And Another One Gone, And Another One Gone, Another One Bites the Dust

It all began a few days ago...some wiggly teeth for a wiggly boy. Andrew wiggled and wiggled and wiggled that first tooth. On Thursday at Music Makers, he ran up to me excited because he had yanked it out.

We busted out a pirate flag tooth pillow and that night he was so excited for a visit from the tooth fairy.

Then Friday (the next day), Andrew got off the bus and the other one was gone (it hadn't even seemed super loose to me). He said he wiggled it all day but since his teacher doesn't like them to have their hands in their mouths, he just used his tongue.

That's some determination if I ever saw it.

Since, there are currently no loose teeth in his mouth, he has been threatened if I find he has yanked out anymore. :)

Just Another Manic Monday (and Tuesday and Wednesday....)

A busy busy BUSY few weeks. I feel like we have been running from one thing to the next and doing our tag team roles as parents. There has hardly been a night when both parents have been home. It's been crazy but we have had some good moments.

Thanksgiving was great (no pictures to document though). Phil and Jen came from Boston and spent the day with us. We had so much fun with them--the kids love seeing them. Ate too much and then seemed to keep eating all weekend.

Here are some actually documented other moments of life:

There is a big luncheon coming up for all the missionaries in our mission (80, I believe). The kids helped me put candy in all the gift bags for the missionaries. It was a task but a lot of fun too. We did it when Annie was asleep, otherwise most of the candy would not have ended up in the bags!

A low key night at home. We played games and lit a fire in the fireplace (something we never do). Then we heard sirens and the town fire truck came down the road all decked in lights and playing Christmas music. Santa rode behind it on his sleigh and gave us a ton of candy. The kids were so excited (all without the camera).

A fun treat going to McDonalds after some shopping. This McDonalds had a large TV in the corner, so Matt and I had good conversation while kids were glued to spongebob. Oh the joy. :)

O Holy Night

Our ward had a live nativity this past weekend. Matt and I had signed up to help on Thursday--we each did a shift and were both wisemen (I was hoping for a more angelic role, but nonetheless....). The kids were so excited about it all and loved watching it. We decided to come back on Saturday evening so the kids could see it one more time. There were some extra costumes so the kids were able to participate. They LOVED it.

2 angels and a shepherd. (I love the angel with the pink fuzzy hood)

a 3rd angel. She was so excited and kept saying "I a angel" over and over.

They did their parts and then music played for a minute or so while all characters stayed in place. We brought the angels back in so we could get a picture. But where is our 3rd angel you might ask?

She had to get up close and personal with baby Jesus. On the 2nd time through the script, when "multitude of heavenly hosts" (aka our girls) came out to the shepherds, Annie made a v-line straight toward the manger. It was sweet.

All the cute kiddos.

A fun night!

Food, Glorious Food

A visit to the allergy doctor today proved the best news I've had in a while. None of the girls have ever been 're-pricked' since their initial allergy tests. For Mary and Whit, it's been 3 years, for Annie, it's been 18 months. Today was the day.

GOOD NEWS!!!!!

Annie is now egg and peanut allergy free (meaning no food allergies). Both skin tests showed no reaction. HALLELUIA!

Whitney still has her peanut allergy (the only one she has), but of the 2 ways they tested the peanut, it only showed up on one and was MILD. There is great hope it will be outgrown and she is closer to kindergarten, we'll test again.

Mary is now SOY ALLERGY FREE!!!!! She is still allergic to egg and peanut and we added a new one of cashews to the list today, but taking soy off the list is HUGE! I literally feel weight off my shoulder.

The car ride taking Mary to school was SO fun:
"Mom, does this mean I can eat regular bread?"
"Yup"
"Does it mean I can have hamburger buns?"
"Yup. You can even eat some treats now that you couldn't before."
"I CAN?!?!?!"
and on, and on and on.

I started crying, for real. I can't even imagine going to the store and buying awesome things like stir fry, and soy sauce, and worchestershire sauce, and condensed soup, and any boullion I want, and all types of chicken nuggets (not just the super expensive ones), and bread, bread, bread, and boxed potatoes, and rice a roni, and pasta roni, and spagettio's and....WOW!

