Thanksgiving weekend

As expected time is rolling by and  I am getting behind... We had a great thanksgiving, even though Laila was sick. She helped cook! 

We took advantage of the long weekend and packed in some fun holiday things... Zoo lights, getting our tree. It was a great weekend!!

Laila Age 5

Since I did a recap for Niko at 15 months I wanted to recap Laila's 5th birthday... Mainly because I have some great photos! She wanted to have her first all girl party. We did a favorite things party.... We painted small canvases, decorated cupcakes and the moms helped paint the girls nails. They ran around and played and had a great afternoon!

Niko age 15 months

Just wanted to jot down a few things Niko is doing now.... I have been terrible about baby books and what not with both kids and the moments just fly by! 

At 15 months he is....

Walking and now pretty quickly! Took him about a week to get steadier and fast! 

A tornado... He is constantly busy. He takes after deda in that the second he opens his eyes he hits the ground running. He is obsessed with opening and closing doors and cabinets

He is a snuggler. He will loving look at my face and knows in his own way to try to be gentle when he touches my face. He gives kisses and puts his head on our shoulder for "hugs"

He makes a "mmm" sound when he is eating or sees food he likes

He loves pasta 

He is not a car baby. We got off easy on road trips with Laila.... This guy, not so much... I also would rather leave him with tata then shop with him. Someone is just too busy to be strapped into a cart

He says mama and tata on a regular basis and has been making sounds that sound like "thank you". ( taught to him by deda) and "all done"!

He loves playing with Laila and being in her room... Not sure why he even has his own room ! 

Deda

I was thinking about my deda the other day while I was driving and feeling sad that my kids didn't get the chance to meet him. We had such a relationship and I wish they could have gotten to experience that. But I realized that both Niko and Laila have a special bond with my dad and I am so thankful that they have him in their lives! He is an amazing deda and they are lucky to grow up with him. 

What We Are Thankful For

We started a new family tradition this year. Each day we are taking turns writing what we are thankful for on a leaf and adding it to our thankful tree. Looking forward to doing this every year! Laila's first leaf was that she is thankful for Niko:)

Thinking about summer... On the first day of snow

I was thinking about summer today as I was scraping a thick layer of ice off of my car and there are still leaves on the trees. Also it makes for a good excuse to go back and recap our vacation this summer to Folly Beach near Charleston! We had a great time and made so many memories! Our little beach house was perfect for us four.... With it's outdoor showers and little deck that was mine and Jason's sanctuary after we got the kids to bed. We ventured to Taco Boy for dinner after quickly realizing our best bet with a one year old was to stay home. Laila loved every minute of the beach and the waves! Niko on the other hand had a rough time warming up to the sun and sand. We took walks, swam, ate, and only had a couple of episodes of meltdowns. ( mine and Jason's) over umbrellas and sand burning our feet. It was a great trip and we can't wait to get back to our little beach house next summer!

A Recap of our Very Full Fall

Seems like time just keeps rolling by and all of my hopes for putting together memory books or baby books for the kids are fading quickly as we go from one season to the next! We have been truly blessed with two amazing kids and I wanted to make sure that I had a way to capture and remember all of those memories we have been creating as a family, so this blog seemed like a good solution. I wish this could capture all the funny and incredibly sweet things that Laila says or the hilarious way that Niko has been making his way through the house, playing with all of his sisters things, wearing tata's hat and babbling and laughing.
So hopefully I will continue to post on a somewhat regular basis about our every day happenings. Seems like some of our best memories are created just during the day to day grind. So for this first post, I will just do a recap of photos from this fall as a starting point. We have had a great fall - checked out numerous pumpkin patches and farms, baked, played outside, carved pumpkins, trick or treated with family friends, explored new parks, and spent time with family. Who could ask for more. Niko is at such a great age, just starting to walk at age 15 months and exploring everything and Laila is loving having a partner in crime. We couldn't have soaked in any more of fall if we tried! Now we are getting ready for Thanksgiving, and I can't wait to have Laila join me in the preparations this year. So past this I will try to make sure to keep the posts more regular. Happy Fall!