Family Picture - Spring 2012

boys don't come any cuter than this

NYC

I went on a quick trip to NYC last weekend with a friend and had a fantastic time.  It was fun to get away from life for a little while and do something adventurous.  We woke up early Friday morning and drove into Connecticut and then took the train into the city.  We saw a few sites, at a few yummy things, saw a show and then left on the train that night.  The next morning we woke up and walked to Target (you know you are a small town girl when that is what you want to do in a big city!) and then IKEA on the way home.  And after a day and a half away, it was great to come home to my kids and my wonderful husband (who was so proud of himself that they were all alive...and not a bug bite, tick or sunburn between them!)
Here are some of the highlights

The first thing we did was ride the subway down to Battery Park to see the statue of Liberty. We were thinking of taking the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue but the line was so dang long that we decided to just do the Staten Island Ferry. It was a fun little ride and we had a good view of the statue and the skyline.
 
After the ferry we were hungry and we happened upon a this yummy place to eat. We had a super yummy sandwich and a white pizza. Maybe I was starving, but that pizza was heaven!

I downloaded a NYC phone app that had some self guided walking tours on it and one was a cupcake crawl. After lunch we decided to pick one to try. Red velvet, lemon, chocolate, and chocolate peanut butter...yum.
We headed down into the heart of Manhatten and stopped by to meet the American Girl of the year...this picture was for Kate!


Rockefeller Center

Time's Square - We saw Nice Work if You Can Get It that night
We at at the Stardust Diner where aspiring Broadway actors are the servers and they take turns singing and dancing. It was a really fun place to sit, rest our feet and eat some food
For dessert we shared a frozen hot chocolate. Going to Serendipity for frozen hot chocolate is on my NYC to do list but we didn't make it there this time...so this counted instead! After dinner we went and saw Matthew Broderick in Nice Work if You Can Get It and it was fun. So fun! Then we walked through Times Square at night and headed home
Such a long, fun day! Throughout the day I kept getting texts with these pictures
Clara had never had a bottle before I left...I was just pumping like a mad woman to build up a supply beforehand and I just crossed my fingers she would take it. The kids were so excited to feed her a bottle ever since I started saving my milk and she took to the bottle like a champ! Ryan also took Clara on her first hike in the backpack while I was gone. They hiked down to Quechee Gorge. So they were in good hands and having fun!

I sure missed these kiddos!

Clara - 6 months

Amidst all the craziness of her brother and sister's birthdays this baby turned 6 months old! Luckily she didn't notice that the milestone came and went without much celebration, but we made up for it with a little photo shoot in the gorgeous Vermont weather we are currently having. This girl just gets more fun every single day.

Her Dr appointment is this week (along with her brother and sister's well checks...guess who is going to be at the Dr all day long? ME!) so I'll update her stats after that.

Clara at 6 months:

- loves to eat. We started with the baby oatmeal and then green beans, carrots and sweet potatoes and she devours it all! She opens her mouth wide like a little bird and if it isn't coming fast enough, she'll let you know. She has since had pears, prunes, bananas and applesauce. I let Kate and Sawyer feed her once while I was finishing cooking dinner and now they ask to feed her every time.

- her skin looks so much better! We keep her well lotioned but she is one beautiful skinned little baby!

- she started shaking back and forth as if she is dancing to music. Kate sits behind her in the car and she loves to shake and then try and have Clara mimic her. I wonder if it is just an adorable little dance or if she is itchy and trying to scratch her head like a bear on a tree trunk. (the Dr warned us she might just have itchy skin, even if it isn't red and bumpy!) Either way, it is pretty cute.

  - sometimes when you are talking to Clara, she'll turn her head to the side like this

 it is pretty adorable

- she started clicking her tongue but she does it with her tongue sticking really far outside her mouth. She does it when she is happy or when you sing "I'm a nut" to her

- she still spits raspberries at you often - she isn't sleeping through the night regularly but she usually wakes up only once - she still falls asleep in her car seat all the time! The poor girl is often away from her bed and at an activity for one or both of her siblings so she has to.

- she still sleeps swaddled - - she has started to sit up om her own
- we all were a little sick this month with sore throats and I found Clara likes to make sure you know she's sick...wonder where she gets that from? Here she is letting the world know.

Clara, you are the happiest, most beautiful baby in the world and we love you so much! Now stop growing!

the day of Sawyer's birthday

We sure had a lot of birthday stuff going on all at once! Friday we celebrated Kate's birthday at her school, Saturday we went out to dinner at Lui Lui's to celebrate both of the kid's birthdays, Sunday was Kate's actual birthday and we had ice cream Sundaes to celebrate and Tuesday was Sawyer's birthday party. By Wednesday, his actual birthday, we had already celebrated so much! The day was pretty normal with swimming lessons and then getting to stay after and swim with his friends. Then his friend got to come over and play with him while her mommy and I sewed all afternoon. What more could a boy want? He had the night all planned out. First dinner, then a game, then presents, then ice cream. So that is what we did!

Here is the last picture of Sawyer taken as a 3 year old





















And swimming with his best friend

 

For dinner he had requested "tatoes and gravy and shiny meat."  I had interpreted that as a Sunday roast
 dinner...but when I put it on the table he informed me I was mistaken.  ooops!  He enjoyed it anyway. Then after dinner we played his favorite game, Sorry, and then unwrapped presents.  He got his first ever real baseball glove, a razor scooter and knee pads and elbow pads.  He had to really be talked into wearing the pads but if you know Sawyer, you know they are a must!  After presents we enjoyed a little ice cream and then got ready for bed.  Before he climbed into bed we marked his height on our family growth chart and it is amazing how much he has grown in the past 6 months!  He is one big, loveable boy! 