Now I should knock on wood since I sent her straight to school and we haven't experiemented yet, but tonight we're going to McDonald's and she's getting a cheeseburger. I think I'll take a picture.

Baby Bye, Bye, Bye

I think I officially have a toddler...no more baby. It would make sense, she is two.

The high chair is in the attic, replaced by a booster seat.

The diapers are DONE, replaced by all sorts of 'big girl panties.'

Annie is sweet and cute and talks my head off and amazes me by how big she is and acts.
A week and a half ago, our neighbors had a big party and had face painting. Sweet Annie waited 20 minutes to get her face painted...waited paitently, I might add. When she sat down on the big seat, she told the lady exactly what she wanted, closed her eyes and was as still as still could be while her butterfly was drawn. It was the cutest thing I've seen in a while. Wished I had the video camera with me (or even the regular one--the picture was taken after we got home).

Here's all the kiddos with their cute face paintings. No need for a separate post; it was a fun night.

If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands

This post is for my mom. The hair got whacked off...finally. She has always liked it short instead of longer so I'm sure she is happy and clapping her hands right now. I think I lost 5 pounds just from the haircut, so I'm clapping too. :)

It might be 7 months or so til I actually see my mom again, so this post will have to do until then.

Thank you photographer Whitney!

Spooky Lou

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We were actually quite far from 'spooky' this year. But... we had fun at our ward fall festival on Saturday night and our familiy festival on Sunday night. Annie is definitely the most candy obsessed of the kids though I believe the parents in this home are way more candy out of control than any of the kids--we're pathetic.

Check out those happy kiddos--this is even pre-candy happiness!

Our Tiger (or Tigger)


Our Dragon--again. Definitely related to her father in her inability to keep her eyes open for pictures. Or maybe her huge smile is to blame.

Our Pioneer

Our Captain Hook (minus the hair)

Our Hippie (non-minus the hair)

My favorite comment of the night was by an 8 year old who said to me, "So are you from the 80s or something?" The second favorite comment was "Is that your real hair or a wig?"--I heard it multiple times. I thought it was oh so obvious.

Chances Are...

What are the chances that Andrew would throw a wrapper on the ground in his dad's car when he was done eating something?--very high chances

What are the chances that that something in the wrapper was peanut butter crackers from soccer--the common allergy of his 3 sisters?--not very high chances at all

What are the chances that a few days later his sister, Mary, would be in that car, find that wrapper and not only pick it up but scrape out some of the leftover peanut butter and eat it?--I would have thought those chances were slim to none.

I was wrong.

Imagine my surprise when I was driving Mary home from soccer practice in the dark and suddenly she says, "Can you open my window, I need to spit." After spitting (and missing of course) several times, she then said, "I feel like I ate peanut butter or something." At this point I am unaware there is any food anywhere in that back seat.

"Did you eat something, Mary?" I ask. It was then I learned of the wrapper on the ground and of her thought that the stuff against the edge of the wrapper was FROSTING. Geez. Out comes the Benedryl and the paranoia watching to see how allergy girl will react. Fortunately, her throat just felt yucky and she kept spitting--that was it.

Then came the conversations:

"Andrew, we don't throw wrappers on the ground."

"Mary, we don't pick up trash off the floor and sample it, even if we think it is frosting."

Maybe we'll be on top of this kind of stuff before the kids are all grown. At this point, that seems unlikely.

5 Little Pumpkins (and a few 1000 more)

Rita and Clem were in town the first part of October. We were in search of a Saturday New England experience that both they and we had not had yet. Then we discovered the Keene, NH Pumpkin Festival so we decided that was it.

The 2 hour drive was GORGEOUS--leaf peepers r us!

We got to Keene and couldn't figure out where we were supposed to go, mainly where we were supposed to park. We finally found a shuttle lot and took a school bus to the festival. The kids were excited just by riding the bus.

