Welcome to Moreauville

Sesame Street Live

2011-10-24T12:47:00.006-04:00

My mom watches Peyton and Hunter when Kyle, my dad, Jeremy, and I go to Terps games on Saturdays. When Sesame Street Live was in town, she took them to see it. The theme was Elmo Makes Music.

Peyton was really into the show.

Hunter seemed to like it too!

Gram and her boys.

Deja Vu?

2011-10-24T12:42:00.002-04:00

Just after we moved into our house in September, 2008, I took this picture of Peyton playing in the kitchen.

In September, 2011 I took this picture of Hunter playing in the kitchen.

Colanders must be really fun!

Indy Car Race

2011-10-24T12:38:00.003-04:00

Kyle took Peyton to the Indy Car race in Baltimore back in September. I didn't go, so I don't have any stories to share, but here are some cute pictures from the day.

I know they both had a great time at the race. Maybe next year all four of us will be able to go to the race together.

Hunter's 1st Haircut

2011-10-06T14:19:00.000-04:00

Hunter got his first haircut back in August. Here is the before.

We took Hunter to Cartoon Cuts. We had a feeling he would be wiggly, so we let him sit on Kyle's lap.

The hair dresser was really good with Hunter. She prepped his hair by spraying it with water. He was still alright at this point.

However, once the cutting started, Hunter screamed! He was not a fan at all.

He looks much more grown up with his short hair. I was sad to see his curls go, but my baby is getting bigger, so I guess it was time.

Doug's Birthday Party

2011-10-06T13:55:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am just about two months overdue on this post, but hey, better late than never. Right?

Back in August, my cousin Doug turned 14 years old. He really likes the death by chocolate that I always make (Thanks, Linda!) so I made a big bowl of it for his party. All of the girls thought my decoration was cute, but the guys? Not so much.

We sang Happy Birthday to Doug.

And then he opened his birthday gifts.

This one was a gift card to Best Buy.

The party was fun, the food was good, and it's always nice to show off my cute kids.

The Poconos

2011-08-09T14:15:00.006-04:00

Kyle and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on August 6. We decided that we go away for a long weekend without the kids. Thanks Mom and Dad for watching them for us! After lots of research, we decided that we would go to the Poconos. Kyle found a nice couples-only all-inclusive resort there. On Friday morning, we dropped Peyton and Hunter off at daycare and then hit the road for Pennsylvania. The drive took about 5-1/2 hours, but we stopped for a leisurely lunch. We arrived at Cove Haven around 3:30, which was check-in time.

After checking in, we drove to our room and explored it. We were staying in the Cleopatra Champagne Tower suites, which were apparently the best rooms in the whole resort. This is the living room area. There was a little sofa and a fireplace, which is probably more useful in the winter.

The resort clearly got a discount on mirrors, because they were everywhere - all over our room, and in every other building in the resort. It was kind of crazy. Here is the two-story champagne glass jacuzzi. There were, of course, mirrors on both sides and on the ceiling. The ceiling also featured lights that looked like stars. So romantic...

The bedroom was upstairs and featured a round bed, which sucked because unless we were sleeping directly in the middle, our feet would hang off. There were mirrors for a backboard and on the ceiling. Yikes. We could see each other no matter where we were located because of all of the mirrors throughout the suite.

This is obviously the shower. I only included this picture to show how small it was. It was less than two feet wide, and I couldn't even wash myself without bumping my elbows on the wall and door.

This heart-shaped pool was also in our room. It was nice to get to swim without all of those random people seeing me in my bathing suit. Haha.

If you went downstairs on the lowest level of our room, there was a massage table. There was also a sauna, which we didn't use.

After we brought our things inside, we decided to do some activities before dinner. Our room was next door to the sports complex, so we went there first. There was a 9 hole miniature golf course inside which we played. Kyle won. Next, we played some ping-pong. Kyle won. Then we played a game of pool. Yup, Kyle won. Finally, we played some Wii bowling and I won! There were two big parrots in the room, and they would whistle at you and say "Hello," so that was kind of cool.

After all of that excitement, it was time for dinner. We walked to the restaurant for hors d'oeuvres at the bar. It was Italian night, so there were mozzarella balls, margarita pizza, and finger sandwiches. I had a really yummy cocktail called the Snickers bar. It was frozen and had Frangelico, Creme de Cocoa, Butterscotch Schnapps, and cream. For dinner, we were seated with three other couples. For appetizers, there was salad and bruschetta crostini. For the main course, there was a buffet of food, including spaghetti and meatballs, ravioli, sausage, fish, pork and bread sticks. And the best part, dessert, featured cannolis, a chocolate fountain, tiramisu, and lemon cake. The meal started out a little awkward because no one was talking, but then someone broke the ice and the conversation flowed. Two of the other couples left when they were finished eating, but one other couple stayed for a little while and talked with us. Then they left and we left not long after.

There was a marina at the resort and we found out that they'd be giving twilight boat rides, so we decided to do that to waste a little time before the nightclub opened. We found the other couple that we were talking with at dinner at the marina too. They were scheduled to go on the boat before us, but traded spots with another couple so they could ride with us and chat a little more. The ride around the lake was nice and relaxing after eating all of that food!

After the boat ride, we went to the nightclub for a magician, band, and comedian. The magician was short, but really good. I love magic. Then the band started playing and invited people to dance. We hung around for a few songs, but it was pretty boring, so we left and went back to our room. We went swimming and then Kyle filled the champagne glass with a million bubbles so that we could use the jacuzzi and then we went to sleep because we wanted to get up fairly early Saturday morning.

Saturday was our anniversary, so when we woke up, we exchanged gifts. I got Kyle a 6-month subscription to a beef jerky club.

And he got me a new navigation system!

We had breakfast delivered to our room because we didn't feel like going to the restaurant. It included champagne, cereal, OJ, and breakfast panini. We knew that it was supposed to rain later in the day, so after we ate we wanted to do some outdoor activities before the rain came. We did a little archery.

Kyle was better than me. I didn't hit the target at all. He hit it a few times.

Then we played a little tennis. We just volleyed the ball back and forth, instead of keeping score.

Next, we went to the driving range. On our way up the ginormous hill to the tees, we saw all of these geese. We also saw four deer the night before, but didn't have the camera with us.

Kyle hit most of the balls, because my fat butt was exhausted after walking up that hill!

After the driving range, we played a few rounds of Bingo, but didn't win. Kyle picked the wrong cards. Haha. Then it was getting to be lunch time, so we went to the cafe to eat. In the basement of the cafe, there was a video arcade, pool tables, and a basketball court/rollerskating rink. We found the shuffleboard table and played a bunch of games on it. It might sound lame, but it was really fun!

There was a Newlywed game in the afternoon, so we went to that. It was definitely for adults only and it was thoroughly entertaining. I'll just leave it at that...

By this time it was pouring down rain, so we caught the shuttle back to our room. I picked up my rollerskates and then we rode back over to the cafe where the skating rink was located. Some people were playing basketball, but the attendant kicked them off the court so that we could skate. I haven't skated in forever, so it was pretty exciting! Kyle and I had the place to ourselves, but I didn't grab my tall socks out of our suitcase, so my legs started to hurt from my skates, and we quit after about 20 minutes.

We went back to our room to take showers before dinner. It was still raining really hard, so we called for the shuttle to pick us up. Saturday was steak night in the restaurant. For the first course, you could choose from five things including French onion soup, broccoli cheese soup, and a tomato and mozzarella salad. The next course was salad. For the main course, you could choose between a NY strip, rib eye, roasted chicken, salmon, or chicken and broccoli alfredo. There were lots of options for dessert like a brownie topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, strawberry shortcake, soft vanilla ice cream, and chocolate ice cream. Yum.

The people that we sat with at dinner that night were much more interesting. Three of the four couples were young. The one older couple was around our parents' ages, and the woman was very drunk! She was quite entertaining. They ate quickly and then left. The other two couples and us had much more in common, so they were easy to talk to. Here we are at dinner.

Saturday night we went to the nightclub again. There was another band and a comedian. The band was better than Friday's band (but still not great) because they were basically doing karaoke to popular songs. People were dancing and we were making fun of them. Haha. The comedian was pretty funny too.

Sunday morning we woke up and went to breakfast at the restaurant. It was much better than the in-room breakfast the day before. There was a buffet with french toast, pancakes with apple filling, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, bagels, toast, biscuits, corned beef hash, and lots of fruit. Check-out time was 11:00, but we were allowed to stay at the resort until 5:00. We decided to go back to the sports complex for more mini-golf. Kyle beat me again. Then we played more Wii bowling, which Kyle won too. Boo.

We left for home around lunch time and made really good time. I missed Peyton and Hunter! It was nice having a little time away from them though. We had lots of fun and got to relax too. It was a nice way to celebrate our anniversary.

Kyle, I love you so much and can't wait to see what the future holds for us!

Kyle's and Hunter's Birthday

2011-08-04T00:01:00.000-04:00

July 11 is both Kyle's and Hunter's birthday. Kyle, Peyton, Hunter, and I went to dinner at Kyle's choice of On the Border to celebrate. It was sort of a disaster because Hunter threw up his whole bottle on Kyle's leg before we even ordered our meals! I suggested we leave because Kyle's jeans were soaked, but he wanted to stay, so we did. While we were eating, we gave Hunter some tortilla chips to keep him entertained. He made the biggest mess on the table and floor, which I felt so bad about. Then, as we were trying to leave, I spilled a whole glass of water all over the place. I know our waitress was ready for us to be out of there!

When we got home, we lit a candle on a cupcake and sang Happy Birthday to Kyle and Hunter.

Then we gave Kyle his gifts. He wanted the movies that we only had on VHS on DVD. So the boys got him four movies.

I got him Road Trip on DVD, because that was the movie that we saw on our first date eleven(!) years ago. I also got him a gift card to play a round of golf.

Hugs for Daddy! (Hunter is thinking, "Ooh, while Daddy is distracted, I will steal his movie!")

Happy Birthday, Kyle! Peyton, Hunter, and I can't say enough how lucky we are that you are ours.

And a very happy FIRST birthday to Hunter! We love you!

Hunter's Birthday Party

2011-08-03T14:57:00.007-04:00

For Hunter's 1st birthday party, we chose to do a Dr. Seuss theme. I made this banner using the covers of Dr. Seuss books. It turned out really cute, in my opinion at least.

The cake for the guests was the Cat in the Hat's hat. It was also really adorable. I can't take credit for the cake though -- I bought it at the grocery store.

I did, however, bake Hunter's cake. Because he is allergic to eggs and milk (and therefore butter), I had to buy special non-dairy "butter" and a powdered egg substitute in order to make the cake. I just made plain white butter cream frosting for it. I learned my lesson after Peyton's navy blue icing on his 1st birthday cake dyed him blue. We didn't want a repeat of that. Anyway, I also had party hats, blowers, and treat boxes for the kids who attended.

Hunter actually missed the first hour-and-a-half of his party because he was taking a nap. That actually worked out well though because it gave everyone a chance to eat. Keeping with the Dr. Seuss theme, we made "Green Eggs and Ham," which were deviled eggs with the yolks dyed green and ham roll-ups. We also made "Pink Yink Drink," which was pink lemonade. We had chips, pretzels, and a vegetable tray. For the main course, Kyle braved the heat and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. We also had macaroni, potato, and broccoli salads, cole slaw and baked beans. For dessert, there was birthday cake (of course!), death by chocolate, fruit salad, and watermelon slices.

When Hunter woke up from his nap, he quickly made the rounds to say hello to his guests. Then we sang Happy Birthday to him. He tried to grab the candle, so Kyle had to quickly blow it out when the song was over.

He didn't really have much interest in the cake. He started out by gently touching the icing.

When he wouldn't dive in any more, I smashed his hands into the cake, which he didn't seem to like at first.

But then he sort of played with the cake a little more, but he never put any even near his mouth.

Next, it was time to open gifts. Hunter paused a moment for some smiles for Uncle Jeremy.

Peyton was being silly.

Hunter got way too many gifts, of course. Now I will bore you with only a fraction of the pictures that Jill took for us. (Thanks, Jill!)

Hunter read his cards very carefully. This one was from Aunt Kate, Uncle Dave, and Noah.

Amongst other things, they gave him the Weebles school bus.

Uncle Jeremy and Jill hooked Hunter up with Snug Bugs, which are perfect for chewing on!

Nadean, Vester, and Austin gave Hunter three Drum Drop toys, as well as several other gifts.

Grandmom and Pop-Pop gave Hunter a bunch of Dr. Seuss books...

... some pajamas and a few cute outfits...

... a bath toy and...

... a musical walking toy.

Yay for wrapping paper.

Uncle Donald gave Hunter a fun laptop and bongo drums.

Aunt Bev gave Hunter his own Cars rocking chair. Hunter needed to take a rest from opening gifts to read his new book from Nadean.

Kim, Bo, and Dougie gave Hunter one of his favorite gifts -- Clifford! Hunter always has hugs for Clifford. They also gave him other gifts too, including some cute clothes.

Mommy and Daddy gave Hunter some books...

... and the Little People Animal Sounds Zoo.

