The Weisser family

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T23:58:00.001-05:00

It has been our little Christmas Eve tradition to “track” Santa on the computer while we put out milk & cookies for him. This year it was really cute to listen to the boys have a conversation about Santa & how he can deliver all of the presents in one night.

The right before bed we always try to get a nice picture of them both in their Christmas jammies in front of the tree. Every year this is pure torture! They wont smile at the same time, they wont stay still, one doesn’t want to take a picture, etc…. This year on top of all of that, I was still trying to figure out my new camera to get the right setting for the picture. Well these are as good as I could get!

Well then they were off to bed. Think it only took them moments to fall asleep this year!

Santa has arrived!!

This year Ethan asked for another item that DOES NOT EXIST!!! A Ford F350 truck with a V-plow. Santa ( I ) spent months looking for this item! I don’t know a kid that has such specific toy requests! Well Santa was able to find one (tiny one) that had to be special ordered from a toy maker in Ohio. But was disappointed because it wasn’t exactly what he wanted. So Santa’s head elf (Fred) spent a few hours custom making v-plows to connect to two larger Ford trucks. Ethan was ecstatic!!

Collin really only wanted a Garbage truck! He got 2!

Ethan’s #2 Santa list item was a Polaris snowmobile.

I cant believe how fast they tore threw those gifts & how much wrapping paper was all over!!

Santa had one present hiding for each of them. Ethan’s was the big Ford F350 with V-plow. When he opened it he yelled out “Holy SHHHOOOOOTTT”! Then he looked up in the air & said “Thanks Santa! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”

Unfortunately I had woken up that morning not feeling so great. & by the time the boys finished opening their gifts I was much worse! I think I had a 12 hour flu. My entire body hurt, I had fever, chills & nausea. It was awful! I spent the entire day on the couch. And we were the ones hosting Christmas dinner for everyone! Luckily I had prepped everything the night before, so Fred & my mom just had to get everything out & warmed up. We don’t do a big meal anymore on Christmas day, just a lot of picky stuff & pasta dishes in crock pots, that are out all day so people can eat whenever they get hungry. It’s gotten too hard to have a big sit down dinner when everyone is in & out going from house to house all day & you cant plan on a time to have dinner that works for everyone. Plus I don’t want to have to spend the entire day cooking & cleaning up when I want to be relaxing & enjoying watching my kids play with all their new gifts.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas & New Year’s Eve! I swear in 2012 I am going to try to blog more often! And keep up with everyone else’s blogs!

(P.S. Post 3 of 3 today)

LPA Christmas

2012-01-01T23:51:00.001-05:00

We may not have a ton of people, but we are so lucky to have such a great group of people in our local LPA chapter! The kids all get along so well & have such a great time together! We had a nice Christmas get together at our Chapter President’s house. The kids had fun with the elephant gift exchange.

Ethan really has grown fond of Eric, one of the older boys in our chapter. And I think Eric has also become fond of Ethan too!

Parties almost over…. just hanging out watching the Polar Express. Notice Ethan & Mackenzie cuddling up together!

On our way home Ethan confessed to me that Mackenzie is his girlfriend. And that she kissed him! He says they are going to get married! Our 1 hour & 15 minute car ride home all he did was talk about Mackenzie. So cute! Cant wait to look back on this in about 15 years & see if it happens.

Our Chapter will be hosting our district’s Fall Regional this year. I cant wait! We are planning to host it in Saratoga. It is going go be so much fun!

(P.S.- Post 2 of 3)

Twas the night before Christmas

2012-01-01T23:46:00.001-05:00

This year Ethan’s class put on an adorable Christmas play. It was “Twas the night before Christmas”. He was chosen to be a stocking, which he was very disappointed in because the stockings “didn’t get to do anything, but just stand there!” I told him he it didn’t matter what part he had, that he would be great regardless! I told him to go out there & be the best stocking up there! Well the first few minutes he did great, but after a few minutes of standing still what 6 year old can keep standing around doing nothing? Well he was getting antsy, he danced when the other kids danced,flung his stocking “costume” around, & leaned against the cardboard chimney that the stockings were “hung” from, almost knocking it over a few times. But when the play was over & he no longer had to stand still, all the kids got together & sang a really cute song. This is my first attempt at a youtube upload so I really hope it works! It is really cute! Sorry the camera is so unsteady. I had Collin hanging off of me while I was taping & I couldn’t stop laughing during a few parts! This is the link-

http://youtu.be/OPnMBAfBurE

The stockings were hung….

When Santa “came down” the chimney….

The cutest lil stocking!!

(P.S.- post 1 of 3 today)

Spreading Dwarfism Awareness

2011-11-17T10:03:00.001-05:00

The last week in September I had arranged for guest speakers to come to Ethan’s school to spread to work about dwarfism. The speakers were our friends Nicole & Vince DePaul from our Local LPA chapter. They did a fabulous job giving the kids all kinds of dwarfism facts. They opened the floor to all of the kids so they could ask them questions. I was completely amazed at all the great questions the kids had!

At the end of the assembly Nicole & Vince asked Ethan to come up on stage. He thought that was great! & the kids acted like he was a rock star!!

Myself & the school have gotten great feedback from this assembly! Ethan even came home asking me questions!! And he now thinks Nicole & Vince are super cool! I highly recommend all parents of grade school kids look into doing this in your school! It has made a huge impact on the kids in our school!

Where did summer go???

2011-10-04T22:43:00.000-04:00

Wow…It’s hard to believe that summer has come & gone already!! I have really been slacking on this blogging thing!! I wont bore everyone with a long drawn out post. I’ll just share some photos with quick captions of what we did over the summer!

Ethan got his new bike for Easter & now cruises just as fast as the other kids!!

We spent almost every weekend at camp & had a great time! We have made some amazing friends there. Lots of friends & family came up to camp & visited.

Lots of days spent on the beach!

Took the boys to the drive in to see Cars2. They loved it! What’s better than a pizza & a movie outside?!

Love just sitting on the dock on a beautiful day! So peaceful!

We helped put on our neighborhood block party again this year. This year we learned from last year & got e-z up canopies to shade people & the food from the scorching heat! I also got a bounce house for the kids (& adults). All the kids got to ride their riding the street. We also had a huge water balloon fight. It was so much fun!

The boys got swimming lessons from our camp friends & now they aren’t so afraid of the water!

We met up with the Camenga family at the Adirondack Animal land for some a fun day!

Ethan turned 6!!

This year he wanted a dirt bike / 4wheeler / motocross birthday. But he also wanted a swimming party. So luckily Grammy & Grampy have a great pool that we could use!

All he really really really wanted for his birthday was a 4wheeler. Well he got one! Just a battery operated one. Maybe… when he proves he’s more responsible we can get a real gas powered one…

We were fortunate enough to be able to go witness the revealing of The Korpai family’s Extreme Home Makeover home!! The Korpai’s are a LPA family we have met & they were fortunate enough to get picked to get a new house! They live about 3&1/2 hours from us & there was no way we could miss such a great event! So I got my sister & the boys & we drove down for the day. What an unbelievable experience!! The show airs this Sunday on the ABC network!! We should be in a lot of the shots of when the family arrives & the reveal of the LPA room in their home! (We arent supposed to post pictures of the house before it airs on t.v.)

Welcome Home Korpai family!!!

And that was about it for us this summer… I will leave you with pictures of Ethan on his first day of 1st grade!! I cant even believe 1st grade already…{{snif}}

Trip to DuPont & Adventure Aquarium

2011-06-23T10:06:00.001-04:00

(post 2 today!)

May 26th we had Ethan’s annual visit with Dr. Bober & Dr. McKenzie at DuPont. We were able to make appointments the same day as the Camenga’s . So we were able to make a little fun trip out of it!

Ethan had two perfect check ups! Both doctors said he’s doing great! No worries at all! So we dont have to go back until next year!!! After our appointments we went over to the Ronald McDonald house to relax & spend the night.

Here are the boys chillin w/ Ronald.

All of the kids posing together in the Ronald McDonald house. (love the windy staircase!)

Collin is still gaga for Gracie!

The day after our appointments we headed to NJ to the Adventure Aquarium. The Greene’s drove up to meet us. It was a blast despite the 20 bus loads of school kids on field trips!

Snack break!

We found Nemo!

Sharks!!!

Gracie is now a pretty butterfly!

Daddy being silly saying he was gonna throw the kids away!

We ended the day with hot dogs & pretzels on the lawn.

Liam with his super squishy cheeks!!!

