Easter in Fishkill

For Easter weekend, we headed off to Fishkill because there isn't a better place to dye Easter eggs. Grandpa and Nana had set up the deck exclusively for dying eggs, the eggs had been boiled the night before and everyone was excited to get busy. Emily had so much fun watching and can't wait for next year so she can help.Ellen and the boys quickly got to work. They were all very busy - the colors were being passed around and then they decided some of the eggs had to go in each color. Garrett in particular had to make sure he made an egg in each color.

Connor did not want any help and wanted to be in charge of putting the egg in and out of the cup all by himself. He quickly decided the egg holder and spoon were no use and decided his fingers would work perfectly. Look at his hand - kind of looks like the Incredible Hulk.

As you can imagine, they all went to bed with the excitement that the Easter Bunny was coming in the morning. When they awoke, baskets were waiting for them to rip open.

Before they opened their baskets, they had to search for their eggs. It didn't take them long and they were so happy everytime they found one. Garrett was mainly concerned with what kind of chocolate was in his basket and opened each plastic egg to find out what he had received. Of course, he also had to have a taste test.

Emily did so well opening her basket. She loved pulling out all the presents and gave Thumper a huge hug. One of her favorite games is putting things in and out of her Easter basket.

The family ready for church.

Everyone is looking good.

Thought I should include some candid moments before we left - look at our beautiful girl. Happy as always!

Our little monkey!
And our little trouble maker.
I would love to say that the kids were angels in Church but unfortunately we were not that lucky. I don't know if it was the sugar high or just being in a crowded place - the boys didn't take to well to sitting through the service. They did pretty good but Brian took them outside and really talked to them about Easter instead. It was a very Happy Easter!

Nana just reminded me of a great quote: During the church service, the phrase "Christ has Risen" was spoken. Garrett asked "Whose in Prison?" Priceless.

Emily: 9 Months Old

April 24, 2011: Emily turns 9 months old.

Let's do a little recap of all your developments and milestones you have already reached.

6 teeth: You have the cutest little teeth - four on top and two on the bottom. Your toothy grin makes everyone smile.
Crawling: You are trying desperately to crawl - you are still moving backwards but you are trying to chase a ball across the family room. You are so close.

Rolling: Obviously you are rolling over in both directions and between rolling and crawling backwards you are managing to scoot everywhere.
Doctors Appointment only confirmed what we know - you are a happy, thriving little girl.
Length: 27 3/4 inches
Weight: 20 lbs. 1 ounce
Head circumference: 18.5 inches
Every time we reach a milestone for any of the kids, we thank our lucky stars for being so fortunate to have such beautiful, happy and healthy children.

Random April Moments

The first couple weeks of April were a blur but there were a few moments that stick out vividly.

Connor had his Art Show at the First Baptist Church and his art work was unbelievable. He built a building out of blocks, Lincoln logs and other random items - he then painted it. We are so impressed that it still sits on our kitchen island and I am writing this in June. His other pieces of art work are so impressive that I have saved them all in his portfolio. You can actually see the time and effort he spends thinking things out. Great Job! (I am sorry I don't have pictures but they are on the video camera and I have to figure out how to download them.)

Exciting News - Emily has started to move. Emily has mastered moving backwards. Emily has powerful little arms that she uses to push off and she slides backwards. It is so cute and boy can you move fast. One evening you were sitting in the family room and the next minute you had slid all the way over past the television and got yourself caught up in the cabinets. You can see how happy Emily is to be able to get close to her brothers...not too long and you will be chasing them around the house. Every year Elmo Live advertises on the Boston University billboard and the kids get so excited when they see it on our drive home from dropping off Grandma. So in the effort of being the best parents ever, we got Elmo tickets in the third row and we came face to face with all the characters. Grover came around to shake all of our hands.
The boys had such a great time and loved the garden theme of the show. The music was great dance music for little kids and we were all very entertained. To our surprise, Emily absolutely loved the show. She sat on my lap, clapped along to all the songs and even danced to the music. Emily's dancing is a little tushie shimmy which makes her bounce up and down. All the kids sat with big smiles on their faces and really enjoyed the entertainment. Thanks Elmo and Friends!

April Happenings

The first weekend of April Daddy was off to a bachelor party which left us all alone to get up to some mischief. Needless to say it didn't take us long. Saturday morning, we headed out to Legacy place to see what we wanted to do. First stop, the book store where we took in some quiet time to read books and then went over to pick out a movie to watch that night. After a quick stop at Whole Foods because Mommy forgot to bring Emily's food, we went over to B-Good for lunch. It was so busy in the restaurant but the kids were perfect. Finally, it was bowling time. The boys had a blast. Garrett posing! Connor very excited over a strike!!
I have to thank the kids for being so good all weekend. We had a fun movie night and the next day we ran errands around town. Before we knew it, Daddy had returned.

The second week in April I was lucky enough to take a day off work and go on Connor's field trip to the Easton Children's Museum. What a fun place. The kids were captains of ships, learned about dinosaurs, pretended to be doctors and drove the big fire engine to the club house.

