Enjoying Kidssssss

We enjoy Silas so much - he is pure joy.  So happy and chill most of the time.  He is really starting to smile a lot.  Jeff calls it a delayed reaction since he thinks about first.  Tyndell has been such a good big sister to Silas - very helpful, so loving, and interested in him always.  I really thought the newness would wear off by now, but it hasn't - she still wants to give him hugs and kisses everyday, hold him, and ask questions about what he is doing.  I prayed for this!  Thank you God for these wonderful children. 

This is How We Chill....

If I can't find the boppy...I can usually blame Tyndell...

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Three Months to Silas!

I just love Thanksgiving....I get so excited about it each year.  It's my favorite.  I was so happy that Jeff and Tyndell came back on Wednesday from their Disney trip so that we could be together for Thanksgiving.  We were going to host at our house this year but as it turns out, with my brother Brandon not feeling well, we relocated to my parents house so that he could rest more (and blast! he was napping during the family picture...oh well).  The day was spent cooking and being lazy in the kitchen and watching the Macy's parade....and drinking some wine together of course.  Then we loaded up our goodies (mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin cheesecake, and chocolate pecan pie) and went to my parent's house to join the other Tyndell/Makres folks for a delicious meal and the inaugural viewing of Christmas Vacation.  I'm so thankful that we could all be together for Thanksgiving this year - it's been a long time coming and I've missed this over the years when we couldn't all celebrate together.  We did of course miss Drew and Rhiannon though.  Next year the kids table will be reincarnated as originally planned!  The majority of the rest of the weekend, we were very lazy; catching up on sleep, cleaning the house, and getting out the Christmas decorations.  I think we only left the house one other time and it was just for an hour or so.  We felt so rested after several lazy days.  Check out the sweet lazy boys!

The day after Thanksgiving, Silas turned three months' old....and he seems to be working his way out of the reflux issues I've mentioned before...and he may even be starting to sleep for longer stretches at night with this change.  It's been nice being able to lay him down in his crib a little more often now since the spitting up/gas isn't as problematic.  He is still such a chill wonderful boy.  We even went to the mall together while Jeff and Tyndell were out of town and just walked around for like 4 hours.  I could never do that with Tyndell when she was a baby - lights and noise always upset her.  But he slept and have a great time walking around.  He picked out some really nice presents for Jeff and Tyndell ;)  We are enjoying him so much to say the least....it's going by so fast!  We all just adore him so much.

Hope all your Thanksgiving holidays were as restful and joyful as ours! Let the Christmas music begin!

Tyndell and Daddy Disney Trip

Last week, Jeff took off the week and decided to take Tyndell down to Disney for a few days while his family was down there before Thanksgiving.  Silas and I stayed home (I don't have much vacation left after maternity leave PLUS Disney is pretty much the last place a 3 month old needs to be!)....and it kinda felt like a vacation for me too (I forgot how easy one kid is!).  So anyway - as sad as it was to conquer and divide the kids last week for a few days, I think we all needed a break.  I found these pictures from the camera that Jeff took....some good ones of the cousins together!  They definitely had a great time and Jeff reported that Tyndell did great on the long car ride to Orlando there and back.  She also had fun wearing her princess and fairy dresses to the park each day.  Go Jeff for some nice Daddy and Tyndell moments.  Strangely when Jeff told Tyndell she could pick out something at Disney, she picked the Stitch puppet....we've never even seen that movie, but he has now been added to her Disney puppet collection.

2012 School Pictures

Well - here they are - the 2012 Class pictures for Tyndell.  I think I say this every year but we usually don't like the school pictures because they look so cheesy but I actually really like these!  Maybe Charlotte has it going on in this arena more than Florida, but I think these are great. The class picture cracks me up b/c Tyndell is totally the ham in the middle!  Given the individual shot, maybe I should start calling her "The Hair."

Halfway Point: the Tyndell and Tara Reunion!

So funny enough, when we learned that we were relocating to NC earlier this year, we also found out that Tyndell's best friend from her school in Florida, Tara's, family was also relocating...and to Raleigh. Small world!  So we've been keeping in touch and after both of us have settled a bit, we found a weekend to meet up halfway so that the girls could see each other again.  So this past weekend, we met halfway at the NC Zoo in Ashboro, NC.  It's about 1 1/2 -2 hours for each of us so it makes for a decent day trip in either direction.  It was so hilarious seeing these girls together again - like they didn't skip a beat.  The brothers, Liam and Silas, were champs to put up with so much girly excitement.  In fact, there was so much excitement that it was really difficult to get any pictures of the kids that weren't blurry!  These were the best I could do.  I think this was our last warm weekend for a while....it's going to turn cold again tonight and then I believe fall and winter will be officially on.  The leaves are peaking now and it's been beautiful.  As for the NC Zoo - it was a little strange how spaced out all the exhibits were, but they did have some animals that we didn't normally get to see at the Palm Beach Zoo - like the regal lioness and some gorillas.  Very cool.  I think they are doing some updates there (lots of exhibits were closed and there seemed to be a lot of construction going on) so hopefully next year it will get a bit more interesting.  Fun day!  Love these girls.  Thanks to the O'Farrell family for making it possible.

Just a Catch-Up Saturday

It seems like ever since our boy has been born, we've had visitors or have been out of town every weekend and it's just been busy.  This past weekend we were able to take some time to catch-up on cleaning and grocery shopping and just getting the house back in order after many weeks of chaos (which is still proceeding....but at least the house is a little neater).  So....these are just some random shots throughout our catch-up day.

First Weekend Trip / Declan's First Birthday!

The last weekend in October, we headed over to Atlanta for a quick visit to the B&B's house to celebrate their son, Declan's, first birthday!  We just drove up on Saturday morning and came back Sunday but it was just enough time to catch up, eat lots of yummies, celebrate sweet Declan, and we even caught up with Drew and Rhiannon on the way back home (and were treated to the yummiest vegan pumpkin pancakes ever!).  Declan ate an entire (not just smashed or licked or played with, but truly ATE) red velvet Elmo cupcake.  It was hilarious....this is what happens when foodies have children.  Silas actually did really well on the car trip and even started laying down a little better even though he's been struggling with reflux.  Maybe we're over that hump?  Thanks for having us B&B!  To many more weekends now that we are relatively close together again....