We had a great time! Hopefully we can do it again next year!

Monkey is 3!!

2011-06-23T10:00:00.001-04:00

(I am trying to play blog catch up! I am so behind! So there will be multiple posts today, I am going to try to make my posts quick ones!)

On May 2 Collin turned 3! I cant believe it! This year he insisted on having another monkey birthday party! So together we picked out a monkey beach party theme!

Started the party with some racing around on the Radio Flyer Zooms.

Then moved on to the Bounce House!!

He was so excited to have so many friends there! Especially the Camenga’s! & his Gracie love!!

Squishy lil Liam!

Cake Time!!!

Cousin Sophia sporting her cool shades!

He had such a fun day! & got lots of great gifts!

In Love????

2011-04-04T23:35:00.001-04:00

Tonight at bedtime Collin was doing his usual “stalling” getting into bed. You know the whole game of “Me need a drink!”, “I happta (have to) go poop!”, “Me don’t know how go to sweep (sleep)!”…… Well he did all of these tonight & then completely floored me with this one-

Collin- “Mom… me happta tell you a sneakret (secret)”

Me- “what is it?”

Collin- “Gracie lobs (loves) Collin… Collin looobs (loooves) Gracie!”

Me- “Oh really!?!?”

Collin- “Yep…me do!”

Me- “Who told you Gracie does?”

Collin- “Hers did!

LOL!!!!!!!! Guess Emily & I are gonna have to start keeping a better watch on these two!!

Little Rockers!

2011-03-11T20:37:00.001-05:00

I feel bad that I haven’t had anything to share lately! Really havent had anything exciting going on. So until I have something real to post here are a couple cute pics of my little rockers jammin on their paper jamz guitars.

Christmas Day 2010

2011-01-11T23:48:00.001-05:00

Santa has arrived!!

The dogs are always as excited as the boys are about Santa’s arrival!

“Oh – My - Goodness!! AC/DC Paper Jamz! Just what we wanted!”

“a Bobcat with a snowplow!” and “the orange snowplow truck I wanted!”

“This is the best Christmas ever!!!”

Team effort! "What is it?”

“A new train!”

“WOW! An aircraft carrier!!! Awesome!!”

This is what Buddy thinks about the boys getting all these presents!

My little artist!!

After presents & breakfast clean up we got ready to have our family come visit for the day! We always have the holidays at our house, A few years ago I decided that I didn’t want to spend Christmas day cooking & cleaning, but wanted to be able to enjoy the day too! I wanted to be able to relax & watch the kids play with all of their new stuff! So I started an *Open House Christmas*. Anyone is welcome anytime after 1p.m., food is out all day, eat when ever you want, stay as long as you want & relax! It works out really well since some family members “house hop” and this way they can come whenever. I make all kinds of picky food ahead of time so I don’t have to do it that day!

This is our niece Sophia loving the new baby that we got her.

Collin zonked out! Such a rough life!

But after his nap he preformed a great little concert for us!

Hope everyone else had a great Christmas! Happy New Year!!

Twas the night before Christmas * 2010 *

2011-01-11T22:02:00.001-05:00

Christmas Eve after church service we had a little photo session with my boys & my cousin’s two boys.

What a bunch of hams! Especially this one. . .

Before the boys went to bed I attempted to get a nice picture of them in their new matching jammies. Ethan wanted nothing to do with taking a picture with his brother.

Finally after a dozen bad pics & a lot of coxing I finally got this one.

Then they were off to bed to wait for Santa to arrive. Ethan was asleep within 5 minutes!!

Another day w/ the bestest of friends!

2010-11-29T23:08:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we had our monthly visit with the Camenga family. As usual a nice laid back day for the adults while the children run around, play & have fun. & I got to enjoy a lot of Liam squishing!!

Not sure why but we never seem to think about taking pictures until the visit is almost over. Here I caught Collin & Grace so nicely watching Toy Story together.

The whole gang!

Ethan could not wait to hold baby Liam, he asked me all day when he could have a turn! But he was quick to pass him off when he started crying!

Poor Collin always seems to get to hold him when he’s crying!

Can’t wait til next time!

Team Work

2010-11-28T23:13:00.001-05:00

Last week I talked my parents into getting us a new kitchen table & chair set for Christmas. & then I talked them into giving it to us a little early so we could use it during the holidays. The table we had, we had bought from the man we bought our house from (almost 10 yrs ago) & it only had 3 chairs. Collin is getting to the point that he doesn’t want to sit in the hi-chair seat anymore so we really needed something new.

Before the table was put together the boys had a great time being “construction workers” & trying to figure out how to get the box open. They kept singing the Wonder Pets song “Whats gonna work? Team Work!”

They had their “work helmets” (bike helmets), flashlights, & “work boots” (rain boots) on. They had a rope to tie it down & kept measuring it w/ their little measuring tape.

Here’s the table put together!

The perfect fit for our small corner area.

Will Protect & Serve for Candy!!

2010-10-31T23:13:00.001-04:00

Last year on Halloween Ethan decided that this year he wanted to be a police officer. He stuck to it all year & so we started looking at costumes in the beginning of September. After searching stores & the internet he decided he wanted to be a SWAT team police officer. Collin wanted to be a fireman, which was great because we already had a fireman costume Ethan had used for dress-up, so I only had to buy one costume this year.

Keeping the streets safe!

Their “rescue vehicle”.

Hope everyone had a safe & Happy Halloween!!

Reopening of our local LPA Chapter & meeting baby Liam!

2010-10-30T13:22:00.001-04:00

This post is only a month over due! I'm playing “catch up” today! sorry for bombarding you all with so many posts in 1 day!

So, last month we spent the weekend in the Albany area for a fun weekend trying to reopen our local LPA chapter. The chapter pretty much fizzled away years ago as people got older & moved from the area. Now there seems to be a growing number of families.

Saturday we had a great meeting with alot of really great LP families. We all agreed we want to make this work! We took votes & appointed officers So now it’s official!

Sunday we had a boat cruise planned for everyone. Before heading to the boat we joined the Camenga’s for breakfast and got to meet sweet little Liam.

Here all all of our local members that come out for the boat cruise.

The kids all had so much fun together!!

Grace was the band’s groupie!!!

Such a great weekend! It was so nice to meet so many new people!! We are greatly looking forward to our next gathering!!!

Fun Fall Weekend

2010-10-30T12:18:00.001-04:00

Saturday Pumpkin Picking

Saturday my friend Kelly & I decided to be brave & take all 4 of our kids to the pumpkin patch w/ out help! (EEK!)

The kids were all pretty good! They had so much fun looking for the perfect pumpkins! We got some pretty big pumpkins!

Collin, Ethan, Alex & Maddie!

My 2 lil studs!

Maddie loved crawling through the pumpkins!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sunday Apple Picking

Last year we started a new fun family tradition, heading to the orchard & going apple picking!!!

The boys love getting their own apples off the tree!

Ethan took this picture of Fred & I helping Collin pick a good one!

Ethan kept making silly faces so these are the best pics of the three of us.

My 3 men !!

Collin goes to school

2010-10-30T11:21:00.001-04:00

Collin started his “school” two weeks ago. We call it school, but it’s actually just a 2 yr. old playgroup. Ethan also went to this same program at this age. It is just for an hour & 1/2 on Tuesdays & Thursdays. Just enough time for him to get to play with other kids & start to get used to being away from family members (since they have never gone to daycare).

Here’s my handsome lil monkey man posing before leaving the house.

Of course Ethan had to be apart of picture time! (Even though he wouldnt let Collin take part in his 1st day of school pictures!)

Heading down the hall to his classroom.

They have a great observation room at the school so parents can stay & watch what goes on. He did alright the first half of class, but the second half he cried & followed one of his teachers around. It was really hard not going in & comforting him but I know that would have made it harder to go next time. The second & third days were a bit rough too. He cried on & off & clung to one of his teachers. But the fourth day he did great!! No crying! He played, drew pictures, ate some sncks & had fun! Hopefully the crying is over & he’s going to enjoy going from now on!

KiNdeRgaRteN

2010-09-26T23:03:00.000-04:00

Well, we are now a few weeks into Kindergarten. I know it took me a while to write this post!

To start the 1st day of school I packed Ethan a nice lunch full of his favorite things. We dont have those fancy Bento boxes so many of you bloggers & facebookers have been posting fun pictures of. We made do with Gladware!!!

He wouldnt pose nicely for a picture for me that morning. These were the best I could get!!

Here’s the “Dude” heading to the car.

