Boys!

Rare Form

Oh my gosh, I can't get over this picture my sister took today.  Hilarious.

Play Gym

This is the best play gym, ever.  Thanks Mommy and Daddy!

Thanksgiving at the Berrall's

Not a lot of photos were taken...  Whoops.

Christmas Tree and Krispy

Yay!  We put up our Christmas tree.  And then...Krispy showed up!

 

Thanksgiving at the Lodge

A great weekend as always!

 

 

Of course, the highlight of the weekend, for the girls, was going on a scavenger hunt.  The end prize: A trip to Disney World with Grandma and Grandpa in February!!!  Say what?!?! 

 

 

We're going to Disney World!  (And, we're totally princesses.)

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving cards were mailed successfully (only one day later than hoped) again this year.  Here is the photo we sent out.  If you didn't get one this year, we are truly sorry!  We only odered 110 and apparently that was not quite enough.  Next year we will order a few more!

 

Thankful.  That says it all. 

 

150-some photos it took to get that decent-ish shot.  Here are the ones we didn't use!

10 Months Old

...And still I cannot get those cheeks under control.  Poor boy.  Despite the fact that Hugo's cheeks are constantly dry and red (eczema) he is a very happy boy.  I think it's funny that the above photo was taken in his Jump Chair as he really hardly ever sits in that thing anymore.  He is WAY too busy to want to jump in one place.  He crawls so fast now that he often finds himself sprawled on his face from losing his balance.  Am I mean to laugh at that?  It is so much like what you see on cartoons.

Well, Hugo is a talking, signing, crawling, cruising devil.  He is experimenting with lots of different sounds.  If he is willing to pay attention to you for a few minutes you can make sounds for him to mimic and gets big smiles from doing so.  He continues to sign with me whenever he can, which I find lots of fun.

Another thing I love is how interested he is in books lately.  He wants to sit on my lap while I read to Declan (may be because he is jealous that Declan is on my lap), but he is also constantly pulling books off the shelf and opening and closing them (and chewing on them).  I used to set him down by the train table for him to play with the toys there, but now he instantly crawls over to the bookshelf in Declan's room to see what kind of mischief he can make. 

I really thought Hugo was going to be a mellow little kid...I should've known what a crazy thought that was!  It's possible he is more busy than Declan was now.  Constant vigilance!  If there is one thing in a 20x12 room that is filled with thousands of things he can play with and one thing he should not have he will find that one thing within two minutes.  Guaranteed.  If you lose a needle in haystack, you may want to call Hugo in to help you out.

Hugo is now also the perfect size for Kyrie to carry around - which she does.  Everywhere.  But, she talks to him constantly and snuggles him up, and for the most part he doesn't seem to mind, so as long as they are being safe, we don't mind either.

What did we do without this crazy cutie-pie.  I can no longer remember life pre-Hugo.  His smile lifts my heart and his shining eyes brigthen my day.  We love our Hugo-potamister!

Trains and Stuff

Matt went to the Lodge for Opening Weekend (hunting).  Linda took the girls for the night and part of the day.  So, the boys and I went to see some trains with the Schambows.  Fun!

Here are the girls and Linda, painting Gingerbread Children at Uptown Art Uncorked in preparation of the impending Christmas season.

And...in a way surprising move, my father came over for dinner - his birthday dinner!  Happy Birthday, Pop!

Whack

I am pretty sure that as we climbed the stairs for naptime today Declan said to me, "Mommy you're whack!"  I tried to clarify with that crazy man, but I continued to hear the same thing.  Uhhh...Declan, you are the whack-iest!  Gotta love it.  (And seriously, where did he pick this up from?)

GNO Redefined

Girls Night Out, Redefined.  Kyrie earned a special dinner out with Mommy and decided to bring Lariska along as long as she included Kyrie in her special night.  Sigh.  So much for truly special nights...still, we had such a nice time.  Milkshakes for the girls, yummy food, a pretzel treat to take home for Daddy.  I hope we get to do this more often.

Destructions

I have to post this before I forget...since I have been meaning to do so for a very long time now.  My three-year old Lego-loving Declan is constantly after me to build Legos with him.  Whenever I have the time, and Hugo is sleeping, I tell him to pick something out and we will build it together.  He says to me, "Mommy, can we get out the destructions?" or "Mommy can I pick from the constructions?"  I want to laugh every time.  He combines instructions with directions or just defaults to construction because, after all, that is what we are going to do - construct something. 

I love three year old language acquisition and this is one of the best mistakes I have heard from my children.  So cute.

(Ooh, can't forget...sometimes he calls them in-directions as well.  LOVE it!)

Daddy Day

Today was not only Matt's 30-something-th birthday, it was also Daddy Day at preschool.  Unfortunately...Matt, while good at many, many things, is not so good at remembering to take pictures so I can put them on this here blog.  Bummer.  He did get a few...that weren't so awesome...so I will just post one, and then a photo of the project that Declan made for his Daddy (that I took).

In case you cannot read what that says:

My Daddy's name is Dad.
He is three years old.
He has black eyes and black hair
and his favorite food is broccoli.
My Daddy's job is to play with cars
and he drives a black car.
My favorite thing to do with him is to play cars,
and his favorite thing to do with me is to play "ghosts".
My Daddy's favorite T.V. program is soccer.
His favorite restaurant is Culvers.
When I go to sleep at night Daddy goes camping.

And, by the way, Happy Birthday, Matthew.  You are the best!

Hello?

Hello?!  Is this thing working???  (A Bill-ism)

Hugo loves to pretend he is talking on the phone.  Or, maybe he is just chilling after his nap today, but as I recall he was talking up a storm on his hand-set. (Ha ha.)

Bike Ride/Walk

Matt took the big kids (girls) on a bike ride to the park this afternoon.  When the boys woke up earlier than expected, I decided to try and walk them down for a little Indian Summer fun.  Unfortunately, they had left the park and gone to the Wilde's house.  So, I met them there...briefly.  And, we had to take a picture.

Or two:

September!

Woo hoo!  September is finally up-to-date on Kons Chaos!

DST Wins Again!

Yes, Daylight Savings Time (known in this house as BASM - the Bi-Annual Screwing of the Mom) has won once again.  Despite the fact that we should have gained an hour of life, all we did was lose lots of sleep...or maybe sanity.  I did not prepare for DST this year by putting the kids to bed later and later during the week.  I thought maybe we would just go cold turkey this year.  Well, despite the fact that Declan slept till 7:15am the day before, he got up at 5:20am on Sunday (what would've been 6:20am without DST ending).  Ughhhh....need I say more?  And poor Hugo, he was desperate to go to bed last night, but I held him off till his "normal" bedtime - now an hour later.  Poor kid had a rough night.  Poor Mommy is a crazy crabby woman this morning as a result.

DST, I loathe you.

Felicity is here!

Congratulations, Berrall Family - third daughter, Felicity Catherine arrived early this afternoon all beautiful and perfect!