week at work. I am not, however, looking forward to taking both of my children back to daycare :( 

During the month of July we were able to finish up our t-ball season, take a trip to the beach, make the haul up to my husband's family's cabin in PA, and finish off the month with a trip to IdleWild Amusement Park. Our sweet little Andi did not make the trip to the beach or to IdleWild (thank you Nana for coming to stay with Andi), but she did make her first trip to the cabin with us and was an angel pretty much the whole time. Here are some pictures of our summer:

Last t-ball game of the season with Peepaw and Grandma Mueller:

Trip to the beach with mom:

  

 Riding the wheeler with dad up at the cabin:

 Andi Jo hanging out with Papa at the cabin:

 Me riding the beast up at the cabin:

 On the mountain with dad:

 My sweet little Minnie Mouse Andi Jo getting so big:

 Jumping in the balls at Idlewild, one happy boy:

 Sitting in the old school house at Story book forest:

Hanging with dad at Story book Forest: