It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas

Jon risked life and limb for the sake of our Christmas happiness.  The house looks awesome and tree one is up and decorated.  Brody didn't like that tree because there is an angel on top, so that tree is now called Alison's tree.  His super giant humongous tree is coming...On a lighter note, Brody will do pretty much anything if he is threatened by me calling Santa!  Black mailing is a horrible parenting strategy, I know, but it works SO well!!!  I wish Santa came around all year!

Boating on the Bay

 Captain Brody

 Alison and her best friend Pat

 The Christmas boat

Brody and Dad

A few weekends ago we gathered a few friends and the kids and went out on the bay for a few hours.  It proved to be a beautiful fun day!  The kids got a little nutty at the end, but it was great all the same.  Brody even got to drive the boat!

Go Pats!!!!

As you can see, I did a horrible job of getting both of them in a picture!  Epic fail!  Youc an see though from the video that Miss Alison loves getting her picture taken and says "cheese" all of the time!

Little Pumpkin

 Miss Pretty Pretty Princess (as Daddy calls her)

 Enjoying some pumpkin mousse

 CHEESE!!

 Brody's new partner in crime

We have been very busy this month with Thanksgiving, visits from family and friends, and life in general.  Alison has become more and more curious and into everything while Brody is still obsessed with Christmas, Legos, and Angry Birds.  Now that Ali is a bit older, we let Brody drive her in the tractor much to her delight!  She loves bossing him around and yelling "GO", then proceeds to jump off.  We don't let him drive on the driveway with her in the tractor so we watched him drive into the garage with Alison, put on his helmet, then hers, and drove around the driveway because it was "safer".  Can't argue with that!!

Last Soccer Game

Getting his trophy (that he slept with that night!)

The soccer season FINALLY ended (and on a VERY cold morning might I add)! Brody and his team scrimmaged another team and it was quite entertaining. He scored a goal in the first 5 minutes then wanted to go home because he was "fweezing". Poor little guy!

Alison the Diva

The MUST HAVE accessory of the moment

Ali continues to be the loudest child in the world. While it may have taken her 16 months to move all 26 lbs, 32 inches of her body around, she is definately not lacking in the verbal department. She yells "MAMA" all of the time in the back of the car and when I answer, "yes Ali?", she laughs hysterically and tells me "i wanna get down". This dialogue continues the whole way to and from daycare and its kind of hilarious. She also sings "Jingle Bells", ABC's, and the clean up song all of the time as well. She doesn't stop! She also found a super cute purse she got for her birthday in her room and has to have her "pees" at all times. If you ask her where it is, she stops whatever she is doing, finds it, stands up and puts in over her arm with her elbow close to her body and hand out. All I have to say is UH OH, we are in so much trouble!

Alison yelling at Daddy and Brody

Alison

Halloween 2011

Our creative candy bowl curtosy of Auntie Kate
This is the life if you ask me!

Playing on the front yard

My little Cheerleader

The pom poms were very short lived

Bumblebee and the Cheerleader

Ready Mama!

Halloween was very big this year at our house. Brody has been talking about it for at least 3 weeks and it was no disappointment. We all got dressed and Trick or Treated at most of the houses on our street, then came home to hand out about 400 pieces of candy! Brody LOVED handing it out and was very picky about what he handed out to kids, except the Hudson Boys next door and thier friends, they all got giant handfuls of candy! After Brody ate about 20 pieces of candy (which we found out he was sneaking) we watched him sprint back and forth in the front yard while jumping into somersaults for about 25 minutes He then subsequently crashed and burned. Jon and I finished the night in the driveway with a fire in the firepit, cocktails, and music. It was a great night and we have some big plans in the works for next year!

Pumpkin Carving

Cooking the seeds
Making the treat bowl

Oooooh...spooky

Working so diligently

Auntie Kate and Mimi came into town to watch the kids while Jon and I participated in Kristin's wedding festivites last weekend. They helped the kids carve their pumpkins for Halloween and had a fantastic time!

URI Homecoming

Go RHODY! (this was at 9 in the morning...)
And 10 years and about 20 kids later:)

Gretchen and Jess (this was at 9 at night)

Tailgate at its best

Bobby and Jon "ramming" each other

When we were in Rhode Island, we had the PLEASURE of hanging out with my sorority sisters and friends at URI for the day. It was so great to hang out with everyone after 10 years! Unfortunately, most of my pictures were not that great.

Homestead 2011

Riding the Pumpkin tractor (that we waited in line for 20 minutes to ride)
Brody's favorite ride...we should have just gone to Toys R Us!

Pumpkin patch

We went to Homestead with the Hardick/Panetta household a few weeks ago to get our pumpkins. Of course we picked the BUSIEST day of the season. We only lasted an hour before we went home and played. Too hot and too busy = cranky parents...Brody and Alison had a blast of course!

New Updates

Cookie Face

The month of October was SUPER busy for us! We had a wedding, two trips to Rhode Island, and life in general! The kids seem to keep us laughing though through all of the busy times. Alison has finally decided to walk (it only took her 16 months!). She simply stood up and walked across the room and there was no looking back. I, of course, am so happy because she can finally wear all of the cute dresses we have for her (they get caught when she crawls usually). Brody has been a rock star with soccer. He has scored goals during scrimmages and practice and loves playing in the front yard. He has also asked Santa for soccer goals so I am guessing this is going to be the beginning of a looooong 15 years of not sleeping in on the weekends so I can stand in the freezing cold to watch him play. On Friday nights we have been going to Broadneck High School Football games (I get us all in for free because I work in the school system) for the first half with Brody and Alison. They absolutely LOVE it! He can't stop talking about going to Navy Games or basically anything that involves sporting events. Too bad he's not into watching them at home:)