 

Interview with a 6 year old

What is your name?  Kate
How old are you? 6
What is your favorite color? hot pink
What is your favorite toy?  Barbies
What is your favorite thing to do? go to Disney World
What is your favorite place to go? to Disney World
What is your favorite movie? Tangled
What is your favorite tv show? Octonauts
Who loves you the most? you (mom)
What is your favorite book? Harold and the Purple Crayon, Rainbow Fairy books
What is your favorite dinner? spaghetti
What is your favorite snack? granola bars and apples
What are some things you can do now that you are 6 that you couldn't do when you were 5?  gymnastics

Interview with a 4 year old

 

What is your name? Sawyer

How old are you? 4

What is your favorite color? blue and orange

What is your favorite toy? my new ball with cars on it

What is your favorite thing to do? play games like sorry and puzzles

What is your favorite place to go? to Grammie's house

What is your favorite movie? Cars and Woody and Snow White

What is your favorite tv show? Jake and Octonauts

Who loves you the most? you (Mom)

What is your favorite book? Cars book

What is your favorite dinner? "sghetti", pizza, green pears, fruit snacks and green peppers

What is your favorite snack? applesauce and fruit snacks and cheese sticks and pears

What are some things you can do now that you are 4 that you couldn't do when you were 3? no more whining

Sawyer turns 4

 

My Sawyer is the sweetest, most handsome boy in the entire world.  His big eyes and big smile brighten my life every single day.  I been trying to remember the funny things he says and does so I could share them on his birthday but they didn't stick in my brain.  Here are just a few I could think of. 

- Saywer still asks to cuddle and watch a show with me every morning.  Now that I have Clara it unfortunately does not happen as often as either one of us would like but it still makes me happy to hear him ask.

- When he is getting out of the car he will usually shout "Straight ahoy!" and jump out with his body as straight as possible

- Sawyer is so good at art projects and gets complimented on his coloring skills by everyone.  He has impressed his Sunbeam teachers, his preschool teachers and the teachers at the gym.  He is patient with it and colors in the lines and he could color for hours.  I find him coloring on his own all the time.

- With his coloring, he is also a smarty pants.  With Kate I sat down with her and taught her letters but with Sawyer he has kind of had to teach himself.  Or observe what Kate is doing.  However he has done it, he is a smarty pants and knows how to write his letters.  The words he can write on his own are "Mom" (although it is often "Momo"), "Dad", "Clara," "Kate", "Becca" and, of course, his name.  Because he knows these words they are on almost all the papers her colors.  Sometimes he does ask how to spell things and can write them on his own that way too.

- Sawyer is so excited to go to pre-k next year at the same school as Kate!  He talks about it all the time

- He has recently found he loves baseball.  He loves having Ryan throw pitches to him and we just signed him up for Saturday morning baseball.  At gymnastics they had a baseball day and the teacher asked him if he liked the Boston Red Sox.  He had no idea what she is talking about.  Later he was watching Sportscenter with Daddy and when a baseball game came on he asked what they were playing, he had no idea.  Guess the rest of us had better become bigger baseball fans with him.  

- Sawyer loves gymnastics.  After last session I wasn't going to sign him up again but Ryan wouldn't hear of it because he loves it so much.  This session we signed him up for a different day and he is the only kid in the class!  So he gets a personal lesson with his fun teacher.  It is so funny to watch him with her.  In groups of kids he is often quiet but he jabbers away with this teacher

- Sawyer navigates my phone like a pro and is an Angry Birds expert.  He spends too much time on it while his sister is at gymnastics or swimming lessons or when mom is nursing somewhere in public

- Sawyer is an excellent little swimmer and continues to do well in his swimming lessons.  His arms still don't quiet reach over his head for his streamlines, and when he does them his big belly pokes out, but he makes do.  I sure do love that big Sawyer belly.

- Sawyer still confuses his pronouns and says things like, "Him is coming!" I will be sad when he outgrows that

- Ever since Sawyer's 2nd birthday with a pirate theme he has called a skull and cross bones (like his tie in the pictures) "ghosts".  He has a towel with them on it he calls his "ghost towel".  One day he told me, "Kate said that isn't a ghost, its a skull." and he now calls it the right name.  That was a sad day for me.

- Sawyer is very loving and lets his mom cuddle with him and kiss him whenever I want to.  I'll say, "Sawyer, what time is it?" and he'll say, "I don't know."  and I'll look at my pretend watch and say, "Its time to kiss your mommy!" and he'll get a big smile on his face and let me kiss on him

- Sawyer is still the most ticklish boy I have ever seen.  He is so fun to tickle too because he has a big, booming, contagious laugh.

- As you can tell, I'm pretty much in love with this boy of mine.  He does have a few weird traits that I wanted to remember.  He is a bit of a whiner at times and one thing he consistently whines about are his shoes.  When I tie them he will whine if I haven't made the knot "small"....but I still haven't found out what he means and have never tied his shoes to his liking before.  So he whines every time!  

So that is a little about Sawyer at 4.  He is the best and I love him.

Happy Birthday Sawyer!