November 25, 2006 - Fun outside.

It was one of those nice days that we had been having, so Paul took the kids outside to get some fresh air and he got the sleds and Christmas decorations out of the attic in the garage. Gabrielle decided to ride the santa train, and Nicholas apparently decided the train would pull his sled very well. They had fun with their sleds even though there was no snow (little did we know the snow wasn't far behind). Watching them play in their sleds did, however, make us realize that we needed new sleds for both of them. Allison will get Gabrielle old one and the blue one can go away until next year.

November 20, 2006- Preschool Thanksgiving Program

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November 13, 2006

You've heard of "Monkey See, Monkey Do", well at our house we seem to have "Sister See, Sister Do".

For quite some time, Allison has tried to copy the big kids. She puts her clothes in the hamper, puts her dishes in the dishwasher and stuff like that. Well, recently she has become especially enamored with her big sister. Whatever Gabrielle does, Allison has to do to, as you can see in the previous post with her having to have the hood of her sweatshirt on.

I always do Gabrielle's hair with her sitting on the bathroom counter with her feet in the sink, Allison has now decided that she needs to do the same thing AT THE SAME TIME. If you spray Gabrielle's hair with water, you HAVE to spray Allisons. The same goes for hairspray and everything else. Until the other day, I could get away with pony or pigtails in Gabrielle's hair and just putting a couple of barretts in Allisons. As you can see in the pictures below Allison was absolutely insistant on having ponytails too....she was shoving the hair rubberbands at me until I gave in. I started the task thinking it was useless, but low and behold I managed to get 2 tiny little pigtails in her hair. She is now so proud to be, once again, like her big sister.

November 12, 2006 -
Baking Cookies in our new Sweatshirts

On Saturday, I spent the day with 4 other friends from the neighborhood at the outlet mall in Howell, MI. We had a lot of fun. I got new sweatsuits for the girls and a couple of sweatshirts for Nicholas from the Carter's outlet. I got quite a bit of other things too, but that is besides the point. Anyway, Sunday when the kids found out what I bought they had to wear their new duds of course. We were baking cookies in the afternoon and Gabrielle decided to pull her hood up over her head. The next thing I new Allison did the same thing. It was really cute. Sunday afternoon, the kids and me usually do some type of baking, so I got some pictures of them helping add the ingredients to the mixing bowl.

November 7, 2006 - Gabrielle's Turns 3!

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November 3, 2006 - Mama's Little Helper
Gabrielle has decided that the dust buster type vacuum we got to clean up the wood floors after meals is just her size. Recently, she has decided that she wants to vacuum after dinner.

October 31, 2006 - Halloween Fun

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October 30, 2006 - A Nice Day, to enjoy the outdoors...will we get any more?

October 23, 2006 - Class Field Trip to Nelson's Farm Market in Grant

Getting his pumpkin to make into a Jack O'Lantern - they got to take the biggest one Papa could carry all part of the cost of the field trip.
Picking apples.....Some Apple Cider.....

October 23, 2006 You can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man!

Just had to share this, because I thought it was so cute. The other day, Gabrielle was running around the house with Allison on her heals. All the while she just kept yelling..."you can't catch
me I'm the gingerbread man!"

October 20, 2006 - In the words of Dora the Explorer -
"We did it, We did it, We did it, Hooray!"

Well, we are calling Gabrielle officially potty trained, and so....last week Friday she got to go with us to Target to pick out her long awaited Dora Doll. (She got big sister Dora which comes with two babies, food and a bottle, so she can take care of them). She has only had 2 accidents in her pants over the past week and just seems to have figured out this whole potty training thing like an old pro!

Nicholas' Preschool Pictures Arrived Yesterday!

October 2006 - Fire Safety Month

Watch the videoFire Safety Month 2006

We went to a couple of fire safety events this year.

First, we attended for the first time an annual Fire Truck Parade in Eggleston Township which is over by our church. The parade itself was short, so we saw it at the beginning of the parade route and then moved to a different location at the end of the route to see it again. After the parade, all of the trucks were on display at the fire station for the kids to explore and climb on.

Then, on Saturday they had an annual fire safety event in for the townships of Chester, Moorland and Ravenna at the Ravenna High School. We were really excited because they were going to have a visit from AeroMed. However, when AeroMed was 3 minutes away it got called away to a bad accident in Conklin. Right after that, one of the fire trucks and one of the ambulances had to leave for the same call. We weren't able to stay and see if AeroMed got to come later because it was too COLD!!!! We did however, get to take Nicholas and Gabrielle into the fire safety house where they were taught to spot fire hazards in the house, and then they filled the bedroom with smoke and we had to crawl out the window and down the ladder to a waiting firefighter, and meet each other at a designated meeting spot where they could then practice calling 911.

