Lots of celebrations, and Greta turns 3!

It has been a whirlwind of celebrations around here (except for the election, which I will not spend time on, I'm exhausted of that topic).

We had a combo party for Greta and Piper on 11/4 which was great fun and absolute chaos. We had lots of family and food, and another bounce house for the gathering. We ran wild with excitement and a flurry of gifts. Greta mastered the surprised face as she opened each gift. Its safe to say her mind was blown with all of the great surprises. Piper was showered with so much love, too. We are so thankful for our village of family who love our kids.

On Greta's actual birthday (11/5) we celebrated again at our great niece, Maddie's house who turned 2. We love that Greta has a birthday buddy. Piper snuck in a little fun of her own with taking her first baby steps. We are not walking yet, but she is gaining confidence. Greta opened a few gifts I had set aside for her on her birthday morning and was equally as thrilled as she was the evening before. She is wild and sassy and so so sweet. She gives the best hugs and can make you feel on top of the world when she is giving you her love and attention. Her love is the greatest kind of love.

On election night we celebrated with Dave's family again for a gender reveal party for Lauren and Elliot who are expecting (a girl!!!) in March. Lauren fills such a large space in Dave's heart as she resembles her late mother in so many ways. We have waited a long time for her to be a mother herself, and to hear she will have her own baby girl to love on is so amazing. No doubt, it will be bittersweet as she misses her mom greatly with the exciting days ahead.

We transitioned Sully and Greta to their own matching twin beds this week, and it has been major hit. They are so excited about their new set up and love to play in their room. Sully even stayed in his bed ALL night the night we set them up. Greta came in at some point and sweetly asked my permission to get into bed with us. This is the first time in three years that we have not had two cribs set up. And, Piper and I are weaning. I am officially out of frozen milk and we have transitioned to whole milk for all feedings except for one nursing session (usually early in the morning) each day. It is a transition I am ready for, but will mourn when it is complete. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

Being silly with daddy. 

John Mellencamp with Maggie and her fill in date, Wosje.

Birthday girls with their Hello Kitty cake. 

All three. 

Mama and her babe. 

Walking practice.

Munce family fun/chaos.

Opening presents.

This photo captures her personality perfectly.
Christa Ballard Photography

Making banana muffins. 

Its a girl for Elliot and Lauren! 

He voted. 

Twin bed fun. 

Magnatile creations. 

Hi Piper!

A sorta successful selfie. 

Piper turns one!

Our baby turned one on Sunday, it was a great day. We woke up and celebrated with doughnuts and presents followed by playtime and naps. She is as sweet as they come. She loves to play with and pester her big brother and sister. She is so satisfied when they acknowledge her. She brings so much joy to our family. I love to see them grow and their sibling relationships develop. She is 19lbs and 3oz (50%) and 28 inches long (25%). She is a speed crawler and gaining confidence on her feet. No official steps yet, but it isn't too far off.

We were excited to celebrate with family at Maggie's house for dinner and a reveal party for my brother, Sam and sister in law, Shelley who is due with her second baby (a girl!!) in April. Their son, Hudson is 10 and had the honor of cutting the cake. Everyone was thrilled with the results. We are looking forward to having another baby in the family (and thankful that it isn't mine this time around ;)).

We followed up the birthday fun with Halloween on Monday. The kids were SO excited to get their costumes on. Sully asked if we could go 'Halloweening' as soon as he got home from school at noon. When I explained that people wouldn't be home to pass out candy until after dinner, he was baffled. He said 'but why are you and daddy home now?' We had pizza for dinner and hit the streets. We have an awesome neighborhood for Halloween. The boulevard around the corner get 1,000+ trick or treaters each year. They go all out with decorations and sound effects. We love it. Sully was a pro, he would walk up and say 'trick or treat!' with such pride. Greta followed right behind him and quickly made her way back into the stroller so she could binge eat candy between houses. Piper and I cut the outing short so we could come home to hand out candy. We had about 285 kids at our house this year and were happy to get rid of most of our candy. Dave and the kids came home around 7 and Greta helped me pass out candy while Sully went out again with our neighbor Aidan. He returned on Aidan's shoulders around 7:30. It's safe to say his year was made.

We are already looking forward to next year and have even started to talk costumes ;).

Breakfast with the birthday girl.

Sweet Piper. 

Present fun. 

Everyone helps. 

Big girl! 

Sam, Shelley, Hudson...its a girl!
Julie Prairie Photography. 

Birthday songs to Piper.
Julie Prairie Photography.  

Greta butters her up...
Julie Prairie Photography. 

And she goes in for the taste ;).
Julie Prairie Photography.

Sweet dreams sweet girl. 

Halloween fun.
Hello Kitty, Ladybug, and Green Spiderman (with a mask).

All loaded up and ready for fun. 

My partner in crime. 

More fall fun, and introducing Nowayjose.

Fall carries on with warm weather and mellow weekends. It is a nice break to have minimal agendas around here on the weekends as we are able to spend lots of time as a family, something Sully requests daily. Dave's schedule continues to be demanding, but with each day that passes, I find that managing the kids on my own is getting better. I have the occasional melt down, but overall, we are finding our groove, it has nearly taken me 12 months ;). I can't for one minute imagine going back to life one year ago. I was days from delivering a baby, had a massive construction project in full swing, and was trying to manage two toddlers.

We have had fun watching Isaac play football and many of the Connelly cousins play soccer. It is a great way to enjoy the mild temperatures as well as connect with family in a very informal setting. Sully and Greta have a great time with all of their cousins and Piper is so antsy to be one of the big kids. If it wasn't for the distraction of those tasty leaves and wood chips, we would let her be on her way.

