Amber meets the fairies

We visited Magic Kingdom this weekend and Amber requested to go see the fairies, which is rare for her. She used to be semi afraid of the characters at the theme parks, only wanting to see them from a distance. But lately she's asking to see specific princesses or characters, and this time it was Tinkerbell.

She's visited Tinkerbell at the Magic Kingdom before, but it's been a while. Here she is meeting Tinkerbell and Vidia.

Backyard tree swing

For Christmas last year, I told Shelsy that one of her presents would be a custom-built swing for the tree in our backyard. Well, a month and a half later, the project is finally done. I think it looks pretty great, if I do say so myself. Shelsy likes it, and both kids are really enjoying it, too. Here are some pictures!

 

 

 

 

Trick or Treating

By: Shelsy 

Jasmine and Aladdin

This is the first year I took the kids trick or treating. It was quite an adventure. Amber was really excited but Evan ran straight down the driveway to check out the mailbox, which is his latest obsession. All he wants to do is open and close it and then throws a tantrum when we finally tear him away. So we started off right away with a little meltdown when we moved on from the precious mailbox. I strapped him in the stroller and we headed to our neighbor's house. Amber was really excited about the candy but they had one of those motion sensor skulls that moves and talks. Amber was not a fan. But, we brushed it off and headed to the next house.

As soon as we got to the driveway about 15 older kids ran up and pushed past us. Most of them were wearing scary costumes. And this guy's house was totally decked out. He had the creepy music playing, ghosts and skeletons everywhere, lighting effects, everything. Amber never made it past the driveway. She totally chickened out. At this point I realized that I never really prepared her for the scarier parts of Halloween. She's only just starting to get scared of things, so it didn't really occur to me. And I forgot to warn her about all of the other kids' costumes. Double mom fail.

So then we got to the next house, and the guy answered the door in a scary mask. I pretty much lost her there. She never really recovered. We made it to one more house before she was ready to call it a night and head home.

So we headed back and at this point Evan had managed to slip out of the straps and was standing up in the stroller. So I let him down and he immediately sprinted into the street. I had to abandon everything and chase him down. I finally got both of them back in the house and no sooner did we walk in the door when Amber announced, "Okay, I want candy now." At this point I realized, belatedly, that after the first house I told her she could have some candy when we got back home. The entire reason she wanted to come home was so she could eat a piece of candy. [facepalm]

I asked her if she wanted to have a piece and then go back out to more houses. Nope, she was done. Then about 15 minutes later she asked if she could put her costume back on and go back out and get more candy. By then Evan was already in his jammies and ready for bed, so no dice. Our trick or treating was over for this year.

Between the two of them they got about seven pieces of candy. We were out for maybe ten minutes and made it to three houses. It was pretty sad, really. But, that's okay. I didn't expect to get very far with them and that's how these things go with little ones. And I think that now that Amber understands the concept, next year is going to be a totally different story!

Random pictures

It's been awhile since we've posted. We've been super busy unpacking, doing assorted projects around the house (I love saying that!), and more unpacking. Here are some pictures I've taken from the last few weeks:

Evan's first haircut

This post is a couple months overdue, but better late than never, especially on something this adorable.

Back in early February, little Evan got his first haircut! After one too many times being mistaken for a girl, we decided it was high time for a haircut.

Before

So, naturally, we headed off to Disney World. The Harmony Barber Shop on Main Street has a special package for boy's first haircuts which includes the haircut, certificate, and a special pair of "first haircut" mickey ears.

During

Aside from being very distracted by the other activity in the shop, Evan did great and got tons of Mickey stickers. Amber even got to watch a parade go by while we were in there, which worked out perfectly.

After

His new hair looks very handsome and he actually got several comments on it that same day. And for the rest of his life he can say that he got his first haircut at Disney World. How cool is that?

Halloween 2011

Thanks to the seemingly unending creative talent of +Karen Joseph, Amber and Evan once again had seriously excellent Halloween costumes this year. They were characters from Toy Story, with Amber being Jesse and Evan being Woody. They wore their costumes to Sea World and Magic Kingdom and got crazy amounts of attention wherever they went.

