Teeth, Turkey, and Such

Hang on to your hats! When you don't post for almost three months, the camera card backs up and the result is a picture-packed-bounty. We'll have to go back to August to get caught up - grab a snack...

In August we were gifted with a professional photography session from Preemie Prints, a non-for-profit organization through which local photographers donate their time and talents to NICU grads and families. Our little NICU stud earned us our own session with Blaire Ring's Second Ave Photography.' Blaire also donates her talent to 'Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,' to help families remember their littlest loved ones who reached angel status too soon. She's a fierce mother, photographer, and person. The photography session was a nice break from the hectic pace of being back to work and running around and we were thrilled with the smiles she captured.

In September, we made some long awaited in-person introductions with a trip to Pennsylvania to have Wes meet Pop and Mums. He was a fan immediately.

100 years total in this shot!

Cheesing and cheese-fries.

In October, with 8 months under his belt, Wes started coming into his own. Fortunately for us, that 'own' typically involves a lot of smiles and belly-laughs.

I may not always like tummy-time...but when I do...I smile like this.

Its a wee Wes.

Exersauce-class.

This month, we actually got the picture on the right day. He seemed pretty thrilled about our exactitude,

Aaand, never one to miss a photo-bomb is big sis.

She's the official Eicholtz picture-tickler to try to generate smiles.

Results may vary.

But some things remain the same. This girl's still a dress-up diva, chip-clips and all. 

We think those baby-blues might be turning into happy-hazels.

But those cheeks...we think they may be here to stay.

She gets this look a lot.

Allie helped Wes through his first Halloween. She graciously allowed him to be the beast to her Belle. Grammy found a clearance Beast costume, we put Al's well-loved Belle dress to good use (made even better with a pair of fringed suede heeled boots) and called it a day. We went to a Monster Mash, a 'Harvest' parade at school, and then finally trick-or-treating. It's a good thing it came when it did, or the Beast would have busted out of his snug-digs.

With the chill in the air, the Beast somewhat resembled Rocky training in Philly with his sweatpants under his gear, but at least he was warm!

Beastly indeed.

The weekend before Halloween, we went camping with our friends, the Buehlers, in Rampadan, Virginia. We stayed in an old no-frills cabin way up in the mountains with five little ones under the age of 6 and it was awesome. Camp-fires, melt-downs, s'mores, and fall leaves - we loved it.

Breakfast in the woods!

The camping crew.

 On Halloween night, we paired up with Allie's buddy, Riley, who was the cutest Mary Poppins this side of the sidewalk drawings.

The candy crew,

Not long after Halloween, we hit a milestone in the big-girl department. We started reading Harry Potter together. We finished before Thanksgiving and she loved it!

HP for free, courtesy of the Heritage library.

Meanwhile, others continued to chew and drool.

Chew and drool and beg...

...for more food.

Chew, and drool, and beg for more food, and crack himself up.

Remember when I said we were right on time for 8 months? Here's 9 months - Two weeks late and on a sticker-strike.

Allie was especially exited about Thanksgiving since she gets '5 days off' of school. She admitted that really what she wished for was to be able to go to school each day, but for just an hour and then stay home with us. We'll take it.

Thanksgiving Eve.

It's been fun over the holiday to let Allie stay up after Wes goes to bed and get to do 'big girl' activities with her.
On Thanksgiving Eve, we opted for hot cocoa, the Polar Express, and wrapping Christmas gifts for her brother.
My kind of night.

Macy's Day Parade snuggles with these turkeys.

Thanksgiving 'cheer.'

Did someone say 'Cheer?'

I'm all in.

We give thanks!

Wes was pretty pleased with his first Thanksgiving menu options.

Turkey, ham, stuffing....yeeeaaaahhhh.

And, of course, not to be out-done, Big Sis brings it on home with a plate of whipped-cream and a smidgen of pie...or three pies.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Summer Summary

Well Summer ran right into the beginning of Fall, but we managed to grab a week with family at the beach and a bunch of smiles in the midst of all of the business. Since the last post, we've gained a kindergartner, and a solid-food-eating-squawker. Big things going on, people.

A pre-vacation pile up.

