Christmas house

We got the house ready for Christmas on the last weekend of November.  It was weird to put up things in a new house and try to figure out where everything should go.  Also in the new house the kitchen is fully separate and had no decorations. And we had to move the armchair around to put the tree in the room.  Although the family room is huge, the couch is also huge and doesn't allow for a tree in many places in that room. 

A warm and cozy room...no stocking for Henry yet. 

Ella, our new Elf on the Shelf

Full time crawler!

Henry is crawling like CRAZY!! He started off slowly, of course, then he figured out how to crawl and then sit up.  Now he is pulling himself up on things, and fully crawling all over the house very quickly.  It's definitely more tiring for Mike and I, but at the same time, he wears himself out more and has better naps.  He does get into trouble though, and we need to pull him away from stairs a lot, as well as lamps and cords.

He's so happy crawling around and exploring.  It's hard for him to sit with any toys for any length of time.  I think that'll come when the crawling thing becomes old.  I'm glad we didn't buy many toys for Christmas.  The girls just love the crawling. They don't want him to grow up.

Grandma Val visit

At the beginning of December, Grandma Val came to visit while Mike was away in the Uk! Actually she arrived on a Wednesday and was at our house for a few days before he got  home.  So nice to have Grandma Val to come visit as well as help out...especially as Henry came down with croup.  We should have taken a picture of her with all 3 of the kids, but forgot! While she was here there were the normal things happening, school, etc., but we also managed to go to the craft show...well, the girls (Maura, Amanda, Val, and I), and Henry.  

Grandma Val and Henry at the craft show.  He was so good.  

Another couple of pics of Henry at the craft show:

Of course it was sad to say goodbye, to Grandma Val but we knew we'd see her in 2 months in Florida! Woohoo!!!

more randomness...

Buying greenery for Christmas planters...seems strange when you're wearing a t-shirt

Watching the first snow fall

First significant snowfall

Totally randoms..

First cereal 

Costumes at dance class

Paige's black eye after she smashed it on her bed 

New monogrammed stroller blanket handmade in burlington

Scouts new backpack.  She carries stuff in it to give her more exercise, as well as humiliate her and attempt to slow her down and stop chasing squirrels...

Paige's sick day from school--turns out she wasn't sick at all.  Oh well. 

enjoying the atmosphere of a toasty fire

Rose has been interested in learning letters.  She made a "P" out of her toys. 

Baby sitter

I have found an awesome baby sitter.  In last year's gymnastics class there was a little girl Scarlett who went to the class with a nanny.  I always though she was an amazing nanny.  Very patient, etc. As the girls were in the same class for the year I got to talk to the many quite a bit.  Her nanny family had to lay her off in the summer when the mom went on mat leave.  When she found a new family to work for they only needed her morning and then later afternoon.  That means she is free in the morning.  Soooo, I have had her come over a couple of times to watch Rose and Henry while I did some long overdo tidy up in the basement from our move.  Purged some clothes, found our Christmas decorations, and organized some stuff.  Literally there was no time over the past 4 months to get it done.  At any rate I am so happy to have a person around if ever needed.  She is getting really busy, as word has gotten out about her awesomeness.

Wer werk

I wanted to post this as to not forget Rose's talking.  She is 3 and a half now, and she can say most of her sounds now.  She does have a bit of trouble with R's at the beginning of words, but generally says things properly.  A word she has hung onto for so long, even though she would be capable of saying it correctly, is her word for yogurt--"wer were".  So cute.

6 months so far...

6 month photo shoot....

A few new things this month...

He has perfected sitting, with few fall overs.

He has started solids--Rice cereal, oat cereal, pears, creamed corn, peas, sweet potato...

And, 3 days ago he started to crawl!

The crawling was too much for me...I feel like he is growing up too fast.

Also, he has started to sleep amazing...we're talking 10 hour stretches without a peep sometimes ...if not usually.  I feel like 6 months was the turning point for all of the kids in terms of sleeping...but I don't really want to check in case that was true and then they started sleeping bad again....

Halloween

A wonderfully warm Halloween this year.  It was strange to be in a new house.  I bought large size chocolate bars as we were (mis)informed that we would have about 30 trick or treaters.  We had double that and totally ran out of candy and had to shut off the lights.  Rose was the youngest trick or treater on the street and we had mainly older kids.  I missed the cute little ones from the old house.  It was nice to have an excuse to meet some of the neighbours on the street.  

Rose at preschool with her BFF Claire. 

Preparing the candy

An Angry Bird

A red fox

A spooky house.  With the flashing eyes skull we were the spookiest on the street. Ooooooh

Tired and counting the candy

Sitting up and early attempts at crawling...

Henry started sitting up at 5 months, and when I finally got around to sorting through some boxes in the basement I found the perfect pillow to keep him from falling over and hurting himself. 

Henry started to crawl much like I remember Rose crawling--tiny scoots backwards.  For instance, in this next photo, he started off in front of the toys and after a few minutes was at the wall.

Scout is constantly trying to get at him to lick his face. 

Trying downward dog to see if that will get him anywhere.

He started to get very proficient at swivelling around on his tummy to get toys as well. That's another thing that happened around turning 6 months...he really started to take an interest in toys.