Christmas preperations!

November and December are my two favorite cold months, if I have to claim any cold months as my favorite. It is purely because of the sentiments of Thanks Giving, Christmas, and all the warm fuzzies one gets from such great family time. :)

Miles and I put up lights around the porch, of which now half are burnt out and it took so long they are staying there. Ugh.

Miles new favorite game is playing 'reindeer.' He gets Jeff or me to play the role of Santa and sit in the sleigh (office chair), puts a long ribbon around his middle and hands us the reins. Then, after the appropriate hat on each participant, Miles pulls Santa around the house. Thankfully, we have hardwood floors that stand up to the many rounds of this that we have to do to effectively wear Miles out.

The first decent snow of the season brought the most perfect snow ball snow I've ever seen. So, of course, we headed out to build the perfect snowman. Mayse slept thru most of it, but got her STRONG big brother to hold her in front of the snowman for a picture.
Here's to the sense of warmth families bring to this season of cold!
Happy Holidays!!

Halloween 2009

Halloween this year was a lot of fun, mainly because we had two members of our extended family to enjoy it with! Titia and Uncle Brian came to visit, and a great time was had by all!

Uncle Brian and Titia took it upon themselves to entertain the heck out of Miles while they were here. After going trick or treating around our neighborhood, Daddy took them all to DinoNites at the zoo while Mommy and Mayse stayed home to cuddle.

Miles and Mayse posing with the neighbors down the street, Lauren and Nichole.
Lauren is Raggedy Anne, and Nichole is Cruella Deville. Nichole even took their dog along, spraying painting (hair color spray) spots on their dog!

Awww, what a great looking group.

Titia brought Miles a toy dragon, seen here in the picture because she knew how excited he was about his dragon costume. Since then, the dragon toy has gone missing... has anyone seen this dragon, or do I need to take an ad out on a milk carton?

Halloween was fun. I think Miles will actually remember this one, he did so much and had so much say in how things went (Mayse's costume was his idea) that I hope he remembers.

Mommy and Miles raked the leaves into a big pile to jump in; always a fantastic activity in Miles eyes. Then, Mayse and Mom watched as Miles and Daddy did the dirty work and carved the pumpkins, which the squirrels promptly ate.
Happy Halloween!!!

Mayse Jane Pfaller

A couple months of gathering photos, and a new camera later, I announce the arrival of the long awaited Mayse Jane. :) Too many pictures to choose from, so too many found their way here.
Enjoy.

Miles teaching sister how to play. He really does love her.

Daddy cuddling the the hours old Mayse. Note: He is sitting in the lactation chair. :)

Titia came to visit and enjoyed much cuddle time.

Auntie Manda and her friend Karis also came to visit. Mayse is one loved little girl!

She fell asleep while playing on her mat... so much for tummy time.

Great Grandma Homolka, Great Grandpa Jarrett, and Great Grandma Spicer get their chance to meet Mayse a few weeks after she is born.

My good friends Jessica and Erin stopped by to see Mayse and me while we were in Lowell enjoying a relaxing day together. It is GREAT to have such GREAT friends.

Miles is happy to teach anything he can to Mayse, especially how to find the exact right pumpkin!

I am the luckiest mom in the world. :)
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The first picture of Mayse taken at hours old, to a picture taken at a few weeks, and then at a month old. They grow so fast... I am thankful for this visual documentation we call a blog. Perhaps Miles and Mayse can look back through this one day and learn more than they ever watned to!

August, Sept., and some October!

I know, I know. TOO LONG. Sorry. But here's the update for the past few months. Lots of fun things to see, so get comfy!

So Miles started preschool in September, and we got him signed up for a 'soccer' class so that he'd have something that was all for him once Mayse arrived. He loves both, and will tell anyone who will listen that his classes are 'just for Miles- no babies allowed."

Grandma Janell came to stay with us for an entire week when Mayse was born, so we pretty much had a cooking/cleaning/nanny for that time. Here she and Miles are posing with the dinosaur sandwiches (roaming thru the pickle forest) that we made for our picnic.

We invited the neighbor girls over to make some artwork in August. Here, Lauren, Nicole, and Miles are all thoroughly enjoying painting masterpieces and eating the pudding we used for paint. It was a really fun activity!

One beautiful summer day, I took Miles to the Chicago Botanic Gardens as a treat for being such a good boy. They were AMAZING, but more for adults I'd say. He did LOVE the train exhibit though, shown here. This thing was unbelievable- trains everywhere and the most elaborate set up I've ever seen!

