Christmas Extravaganza

We had a great christmas morning. Cannon was too cute ripping the paper off packages, and Brynn loved playing with her new "kid toys" as well. She pretty much was wearing or playing with, everything that she received by the time I snapped this picture.

Christmas Eve (s)

We had two Christmas Eve's this year. One with my family, and one with Rich's. Both were so much fun. Brynn and Cannon got dressed up and and emjoyed the time with all of the family. We even got a decent picture of all the cousins together. We had to bribe them with the gift opening of course, but they all managed to look happy, and sit still for a picture or two...

Cute Pic

I just wanted to share this little pic really quick. I thought it looked kinda neat.

Picking the Perfect Tree

We went on our annual Christmas Tree hunt yesterday! Every year, it is tradition to go find and cut down the perfect little tree. We found it, with Brynn's help, and cut it down. (Of course, the guys always have to cut it down, we women wouldn't want to get sap on our hands....) Afterwards, we headed to lunch, for our annual Mexican Feast. The weather was beautiful, and Max did a great job of cutting down all three trees (one for us, one for mom and dad, and one for their house). It was a long day for Cannon though, so he took a little nap in the backpack.

Lounge Lizard

Rich was giving the kids a bath the other night, and he called for me to come and see what Cannon was doing. He said, "This is how I picture you would sit when you were a baby taking a bath..." Of course that piqued my curiosity, so I had to go look. Truth be told, it does look pretty comfy...

Crazy Stamps!

Before bed we have a nighttime ritual of brushing teeth, flossing, getting floride drops. If she does all that stuff well, then she gets a stamp. I guess that she got ahold of the stamp today while I was doing something else, and had herself a fun time with it. Check it out.

Business is Booming?

Well, here is a picture of the latest orders that I fufilled recently. My bag business is doing ok, but only becuase of word of mouth. Just thought you all might want to see some of the products.

Gingerbread Houses

Our Masterpeices from Thanksgiving. Notice the detail of the alligator sneaking up on the dog in one, and the dog "marking the tree" in the other.

Thanksgiving

This has taken a week to do, but here are the pics from our family Thanksgiving. We had a great time, ate a lot of food, and competed in the 2nd annual gingerbread house contest. (I think that ours was the best...) Brynn learned the age old tradition of olives on the fingers. Cannon jumped the night away in his jumperoo, and the adults sat around and laughed about the both of them.
It was a wonderful night spent with family that we love!

The Great Giant Pumpkin

Funny story. I wanted to make a huge batch of oven roasted pumpkin seeds, so I found the biggest free pumkin I could. I thought it would be filled with seeds. Big pumkin = lots of seeds. WRONG! When we cracked it open, there were like 30 seeds inside, and to make matters worse, the inside was already moldy! So we ended up throwing away 125 lbs of pumpkin in our trash! (Brynn thought it was pretty cool anyway.)

Yipee!

My sister in law and I have tried to start a little business. We are making blankets, burpies, and bags. We are proud to announce that our first products in stores now! (Actually, its just her stuff, but I am still excited!) We now have burpies at Midnight Sun Children's Shop in Healdsburg and Rockit Kid in Windsor! Hopefully, if we can get our act together we can do more business! Every time we go and present our stuff we learn a little more about it. Monday we learned that invoices are necessary (duh).
Unfortuneatly for me, my bags are not selling in the stores yet. I have had a lot of orders by word of mouth, but nothing in the stores. Oh well, we will keep trying! Even more unfortuneatly, the blankets don't seem to be a popular item either. I have a few strikes against me, but I will keep going! Perserverence is the key!!

Six Months Old!!

Cannon is six months old! Everyday he is doing more and more. Rich and I are loving how interactive he is getting with us and Brynn. He is almost sitting by himself, has a cute little mohawk, and is now rolling all over the house.
I caught Brynn having a little doughnut break with Treks and her dolly. Too cute.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my birthday. (29) We have had a great day. Slept in (7:30am), family breakfast, lunch at Chevy's, nap. I am loving it. Brynn, on the other hand, isn't so happy today. She didn't get to open the presents (because they were MINE) and the balloon that they gave her at lunch flew out the window on the ride home. So sorry baby...

Halloween

We are recovering from Halloween last night. The kids had a blast, and the day ended like it should with Brynn having a complete meltdown following her sugar high. (It didn't help that she got stuck in her costume, and we almost had to cut her out of it....) Brynn was Winnie the Pooh, and Cannon was a little spotted cow. Of course Treks was Superdog, like every year.

Pumkin Patch

We had a great time at the pumkin patch on wed. The weather was perfect. Brynn is old enough now to "get" some of the holidays. She was so excited to pick out her own pumpkin. Cannon just looks cute as ever watching life go by.

Family Life

This is my favorite time of the year. Usually I am working, but since Cannon came along, I have been home learning to be a full time mom. I am really enjoying it at this time. I love being able to hang out with my kids more. I love being able to spend more time outside soaking up the last days of our indian summer. I love getting all my errands done in the daytime, and having my evenings with the family. It is good to be content.

This Week

Today it is raining. Not a great thing for us. Brynn is like a caged wild animal, literally. She has managed to pull all the cushions off the couch, unfold all my laundry, spill her breakfast and lunch,trap herself in the dog crate and pull two pictures off the wall. More amazing than that, is that she managed to do all this while watching tv. While I can't wait for the full feeling of autumn to hit, I am already missing the ability to send her outside to play.
Cannon is five months old today. What a little man he is. We had a rough start this morning, but after a long nap, he is a little more of his smiley self.

More Bruises

The black eye is looking better.
Poor baby...

A Week of Firsts

It's been a week of firsts for the Andre's. Cannon had his first feeding of solid's and he LOVED it! He is a heartier eater then Brynn ever was, and it shows on his chubby little thighs. I love the little bit of freedom that giving him cereal allows. Now there is the possibility of going out for more than two hours if need be.
Brynn also had an important first this week. Her first BLACK EYE! Thanks to a quick fall down a couple of stairs she is the proud owner of a small shiner. Unfortunately the pics don't do it justice, but I am proud none-the-less. Coupled with a bruise on her cheek from a little spill this morning, she looks like a regular old kid. She is a trooper though. She only cried for a minute, and was back to running around in a short time. I also want to introduce the fifth member of our family, Treks.

Date Night

Tonight is date night. I am so excited. Rich and I have made it a priority to go out and spend some time together, just the two of us. We have even gone as far as to have hired a steady babysitter. I love the time that we have together on our "dates". After 5 years of marriage, its good to feel like we are dating again. Our last date night consisted of picking up our new stove. (Real romantic eh?) Brynn loves the babysitter, but Cannon is a handful with strangers. There have been a few times that we have come home to a screaming baby, a frazzled babysitter and Brynn, who is content as can be that there is someone new to play with her. Tonight we are hitting up the driving range and some bbq. What a night.

The Journey Begins

My four month old son is laying on his tummy, staring at me with pleading eyes, while his 2 year old sister dances around close, (too close) playing her newly aquired harmonica. The dog is barking, the phone is ringing, my laundry needs folding, and I am sitting at the computer. I have decided to blog! My sister in law convinced me to do this, so thanks to her, I am here. I can make no promise that it will be an everyday thing, but I will try to do a weekly update. There are currently 4 humans living in our house, but the dog counts as a member of the family, hence - Family of 5. This should be fun.