Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas everyone!! What a magical day we had with our girls. Here is one video to satisfy your appetite for Anabelle and Macy. It is the first five minutes after Anabelle sees all of the presents and opens a couple. We will post more videos and pictures in the next couple of days. Hope you had a great Christmas.

The girls meet Santa!

Need I say anything?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Picking out a tree and Macy's 6 month checkup

Well, I think we set a record this year: We picked out our tree (which is very close to perfect, if I do say so myself) in all of 5 minutes! It was literally the first tree we saw! So then we got to go into the warm indoors and look at all the fun decorations.

On another note, Macy had her 6 month check-up yesterday. The doctor said "She's very healthy, just petite." Here's her stats:
Weight: 14 lb 12 oz (19th percentile)
Height: 26 in (50th percentile)
As you can see she's happy as can be and very ready for Santa!

Thanksgiving with the McLoraines

We had a very nice Thanksgiving with the family in Chicago! Macy got to meet her Great grandparents, Anabelle got to eat lots of turkey and mom and dad got to relax a little!
Here's a picture of 4 generations!

Macy and Great Grandma (Macy's middle name is Therese after her great grandma!)

Anabelle and Great Grandpa entertained the crowd with some piano playing.

Macy is 6 months old

You always hear "they grow up so fast." But truly I can't believe Macy is already 6 months old. She's doing great - she's still working on cutting her first teeth, she now sleeps through the night (YAY!) and she's eating lots of foods (fruits, veggies and cereal).
Anabelle is good too. We're all getting ready to drive to Chicago for Thanksgiving! Anabelle has been "helping" pack!

Anabelle's 1st Haircut

We've been talking about doing it for a while and finally the time had come for Anabelle to get her first haircut! She was a little nervous, but since princesses get their hair cut it must be okay!

Here's the "before" shot.

During the haircut. Anabelle was so good and sat nice and still!

The "after" shot. What a big girl! She's proud of her new hair - "it's just like a princess!"

Blue lollipops, cuddles and smiles

Anabelle LOVES lollipops, especially blue ones. She got this one because she used her potty!

Macy LOVES to be held and cuddle. Mom loves to sleep!

Macy is almost 6 months old. She smiles lots and has fun in her jumper-roo. But she isn't so happy if you leave the room even for 20 seconds!

Fresh Videos

Hey there everybody! Below are a couple videos of our precious little girls. But first a little story I found to be hilarious (probably just funny to me but please humor me). One night when I got home this week Maggie said to Anabelle, "What's daddy's name?" Anabelle looks at me and thinks, then says, "Beese". I found it hilarious and have been asking her to repeat it a couple times a day ever since. OK, now the videos . . .

Happy Halloween

Our little witch and flower had a super-fun Halloween season, and I say "season" because it lasted much more than 1 night! This year we celebrated Halloween by going to Boo at the Zoo with all our friends, then pumpkin carving in Louisville, a halloween hayride celebration night at the Nature Center, and THEN we went trick-or-treating on Halloween!! It was all so much fun. Anabelle quickly got the hang of walking up to people's doors and simply saying one phrase to get loads of delicious goodies. That was all followed up by what I think was her first real stomach ache! That's what a lollipop, gummy lifesavers and milk duds will do to you, but hey that's what Halloween's all about, right?!

Boo at the Zoo: This is the best picture we could get of the 2 bees, 3 monkeys, 2 kitties, 1 lion, and 1 witch! (Macy the flower was sleeping in the stroller.)

Pumpkin Carving

The family all loaded up and traveled down to Louisville this weekend for Grandma and Grandpa's annual Pumpkin Carving party. The first night we went to a Kentucky tradition, Mike Lennig's Restaurant. Then Sunday was all about carving and chili. Anabelle had a great time but didn't really want to get too dirty with the pumpkin guts. She asked me to carve her pumpkin as a pig.

You can check to the left for three videos from the weekend. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great weekend.

Rock and ROLL over

It's official, Macy rolled over! She has actually rolled from her tummy to her back a few times already, but yesterday she did the harder maneuver from her back to her tummy! Way to go Macy. Another milestone - they're flying by!

Bouncy Bouncy

Macy has started to use her bouncy chair and is really liking it. She can turn herself around and grab all of the toys. Anabelle thinks it is kind of fun too. She acts like she is pushing Macy in a swing. Enjoy!

Anabelle's Swimming Lessons

"Big pool, big pool!!" That's what we hear all week. Unfortunately once we actually get there, all we here is "No pool. Snack." That and she wants to just play in the kiddie pool rather than learn how to swim with dad in the big pool. Oh, the wonderful/terrible twos!

A nice Sunday at GG and Grandpa Bob's

This past Sunday we spent the afternoon playing at GG and Grandpa Bob's house. It was a beautiful day and a fun time! Anabelle got her first ride on the lawnmower. She loved playing on it but when it actually starting moving (with Dad driving) she was a little concerned! That didn't stop her from giving Macy lessons on how to drive though. Look at how Macy is holding on tight to her big sister!

The meaning of life

If you listen closely Macy explains the meaning of life . . . and if you don't listen closely she's giving directions to your local supermarket.

Oh yeah, Anabelle's cameo appearance isn't as bad as it seems. She had decided she would be behind camera and not on camera!