The first day of school all of the kindergarteners meet with their teachers in the cafeteria & then all walk to their class together.

Ethan with his buddy Kendall. They have been friends since they were 2. They’ve gone to the 2 yr & the 3 yr old nursery schools & PreK together. And now are in the same kindergarten class.

Well as many of you may already know, from Facebook, Ethan had a great first week of school! But unfortunately the second week didnt go so well! Monday night he started crying & saying he didnt want to go to school anymore. Tuesday & Wednesday mornings it was not easy to get him up, ready & out the door. Lots of tears, saying he hated school, & had a 100 different reasons why he couldnt go anymore. Well Wednesday night after many talks trying to figure out what exactly the problem was, he finally opened up & told us about the boy in his class that was being mean to him. He said this boy had hit him & had a very bad “potty mouth” (what we call swearing). I realized that this boy was the biggest kid not only in his class but the biggest kid in Kindergarten! We spent the rest of the night talking to him about this situation & trying to help him understand how to deal with it. I wrote a letter to his teacher telling her the problem & asking for her help. She responded that afternoon with a letter stating she tried to keep the two boys separated all day & she would keep an eye on them. Well Thursday was an awful day! He was hysterical all morning, all day at school & all night at home. He had refused to eat his breakfast all week, he didnt eat lunch at school all week, & he was barely eating dinner or snacks at home. He kept going to the nurse’s office saying he had a belly ache & felt like he was going to throw up. The poor kid was all nerved up & making himself sick! Friday morning was horrible trying to get him to school. As soon as we got him there the Vice Principle met us in the lobby & walked him to his class. At lunch that day it was confirmed that this other boy was bullying him! Fred spoke with the Vice Principle & she went right into action to get this situation resolved.

That weekend we went to camp. We have made great friends at camp this summer who all had great words of advice for Ethan about everything that was going on. Along with many pep talks from Fred & I, by the Sunday night he was in much better spirits.

Monday morning it was rough getting him out of bed, ready & out the door. Lots of tears again. But when I picked him up from school his teacher told me he stopped crying a little while after getting into his classroom. And as the week went on each day got better & better!! By Friday, he was skipping into school, in the halls & out of school!! Fingers crossed that he will continue to have great weeks like this for the rest of the year!!

EtHaN iS 5!!!

2010-08-26T21:45:00.001-04:00

Well my baby turned 5! :( I cant believe my baby is 5 already! :( He’s going to be starting kindergarten in less than 2 weeks! :( Where has the time gone?!?!?

Months ago I had mentioned something about his birthday & he said “ Mom. . . this year can I have a AC/DC birthday??” I explained to him that I didnt think any of his friends would even know who AC/DC is! So I told him we could make it a AC/DC – Rock ‘n’Roll party.He liked that idea. So months went by & he would still make comments about wanting his AC/DC – Rock’n’Roll birthday, so I got busy planning!

He had such a great party! I decided that this year I didnt want to deal with all the work that goes into having a party at the house. So I rented the pavilion at the park near our house. It was so much easier to set up & clean up there then have to do all of the extra house & yard work.

Ethan was so excited once all of the decorations & the bounce house went up!

Here is the AC/DC cake I made.

And the “Rock Star” cupcake cake I made.

The cakes & the goody bags. I made up all different labels for the bags (AC/DC logos, Guitars, AC/DC songs), decorated them with glitter stars, & filled them all with guitar necklaces, rock star yoyos, pop rocks candy, ring pops, & other lil goodies.

The AC/DC shirt I made him to wear for his party.

The handsome birthday boy.

His 2 best buds from Pre K.

The super fun bounce house! (Which I greatly enjoyed after all the kids left!)

The piñata that wouldnt die!! Fred ended up having to break it cause the kids couldnt do it!

We had to light the candle 3 times because Collin kept blowing it out for Ethan.

Opening his gifts. He loved all of his gifts! Especially his new balance bike & all of the John Deere tractors!!

He had such a great time! It made all of the work & stress I put into it so worth it!!

Here he is riding his new balance bike around the house with his cool new flame helmet.

On the day of his actual birthday we spent the day at camp. He has made a good friend at camp that happens to share the same birthday (but is 1 year older). Our families had a nice dinner together & I made them a little cake. We forgot to bring candles but happened to have some sparklers! (Not easy to blow out!)

Nashville {part 4}

2010-08-26T00:28:00.001-04:00

This was our last full day in Nashville!

During the day we did some shopping & sight seeing.

The boys werent really sure what to think about the Elvis statue that Fred & I thought was pretty cool. After he hesitated for a minute, Ethan said “why you want my picture with that guy?” We said “just go stand there & get it over with! Collin looked at it strangely but “hammed” up rather fast!

We met up with the Camengas’ for lunch and couldnt resist the photo op with the boys in their cowboy hats!

This is the Ryman auditorium we went to the night of the Grand ol Opry show.

Ethan & I had a nice chat with lil Ashley & her mom Elizabeth.

On our way to the family night show. The kids all loved that the elevator had a window wall.

The matching outfits were not planned!!!

The kids watching/waiting for Seamus & Grace’s Pop.

Family night was alot of fun. It started with a group of tap dancers, then a group that did fun acts with juggling, lights, instruments, & much more. & the last act was a hypnotist, who was so funny!!!

Our kids kinda decided they’d join the dancers performing, even though they werent invited to!

Watching the performers.

This is the night view from our hotel. Good night Nashville!

{Good-bye Nashville}

I really dont dress my kids like this! But this if how they wanted to look on the flight home. I wasnt up for a fight so I just went with it!

Our view from the air.

We had a blast! We had such a fun time! Wish everyone lived closer so we could get together more often!

Nashville {part 3}

2010-08-16T22:03:00.001-04:00

Well day 3 was a busy fun filled day!!

Wake up my sleepy little angels!

Dressed & ready to have some fun but first checking out the view from the hotel room.

First event of the day was a ride down the river on the General Jackson Showboat.

We enjoyed a nice lunch before watching a musician/comedian act.

Passing by the famous “Batman” building.

Delish cheesecake for dessert w/ a fancy “mommy drink”!

I totally caught Ethan greatly enjoying the cheesecake even though he supposedly doesn’t like cheesecake! hmm. . . .

The kids all loved the music.

Especially Collin! He just clapped his hands & danced the whole time!

That night we were off to the Ryman auditorium to see the Grand Ol’ Opry show. The show was held at the Ryman since the Grand Ol’ Opry had been hit badly by the flooding. A few of the acts we saw were:

Josh Turner

James Otto

& Little Jimmy Dickens

And again the kids had a great time & loved all the music! The danced & clapped all night!

Another great day!!

Nashville {part 2}

2010-08-13T23:32:00.001-04:00

(I know I am way behind with this! I’m really trying to catch up!!)

These boys love staying in hotels! I thought it was too funny how little Collin looked in that King sized bed! Ethan loved the little chair & ottoman in the room. He decided that was the perfect size bed for him!

Unfortunately on day 2 I wasn't able to take very many pictures. I had just gotten my new camera just before the trip & I hadn't really had time to fool around with it before we left. So when I did start to play around with it I ended up tossing it (2 feet from me) onto the fluffy hotel bed, to Fred so he could take a picture of me w/ the boys & it stopped working! I thought I was going to cry! But I decided to charge it & leave it alone for a few hours & it started working again!!

We really had nothing planned for this day except the POLP meet up later in the afternoon. So we spent most of the day “site seeing”.

We went to take a trolley ride with Seamus & Preston but by the time I got to the front of the line, the tickets were sold out! Parker showed up later too & also missed out on this trolley too. So since we were missing the trolley we went on a mission to find some cowboy hats! Collin LOVES his hat! He barely took it off the whole time!

Here he’s reading his tractor book while daddy tries to “steal” his new hat!

And that’s where day 2’s photos stop! It was just a few minutes later that the camera stopped working!

We had a great time at the POLP meet up! It’s so nice getting to finally meet up with people you feel like you’ve know forever!

Nashville {part 1}, July 4th

2010-07-18T08:30:00.000-04:00

I was extremely excited that this trip was finally here but also very nervous about this being the 1st time for either of the boys flying! Thankfully we were able to book the same flight w/ the Camengas, so all 4 of the kids were able to fly for the 1st time together!

Ready for take off!

They all figured out that they could hitch rides on our carry-on bags, and thought it was tons of fun!

Tonya was the of my Facebook friend I ran into when we arrived at the hotel.

