Blake's First Party Invite

Blake got invited to Ava's birthday party last Saturday, who is an adorable 3 year-old at his in-home daycare.  The location was at the River Hill center next to the pool.  His mother did an AMAZING job decorating the party space in a carnival theme.

Check out the pictures...  (notice I didn't take any of the other kids...  I didn't want to look like too much of a 'party stalker' taking all of these pics!)

The boys were coloring personalized circus paper which read Ava's 3rd Birthday

Photo Booth and a silly lion

The superheroes played with the animal ball toss

AMAZING!!  Such detail and color coordination.  The cupcakes and water bottles all had personal labels on them, and there were even Animal Crackers and Cracker Jacks snack bags not he table as well.

Cotton candy centerpieces...  Colton loved it!

Little guy doing the ball toss

Ledo's Pizza and water with striped straws

Goody 'Bags' complete in a carnival theme

We got to take cupcakes home to daddy

I LOVE reading blogs and seeing pictures of party decorations.  But my theory for most things these days is back to KISS...  keep it simple stupid.  I appreciated all of the time and creativity that went into this party, but doubt I will be able to top this at all.  Hats off to Ava!

15 Month Appointment

Blake had his 15 month check up last week, and Mimi joined us at the doctor's office.

Blake got weighed as usual.  He is almost 25 pounds already (Colton is currently 33 pounds).  I thinks when Blake is up and walking, he will lose some of his chub.

"I weigh HOW much?!?" 

 Blake (as I put before) is still not walking.  He has only crawled a handful of times, and gets around by scooting on his butt.  On Oct 23rd he pulled up for the first time.  Below is a picture of him after he pulled up on a new toy.

We are going to meet with people from an infant and toddler program in our county soon, so they can assess his progress.  He had his blood work done last week, which ruled out MS, so that highly relieved Eric and I.  But his pediatrician recommended we get some PT so he can "be on his feet" quickly.

Halloween 2012

The superheroes celebrated Halloween twice this year.  On the Friday before the holiday, we went trick-or-treating in our local shopping center.  How cute are Batman and Robin?

Ahhhh...  he would yell at me for posting this if he could talk  ;)

On Halloween night, we decided to trick-or-treat with some neighborhood friends...  easy and we got back home in time to pass some candy out around 7:45.

Taken on our front porch.  Colton and Blake are in the back row

Andrew and Colton as Captain America(s)

The superheroes after trick-or-treating.  Can you tell someone would rather eat his candy then take a picture?!?

Well, the costumes weren't very original, and I sorta feel bad that they didn't have the experience of going to a store to pick out 'new' costumes.  But...  with about 20 costumes in their rooms ready to wear, they were content with their choices.


Hmmmm...  I wonder what they will be next year?

Frankenstorm

We made it through our first hurricane last night.  Hurricane Sandy starting sweeping through the east coast:    (here)

Colton's school was closed both yesterday and today, and Blake's was closed just today (his daycare provider was not feeling well today, so he is chillin' at home with the rest of the fam).

Yesterday, Eric and I took Colton bowling.  We got to the alley around 10:30 and paid for 2 games each.  Thankfully we got a chance to finish up right in time, since they decided to close at noon in preparation for the storm to come through our town.

How cute is my little bowler?!?

The bumpers automatically came up the sides each time he bowled...  so convenient!

Colton and Daddy looked outside to feel the heavy winds...

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And here's Blake trying to check out the weather as well.

Luckily, we didn't lose any power, but millions unfortunately did along the east coast.  Well, we have a day at home to chill out, make crafts, work on Colton's workbooks, and Blake has his 15 month doctor appointment today.

Hope you and your family stayed safe!

Fall Vacay

The fam and I just took a(nother) trip down to Florida.  I really didn't think the trip would be in the cards for me, since I just started my new job 2 months ago.  But, thankfully I have a really cool principal who let me take 2 days off.

Blake and I spent 2 days at our favorite friend's house in Florida, who I will call the A's (Colton and Daddy were still at home.  They planned to fly down a day later in anticipation of me not getting to come down to Florida at all...  and poop on Air Tran for their $75 change of flight fee in addition to the higher flight cost!)  The A's, consist of my girlfriend, Juanita, her husband, Steve (who Eric and I call "the nicest guy in the world"), and their six children;  Ainsley (9), Isabelle (9), Phoebe (7), Schuyler (6), Tripp (4) and Sebastian (2)...  oh and their new doggie, Rusty.

