Open wide~

Has it been six months already!!! Time for another teeth cleaning. We all rolled into the office to get our teeth cleaned and counted. The boys did get. This was Sam's third visit. This time he even allowed Ms. Jamie to give him fluoride along with take a few pictures of his teeth. From the pictures, we are crossing our fingers that Sam inherited Daddy's teeth. We see all permanent teeth there, except for one. Phew. We can deal with one. I have four missing permanent teeth. One is better than four missing.....we'll continue to cross our fingers.

Sam did great. Below is Sam and his Dr. Uncle David!

Looking a little pale, it was Matthew's turn to take the big blue seat. Little apprehensive, but conquered his doubts with the smile of Ms. Jamie. She was able to not only clean and polish, but provide a fluoride treatment as well! Without a doubt, Matthew did awesome.
And, with a little love from big brother Sam, who wouldn't feel confident. Sam sat by Matthew's side the entire cleaning! We're so proud of you Sam.

Little pats on the back...

Time to put the special glasses on!

Open wide!

....still doing amazing!

...almost done!

Great Job Matthew! See you in 6 months!

With a little help of our friends,

the boys and I had an amazing summer! Meet Ben and Tyler. They are neighbors of Gaga and Papa where we lived over the summer. These boys mean the world to my boys, can you tell by these pictures? Thank you Ben and Tyler for a GREAT Summer! We miss you guys living so close...however, we know where to find you and we know we will see you often.

Sam collecting garbage, a summer routine!

Tyler playing garbage as well!

Ben!

Matthew didn't want his picture took...big surprise!

Mr. Matthew 1st day of Pre-K3

Oh my darling little Matthew Joseph started his first day of preschool! He has been talking and talking and talking for this for weeks...the day finally came!!! School day Friday. Every morning for the past few weeks Matthew would wake up asking if the day was Friday. He would smile when we said, "nope, it is Monday (tues, wed, etc...). However, Friday morning he woke up and did his normal ask, "is today Friday mommy?" and when my answer was, "why YES Matthew, it is!" he gave me the "but I only go to school one day mommy and I don't want to go today...I think it's Monday mommy!". Much to his hesitation, we carried on with our morning got ready for school and before we knew it, it was time to get in the car and go. Little Matthew, still thinking it was Monday, got in the car with a very puzzled little face.

We pulled in the parking lot, he still was confused, however, put on his backpack. We walked into the building, after taking pictures of course and as we were walking up the (3 flights.....yiesh...) of steps we turned to me and said, "mommy, today is Monday, I only go to school one day, and it's still Monday. Only Sam will go." .....and let me tell you , he was shaking in his shoes!

We walked in, he found his hook with his name, hung up his backpack with his big brother Sam and we walked into the classroom. He looked at me with his puppy dog eyes and said, "mommy, it's Monday, right?". I quietly (literally) pushed him into his room, as he continued to shake in his shoes, and gave lots of quick kisses and hugs to both boys, the teacher smiled at me, Matthew wined that today was Monday, I gave him a big hug, told him I was so proud of him on his first day and RAN to the door as I tripped over my own shoes and said with a huge smile on my face, "have fun boys! I'll be back soon to hear all about your day!". Matthew, still puzzled looked at me, then looked at the teacher, then looked at Sam (who was off being Mr. social butterfly) scanned the room for a window to jump out of....looked at me, wined a little, looked for Sam, looked at his teacher, looked at me, looked at his teacher, opened his mouth and screamed, "Bye mommy, I'll see you when you come back, don't worry, I won't miss you!".

--seriously now, I didn't' know what to expect, all I knew was, I was outta there!

So now, I have two little boys, at the same preschool, in the same class!!! They love school. Sam wishes he could go more days. Matthew wakes up every morning thinking it's Monday and together they have it made. Sam definitely plays the "big brother" role there as he says, "mommy, why does Matthew always sit next to me in school!

Love them!

Here are some pictures from Mr. Matthew. He told me the only way he could smile was if he did it like this, as he still swears today is Monday!

Matthew, get your hands out of your mouth...no mommy, this is how I smile....

Can you please smile with your hands out of your mouth? no mommy, this helps me smile.