Hunter got even more gifts from Peyton, Mom-Mom Annie and Aunt Marie, who were at the party. He also received presents from Uncle Ryan's family, Grandpa, Nana, Grandma and Grandpa Rohner, and his teacher Miss Heather, who couldn't attend. Hunter did a good job at ripping the paper off of the gifts, mostly because he wanted to eat it! He would get angry each time someone took the paper away from him. Ahhhh, to be one again!

Thanks to everyone that took part in Hunter's special day. He loves you all!!

4th of July

2011-07-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

On the 4th of July, we followed tradition and went to the parade in Dundalk. As usual, we stopped at McDonald's for breakfast with my parents. Jeremy and Jill met us there too, but didn't eat. After breakfast, we drove over to the parade route and found the rest of the family already set up on "our" corner. It was nice and sunny, and thankfully not as hot or humid as it was last year. Peyton and Hunter enjoyed the parade.

Hunter and Kim

Austin, Peyton, and Doug

Red, White, and Blue! (And no, that wasn't planned)

Jill and Jeremy

Peyton keeps cool with his fan

Our family

After the parade, we went home to eat lunch and so that Peyton and Hunter could take naps. Then we went to a cookout at Kate and Dave's new house. Their house is so nice! They have the best kitchen, and I'm not even trying to hide the fact that I'm super jealous of it! Anyway, Dave grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. There was also corn on the cob and fruit salad. Kate was very patriotic with red, white, and blue tortilla chips, M&Ms, and gummy candy.

Kate and Dave's nephews and one of Noah's friends were also at the cookout. After everyone ate, they set up a slip and slide for the boys to play on. I think the kids had fun cooling off in the water.

Noah and Peyton snuck away to play with a big ball.

Around 6:00, Hunter started to get a little cranky, so we thought that we should drive back home. While we were on the way, we just decided to stop at Ft. Meade so that we could watch their fireworks. Normally, the base is closed to civilians, but they open it up on the 4th for a little festival and fireworks. We were pretty early, so we just relaxed on a blanket. Hunter ate a bottle, and it was the first time he held it all by himself!

Peyton and me waiting for the fireworks to begin

Ooohhh! Aaahhh!

We ended up leaving the fireworks before they were even finished because Peyton and Hunter were both exhausted and we wanted to beat the traffic off base. We got home around 10:30 and went to sleep.

4th of July was busy, but fun. On Independence Day, it's important to remember those who fought, and are currently fighting, for our freedom. USA! USA! USA!

Michigan

2011-07-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

We planned a trip to Michigan this summer for a few reasons. First, we really wanted to see all of Kyle's grandparents, and introduce them to Hunter. Secondly, we haven't been there in a few years, so it was definitely time to visit. And third, Kyle's cousin Mandy was getting married, so we picked the dates for our trip based on that.

Noah spent the night at our house on Wednesday because Kate and Dave went to a concert in Baltimore. When they picked him up around 9:30 on Thursday morning, we all started the long, long drive to Michigan. We kept pace with Kate until Breezewood, PA because we needed to stop to feed Hunter and have lunch. They thought it was too early to eat, so they continued on. After lunch we drove for about another three hours, until it was time to feed Hunter again. This was just a quick stop for some baby food and a bottle. The next leg of the trip was absolutely horrific. Hunter screamed for the next three hours straight. There was just nothing we could do to soothe him. He couldn't (or wouldn't) take a nap, so he was super tired and cranky from being stuck in the car seat all day. Finally it was time to stop for dinner. We decided to eat a sit-down restaurant so that we could be out of the car for a while. After we finished with dinner, it was only another hour or so until we made it to the hotel. In all, it took us 11-1/2 hours to get to Michigan, with Hunter screaming for 3 of them. Yes, it was a looooooooooooong ride. Thankfully, Peyton was pretty quiet because we brought the DVD player and lots of movies. He was focused on them the entire time.

We checked into our hotel around 9:00 pm and got the boys settled into bed. We got a suite, so Peyton took one bedroom and we set up Hunter's pack-and-play in the living room area. We took the other bedroom, of course. Friday morning, they actually slept relatively late to about 8:30. We got dressed and went to the lobby for breakfast. We planned on going to Grandma Moreau's house for lunch around 12, so we still had a little time to waste. Peyton was acting crazy and Hunter was bored, so we just went to Meijer to browse. It's not a trip to MI without a stop at Meijer!

Anyway, we got to Grandma's and it was time for Hunter to eat. Then he was super tired so we set up the pack-and-play in the bedroom and he took a nap. Unfortunately, Hunter slept almost the entire time that we were there, so I didn't get any pictures of him with Nana. She put out quite the spread of food for lunch. Actually, I'm going to say it was the most food that I've ever seen set out for lunch. After we ate, Peyton played with the animal Beanie Babies and we chatted with Grandma. Kate and Dave came over a little later and hung out. Around 4:00 Hunter woke up, we fed him again, and then we left for Grandma and Grandpa Rohner's for dinner.

They were super excited to see Hunter and Peyton. Grandma couldn't wait to get her hands on Hunter. He went to her with no problems. (Of course Hunter had to wear his State outfit in MI!)Peyton played with Grandpa by measuring his foot with a toy tape measure.

Great-Grandpa, Great-Grandma, Peyton and Hunter

We stayed there for a few hours talking. Grandma cooked chicken and rice for dinner and we had brownies for dessert. Yum. It was getting to be Hunter's bedtime though, so we took off for the hotel so that he could go to sleep.

On Saturday morning, Ryan, Becky, Lindsey, Sara, Kate, Dave, Noah, Linda, and Jim came to our hotel so that the kids could go swimming together. I think everyone had a lot of fun!

After everyone cleaned up from the pool, we all went to Arby's for a quick lunch. We separated so that the kids could take naps before Mandy's wedding, which was at 3:00. Peyton and Hunter laid down for a little while, then we gave them baths and got them dressed. Then we were off to the wedding. Peyton was so sad that we were in a church, but that there was no singing. He loves singing church songs. Both he and Hunter were very well behaved during the ceremony. Here is the beautiful bride and groom.

After the wedding, we had a few hours before the reception started. Becky's parents graciously watched Hunter for us while we were at the reception, because it started at 6:00 and he goes to bed shortly after that. Hunter had no problem staying there and went right to Becky's dad. We hung out at their house and took some pictures until it was time to leave for the reception.

Peyton and Hunter

Our family

Cousins - Lindsey, Peyton, Hunter, and Sara

We got to the reception a little after 6:00. The theme of the wedding was the 70's - think peace signs and flower power. While we were waiting for dinner to be served, we hit up the candy table. There were chinese take-out boxes and lots of old school candy, like candy buttons, wax bottles, jawbreakers, and bubble gum to sample. It was after 7:00 before tables were called to the buffet and we were practically the last table to be called. By the time we got our food, it was after 8:00 and we were starving!

After dinner, it was time to get our groove on. It seemed like the kids never stopped dancing! Peyton danced with Lindsey and Sara.

Peyton was ready to catch the garter.

After the bouquet and garter tosses, they sat the girl down that caught the bouquet for the guy who caught the garter to put it on her leg. They blindfolded the guy, and then switched the girl out for Dave! How he got picked, I'm not sure, but what ensued was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Then, back to dancing. Kyle danced with Lindsey.

Peyton even busted out his break-dancing moves.

Uncle Dave used Peyton as his personal drum kit.

Kyle and I.

Kyle and Grandma were dancing to Jennifer Lopez! Grandma danced with Kyle more than I did. What's up with that?!

Peyton started to run out of energy, so we left the reception around 10:30, I think. We stopped by Becky's parents' house to get Hunter and then went back to the hotel for some sleep!

Peyton slept in again on Sunday and we needed to wake Hunter up so that we could get some breakfast and get back on the road. We ended leaving around 9:30 again. It took another 12 hours to get home, but this time Hunter only cried for a little while when he was hungry and we were stuck in traffic and not moving. I crawled into the backseat and gave him a bottle. Other than that one time, the trip home was smooth sailing.

It was nice to see everyone, since it's been a while. We also caught up with Kyle's dad, some of his cousins, aunts, and uncles. While we needed a vacation after our vacation, we did have a good time. Hopefully next time we'll be back sooner.

Science Center

2011-07-24T00:01:00.001-04:00

The pictures in this post are all out of order (even though I know I added them in the correct order), so I'm pretty much just going to explain what's going on in each. Because honestly, I'm too lazy to upload them again right now.

I kept Peyton and Hunter home with me the week we left for Michigan. There was no sense in paying for them to be at daycare for only three days. So on Tuesday of that week, I took them to the Science Center. It was my mom's day off of work, so she came with us. And I am so glad she did -- she was such a big help keeping Hunter occupied so that I could play with Peyton.

When we first entered the Science Center, we met this lady who had a little setup to teach about starfish. Peyton schooled her on details about starfish and she was so impressed that he knew so much about them, being so young.
There was a live lizard in this display case. Hunter checked him out.
Peyton and his friend, the Maryland Blue Crab. (I think I ate his cousin at dinner on Father's Day. Hehe.)
Hunter was quite interested in learning how clouds form in our atmosphere.
At the entrance of the museum, this guy did a static electricity experiment with my mom and Peyton. He had the three of them hold hands so that they could feel the electric current run through each of them around the circle. Pretty neat.
In the dinosaur area, there was this big dinosaur skull. I think its a tyrannosaurus rex.
Paleontologist Peyton digging for fossils.
This exhibit teaches how a volcano forms. Peyton was controlling the heat under the ground, which eventually caused the volcano to erupt.
Up in Newton's Alley, we learned a lot about physics.
Here is another picture from the dinosaur area. It's a triceratops skull.
This is Peyton standing next to an actual tire from a space shuttle that was in space. They're pretty big tires!
Astronaut Peyton on Jupiter with Saturn in the background. That space suit was taken up into space in the Space Shuttle Discovery on one of its missions.
Peyton loved laying on the bed of nails. I think he did it two or three different times. It's amazing that the nails do not hurt.
That's me pointing out where my brain tumor was.
Peyton played a harp with no strings!
Hunter decided that the Science Center was just too much fun for him to handle, so he took a little nap.
Peyton visited Antarctica.
And we played with some penguins!
Peyton got to shake "Cal Ripken's" hand. Of course, he has no idea who Cal Ripken is. He was wearing his Orioles gear that day though.
Ewwww, Mom! You're gross.
Captain Peyton was ready to steer the boat. He was taking me on a cruise.
This water table was very exciting to Peyton. I liked that they provided the smocks, because he got pretty wet.
Now Peyton is swimming in the Chesapeake Bay.
Grandmom and Peyton with a big giant crab.
Drop the anchor so that we can set sail, Peyton.
There were many more exhibits that we explored, but I wouldn't want to bore anyone with a million pictures. Peyton had a really good time throughout the Science Center because almost every single exhibit is hands on. He learned a lot about the earth, dinosaurs, the human body and physics. He even learned about stars and constellations by watching a show in the planetarium called "One World, One Sky" featuring Elmo, Big Bird, and some character from the Chinese version of Sesame Street.

We had a super fun day at the Science Center. The day started out rainy, but ended up super hot. Before leaving for home, Grandmom treated Peyton to some Rita's. Unfortunately Kyle had to miss the excitement, but we had a good day with Grandmom instead!

Father's Day

2011-07-23T00:01:00.001-04:00

For Father's Day, Peyton and I made Kyle a super special crown. I designed it, cut it out, and wrote "King for a Day" on it, and Peyton was responsible for all of the beautiful artwork on it. You can't see it in these pictures, but he drew a picture of Kyle on the back side of the crown. Peyton could not wait for Kyle to wake up so that he could give him the crown!

Peyton made Kyle an art project at daycare, featuring his footprints, a picture of him surfing, and a little poem.
Hunter also made Kyle an art project at daycare. His featured his hand print and a poem.
I gave Kyle a super cute picture of him with Peyton and Hunter in a "Dad" frame for his desk at work.
Random cuteness of Hunter never hurts anyone, right?!
Peyton and Hunter got Kyle three boxes of golf balls.
Daddy and Peyton (Peyton's shirt says "Daddy's Caddy")
Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of Kyle and Hunter together, but Hunter was wearing a shirt that said "I ♥ Dad."

Later in the evening, we met up with my parents and Jeremy and Jill at Bo Brooks for dinner and to give my dad presents. Peyton insisted that Kyle wear his crown to the restaurant, and he did. He may have gotten a few funny looks, but Peyton was so excited that it was definitely worth it!

Peyton had a gift for Pop-Pop. It was a stegosaurus made out of sand.
Here's my daddy and his favorite ~~child~~ daughter. We're cute.
Me, Dad, and Jeremy
Hunter and one of his favorite dudes, Pop-Pop.
Jeremy and Jill
Grandmom shared her crab soup with Peyton. As you can see from the picture, it was all over his face, so I think he enjoyed it. Thank goodness he likes crabs, unlike his crazy father. Hehe.
I gave my dad a gift card to Starbucks. He is difficult to buy for!
It was a really nice day, and dinner outside on the patio was quite refreshing.

Happy Father's Day to the two best dads in the world. To my dad, you know you're awesome. And Kyle, you are seriously the best husband to me and the greatest daddy to Peyton and Hunter. We are all lucky to have you!

