Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Karina turned 4 and the boys are now 17 months old!

Hard to believe its almost Thanksgiving! Since our last blog, Karina turned 4 years old! She enjoyed spending time with her family and friends at a pumpkin patch, until the rain came :) Then we enjoyed some hot chocolate and fun back at our house. Then Marie had surgery just after Karina's birthday to fix a hernia caused by her pregnancy with the twins. She is recuperating well, but has not been able to lift the boys or Karina since then. With the amazing help and support of family and friends we have been able to get through this challenging time. This week Marie has finally been able to start lifting the boys again and our life is slowly getting back to normal.

Halloween was fun. We went to our friends, Lauren and Keith's house and Marie sat with them while they handed out candy and Tim, Dave (Far Far/Dave) went trick or treating with the kids. Karina dressed as Tinkerbell (after changing her mind between that, Cinderella and a orange and black shirt with black kitties on it). The boys ended up dressing like skiers :) basically their snow suits and jackets since it was cold.
Just before Halloween we enjoyed our first New England snowstorm! We luckily only lost power overnight. Karina was so excited and loved playing in the snow!! She keeps asking me when it is going to snow again.
The boys are becoming more and more active and talkative. They love playing ring around the rosie with their sister and singing "If you are happy and you know it." Neil says more and more words everyday! He is such a parrot! Paul had his first haircut. Both boys will now bring each other their milks if you ask them to and they play really well together!

Looking forward to a (hopefully!!) relaxing holiday season. If you haven't sent me your address yet, please do! I'm determined to send out holiday cards this year! My email address is marievericson@gmail.com.

Enjoying one of the last warm days outside!


Before ...
After!

Excited for her birthday! This was the closest I could get with the camera :)
"Helping" Mamma make her birthday cake.
Enjoying a snack at the big kid table.
At the pumpkin patch with Ya Ya on her birthday
Karina was very excited to spend her birthday with her cousins, Emilija and Daniel!
Neil loves to say "cheese" for the camera.
Paul always seems to move right before the picture is taken.
Getting her face painted at Smolak Farms.
Emilija getting a butterfly painted just before the rain started.
We had to run for the cars when the rain came pouring down and made it home. Karina wasn't too sad that the kitty face was washed off in the rain :)
4 years old!
Emilija and Neil hanging out.
Very excited to carve a pumpkin!
Karina drew a great face for Tim to carve!
Going to a Halloween party dressed as farmers!

Karina got to pick these glasses from the prize box at school for being such a good helper! She loved them!
Paul likes to lounge
He especially likes to lounge with his sister.
17 months old! This is the only picture I could get of them together. It is sometime around their actual 17 month birthday, but we'll take what we can get these days.
Neil and Daddy
Happy Halloween from Tinkerbell! (Thanks Bermans!)
Neil and Paul as skiers :)
Neil enjoying his first piece of Halloween candy
You can't even tell Paul was screaming 2 minutes before this because he didn't like his boots. The amazing healing powers of chocolate :)
Trick or Treating with Terry Francona, I mean, Far Far :)

Halloween tuckered Neil out!
Neil was really hamming it up for the camera.


We celebrated (a little early) Far Far's 60th birthday with him while he was here!

Karina's first New England snow! She was beyond excited! We hadn't even found her hat and gloves yet, but couldn't stop her from playing.
She had so much fun the next day!
A week later, still some snow on the ground, but now more fun was to be had splashing in puddles.
Neil really has become a ham. He even pretends different objects are cameras and says "cheese" Paul, was a little more interested in his finger.

Monday, October 10, 2011

The boys are 16 months old!

 September was a busy month! Karina's cousin's Jonathan and Matthew came to visit from Atlanta and we had a great time exploring some sights and celebrating Oom Hannes' birthday!  Marie went to Nebraska to help out her parents for a week and Tim braved the road up to VT by himself with all three kids! and survived :) We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, then Rinus' birthday, went apple picking, visited GG and RP/Shirley and Ralph (Tim's grandparents) in NH, among other things. Karina is still enjoying preschool and is making new friends. Hard to believe she is going to be 4 years old at the end of this week! The boys are growing so fast! They are both around 25lbs and are running all over the place. They LOVE going to storytime at the local library and often steal the show running around and saying hi to all the other babies :) Neil is talking up a storm. He says "Mamma," "Dadda," "Na Na" (which we think is Karina), "All done," and "Thank you." Paul likes to say "Wass that?" and point at everything. They are also starting to use a spoon, with pretty messy results, but are getting some food in that way :)