Fancy Girls

This morning the girls' friends, Lauren and Sarah, came over to play. They always have fun dressing up in our variety of costumes and accessories.

Four movie stars.

Sienna refuses to flip her glasses over.

Sienna is so proud of the outfit she put together. Now she's a fancy doctor who kept listening to my heartbeat.

An Angel Named Wilma

I love decorating our Christmas tree. My mom saved and kept a list of every ornament I received or made from the time I was born. Once I moved away and started decorating my own tree, I had quite a collection. I love looking through all of the ornaments each year because they bring back so many wonderful memories. My friend, Mindy, in particular, has given me ornaments to commemorate every major event in my life since I got engaged. The tree gets a little more crowded every year as we collect more ornaments, but I love it! This year the girls enjoyed hanging up their own ornaments. Sienna hung all of hers on the very bottommost branches.

The breakable ones go up high!

When we celebrated our first Christmas in this house two years ago, Mike suggested that the angel that we put on top of the tree should be named Wilma. I told him at the time that the name would stick and it has! Our friend, Tom's, family had a Christmas tradition that his dad would always lift Tom up to put the angel on top of their tree. Although they built a new house a few years ago and now have a 9' Christmas tree, I just learned that they still carry on a modified version of this tradition. Apparently, Tom and his dad climb up a two-sided ladder and place "Susie" the angel on top of the tree. Mike liked this idea, so he has started doing this with our girls. Wilma is always the last thing we put on the tree. Now that we have two kids who want to put the angel on the tree, we had to do a little tag-team angel placing this year. Sienna got Wilma close to the top of the tree and and Isabella had the honor of placing Wilma on the top branch.

As Isabella said, "Wilma is bowing!"

That's better!

The finished product!

Thanksgiving visit

We spent a fun Thanksgiving weekend in Erie with Grandma, Papa, Aunt Tracy, Trevor and Sydney. Unfortunately, Uncle Jeff had to work, so he wasn't able to join us.

Almost everyone

Grandma, Papa & grandkids

Grandma & her "Babydoll", Sienna
We spent Friday afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese's. You might think that it's a place for young kids, but the teenagers and adults enjoyed a competitive Ski Ball tournament!

Sienna, Aunt Tracy & Isabella with their hard-earned prizes Sydney and Trevor used their tickets to get Isabella a princess purse. What nice cousins!
We celebrated an early Christmas on Saturday before we headed home. In addition to lots of great presents, Isabella and Sienna got their very own Dunkin' Donuts gift cards from Uncle Jeff! They'll each get to pick out a couple goodies!

Mike got a balloon animal kit from Trevor. He couldn't resist trying it out when we got home!

Isabella is waiting for the balloon to pop!

Not bad for the first try!

Anyone need an entertainer for an upcoming party? I'll rent him out for a minimal fee.

Happy Thanksgiving (tomorrow)...

...from our two turkeys to yours! We're off to Erie tonight for a few days. Enjoy the holiday!

Can you tell that Sienna wasn't thrilled about putting on her turkey hat? "It's too itchy!"

Visit to the Dentist

Isabella just had her third visit to the dentist today. Last summer I took her for an introductory visit where the hygienist, Maryann, let her pick out a new toothbrush and some goodies (the most important part), showed her around the office, and counted Isabella's teeth. Maryann emphasized the importance of taking it slow with children since we want to build a comfortable and lifelong relationship with the dentist. At that time, Isabella didn't want Maryann to do more than count her teeth.

June 2006

Introductory visit to the dentist

This past May Isabella went for her first official cleaning. (I forgot my camera so I only have the polaroid that Maryann took) That time Isabella sat on my lap and allowed Maryann to count her teeth and clean them. Isabella even let her use the little scraper (the part that I totally hate). She told me afterwards that it didn't even hurt! Isabella was also introduced to "Mr. Thirsty"-the suctioning device that you hold. She got a kick out of that and had a really good experience. She talked about Mr. Thirsty for a long time after that.

I had my dental cleaning a few weeks ago and Isabella was disappointed that it wasn't her turn. Today she looked forward to going back for her own appointment. Before we left, Isabella asked me why the suctioning tool is called Mr. Thirsty and not Mrs. Thirsty!! (Aren't you proud, Aunt Katy?) I told her that was a great question and I suggested that she ask Maryann. Isabella asked her, and she said that Isabella is only the second child in 30 years to ever ask that question! She said that the other child suggested that it be called Mrs. Sippy. Isabella sat in the chair all by herself and was very cooperative for her cleaning and fluoride treatment. This time Sienna came along to watch and Isabella set a very good example of how to behave at the dentist!

Ready to go!

Cleaning the teeth

Family Feast

This afternoon we all went to Isabella's "Family Feast" at school. The children decorated Native American headbands and Pilgrim hats. They also made homemade banana bread, cranberry bread and butter to share with their families!