Here's what we found when we arrived:

pumpkins,

more pumpkins,

and MORE PUMPKINS!!!!!!
I wish we could have seen this pumpkin tower when it was dark. It was really cool.

Here are a few that we brought with us (yeah right!)

These were a hit with our family, as were about 100 others.

Singers in front of the pumpkin tower. There were over 23,000 pumpkins at the festival. We saw a lot of people bringing in pumpkins while we were there and checking them in.

The kids were also excited to go in a bounce house and to get their faces painted.

Andrew was sickly looking and coughing his brains out by the time we left, so we didn't make it til dark. Fortunately, carved pumpkins are still cool in the daytime.By the time we rode the bus back, the line at the shuttle stop waiting for the bus was crazy long. It was probably better we left when we did anyway.

We had a great visit with Rita and Clem. Between their trip and my mom and Kellie's trip, I have been a horrible picture taker however. I did manage a few though:

Grandpa and Andrew showing off the bird feeder they made. The squirrels have found it and are in heaven. :)

Kiddos with Grandma and Grandpa. We are so glad they came!!!

Ready to Run

13. 1 miles--Hartford ING Half-Marathon.
I did it!!!

I will probably be ramblesome in my details since this race was a large part of my past 6 months, so feel free to just look at pictures if you like.

So, my sister Megan ran the half marathon last fall and I went to cheer her on. The day was amazing and decided then that I would run the race this year. I'm so glad I committed myself to doing it. It has been a fun, hard, crazy, never ending, but amazing experience.

RACE DAY!

A FAMILY AFFAIR! Mom and Kellie flew out to visit and do the 5K (I think the race was just a good excuse to come visit). Mom has already walked 2 half marathons this year and she and Kellie have already done a previous 5K this summer. Megan came in from NYC with 3 friends to run the race as well. This was Megan's 4th half marathon for 2010. Needless to say, I was definitely the inexperienced racer of the group. It was so fun with all of them around; I'm glad we did it together.

MY BUDDIES! 3 of my good buds trained with me and kept me pumped these last few months/weeks. Bonnie has been on board with me since last fall when I decided to do it. Terri moved in not too long ago and joined in training immediately and Tanjua got on board with us this summer and has been a powerhouse. I have loved having friends to do this with--it's made the training more fun. Plus, they all ran SO WELL in the race and it was fun getting to be excited for them!!

I drove to the race with mom, Megan and Kellie and then couldn't find these guys anywhere. Even calling each other, there were just so many people. I finally just acknowledged that I wouldn't be able to see them and was so bummed. Megan, her friend Cassie, and I slipped into the mass of people at the starting line (or starting herd I should say since we are talking thousands!). I looked straight down the row from us and saw Bonnie and Tanjua about 10 people from me!!!! I couldn't believe it! It was a true blessing to get to see them and be excited with them before things began.

THE RACE BEGAN! Matt scored big points for being the highlight of my race day. He came with the kids and I was expecting to see them at the finish line. He surprised me though and just past mile 3, I see Matt and the kids all cheering me on. Holy cow, I was so excited!!! He caught me in this picture waving my arms to the kids and being so excited. He then drove the kids around and they were cheering for me around mile 5 and somewhere between mile 7 and 8, not to mention the finish line. I loved it!!!!

I split from Megan at mile 3 when her knee was acting up (as it has been for a few weeks) and went solo. Around the time of my arm waving picture, I started feeling like I was going to throw up; pretty much, the entire race went downhill from here.

This shot was around mile 5. I told Matt at this point that I felt like I would throw up. It all began about a mile later. The rest of the race was a mixture of feeling sick, having serious lower back pain, and major side cramps. Joy of joys. It was definitely my worst running day in all of my 6 months of training. I couldn't get out of the mental funk I was in of wanting to quit and of being so mad as I was going slower and slower.

All done!!! Ta-da!!!

But...I kept going. I finished. I did it in 2 hours and 29ish minutes. It was 15 minutes slower than I had hoped and expected and I was upset the entire day--it didn't help that I was exhausted, sick and in pain. But then on Sunday I finally got my needed nap and went to bed early as well. Now that I'm not tired, I am proud that I did it and feel amazed that I did as well as I did considering how horrible it was.