Soon after we got settled into our room we ventured out to grab some dinner & to meet up with everyone for the fireworks.

Here’s the “3 amigos”!

I swear this kid can find a chain anywhere!!!

A couple of nice firemen stopped to show all of the kids their cool “little fire truck” which Ethan informed us that “actually it’s a John Deere gator with emergency lights on it”! And they let all of the kids try on a helmet & pretend they were driving the “little fire truck”.

Amy Roloff happened to come walking by while we were hanging out waiting for the fireworks to start. Ethan wanted to say hi to her, but I dont think she noticed him. I couldnt hear what he tried to say to her but I can imagine it was something like “Hey. . . . . Amy!”

I’m not sure what building this is but it looked pretty cool at night lit up. I think this picture of it came out really cool, looks almost like a spooky castle.

Me & my lil Monkey Man!

The fireworks display was amazing! I actually liked it better than the ones we saw last year in NYC. Unfortunately they were very loud & all of the kids (except Ethan) were covering their ears. Funny part is over 1/2 of them had ear plugs in too! It was really nice getting to hang out with Kim, Preston, Trish & Caden again! To finally meet Jamie & sweet lil Caty! And Jessica w/ adorable lil baby Avery!

Ethan’s Pre K Graduation

2010-06-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

Last week Ethan had his PreK graduation. It was a really cute little ceremony. They sang a few really adorable songs. As usual Ethan had to be “Mr. Entertainer” and completely stole the show!! I am beginning to think he’s meant to be on stage! Through the whole ceremony he kept giving us “thumbs up” & “peace signs”. During the silly songs they sang he was dancing all over. At the end of one song he actually jumped up & did a split! He was cracking everyone up!

(Some of the pictures are a little blurry because I had to zoom in & crop them so it was easier to see him)

Thumbs up

Double Peace Signs

Another thumbs up!

Double thumbs up!

Just chillin waiting for his turn to get his certificate

Those lil legs had a long walk across that stage to get his certificate!

His Wonderful teachers!

Collin wanted in on picture time!

His buddy Erik

His “girls” Kendall & Melia

Collin stole Ethan’s cap, he kept saying “mine hat. . . no Ethan’s. . Mine!”

The handsome lil graduate!

Now on to Kindergarten!

POLP Weekend

2010-05-31T12:25:00.000-04:00

As many of you have already heard about & seen pictures from Facebook & Emily, Kim, Melissa & Amanda’s blogs we had an awesome POLP weekend vacation! Thanks so much to Jenn for organizing the whole trip! It was so much fun!

WARNING LOTS OF PICTURES!!!! (So I will keep the captions to a minimum!)

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

DAY 1- Dutch Wonderland

It ended up being a beautiful day to go to the amusement park! Although it did get real hot & humid, it was overcast most of the day so it wasn’t scorching hot!

I am so extremely surprised at my little dare devil children & all of the rides they went on! Especially the Tilt-a-Whirl! Seriously how can these kids get car sick & puke all over the car, but can ride the Tilt-a-Whirl & be completely fine?!? And want to ride it again!!

BFF’S!

“So. . What you having for lunch??”

Relaxing boat ride

It was really hard to get everyone in one shot! But I think I got everyone!

The water park was tons of fun!

Silly lil boys!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Day 2- Hershey Chocolate Factory

Good morning! Collin was so pooped after the park he fell asleep in the car & slept thru a diaper change & thru the night. He slept for almost 13 hours!!!

Ethan decided he couldnt go to be until I did, but was the last one up in the morning!

“Come on guys! We need Chocolate!!!”

Trace was such a great friend & brought tons of trucks for everyone to play with!!

Group shots

Mama group pic

Since we had just gone to Hershey in November we only hung out for a little while & then hit the road! But before heading home we first made a pit stop at the Outlet mall & got some amazing deals!!! The perfect ending to a great weekend!

We had a great time! Just wish there was more time for us all to really be in one spot to chat w/ eachother & for the kids to play! It’s hard having that many kids & not be pulled in 100 different directions! But looking forward to next time!! Wish we all lived even closer so we could do this all the time!!

Thanks again Jenn!! You did a great job organizing this!

Home away from home

2010-05-28T08:52:00.000-04:00

Some of you may remember last summer our big family adventure was camping. Well you may also remember every time we went camping it didnt just rain, it POARED!!

This year we decided that it was just too hard to camp in a pop- up! It was great “starter experience” for us but . . between our work schedules & having to pack – unpack- set up- repack & Fred driving back home to work on Saturdays, a pop up isn’t ideal for us! So we decided to take the plunge & buy a larger camper & set it up on a lot for the season. This way we can just pack food & cloths then drive less than 40 min. to “camp” when ever we want!

We ended up getting a super great deal on a 32 ft camper & found a great campground that is less than 40 minutes from home on a nice little Lake in the Adirondack Mts. It is so nice & peaceful! & it’s great because it’s close to home but at the same time it’s just far enough away!

I attempted to take multiple shots almost like making a panoramic shot so everyone could get the idea of what it looks like.

Kitchen w/ stove, oven, microwave, sink & TONS of storage cabinets. & there is a “slide out” that is the table & bench seats (turn into a bed) & a fold out couch.

We have a separate bedroom w/ a queen size bed. & the boys have bunk beds, which they are real excited about!

And there is a full (but small) bathroom!

Our lot is a pretty decent sized space, w/ plenty of parking area, fire pit area, & a huge sand pit area for the boys to play in! If you look closely you can see Ethan digging in the sand in the pictures. We are also lucky enough to only have 1 neighbor right next to us, & 1 across the “road”.

It’s kind of hard to tell but this is our view of the lake (through the trees) from our site.

It’s nothing super fancy & extravagant, but it works for us right now! Someday we’d love to have a “real camp”. But until then this is just what we need just to get away from everything for a little while! Oh I did I mention there is NO cell service or WIFI! And if you can believe it,that actually makes me happy!! (But you know first thing I do when we get home is turn on the computer!)

FuN dAY aT tHe ZoO

2010-05-21T00:06:00.000-04:00

Last year I decided to start a new Mother’s day tradition. I decided that since the boys are still little & they wont be little forever, I want to enjoy taking them to the zoo at least once a year. & could there be a better day than Mother’s day to spend enjoying time with my boys having fun at the zoo?! & for more fun we invited my mom, my step dad, my sister & brother in law (to be) to join us.

Unfortunately, this year Mother’s day was such a cold nasty day, it actually snowed!! So we had to reschedule our day at the zoo! But we went this past weekend & we couldnt have had better weather!

My little stud muffins!!

lil Mr. Independent!

How many kids go to the zoo & would rather look at the construction equipment than the animals!?

“Hold my hand brother!”

Family pic w/ my sister & her fiancé

This niceness doesnt happen very often! Especially rare to catch it in a photo!

Me & my babies!

We LOVE the penguins!!!

After the zoo we enjoyed some more fun SHOPPING!! Cant be that close & not go to the Christmas tree shop! Love that place! And we ended our trip with a super delish dinner at Olive Garden! Yum!! Cant wait for next Mother’s day!!

Monkey is 2!

2010-05-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

May 2 was Collin’s 2cd birthday! It is real hard to believe he’s already 2! Time really does fly! This year we just had a simple little party & BBQ with our close family & friends.

Collin has been really into Sesame St. so I decided to make him an Elmo cake. When I told him I was going to make him an Elmo cake he said “aan Coookie Moster” (interpretation- and Cookie Monster!) I said “Really 2 cakes?” & he said yes! Then the next time I mentioned it to him he said “Elmo, Coookie Moster . . . & a Gouch!” He wanted 3 cakes! Elmo, Cookie Monster & Oscar the Grouch! So of course I decided to do it! You only turn 2 once! I decided to make an Elmo cake & an Oscar the Grouch cake & cookie monster cupcakes.

The weather was pretty nice so we all got to sit outside & eat. & the kids got to enjoy playing outside In the sandbox & playhouse. Later we all went inside so he could open all his great presents! He got alot of cool John Deere trucks, Buzz & Woody figures, a “grill” & other outdoor toys & his big gift (from grammy & grampy) was a Lightning McQueen TV for his bedroom. (He has been very jealous that Ethan has a tv in his room! Neither of them can fall asleep w/ out “background noise”.)

Happy Birthday Monkey Boy!!!

MaMa. . . I Ready!!