Isabella's class on their way to the feast

Isabella and Sarah with their hats and turkeys
Family Photo

After we drew pictures of something we are thankful for (our family, of course!), the children recited a Thanksgiving poem that had sign language to go with it.

We give our thanks to you today.

For everything you do and say.

We love you so,

from our heads to our toes.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Sienna tried on Isabella's headband.

Every time she said, "Achoo!," the headband slid down over her eyes.

Sienna gets a bear hug from Lily!

After the feast the children went back to their classroom for one more circle time.

Sienna got to sit with all of the big kids!

Finally, all of the children made pasta necklaces before they headed home.

Blustery Day

It was a very windy day on Friday. The girls and I hung out at home all morning until Isabella had to go to school in the afternoon. At one point, I told Sienna to check out the trees in our backyard swaying in the wind. She said, "The trees are dancing!" A little while later I was in the kitchen when I heard a loud crack. I looked out our kitchen window just in time to see a HUGE tree limb come down across our entire backyard! Surprisingly, it missed the fence, our house, the deck and Mike's newly built shed. Thank goodness noone was in our yard at the time!

This is what is left of the tree. The entire left side of the V came down.

I had to take this picture from Isabella's bedroom window in order to get the whole limb in the frame.

Mike had an excuse to use his chainsaw.

The girls helped to stack the wood. Don't worry, the chainsaw is turned off!

Mike also got to use his ax.

Luckily, he split the wood and not his leg!

The girls had fun once I raked up all the leaves!

Pumpkin Carving Contest

Every year since Mike and I have been married (7 years now), we have done an informal pumpkin carving contest of some sort between the two of us. We're both very competitive and serious about this stuff! For the past two years, we e-mailed the pictures to friends and family and had people vote on their favorite pumpkin. This year my pumpkin won by a landslide. After a few late entries the final tally was 58-20! Mike thought it wasn't fair that I used a stencil and he drew his free-hand. (Apparently, some of my mother-in-law's male co-workers thought the same thing which is why Mike ended up with as many votes as he did!) As I told him, we both had the exact same resources and tools. He just chose not to use them because he got lazy! Next year we will open up our contest to anyone who would like to participate. May the best carver win!!

2007 winner! Ghosts carved by Liz.

Runner-up. Pirate carved by Mike.

Last year we both used stencils and pumpkin carving tools (thanks, Sydney!). Mike's carving won since some people thought it was scarier for Halloween. I don't remember the tally, but it was much closer last year!

2006 winner. Skeleton carved by Mike.
A close second. Bat carved by Liz.

For Halloween in 2005, Sienna was only a couple of months old and we hadn't been in our house for very long. We got lazy with the carving that year, but you can see who our pumpkin scooper was (and still is). Isabella and I scoop out the pumpkins every year. I imagine that Sienna will be more actively involved next year. Mike won't scoop out his own pumpkin because he thinks it's too gross. This is coming from the guy who gets upset when someone won't put their own bait on the hook when they're fishing. I think there should be some sort of penalty for not completing the entire pumpkin carving (and scooping) experience!

Pumpkins 2005

My pumpkin is on the top left and I just made a silly smiley face. Mike carved "#1Dad" into his pumpkin (top right). He also carved"Hi" into Isabella's pumpkin, and I gave Sienna's a happy face, too. Not very creative but at least they were carved in time for Halloween.

I don't have any digital pictures from our previous contests, but in 2003, Mike carved "Sox '04" along with a hand giving a thumbs up. As any of our local friends and Red Sox fans will tell you, the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004 and broke the "Curse of the Bambino." Mike is still proud of himself for predicting that win!

Last of the Halloween Activities

Every year our town does a huge Halloween parade. We've gone to watch the past two years, but this year Isabella and I rode on the MOMS Club float. Mike and Sienna went to watch the parade and Sienna collected tons of candy.

It's finally Halloween day!

Isabella (and Sienna's belly) and our carved pumpkins

Four glowing pumpkins and two silly girls

Isabella came down with a fever that afternoon. Luckily, her medicine kicked in before it was time to trick-or-treat, but she only went to a couple houses. She also chose to wear her Tigger costume since it was warmer than the fairy costume.

Here are the girls with their friends, Luke and John.

Kate (our neighbor) and Isabella

Halloween 2006

Ladybug, Man with the Yellow Hat and Curious George
Halloween 2005

This is the second year that Isabella was a ladybug.

Sienna, the happy pea pod

Halloween 2004

I made this ladybug costume which is why you see it twice on Isabella and once on Sienna.

If we have a third girl, it will probably make another appearance in the future!
Halloween 2003

Isabella really didn't like wearing this costume but I loved dressing her up!!