Fall Fun

We've been very busy lately.  I feel like we never have a free weekend!  A couple weekends ago we went up to visit Justin's parents at their mountain house they bought a little bit ago.  It is a fixer upper so they go up every so often to work on it and the boys will help out as well.  But it's nice to have a small get away and also some babysitting!  Justin and I went to Haunted Tweetsie while we were there and it was def a waste of money.  The haunted portion was very lame, and the rides were not enough to make up for the money spent.  We also went to another haunted house at an old abandoned school while we were up there for $5 and it was much scarier than Haunted Tweetsie!  During the day we took the kids to a corn maze and they had some bouncy houses and games for kids so that was fun.  Here are a few pics of our trip to the mountains:

 

Last weekend we also went to Carowinds.  We purchased 2014 season passes for the family so they let you go for free one day this year.  They kids had fun.  Brayden couldn't ride very much since he is not 36" but he still enjoyed it.

 

This past weekend the Disney Store was hosting a Halloween celebration to come dressed as your favorite Disney princess or character.  I just happened to have two Disney costumes laying around so we decided to go.  Here are my little Snow White and Tigger!

 





Kaitlyn's 4th Birthday!

This year Kaitlyn's 4th birthday fell on a Saturday.  Other than her first birthday party with family, she has never had another party so I felt guilty and decided to through her one.  Overall it went pretty well.  We didn't have much money so we chose a location at a park near our house and then just had a cake and light snacks and a piñata for the kids.  She loved it which is what really matters.  She had a pretty good turn out as far as children too so that was good.  Even for something so low key it was still a lot of work, so I definitely don't think I will be throwing yearly birthday parties.  Maybe just every few years for each kid.  Here are a few pictures from the party:

The Set Up

Swinging at the Piñata  

 Brayden taking a turn

 After all the kids had a few turns, the piñata was still not showing any signs of breaking so reinforcements had to be called in!

 The aftermath

 Blowing out the candles

 My Mom made her some cute playhouses out of felt for her birthday

 

Also just a few updates on life with Kaitlyn at age 4:  She is loving her preschool that she goes to.  The teachers have told me that she is doing really well and very advanced for her age.  Although she is pretty much the oldest in her class, so I imagine she will probably be advanced for a few years until that starts leveling off.  She knows all her letters and sounds they make and has started reading some of the Bob Books.  She still has a hard time putting different sounds together though.  Kaitlyn and Brayden are currently still sharing a room and it is working out fine.  Eventually she will move in with Allie.  She is a very sweet and considerate kid.  Her favorite games are Chasing games.  Where someone pretends to be a wolf and chases her.  She also loves Bear Hunts and anything where people play with her.  She HATES to play by herself.  She is still afraid of pretty much all Disney movies and her favorite shows are probably My Little Ponies, Horseland, and Diego.  She has a very large vocabulary and likes to try and use new words she hears, but she is still very hard to understand.  We even debated if she needs speech therapy, but I'm going to give it another year.  She doesn't have a probably talking, just pronouncing and enunciating different sounds.  I can understand most everything she says but a lot of adults cannot.  So we shall see!  Hopefully she will get better with age!

Allie's 4 months!

Allie is now 4 months old!  She had her well visit a couple days ago and got her 4 month vaccines.  I hate them, but pretty much just go along with them b/c I also don't want her to contract a disease and potentially die!  But they really do make me nervous and I hate the side effects from them on a baby so small.  She got a really bad fever from this round and was really fussy.  I really wish I could delay them, but my practice I go to is so strict!  Anyway here are her stats for the 4 month visit:

Weight: 14 lbs 2 oz. 50 %
Height: 24"; 30%
Head Circumference: 40.5 cm; 25-50%

Overall she is doing great.  She is a wonderful addition to our family!  She started sleeping through the night at about 8 weeks, but lately wakes up multiple times a night when her paci falls out!  Grr.  She goes right back to sleep as soon as you put it in, but it is pretty annoying.  I guess it could be worse though!  She is a very happy baby.  Probably the happiest of any of my kids so far.  She smiles and laughs all the time.  But she can also go from happy to screaming her head off in a split second!  She is a pretty good mix between Kaitlyn and Brayden.  Kaitlyn was by far the worst, and Brayden was my content laid back baby.  We don't usually start solid foods until about 6 months so she is currently drinking pumped breastmilk every 3 hours during the day.  We offer her 6 ounces but she doesn't usually drink all of it.  Things she enjoys: napping in her swing with her blanket up around her face, sitting in her bumbo as long as I am near her, and being carried around front facing.