So that's it. Will I do it again? You bet. Matt has committed to running it with me next year. And next year's goal won't be a specific time or specific pace, it will be "Have fun."

I can't wait.

Annie

Happy 2nd Birthday to our Annie girl! How have you gotten so big? We are so glad you are part of our family and have had a fun time celebrating with you.

We went with the "Old MacDonald" cake theme since this little lady is a lover of the song.

She loved her cake, which made me happy. After her nap, Annie spent probably an hour standing on a chair and looking at her cake and pointing to all the animals and saying their sounds.

Thank you "Little People" for substituting as cake decorations. Pay special note to the fact that the cake looks good. By the last picture when it's actually 'cake time' things had started falling apart. I have yet to perfect making allergy friendly (no egg) cakes in a way that they aren't so moist they fall apart. It gets tricky when it comes to these specialty cakes. Any suggestions besides freezing them or adding flour to the recipe (been there done that) would be appreciated.

PRESENT TIME!!!! Notice Annie getting in serious mode.

It's funny that in a house with tons of baby dolls a few new ones could even be exciting. However, we have been in baby doll crazy mode since the new birthday arrivals have become part of the family.

Oh so happy! (notice the gross-looking cake? HELP!!!)

Happy Birthday girl. Love you!

Back To School

School started for us in normal Singer-style...life had to be crazy and someone had to be sick. This time the winner was Mary.

Andrew had his FIRST first day of school. Our excited kindergartener!

1st shirt of the school year--why his RED StarWars shirt, of course. (that Star Wars may have a short lived life in our home is a true prayer in my heart)

A happier than it looks bunch for the first day of school.

Andrew and Andrew, neighbors and bus buddies!
Mary had a fever for 2 1/2 days at the start of the week. It broke late the day before school started, so she had to miss both "meet your teacher" day and the first day of school.

Mary posing for the 2nd day of school (her first)

The bus stop gang!

After coming home from day 2 of school having eaten no lunch and still looking exhausted and complaining of her mouth hurting, Mary stayed home the 3rd day as well. Then she actually attended for a full week but got sent home with a fever last week. We are off to a GREAT start. Hopefully we're getting all the insanity over with early.

It's Always Fun for Everyone When Grandma Comes!

I'm a bit behind posting on life. Let's flashback to August...

Rita, aka Grandma, came out to visit for a week in mid-August. She told us several months ago that she would come out and stay with the kids for a few days so Matt and I could have a mini-getaway to celebrate our 10th anniverary. I had a few days with Rita before we left; we didn't do any major adventures but took her to a few places she hadn't been yet.

Grandma, Mary and Andrew posing at Jonathan's Dream playground in West Hartford. It's a playground for all types of kids, including those with disabilities, so it had a different design and feel. The kids loved it!

We took a mini day trip up to S. Deerfield, MA and went to Yankee Candle. The kids have so much fun, they hardly realize they are at a candle store.

I guess it's hard to think 'candle' when you can dress up and play on a pirate ship.

...or when you can sit on a throne and feel all royal.

Phil and Jen came to visit for the day on Saturday, and then Monday Matt and I headed to Newport, RI for 3 days. The kids and Grandma had a successful few days (I think she might even be willing to do it again one day!). Matt and I did too. Here's a few shots of fun in Newport:

Matt and I in the backyard of Rosecliff, one of the mansions we toured in Newport.

A heel-click at the Breakers (another mansion)...well, because I could. It's amazing what you can do without a stroller or a bag of diapers and snacks for kids.

The weather stunk most of the time, but we didn't let wind or rain stop us from doing the Cliff Walk. Matt almost blew away...almost.

Yes, we ate PEANUTS. While we were ate it, we ate some SOY and EGGS too. We ordered and ate anything we wanted, with no thought of allergies...it felt nice.

It was a great, relaxing 3 days. We did miss the kiddos though and were happy to come home as happy, refreshed parents. Thanks Rita!!!!