It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Our tree is up and decorated, which means we had to rearrange the living room to make it fit. Now with the addition of all of Dylan's toys, we certainly have every space utilized in the house! Here are a few pictures of the tree and the kids - a hodge podge of what was on my camera!

My 6 am score from K Mart- love that I didn't need to string lights!!! This "slim" tree fits our space so much better than the Griswald-Sized tree we got the past two years.

Big Boy Haircut

Gavin's hair grows as fast as his Daddy's! I took him to get another haircut this weekend before our family pictures on Sunday and this time I remembered the camera to catch our Big Guy getting his haircut.

Before and After...

Black Friday Shopping

This year I did it - I joined all the craziness of Black Friday shopping early Friday morning. It wasn't like I had to set the alarm - I'm up around 4 or 5 every morning with my precious little alarm clock Dylan. The irony is that on this morning, it wasn't Dylan or Gavin that woke me up bright and early, it was Marley! She came up whining to go out around 5 so I figured while I was up, might as well make my way to Toys R Us. (Dylan, by the way slept until 6:30 or 7 for Daddy which is a new record, but hasn't done it again!) I was able to get all the things I went out to get - with the help of Katie, Monica, and Heidi.... Teamwork! So it proved to be a successful shopping trip and as Mark says...it isn't how much you spend, but how much did you SAVE us? (insert sarcastic tone of voice here). ;0)

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day started off early for me this year - I went to K-Mart at 6 am to catch their sale of pre-lit Christmas trees. I love real trees but since we will be in Tennessee this year for Christmas, we decided to put up a fake tree this year. I have never done the "doorbuster" sales of Black Friday - or the day before, but there was a LONG line at KMart on Thanksgiving Day! Luckily, most people were not there for the trees and I scored mine for 50% off! Once I got the tree home, we spent the morning decorating the tree and putting out some of our Christmas decorations before heading over to Tanya and Jerrods for dinner. It was a busy day, but being busy with two kids is the thing I am most thankful for.

Mark and Gavin taking advantage of our trade winds and flying a kite while Marley is soaking up the sun.

A Family shot from Tanya and Jerrod's back yard. The boys were a hit in their matching neck tie shirts!

Breastfeeding and a Preschooler

There just isn't much to write about here... a picture speaks a thousand words ;)

He did say he was getting some milk for Dylan so they could go to the beach when Dylan woke from his nap. Someday, I'm sure this picture will be one he wouldn't want anyone to see... but until then Enjoy ;)

Momi Girls

We have the pleasure of knowing the owner and designer of Momi Clothing - hand made boutique style clothing for girls. Rachel lived in Hawaii several years ago and has created a very successful company by using her sewing talents. Her sister, Melanie, still lives here and contacted us a few weeks ago to ask if we would be interested in a "Mommy Momi" dress Rachel made. Of course, we were all super excited to get the dress and get together for the day for a few pictures for Rachel's website (http://momiboutique.com/ or http://momiboutique.blogspot.com/). Our friend Michelle agreed to take the pictures - so here are some of my favorites from the day (there were close to 250 pictures total!)

Mommies and daughters: Jenn with Makaela and Mia, Monica with Makenzie and Brooke, and Katie with Abby

Unfortunately Rachel doesn't have a line for boys.. Gavin just got to watch all his friends ;)

Showing some love for Baby Joseph and Mommy to Be - Lisa.

Love the blue skies of Hawaii!

The two bald guys hanging out in the shade ;0) Dylan with Uncle Brian.

Introducing Pixie

We have a new Christmas tradition beginning this year - our Elf on the Shelf: Pixie. Pixie is Santa's Elf that watches over Gavin and Dylan during the day and reports to Santa each night if the boys have been naughty or nice. Then he flies back to our house and hides in a new spot each day. Gavin has to find him every morning so that he knows Pixie has returned. Santa has 2 rules for Pixie - you can't touch him or he might loose his magic and he can't talk to you. So far, Gavin (and Dylan) have been on their best behaviors because they know that Santa is now watching. Here is Pixie on his first day at our house - he hid in the light fixture over the table so he could watch Gavin during dinner.

Pixie came with a book to explain his story (called Elf on the Shelf) - and when Gavin forgets his name he calls Pixie "Top of the shelf". (We named Pixie - that is how he comes alive).

We watched Frosty the Snowman yesterday and so Gavin wanted him and Dylan to wear their snowman Christmas PJ's. Love those matching outfits ;) I actually bought these last January - didn't know if Dylan would be a boy or a girl yet, but figured these could work either way!

Let me narrate this picture for you:

Gavin: "Ouch, he is laying on my arm!!"

Dylan: "Get me out of here!!!!!"

Mark (in the background): "Ok, that's enough pictures Steph, they are both crying!"

Love my Marley Girl.

Beach Day with the Weidas

Now that Dylan is a little older, we are getting out more and more with him. The warm weather here makes it easy to get out, so we are thankful for our tropical weather. (Although, I do miss the fall!) This past Sunday we went to Ko Olina and met the Weidas there - such a great place for kids! Shade trees and grass for the babies and sand and calm water for the toddlers.

Makenzie (3 months) and Dylan (2 months)

LOVE that smile and Dylan LOVES his brother ;)

The video is of Gavin and Mark wrestling - of course any time Gavin asks Mark to wrestle it makes Daddy proud!

Dylan's 2 months stats

Dylan had his two month doctor appointment last Friday (Nov. 12). This was the first of many appointments to come where shots are involved. He had to get 3 shots! H cried when he got them but quickly calmed down. He is doing very well- gaining weight and getting longer!

He weighed 12 lbs 3 oz and was 24 inches long. (He gained 2 lbs and grew 2 inches in a month!)

Basically he and Gavin are the same exact size (give or take an ounce and inch). At 2 months, Gavin weighed 12 lbs 4 oz and was 25 inches long.

You may notice in the picture below that he is wearing a bib- I keep one on him now so I don't have to change his clothes so often during the day- he has a bit of reflux which causes him to spit up often. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about because he is gaining weight and isn't fussy. So I guess the only problem it causes is a laundry problem for me.

Below are pictures showing Dylan's battle wounds from the shots and him peacefully sleeping later that day. Can't believe he is 2 months already!!!

Mini Golfing

On Veterans Day we took advantage of a rare day that Mark had no work or wrestling and went to play a round of mini golf. It was fun to watch Gavin - in the beginning he tried to hit the ball with his golf club from the place on each hole where you are suppose to start, by about hole 9 he was starting off closer and closer to the hole, and when we got to the last few holes he just walked up and put his golf ball in the hole- no golfing involved ;) He had fun though with the music there and all the colorful courses. We even saw one of his teachers there golfing with her family- Gavin seemed surprised to see here outside of school...kinda how most of my younger students always looked when I would see them outside of school. (I guess kids think teachers just live in school?!!?? ;)

Dylan's Newborn Photo Shoot

I realized a few days ago that I never put these pictures up on the blog - our photographer did an awesome job. We booked her again for Christmas and family photos at the end of November. (More shopping for matching clothes!) Mark jokes that every picture I take is "for the blog", which is our new saying instead of "cheese", but I'm sure someday we will really enjoy looking back at this time in our life...so until then I'll keep snapping away and scheduling photo shoots and we will keeping saying "for the blog"!

This blue outfit below was bought for my mom when she was pregnant with me. Stephen wore it when he was one month old for a photo and now so did Gavin and Dylan. It has held up very well for 32 years!