October 14, 2006 - A walk in the woods

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There is a very nice park about 15 minutes from our house that we like to go to periodically throughout the spring and summer. It has a great playground, and it's on a lake with a swimming area so we occasionally take the kids swimming there also (the water is usually nice and warm because it is a small lake). Nicholas loves to walk in the woods and this park also has walking trails. He is constantly asking to walk on the trail, and we usually tell him we can't because it isn't stroller friendly and therefore, difficult to traverse with Allison being so young. So, with this being one of the few nice days we may have left Paul took Nicholas out for a father /son adventure on the walking trails while I took the girls on a shopping trip. Nicholas thoroughly enjoyed himself and even found himself a walking stick.

October 14, 2006 - Winter Coats, YUCK!!

Nicholas and Gabrielle both fit into there coats from last year, but Allison needed a new one. Good thing I went shopping for one this morning, because she needed it. It's nasty out there.

October 13, 2006 - Potty Training Round #2 (child #2)

Well, it took us a year to get Nicholas potty trained from start to finish, so we with another child on the way we decided that if we didn't get Gabrielle interested in the potty soon, that we would have 3 kids in diapers after the new baby is born. Not a good scenario when it comes to the pocket book. We braced ourselves for a long haul and started to prepare Gabrielle to begin.

We took her to the store and let her pick out her very own potty seat as she seemed to have no interest in what we already had. She picked out a pink and purple princess potty, then she got to pick out new underwear (My Little Pony), and pick out her treats. So, Monday morning we started. It was a rough start with wet pants everywhere, but we vowed not to go back to the pull-ups she's been wearing. Ended up making a quick run Monday morning to the 2nd hand store to pick up some extra pairs of sweat pants as she was running out of clothes quickly, having no comprehension of what was going on.

Day #1 - we did happen to catch a break several times and she actually pee'd during a time we had just decided she needed to sit there a while.

Day #2 - total disaster, 5 wet pants before lunch time and then she just didn't go all afternoon, however, in preparation for running an errand she did sit there right after dinner and she happened to go.

Day #3 - what a turn around, we started the day with a wet pants, but then mid morning in the middle of the basement she told Paul she had to go and took off upstairs. This was the start of a good thing. She began telling us she had to go, and we weren't forcing her to sit there. She started staying dry even with a pull-up on when we were shopping and then going on the potty when we got home.

Day #4 - Only one accident all day.

Day #5 - Only one accident all day.


We are now well into Day #6 and we haven't had an accident yet. Could it possibly be that we will have an easy potty training experience this time around? I hope so, and we will start praying already that round #3 and eventually round #4 go just as smoothly.

YEAH GABRIELLE, YOU ARE MAKING US PROUD!!

October 8, 2006 - Apparently, Allison thinks the kitchen drawer makes a good seat.

100706 - Pumpkin Patch 2006

Watch the videoOctober 7, 2006 Van Wesep Pumpkin Patch Trip 2006 Each year we head out to the pumpkin patch with our neighborhood friends. We have 9 kids under the age of 6 (with 2 more on the way). Unfortunately, 3 (and one on the way) of our friends will be moving down to Kalamazoo the beginning of November, so it was fun to watch the kids have so much fun together at least one more time. It is so neat to see the kids interact with each other in an environment where they are not usually together. It is also fun to see how much a difference in understanding of what is going on there is from year to year. Nicholas was totally into the apple picking, and then he had to make sure Allison got a pumpkin. Of course, the rest of the time he walked around eating a Honey Crisp apple that was almost as big as him.

October 4, 2006 - Can you tell this girl loves her pasta!


And then she even loads the dishwasher when she is done.

October 2, 2006 - Movin' on up!

Over the past few days, Allison has made it her new goal to get herself up into Nicholas and Gabrielle's booster seats at the table and sit there like a queen on her throne. So, at lunch time today I decided maybe Allison was ready to leave the high chair and move up to the table. I cleaned up our 3rd booster seat and it was if she knew exactly what I was doing. As I attached it to the chair, she was practically climbing in at the same time. She's movin' on up in the world with a new place at the table next to her big sister.