2010-04-21T09:20:00.000-04:00

Every morning in our house is a crazy mad rush to get ready & out the door in time. One day last week, I was packing up our stuff for the day & I told Collin “It’s time to go, lets get dressed & ready”. A minute later he yells from the other room “MaMa. . . I Ready!!” I walk in to find he started to dress himself! Still in his jammies, he decided he needed to wear his scarf, Ethan’s hat & his new favorite monkey boots!

My Silly,Silly lil Monkey Boy!!

a HaPpY eAsTeR!

2010-04-06T23:45:00.001-04:00

This year I woke up early Easter morning to Ethan wide awake & standing next to my side of the bed saying “Mommy. . . Mommy. . . Get Up!! Mommy. . Get up! I wanna see what the Easter bunny brought us! . . . Come on. . . . Mommy. . . please!!!” Collin on the other hand did not want to get up! We practically had to pry him from his bed! But he woke up rather quickly once he got downstairs & saw his basket waiting for him to dig into!

Opening Easter baskets

“Awww. . . Baaluuwa cac sic” (blue chap stick!)

“WOW!!!! I Got LEGOS!!!!!!!

Hunting for eggs!

Poor Collin has a bit of a problem . . . . He has no butt!!! Even with a diaper on his pants never stay up! If I put a smaller size pants on him they are too short! The total opposite of Ethan, with his lil achon bubble butt & need for shorter pants! You will notice the progression of Collin loosing his jammy pants!

Diaper peeking out. . .

little bit more. . .

oops there they go! . . .

And they are off!!

After Church

After church service Collin decided to make Grampy take him for a walk up the street to check out a motorcycle!

Later that afternoon we had our families & a few new extended additions to the family (my sister’s fiancé's parents & brother) over for a non- traditional Easter dinner. We decided since the weather was going to be so instead of having the traditional ham dinner we wanted to have a BBQ. It was so nice we all got to sit out on the deck to eat. & the kids enjoyed getting to play outside. Wish every year the weather could be nice enough to spend Easter outside! Wishful thinking for all of us in Upstate NY!!

Hope you all had a great Easter too!!

An Award!

2010-03-31T09:37:00.000-04:00

I was very surprised this morning to open my email & find this:

_______________________________________________________________

Dear Jennifer Weisser,

You have been identified as a leader in the Achondroplasia community. By sharing your personal, first-hand experiences with this disorder on your blog (The Weisser family), you have helped others. AccessDNA's mission is to help increase the awareness of both rare and common genetic disorders by creating accessible and reliable information on genetic conditions. We respect your efforts and are privileged to distinguish your blog with the following award:

______________________________________________________________

Wow! Many of my friends in our “blogging family” have also recieved this award! Way to go ladies!!!

MONSTER TRUCKS!!!

2010-03-28T11:48:00.000-04:00

Last night Ethan & his best buddy Erik from school went to see the Monster Truck Jams with their dads. They had a blast!! Ethan has never seen a real Monster truck before, so he was very excited!!

Ethan is half the size of the truck tires!!

They got to check out the trucks up close & meet a few of the drivers! Fred said he had to stick him in the tire! How many kids can fit perfectly in a tire like that?

There were dirt bikes doing jumps too! cool!

And he said it was really cool when this mesh cage truck got stuck standing up & they had to bring out the crane truck to get it down!

Hanging out with your daddy, your best bud, Monster trucks, dirt bikes & crane trucks! That’s what Ethan calls a super fun night!!!

SwOrD FiGhT!!!!

2010-03-23T23:52:00.000-04:00

Not very much exciting going on here lately to post about. Just going about our normal crazy day to day lives! And trying to enjoy the nice beginning of Spring we have been given.

Last weekend we enjoyed a nice Sunday with a visit from the Camengas. We love our monthly get together with them! We usually just hang around & spend a nice day relaxing & chatting while the kids all play. This time the boys broke out the foam swords! So this lead to the little boys & the big boys having a fun sword fight! It was very comical!

As you will notice the dads do not move from their seated positions!

Afterwords the kids all decided to go into the laundry room & "nap" together on the floor because Grace's baby doll was "napping" in there! Really not sure why they chose to "nap" in the smallest /most cluttered room in the house.

We always try to end our visits with a nice group picture. It's really hard to get them all to cooperate & look at the camera all at the same time. Collin was napping (for real this time) so he couldn't join in on picture time.

Cant wait until next months visit!

Elmo & the Sesame Street Gang

2010-03-14T23:11:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we took the boys to see Sesame Street Live. This year's theme was "When Elmo Grows Up" We have now gone three years in a row. This year my best friend Kelly & her son Alex joined us. The kids all had so much fun! They were clapping, singing & dancing. Collin is really getting into Elmo right now so he was loving every minute of it!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethan & Alex . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I had a little video clip too but blogger wont let me upload it. I tryed all day to upload it.

They do like eachother!!

2010-02-18T22:51:00.003-05:00

Well . . . . it doesn't happen very often . . . . but sometimes my kids actually get along!! Most days in our house you hear yelling & fighting! Mostly because Collin wants to do everything Ethan does & have everything Ethan has. Ethan gets annoyed by this & it causes lots of fights!But lately they have been getting along much better! The other night they actually wanted to sit together on the new bean bag chair I bought them. Once they were sitting nicely together Ethan said "Mommy take ours picture", well . . . I ran for the camera!! I can NEVER get them to let me take a nice picture of the two of them together, so I was very excited! They were having a blast posing together!

Singer in a Tribute band????

2010-01-31T09:45:00.000-05:00

Ethan has found a new love besides AC/DC he is now a fan of Johnny Cash!! I wonder if his love for older music will inspire him to be a singer in a tribute band later on in life!

Silly Little Monkey Man!

2010-01-28T10:14:00.001-05:00

Collin is seriously such a silly, silly little boy! He is getting so big so fast! He is almost 2 now and doing things that amaze us everyday! I have been calling him "Monkey" since he was only a few weeks old, and he seriously is a little monkey! He's always climbing, running, jumping, and actually walks around sometimes saying "oo-oo aa-aa, oo-oo aa-aa"!

Neither of the boys ever liked stuffed animals much. They never had a "comfort item" like a blanky or "lovey". But about 1 month ago I happened to come across a bag in the closet w/ some of my dolls & stuffed animals from when I was little & found "Chee- Chee". "Chee- Chee" was my FAVORITE was I was little, it is a "Moncheche"(dont know if thats how to spell that) monkey. I showed it to Collin & from that moment he rarely parts w/ "Chee-Chee"! If he happens to set it down & cant find it he will call for it! "Chee-Chee arrrrrrr ouuuuuu?????" He cant go to bed w/ out it now. We've had to take it into restaraunts! I am so afraid now of something happening to it since there is NO WAY I could find a replacement! The thing is 30 years old! It's dirty, but I am so afraid to wash it cause I dont want it to disintegrate!

His new thing this week is walking around holding all 3 of his "binkies" & switching which one is in his mouth!

Every night this is how he has to go to bed! With all of his monkeys, his monkey blanket & his monkey book!

And here are just a few silly pictures!

Fun start to the New Year!

2010-01-01T23:44:00.001-05:00

Toady started out as just a lazy day at home, taking down the Christmas tree & cleaning, but ended up being much more! It was a rather warm day for this area at this time of year (like 35 degrees), so we decided to round up our neighbor friends and go SLEDDING!!! About a block away from our house is the high school and there is a great hill to sled on. So we all bundled up, grab some sleds & hit the snow!

Here are a few pic from our fun day!

Collin all bundled up like the kid from the Christmas Story (I cant put my arms down)! Poor kid fell over & couldn't get up himself!

Here is daddy pulling him up the hill.

Ethan & his girlfriend Kiara racing down the hill.

Ethan being silly w/ Carolyn.

Ok . . . now it's time for mommy & Collin to have some fun!

We were all exhausted from sledding so we had a little snowball fight!

Collin tried real hard to make his own snowballs!

After everyone came back to our house for some hot cocoa & to play a few Wii games. A great 1st day of a New Year! Hope everyone else had a wonderful January 1st!!

Yet again this year I did not make any "resolutions", instead I am aiming to reach a few "goals". One goal is to try to blog on a regular basis! Lets see if I can do it!

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-31T00:51:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year! We had a great year this year! It was so much fun since the boys are at such great ages.

Fred & I had to work on Christmas Eve, {the fun of working in retail} but got out in time to get the boys at my parents house & all go to church together.

We had just enough time before church to take a few pictures.

Here are our little GQ models, workin it for the camera!

Such little nuts!