Our big project this last weekend was constructing our own scarecrow. The kids love driving around looking at 'pooky' halloween decorations and we felt like we were lacking around here. Don't get me wrong, we have gone overboard with pumpkins, picking up pumpkin craft kits here and there which has been loads of fun, be we wanted a 'wow' factor. Dave did the youtube homework and on Saturday after Isaac's game we went on the hunt to Home Depot for lumber, Savers for clothes, and Landscape Garden Centers for the hay bail. We got home and Dave went to work while I managed the kids (with the help of our neighbor boys). Fortunately, he turned out almost perfect. We will make a few tweaks for next year, but we are happy with our first go. The pumpkin head even has a light bulb in it, so at night we are able to illuminate him, which takes him over the top. When we were constructing him, the neighbors kept teasing Sully and Greta and their response was usually 'no way Jose,' so that became his name. We love him. The kids run out multiple times a day to see if he is awake or asleep (wether or night his light is on), and every time we drive up the house, we say hello to Nowayjose.

An afternoon walk. Sully beams with happiness, Dave too. 

Maggie snuggles Greta. Mutual admiration. 

Birthday party fun- a green robot. 

Hello Kitty. 

Football game fun. Greta dressed as a princess :).

Date night with Maggie and Anna- this ended poorly.
Thirty minutes into the movie following dinner, Greta tossed her cookies,
too much chocolate :/.

Posing with the pumpkins.

A rare quiet morning with only Piper. 

Owen, Greta, Sully, and Capri watching Isaac play ball.

Sweet Piper. 

Sully, Aidan, Nowayjose, Piper, Greta, and Landon. 

Nowayjose.

Greta does preschool, Piper does the slide, Dave does NYC.

October brought new routines, growing kids, a change in weather, and an unexpected trip for Dave. 

Greta started at Miss Jean's and as I had expected, it has been a great fit for her. We head right out to her house after we drop Sully at school and she talks the whole way about how excited she is and about the things she hopes they do that day. I generally walk her in and she talks a mile a minute to Miss Jean about all of the important things (i.e. "Can we play play doh? Can we paint? Where's your puppy? What's your mom's name?" and that is word for word what she said on her first day). I get numerous photos during the day with captions like 'We are two peas in a pod.' We are so lucky to have Miss Jean. 

Piper mastered the slide at the park. She pulls herself up the equipment and steadies herself on the slide before letting herself slip down. She is so brave and such a big girl. She is turning into a toddler right before my eyes. I can hardly believe she is almost one. We are dabbling into her Miss Jaspers' mornings and while it is bittersweet, I'm ready to have a morning to myself. She continues to sleep through the night and we are talking about weaning as soon as she turns one. It is a one sided conversation, but I am definitely ready, I hope she is, too ;).

Sully continues with his weekly routines. We added Miss Jean to his preschool agenda so he goes full days on Wednesday between preschool and Miss Jean in the afternoon. We are struggling with some growing pains and hope he settles into his new routine soon and that we are not taking on too much for him. Time will tell. He is definitely our routine oriented little boy who doesn't like too much change. 

Dave was disappointed when Green Day announced a short tour and it seemed all of the dates either fell on a weekday or a call day for him. After learning the venue was very intimate (1,500 people), he was set on making something work. Fortunately for him, he has some great partners (and a great wife) and was able to make a trade to get to their show in NYC. He and his concert buddy, Paul, left on a Friday and spent the evening wandering the streets of Manhattan and did more of the same on Saturday before the show on Saturday evening. They had a great time exploring and concert going and made it home safe and sound on Sunday. Wouldn't ya know, Green Day has miraculously announced many many more dates this spring all over the US. I'm sure you can imagine who is trying to find dates to get to more shows...

Greta's first day of preschool.

All three.

Halloween crafting fun. 

The end result. 

Piper masters the pout/tantrum.

Bestys trying to nap together. Haha, I'm too smart for that.

Group selfie for Dave while he is in NYC.

Piper helps me plant tulips.

Post-tubby fun.

Green Day!

Celebrating six years.

Dave and I were lucky enough to celebrate six years of marriage last week. Its been a whirlwind of babies, kids, trips, house projects, a little stress, and a lot of fun. We told the kids we were celebrating the birthday of our wedding, so we made a cake and decorated it with six candles. They loved it, we all did.

We have had some mellow evenings, which has been good for all of us. We spent last weekend close to home with a trip to pick out pumpkins, a couple of park visits and group (family) party for Dave's work group last evening which was a lot of work, but completely worth it. Sully was mostly excited about renting a Spiderman bounce house which was a hit all weekend long.

Family time is the best time. We love our couch snuggles, date nights, movie nights (we have managed to get about 45 minutes into a movie before everyone has lost interest), evening walks to the park, bedtime routines with 'daddy dinosaur,' and 'mommy monster,' quiet nursing sessions with Piper, stories with daddy, and waking up in the morning to a bed full of kids. Although the daily grind can be daunting at times, I am so grateful for what we have. Thanks Dave for making it a great six years!

Greta and her pink pumpkin. 

Sully gets a green one. 

Piper is more interested in chewing on her stem ;).

All smiles at check out. 

Picking out a leaf blower for daddy's anniversary gift. 

Anniversary party! 

Piper was 11 months on Friday!

Party decor. 

Cookie fun (notice my medical theme).

The guest of honor at the party :)