Connor made it his personal mission to climb this fire pole and ring the bell. On his second attempt, he did it. He proceeded to do it a couple of times and was very proud because he was the only child to do it without help.
All the kids were great listeners and lined up to take the school bus home. I loved the school bus ride because Connor wanted to sit next to his mom. He is truly such a thoughtful and caring young man.

LI Soccer & Friends

We didn't sit still for long - Daddy had two baseball drafts in NYC and mommy wanted to get together with her friends. So, the next weekend (last weekend of March) we headed off to Long Island for a visit. Jen D had us over for Sunday brunch and it was perfect. Everyone was there and it had been a long time since we were all able to get together.


After a little bit of food, you couldn't hold the boys back from going outside. Connor organized a soccer game with all the big boys (meaning Adrian, Petro, Tibbs, Tom, Joe and Chris). I was wondering which one was going to get hurt first since there were headers, bodies flying and splits on the grass. Then, there was fence hopping and Connor getting carried by Petro on his shoulders.
Olivia even joined in on the fun. I have to admit it was really fun to watch and I had to spend a lot of time protecting Emily from the mayhem.
A group picture - one day we are going to get everyone to sit still together - maybe in the distant future.
It was a great get together but unfortunately we had to leave to drive back home...at least they got their energy out before the 4 hour car ride.

Day 3-4 at Disney

Day 3: Thursday morning in Disney brought a huge surprise - Emily's third tooth broke through. You would think it would be one of her top two front teeth but nope it was her upper right tooth to the side. Emily kind of looks like Thumper with the rogue tooth off to the right. I now call it her Disney Tooth.

Thursday, we decided to head to Animal Kingdom. Our first stop was the safari ride. Jenn managed to obtain Fast Passes in advance so we basically cut the line and was on the ride in no time. We saw every animal there was to see - hippos, rhinos, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, tiger, bongos and so much more.
I love this picture. As the elephants were walking along, I caught a glimpse of the baby walking so close to the mommy - it reminded me of Emily and I all trip since I had been carrying her in the sling.
This is a white rhino which was only a couple feet from our truck. Per the safari guide, white rhinos weigh more than 3,000 pounds so basically, we could have been dead meat.

We then headed over to the Lion King show, since we were on the late side we had to stand at the top of the arena which was not air conditioned. All the parents had to hold up the kids so that they could see the show and boy, did we sweat it out. Gold stars to the parents. Connor and Garrett didn't stop talking about the show, the music and the acrobatics performed by the actors who played the monkeys.

There was a small section of the park which was set up with carnival games. My boys love these types of games and we found a particular game which I now refer to as Connor's game. There is a game where you throw a wiffle ball into a board of cups and if your ball lands in a colored cup you win. Simple enough. However, we watched as parent after parent forked over money and their kids just didn't win. Every time Connor stepped up to play - he won. At one point, there was a little girl crying because she just couldn't win and Connor walked over and gave her a stuffed animal. Garrett liked this idea and he did the same for another little girl. Our boys still walked away with 3 or 4 stuffed animals each.

As we walked past the roller coaster Mt Everest, the line was extremely short so Andro and I ran onto the ride. While we were on the roller coaster, the kids walked over to see the rapids ride which they thought looked fun. Once Andro and I finished riding the roller coaster (which was great), we met up with everyone. The park was about to close but in a last minute decision Brian and Jen took all the boys on the ride (actually Aidan was a little to short to go and boy was he happy afterwards). I was wondering why they wanted to go on this since they don't like to get wet too often. Well, we finally see them coming off the last rapid and Brian is screaming to me to buy clothes. The only problem is that the whole section of the park we are now in is closed. As they disembark from the ride, here comes all of them soaking wet. Garrett, Connor and Daddy are all upset - Daddy only because he doesn't like to see his boys sad. After a few minutes, we find a store and buy some sweatshirts and new clothes for everyone. At the time, not so funny but looking back on it - it was a very funny moment.

Here is Daddy holding up his soaking wet shorts and he is sporting his new Mickey Mouse pajamas. We learned another valuable lesson that night - it is hard to find a food place open after 8pm. We finally found a place and after a little bit of food the boys fell asleep on the benches as we ate. Except Garrett, who was having a blast in the hallway outside the restaurant. He made friends and managed to learn the whole life story of a couple from Connecticut. He even got the man to play pretend football with him in the hallway. When the rest of the group emerged from the restaurant, he continued to perform his stand up comedy routine and had us laughing the entire way to our room.

Friday, our last day, we headed off to Hollywood Studios to have breakfast with some characters from the Disney channel.

Emily wanted to have a quick bite before we left.

Here are the boys with their autograph books getting Super Agent Oso's signature.

This is June from the Little Einsteins.

Of course, Leo was there too.

Hello Handy Manny!

Here are our boys - the bananas are laser guns in case you didn't know.

Next stop, Radiator Springs to meet with our favorite cars. Unfortunately, the Star Wars attractions were not open but we will get to see them next time.

We went to the Studio Stunt Show which had racing cars, stunts and showed us how movies are made. It was very impressive and kept the boys attention the whole time.