Please Matthew, I can't see your handsome face with your hands in there....no mommy, this is how I do it. I'm Matthew, not handsome.

(okay, maybe if I back up a bit he will take his fingers out of his mouth...)
RIGHT!

And..tadah! Here is my little Pre-K3'r.

Sam first Day of Pre-K4

Monday, September 14th, 2009 was Sam's first day of Pre-K4. He was just so excited. There were no butterflies in the stomach as Sam was up and ready to roar! He was so excited. We were greeted by Mrs. Gould and the teachers aid with big huge smiles and a table full of play dough. Sam kissed me goodbye and off he went. He was so happy to finally be back in school. Before school we had a little picture session that went oh so not well! However, he did it, in front of all our boxes.

Moving Day-September 12th

Okay, so I will be the first to admit...I've been a really really bad blogger these past few weeks. So much has happened, I don't know where to start....so, I will start from the moving in days.

We moved into our new home on September 12Th, also known as Daddy's birthday! It was a great day. The weather cooperated with us, however, the heat got a little intense towards the end of the day. We had my dad and Brad's dad working so very hard to get all our stuff out of storage into our new home. We are so grateful they were able to help us, along with our mom's who also were a huge help. I don't have many pictures to report on the actual moving day, however, here are a few pictures to share:

So, we moved in on Saturday, Sunday Sam had his first day of Sunday School at Shalom! He was a bit apprehensive of the morning, got the butterflies, but fought through them and had an amazing first day of Sunday School. Daddy dropped him off and picked him up. It was great! Ms. Wendy, Sam's teacher, greeted them with open arms as they kicked off their first day of classes. Sam came home with a New Years card and a library book. He ultimately enjoyed everything about his morning and was so very anxious to report back to Matthew on his morning!

Tales from the New Home

Where oh where to begin!

Last week was quite the week. Brad and I closed on our house last Friday, September 11th, 2009. It sure was a great day! We were so very excited. Closing took a little over and half hour and we were out of there. We swept back to his parents home, grabbed our child, Sam, and took our first load up to the house. Matthew wanted to see what his gaga was making for dinner so he preferred to stay home :(. Regardless, the house looked wonderful. Everything was all set and ready for us to move into.

Over the past weekend, we did a lot. We are so grateful for all the help we had on making our move work. Both our dad's helped load/unload the truck, while Judi (Brad's mom) unpacked our kitchen, made our beds and supplied us with good food to eat! Sue (Erin's Mom) took the boys to her house, about 45 minutes away to keep them company. The boys had way to much fun with her than they would have with us, so for that we are blessed. She brought them back to their new home where they could find their new rooms.

Sam and Matthew have been great in their new home. They are abiding by all the new "house rules" which I will post in a separate entry. Brad and I are so very proud of them. Brad decided to take this whole last week off of work to help get the house all ready and in working order again.

On Sunday, Sam started Sunday school. He was so excited to go (thank god) to see all of his old friends that we once were in playgroup with. He had a great great time and he can't wait to go back next week. They have off this week for the holidays.

On Monday Sam started his first day of preschool. Once again, he is thriving in the school department. He loved his first day. I am so happy to say that he is in a class of 2 boys and the rest girls! What a change from Florida. When I picked Sam up from school he indeed ran and gave me a hug, however he was sad that he had to leave already!

On Wednesday morning, I ended up in the ER. I had a huge allergic reaction. My face swelled and I was wheezing and had a entire body rash. The ER fed me some Benadryl along with a steroid to bring the swelling down. After about 4 hours of observation, they sent me home along with a script for some meds. My face didn't totally stop swelling until later in the day. Thankfully Brad was home to take Sam to school and help me out in the immediate situation!

I ended up seeing my allergist on Thursday morning and he helped me sum up what was going on with my body. He diagnosed me with Acute Bronchitis. All my symptoms I described pointed him in the direction and now I am dealing with a horrible case of hives. To say the least, I am miserable. I break out about 4 times a day in sweltering hives. Today I brought the boys over to Stan and Judi's so I could change my environment and see if there is something in the house which is causing this reaction. Lord help me if it is my house I am allergic to. However, all the online research I have done does confirm everything my allergist diagnosed me with. Now it is just a wait and see approach with the meds/benadryl and getting on the mend.

