Quick Update

I feel like I haven't had time to blog lately, much less do anything else! We've been busy lately, both as a family and with our work lives. I have been busy traveling and Marlon just started pre-season on Sunday. My parents visited 2 weeks ago, and the kids and I traveled to Philadelphia this past weekend for my nephew Nolan's 3rd birthday party. I know I am so behind posting some pictures, so I'll just get caught up with a few from the past month--I haven't yet downloaded photos from this past weekend but maybe I'll get around to that sometime soon.

Kellan has recently gotten the hang of the Jumperoo--as you can see he really tired himself out!

4 Month Photo

Kellan recovered quickly from his virus (we're assuming that's what it was)-by Thursday night he was fever-free and he's been a happy guy ever since. He's even been taking consistently longer naps (around 2 hours) since he got sick, so that's a nice change from the hour-long naps he typically took before! Here are some of his 4 month photos, supporting WVU and soccer of course!

At 4 months, Kellan:
-loves to play with his favorite toys: a teething ring and his blue elephant that crinkles and rattles and is great to hold onto
-likes to practice sitting up
-enjoys his activity mat
-sleeps about 10-11 hours a night without waking up (typically!)
-is a good eater--has started getting some rice cereal in his bottle because just the formula isn't enough sometimes!
-is a daddy's boy--he always smiles for his dad
-loves to watch his big sister Alex--she sure does move around a lot!
-doesn't take a binky much--typically prefers to use his thumb to fall asleep
-loves baths
-is a grabber-he will grab onto anything he can get his hands on and hold on for dear life!

Kellan Jack-4 months old

Working on sitting up...

This weekend I took Alex to Kid's Day in downtown Morgantown. This is a totally free event that is all about fun stuff for kids--big bouncers, cotton candy, popcorn, snow cones, crafts, water activities, sand boxes, free giveaways, and face painting! We went last year and had a great time so I definitely wanted to take her again. Since it was really hot out on Saturday, Marlon decided to stay home with Kellan. Alex and I had a ton of fun and she was wiped out! The last thing we did before we went home was the face painting--this was her first time getting her face painted and I don't think it will be her last! Here are some photos of my little butterfly...

4 month fever

Kellan had his 4 month check-up on Monday and he's now 15 lbs., 12 oz. and 25 inches long! He got a bunch of shots and was doing pretty well until yesterday when he got sent home from daycare with a fever of a little over 100 degrees. I had to keep him home again today because he still had a fever when he woke up. He had a good day, eating great and napping really well, but by around 4:30 he was really hot and when I took his temp it was up to 102.7, so I called the dr and was able to get him in right away. The dr checked him out and he looked OK with the exception of the fever--we aren't sure if it's still side effects from the shots or if he's just coming down with his first virus. I'm thinking he's just getting sick because he's had a bit of a runny nose and watery eyes. Our poor little guy just looks so sad and a little out of it. Hopefully he's feeling better by tomorrow for his official 4 month birthday so I can take some pictures of him! I'll update again soon.

Arts Fest '08

Evening all! We had a great week of spending some much needed family time together. We took a few days this week and headed up to Penn State for the annual Arts Festival. This is one event I try to get back to State College for every year, and I hope to make it a tradition for the kids. It's a great chance to visit town, visit with friends, and get some fresh kettle corn! We stayed with our old neighbors, Josh and Mindy, who have 2 girls close to Alex's age. It's so fun to watch the girls play together--they have a great time and we love to get together with them. We also got to see Mike, Amy, and little Max--it's hard to believe that Max and Kellan will one day be about the same size, since they are only 4 1/2 months apart! Below are a few pictures from our trip, as well as a few recent pics of Kellan with his new hairstyle. He will be 4 months old this week--he goes for his dr's appt. tomorrow so I'll post an update with how big he's getting!

Alex and Kellan on the Nittany Lion statue...hopefully this will become an annual photo. We took one last year around the same time, when Kellan was a new little life in my belly-I had just found out I was pregnant!

The girls at play!