Thanks to fun Grandma and Grandpa, one of Miles new favorite activities is feeding ducks. He even shared his new love with the neighbor girls who now also love it and come with us when we go here. And the ducks like it too!

Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Brian all came down and took Miles and Daddy to the air and water show while fat and waddling Mommy got to enjoy some alone time.

The Lowell fair is always worth a trip back to Michigan for us. Miles got to go twice, once on our family night with all of the Homolka side, and once during the day with our friends Jess, George and Lilly. Miles favorite part is, of course, the animals! Lilly let Miles borrow her baby brother for a bit so that he could get use to what it would be like, and then they decided to ride the ponies together. All in all, we had a blast!

In July, we met up with my dad in Grand Rapids and celebrated his birthday by going to lunch. Miles really liked my dads tatoo of a dragon, and kept trying to feed it bread.

And what trip to Michigan would be complete without getting to see the fabulous Amanda? She came with us to Dans house and, as always, entertained Miles while Mom and I got some stuff done.

Probably one of my favorite will-someday-be-embarrassed-by-this photos ever is Miles trying to use the breast pump. Enthusiastically trying to use it. He even makes a very realistic pumping sound. What a good big brother!

It was Rodeo Night at Miles preschool, for kids and Dads only, and boy did my boys look handsome! We even made some slip on boots for Miles- they had a blast. Oh, and apparently Miles married two, yes TWO, girls while they were there. Ahhh, boys.

Grandma Janell loves to take Miles to the playground when she visits. Apparently, she has also gotten my three-year-old hooked on coffee house drinks. Here, he enjoys a 'hot chocolate milk' while playing on the sand digger- Mommy and Daddy were at home enjoying some alone time with newborn Mayse. :)

More to come- soon hopefully! Hope you all enjoyed!!

July in a nutshell.

Ahhh, July. The fun, the sun... trips to Michigan.
Miles and Mom spent a week at Grandma Janell's house while she was in Alaska, and we made good use of our time there. We got to visit our friends Lilly, baby George, and Jessica for almost half a day. Miles even got to stay and eat dinner with them while Mom left for a few hours to visit Uncle Dan. Below, Miles and Lilly swing with Jess and baby George in the background. Our friend Katrina also stopped over to Jess's while we were there and brought her two little ones, Eli and Simeon, to play. What a fun group!

Miles is still practicing his picture taking skills, and this is a favorite he took of Lilly. Awww.

Grandma Gay, Grandpa Bob, and Uncle Brian came to our house over the 4th of July weekend, and we went to Mt. Prospect to watch the fireworks. We also brought snacks! At home, before everyone left, we amazed Miles with those 'growing snakes' that you light on fire and watch them slither to life.

During our week stay in Michigan, Miles and Mommy also met up with Grandma Gay for a picnic at Ada park. First, we stopped by Great Grandma Homolka's house to visit her and get our fill of ancient toys. Miles always likes stopping to see Great Grandma Homolka because she has such interesting things to do and play with!

While on an errand in Lansing, we stopped to have dinner with the ever wonderful and entertaining Manders. She and Miles colored intently while waiting for their food.

Thank goodness Grandma Janell had an old kiddie pool left over from the dog, because the hours he spent 'making it rain' took up a good bit of down time for us inbetween visiting everyone.

At the end of the week, Daddy came up to join us and watch the Lowell fireworks, while celebrating Great Grandpa Pfallers birthday along with the Great Grandparent Pfallers anniversary. Sparklers were a big hit for the kids of all ages :)

Throw in a family reunion on that Sunday and we'll say that the week long visit was a HUGE SUCCESS. Miles checks out the pond and feeds the fish some bread while bonding with some of the relatives. Then, some of the older kids showed Miles how to catch frogs- and he was lost to us for the rest of the day. But he sure looks happy/proud, doesn't he?

It also happened to be Grandpa Spicers birthday while we were in town, so Miles and Mom met he and Ingrid for a celebratory lunch. Miles favorite part was trying to feed the dragon (tattoo on Grandpas arm) some bread.
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Daddy set up a tent in the back yard, and we all went camping one Saturday night. After roasting marshmallows and making smores, we setteled into the tent (with the portable DVD player) and cuddled against the cold. Now, this is a misleading picture because despite her best efforts, Mom's eight-month pregnant belly just found the hard ground too hard to get comfortable for more than an hour of sleep. So she went inside around midnight, while Daddy and Miles toughed it out all night! Miles had a blast and still talks about it.

And a 'classic Miles' photo to wrap us up. Here's to my little man, my big man, our families and everyone who has made this our summer of fun!