National Museum of Natural History

2011-07-22T14:35:00.002-04:00

Ok, I'm baaaaaaaack. I just got so far behind, that the task of catching up on all of our goings-on was a daunting task. But, here I go. I'm going to schedule one entry to post every day until I'm caught up. After the long wait, I hope I don't disappoint...

As everyone knows by now, Peyton is in love with all things animals. Back on June 12, we took him (and Hunter, of course!) to the National Museum of Natural History down in Washington, DC. We decided to drive into the city, rather than take the Metro like we normally would because we figured that it would be a little tough to navigate the train with Hunter's big stroller. We didn't tell Peyton where we were going, because 1. he wouldn't even really understand what it was, and 2. he would talk non-stop about animals for the entire drive (and honestly, that gets annoying.)

We arrived at the museum just after it opened at 10 am. The first exhibits that we visited were those about sea life. There were bones of various whales hanging from the ceiling. There was also a life-size replica of a whale hanging from the ceiling and it was huge! Here, Peyton is looking at plankton that whales typically eat.

As Peyton walked by each different item in the entire museum, he asked, "Mommy, what's that?" or "Daddy, what animal is that?" or "What does that do?" I loved his curiosity. Here he is feeling a portion of a "crusty patch" that grows on a right whale's skin. He was very hands-on throughout the day.

After spending lots of time learning about sea creatures, we headed to the dinosaur exhibits. Peyton pointed to this diagram on the wall and told us what each dinosaur was called - and he was RIGHT each time.

For some reason, Peyton was a little scared of the dinosaur bones, so he just would not pose for a picture in front of any of them. But, I did get this picture of my boys in front of a stegosaurus replica. (Notice the boys are wearing their dinosaur bone shirts! Good work getting them dressed, Kyle.)

Here is T. Rex!

In the atrium of the museum, there is a life-sized elephant as the centerpiece. Here are Peyton and I in front of it.

Next we were onto the mammal section. There were lots of lots of animals like these. We hung out in here for a long, long time. Peyton could not get enough! He liked the little dear and the big moose.

Here's Peyton with one of his favorite animals, the okapi. He loves to stump people with its existence, because we've found that most people have never heard of okapis.

Hunter checked out the little kangaroo. He pointed to the pouch and said, "Hey, if I were a kangaroo, I'd be in there right now." My kids are so smart. Hehe.

After prying Peyton away from these animals, we started to check out the gems, but Peyton had to go to the bathroom, and we never got back to see the Hope Diamond. In another section of the museum, we learned that the world population at around noon, EST was about 6.7 billion. It seemed to increase about 7 people per second.

The next section that we checked out was dedicated to ancient China. Here is Kyle with his new BFFs.

Hunter finally passed out after getting a little cranky from being tired.

We looked at a bunch of different minerals. Peyton was still curious and wanted to know everything about them.

After looking at more bones of various animals, we went into the bug area of the museum. Here is Peyton acting like an ant in an ant tunnel.

He was looking at spiders in the picture below.

I'm not really sure what he's standing on in this picture, but he looked cute, so I thought I'd include it.

We saw pretty much everything in the entire museum, it was getting late, and our feet were getting tired so we headed home. I love that Peyton loves to learn and it is fun to see his passion for animals.

Memorial Day

2011-06-04T19:27:00.003-04:00

Memorial Day was very hot, but a lot of fun too. First, we went to my friend Tahis' daughter's 1st birthday party. It was at Centennial Park in Columbia. We let Peyton play on the playground for a little while, but it was just too hot, so we went back to the pavilion where there was shade. Peyton was absolutely famished, so he ate some chicken, seafood pasta salad, and fruit salad. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long because we had another barbecue to attend. We didn't get to play the games that Tahis planned, see Sanai eat her birthday cake, or watch her open gifts -- which stinks! Peyton was bummed that we left before he got to eat cake (even though he really wouldn't have eaten it anyway.)

The birthday girl (adorable!)

One of the activities that Tahis had set up was face painting. Peyton wanted his whole face painted like a tiger (gee, an animal... shocker). He must take after Kyle in his love of face paint, who took it upon himself to get his face painted like a clown when he was younger. I convinced Peyton to go with a smaller football on his cheek. The football didn't last too long though because it was so hot, and it pretty much melted away.

Hunter spent his time at the party eating his baby food and bottle. Even though he didn't nap well earlier in the day, he didn't get fussy, despite the heat.

My boys getting their red, white, and blue on in honor of Memorial Day.

When we left the birthday party, we headed to a cookout with my parents, Jeremy, and Jill. There was the usual cookout food, like hamburgers, hot dogs, macaroni salad, and watermelon. The girls enjoyed strawberry daiquiris and the boys drank margaritas. And there was lots of wiffle ball in the backyard.

We had a blast on Memorial Day, even though it was in the upper 90s. However, we can't forget the real meaning of Memorial Day. I want to thank everyone who has served (like Kyle and Tahis) or is serving our country (like my brother-in-law, Adam, who is currently overseas), and especially those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Random Cuteness

2011-05-26T15:45:00.004-04:00

Here are a few pictures that didn't quite fit into any other post, but that I wanted to share.

Hunter started eating Puffs toward the end of April.

What are these things?

Let me examine it a little more...

I don't know about these things.

Hello?

I'm going to put this puzzle together

Chef Peyton grilling us some food

Now I'm going to build a castle

Brotherly love

Chef Hunter

Twins!
(courtesy of Grandmom and Pop-Pop)

I am so lucky to have such adorable kids! Not to brag or anything...

Chili Cook-Off

2011-05-26T15:43:00.002-04:00

My parents gave Jeremy, Jill, Kyle and I tickets to the DC101 Chili Cook-off for Easter. It is (obviously) a chili cook-off, but also a big concert featuring several bands. It is located on one of the parking lots of RFK stadium in Washington, DC. This year, Cook-off was on May 21. It was a gorgeous day, very sunny and in the upper 80s. I'm just happy it wasn't raining like the last time we went to Cook-off. That sucked.

There were seven bands playing. The four of us decided that we really didn't care about Neon Trees, Middle Class Rut, and Paper Tongues, so we left our house later in the afternoon. We wanted to get to Cook-off in time to see Panic! At the Disco, but there was a little mishap with some tickets, but I'm not going to call anyone out on that (*cough* Jeremy and Jill *cough). We were entering the gates just as Panic! was finishing up their set. Oh well...

Papa Roach was up next. They seem to play at the Chili Cook-off often, and Kyle and I have seen them three times. Seether was the next band to perform. During Seether, I started feeling pretty sick. I don't handle the heat well and I felt like I was going to throw up, so we went toward the back of the parking lot where there were fewer people and sat down for a little while. Then we walked around a bit and I felt better. The last band, who I wanted to see the most, was Weezer. We found a spot on a grassy area that was in the shade. We couldn't see the stage, but there were less people and we could actually feel the breeze. I think we stayed for about 13 of Weezer's songs, but Kyle was getting hungry and Jeremy and Jill looked like they might fall asleep at any moment, so I gave in and we left early. I missed my two favorite songs that Weezer sings, but it's ok.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Kyle and I

Jeremy and Jill

All of us!

Birthday Party Weekend

2011-05-26T15:36:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, Peyton had two friends' birthday parties to attend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. We were some party animals! The party on Saturday was for Olivia's 4th birthday and it was located at Kinderfarm Park. As the name implies, it was at a park that had a farm section with lots of animals. All four of us went to Olivia's party since it was a nice day outside. We knew Peyton would be excited to see all of the animals, and we figured we'd bring Hunter along to check things out as well.

Once the party started, everyone headed over to the farm area of the park. The kids checked out goats, chickens, sheep, rabbits, cows, and the biggest pig I've ever seen. In the picture below, the Olivia is on the left, and Peyton is in the orange jacket (duh - the orange jacket works well in situations like this because it's easy to spot Peyton in the group).
Peyton taking a peep at some rabbits.
These boys are the Three Musketeers. The one on the left with the curly hair is Peyton's BFF, Levi and the other boy to the right is a newer friend named Noah. They are pretty inseparable at daycare (and birthday parties!)

"Mommy, these logs are awesome!" --Peyton

Hunter got to swing at the playground.
Peyton also had fun playing on the huge playground with his friends.
Eventually the party moved back to the pavilion, where the kids played some games and did activities. They hit the pinata (It's a pull-string one, but I'm not sure Olivia's parents knew that...)
They colored masks of different farm animals, including sheep, pigs, and cows. Peyton and Levi chose to be sheep.
Finally, everyone sang happy birthday to Olivia and enjoyed some cake and ice cream. After cake, the party was over, but Peyton and Levi played on the playground for a little while longer. Hunter was getting tired though, so we had to head home.

On Sunday, Peyton went to a party for his friend Nick's 2nd birthday. It was at a place called Ultimate Fun Zone. It had several moon-bounces and a big pirate ship with a sliding board. Peyton had a blast jumping and playing on the pirate ship.
After everyone was tired from jumping, we went into the party room for some snacks and cake. Peyton ate a ton of cheese curls, chips, and pretzels. I think he also drank three juice boxes. All that jumping makes you thirsty! We sang to Nick and then ate some yummy cake and ice cream. Peyton's hands were orange from the cheese curls and his face was covered in chocolate ice cream. Yum.
There was no time for Nick to open his presents, so after cake, we went home. It was a fun birthday weekend, but I was partied out!

Skydiving!

2011-05-25T15:31:00.002-04:00

May 12 was the big day to go skydiving! Kyle and I dropped the boys off at daycare and then hit the road. We jumped at Skydive Delmarva, which is located about an hour over the Bay Bridge in Delaware.
We arrived around 10:00 and it was the most beautiful day to jump. It was perfectly clear, without a cloud in the sky. Once we checked in, we had to fill out a multi-page booklet with our personal information and sign lots of waivers before we could jump. While we were completing our paperwork, a load of skydivers took off in the plane. We got to watch them all jump. This is obviously not me, but I'm sure I looked just like this.
After all of the first plane-full of skydivers landed, we were called into a warehouse to prepare for our jump. Kyle and I jumped tandem, which means that we each had an instructor attached to our backs. I jumped with a guy named Pat, who was really nice. I was quite nervous as it got closer and closer to the jump, but he calmed me down. Kyle and I got into our jumpsuits and harnesses and were given goggles and helmets. Then Pat and I went over how the jump was going to go. We practiced the position that you need to be in on the floor of the warehouse. He explained exactly what we do on the plane and how we would jump. We went over this several times before we even boarded the plane.

Eventually, it was time for us to board the plane. There are two benches in the plane, one on the left and one on the right. Kyle and I were sitting next to each other. We sit facing the back of the plane, straddling the bench. Our instructors sat behind us. Once we were in the plane, they hooked themselves to us. Everyone else on the plane was jumping alone. It took about 20 minutes to reach 12,000 feet, which is the altitude from which we jumped. While we were flying, Pat went over the game plan a few more times. Finally, we reached altitude and it was time to go. I kissed Kyle "goodbye" and off everyone went. I think about 10 people were on the plane total. Kyle went right before me and I was the last one off the plane.

To get to the door, we slid down the bench. Once we reached the end of the bench, we fell right onto our knees. Together, the instructor and I turned 180 degrees so that we were facing the front of the plane. That is the thing that scared me the most -- I was terrified that we were going to fall out of the door (even though, yes, I know that's what we'd be doing in just a few seconds). Once we were oriented properly, Pat grabbed my shoulders and rocked me to "Ready, Set, Go" and we fell out of the plane! The free fall was absolutely amazing! It lasted about a minute, I'd estimate. I was being videoed and photographed by another employee. He highfived me and had me do thumbs-up a few times during the free fall. Pat spun us around 360 degrees so that I could see everything. Then he pulled the ripcord and the parachute opened. It jerked us upward (or felt that way at least). Our glide down to earth took about four minutes, I think.

Once the parachute was pulled, Pat and I could talk again because it was quiet. He let me steer the parachute for a minute, and showed me some river and where the Chesapeake Bay was. He also showed me the airport and the tiny little circle where we'd be landing. Then, he explained to me how we were going to land. He told me that I had to pull my legs up so that his feet touched the ground first, or else we'd tumble on the ground. Well, once we reached the ground, I didn't get my feet up in time and I fell on the ground on my stomach with Pat on my back. I couldn't stop laughing. It didn't hurt or anything, but it was funny. Pat unhooked us, and we headed back to the warehouse.

Kyle got to actually jump from the plane off of his feet. He also got to pull the ripcord himself and steer the parachute, since he was a seasoned veteran (he's jumped once before).

Skydiving was great! I will absolutely do it again.

My mom picked Peyton and Hunter up from daycare for us, so we had the afternoon free. We stopped and got lunch on the way home. Then we stopped at the Queenstown Outlets and did some shopping. It was a super fun day, for sure!

Mother's Day

2011-05-25T15:18:00.004-04:00

A few days before Mother's Day, Kyle and Peyton brought me these beautiful white roses (my favorite!)

I am lucky enough to be called 'Mommy' by the world's two cutest boys!

Peyton and I

Hunter and I

My two loves!