After church we went to Fred's mom's so the kids could open some gifts. When we were leaving her house Fred happened to look up into the sky & notice "SANTA & Rudolf" {an airplane}! Ethan was so extremely excited!! He kept yelling "hi Santa!!! , Dont forget me!" He was totally frantic thinking we wouldnt get home in time & Santa wouldnt stop at our house! It was so cute, & to think at some point in all of our lives we all Believed w/ all of our hearts!

When we got home we hurried to get Santa's milk & cookies & carrots for the reindeer. Ethan has never been in such a rush to go to bed!

Collin really wanted to try Santa's chocolate milk!

Santa has left the building!!

Ethan woke up early Christmas morning ready to go open gifts. Collin on the other hand didnt wanna get up! {he takes after his mommy!}

Ethan was in complete awe! Collin immediately went to the drawing easel just like I knew he would!

Because they fight over everything, Santa made sure to bring 2 of almost everything! Ethan for months had been saying he wanted a "crane truck", so he was very excited to open one & then to see his brother got one too!

Here they are sitting nicely at their new table opening their stockings.

Here is Ethan being a Christmas elf delivering daddy his gifts.

Check out my Monster truck bathrobe!

"Look mommy Santa ate all of his cookies & drank all of the chocolate milk! And he left us a letter!"

Someone's being naughty! Trying to sneak upstairs.

After opening gifts & having brunch we got ready for our family to come over for the day.

Here is my sister helping them open gifts from her & her fiance & Grammy & Grampy.

Wow the boat & submarine I wanted!

Look. . I got my own tools!

We had a great day! My parents got us a Wii & everyone spent the night playing! Didnt realize how competitive everyone is! Ethan was a little "cheerleader" he was jumping around shouting "go Daddy, go Daddy" "go Mommy, go Mommy" for everyone when it was their turn! He even picked up the dog's chew ropes & used them as pompoms!! It was so funny!

Hope everyone has a safe, healthy & happy New Year!!

Our Trip to Delaware & Hershey

2009-12-20T18:40:00.002-05:00

We had Ethan's annual trip to Delaware to AI duPont Hospital to see Dr. Bober & Dr. McKenzie last month (I know, I am way . . . way behind!!). This year we tryed to make it a fun little vacation too. I really dont want him years from now to remember his doctors trips to be long unpleasant trips. It takes us almost 6 hours to drive down, someone always seems to get car sick, we have to make several potty stops, & everyone ends up gouchy! So this year I got ahold of Melissa & made plans to stop and meet her & Sonya on the way down since they live right along on our way. Many of you have probaly already read her post since I am way behind!

We met them at the Chic-fil-a reteraunt in their town. They have a great little play area for the kids. It was the perfect place for the boys to release their hours of pent up energy!

Ethan in the tube.

Collin in the tube!

Melissa & sweet Sonya sliding.

Our attempt at a group pic!

Collin being himself! A crazy little monkey!

Unfortunatly our visit didnt end well. Sonya insisted on going down the slide herself, and for those of you who know about her, you know she is very fragile! She ended up coming down the slide & catching her shoe, which caused her to fracture her leg in two spots! It was awful! I seriously dont know how Melissa does it but she handles it so well! Fred & I felt sheer panic, & she was so calm! We helped her get Sonya splinted & into the van, then she was off to the ER & we were off to Delaware.

Good news is Ethan saw Dr. Bober & Dr. McKennzie & got a "He's perfect" from both of them! YAY! This means we can keep this a yearly trip & not a bi-annual trip! This is great for us not only because of the long trip but also because we have to pay out of pocket for the doctors visits because our insurance will not cover them!

So on our way home we made a trip to Hershey to have some fun. People had told me that the town smells like chocolate & didnt believe them! But it really did! It was great! The street lights were shaped like Hershey kisses too!

We had a great time visiting the factory! The week we were there was the first week of their Christmas displays. It was beautiful!

The boys LOVED the factory tour ride! So much that we did it twice!

These are the singing cows.

This year they had a new addition to their Christmas display, a house made out of Candy! It was adorable! The roof was made of chocolate bars, the walls made of white chocolate, lolly pops for strands of christmas lights, & stained glass windows made out of sugar.

We went to see a really cool 3D movie all about Chocolate!

Later that day we took a trolley ride around the town.

The kids got a great big surprise while on the Trolley tour when Santa hopped aboard!! And Santa passed out ornaments to all of the kids & they were all shocked that he knew all of their names! Ethan said " wow, mommy, that's the real Santa! He know's my name!"

Daddy w/ the boys in front of the factory.

Some of the beautiful light displays in the Hershey gardens.

Here are my 2 lil monkeys jumpin on the bed!!

Ethan relaxing after a long day of fun!

Collin stealing a sip of Ethan's juice box!

Now for any of you that have see the show "my name is Earl" you will get a kick out of this! When we arrived at the hotel in Hershey Ethan took one look at the place & said " I wanna stay upstairs like Earl & Randy!" LOL!!

And here is Collin on our way home after he got car sick. I had to spend a 1/2 hour on the side of the highway, in the middle of no where, cleaning his car seat w/ baby wipes! I had to strip his cloths off & had no clean outfits left so had to put his jammies from the nite before back on! Seriously, why cant we take a trip w/ out one of these kids getting car sick?? But the good thing was after we got back on the road both of the boys slept for almost 4 hours! We were able to get home much sooner than expected!

All of October!

2009-11-20T13:31:00.009-05:00

I know, I am way . . way. . way behind in blogging! It's just been so busy here! So I'm gonna do my best to keep this post short & sweet, eventhough there is a bit of stuff to stick in it!

Here are my fav pics from our October visit with the Camengas!

Collin being Mr. Independant walking down a big hill all by himself!

This pic of Grace is just so beautiful!! Doesnt she look like such an angel?

Ethan & Seamus refused to let me get a good pic of them together, so I told them i'd just get a pic of their butts! So what did they do. . . both bent over & showed me their butts! Such wackos!

Here are the boys after we carved pumpkins!

Trick or treat!

This year Ethan decided back in June that he wanted to be a cowboy for Halloween. He never once changed his mind. So I thought it would be fun & easy to make his costume. After buying the fabric & all of the accessories I dove right in! Not too far into the project I realized I was crazy! What the heck was I thinking?!?! I am crafty, but not that crafty! Everytime I get my sewing machine out I want to throw it across the room! So Ethan & I sat down & looked online & found the perfect cowboy costume!

And the only sewing that needed to be done was the chaps had to be shortened, but that was easy enough to stick by hand.

This year Collin was a monkey! Surprized?!

Love the shot from behind with his cute lil tail & bannana in his pocket!

After trick or treating we met up with some friends at our local Firestation for a Halloween party.

And here are just a couple of pix from the day the boys went out to play in the leaves & help daddy leaf blow the yard.

So much fun!

Hope everyone had a great October! I promise I will post for November very soon!

For ThOsE who LoVe to RoCK!!!

2009-10-05T22:07:00.006-04:00

Ethan's favorite song is a little different from what you'd expect from your "normal" 4 year old! You know, most kids are walking around singing stuff like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", etc. . . NOT OUR KID!! He likes to RoCk!!! His favorite song is a little number by the band AC/DC called "Dirty Deeds"!!

His great love for this song came from Grampy! Grampy's favorite band is AC/DC and one afternoon this summer while hanging out together they watched an AC/DC dvd together. And Ethan was hooked!!!

Now he walks around singing it all the time! Blurts it out in random places {grocery stores, doctors office, school. . . }. And every morning when Daddy drives him to school they have to listen to the cd & he jams out playing air drums in the back seat!

Here is a video of him playing his drums {Christmas gift from Grampy} & singing. It's a little hard to hear him sing since he loves to beat on the drums real load! Enjoy!

aPplE pIcKiNg

2009-09-21T08:22:00.005-04:00

This weekend we went apple picking for the first time. We finally were going to have a Sunday w/ good weather, & I really wanted to get out & enjoy it! I did some research online & found an orchard about 35 min. from us that allows you to pick your own, and they were having a "Sundae on the farm" day. They were giving free ice cream sundaes, had activities for the kids, horse drawn hay rides thru the corn fields, animals, and much more.

Checking out the pigs! They were named H1 & N1! {Seriously!}

And watching the hay rides go past. Ethan refused to go on one, until they stopped running. Then of corse he wanted to go for a ride!

Apple picking was so much fun! Ethan loved Daddy lifting him up into the trees!

Collin couldnt wait to get his hands on an apple!

