The Aunts delivered!

Just as our babies were exiting babydom, 3 new little ones came along to take their place. In a cosmic coincidence all three Aunts were set to have their babies within weeks of each other. Aunt Sarah was first up. Ivy Madison Furnari was born December 26 weighing in at 8#10oz and 21 inches long. Just beating her scheduled induction date (and Aunt Erin's arrival) by 12 hours! Congratulations Sarah and Mike. I can't wait to meet her.

Next up, although unexpectedly so, Aunt Stacie had their new baby girl on December 30. Luke gave me a call letting me know Stacie was in the hospital and I thought he was kidding. Their new bundle of joy came in at just about 38 weeks weighing 7#7oz the exact same weight as Bianca, just over 2 years ago. Welcome Charlotte Brianne! Mom and baby are both doing great and Luke got his 2010 tax deduction. :)

Last up, Aunt Sharon had her baby on January 12. For awhile it looked like he was going to have 1-11-11 as a birthday, but instead he took his sweet time and just missed out on the auspicious date by a few hours. We are excited to be joined by Aidan Payne McBride. Born weighing 8# 5 oz and 20 inches long

Everyone is now home and settling into their families' rhythms and routines. Violet and Jack are excited to meet their new cousins and we can't wait for the fun times to begin. Who's hosting Thanksgiving again?

Good thing Santa has a couch

We had meant to take the Santa shot weeks before Christmas, getting ahead of the rush, but never made it. So 2 days before Christmas I ventured to the mall with all the kids by myself. I reasoned that surely most people would have already taken their photos and there would be no wait. Ha! Joke was on me after we waited 90 minutes in line. I guess everyone else had the same thought. The kids did remarkable well (at least everybody remarked so). And we got our shot!

Frosting, frosting, frosting

Arts and crafts with food - what is not to like about doing these projects! Nice way to fill up baby nap time while we are stuck inside.

Halloween 2010 - can we get a do over?

Halloween is one of our family's eagerly awaited holidays, like many families with little kids. Having 5 kids to dress up, I got all geeky and tried to steer them towards a theme. Perhaps the Wizard of Oz, flatly rejected. Violet only wanted to be a princess - again. Jack showing a little more flair chose a knight. That I could work with. We already had a one dragon costume that Jack wore when he was a baby, so I got one more and had Ben and Dash be dragons, Jack the knight and Violet and Georgia renaissance princesses. Feeling like going all out, I got Ron and I king and queen crowns and was very much looking forward to trick or treating at Uncle Luke's house with Bianca.

When Halloween rolled around it was wicked cold out and I was really sick. Not realizing how sick, we went ahead and I tried to press on. Well, lasting one house with a dragging me and whiny babies I headed to the comfort of Luke's house and let Ron continue with V & J. They were happy as clams and had fun filling their entire bucket full of candy. In all the hub bub we never took any pictures of all of us or the babies at all. Too bad, they were super adorable all together. Meanwhile, still really sick, I went to the MD later in the week - my b-day :( - and was diagnosed with pneumonia! There goes almost an entire month of feeling crappy/recovering. No wonder I am so behind on this blog.

Future Banksy?

While I see no political motivations in Jack's scrawling on the wall - is he commenting on the injustice of bedtime? - I thought I would document it for posterity. On the up side it was crayon and with a little elbow grease and some seriously non-green chemicals ( as if there is any other kind) his wall is once again graffiti free. As a anarchist sympathizer, I say stay strong little man. As a mom I say quit drawing on the wall dude, seriously!

Violet's 5th Birthday

Oh my, can I be cliche - where does the time go? My first baby is turning into a little girl. Along with that comes little girl desires, and an American Girl was at the top of her list (damn you catalogs). So I took her to have dinner with the dolls and Tu-Tu generously bought one for her to take home. Just to digress a minute, this is one beautiful doll! As a once doll loving girl myself, I would have loved to have one of these. Everyone enjoyed themselves and Violet was delighted to have dinner with family, and the dolls of course.

We came home after to a birthday cake made by dad, who missed the fun to stay home with the babies.

Violet still seems like the child she was at 2; independent, strong willed and happy. What is so delightful now, the back and forth conversations we can enjoy with her. You know "real conversation". She is just a little charmer. She also likes having very involved discussions with all of her dolls. She often stays up late after Jack has fallen asleep, we are downstairs, I love hearing her up there chattering away to them.

She loves being a big sister and is increasing playing more meaningfully with Georgia, Ben and Dashiell. Of course, she and Jack get along like gangbusters - until they are not! It is my fondest wish that these guys grow up with an unbreakable bond - more than blood - but a shared childhood of wonderful memories (and I am sure some hard ones too, but hopefully not too many).

Who needs apples?!

Off we went, on the coldest day of the fall, in quest for an apple picking experience extraordinaire. Well we got the extraordinaire part but alas no apples. Too late in the season, over picked, whatever the reason, we missed out; not on the carnival like atmosphere though. There was a petting zoo, bouncy things, cow tractor pull and even a corn maze. The kids had a blast, the rest of us were chilly. Ben, Dash, and Georgia mostly stayed in the stroller, but during lunch got to experience a sand pit made with corn kernels instead of sand. Dad and Uncle Jim were on operation "keep corn out of babies mouths" while Aunt Sharon and myself were on put apple donuts in ours duty -oh the sacrifices!