Decorating the Tree

I worked really hard to let go of my ideas of how the tree is supposed to be decorated (balanced colors, evenly spaced throughout the tree) this year in order to save myself some stress and let the kids have fun doing it themselves.

We helped the kids with the highest areas, otherwise they hung the ornaments all by themselves.

The finishing touch - the angel.

Then Dylan and I were instructed to clap at the completion of decorating the tree (I think Reagan got that from the Rudolph movie).

Our Christmas corner.

Can you guess who decorated this section of the tree?

Reindeer Ride

We went out to Gerten's to take a spin on the reindeer sleigh with Ethan and Ella the weekend after Thanksgiving to kick off the Christmas season.

Ethan, Dylan, Ella & Reagan

Dylan was a little unsure of being too close to the reindeer.

It was a little expensive to see Santa, so we just looked at him through the rope.  Apparently other people had the same opinion because no one else was there.  Santa and his helpers were nice enough to talk to the kids and ask what they would like for Christmas.  Reagan asked for a "Tinkerbell box" which she saw at Target with 6 full size Tinkerbell Fairies.  Dylan wasn't sure what to say and after Ethan said Thomas socks, Dylan settled on Dinosaur socks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our turkeys to yours! 

P.S.  Don't read too much into the size and shape of the turkeys.  There are four turkeys, there are four McCarthys.  Dylan wanted to do his hand twice :)

Ears Pierced

As an extra birthday gift this year, Reagan got her ears pierced! She was great!

Getting a little nervous.

"Hey, that hurt more than you told me it would."





So cute on her little ears!

Dylan's (and Mommy's) First Ambulance Ride

The day started like any other: kids ate breakfast while watching some shows, mommy was getting ready and a kid comes running upstairs.  Usually when this happens, one kid hit the other or someone stole a toy, so I didn't think much of it.  It was Reagan and she said, "Mommy, Dylan ate your sugar."  I thought this was really strange because he wouldn't be able to reach the sugar. 

I went downstairs with Reagan and didn't see any sign of sugar being eaten.  I saw a new box of dish soap on the counter and asked Reagan if that was what Dylan had gotten into.  She told me no, so I asked her to show me.  In the pantry, on the floor was a open baggy that had contained an open packet of whey (milk) protein powder. 

I could tell Dylan's face was starting to develop a rash, so I gave him Benedryl as normal.  But when he tried to talk, all that came out was a raspy smoker's voice.  So out came the Epipen and with more hesitation than I should have had, a call to 9-1-1.  He seemed to be breathing fine, but his voice was just sounded so funny.

The best part of the story (other than Dylan being okay) was that when the EMTs got to our house, EMT #1 looked around and said, "I've been here before."  Same EMT that came when Dylan got stitches here!

Anyway, the rash was spreading so he suggested going to the ER.  I didn't have anyone to ride in my car with Dylan in the back, so we opted for the ambulance ride just in case.

Other than being a little out of it when we got there, by that time the rash was disappearing and Dylan's voice was returning to normal.  He got a new sippy cup of water and we got to watch a movie on the TV.  It was kind of a nice, relaxing visit! 

Dylan's glowing finger.

After talking to our pediatrian a couple weeks later, apparently laryngitis type reactions are common.  Dylan also commented as Reagan was getting her blood pressure taken at her 4 year appointment that he had a green blood pressure cuff, while Reagan's was blue.   It's funny to hear the things he remembers! 

Star of the Week

Since the parents got to do the sign up for Star of the Week, I thought it would be fun for Reagan to be Star of the Week for her birthday week.  Little did I know how much would be going on that weekend, but we did get her poster done in time for Monday.  She added pictures of her and her family, her favorite animal was a zebra, her favorite place was the zoo, she wants to be Rapunzel when she grows up, her favorite thing to do was ride her bike and she wishes she had a puppy. 



The Star of the Week also gets to bring items for show and tell in a special backpack.  Reagan chose her princess dolls, Rapunzel, Belle and Ariel and a new My Little Pony.  According to her, the Star of the Week also gets to be line leader and change the weather during the morning.  Sounds like fun! 



Princess Party, Part 3

For Reagan's actual birthday, I took the afternoon off to do something fun with her.  She wanted to have lunch at "Old McDonald's" and go to a movie at the theater.  We almost had the whole theater to ourselves to see Puss in Boots, but as the movie was just starting, another family walked in.

Of course, we had to eat cake and light candles on Reagan's actual birthday.  No new cake, but she got us to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles four times per her request. 

Dylan with his special cupcake.  He's almost gotten to eat a whole pan of them this week!



Princess Party, Part 2

To make sure our house wasn't too crowded during party #1, we invited grandparents and family and other friends to Princess party #2. Reagan was so excited to finally have the princess cake that we ordered the week before.  Age 4 is a fun year for birthdays.  Everything is so exciting!!

Reagan lined the princesses up all in a row.

Excited to blow out her candles!

Also, very excited to open presents!

The hit of the night: Petey P. Cup plush toy!!  Reagan and Dylan were both fond of Petey!!

Princess Party

It is so hard to believe that Reagan is already 4 years old!!  While it is getting harder to remember what she was like as a baby, it still doesn't seem like it was that long ago that she was born.  Reagan had her birthday party themed picked out  back in June and she had been talking about it ever since. 

Every year, John and I say we won't have the party in our house again next year, but the princess party theme had limited options to include both boys and girls.

Reagan found this color castle at Target the week before her party.  It was the perfect activity.  The kids kept busy at coloring the castle for at least the first half hour of the party!

Reagan in her Rapunzel princess dress and Dylan as Sir Dylan the knight.

The kids eating their lunch.  The boys were so cute in their royal attire - ties and sport coats.

Lexi and Sophia reading princess stories in the princess castle.

The three musketeers.  These girls played so well together during the entire party.   They were inseparable.

Cake Pops!

Reagan requested cake pops for her birthday party after having my friend Sarah's beautiful animal cake pops at her buddy William's birthday party this summer.  Having never made cake pops myself, I knew I better do a practice round and boy, I'm sure glad I did. 

Reagan requested Elmo cake pops, so although I was flattered that she thought I could make Elmo's, I compromised and made my practice cake pops in Elmo red.  I think we lost about 60%  of the cake pops to the candy melt and the others just looked bad.

I was dreading the next batch, but after getting some advice from Sarah and making some adjustments to the size and cake to frosting ratio, I am happy to report that the next batch was a great success!

I chose to keep it simple with sprinkles as my only decoration.

Everyone loved them and I got a number of requests to make more.  My next task will be making Bar Mitzvah pops for our friend Jordan's Bar Mitzvah in December.

Snuggling