And eat it!!! Yummy "bapple" {thats how he says apple!}

Then he decided he wanted to pick some too! He found one @ his height & decided to take a bite before taking it off the tree!

Ethan found a good one @ his height too!

Just hanging out in the trees! Fun!!!

After we finished picking we enjoyed some music on the lawn.

And free ice cream sundaes!

We had such a great time! Can't wait to do it again next year!

Ethan's 1st day of Pre K

2009-09-14T22:57:00.002-04:00

Today was Ethan's first day of Pre K. He has been very excited all summer waiting to go to "big boy" school. But of corse the when it came to the first morning, he decided he didnt want to go! After a few minor meltdowns, we finally got out the door & on our way!

Mr. Studmuffin gettin all spiffy for the ladies!

Future GQ cover model ??!!

Ok, I guess I'll go! But I'm not gonna like it!!

He seriously made every excuse possible why he couldnt go today! My 2 favs were "but I didnt finish getting growd up yet, I cant go til I all growd up!!" & as we were driving up to the school he noticed they havent finished the remodeling project, so he says "look, thems not done buildin it yet! I cant go to school today. . . . cause it's not fixed yet!!"

Dispite all of the excuses, the minute we walked into the school he marched right into his classroom, went straight to his cubby & hung up his stuff, & ran to join in on circle time! I actually dont think he even said good-bye to us! {sniff, sniff}

Schools out!!

& "mommy, I had fun!" {me} "so, do you wanna go back tomarrow?", {Ethan} "Uhhhh, YEAH!"

The school has been awaiting Ethan's arrival! Since Grampy {my step dad} just retired recently from working for the school, Auntie "A" {my sister} is now working there, & I have a bunch of school employees as clients, the school has known all about him. His teacher had already done a few great "homemade" adaptions in his classroom last year because there was another little boy in her class that also has achondroplasia. She had the hooks in 1 cubby lowered, strings attached to the door handles so he can open them himself, a stool attached to 1 chair for his feet to rest on so they dont dangle, & a back rest on the chair. But since it is Pre K almost everything is at his level right now. But if anyone has suggestions of good school adaptions that will be helpful in the few years I would greatly appriciate it if you'd share them with me so I can pass them along to the school. :0)

A visit from the "other" Weissers!

2009-08-13T09:50:00.000-04:00

A few days after returning from NYC Fred's brother Bob, his wife Megan & their two adorable little boys Robert & Mason came home for a visit. They live near St. Louis so dont make it home very often. This was actually only our second time meeting Robert & our 1st time meeting baby Mason.

Cute lil Baby Mason . . . . . . . . . Ethan & Uncle Bob

We all went camping together for the weekend & had a ton of fun. We had a awesome campsite right on the pond. Great for fishing, but not as great for sleeping w/ the bull frogs! Bob, Megan & Robert (baby Mason stayed w/ grandma) rented a cabin that was right next to our site which was great.

Me & Megan . . . . . . . . . . . . . Collin & Robert trapped in the baby play yard!

Ethan showed Robert how he can fish. & Aunt Megan caught her 1st fish! She was very excited!

Saturday we all went to the beach, which was about a mile down the road from the raod from the campground, for the families annual gathering. Family came from all over, Bob & Megan from St. Louis, The Knox family from Pennsylvania, Aunt Gigi from Florida, Uncle Sam from NYC, and the reat of us didnt have to travel more than 45 min.

All of the Servello family. Grandpa with his wife, children, grandchildren, & great grandchildren!

All of the Weissers.

And just our family!

Collin LOVES the water!

We celebrated both Bob & Robert's birthdays. Since Robert is a HUGE Cookie Monster fan, I attempted to make him a cookie monster cake. We ended up having to cut the party short, because the park attendents worned us of a sevear thunderstorm heading our way. We all packed up quick & we went back to the campground. Fred's Uncle Sam joined us camping for the night. Everyone took naps & relaxed during the storm, which didnt end up being all that bad. We enjoyed a nice dinner & campfire together.

This trip ended our vacation. We had a great week between NYC & camping.

A Look Back. . .Ethan

2009-08-12T00:06:00.000-04:00

I can't even believe our lil boy is already 4 years old! Seems like just yesterday that he was born! We've been through so many ups & downs since I was pregnant with him. But every moment with him here has been wonderful! He is such an amazing lil boy! I have always said "he may be small but he has a personality larger than life!'' & if you've ever met him you would agree! He enters a room & everyone knows it! And if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have so many new wonderful friends in our lives!

Here are some special pics I wanted to share.

Ethan minutes after being born.

Mommy & Daddy visiting Ethan in the NICU

Cutie!!

All wrapped up & finally rid of all of the tubes & wires.

But still in the NICU.

3 mos. old

11 mos. old. On his 1st camping trip!

Happy 1st Birthday!! Cake mess!

15 mos. old. Looking very handsome & he knew it!

At Uncle Bobby's & Aunt Megan's wedding.

17 mos. old. 1st time meeting his bestest friend Seamus!

Happy 4th Birthday Baby!! Love- Mommy!!

New York City LPA Convention

2009-07-23T12:38:00.001-04:00

This year we attended our first Little People of America convention. Since it was held in New York City it was the perfect oportunity for us to go for the first time. We only live about 4 hours from the city.

Since we live so close we were able to drive down. We decided to leave on friday July 3rd after work so we could drive a few hours & then spend the night somewhere so we could get up early & drive into the city. We didnt want to get stuck in a ton of traffic on the 4th with all the people trying to get into the city for the fireworks. Plus we wanted to have as much time there as possible. We were able to get into the city around 10 a.m. & unexpectedly our hotel room was ready for us. We were expecting to have to have the hotel store our bags until check in at 4 p.m., so getting to check in early & get settled in our room was great!

Fred's Uncle Sam lives in Manhattan and he was able to meet us as soon as we arrived at the hotel. He was our tour guide around the city for most of our trip. It was great having him show us around & especially teach us how to us the subway!

Saturday~ after arriving at the hotel & getting settled we decided that we'd set out to find the parking garage. We had a few hours to kill until the Camenga family would be arriving to join us. So I program the GPS w/ the address off of the parking pass we recieved through LPA, and we took off. We arrived at the address on the parking pass & there was no parking garage in site. We drove around the block 2 times, no garage! So I call the phone number listed & tell the man that answers the phone that we are on the street but see no garage. He repeats the address to me & I agree w/ him that yes that is where we are. Then I ask him the zip code, he says "no. . . that is Brooklyn. . .we are in Manhattan!" OMG!!! We just drove to Brooklyn when we were already in Manhattan, a half hour out of our way, through tons of traffic, into the "getto" FOR NO REASON!!! The zip code that the LPA had printed on the parking pass was WRONG!!! UGH!!!! So we then find the correct parking garage & then head out to find some lunch. We found Katz Deli, the deli where the famous movie scene from When Harry met Sally was filmed. It was very cool!

After lunch we decided to head to the Convention & check it out! With in just a few minutes of being there, Ethan needed to go potty. So I take him in to go potty & while washing our hands I turned to find one of my Facebook friends, Erin. What a place to meet for the first time! LOL. Ethan totally hit it off with her super cute daughter Emma. I think there might have been some sparks! He likes the older ladies, & she's 7! After spending a little while at the main hotel we decided to head back to our hotel because the Camengas had arrived. While on the way out of to catch the shuttle, Tonya happened to walk passed me. We got to chat for a few minutes while Ethan & Knoah ran around & played together. When we got back to our hotel & met up w/ the Camengas we all went out & enjoyed a nice dinner together. After dinner we took a nice walk along the water to scope out a nice spot to watch fireworks. We found a spot along the water where we were able to watch both NJ & NYC's fireworks. Unfortunatly I couldnt get a very good picture of the fireworks.

Sunday~ Early in the day we all spent some time at the main hotel & then took a trip through China Town. That was definatly quite the experience! Later that night we all went to the Welcome Reception Dinner. It was Coney Island themed & so much fun. They had a live band, games for the the kids, face painting, a juggler, clowns, a lady on stilts, & tons more. The kids had a blast! After the reception while heading to the shuttle bus, Emily spotted Amy Roloff & totally "pounced" on her! It was so funny! Ethan & Seamus had their pictures taken with her & we all talked with her for a few minutes. She was so nice!