Max and Kellan
Kellan-a happy guy!

Kellan in a bath--one of his favorite activities

July 4th and a little snip, snip!

Happy Belated 4th of July! We had a soggy, wet, rainy day ALL DAY but it let up just a bit in the evening so we could do some fireworks outside on the driveway. We had some friends over for an indoor barbeque/picnic. Marlon grilled up some delicious ribs and chicken and my friend Jess brought some homemade ice cream! (yum yum). The kids (Alex, Jameson-5, Jarrett-3, and Bowman-almost 2) played and had a great time, and they all enjoyed the sparklers and poppers. Below are some pics of the festivities--

Jarrett showing Alex a little love!

Alex enjoying her sparkler

Niles, Megan, and Bowman

On another kind of sad note, we finally made the decision to give Kellan a little hair cut. As much as I didn't want to, it had gotten increasingly bad over the past few weeks and was starting to look like a bad toupee. It was getting long in all the wrong places and he's been rubbing it bald in the back, so it looked even more lopsided. So Jessica, who cuts both of her boys' hair, has been dying to get her hands on a pair of scissors for Kellan's first cut. Since she came over yesterday, I gave her the scissors and let her go to work!

This boy had a TON of hair. Here are some of the clippings that I will save to put in his baby book--this could give some other baby a full head of hair!

And the finished product...my little guy with a new do!

I am hoping to get some more pics after his bath today to display his new look. It was definitely needed, and even Marlon was in agreement (for those of you who know how much Marlon does NOT want our kids to get hair cuts, you will understand that this was a big deal!)

Pics at long last

It has been way too long since I've posted pictures so I am determined to get a few on here now that the kiddies are in bed. Marlon is away in NC so I'm on my own until Sunday. He watched the kids while I went to Philly for a few days for work this past week, so we just saw each other in passing as he headed out the door the morning after I got home! The kids are doing great and I am looking forward to having some quality bonding time with them this weekend on my own. Here are a few pictures--there are some random ones here of a few different things--first here are some recent pictures of Kellan, who is 3 1/2 months old.

I was in Philadelphia for a staff meeting but also for a company picnic, which we've never had before. I just wanted to post about this because as much as I may often get tired of the travel and demands of my job, I have to say that I have some of the greatest co-workers ever. I've never had a job where I truly enjoy the people I work with, and many of them have become some very good friends over the years. We don't see each other often since we are scattered around the east coast, so times like this picnic are really a ton of fun. We competed in competitions like a 3-legged race, an egg toss, and kickball. We had a barbeque with some great food, a DJ, and about 60 or so people in attendance. When the day comes that I'm working anymore I will definitely miss times like these!

My co-worker friends...Michelle, Jeanette, Tom, John, Kathryn, Coleen,and me!

I also never posted pictures of Alex's 3rd birthday party at school--I just came across the photos on my work camera! Isn't the cupcake cake cool? I loved the colors and the way they made the butterfly.

Alex and her BFF Sophia checking out the cake

My little sweet talker

Just wanted to share a few funny moments I've had with Alex recently...when I put her to bed at night she tries everything she can think of to prolong the inevitable moment where I leave, close the door, and say goodnight. She also comes to the door a few more times before she finally settles in for the night--we've come a long way from where we used to be a few months ago, but we're not quite 100% yet. The other night her tactic to get me to stay was saying "but Mommy, don't go. I like you." I of course responded with "I like you too but it's still time for bed"--she then follows up with "but I need you". Pulling on my heart strings little girl! Then the other day I had her in a timeout for not doing what I asked her to do (can't remember exactly what because the days blur together after a while) and when her timeout was over I went over and asked her why she was in a timeout, and she looked up at me with puppy dog eyes and said "because I didn't listen to my friend mommy". What a little manipulator she is!!! She knows that the sweet little "my friend mommy" part just made me smile! Gotta love the working mind of a 3-year old.

On another note, Kellan turned 3 months old yesterday--I took a few pictures but I hope to get a few cute ones today to share. I'll try to post a few pics of my beefy little guy later!