We took a week and went to Emerald Isle with my mom's clan and Chris' parents. The sisters always show up in force with their kids and their kids in tow, and we love it. We missed a shot of the cousins' dinner this time, probably because we were all too busy swapping parenting war-stories and wondering at the fact that we were all kidless for the evening.

Smiles for Grandpa.

Windblown wee-one.

Don't be deceived, its actually pretty warm out here.

It's no surprise she chose the director's chair.

Beach snoozing with Grammy.

Bathing Buddies

First meeting with the Nelson girls.

And some fun reuniting with 'cousin' Cora.

I think that once girls hit 5 and up, they gain a pose-reflex.

See?

The second-generation cousins documentation. Fabulously chaotic!

:o)

Tie-Dye-ers-at-work.

Unbeknownst to us all, Wes dressed to match his Grandpa.

Tie-Dye-Trio

And a Grandpop snooze for good measure.

The feast!

Sibling snuggles.

Crab legs...she wanted the big kind. (And that's butter...not beer :o).

Back home and almost 6 months of cute right here.

And his first taste of solids. Served up by his sister.

A little got in.

It got better from here.

Fast forward two months...

This about sums it up much of the time.

We were able to celebrate the marriage of our good friends in Maryland in mid-August. It was amazing. The brides are good friends with our entire 'group,' so we made a pact to not let this chance pass us by. We all sweet-talked the grandparents, uncles, sister-in-laws, what-have-you, into watching the kids while we stayed in Annapolis and danced the night away in celebration. It always does my heart good to have them around.

Footloose, baby.

Because Allie starting Kindergarten wasn't going to make me feel like my kids were growing up enough, we decide to get Wes his first trim to try to tame the growing crazy that was the top of his sweet head. Allie came with me and documented frame-by-frame (no really, these are only an eighth of the pictures she took). She was a big help as her paparazzi skills distracted Wes for much of the cut.

Mommy..whats going on?

Alllright.

Is this necessary?

Yes?

OK, it's not so bad...

Aaannd, I'm done.

What just happened?

OK, I'm better now.

 And its official. We have an elementary-schooler. Allie started Kindergarten on August 29th in addition to an afterschool dance class. She's only half-day, so really she's spending half the time in the classroom than she's used to, but with the addition of mornings with Daddy and afterschool dance-class (her afterschool-care program), she's pretty stoked for all of it. Her dance classes are different depending on the day, and they include Lyrical (no clue what this really means), Musical Theater (I mean seriously...how has this not happened before now?), Acrobatics (my people are not really built to be upsidedown, but she's going for it), and Tap (her shoes have bows and she loves making noise). And in case you were counting, Grammy is there to greet her at the bus-stop on Mondays. We just capped off our first week of the madness, and we're pretty sure she would give it two thumbs up.

First day of kindergarten. I had zero hopes of picking out her outfit or being able to fix her hair. She gets ready with Chris for every other day, and this kid has her own mind made up when she gets dressed, so we go with it. I think it turned out pretty great :o).

Poised and posed.

Even though it was our first day of school with the big kids at work, I was able to sneak out and be there for her first time on the bus. (She's 'pm' so she gets on at 11:19am.) We made sure to grab a family first day shot.

Afternoon kindergarten buds.

And she's off. Insert smiley face...wailing face here.

 And if you're still with us, we celebrated the Saturday of Labor Day with our annual Wintrode Reunion to gather, gab, and grub. Grandma and Grandpa Wintrode were smiling down on the joyful chaos, I'm sure of it.

Wes making friends with Kiersten.

And hanging out with Aunt Jeannette.

'The kindergartners' and their fierce leader, Tim, next to their fort.

The newest members checking each other out. Jake has Wes beat for newness by 4 months. Next year's going to be even crazier once they're mobile. We love it.

A kind passerby-er took our group picture at the overlook...which is why there was no 'take 2' to grab the rest of Moms face and turn Daisy politely around. Ah, well!

Here's the youngest generation minus Katie in all their glory.
Wes was seriously upset for 3 seconds the entire day...and it happened right then. Al's not phased.

The Kids' kids & co.

The Kids. I'd say they're doing pretty well.