Macy tries cereal!

Macy tried her 1st solid food - rice cereal. Except that the first time, you have to mix it with so much milk that it's really like feeding her milk on a spoon. She did pretty well though! I look forward to many more messy meals in the future!

Our Anniversary

Six years sure can fly by! We celebrated our anniversary this past weekend while grandma and grandpa stayed at our house with the girls.
We went to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and had a nice fall day for a hike. We saw beautiful Brandywine Falls. It was sooooo nice to get away for a whole 24 hours!!
Meanwhile back at the homestead Anabelle and Macy kept Ma and Pa busy. But I think in the end, everyone had fun!

Macy's Check-up

Macy had her 4 month "well visit" today and all looks great!

Weight: 12 lb 8 oz (45th percentile)
Height: 24.5 in (55th percentile)

Doc gave us the ok to start feeding her solids! So first we'll try rice cereal, then some veggies. Should be fun!

Happy 4 month Birthday Macy

Macy's 4 months old today and she's doing great!

Friday Night Lights!

Ok, so it wasn't actually Friday night, but Anabelle (and Macy too) got to enjoy the fun of the high school football field with the band and the cheerleaders! Mom just joined the Early Childhood PTA of Rocky River. They have sooo many fun events planned and this was one of the first so we thought we'd check it out. It really helped that it is a beautiful warm fall evening and that Anabelle can always feel the rhythm of a drum (thanks to all the early dance sessions with Auntie Alice).

Anabelle banged on the drums while Macy slept!

Shaking some pom-poms! Watch out boys!

Ha Ha Ha

Macy laughed for the first time today! A very real, very cute laugh!! Mom was changing her clothes and tickled her tummy and that got her giggling! So much fun.

We made cupcakes!

Anabelle is such a good helper in the kitchen! Finally, after talking about it for weeks, we finally made CUPCAKES! And it was so much fun.

Anabelle put all the liners carefully in each cup.

Helped with the stirring (only a little got on the counter, floor and mom)!

Of course, you have to lick the batter to make sure it tastes ok!

Then came the hardest part ... waiting for them to be ready.
But when they were, boy was it worth it! YUM!

Maybe next week, we'll try cookies! Maybe.

Sitting pretty

Macy is now 3 1/2 months old and I feel like if you look at her you can see her grow! She is getting really good at holding up her head so she is now a fan of her Bumbo chair! And she loves to "stand" if mom and dad are holding her.

Another necessary but very un-fun milestone: I think she's starting to get some teeth! She's a drool machine and puts her hands in her mouth lots. So, look forward to a picture with a toothy grin!

Picture Day Picture Day

Here is what it was like at picture day for Anabelle, Macy, Mom and Dad. Click on the picture and it should take you to a new website. Then towards the top left select "Slideshow". Send me a comment if it doesn't work so I can try to fix it. Thanks!

Portraits Sept, 2010

New Videos

Just a reminder that new videos show up from time to time on the left panel. We don't always have a post specifically for each video. Hope things are going well for everyone. Have a great Labor Day Weekend.

Breese, Maggie, Anabelle and Macy

Anabelle's 2 year check-up

Yesterday, Anabelle had her doctor's visit and all was great! The night before I told her that if she was good we would go buy her some finger paint. Well, that's all she talked about before, during and after! So, yes she did great and yes we bought paint!
She now weighs 25 lbs (30th percentile) and is 35 inches (75th percentile). Tall and skinny, who would have guessed!

Happy Birthday Anabelle!

(Here she is showing you her "Birthday Girl" shirt!)

Wow, Anabelle is 2 years old today! Her party was last weekend but we still had to do some celebrating today! What a fun day! We went to a toy store where she got to paint and make some crafts and play with the dolls (her favorite), then we went to lunch and she got to eat Mac and Cheese! Then after nap time we went to a picnic/block party and got to see some animals and a clown. Then (mom's favorite part of the day) we went to eat CUPCAKES! Yum.

Family photos

Celebration Weekend

What a fun weekend full of great things to celebrate!
Family came from all over the place (Mexico City, Kentucky, California, Maryland and Pennsylvania!) to help us celebrate Anabelle's 2nd Birthday and Macy's Baptism.

First, on Saturday we had Anabelle's Birthday Party complete with Elmo! Anabelle was super happy that Elmo was at her party but she didn't want to get to close!

Her actual birthday is this Saturday, the 28th. So, I guess we'll be celebrating all week long (that's GG-style birthday celebrating)!

Then, on Sunday it was Macy's Baptism. It was so special that her Godmother, Aunt Shannon was able to come all the way from California to be here for the occasion! Then we had a delicious meal at GG and Grandpa Bob's. The perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

I'll post more pictures of the festivities soon.

Macy got her ears pierced!

The price of beauty is really high (and painful)! It's painful even to look at this picture, isn't it. Macy was a trooper but it was tough, much tougher than when Anabelle got her ears pierced. But now they look really cute and Macy is all smiles again, or sweet-dreaming!

Louisville Visit

We made a quick trip down to Louisville this past weekend. Breese went to a bachelor party (which, from what he remembers, was fun) and we were able to celebrate Aunt Kelly's birthday! We also fit in a trip to the water park:

Good times!