Photo with Santa

I know, it's not even December yet and the kids have already taken their Christmas photo with Santa.  Are we those crazy people?!?  Well, quite possibly.  Both Helaina and Zachary are at a wonderful age and this season is nothing but pure magic for the two of them.  Tonight was the 4th time we have gone to visit Santa at the mall...waving to him, hugging him, talking about toys, receiving coloring books, and each time, their eyes sparkle just at the sight of him.  Zachary walks around the house humming Christmas carols and his sister has really gotten into our newest holiday tradition "The Elf on the Shelf" (see below), which Helaina has so kindly named him "Peter Pan."  

We'll have plenty more pictures to follow in future posts as the kids continue to keep things interesting around here...they completely took over the tree and decorated it themselves this year.  It's hideous (and the control freak in me is still adjusting), but Aunt Abla invested in some unbreakable ornaments, so I thought why not let them enjoy the tradition without worry.

Best Christmas picture yet!!! Love, love, love their precious smiles.     

Always Thankful

The older I get, the more it becomes apparent that Thanksgiving has become our favorite holiday of the year.    Four days of nothing but family, food, and thankfulness.  Our tradition has been to spend Thanksgiving day with Randy's family and then Friday we travel to Indiana to attend the McGinley Thanksgiving on Saturday afternoon.  

This years plans were slightly altered because most of Randy's family left Friday morning for New York City to attend our cousin Betty's wedding.  Thursday afternoon we all gathered at Sitty's for a delicious dinner and quality family time.  Both kids love spending time with their cousins, playing silly games and chasing each other around the house.    

Helaina and her cousins.  She just LOVES everything about her cousins Alex and Rana.

French-braid from Auntie Susan.  I still need more lessons because Helaina loves to wear her hair in a braid!

Friday, while in Valpo, the kids were able to spend time with cousin Jon and his family that have lived in Maryland for the last 5 years.  Grace is now 3, and baby Claire turns 1 in December.
Helaina and Grace and their princess poses.  I find it touching that they go several months without seeing each other, yet Helaina still remembers her friend Grace and always looks forward to visiting with her.

Zach and Claire and their buffet of snacks

All the kids with Jon

After a long day of travel and visiting with several friends and family, our little man was pooped!

Our McGinley Thanksgiving photo.  So glad Randy's finally starting to feel better.  It's been a long 3 weeks for him.  Normally, Randy isn't able to travel to Indiana for the holidays due to the hockey season, however, lockout continues.  Even though we miss the hype of the season and all it brings to our family, I've greatly enjoyed the extra time spent with my fabulous husband!  

My beautiful cousin Jessie.  So happy she resides again in Indiana!

Grandma and Grandpa McGinley with Zachary

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!  

Before and After

The sick bug has invaded our home again!  I'm certain that at least one of us has been sick at some point during the last 3 weeks and this last week the yuckies hit our home like a tornado.  Zach and I had cold-like symptoms several weeks ago, and I figured it was a simple virus because it was taking forever for us to feel better.  I would say we both didn't feel 100% for about 2 weeks.  Then it was Randy's turn.  He had a cold for about a week and last weekend, he finally started feeling better...we thought we were out of the woods just in time to enjoy the holidays.  Boy, were we wrong.  

Sunday night into Monday, Zach was awake most of the night.  Our once good sleeper has been having trouble a couple nights a week with what I believe are nightmares.  Anyways, Randy and I both got just a couple hours sleep before the alarm rang Monday morning.  I knew when I saw Randy's face first thing Monday morning, he wasn't feeling better, in fact, he was coming down with what seemed like the flu.  Randy has this beautiful stubborn personality that persists even when he's ill, and this time was no different.  With nausea and vomiting, he drove himself to work, saw a patient, and was forced to return home when his symptoms were only getting worse.  After a couple hours of constant vomiting, an extremely high fever (103.5), and a heart rate around 144, we checked him into the ER.  Thank goodness we did because for about 24 hours, his symptoms didn't subside and he spent 2 nights there while they pumped him with meds and fluids and ran tests.  Finally, on the last hour before discharge from the ER, a culture came back positive for a simple virus, the adenovirus.  Even though it's a common virus, it wasn't so kind to my sweet husband. 