The kids want another baby (which is not happening according to J and S), so they gave Blake a huge welcome when we first arrived.

top row left to right:  Sebastian, Ainsley, Phoebe
middle row left to right:  Isabelle, Blake, Schuyler
bottom row:  Tripp

They A's just bought their home last month, so my mission was to help them unpack as much as possible and offer any decorating tips if they needed any.  They have been living in homes less than 1/2 the size in the past, so this was a fun project to help out with!

This is their new home.  It is GORGEOUS, besides my little economy car parked out front!

Saturday evening, Eric and Colton came in town, and we checked into our hotel.  Since we have season passes to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, we decided to stay on their property.  Our hotel gave us early entrance admission to Islands of Adventure and Express Passes throughout the day (and I got to ride the new Harry Potter ride and only waited 5 minutes!)

Our hotel was built to resemble Portofino, Italy

We went to the amusement parks a few times (and Colton was 42" this time, even without his special shoes from a previous blog post (here)), our pool (The A's minus Sebastian and a sick Steve even met us one day) and hung out with Eric's twin brother and family who were also staying at our hotel.


Here are some more pictures:

Schuyler (Colton's 'crush') and Colton

Tripp and Colton

Isabelle cooling down in the pool

After the pool, the kids played in the piazza before heading to dinner

Tripp, Colton and Phoebe heading up to the restaurant

...and stopping on the steps to pose

Colton even had Spiderman sign his shirt at Islands of Adventure!

Blake and I, and Erika (my s.i.l) and Keilan flew home early, while the hubbys and older boys stayed for a few more days.  Here are the brousins at the airport on the way home.  Do you see any resemblance?

What FUN place have you been to lately?

Six Flags

I LOVE spending one-on-one time with my oldest superhero.  Now that summer is over, we don't have our Tuesday "dates" anymore together.

Blair invited us as her guests with herself and her family (mom, 2 sisters, nephew Carson (4) and niece Emily (19 months) to Six Flags on Sunday.  Eric decided to stay home with Blake (thank you hubby!), so that Colton and I could ride all of the "big boy" rides together.

Sunday morning, the fam spent time making an airplane out of Toobies, before we left to meet Blair's family to carpool to the amusement park.

Colton is proud of our airplane! (check out the little superhero playing ball with Daddy)

Here are pictures from our day.  I wish I had taken some of Blair and her family, but we were so wrapped up in the kids!

Colton loves sitting in the front of mini roller coasters.  I couldn't stop laughing for some reason getting bumped around the track  ;)

Colton "winning" his prize...  a Flash cape

Colton and Emily...  yes, she really is only 19 months!

Colton and Carson playing the piano at our restaurant in the park

Me and my baby in the sun...  drying off after getting soaked on a water ride

My pilot taking me for a ride on a Batman helicopter

The kiddos on a train ride w-a-i-t-i-n-g for the ride to start

And dinner at McDonald's.  I was STARVING and felt like I could eat any amount of calories running around the park all day.

Thanks for reading about our day!!  In a few weeks, the fam and I are going back down to Florida to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  Until then, this was a great local park to have some fun at!

http://www.sixflags.com/national/index.aspx

Dutch Wonderland

Yesterday, we took Juliana and Colton to Dutch Wonderland, while Blake spend the day in his new daycare.  Dutch Wonderland is an amusement park I used to go to as a kid, with rides good for ages 8 and under (PERFECT!!)

The kids (and Eric and I) had such a fun day.  Juliana and Colton went on all kinds of rides, and even spent time in their watermark going on many watersides.

Here are some pictures from our day...

(or... here's Juliana at our house the day before we left for the park...  golfing with Colton)

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They rode this coaster at least 15 times!  And LOVED sitting in the front and putting their hands in the air.

I rode these swings with them once.  I don't have it in me anymore for  rides that go in a circle  ;)

Dutch Wonderland is located in Amish Country Lancaster, Pennsylvania:

http://www.dutchwonderland.com/