Watch him grow

9 Months old - no teeth, bootie scooting but not crawling, 20 lbs 1 oz, 28 3/4 in. tall
10 Months Old - 2 teeth, crawling, standing against something (if we put him there)

11 Months old - 4 teeth, crawling at high speed, pulling up on anything that stands still long enough, 22 lb, 14 oz

Home in time for the national news

I started my new job today. After orientation I spent most of my day reading, learning the policies behind my new position. I used to be a legal assistant specializing in bringing employees into the US to work for corporations. I now work for one of those corporations, assisting in bring those employees in the Americas (start at Canada and go all the way down). I will handle not only liaising with the immigration attorneys (my old firm, how cool is that?), but also the tax accountants, relocation companies, and working directly with the employees to manage their expectations of their transfers.

The commute is a dream after the hour+ I spent getting to downtown and the 1 1/2 I spent getting home. It took me 45 minutes to get home today - that included a trip to Kroger to pick up some missing groceries!

Homework buddies

This was just too cute for words when it happened back in September. Kathryn had a ton of homework and decided to do it in the dining room. Laney had "homework" - a tracing sheet to help her draw curves for letters. And of course, she had to go do it at the dining table with Sissy!

Homecoming

Ah, Homecoming. An excuse to spend money on ribbons and trinkets and jingle in the hallway at school.

Kat had (in order of the picture): a garter for her best bud (yep, girls are wearing them now), a mum made by me, and a double mum from her date. We nicknamed the last one "Mega Mum".

The garter Kat made for her date.Here's her homecoming dress - yep, that's the old house - it was also her prom dress. I forgot to take pictures without her date for the blog.

Halloween

We spent Halloween afternoon at the pumpkin patch run by a local horseback club (they specialize in horse therapy, it's super cool)

Laney got a pony ride and Alex got his picture take on the pony

My punkins with the pumpkins

Here's Kat's costume - she spent the afternoon working a church Trunk or Treat with a friend

Laney, Alex and my friend Enis' dog, Peter all dressed & ready to Trick or Treat

Dear Chris,

And anyone else who is still paying attention. I am alive. We're all doing well.

I have pictures of Alex turning 9 months & 10 months old and updates on his progress.

I have pictures of Kat & Elena doing homework together.

I have pictures of homecoming mums, a trip to the zoo & halloween costumes (Alex = Monkey, Elena = Belle, Kat = Kairi from Kingdom Hearts)

I also have a 10 month old, a 4 year old, a 16 year old and a lot of excuses for not turning on my lap top at night.

And for one more day I have my current job.

Yup, after 7 years, I gave notice 2 weeks ago. I will start my new job in week. I am excited. I am nervous. I am sad. I love my co-workers. I love my job. But I have been offered a position 14 miles closer to my house that is sort of a promotion (I am changing fields to a certain degree) with a raise and good benefits.

And hopefully I will post some of those above mentioned photos during my week off.

Heather

First day of school

The junior
The pre-k'er

Our girls

The school asked the pre-k kids to have a backpack large enough to keep their nap stuff in it. We got her a new one and it's nearly as big as she is! It was particularly full on the first day since she had all of her supplies in it too. She gets to leave those at school day to day.

So far after nearly 2 weeks pre-K & junior year are going well

Wordless Wednesday - 5 birthdays

One of these things is a lot like the other

My boys - already dressing a like. They decided to rock the casual Hawaiian shirt look for church last Sunday. ( I love that Rob also decided they needed to pose the same)
And this picture is just cute

Daddy Ron hair?

When Alex was born my mother examined his crown and wondered if he might just have hair like my father - Daddy Ron hair. My dad has this notorious lock of hair that will not lay down without a lot of encouragement.

Alex woke up like this a few weeks ago.
It was the first time I had to use a brush on the boy.

And we just wondered - is it Daddy Ron hair?

If I can get ahold of one, I will post a comparison photo.

House pics

At long last, some photos of our new place:
The kitchen

The living room:

The dining room:

These are the rooms we have "done". We still don't have much on the walls. Eventually I will post pics of the kids rooms & the upstairs game room which are also mostly done. The master bedroom is nowhere near done, it'll probably be the last thing done with the exception of being able to park in our garage again (for the very first time).

Last day of Turtles & Ready for band season

Thursday was Elena's last day in 3 year old class - the Turtles. Here she is with her fantastic teacher, Ms. Linda. Since I am running behind, first day of school pics are coming soon.

Friday was the annual preview performance for the marching band. Alex was ready with his new outfit
He wasn't overwhelmingly impressed with the band - but Laney had a great time watching her "band".