I got to sleep in on Mother's Day (mostly because Sundays are my sleep-in day, haha). Kyle and the boys also got me some presents! They got me two of these picture frames. I'm going to put the pictures of all of our nieces and nephews and lots of pictures of our family in them and hang them in the dining room.
I also got a pedometer, which I requested. I've been walking and trying to reach the recommended 10,000 steps per day. (It's unattainable...)
Besides the fact that I had strep throat, a double ear infection, and that we spent two hours at Patient First for Kyle and Hunter to be examined for strep, I had a fabulous Mother's Day!

I would also like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Linda, and all of the other wonderful mothers that I know!

My Birthday

2011-05-25T15:07:00.002-04:00

This year, I celebrated my 29th (yikes!) birthday. My parents came over so that Kyle and I could go out to dinner without the kids. Before we left for dinner, Kyle and the boys gave me presents. I got a griddle/grill pan from Peyton and Hunter. It was exactly what I wanted (Yes, I bought it for myself...)
Kyle gave me a pretty big surprise -- a trip to go SKYDIVING!! I was instantly super excited and also terrified at the same time. I've always wanted to skydive, but the fact that it was actually going to happen made me a little nervous!
Kyle and I went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. We go there when we don't have Hunter with us, because he can't even enter that restaurant because of all of the peanuts on the tables. I got a free appetizer because it was my birthday and we were stuffed after dinner.

We went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factor with my parents, Jeremy, and Jill the following weekend to celebrate. It was delicious, as always. Thanks for dinner, Mom and Dad! All in all, a great birthday.

Easter Dinner

2011-05-25T14:47:00.004-04:00

As usual, we hosted Easter dinner at our house. This year, we had 17 people -- my dad's side of the family and Kyle's sister Kate and her family. Here are my cuties dressed in their Easter best.
My parents came over before everyone else to watch the boys so that Kyle and I could cook and set the table without distractions. They, of course, came bearing gifts. Hunter couldn't wait to dig into his bags.
Grandmom read Peyton his card.
And then he started to open his gifts. Peyton got lots of summer clothes, some workbooks, and Madagascar 2 on DVD.
Hunter really wanted to eat his marshmallow lollipop right away.
Hunter also got lots of summer clothes, a Sesame Street DVD, Peter Cottontail DVD, and some books.
Kate, Dave, and Noah arrived next. We got Noah a Cookie Monster Play-Doh set because he is our godson.
Aunt Kate and Uncle Dave gave Hunter some rattles and the Pat the Bunny book, which must taste good.
They gave Peyton some sidewalk chalk and a box of Mickey Mouse coloring pages with markers.
My parents gave Jeremy, Jill, Kyle, and I tickets to the DC101 Chili Cook-off. It's a big concert to benefit the National Kidney Foundation.
The boys also got gifts from Kim and Bo, Nadean and Vester, and Aunt Bev. Every holiday is like Christmas in our family. It is sort of ridiculous how spoiled my kids are!

For dinner we had the usual -- ham, ravioli, meatballs and sausage, cracker corn, and broccoli salad. For dessert, I made the ever popular Death by Chocolate and a black bottom banana cream pie. Kate made the most adorable Easter basket cupcakes and Kim made yummy lemon bars and cheesecake bars. I think everyone was stuffed after dinner. Everyone hung out and chatted while Peyton, Hunter, and Noah played with toys. As everyone left, we gave out leftovers but we still ended up with a ton of food. I'd say it was another successful Easter dinner.

Easter Morning

2011-05-25T14:20:00.005-04:00

After Peyton and Hunter went to bed, the Easter Bunny came to our house! He left each boy a basket full of candy and a big tub full of books and toys.
Hunter woke up first Sunday morning. I guess he was super excited for his first Easter. Kyle and I got dressed and we woke Peyton up so that we could all go downstairs together. Peyton couldn't wait to see what kind of goodies he got.
Hunter checked out his basket full of candy. Kyle and I took care of eating his treats for him.
Then, Hunter peeked into his tub of gifts. He got four Sesame Street books, a toy truck, a bubble maker, and another Fisher Price toy.
Peyton got a big Diego coloring book, an elephant and a horse, Ice Age and Ice Age 2 on DVD, a set of capsules that when put into water dissolved into sponge animals, and three books. The Easter Bunny must have known how much Peyton loves animals.
Peyton checked out his candy basket next.
Then, Peyton went on a egg hunt. He found both his and Hunter's eggs.
After Peyton found all of the eggs, we divided them up into his pile and Hunter's pile. Then Peyton opened all of his eggs, and found money in each one.
Hunter was content to shake the eggs and listen to the coins rattle around in them.
Peyton and I got dressed in our nice clothes and headed off to church. Hunter was a little under the weather on Easter, so we decided that he should just stay home and rest. Peyton actually loves church because he likes all of the songs. In fact, weeks later, he still randomly starts singing one of the songs we sang in church on Easter. It's pretty cute. After church, we went to get lunch at Taco Bell, because Kyle always says that we should serve tacos at our dinner. Since that is not happening anytime soon, I compromised and bought him tacos for lunch instead. After lunch, we laid the boys down for naps, and we started to prepare for dinner.

Preparing for Easter

2011-05-19T14:23:00.000-04:00

In order to prepare for Easter, we decorated the house. I pulled out most of the Easter decorations one day while Kyle was at work and the boys were at daycare. It is easier to do things like that when they aren't around and getting in the way. My mom bought Peyton a bunch of window clings, so I let him hang those on the windows around our front door.

After decorating, we dyed Easter eggs. Here's a picture of Hunter dying his very first Easter egg. Daddy had to help, of course.

After a little instruction from me, Peyton was a pro and had an egg in every one of the cups. He would periodically check the color and tell me when they were ready to be taken out.

Here are all of our beautiful eggs!

Noah's 2nd Birthday Party

2011-04-06T15:48:00.008-04:00

Sunday was our nephew Noah's 2nd birthday. He had his birthday party at Gymboree. There were lots of different things for the kids to play on and a staff member led all of the kids in different songs and games. Peyton and Hunter were excited to get the party started. Kyle wanted to play too.

There was lots of

climbing tunnellingpreparing for more gamesrockingkicking and throwingshaking and bubbles!

Hunter got in on the action too, with some

sitting shaking sliding

and rocking.

After the first hour, everyone went into the party room for cake and juice. There was a Sesame Street theme. My very talented sister-in-law made an Elmo cake.

She also made these adorable Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch cupcakes.

Peyton chose to have a Cookie Monster cupcake...

which was clearly delicious!

Party Animal

Mini-Party Animal

Well hello, handsome

After the Gymboree party was over, our family, Noah's grandparents, uncle, aunt, and cousins, and a few of Kate's friends went back to their house for pizza and presents. Peyton and Noah did Cheers! with their cups.

Noah got lots of fun gifts. We got him this Elmo camera.

We also got him a Leap Frog laptop.

The kids all played well with each other. They tired themselves out and it was getting late, so we changed Hunter into his pajamas and then headed home to get him to bed.

Happy birthday to our sweet nephew, Noah! We love you.

Circus

2011-04-04T14:54:00.006-04:00

Peyton and I had a date night at the circus Saturday evening. Peyton was so excited to go to the circus because he loves animals and he knew he'd see some there. He was counting down the days until Saturday came. Then, he was counting down the minutes until we could leave the house. We drove downtown to get to the arena, and every time we passed a parking garage, Peyton asked me, "Mommy, is that the circus?" Finally, we reached the parking garage across the street from the arena and walked over to the circus. The entire time we were walking, Peyton repeated, "I'm so excited! I'm so excited!" He really was giddy.

One hour before the show, the audience members are allowed to walk around on the arena floor. Several of the performers were walking around too. There were jugglers, stilt walkers, a trapeze artist, and clowns. Peyton picked up this hot chick. Peyton got a "Greatest Show on Earth" tattoo from an acrobat. We had to return to our seats (which were great - 2nd row, center!) about fifteen minutes before the actual circus began. About every 30 seconds, Peyton asked how much more time there was. Eventually, I showed him my watch and explained that we had to wait until the big hand pointed to the 6. That satisfied him.

The show began with a musical parade number. The theme of the circus was "Funundrum" and the main song talked about the circus train.

The first act was several groups of aerialists. Next was a group of men doing flips and tricks on and off of balance beam-sized planks. Then, the tigers were showcased. Peyton was happy to finally see some animals.

After another dance number, there were a few different acts going on simultaneously. They were the Body Benders (three girls who were incredibly flexible), the Bionic Brothers, and a group called Ulaanbaatar Ballerina. They are pictured below. So strong!

Next up were the tightrope walkers. They were directly in front of us. They did several passes on the tightrope, but the most impressive one was this one.

Another act that Peyton really enjoyed was the motorcycles in the globe. They started out with just four bikes, but worked all the way up to seven! It really is amazing that all of those motorcycles can fit in the sphere, let alone ride around without hitting each other.

After intermission, there were some hat jugglers, and finally more animals. Peyton was worried that there weren't going to be any more animals. He was way less impressed with the acts involving people. I think he just doesn't quite understand how tough it is to do the things that they were doing. The animals were in three rings and included miniature horses, llamas, and donkeys.

Then a cow came out (which seemed sort of random to me...)

There were clown routines between each of the main acts. Finally, the elephants got their turn. I think they are my favorite part of the circus. It is just amazing what they can do considering their huge size! We were definitely close enough to smell them.

After the elephants, there was a guy who rode a motorcycle on a tightrope. He was balanced by a girl hanging below his bike. He rode back and forth along the rope a few times, doing various tricks. The last trick he did was to do a 360º flip over the tightrope. Incredible!

The final act was the Barnum Bouncers, who did a routine on several large trampolines.

The show wrapped up with another large song and dance number featuring all of the performers. Peyton and I had a really good time at the circus!

We can't wait until next year so that Hunter (and Daddy) can come with us!

Muscles!

2011-04-04T14:48:00.002-04:00

Looks at those guns!

The Pledge of Allegiance

2011-03-28T07:37:00.002-04:00

Peyton says the Pledge of Allegiance

Spring!

2011-03-21T13:15:00.006-04:00

For Christmas, Santa brought Peyton his very first pair of roller skates. They were one of Peyton's favorite gifts, even though I really don't think he knew what they were exactly. We were waiting for the weather to break so that he could skate outside. Finally, over the weekend, we had a gorgeous 75+ degree day, so we all went outside for some fun.

I put on Peyton's skates and helped him out at first.

He had a little spill.

But before long, he was a pro, skating all on his own!

After Peyton finished rollerskating, we all headed over to the playground. It was Hunter's very first trip there. Peyton wanted to swing first.

Then Hunter got his chance to swing with me.

Next, we moved over to the slides. Hunter took a turn going down the big slide, with Kyle's help, of course.

I don't think he knew what was happening, but seemed to enjoy the ride.

Peyton wanted a turn on the big slide too, so he climbed up.

And then went down.

Peyton wanted to go down the little slide with Hunter. With some help from Daddy, we let them slide together.

Daddy wanted to get in on the action with Hunter.

And right before we left to go back home, Peyton did a few pull-ups to work on his muscles.

Silliness

2011-03-18T10:46:00.004-04:00

This week was Spirit Week at the boys' daycare. Tuesday was Mismatch Day. Here are Peyton and Hunter in their silly outfits.

Wednesday was Wacky Hair or Hat Day. Considering that Kyle just cut Peyton's hair, we went with wacky hats. Peyton wore my Minnie Mouse hat and Hunter wore his silly Maryland hat.

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day, so the boys wore green. Peyton's shirt says, "This is my lucky shirt" and Hunter's shirt says, "I'm a McCutie."

I think Hunter should sport the mohawk more often! He seems to like it.

For dinner we had green eggs and green pancakes. We also had, as Peyton called it, "brown bacon."

Kyle and I were in a silly mood, so we decided to draw a goatee on Peyton to see how much he really does look like Kyle. This picture makes me laugh so hard every time I look at it!

I'd say they look like (very cute) twins!

Dad's Birthday

2011-03-09T15:09:00.003-05:00

My dad's birthday is on March 1, so we all went out to dinner to celebrate. We were going to go to TGI Fridays, but the wait was an hour and a half because there were eight of us. That would have put us just sitting down to eat at Hunter's bedtime, so we decided to go to the Greene Turtle instead. I'll start with some random pictures.

Hunter and Uncle Jeremy

Hunter, Uncle Jeremy, and JillPeyton and Pop-Pop

After everyone was finished eating their dinners, we sang Happy Birthday. As usual, Peyton helped blow out the candles.

Instead of a cake, my dad had goodies like chocolate eclairs and cannolis. Peyton chose to "eat" a chocolate eclair. He was quite a mess!

Finally my dad opened his birthday gifts. Peyton and Hunter gave him two whisks.

And Kyle and I got him a Starbucks gift card.

We had to leave right after gifts because Hunter was very tired and was getting pretty cranky. It was a fun dinner though.

Happy birthday, Dad!

Birthday Party

2011-02-23T14:11:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday, Peyton went to his friend Brandon's birthday party. It was at a bowling alley and Peyton was so excited because he has never bowled before. (I'm going to leave out the part where we were 40 minutes late because Mommy is an idiot, and thought the party started at 2:00, when in fact it started at 12:00. Luckily, Kyle looked at the invitation for some reason, noticed the correct time of the party, and we hurried to get out the door as quickly as possible.)