So just when Randy was returning home on Wednesday around lunchtime,  we got word from his mom (who has been so kindly watching the kids while we were tending to Randy) that Helaina was now ill with vomiting and severe diarrhea.  Sounds about right, doesn't it?!  Anyways, for the last couple days we've been trying to keep the kids separated, but hydrated and rested.  We thought things were improving for all of us, until Helaina woke again this morning with another episode of vomiting.  At this point, she's been able to keep down a smoothie and some diet Sprite, so let's keep our fingers crossed that we're near the end of this nasty bug that has invaded our house.   

On a brighter note, from all of us in this house, we'd like to thank Seedy and Teta and Aunt Abla and all of our extended family that has helped us so much this past week.  Your love and support is the only reason we are able to fully recover...hugs and kisses from all of us!

So here are some pictures, mostly taken BEFORE our battle 

At the zoo

Eating sweet potato pie with Aunt MaKayla

Eating sweet potato pie with whipped cream!

AFTER...Still passed out at 11 o'clock in the morning. If you know our daughter, you know that this is NOT her and we can only hope and pray that she turns the corner sometime today!

Days of November

Both the boys in our house have been sick this past week, so it's made for a long week for all of us.  Randy toughed it out and worked everyday, but it definitely took its' toll on him.  It's likely Zachary had the same virus as Randy or it's also possible that his teeth or ears may have been bothering him.  None the less, he was in rare form for the last several days.  A couple sleepless nights, lots of crying and whining, and many, many hugs and kisses.  As of today, he seems to be on the mend so we're thankful for good health in our home.

Just a few photos and video from the week.  We've watched our fair share of cartoons the past few days as Zach didn't have much energy to play.  Helaina has been a super big sister.  Helping Zachary and trying to keep him comfortable.  She definitely has Randy's quick wit and sense of humor.  She's been quite the comedian this week too.  Randomly, we heard her telling Zach while they were playing, "Nobody likes big government.  Just suck it up."  Too much politics for this 3 year old!

                                                   

Any guesses as to when thumb sucking will cease in our house? So glad Zachary just needs his "blankies" to sleep. 

When all else fails, turn on the vacuum.  It will keep Zach busy for quite awhile.  He gets upset when I try to do it for him, and quite surprisingly, he does a good job of actually "cleaning."  I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. 

This is Zach's second session of music class.  Helaina took the class when she was his age and now it's Zach's turn to have music fun with Miss Connie.

Halloween Fun

On Tuesday, Helaina had her Halloween party at school.  She was able to dress in her Abby Cadabby (Sesame Street) costume and partake in the festivities in the classroom.  They had an all school costume parade, special spider cookies for snacks, and at the end, the parents watched the students perform Halloween songs and finger-plays   I video taped her performance, and it was....entertaining.  I felt my face turning a little red, while I watched Helaina B.E.L.T. out each song in an incredibly loud and inharmonious voice.  I'll give her credit though, she knew all the words and seemed to be enjoying herself, but I sure can't wait for her to watch this video in about 15 years! 

Helaina, most of her class, and her teachers, Mrs. Stickler and Mrs. Messer

Last night was bitter cold and slightly damp, but the kids had been waiting all day long to be able to trick-or-treat.  Randy and I both rushed home from work to join Seedy and Teta in preparing the kids.

Zach kept hugging Helaina and saying, "Abby".  He loves his sister and he loves Abby Cadabby so Helaina received lots of lovin' last night from her little brother.

With a little help from his sister, Zachary quickly figured out the routine.  If I wasn't taking pictures, Randy and I stood at the end of the driveway and allowed them to go to the doors themselves.  Helaina was very polite with her "trick-or-treat" and "thank you", and Zach was learning quickly.  We'd hear, "treat", "ooohhh candy" and then "thank you."  Then they'd both run back to Randy and me and drop their loot in their bag.  And off to the next house they went.

