Pre-school Halloween Party

Last weekend was pretty much a blur. After driving up to Boston (5 hour drive), shooting a wedding (9 hour workday), and then driving back home (4 hour drive) all in a span of about 24 hours, I came home to not one, but TWO parties for Jake on Sunday. The first party was for our neighbor Gabriella's 5th birthday, the next was Jake's Halloween party at his new preschool. Which, by the way, I LOVE. It's a really great place, filled with kind and caring teachers, nice students, and friendly parents. It was a surprise last-minute change (his old pre-school closed in May, after 30 years in business, and gave us almost no notice to find another school!), but it has been a wonderful place for Jake so far.

Here are some pictures of all four of us enjoying the festivities, along with a few new friends:

Bob the Builder



I finally see a resemblance! ;)

Ali the happy bee

DJ Lance (if you watch Nick Jr, you already know this guy from Yo Gabba Gabba), I cracked up at how fun and festive this dad was!



Her mouth is her constant source of entertainment these days

Jake and his doppelganger, Jack ;)


Fearless climber (that's new!)
He lists one of his favorites foods as broccoli? Are you kidding me??

He has no self-restraint. Lol

After Jake got so many temporary tattoos, we figured it was Ali's turn




Going back for more. He ended up with like, 7 tattoos. Oye!



Sitting with his buddy Jack and his sister Ava, for storytime.

My famous husband :)

photo by Andrew Sullivan for the New York Times

I usually post something on our anniversary about how lucky I am to have married Ralph (6 years ago!), and what a fantastic husband he is. Well, this year I spent our anniversary photographing a wedding in Boston (my last of the 2010 season) and wasn't able to post on our actual anniversary. (But if I had the time, I would have posted about how lucky I am to have married Ralph, and what a fantastic husband he is, FYI.)

And Ralph was pretty busy on our anniversary too. Here he is in the Saturday edition of a little newspaper you might have heard of... The New York Times! Ralph gives baseball lessons on weekends to some high school kids in the area, and one of his students happens to be the son of a The New York Times reporter. He and my brother-in-law Chris were not only interviewed for the paper, but also had a The New York Times photographer show up to one of their lessons to snap a few pictures. I am so proud that Ralph shares his time, talent, and knowledge to others. Baseball has always been one of his passions, and I love that he is able to share that passion. Here is the article and picture:

Double Stroller :)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Spiderman...

...at the Columbus Day Carnival :)

Guie Cousins!

We had a great time at cousin Jennifer's today, with almost all of the Guie 2nd cousins. The kids had a great time playing together. It was Alex's first time meeting many of the other cousins and she really enjoyed seeing everyone, especially Sara who is currently the only other cousin younger than her (by 3 months).

Here is everyone together, thank you to Tiffany for taking this great pic which put my original cell-phone picture to shame.

They've all grown a lot since this pic in 2008, this one in 2007 and this one in 2006.

(Jake is holding Alex in the bottom right)

There are twice as many cousins in the pic above than this one below from summer '08. We've been a busy family! ;) Wonder if the whole bunch would still fit in the wooden wagon at Aunt Bunny's?

Alex's Milestones!

Our little seven-month-old sweetheart has been making so many new discoveries and has had several accomplishments in the last few weeks! I was very proud to see her get her belly up off the floor on her hands and knees recently. She is sort of scoot-crawling. Here's a quick video from yesterday (excuse my baby-talk and Dora in the background)



Once she was able to get her belly up off the floor, it wasn't long at all until she figured out how to go from a crawl to a sit. She is sitting up on her own like a champ. Then last night, she was sitting in her crib while I was trying desperately to get her to go to sleep (she's had a bit of a cold so she isn't sleeping as well lately) and she decided to try to scale the rails of her crib. It looked like she was trying to pull herself up, but I know Jake didn't do that til after his first Christmas, when he was around 9 months old. I assumed Alex was way too young to pull herself up to a standing position. Until she did it. She was very proud of herself! I was astounded.


Another thing I noticed yesterday is it seems like she is beginning to wave hello and goodbye! She did it to Jake when I was taking her up to bed, and then did it again when we dropped him off at pre-school (she waved to the teacher). I am beyond proud of my smart little baby but I wish she would space it out a bit so I can have my excitement spread over a number of weeks, not days!

I am terrified because she will be running and taking steps two at a time before I know it. Here's a video of Alex scooting a couple weeks ago (you can see how far she's come), as well as a link to Jake doing the same thing at 7.5 months. Alex is so advanced (to me at least!), but I think that's because she is so enamored with her older brother that she is trying to do everything he does :)



We are also very proud of Jake who, after a very rough spring and summer, has FINALLY completely mastered all aspects of potty training. He's been going #1 for at least a year, but #2 was a real stumbling block, especially for stubborn little boys who don't get enough fiber in their diet. Plus there was a fair amount of regression once child #2 entered the scene. With some behavioral and dietary changes (and also a bit of trying each and every tactic imaginable), we finally have lasting success. I couldn't be more proud! (Now if only we could eliminate the nighttime Pull-Ups. We tried, but he sleeps so soundly, and he is baffled when he wakes up wet in the morning.)

I am so proud of my two fantastic kids and I love them so very much. It really is so wonderful to be their mother. I never imagined how fulfilling this 'job' could be. (Although I have to admit the hours and the pay are the pits! ;)

Twisted Sister

I bought these two cute shirts over the summer (because really, who can resist a size 6 months shirt featuring both pink rhinestones and mini skull and crossbones??) and have been waiting to dress my little rock stars in them ever since. It was a bit chilly this morning and I was about to dress them in another long-sleeve (more family-friendly) big bro/little sis combo when Jake campaigned for this set. Of course we were running late (per usual), but I had time to snap a few shots of them in their duds. The first two on the top are hilarious outtakes that I couldn't resist posting. These two crack me up!