They had the bumpers up for the kids, so it was tough to get a gutter bowl. Here's Peyton's first frame of bowling.

The kids averaged about a 70 per game, which isn't too bad for being 3 and 4 years old. Peyton did pretty well rolling the ball with speed and power. Some of the kids rolled the balls so slowly that they actually stopped in the middle of the lane before they even got to the pins.

There was that 'yummy', rubbery bowling alley pizza for lunch. The kids seemed to enjoy it though.

This was Brandon's cake. Obviously it was a Cars themed party. I thought the Lightning McQueen cake was pretty awesome.

The kids sang Happy Birthday and then they ate ~~cake~~ icing. They also ate ice cream cups. There was a little more bowling, but then the party was over. It was a lot of fun though!

7 Months

2011-02-23T13:45:00.004-05:00

Hunter turned seven months old on February 11 and he is becoming such a big boy! He sits up so well on his own now. You can give him some toys and he'll entertain himself.

Since Hunter has six teeth, we have started to brush them. We have to keep them pearly white! This is the first time I brushed his teeth. He didn't seem to mind it. (I swear I am not hurting him!)

Hunter also takes his bath in the big bathtub now. Here is a picture from his first time.

He really enjoyed the bath, as you can see in the video below.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T13:26:00.007-05:00

My parents stopped by our house the day before Valentine's Day to give Peyton and Hunter some gifts. They each got a big balloon. Peyton's was a monkey holding a heart that says, "I love you" and Hunter's was a frog, also holding a heart that says, "I love you." Peyton got a cute (well, it's cute at least the first time that you hear it - we are way past hearing it for the first time...) puppy dog that sings Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places. Peyton also got what might be his favorite movie ever - Madagascar. Grandmom and Pop-Pop have this movie at their house and Peyton watches it pretty much every time that he's there, so now we have a copy for our house too. Peyton likes to refer to it as the "I like to move it, move it..." movie. I'm pretty sure he loves it because it's all about animals, which we all know are his favorite thing to talk about, play with, learn about...

Hunter also got a puppy. His sings Do You Love Me. He also got a Care Bears movie. Can you say blast from the past?

Thanks Grandmom and Pop-Pop for the gifts!

On Valentine's Day, you know I had to dress the boys in something special. Hunter is my little heartbreaker.

And Peyton (I don't know what's up with that silly face) was the eligible bachelor. But, if you ask him, he has at least 3 girlfriends; yesterday it was up to 5. He's going to be breaking some hearts too.

Of course there was brotherly love too.

After my three Valentines got home (I love you, Kyle!) we opened gifts. Peyton made Kyle and I this cameo. So cute and it looks just like him, right?

Kyle and I gave Peyton a Dora the Explorer Valentine's Day book. He is going through a little bit of a Dora and Diego phase right now.

Peyton also got some chocolates.

Hunter was excited to see his gifts.

He got an Elmo Valentine's Day book and some chocolates. (Even though he has six teeth, I think I will take care of those for him!)

I'm so happy that my kids love books!

Peyton and Hunter also got a special package in the mail from my cousin, Austin. They each got a really cute red jacket.

After the gifts were opened, I started to make dinner. I looked up to see this. So sweet!

We put Hunter to bed and had quite the romantic dinner of spaghetti by Glade candlelight (fresh linen scent, in case you were wondering). Haha.

After dinner, we went through Peyton's valentines that he got from his friends at daycare. He got lots of lollipops and other candy. He really wanted to eat some of that candy, but it was almost his bed time, so we told him we'd save it for another day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Super Bowl XLV

2011-02-10T13:28:00.004-05:00

We had a mini Super Bowl party at our house with my parents. Kyle, being a Lions fan, hates the Packers and therefore was rooting for the Steelers. My dad, being a Ravens fan, hates the Steelers and therefore was rooting for the Packers. I was also rooting for the Packers as Aaron Rodgers was the man on my championship winning fantasy football team, so I was also rooting for the Packers. I convinced Peyton to root for the Packers with me and mom also chose to root for Green Bay.

Go Pack Go!

Me and my boys PeytonHere is our spread. Appetizer of cheese, crackers, and pepperoni Sweet and Sour Meatballs Chicken Ranch NachosTerps (yes, wrong team, I know) Pasta Salad Whoopie Pies (green for the Packers and yellow for the Steelers)

We had a good time watching the game... especially because the Packers beat the Steelers 31-25.

Hunter Giggling

2011-01-28T14:04:00.002-05:00

Last night, Kyle was playing with Hunter and Hunter was just giggling like crazy. This is the tail end of him laughing, once I thought to get the video camera...

Winter Gala

2011-01-26T09:03:00.002-05:00

Kindercare had their annual Winter Gala last night. Each class does a little performance, incorporating the winter theme and something that they've learned over the past year. Peyton's 3's class sang two songs. The first was the Snowman Pokey. This is only about half of Peyton's class. He is third from the right.

Next, Peyton's class sang the Vowel Song, which talks about the two different sounds that each vowel makes. I can't get that video to upload though. The kids were pretty cute though!

Hunter's Baptism Weekend

2011-01-24T15:49:00.008-05:00

Hunter was baptized on Sunday, January 23. We had some of Kyle's family come in from out of town to meet Hunter and attend the baptism. Kyle's mom, Linda, left Michigan early Friday morning to drive down here and arrived at our house around dinner time Friday evening. She stayed with us until Monday morning when she left to return home. We had a low-key dinner of tacos and before we knew it, it was Hunter's bedtime, so we put him upstairs. Kyle had a basketball game at 8:00, so he left around 7:20. After dinner, Grandma and Peyton played for a little while, but then it was his bedtime too. Kyle got home from his game a little after 9:00. I think Linda was tired from the 12 hour drive, so she chatted with Kyle and me a little longer and then she and I went to bed as well.

On Saturday morning, Grandma gave Peyton and Hunter their Christmas gifts. Yes, more Christmas gifts! Spoiled, I tell you! Hunter got the Stack and Surprise train.

Peyton got a parking garage and auto complex and some little cars.

She also made little stockings for each of her eight grandkids. Peyton got a little Mini Cooper car and lots of candy.

Hunter got candy too, but I think Kyle and I will have to eat that for him. Oh, the sacrifices we make as parents. Haha. He also got some small books about colors, letters, and numbers.

We just hung around the house Saturday afternoon and then Kyle's dad, Mike, his wife, Becky, and her son, Derek came over in the early evening after they got into town from Michigan. This was the first time that they met Hunter too. One guess as to what Grandpa brought with him. Yup, Christmas presents. I need stock in a toy store, for real, because with all of the stuff that the boys got this year, it seems our family is single-handily keeping them in business.

Hunter got My Pal Scout. Look how focused he is on his gift in the first picture.

Peyton got some puzzles. Two were large floor sized puzzles; one was the alphabet and the other was numbers 1-10. He also got a four pack of puzzles all with pictures of animals - his favorite.

Peyton and Grandpa played with the puzzles for a little while, then we ate dinner. We had chicken quesadillas, which might not have been the best idea, since there were seven of us eating, and we only can cook one quesadilla at a time. Oh well, we sort of ate in shifts, but it worked out. After dinner, Peyton chose Derek to do more puzzles with him. Thanks for being a good sport, Derek. Hunter got sleepy around 6:00, so we put him to bed. Peyton needed to get a bath, so I took him upstairs to do that. Mike hadn't left yet, so I let Peyton come back downstairs until they went back to their hotel, then Peyton went to bed too.

Here is some random Hunter cuteness.

Ryan and Becky drove down from Indiana on Saturday. They were staying at Kate's house, since she and Dave were on vacation in the Caymen Islands (lucky!) Hunter missed Aunt Kate and Uncle Dave, but we did get to see Noah though, because Ryan and Becky brought him up on Sunday to the baptism.

Sunday morning we were all up bright and early to get ready for Hunter's baptism. He was baptized at 10:45 mass at St. Bernadette by Father Jim. My cousins Kim and Bo are his godparents. Here is Hunter before we left for church. I couldn't get him to smile for me because he was too focused on just looking at the camera. Still super cute, though.

Peyton and Hunter before church.

Hunter was baptized during the mass. Our family and Hunter's godparents had to sit in the front row. The rest of our family sat in the next two rows behind us. After the homily, we were called to the altar. Kyle and I were asked if we would raise Hunter Catholic and we agreed. Then Kim and Bo were asked if they would guide Hunter in Catholicism, to which they said yes. Kyle, Kim, Bo and I all made the sign of the cross on Hunter's forehead. Then Father read some blessings and the entire congregation renewed their baptismal vows.

Next, Father moved down to the baptismal font to bless the water. He invited all of the children to assist him in blessing the water. Peyton, Dougie, and Lindsey all helped with the blessing.

Then it was time for the actual baptism. Water was poured over Hunter's head.

The chrism was then applied to his head.

Finally, a candle was lit and given to Bo to hold for the remainder of the baptism.

We returned to our seats and the mass continued as normal. Kyle and I were able to choose people to carry the gifts to the altar. My mom, Kim, Bo, and Dougie did this. I tried to get a picture of them, but they were practically running down the aisle, so it didn't turn out well.

Hunter was so interested with the remainder of mass that he fell asleep. He even slept through some of the pictures that we took after mass. (By the way, why didn't we get any pictures with Nadean, Vester, Austin, and Aunt Bev?)

Our family

Grandmom and Pop-Pop

Uncle Jeremy and Jill

Godparents Kim and Bo, and Dougie

Uncle Ryan, Aunt Becky, Lindsey, Sara, and Noah

Grandma

Grandpa

After mass, we had a party for Hunter at Damon's. In addition to all those that were at mass, Mom-Mom, Uncle Donald, Jessica, Heather, Aunt Marie, Uncle Jay, Aunt Donna, and Uncle Tom attended the party. The food was actually quite good. We had barbecue chicken, Italian sausages with peppers and onions, and sliced turkey for the main courses. The side dishes were macaroni and cheese, steamed broccoli, and a tossed salad. Grandmom and Pop-Pop brought the cake for Hunter.

We sucked at taking pictures at the party... as in, Kyle took one of Noah, and that was it. Boo. After the party, Ryan, Becky, Lindsey, Sara, and Noah came over to our house to play with Peyton and Hunter. However, everyone was sleepy from not getting naps, so they couldn't stay too long. It's nice to see the cousins play together because it doesn't happen very often. I wish we all lived closer.

We ate lasagna for dinner and then opened Hunter's gifts. We were all tired from the busy day and went to bed after the football game was over. I just want to thank everyone who came to Hunter's baptism and party. It means a lot to us!

More Chemo...

2011-01-24T15:12:00.002-05:00

It has been about a month since I finished up my radiation and chemotherapy treatments, so I have started having follow-up visits with all of my doctors. First, I went to my primary care doctor who gave me a quick check-up. He determined that I was doing really well. He had a blood test performed on me to determine if my kidneys are functioning well (so that I could get the contrast dye injection for an MRI). They are, so he ordered me to have my first post-treatment MRI, which I had done on January 17th.

Next, I met with my oncologist. He asked me how I fared during the radiation and chemo. I told him that I handled it really well and that the only bad side effects (besides losing my hair!) came from the steroids that I was on. He took a look at my MRI scans and said that they looked good, but that he was no expert in reading them. Then, he informed me that part two of my treatment was about to begin. I was very confused as to what "Part Two" he was referring to. He explained that his original treatment plan called for me to do the oral chemo while I was going through the radiation treatments, then after one month of being finished with the radiation, I would start chemo all over again. This was definitely the first I was hearing about having to do more chemo. The doctor argued with me for 15 minutes that he did tell us this plan in the initial consultation, but I can assure you that he did not. That's a pretty big detail that either Kyle or I would have heard. And I never would have celebrated being finished with radiation and chemo if I had known that there was more chemo ahead. I am not angry about having to do more chemo because I understand that if there is even one tumor cell remaining, the tumor could possibly grow back. I want to be aggressive and get rid of this thing once and for all now so that I never have to deal with this again. I am only angry that the doctor argued with me for so long insisting that he told us about the additional chemo, when I knew he had not. I even called Kyle once I left the office and Kyle agreed that he never heard any mention of more chemo.

But anyway, the plan is that I will be on chemo for about four more months. I will be only taking the chemo pills for five days in a row each month. The rest of the month I will not be on the medication. However, the dosage has more than doubled since my first round of chemo, from 140 mg/day to 300 mg/day. The doctor even said that if I handle this higher dose well that he may increase it further in the coming months. I go back to see him in the middle of February and I'll have another MRI to check my progress in March. I started the chemo for this month today, so I have four more days to go this round. I'm just hoping I handle it well again, although I have a feeling that I'm going to lose even more of my hair.

I also had an appointment with my neurosurgeon. He looked at the MRI scans and told me that everything looked good. He said there was a small spot in one of the scans that was most likely just a "post-surgical reflection," whatever that means... Basically, he didn't see anything to indicate that the tumor was still there or growing back at this point, so that is good news. He checked out the incision on my head and said that everything is healing well from the surgery. I will go back to see him after I have my next MRI in two months.

Finally, I will see my radiation doctor next Monday for my 6 week follow-up. Hopefully that appointment will go well too.