Unfortunately, we didn't hit as many houses as we'd hope because of the cold and wet weather.  The kids did enjoy coming back to our house and handing out candy to their neighbor friends and trick-or-treaters.  

3 1/2 years; 8 months old

This post is a little late, but for documentation purposes, better late than never.  Helaina turned 3 1/2 years old back in September, and Zachary is now 18 months old.  Life is busier for us than ever before. 

Helaina continues to be extremely social, outgoing, and energetic.  This girl never stops talking...and I mean never.  From the moment she wakes in the morning until she talks/sings herself to sleep at night, all she does is talk.  Her vocabulary and conversation is that of an adult, and she has always been articulate.  With that much talking though, we try to emphasize "good listening".  At home, at church, and in school, we're constantly stressing "being a good listener" and having good listening skills.  For someone that loves to talk so much, it's definitely a work in progress.  She loves preschool, swimming, gymnastics, and spending time with her neighborhood friends.  She is usually a good helper for me a home and most days, is a very good big sister.  Personally, I love her sense of humor and ability to joke at such a tender age.  Her imagination is in full swing, and she sure keeps us on our toes.

We continue to grant her more and more freedoms, but occasionally have to take some of them back.  Time-outs really aren't as effective as "taking away a privilege ".  We still struggle with random temper tantrums and occasionally some excessive crying, but a little alone time in her room seems to help.  As of now, Helaina still takes an afternoon nap for about an 1 1/2.  She's in bed around 8:30 pm and up around 7 am.  This winter we might see that afternoon nap disappear with the adjustment of an earlier bedtime.   

At Zachary's 18 month check-up, he weighed in at 26lbs 8oz (65%) and 33 inches (60%).  Our big baby is slowly steadying out his height and weight and falling right into the toddler averages.  Thankfully, his pediatrician was very happy with all areas of development and is hitting the milestone appropriately.  However, he continues to be quite the handful.  An activity doesn't hold his attention for more than 1 or 2 minutes and then he is off and running again.  He's very different from his sister in that his favorite things to do are run, climb, jump, hit, bang, shake, and push.  Toys are really not his thing, unless it's a bat and he can walk around the house bashing things.  Despite his destructive nature, he sure is full of sweetness.  He loves to hug and kiss and squeeze and be carried around.  I enjoy putting him down for naps and bedtime, as he grabs his blanket and says "nighty-night".  We rock and sing and read books and cuddle for as long as he'll let us.  

In the past couple weeks, his vocabulary has exploded again.  He now has a word for everything, and is starting to use 2 and 3 word phrases.  It's definitely a bit easier when they can communicate.  We struggle with discipline as every tactic we try seems to be ineffective.  I'm hoping with consistency and age that this will improve because it's definitely a daunting task.  

This past weekend, the kids and I traveled to Indiana to visit my family.  This was our first trip back since the beginning of July.  It's always nice to see extended family and for the kids to spend time with their great-grandparents.  Fall is harvest time around here, and the kids were excited to help Great-Grandpa Walter on the farm.

After his tractor ride, Zach kept saying, "Tractor. Like it!" Tractor. Like it!"

Don't mind the fallen barn in the background, it's in the process of being taken apart and cleaned up.

Reminds me of my time with Grandpa in the tractor over 25 years ago.

We visited a high school friend and their son, Cade.

Helaina's new favorite place to eat dinner, right next grandpa.

Halloween Party at the AANM

On Saturday, Randy's parents so kindly babysit the kids while we worked and then took them down to the Arab American National Museum for their annual Halloween Party. The AANM  is the first and only museum in the U.S. devoted to Arab American culture and history.  It is quite the treasure and is located in Dearborn, just miles from our house.  It is extremely important to Randy and me that both of our kids understand and fully appreciate their Arab and American cultures.  If you are ever in the area, the museum is a "must see", it just might dispell some of those misconceptions one might have about Arab Americans and other minorities!       

Abby Cadabby and Elmo

Our cousin Janice...she works at the museum and has been instrumental in their success and progress!

Halloween 2012 with Seedy and Teta

Pumpkin project

Karaoke...Helaina is quite the performer these days!