Monster Toes

By: Shelsy

Three Months

By: Shelsy

I can't even believe it's been three months already. The time is flying by. I blinked and suddenly he wasn't a newborn anymore. He is quite a happy baby. He smiles all the time. He rarely gets upset, and when he does, it's usually because he's sleepy. This child loves to sleep. He gets upset if he wakes up and still wants to be sleeping. He fights hard to fall asleep. He is very different from his sister in this way. Amber, even as a newborn, used to fight hard to stay awake.

Big Boy

By: Shelsy

Believe it or not, yesterday was Evan's six-week birthday. I can't even believe it's been six weeks already! He weighs 12 pounds, 9 ounces. He can hold his head up, though he's still a little wobbly. He also smiles a ton--so cute! Everyone always asks how he's sleeping, and I'm happy to report that he's an excellent sleeper. He's slept "through the night" (5 consecutive hours) a couple of times now. He generally wakes up 2-3 times during the night to nurse. I can't complain at all.

Welcome baby Evan!

The second addition to our little family arrived early Sunday morning. Little Evan was born at 1:20am Sunday morning, and was 9 pounds even. Shelsy did great and everyone is doing great.

Amber's 2nd Birthday

by: Ryan

It's really hard to believe that our little girl turned two this month. She's become a total little person now, with a serious personality and preferences that she is clearly able to communicate to us. It's been amazing watching her grow and every day brings something new.

Amber's new bubble machine

By: Ryan

Amber loves bubbles. She loves chasing them, trying to blow them herself, and asking us to fill the house with them. It's tiring and we've gotten dizzy more than once from blowing bubbles. So Amber got an early birthday present this week, and she's been enjoying it even more than we thought she would:

Baking with Mommy!

By: Shelsy

Amber helped me make a chocolate cake today because mommy had a craving. :-) I think she had a good time:

Quick update

By: Ryan

Watching the fountain

Hey all, sorry for the lack of posts lately. Between the new job, prepping for the new baby, and our other blogging efforts, we have neglected to update this site. We will be returning to our regularly scheduled posting-of-updates soon, but for now I wanted to share a quick update on what's been happening.

Amber the Halloween butterfly

Amber had an excellent Halloween costume this year, painstakingly made by her grandma. She really seemed to enjoy showing off her pretty wings, too. We took her to Seaworld and Downtown Disney, and her costume was by far the best costume present (my opinion is, of course, not biased at all).

Amber Has An Announcement:

A few details:

• We just found out, and I'm already 14 weeks. Yay for getting through the first trimester without even knowing it.
• I'm due April 24th, Easter day.
• If you ask Amber what's in my belly, she says, "baby." 

Beach Baby

By: Shelsy

On Friday we took Amber to the beach for the very first time! Yeah, I know, we live in Florida, we should go to the beach all the time. We're just not big beach people, typically. All you people who take tiny babies to the beach are way braver than I am!

Tea Time!

By: Shelsy

The other night Amber had her first ever tea party with Daddy:

Amber playing in a puddle

(click to enlarge)

This is just a quick post to share a video and picture with all of you. We went to Downtown Disney yesterday right after a heavy rainstorm. Amber had an absolute blast running through the puddles, especially this huge one we found behind the balloon ride at West Side. We didn't have the good camera with us, so pardon the blurryness. But blurry or not, it's still cute enough to share. Enjoy!

Family Visit

By: Ryan


This post is long overdue, but better late than never, I guess. Amber has been keeping us quite busy lately, and even when she's not running around the house being cute, her favorite thing to do is sit on my lap at the computer and watch Pixar movies on the second monitor while I try to work with one hand. Not very conducive to blog writing. :-)

So anyway, this past summer we had the opportunity to have Shanna stay with us for a little while. We definitely enjoyed having her around, and Amber was quite excited to have someone to play with. The door would open and Amber would whirl around, pointing and saying "Sha-sha!" Lots of fun. :-)

Then, in July, we were treated to a visit from my family. They came down for a week and stayed at a hotel near SeaWorld. We had a great time hanging out with them, going to the various theme parks, and watching Amber be her adorable self.