Hunter's 6 month check-up

2011-01-24T14:31:00.003-05:00

Hunter turned six months old on January 11th. He went back to the dermatologist in the first week of January because his eczema still hadn't cleared up. We were given a new prescription for yet another lotion (his 3rd different one) and instructions to lube him up with the prescription lotion in the morning and before bed and to apply Vaseline all over his body at each diaper change. So basically we always have a greasy, Vaseline-smelling baby on our hands. However, the third time must have been a charm, because we seem to finally have cleared up his skin!
The following week I took Hunter to his 6 month check-up with his pediatrician. He now weighs 14 lbs 7 oz (10th percentile) and is 26 1/4 inches long (50th percentile). He is generally healthy and is developmentally on track.

The conditions of eczema, allergies, and asthma are all related to each other. Since Peyton had eczema when he was a baby and is practically asthmatic, the fact that Hunter also has eczema was troubling to the pediatrician. About a month ago, we had a blood test done on Hunter to determine what, if anything, he is allergic to. Turns out that he is severely allergic to peanuts. Due to this allergy, we now need to carry an EpiPen with us at all times in case he comes into contact with peanuts and has a severe reaction, such as anaphylactic shock (which is when the airways close up and he wouldn't be able to breathe). It is pretty scary for me to think about that happening. Hunter is also allergic to dogs, eggs, milk, and soy. He is less allergic to soy than milk, so we had to switch him to soy formula as opposed to the milk-based regular formula that he was on. This switch has also seemed to help keep his eczema from flaring up. The pediatrician said that at some point in the future, Hunter will be set up with an allergist. He will undergo further testing periodically to determine how his allergies are changing. He may possibly grow out of the allergies to milk and eggs, but the peanut allergy is definitely here to stay. I feel so bad for Hunter! But Kyle and I are just happy that we had this test done now, rather than feeding Hunter peanuts later in life and having him have a terrible reaction to it that we weren't expecting. It'll take some lifestyle changes and we need to be careful and monitor the foods around us more to make sure that Hunter is safe, but he is worth it!

On a positive note, Hunter was finally given the go-ahead to eat some rice cereal. We tried to give it to him once before (without approval... bad parents!) and he wasn't a fan. Kyle fed him the cereal this time and he still didn't seem to enjoy it, as you can see from the pictures. However, his daycare teacher was able to get him to eat it for the rest of the week, so hopefully it is growing on him. Once Hunter masters eating the rice, we can begin to s-l-o-w-l-y introduce him to vegetables and fruits, but we have to be very careful because there is no test for allergies to these foods, so we have to monitor him carefully between new foods to check for reactions.

"No thanks, Daddy. This stuff is horrible!"

Time sure does fly. It is hard to believe that in less than only six more months, Hunter will be turning one year old.

Mom's Birthday

2011-01-24T14:15:00.005-05:00

My mom's birthday was on January 11th and we went out to dinner to celebrate it on the 14th. We met up with my parents, Jeremy and Jill at Squire's. After dinner, we sang Happy Birthday to my mom.

Peyton's favorite part of anyone's birthday is their cake. He was pretty excited about his slice (or at least the frosting off of his slice...).

After cake, my mom opened her gifts. (Personally, I don't think people should be able to be born in December or January as their birthdays are just too close to Christmas and there are not enough present ideas for both occasions! Haha.) Anyway, Jeremy and Jill gave her a candle and a CD.

My dad gave her a kit so that she can have a heated seat in his convertible when she gets chilly.

And Hunter and Peyton gave Grandmom what I thought was a cover for her phone, but apparently was not. Oops, but that is why I included the receipt. Kyle and I gave her a gift card to Bertucci's.

Of course we were at the restaurant late and it was way past Hunter's bedtime, so we hurried to get home to put him to bed. Happy birthday, Mom!

Christmas, Part 6

2011-01-24T14:00:00.004-05:00

This is the last of my Christmas posts! On January 9, Kate, Dave, and Noah came over to our house so that we could exchange gifts. Peyton and Noah played for a little while together, but they couldn't stay very long, so we got right to the gifts.

We gave Noah an Elmo See-and-Say that teaches about shapes and the Little People Racin' Ramps Garage.

Kate and Dave gave Peyton a special Godchild ornament for our tree.

They also gave him a big firetruck and a cave piece for his GeoTrax.

They gave Hunter a Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy and the Rhyme and Discover song book.

We appreciate everything that everyone gave our kids for Christmas. They are way too spoiled by everyone and as I always say - It looks like Toys R Us threw up in our house!

Christmas, Part 5

2011-01-24T13:37:00.005-05:00

On January 2, we got together with my dad's side of the family to do Christmas with them. We all went to my parents' house around noon and had lunch together. Aunt Bev gave Hunter a gift first because everyone else was busy watching the Ravens game. Once again, he enjoyed ripping off the paper. He got some bongo drums.

Hunter also received this book that has something textured on each page for him to feel. We've read it a few times already and he loves to run his fingers along the furry objects.

Hunter was my favorite present of 2010, so I put a bow on him!

Hunter got plenty more cool toys and cute outfits from Aunt Bev, Kim, and Nadean.

Peyton was simultaneously opening his gifts from Aunt Bev, Kim, and Nadean. He got some more Trio blocks. His favorite was this set that could make a barn. If Peyton loves one thing, it is animals, so this gift was perfect!

Kim, Bo, and Dougie hooked up Peyton with this really fun Chuck and Friends stunt race car track.

There were so many gifts for Peyton and Hunter. There's no way I could include all of the pictures. Again, they are so spoiled!

Kyle, Peyton, Hunter, and I got Austin the Wheel of Fortune game for his Wii and a gift card to iTunes.

We got Dougie the Air Hogs helicopter that takes digital video and pictures as it flies around.

As for the adults, since there are three families on each side (Us, Jeremy/Jill, and Mom/Dad) versus (Aunt Bev, Kim/Bo, and Nadean/Vester) we each choose names out of a hat on Thanksgiving to determine who each couple will buy for. This year, we chose Aunt Bev's name. We got her some car mats and a gift card to Olive Garden.

Kim and Bo got our name. They got us gift cards to Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs. Yum! They also got us a cute penguin blanket and a Terps ornament for our tree. Kim also gave me a picture frame that says "Cousins" with a picture of her and me from her wedding way back when I was only 4 years old. I was her flower girl. That was a pretty special gift.

Everyone hung out for a little longer to finish watching the Ravens game and we had some dessert. Eventually the party broke up and everyone headed home.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-24T11:58:00.006-05:00

We didn't do anything special for New Year's Eve this year. We didn't even have our "party" with Jeremy and Jill. Boo.

We dressed Hunter and Peyton up in their New Year gear and gave them some noisemakers to play with.

Baby boy ready for 2011

Peyton says, "Happy New Year!

We put Hunter to bed at 6:30 like normal and Peyton went to bed at 8:00 like he always does. Then Kyle and I watched TV. We party like rock stars, for sure. Around 11:30 we put on Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve to see how he was holding up this year. We watched a performance of New Kids on the Block with the Backstreet Boys. While I loved New Kids back in the day (they were my first concert), they are so old now and need to hang it up. You really can't be a boy band anymore when all of the members are in their 40s. Anyway, Dick Clark was actually able to keep up with the countdown this year. We said happy new year and then I was in bed by 12:07. But hey, that was 5 minutes later than last year, when we all went to sleep at 12:02.

2010 was definitely a rough year for us, so we're looking forward to what 2011 has to offer!

Christmas, Part 4

2011-01-24T11:27:00.006-05:00

We were so busy on Christmas day that the boys didn't even have time to open all of the presents that were waiting for them. So when they woke up on the 26th, they started opening more presents. First, Peyton opened his from Ryan, Becky, Lindsey and Sara. He got some really nice pajamas.

He also got an additional pack of cards for his Alphie toy and some more Trio blocks.

Hunter got some fun baby toys.

Next the boys opened their gifts from Adam, Suzie, and their kids. Peyton got a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse game for his MobiGo and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD with the Mickey-mote. He loved them both!

Hunter got a really fun circus toy and a book that plays music and sings nursery rhymes.

Next, our family exchanged gifts with each other. Peyton and Hunter got me a John Grisham book and new slippers. They are good shoppers!

The boys chose to give Kyle some new jeans. Peyton gave Daddy a special Christmas hug. So cute!

Hunter gave Peyton a big tub of dinosaur figures to play with. Peyton loves dinosaurs right now.

One night I took Peyton shopping and let him pick out a gift for Hunter all by himself. He chose the Fisher Price Peek-a-boo Cuckoo. Hunter likes to play with this toy, so I guess Peyton did a good job.

Then the boys opened their gifts from Kyle and I. We got them both some books. Peyton loves books and we read to him so much that he really did like this gift (which makes me a happy mommy!).

Finally, Peyton and Hunter opened their stockings from Santa. Peyton got all kinds of fun stuff like Silly Putty, some mini puzzles, a squishy ball, a marshmallow lollipop, a Santa Clause Pez dispenser and extra Pez.

Hunter got two rattles, two Sesame Street books, and a little snowman Beanie Baby.

Kyle and I also opened up our stockings from each other. It was a busy day, but there was even more Christmas to come...

Christmas, Part 3

2011-01-20T15:47:00.005-05:00

To wrap up Christmas day, we all went to my parents' house for dinner. Mom-Mom, Uncle Donald, Jessica and Heather were there too. For dinner, we had our traditional (dad's delicious homemade) lasagna and ham. Of course Kyle got his special ricotta-less meat lasagna because he ~~is spoiled~~ hates ricotta cheese. For dessert, there was walnut cake and cannoli. It was Heather's birthday, so my mom got her a cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to her.

After dinner, there were more gifts exchanged. We gave Mom-Mom a big box of chocolates. She gave Peyton a gift card to Chuck E. Cheese (which he loves!) and Hunter got gift cards to Burger King and Wendy's. Kyle and I ended up with a gift card to Applebee's after some trading with Jill. Uncle Donald got Peyton and Hunter some gifts too. Peyton got some puzzles, Topple, a hopping ball, and some other stuff I can't remember right now. Hunter got a big ride-on toy and a toy that teaches the alphabet.

After everyone left, we all opened our stocking from my parents. Peyton got lots of stuff. He scored some books, a few Matchbox cars, some bath paints, candy, and a mini Etch-a-Sketch.

Hunter got two loveys, a rattle, and toy keys. He liked it all because they were all toys that he could put into his mouth. Notice a theme here?

Kyle and I opened our stockings too. I got things like a manicure set, nail polish, socks, caramel popcorn, and candy. I don't even know what Kyle had in his stocking besides popcorn and candy. Like I said in the previous post: We're all spoiled (but especially Peyton and Hunter) by my parents.

Merry Christmas! There are still more posts to come though, because we don't just celebrate one day of Christmas... this year we needed three days of celebrations!

Christmas, Part 2

2011-01-20T15:35:00.001-05:00

After the boys opened all of their presents from Santa, my parents, Jeremy, and Jill came over for breakfast, which they do every year. Kyle and I cooked breakfast for everyone. We had out traditional meal of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. Our griddle didn't seem to be working, so Kyle had to make all of the pancakes in a frying pan, which took much longer. However, he was a trooper and the pancakes were yummy.

After breakfast, we all exchanged presents with each other. Because, you know, the boys really needed even MORE toys...

My parents gave Peyton and Hunter their gifts first. Peyton got several movies from them.

He also got MobiGo. It's basically like a Game Boy for kids, with educational games. Peyton had no idea what this was when he opened it, but he absolutely loves it now. He has two games for it, and plays them all of the time.

While Peyton and Hunter continued opening gifts, we gave out our gifts. We got Jeremy and Jill a new slip cover for their sofa. I think they liked it.

They got Kyle and I a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory. Yum! Mom and Dad got Jeremy this candle holder, which he wanted just to drink out of so that he could pretend to be a king (or something).

Uncle Jeremy and Jill gave their gifts to Peyton. He got the Hess truck, as he does every year.

Peyton also got his 2010 Mickey Mouse snow globe. Jeremy has given Peyton the snow globe from this series each year since his first Christmas.

Jeremy and Jill got Peyton some other toys as well. My parents got Peyton several more gifts too. Their big gift to him was this Hero House. It's a police station and firehouse.

Hunter got gifts from everyone too. He enjoyed ripping the paper again.

Grandmom and Pop-Pop gave him a bunch of different Fisher Price toys, including bongo drums, a basketball learning toy, a mailbox toy, and some cars.

Uncle Jeremy and Jill gave Hunter a bunch of gifts too. They included pajamas and a sock monkey jack-in-the-box. But his favorite gift from them was probably this teddy bear (because he could eat it!)

Kyle and I got my parents a ceiling fan for their bedroom and a few other smaller gifts. I didn't include any pictures of them opening their gifts though, because my mother was always looking away from the camera (probably talking to Peyton) and my dad just looked goofy. Hehe, you're welcome guys. They got Kyle and I gift cards to three restaurants with free babysitting services. We also each got a few other gifts from them.

Here was the aftermath of gift-opening part two. Gee, where are Peyton and Jeremy?

Peyton and Hunter are definitely spoiled by my parents. But really, Kyle, Jeremy, Jill, and I were pretty spoiled too. We appreciate everything that all of you gave us and the boys!

To Be Continued...

