Merry Christmas!

OK....We're working on it.

Me: "What's my full name? OK, what's my first name?"
Will: "Mommy"
Me: "Good enough. What's my middle name?"
Will: "The Shelf" (Michelle)
Me: "OK.....Good enough. What's my last name?"
Will: "Ummmmmm.........."

Helping Out

Lately Josie has been extra fussy in the early evening hours. Last night Will took it upon himself to try to cheer her up. Apparently putting a chair cushion on his head was part of his remedy to sooth her crying. Unfortunately his attempt didn't work, but I truly appreciate the efforts.

Christmas Parade

Here's a tiny glimpse into the excitement Will had at the Brownsburg Christmas parade the other night.

First Meet

We were glad to finally get Josie over to meet Granny and Gramps Thompson this past Thanksgiving. Unfortunately Josie refused to wake up for much of the excitement. She seems to save all the awake time for home...the place that I wish she liked to sleep more. :)

Surgery Scheduled

We were able to schedule Josie's lip surgery for January 26th. It's a little further out than we had hoped, but it's still nice to have a date set. Unfortunately that does mean additional weeks of facial taping. At least from what I can tell, it hasn't bothered Josie too much so far though. I believe most of her cries have translated into "feed me."

Last Camping Trip of the Year

Here are a few pictures from the camping trip that Grandma Jan invited Abby and Ella on a few weekends back. It sounds like everyone had a great time!

Simmer

I made the mistake of giving the Toys R Us sale ad to Will a few Sundays ago and ever since he's been adding items to his Christmas wish list like crazy. He's basically asked for every boy toy in the Meijer, Toys R Us, and Target toy books. It was cute at first, but now it just never ends and the many attempts we've made to distract him into something else have failed. We're going to have to get creative...

Happy Halloween!

More Josie...

She's Home!

Josie came home today! We are super excited (and a little nervous) to have her home. I'm surprised how much I've forgotten since Will was a baby. It will definitely take us a few weeks to figure out a routine, but we welcome the change. There is no picture of Will with Josie because so far, he's not 100% convinced he knows what to think about having a baby in the house. I'm confident he'll learn to love her though in no time.

Josie is here!

Josie arrived on Tuesday, October 4th weighing 7lb, 3oz. She will be spending another week or two in the NICU until she is able to successfully take a bottle. We are super excited to have her here and are thankful that she is in perfect health and will only have cosmetic cleft repairs to check off her list in the coming months.

Not The Baby Anymore...

As the arrival date for Josie gets closer and closer, I've started to get a little sentimental about Will no longer being the baby of the family. He (and Abby too for that matter) have grown up so much over the last 4 years. I'm interested to see how everyone adjusts to the new family addition.

I definitely think J. and I have gotten in over our heads. :)

Happy 15th Birthday Abby! ( a week early)

Garage Clean-up

Will and I had different ideas for our garage clean-up project this weekend.

First Day of High School

Star Wars

J. and Abby introduced Will to the Star Wars movies this weekend, something I've never really got into really. As you can tell...Will is obsessed now.

A Little Bonding

I was thrilled to see Will and Abby sit down and work on art projects at the same time. Unfortunately Will refused to stop talking (for the entire duration) so it made his hour and 15 minute coloring page a lot less cute.

Boy Stuff

It's fun to see Will and Conrad get along more and more as they get older. I loved watching them play together with this Hot Wheels track. Conrad's laugh is priceless.

It's Fair Time Again

High School Countdown

(A few of the first digital camera pictures that I have of Abby)
2004

It's hard to believe that Abby will start high school in a little over a week. The gradual age progression is finally starting to catch up with me and it's a little sad.

Happy Birthday Will!!!

Today Will celebrated his big 4th birthday with some swimming out at Grandma Jan's house. If you ask him...he'll say he's 3. For some reason I haven't been able to talk him into thinking turning 4 is a good thing.

New Trail Park

J., Will, and I tried out the new trail park in Plainfield. Even though Will claimed multiple times that his legs were broken, we all ended up having a great time exploring the new park. Along the way we spotted a caterpillar, some tiny frogs, and a deer.

Abby is back in town from Colorado. It seems like she's been gone a lot this Summer. I'll try to sneak her into the blog before her Summer break ends. Sadly she doesn't have that many weeks left before high school begins.

Nice Glasses!

J. found Will watching a movie the other night with these 3D glasses on. He didn't seem to mind that it wasn't a 3D movie.

Help with a Catch

Will asked if he could help me make peanut butter cookies tonight. Then he promptly reminded me that the two beaters were for him and his sister Abby. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when there are 3 kids...and only two beaters.

Moving on Up!

We decided to buy Will a bunk bed because he was getting too big for his toddler bed and he will someday have a roommate. He absolutely loves it. He sleeps on the bottom, but loves to hang out and watch movies from the top. We couldn't have asked for an easier transition from his old bed.

Ready for Summer!

Smile!

Today Will had his first ever dentist appointment. He did surprisingly really, really well. Call it embarrassing, but I did tear up just a little bit. Thankfully I don't think anyone saw me.

Face Painting Courtesy of Abby