Friday little Matthew started his first day of preschool. He was super excited to go, a little resistant as we entered the building, went in, full steam ahead and did great. His teacher said that he definately stood by Sam the entire morning, but that's okay! Sam and Matthew are in the same class this year! We are so proud of little Matthew off on his first day of school!!!!

So, new house, new school, ER visit and a High Holiday weekend, my head is spinning.

Thankfully we are back home where I can rely on family to help out in times of need. Geesh!

I do have pictures from our week, and I will post when I have the energy. For now, I'm going to take a nap with Matthew. Sam and daddy are at services now and then they are off to dinner tonight.

3 more days!!!

That's right, THREE MORE DAYS until we officially have the keys in our hands! We are so super duper excited. Brad and I had our final walk through this afternoon with the superintendent on our home. He walked us through the entire home, explaining everything in huge detail. We were so happy!

The house looks great, everything is just what we expected, and then some.

We got our first welcome to the neighborhood dinner invite from a new neighbor!

We officially move this weekend. I did not bring my camera with me this afternoon, however, we will be taking lots and lots of pictures over the next few days as we open up our lives again.

Stay tuned....we will post soon.

Halloween Express...a little early

We had to wait a few minutes today before we could pick up our bread from the baker, so we decided to waste time at the new Halloween Express store that just opened up! The boys mouth dropped when we walked in the store. They were so excited. They saw scary things on the walls, and laughed at them. We were looking around, touching strange things, laughing at others. I was gazing at all the cute little baby Halloween outfits looking at the innocent ladybug along with the cute little load of bread when I noticed my boys were no longer in my sight. No worries though, I heard them together, talking and hysterically laughing. I wasn't sure what on earth they were laughing at, but I knew they were amused, and having fun. I made my way over towards their little voices. They both looked at me and just busted out laughing. Matthew was laughing so hard he had hiccups. Sam was laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath. When they turned around and faced me, this is what I saw:

BOOBS!!!

They looked at me and Matthew said, "look mommy, I have boobs like you!"
---thankfully we were the only ones in the store....but the man behind the counter heard us and he was now laughing as well!

Love you boys!

We are almost done!

Oh my goodness gracious. I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. I can't tell you how busy I am with work and the boys. All great things, but I'm lacking in the blog department. So, here I am! It is already nearing house completion and soon it will be daddy's birthday, and shortly after we move, the boys will both start school. It is going to be crazy.

Summer has literally flown by. As I sit here and type this it is hard to believe that it is a whopping 60 degrees outside and already feeling like fall. The boys are doing awesome. They are busier than ever both physically and socially and for that we are so thankful.

My photography career has really exploded in the Milwaukee area. I am so blessed. I, however, so so excited for winter to be here so I can regroup myself and continue my education. Summer will definitely be my most strenuous season as the weather is perfect. What I wanted to be a weekend job has overflowed into weeknights/days and I have to say I am thankful. If it wasn't for Brad to allow me to get my work done during awake hours, I would conform into a zombie.

The house is so almost done! We are in the finishing touches now and are just waiting for our closing date. September 11th is the date. We can't wait. This whole process just was great. Here are some pictures from last night:

Sam, always up to something!

Our outdoor lights have been installed!

Sam and Matthew in love with their basement. The sad part is, they think their basement is going to be like our neighbors, full of toys and carpeted etc....little do they know, and care to know, what they see is what they get :). 4 SOLID STRONG CEMENT WALLS.

Our Water heater!

Our water was connected and now we have running water!

The furnace is in place, ready to warm us up in winter.

Our kitchen!! The pendant lights are up!

Another kitchen shot standing in the family room.

Our Microwave!

The doors were all painted and look perfect!

Our two story foyer chandelier is installed. Love it.

Pedestal sink in powder room ready and working

Toilets all in!

Sam and Matthew building something in the front.

These two boys amaze me with their creativity. They get bored, as they should easily. So, I told them they could go outside one night and build me something. When I came out, they said they are building me a house...here is what it looked like!

Not bad for a 3 and 4 year old! I love my new house. And one of the most exciting parts is...WE NOW HAVE A MAILBOX!!!!

Our next post will most likely be when they lay the carpets!!!!! Stay tuned...and I promise I will try better to update....