Christmas, Part 1

2011-01-20T14:37:00.006-05:00

On Christmas morning, Kyle and I waited upstairs until Peyton woke up. When Peyton came out of his room, he could see that there was a glow downstairs. Santa left the Christmas tree lights on the night before. Peyton was so excited and couldn't wait to get downstairs. We got Hunter up and then went downstairs together. Peyton got to the bottom of the steps and just stopped. He looked so sad. We asked him what was wrong and he asked where Santa was. He thought that the actual Santa Clause was going to be at our house when he woke up. He really looked like he was about to cry. It was heartbreaking, but adorable all at the same time. Once we explained that Santa was a very busy man and didn't have a lot of time to spend at each child's house and when he saw the presents under the tree, Peyton turned that frown upside down and didn't really care about seeing Santa anymore.

We knew that Santa came because he ate his cookies and drank his milk. He even gave the carrot to the reindeer to eat. Santa also wrote Peyton and Hunter a note back.

Santa sure did bring Peyton a lot of presents!

Hunter got a bunch of presents too!

Peyton started opening his presents first. After he opened one, we asked him if it was Hunter's turn to open a present. Peyton responded with, "No, it's Peyton's turn again." So funny.

Peyton got a ViewFinder with the reels of Toy Story 3 and Monsters Inc. pictures. While he had no idea what it was when he opened it, this toy has become one of his favorites.

Peyton also got Alphie. (How about these blasts from the past? These were toys that our generation played with!) Peyton absolutely loves Alphie and plays with him almost every morning while he waits for Kyle to finish getting ready for work.

Hunter finally got a turn to open some gifts. He did a good job of ripping the paper, mostly so that he could get it to his mouth to eat!

But then it was Peyton's turn again.

Peyton got his very first pair of rollerskates. Look how excited he is. In fact, if anyone asked him what Santa brought him, he would always answer, "Rollerskates!"

Peyton continued to open gift after gift after gift... He got lots of board games, some books, puzzles, a few movies, and some trucks.

Hunter opened some more presents too.

This was the scene after all of the presents had been opened.

And here are Hunter's toys after Mommy organized them.

These are Peyton's new toys from Santa.

Santa was very kind to Peyton and Hunter. They must have been very good boys last year.

We took over 300 pictures during our multi-day Christmas extravaganza, so I'm breaking the holiday up into multiple posts so that there is no picture overload.

Christmas Eve

2011-01-14T12:14:00.000-05:00

Each year on Christmas Eve, my dad's side of the family goes out to dinner together. We go to Little Italy, and this year we ate at Chiapparelli's. Dinner was fantastic.

Aunt Bev gives Peyton some type of gingerbread man every Christmas Eve. This year, he got this gingerbread man decoration that we can hang on the wall.

Kim and Bo got Peyton and Hunter these cute Rudolphs. They have a blanket and a book with Rudolph's story.

Hunter liked his Rudolph. Mostly, he enjoyed chewing on its ear.

Grandmom and Pop-Pop gave Peyton a train ornament with his name and 2010 written on it.

They gave Hunter a Baby's 1st Christmas ornament. Of course, Hunter just wanted to eat it.

When we got home from dinner, Peyton got everything ready for Santa's visit. He chose to leave Santa some chocolate chip cookies.

He put them on Santa's special plate.

I poured the milk into Santa's cup and we left a carrot out for the reindeer to eat.

Next, Peyton helped me write a letter to Santa.

Finally, everything was ready for Santa!

It was way past Hunter's bedtime and it was creeping up on Peyton's bedtime, so we went upstairs to read The Night Before Christmas. My dad read this to Jeremy and I every Christmas Eve, and it is a tradition that I wanted to carry on with my kids. We've done it each year since Peyton has been born. I think Hunter enjoyed hearing the poem for the first time.

After the story was finished, we put the boys to bed so that Santa could come...

Aren't my boys just adorable in their matching Christmas pajamas?

Duh, of course they are!

First Christmas Gifts

2011-01-14T11:33:00.004-05:00

When Peyton was a baby, his teacher at daycare was Miss Heather. He absolutely loved her then, and he still loves her now. Miss Heather is Hunter's teacher right now too. She got the boys some Christmas gifts. Peyton got a Toy Story 3 book called Best Friends.

He loves books and couldn't wait to look through it.

Peyton also got a book about John Deere tractors. He likes this book because he enjoys looking at all of the different types of farm equipment pictured in it.

Finally, he got some bath paints, dinosaur eggs that hatch when you put them in water, some little stamps, and two card games.

Hunter was ready to dig into his gifts too.

He got a Tigger toy, which must taste good because Hunter surely put it right into his mouth.

He also got a Winnie the Pooh book.

Hunter got a Baby's 1st Christmas bib.

And finally, Hunter got a really fun book. Miss Heather put his picture in it, so that on each page his face is the face of the character featured (a reindeer, an elf, a snowman...)

The boys really liked their first Christmas gifts of the season.

Santa!

2010-12-21T13:22:00.003-05:00

We took the boys to see Santa last Saturday. The mall was packed with people doing their Christmas shopping. Luckily, the line to see Santa was relatively short this year and we didn't have to wait too long for it to be Peyton and Hunter's turn to sit on his lap. Peyton understands a lot more about Christmas this year. He knows that he needs to be good and that Santa will bring him presents. He was pretty excited to get to visit Santa.

We dressed the boys in their cute Christmas shirts that Kim gave them. Peyton's says "Santa's Little Helper" and Hunter's says "Baby's 1st Christmas." Hunter's also came with the cutest little reindeer hat. Here's the picture of the boys with Santa, which everyone has already seen because it was on our Christmas card.

Peyton chatted with Santa like they were old pals. When Santa asked Peyton what he wants for Christmas, Peyton simply said, "Toys." It was pretty cute. Santa also told Peyton that he needs to be good and listen to Mommy and Daddy. Hunter was laid back and didn't mind Santa holding him.

Radiation and Chemotherapy Finished!

2010-12-21T13:03:00.002-05:00

I have finally completed my radiation treatments and my oral chemotherapy regimen. I took my last chemo pill Sunday night. My last radiation treatment was Monday, December 20. I don't think that I've been counting down to any day so anxiously in a long time.

I took the girls at the radiation office some of my homemade Christmas cookies as a thank you for the wonderful care that they gave me. Everyone there (the radiation therapists, my nurse, and my doctor) were all so kind and caring. I felt that they really got to know me and I got to know them too. Each morning as I was getting ready for my treatment we'd chat about various things, but mostly the important things like our kids and Christmas.

After my last treatment, I got to take my mask home with me. How exciting!? As I was leaving the office, each and every person that was a part of my treatment team stopped what they were doing to wish me well and give me a hug. Two of the girls even chased me down to stop me so that they could say goodbye. Everyone told me that they would continue to think about me and pray that I would stay healthy. While everyone was so friendly, I hope that I never have to see those people again!

On Monday evening, Kyle, Peyton, Hunter, my parents, Jeremy, and I went out to dinner to celebrate the end of my treatment. It was an entertaining evening, as Hunter peed on my mom when she changed his diaper, then Hunter spit up on her after she fed him his bottle, and my brother knocked over an entire soda onto my dad's lap.

I want everyone to know how much their support has meant to me during this ordeal. And now that it is over, bring on Christmas!

Decorating for Christmas

2010-12-21T12:43:00.005-05:00

We decorated for Christmas about two weeks ago. We decided to let Peyton help us with the decorations this year. Previously, we had always decorated in the evening after he was asleep. However this year, we figured he was old enough to help us out. While Kyle put together our fabulously fake Christmas tree, Peyton and I got out some of the other decorations. We hung the stockings on the fireplace mantle. Grandmom made Hunter's stocking. She also made Peyton's back when he was born.

Next, we got out Mr. and Mrs. Snowman. Here's Peyton with Mrs. Snowman.

Once the tree was put together, we worked on decorating it. Peyton started out by putting the angel on top of the tree. This took many attempts, but he and Kyle finally got it positioned correctly.

Next Peyton put the candy canes on the tree.

Finally, it was time to hang the ornaments. Peyton mostly put the non-breakable ones on the tree. Kyle and I took care of the more delicate ornaments.

Hunter even got to hang his special Baby's 1st Christmas ornament on the tree.

Here is our decorated Christmas tree.

Even though Peyton helped us with the decorations this year, as soon as he came downstairs the next morning, he ran right over to the tree. He yelled, "Oooh pretty!" It was hilariously cute, because it was as if he was seeing the tree for the first time. He then had to walk around the house and check out all of the other decorations that we put up after he was asleep.

Advent Calendar

2010-12-21T12:26:00.003-05:00

One of Peyton's favorite things about December is getting to eat the chocolate from his Advent calendar each night after dinner. These pictures are from December 1, so it was the first day of candy for the month. Can you sense the excitement?

Here are Peyton and I finding the number 1 candy.

Peyton opened the door and removed the candy.

I think he liked it!

More Birthday Gifts

2010-12-02T15:31:00.004-05:00

Mr. Spoiled AKA Peyton, got even more birthday gifts a few days ago. He received a gift card to Toys R Us from Grandma Moreau. I know he can't wait to go spend it at the store, but we will wait until after Christmas for a shopping spree. Here are the pictures of him opening his gift.

His card sings the Hot Dog song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so it was a big hit.

Thanks Grandma!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-02T14:54:00.004-05:00

I'm not going to lie - this was not the best Thanksgiving that I've ever had. I was having quite the bad week emotionally. I was pretty bummed out the whole week, but Thanksgiving was especially bad for some reason. I know that I have a ton to be thankful for this year (and every year) but I just couldn't really get into a good mood. There was lots of crying and some yelling by me. I would like to officially apologize to everyone for being a crazy person on Thursday and I'd like to thank everyone for putting up with me!

However, it was Hunter's very first Thanksgiving, so that was exciting. I got up with the boys on Thanksgiving, while Kyle enjoyed a sleep-in day. The three of us played for a while, and then we all sat down to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade together. Peyton especially liked the big Mickey Mouse balloon, the Spiderman balloon, the Sesame Street float, and the Dora float. He sat pretty still throughout the parade and was super excited to see Santa Clause at the end of the parade.

Peyton ate a light, early lunch and then we tried to put him down for a little nap before heading to Nadean's house for dinner. He stayed in his room for about 15 minutes and then decided he was finished sleeping, even though he never even quieted down while he was in his room. We fought with him for a while and he finally ended up falling asleep for about a half-hour. He was grumpy when I woke him up to get ready for dinner since he was tired, but he was also super excited for the huge dinner that was awaiting him. He eventually calmed down and cheered up.

Here's Hunter is his special Thanksgiving outfit. It had turkeys and pumpkins on it and says "I'm Stuffed."

My two cuties. We really need a new pose for the two of them, haha.

Dinner was at Nadean's at 3:00. Prior to dinner, Peyton entertained us all by playing (umm, banging on) the piano. Everyone was there for dinner. Even Jeremy and Jill made it in time to eat with us. Yay!

Dinner was delicious. I think we all enjoyed everything, including the turkey, dressing, cracker corn, bread and butter, cranberry sauce, and sweet potatoes. Peyton ate pretty well. He'd been looking forward to that meal all month. He chose a variety of foods, even things that he'd never tried before. He surprised me by liking the cranberry sauce. He also ate tons of sausage, which seems to be one of his favorite foods lately.

After dinner we did our drawing of names for the Christmas gift exchange. Then Kim, Bo, and Dougie gave Peyton and Hunter their Halloween gifts. Peyton got some treats like cheese curls, cookies, and candy, as well as a Halloween coloring/sticker book.

I didn't get any pictures of Hunter's gifts, but he got a new rattle and a hat and glove set. Thanks for the gifts! Aunt Bev also hooked Peyton and Hunter up with their Advent calendars. I know Peyton is excited for December to get here so that he can start to eat his chocolates each day to count down to Christmas.

We left dinner early to head down to Kate and Dave's house for dessert. They hosted dinner at their house for themselves, and Dave's brother, his family, and his parents. Kate made three pies, including a pumpkin, coconut cream, and apple crunch. I made a double chocolate cheesecake. Peyton chose to eat the apple crunch pie, which tasted really good. Peyton had a good time playing with Noah and Kate and Dave's nephews, who are 4 and 2 years old. Hunter was up way past his bedtime and was super tired, but thankfully wasn't fussy. We changed him into his pajamas and he did eventually fall asleep. Peyton was also pretty tired from not taking a good nap, and he fell asleep on the way home from Virginia.

I'll end with this picture of our family on Thanksgiving.

More Firsts for Hunter

2010-12-02T14:41:00.004-05:00

Hunter has been a busy boy since he's turned 4 months. We've started putting him in the high chair some nights while we eat dinner. It is nice to not have to hold him all of the time while we try to eat. This was his first night in the high chair. He and Mr. Bee didn't quite get along. Hunter wanted that bee in his mouth, but couldn't reach it, so he decided to just stare it down instead. So cute though.

Hunter also gets to play in this bouncy toy now. This was the first time that we put him in the jumper. He wasn't too impressed with it the first time, but he seems to like it more each time we put him in there as he's learning what he can play with on the toy.

Finally, we tried to give Hunter some rice cereal. He just spit it out though, so we're going to hold off on it for a few more weeks, and then we'll try again. But here was his first taste.