It was another hot day so we thought it would be best to head back to the hotel for some pool time. We still had several fast passes left, so with 30 minutes before Hollywood Studios closing, Andro and I ran back to the park to ride the Aerosmith roller coaster. By the time the kids had ice cream at the pool, we were already back. Definitely worth it.

That night we ate pizza on the porch and said our goodbyes to Jenn, Andro, Luka and Aidan. We had to be up at 4:30am for our 7am flight which was very early. We had such a great trip and our way home was uneventful since we all took a nap.

Shortly after our return (March 28th), Emily started rolling.

Ready or not, here I come.

Tada!!!!

Here is a great picture of the Disney tooth. Emily, you are beautiful!

MIC-KEY M-O-U-S-E!!!!!!

In a spontaneous move by Daddy, he planned a vacation to Disney for the family from March 14 to March 19th. Daddy's primary motivation was to get out of the winter weather. When he told the boys we were heading to Disney, I think their excitement made all his trouble worthwhile. On Monday night (right after work), we headed off to the airport to catch a 7pm flight. The kids were so cute with their backpacks and luggage. We were a family on the move and the plane ride down was completely uneventful. The kids were so well behaved on the airplane - we are very lucky to have three kids that know when they really need to be good. We finally arrived at the hotel around midnight and in the spirit of Disney who hires internationally, the front desk attendant didn't speak English very well. We really had to laugh at how long it took us to check in but by 1am the room was set up and the kids were all set for bed. Thank goodness we all slept in the next morning. Once we did wake up and get organized, it was off to breakfast. This is when we first discovered Emily's love of fruit. While in Disney, she ate part of a banana by herself every morning. Emily just finished breakfast and is in her bath suit and cover up ready for the pool.

As we emerged from breakfast, the boys went crazy because Jenn, Andro, Luka and Aidan had arrived. After a quick minute to change, we were all off to the pool. The boys were so cute together - they play extremely well together and I believe having them there was the best part of the trip for the boys.

First time, Emily is in the pool - guess who loves the water?

The pool was fantastic for the kids. It was only two feet deep and had sand at the bottom like a beach. For the adults, it had food service and a bar - enough said. The perfect place to relax and enjoy the gorgeous weather - a huge change from the 20 degrees back at home.

The boys loved being tossed around the pool.

Connor in the middle of transferring sand from the middle of the pool to the edge of the pool. They were creating a factory.

Emily loving being out of the cold and into the warmth.

Emily sat in the baby pool and splashed around. Everyone was having a great time. We all had so much fun at the pool but decided we had to at least get to one Disney park by the end of the day. We got ourselves cleaned up after a little siesta (nap) and headed off to Magic Kingdom to see if we could find Mickey Mouse.

Disney definitely has transportation figured out - we waited about five minutes when our bus arrived. How cute is my family!

Magic Kingdom - we have arrived!!! (Emily and I loved the sling and we manged to go on every ride and do every experience as a family)

Disney has a light show parade every night and the boys love parades. They managed to wiggle their way to the front row to get the best seats on the parade route. Connor stood with Garrett in front of him and kept his arms around him to protect his little brother. That moment alone made the trip worth while. During the parade, we saw all the Disney characters - the seven dwarfs, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and so much more. The kids were in awe of the whole parade.

So now it is 10:30 pm and we just won't give up. We went to the magic carpet ride which we rode twice and the kids loved getting water spit on them by the camels. As we were on the ride, the fireworks were going off over the castle and we had the perfect view. We then hustled over to the other side of the park and were able to go on two of the best rides of the whole trip. The first was the Laugh Factory based on Monsters Inc. which was actually really, really funny - there are live voice over comedians who pick on the audience. Then, we headed over to the Toy Story ride (Buzz Lightyear to be exact) where you get to shoot the bad guys. A great time.

The boys ended the night in jail - as you can see they are still full of energy and it was past midnight. We finally did head home.

Above is Garrett walking to our hotel room at 1am. He was playing a game on Brian's iPhone and was the furthest thing from tired.

The next morning to our surprise everyone was bright eyed and ready to go.

Look at this cute duo!

Off to Epcot which was a very short walk from the hotel. Look at these flowers and to think Boston was covered with two feet of snow. Ahhhhh! This is more like it.
Emily was loving being able to sit on the grass.
After the Figment ride, the boys loved jumping on the boxes to make the musical instrument sounds.
Lightning McQueen and our photo op.
Back to the pool to cool off before dinner.

The picture says it all.

How do you make four boys very happy while on vacation? Just give them an ice cream cone. Andro and I got some strange looks as we brought all the boys to the ice cream parlor. Everyone was trying to figure out how we had four boys all about the same ages...then they saw them while eating the cones and everyone couldn't help but laugh at the cute messy faces.

Jenn had planned a special dinner for us all at Epcot which included an evening show and then a special pass to view the fireworks.

The kids went up on stage during the show.

Are we not cute or what!

So far, that is only the first two days of Disney. You are correct in thinking that we didn't get much sleep. Two more days to go which will be in the next entry.