8 month old pictures

Or how to play catch up

Here are Alex's Toby pictures from August 4. We took them in what has commonly become known as the "man cave" around our house - the play tent. Alex has learned to love this place, especially the shape sorter "mail box".

He was about 18 lbs at the beginning of the month (he's 19 now). He's still eating like a trooper, but we discovered that he won't eat any baby food with more than 2 ingredients. He prefers his food simple. He does not crawl - but he can roll all over the place. He also has yet to have a tooth break through even though he's had plenty of teething symptons. He'd also had his first ear infection by his 8 month birthday. Now he's had two more. He loves to play with blocks, eat books and bang anything together as long as it results in a loud noise. Hard to believe it's only two weeks to his 9 month birthday.

Weekend update

Mom is the mountains and occasionally checking the web so I thought I'd try to be more consistent with the blogging.

We've had a semi-productive weekend. We moved the kitchen table (a rectangle) into the dining room and moved the dining room table (a circle in its smallest form) into the kitchen. In order to do this, I unpacked the last few kitchen boxes and moved a lot of boxes around.

We also finished the DVD organization. Probably a good thing not very many movies have come out lately that we like enough to buy. Same with TV series.

I cleared the mantle of random hardware and put the 8 x 10 pictures of the kids up. In the process I loaded the most recent pics into the frames. Turns out I never sent any of Laney's 3 year old pictures out - I still have the grandparent 5 x7s and full sheets of wallets meant for family and friends. Oops.

Laney's room is officially unpacked. I am almost afraid to say that in case there is one sneaky box hiding somewhere. We went through the hand me downs - washed some, put some in drawer ready for cooler weather, hung up the dresses and put the rest away in a plastic tub. Her room is done, with the exception of wall art. I have a poster & a painting to hang and I bought her some new Princesses for her walls. That'll just have to wait until most of the boxes are gone.

The initial round of school supplies is purchased. I don't have a list yet for Laney, that will most likely be issued in her first week. I bought Kat the basics - pens, pencils, folders. We'll still have to buy the random essential items required by her teachers. Most likely at least one item will require a trip to a specialty store.

Alex is learning to clap. One of the ladies in the church nursery mentioned it to me (the same one who convinced him to hold his own bottle). He doesn't get both hands together every time, but he is definitely working on it.

Laney swam without her life jacket today. She was kicking around the pool with just the noodle. I am ready to try to get her float belt like they used in swimming lessons last year.

Band camp starts tomorrow.

My boss & my coworker are back from vacation (they didn't go together, just at the same time). Hallelujah. It was a little nuts last week.

I think that covers it.

I think it may be time for an intervention . . .

Tonight's project was moving these DVDs
Into these boxes.

I think it was around 180 discs, but several movies were 2-disc sets. Bonus phrase - we alphabetize and this will make it easier to add new movies.

Still to come - filing the kids movies in the upstairs game room:

And finding some place to put the series (we have several already in binders):

And this doesn't count VHS - which we still watch. Help us.

Lake Whitney

Ah the best laid plans - the original idea was a three day weekend at the beach in Lala Land for Rob, the kids and me. But Lala had midterms, so we changed to location to Lake Whitney to stay with my parents. Then one of Rob's clients scheduled a major software install for the weekend we were due to leave so that left me & the kids. I braved the 4 hour drive and off we went. It was worth it.

Friday afternoon was rainy. Laney was desperate to go for a walk so my parents took her and her umbrella for a walk (while I got a short nap)
Saturday we headed to the pool - how cute are these two!

Laney did not like the pool at first. After quite some time we finally got her out in the deeper part of the pool paddling around and playing with the splash balls. Alex, on the other hand, took to the water immediately. He thought it was fantastic and splashed more than he ever has before.

Saturday evening my parents took Laney out in the red boat aka the canoe. Laney has been curious about the canoe sent it spent several days in our backyard about a year ago.

Alex seeing his sister off

Mama Janie & Laney in the canoe

Off they go!

The kiddos in Mama Janie & Daddy Ron's hide-a-bed Sunday morning.

We went back to the pool on Sunday before we left for home. Laney actually took off on her own a few times. The noodle keeps her life jacket from flipping her backwards (which it is designed r.to do for emergencies) and helps her navigate in the water.

Daddy Ron & Alex

The pool got to be a little much for my little mister and he crashed in a chaise lounge.

My little swimmer

The following Sunday we took Daddy to the pool in our neighborhoood so he could see the Elena swim and Alex splash.