More Halloween Gifts

2010-12-02T14:26:00.002-05:00

My kids are quite spoiled by everyone in my family. They got some Halloween gifts from Aunt Bev and Nadean, Vester, and Austin. Since everyone has been a little busy lately, the boys just got the gifts a few weeks ago. First, Hunter opened his gifts from Aunt Bev. He got some yummy baby food.

He also got some money, which I think was his favorite part, since he wouldn't let it go.

Next, Hunter opened his gift from Nadean, Vester, and Austin.

He got a cloth book that makes a crinkly noise and has teethers on it. It has become his favorite thing to chew on and play with lately.

Peyton chose to open his gift from Nadean, Vester, and Austin first.

He got a really cute Halloween pillow and blanket set, some delicious cookies, and a Halloween coloring/sticker book.

Next, Peyton opened his gift from Aunt Bev. He got some special treats and also some money.

Peyton and Hunter say thanks for the gifts!

60% Finished with Radiation

2010-12-02T14:03:00.002-05:00

Today I did my 18th of 30 radiation treatments, which means that I'm 60% finished. I'm still doing pretty well physically with the side effects. Some days I'm pretty tired, but most days I still have most of my energy, which I'm thankful for. My only other new side effect is that the skin on my forehead has been hurting. It looks normal, but I basically feel like I have a bad sunburn. My doctor gave me some special lotion to put on my face to combat this 'radiation burn.' It occurs because the radiation is killing my skin cells faster than they can regenerate themselves, so my face feels raw. Hopefully the lotion will help!

In other good news, the doctor decided to wean me off of the steroid medication. This is the one that has been making me gain tons of weight and feel super hot all of the time. She said that the weight should start to go away when I stop taking the steroids. That is really welcomed news. And I will love to not be sweating all of the time too. As long as my headaches don't come back and I don't get blurry vision or dizziness, I should be able to stay off of this medication.

Last week my hair took a turn for the worse. It is crazy how much of it falls out now every time I brush is and wash it. There is a ton of hair on my pillow every morning and each time I take my bandanna off, it is also covered in hair. I'm pretty much completely bald now on the front half of my head, where the radiation is being concentrated. My "ponytail" is also so so so thin. I know that my hair will grow back, but it is just so depressing to lose it like this. I was pretty bummed out all of last week. The depression sort of comes and goes. I am feeling much better this week though. I'm trying my best to stay happy, but sometimes it's tough. I'm definitely counting down until my last treatment. I think we're all ready for this to be over!

Also, I just wanted to mention how wonderful Kyle has been through all of this. He is such a great husband and father and I haven't given him any credit for all that's he's been doing to help me out. I love you Kyle and really appreciate all you've done for Peyton, Hunter, and me lately!

Radiation - 1/3 Finished

2010-11-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

Today I finished my 10th radiation treatment out of 30. That means that I'm 1/3 of the way done with the treatments! This week was quite uneventful, which I think is a good thing. I mostly just have the same side effects that I was feeling last week. The most obvious side effect is that I'm pretty tired by the end of the day.

Also, I'm on one medication that is a steroid to keep the swelling in my brain down. This medication is causing me to gain massive amounts of weight, which is showing up a lot in my face. I just feel so fat, but I know that I'll be able to lose the weight later on. It just makes that mask that they use to bolt me to the table during my treatments super tight and even more uncomfortable. That same medication also makes me really hot, so I'm always sweating and it is sometimes difficult to sleep because I'm so hot. This is a huge difference for me because I'm usually a cold person. I don't even wear a jacket when I go outside, even when temperatures are in the low 40s in the morning. It feels so good outside in the cool temperatures!

The last side effect is that my hair is definitely falling out more. There are bald-ish patches all over my head, mostly near the tumor site where they are shooting the radiation. It's going to get worse before it gets better and until it starts to grow back I'll just keep rocking my bandanna! I'm trying not to get too down about losing my hair, but it is depressing. Oh well, it's just hair and it will be back!

The radiation office is closed on Thanksgiving and the day after, so I'm going in for an extra session on Sunday to make up for one of those days. That means I only get tomorrow off, but at least next week I get a 4 day weekend from treatments! I'm just hoping to still be feeling well so that Thanksgiving will be "normal" for all of us.

Check-ups and Milestones

2010-11-19T13:51:00.001-05:00

Hunter turned 4 months old on November 11. I can not even believe that four months have passed already since he was born. As of now, Hunter can roll over from his tummy to his back and from his back to his tummy. He holds his head up very well and can keep it steady for long periods of time. He can put his weight on his legs when we hold him up. And he wants to sit up, but is still too wobbly, even though his abs are really strong. Hunter can hold toys now and is able to transfer them from one hand to the other. He mostly just likes to chew on the toys, of course.

Hunter is also a tooth growing machine! He got his first tooth (the bottom right center one) right around when he turned 3 months old and the second tooth (the bottom left center one) on November 1. I was trying to capture his teeth in this picture, but Hunter wouldn't cooperate by maintaining his big smile long enough for me to snap a good picture. It's a cute picture anyway though and I'll keep trying to take a picture of those teeth. (I love his big eyes!)

Here are two more pictures of Hunter playing on his activity mat. He loves this toy. It makes him squeal with delight every time.

I took Hunter to his 4-month check-up at the doctor last Friday. He is doing well and is on track with all of his developmental milestones. He's 24.5 inches long (50th percentile) and his head circumference is 16 inches (25th percentile). He weighs 12 pounds 12 ounces, which is the 10th percentile. His didn't gain very much weight between his 2 month and 4 month check-ups. In this time, Hunter was diagnosed with eczema. In order to help with his skin issues, the pediatrician switched his formula to the Similac Alimentum, which is the expensive/gross one that Peyton was on too. Unfortunately, the formula didn't help his skin at all, made him spit up way more than he ever did before, and caused him to be incredibly gassy. The doctor decided to switch Hunter back to the regular Similac formula, so hopefully he'll catch back up with his weight soon, since he was really having no other problems with that original formula. However, since the prescription that the pediatrician gave us to help the eczema wasn't working either, Hunter has to see a special pediatric dermatologist. We'll be going to that doctor early in December, so hopefully he'll be able to help Hunter out. We're also going to get some blood work done on Hunter to see if he might be allergic to any foods in the future. Having eczema predisposes kids to allergies and breathing problems. (All of which Peyton has too...) Hunter also got a few vaccines, which made him pretty grumpy and tired for the rest of the day. But otherwise, Hunter is a healthy boy!

I decided to schedule both boys' check-ups at the same time, since Peyton's annual check-up was scheduled to fall right around Hunter's 4 month check-up. This was the first time that I ever took both boys to the doctor together. Luckily Peyton did a really good job of being good and patient while the doctor checked out Hunter first. He sat up on the table and the doctor let Peyton watch closely and "play" with her instruments. He has a doctor kit at home, which is one of his favorite toys, so he knew what everything was for already.

Peyton is also doing very well. He is 36.5 inches tall (25th percentile) and weighs a whopping 27 pounds 6 ounces (10th percentile). The doctor is not concerned with Peyton's weight because he has always been on the small side and once I assured her that he eats very well (and A LOT!), she said she's sure that he is just going to be on the small side. He is on track with all of his physical skills too, like being able to stand on one foot and being able to jump around. Besides having to continue with his daily breathing treatments, Peyton is healthy too.

Peyton is very advanced developmentally when it comes to his vocabulary, knowledge of numbers, letters, colors, how to spell his name, knowing his address, etc. The doctor had Peyton draw a circle, square, and plus sign. This is where Peyton needs to do some work. We'll be working on his writing a little more at home. While the doctor said that his drawing/writing skills are on par with a 3-year old's skill set, they are a little behind compared to his other academic skills, so she said if there is something that we wanted to work on, it would be that. The doctor has always been impressed with Peyton's brains. I'm so proud of him! Here's a cute picture of my big boy.

I'll end this long post with one more funny picture. I guess that Hunter was less than enthused with dinner that night.

Radiation Week 1 Done

2010-11-15T15:33:00.004-05:00

As I have mentioned before, my tumor treatment plan involves combining radiation treatments on my brain and an oral chemotherapy pill regimen to kill the remaining tumor that the neurosurgeon could not remove. I started my radiation treatments and chemo pills on Monday, November 8.

Each day of radiation is exactly the same. I drive up to the radiation doctor's office which is located on the Franklin Square campus. As a radiation patient, I get the express treatment at the doctor's office, and get to go right back to the treatment area when I arrive. This doctor is very good at being on time with the appointments. I enter the radiation room and get up on the table. The machine that delivers the radiation is just like an x-ray machine and it is completely computer-driven. Once I lay down, the technicians strap me to the table with the mask that was made for me a few weeks ago. This is the only uncomfortable part of the treatment. I can not move because the mask is very tight on my face. However, it is necessary to keep me in the same exact position each day so that the radiation hits the proper parts of my brain and doesn't kill anymore of the "good" brain than is absolutely necessary.

The technicians then leave the room. Two x-rays are taken of my brain each day to make sure that I am in the correct position on the table. The doctor checks the x-rays and then the radiation starts. I am hit with radiation from five different angles each day. This ensures that the maximum surface area of the tumor is hit, yet minimal good brain is damaged. I don't feel anything while the radiation runs. The machine beeps and there is a light that pulses so I can tell when the radiation is being emitted, but there is no pain at all. The entire treatment lasts about 10 minutes. The technicians come back into the room, unstrap the mask, and I am free to go.

So far, I've done 6 radiation treatments. That means that I'm 20% finished! My last day of treatment is scheduled for December 21. Last week the only side effect that I experienced was an incredibly itchy rash all over my whole body. I see the radiation doctor each Thursday. I explained my problem to her and she immediately consulted with my oncologist about the rash. They determined that I was probably allergic to another of my medications (an antibiotic), so they took me off of that medicine for now. The rash has thankfully cleared up and I am no longer itchy, so I think they were right about the diagnosis.

I've been taking the oral chemotherapy pills each day since I started the radiation. I take this pill at night, as suggested, to minimize any nausea side effects. I haven't had any other side effects yet (knock on wood) besides being tired. The doctors said it will take about 2 weeks for the side effects to really kick in, so I might start feeling worse later this week or early next week. We just have to wait and see when and what is going to happen as each person is different and experiences different things. I'm just trying to stay optimistic. And I'm looking forward to Christmas because this will over be over by then!!

Halloween

2010-11-03T15:02:00.000-04:00

Sunday was Halloween. We pretty much just hung out during the day like we always do. We planned to eat dinner at our normal time, and then head out trick-or-treating when it got dark outside. Peyton wanted to take some pictures with the pumpkins outside before we left to go trick-or-treating. I don't know why his tongue is sticking out, but it makes me laugh.

I wanted to capture the pumpkin butt of Hunter's 1st Halloween outfit. Who doesn't love a cute baby butt?!

Kyle and I got the boys a few little gifts for Halloween. Here is Peyton opening his. He got a marshmallow lollipop shaped like a spider.

And he got "The Berenstein Bears Trick-or-Treat" book.

Hunter got a marshmallow lollipop shaped like a pumpkin. He looks very excited about it, and I'm sure he'd love to eat it if he could.

Hunter would not let go of the lollipop, even as Kyle showed him his new book called "Who's There?"

Finally it was time to trick-or-treat. Peyton was ready to go all day. He couldn't wait until it was time to leave the house. We had been prepping him on what to do at each house, so he was definitely prepared for the festivities.

My smiley football.

And my super cute cow.

Kyle in his Lions jersey with our football (The Lions beat the Redskins earlier in the day. Woohoo! I hate the Redskins.)

Both of my boys ready to go trick-or-treating. The cuteness is overwhelming!

We all went out trick-or-treating together. We started on our street. Peyton did such a great job at each house. He would go up to the door, bang on it loudly, then yell "Trick-or-treat!" when the person would answer the door. He got lots of candy at each house because everyone thought he was so adorable. He said thank you to each person after receiving his candy too, without prompting. I was so proud of how polite he was. Hunter scored some candy too. Kyle took Hunter home after we finished our street because it was a little chilly and past his bedtime. Hunter looked like he was just about to fall asleep the whole time we were walking around, but he hung tough. Peyton and I walked around the rest of our neighborhood to hit the rest of the houses. Only about half of them seemed to have people at home handing out candy though. We stayed out for about an hour total, and then headed home. Peyton just wanted to eat his candy when we got home. He ran right in the door and dumped his loot out on the floor. Since it was only about an hour before bedtime, we only let Peyton have one piece of candy. He hasn't mentioned the candy anymore since that night.

We got a fair number of trick-or-treaters at our house before and after we went out ourselves. Peyton was a big help handing out the candy to the kids. He liked to answer the door and he gave each kid exactly one piece of candy. It was pretty funny because that's just what I would have done had I been handing out the candy. He's definitely my kid. Luckily the trick-or-treaters stopped coming by just as we put Hunter to bed, so he didn't wake up at all. I was worried the doorbell would disturb him.

I'm so thankful that I was able to enjoy Halloween this year with Peyton and Hunter. Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. Peyton had a blast trick-or-treating and both he and Hunter looked absolutely adorable in their costumes, so I'd say the day was a success!