Want to hold onto him forever.

Last night at dinner Tyler asked if Moms could go to college.  I love that boy!  I told him by the time he goes to college he won't want me to go with him, he begs to differ.  I wish I could bottle up these moments and make them last forever.

Christmaspalooza 2010!

Another Christmas has come and gone.  It's always such an exciting time, a happy time, but also a very busy time for me and I tend to get quite exhausted by the end of it all.  Needless to say, I am always a little happy when it's over, but also a little sad that the excitement has passed once again.

Christmas Eve:

This year we went to a Chinese restaurant in RI for Christmas Eve.  It's the same restaurant that my family always went to on Christmas Eve when I was a child, so it's fun and also nostalgic to go back.  We visited my Grandmother and she joined us for dinner, along with my brother and his family, my mother, and father and his family.  The kids were excited to get home and get to bed.  They were both out like a light which was great for us.  They did however wake up at 3:30 in the morning wanting to open gifts.  Um... no guys, that's TOO EARLY!!!  So back to sleep they went and at some point ended up in bed with Stephen and I.  I woke up at 7:00 am to see both kids and Steve sound asleep, it really was a heartwarming moment and a cherished Christmas memory for me.  They woke up minutes later and were ready to finally open the presents.  Santa once again spoiled them!

The best part of Christmas for me is seeing their expressions as they open gifts.  Especially when they open gifts from each other, it's always such a loving moment.

Once we were done with our presents it was time to play with the new toys and clean the house for round two.  We had my entire immediate family here.  It's so great to see all the cousins get to spend time together, and it's super fun to watch them grow.

I realized the other day that in my 34 years of life there has never been a Christmas that I didn't spend with my brother and sister, I think that's pretty cool.  And hopefully there will never be a Christmas that we spend apart.

So even though I was super tired and maybe a little cranky at times, it's definitely another great Christmas I will always look back on and smile about.

Ho...ho...ho...

We had a holiday party at our house last week and it was super fun!  We invited all the neighbors with children and our other close local friends with kids.  The kids played, the adults ate and chatted, and then we had a visit from the big man himself!  Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up at our house for a visit.  Each kid got a gift and time to sit with him and talk a bit.  It was super cute and hopefully my kids understand how very cool it was to have Santa here.

And this is how Santa arrived:

Charlotte...

She's a menace, but so are all of us... never a dull moment in the Teebagy house!

Baking time...

Sunday was spent in the kitchen!  It was the beginning of my annual Christmas cookie baking.  I love to give out a tray of cookies to all my neighbors, friends, and family before the holiday.  Juliana was a big help this year and was there to help.  Tyler was busy playing wii, but was there to help decorate the sugar cookies.  This is just phase one, phase two will begin tomorrow.

Holiday concert.

I still can't believe Juliana is in fourth grade, her last year of elementary school.  She is loving this year, she loves her teacher, her friends, and most of all I think she loves being the big kid at school.  I feel like it was just yesterday I was dropping her off at a new school in a new town for kindergarten, when in fact that was almost four years ago, it will be four years in January, that's when we moved to Connecticut.  This week she had her holiday concert for band and chorus.  All the fourth grade is involved in chorus and they can choose whether they want to be in band or not.  Juliana is playing the drum, which is very cool as there are only four drummers and she is the only girl.  At her concert she performed with her drum in a group from band and then the entire fourth grade sang.  They sounded amazing!  I cannot believe the singing talent in her class, and even though there were almost 50 students, we could pick her voice out clear as a sunny day.  The dress code was black bottom, white top, and black shoes.  She insisted on a skirt and t-shirt, as she said she gets very hot on stage.  I did talk her into leggings since it was 19 degrees outside!

Four more paws...

Perhaps we are crazy, but last weekend we adopted a dog from a shelter in Connecticut.  She is a 10 month old lab/mix named Charlotte.  She's fun and playful and adjusting well to our home.  Since she's from a shelter she has no training and needs to learn some doggie manners.  All in good time.

Parties, visitors, and Halloween!

October was a super busy month for us (as usual).  We had both kids birthdays, which included individual friend parties and a combined family party (although Tyler's friend party wasn't technically until November).  Let's start with Juliana's friend party.  We went back and forth on the theme and then finally settled on a "Trip around the world".  We had information about how each country celebrates birthdays and a couple of activities for each country.  It was a super fun time for all!

My favorite activity was making candy sushi, the kids all loved it, it's was fun and tasty!

We then moved onto the family party, which coincidentally fell on Tyler's birthday.  We had Steve's parents from Florida, his grandparents from the Cape, and my family from RI and CT.  My dad picked up the cake, it was a bit large for the small crowd we had, what am I saying it was HUGE for the crowd we had, but the kids loved it!

Finally we had Tyler's friend party.  We were so exhausted with the other parties we kind of dragged our feet with the planning.  But it all came together and the boys had a super time.  It was a Lego/Hip Hop theme, Tyler's two most favorite things in the world.  We mostly let the boys run wild in the backyard, boys will be boys and love to run, jump, wrestle...  anyway we did do a few organized games and then came in for some coloring and Lego play, and of course for the cupcakes.

And of course there was Halloween mixed in with all the birthday madness!  Tyler wanted to be something from Star Wars, I found him a costume of Anakin Skywalker, and he totally rocked it!  Juliana originally wanted to be a Gummy Bear, but I couldn't figure out all the logistics, so she decided on a Polar Bear, and she looked adorable!!!

 We went trick or treating in the afternoon at the outlets, it was fun, not too cold, and light out, a perfect combination if you ask me!

And since we had already done our trick or treating, they got to stay home that night and hand out candy, they loved it!  Steve and I loved it too, he watched football and I took a bubble bath!

Tyler turns 7!

October 23rd my little boy turned 7!  It was a bit of a surprise when we found out we were pregnant with him.  We knew we wanted a second, just wasn't sure when.  The day I found out I was pregnant I took one of Juliana's little shirt and wrote "Big Sister To Be" on it (she was 15 months), when Steve came home she greeted him at the door wearing it.  He took one look and said, "No... your pregnant?", he had a happy yet unbelieving voice (so common when someone tells you something unexpected).  It was super exciting!  We were hopeful to find out before he was born if he was a boy or girl, but could never get a definitive answer.  The ultrasound technician could only tell us that maybe it was a boy, but she couldn't say 100%.  The morning he was born (almost 3 weeks early) was filled with excitement and trepidation, we had one child we loved so unconditionally, we worried that we wouldn't be able to love a second as much.  Well let me tell you, the second I saw him my heart doubled and I was in love!  Seven years later I love that boy more and more everyday.  He's funny, he's energetic, he's caring, and in my humble opinion he's the most handsome boy in the world!

Way too long...

It's been way too long since I've posted anything.  Tyler had a birthday, we've had several parties, visits, and outings.  I will update with pictures soon!

9th birthday.

Juliana is 9 years old today!  The last year before she is double digits.  Last night she was a bit teary because she wanted to stay 8 (she's a smart girl and not in a hurry to grow up).  This morning she was up at 3:00 am because she was so excited about it being her birthday. It's amazing how times flies, but I've enjoyed every minute of it (okay there was a tantrum or two that weren't so fun), but for the most part Juliana is an easy child.  She's smart, she's funny, and she's beautiful.  She has a heart of gold and would never intentionally hurt someone's feelings.  She's all that I could ask for and more then I ever dreamed in a child.  I am so very, very proud to be this little girls Mom.

Here she is the day she was born, weighing in at 9pounds 4ounces:

And here she this morning, the morning of her 9th birthday:

Just a few pictures of the kids.