Monday~ We went to Battery Park w/ the Camengas to see about taking the Statue of Libery Boat Tour. By 10 in the morning the line was rediculously long! So we ended up finding another boat tour that took you around the harbor but didnt stop @ the Statue or Ellis Island. This was fine sine the kids arent old enough to appreciate going to see those things now! But they all loved the boat ride! After that we went to the main hotel for a meeting with a bunch of our POLP (parents of little people), Blogging & Facebook friends. It was kind of a wierd feeling being in a room with a bunch of people you've never met but you know so much about. I think Mike described it best when he said it was like looking at a bunch of celebrities! It was really nice getting to meet everyone that was there!

Tuesday~ Well this was a big day! That morning we got exceptionally early and went to go see the Today Show. We met Trisha w/ Caden and Pam w/ her family there. It was really cool to see, in person, what we watch every morning. The only main cast member there that day was Matt Lauer, AKA "TV Matt" (thats what Ethan calls him). Everyone else was on vacation or covering the Michael Jackson funeral. After standing there forever & it seemed like nothing was really going to happen then Matt came out to do a segment near where we were standing. As he was walking past us Fred grabbed Ethan's hand & began waving it, not realizing that was the hand that Ethan was holding a bag of mini muffins (breakfast on the go). So he ended up whipping the bag of muffins on the ground right in front of Matt! He picked them up & handed them to Ethan. Not too long after that Trisha & Pam decided they didnt want to stay any longer, but Fred & I decided to stay a little bit longer. I am so glad we did, because about 5 minutes later the fill in weather lady came over & interviewed us on camera! Holy Crap was I nervous! I had no idea what to say! She asked us why we were there & I said we were there for our first LPA Conferance. I still cant believe they put us on the air! With in seconds our phones began beeping & ringing w/ messages from people that saw us! We decided that since we made it on tv that it was time to leave. We walked over to Times Square & Ethan spotted the M&M store, but unfortunatly they were closed, it was before 9 a.m.! But then we came across the Hershey's store & they were going to be opening in 10 minutes. So we walked around until they opened. Ethan loved it. They had a huge machine that filled buckets with mini chocolate bars! It was then time to head back to the hotel & pack up to head home. We had such a great time! The kids loved all the hustle & bustle of the city. And usually I get home sick by the end of our vacations, but this time I did not want to leave! I did learn that from now on to book the main hotel for the convention as soon as booking opens up! I feel like we missed so much not getting to stay at the main hotel. But still had tons of fun! And met so many wonderful people! Cant wait for next year! I've already started saving! Nashville here we come!

Below is a slide show of some of the pictures from the trip & the video clip from the Today Show. It's not a very good video because I recorded it on my camera while standing in front of our tv, & my hands are a little shakey.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

OuR 1sT fAMiLy CAmPinG AdVenTuRE!!!

2009-06-26T12:35:00.002-04:00

Since last summer we have been looking to buy a small used camper to be able to take little weekend vacations here & there. It was really hard to find one that was in our price range, not a piece of crap & a size that we would be able to park at our house. Well after alot of looking, we finally found one a few weeks ago. I immediately began planning our first trip! I had a few people tell me about this camp ground in Cooperstown that has a small animal farm, a mini golf course, hay rides, a fishing pond & pony rides, all fun things to entertain the boys. & it is only 40 minutes from home.

We went this weekend. Being so close to home the plan was to go out on friday, I'd have everything packed & ready to go & kids bathed so after Fred was done working we could head out & get settle in for the night. Then saturday morning we'd get up & have breakfast together & then Fred could drive back to town & work for a few hours & come back up when he was done working @ 1:00. So we would then have all saturday afternoon & sunday to enjoy camping! Well it never fails things dont always work the way they are planned!

~friday~ I get out of work, go get ice, go home & pack up the last few things. Go drop the dogs off @ my parents house. Then go pick up the boys, bring them home & stick them in the tub quick & Collin decides to poop in the tub!!! AGAIN! So quick get them out, get the poop out, drain & sterilize the tub, stick them back into the tub & finish washing them. Well getting them dressed Fred gets home from work, hook up the camper, load up the trucks (we took both since he had to come back to work the next day) & we head out. I had to stop for gas & realized I forgot the camping chairs so I sent Fred home to get them while I got gas, ok NOW WE ARE READY!!

We get to the campground, get checked in & start to set up. We notice that the campround is not exactly as nice as people had told me! It took a little longer to get settled than we thought it would. We found out that the lights inside didnt work, good thing I bought a couple little lanterns! We couldnt tell if the fridge was working or see if there was any kind of on/off switch. & so now it's almost 9:00 & we are all starved!! I then ask Fred "where is the grill????" he replies w/ "yeah. . . . . I was waiting to tell you. . . " I immediately knew, HE FORGOT IT!!!! Well good thing the camper has a little stove & I packed frying pans! So by the time we ate we were all tired & grumpy & decided to just go to bed. It was a rough night! It was cold & rainy, kids were up multiple times & there was some sort of bird that was making all kinds of squawking noises every 20 minutes!!!

~ saturday~ After a night of not much sleep the lovely rooster decided @ about 6:30 he needed to tell me it was time to get up!! & for those of you that dont really know me, I am NOT an early bird!! So well the boys were all sleeping, I decided to walk over to the showers before everyone in the campground had the same idea! It was really nice getting to take a super hot shower for as long as I wanted w/ out being rushed or some one coming into the bathroom to go pee, ask me a question, or just come in to come in! When I got back we had breakfast & then Fred headed home to work for a few hours .

So while Fred was working the boys & I went to check out the animals @ the farm. They had quite a few different kinds of animals, cows, chickens, the rooster!, peacocks, pheasants, horses, a reindeer {it looked like it had mainge or something!} goats, sheep & ducks. When we finished there we went back to the camper to have some lunch. I open up the cooler to find that the chicken that I had marinated that was in a plastic container & wrapped in a plastic bag leaked all over everything! OMG!!! what a mess! I ended up trying to empty everything out & wash as much of it as I could down w/ disinfecting wipes. & unfortunately had to throw a bunch of stuff away. And that is about the time when it began to rain. We finished up lunch, and Fred came back from working. Over the next few hours it progressively rained harder & harder. The poor kids were getting stir crazy from only having a small area to play, so we decided to take a ride & try to find something to do. We ended up at a diner to eat dinner, and then found a Walmart to get them a new movie & toys. The best part of the day was all 4 of us sitting down together w/ some popcorn & watching a movie together before bed.

{Just being boys & having some fun! Ethan is trying to give daddy a wet willy!!}

~sunday~ The rain finally stopped!!! After breakfast I began to start packing up while Fred & Ethan went to the pond to go fishing. For weeks Ethan has been so excited about going fishing! He had never been before. I bought him a Lightning McQueen light up fishing poll! With in the first 25 minutes I heard them walking back calling my name. He caught his first fish!! YAY! He was so very excited! They went back to the pond to release it and in about 20 minutes he caught his 2cd fish! And then a few minutes later, the 3rd!!! I think he would have spent the entire day at the pond if he could have! But it was time to head home! And just in time to, as soon as we pulled into our drive way it began to rain again!

It was quite the weekend! Definitely a learning experience, figuring out what we should have & shouldnt have brought w/ us & finding out what worked & what didnt. Even though it was a rough weekend, it isnt detouring us from doing it again! We have already booked a site someplace else for in a few weeks.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thanx Emily!!

2009-06-21T23:12:00.003-04:00

Thanx Emily for the AWESOME bath towels!!

They refused to cooperate to take a pic together!!

Emily made Collin a really great hooded bath towel for his birthday. Ethan was really jealous & kept wanting to use it! He liked it so much that I had to ask her to make him his own!

Thanks Em for being such a great friend & so super talented!!

ALL ABOARD!!!!!!!!!

2009-06-02T11:39:00.000-04:00

We took the boys to North Creek NY to see Thomas the Train on Sunday. We met Emily, Seamus, Grace, and their grandparents {AKA "Nanny & Poppy"}. I'm sure most of you already read Emily's blog since she beat me to blogging about our fun day! But I will share too for those who didnt.

So our day didnt exactly start off too great! We all got up early, got dressed, packed the car up, and we were off! Ethan insisted on eating french toast stix for breakfast, so we made a pit stop @ Burger King to grab breakfast for the road. I program the GPS, it gives us our route & we hop on the thruway & we then realize it is telling us it will take over 3 hours to get there, I begin to PaNiC!! Last week when I mapquested the directions it told me it would take us 2 hours & 7 min. to get there, but it was a different route! Of course I didnt print it out since we have a GPS! I had no clue what to do. . . I franticly call Emily! She gets on mapquest & sure enough only 2 hours & 7 min. but it's a different route! Ok, so we decide to get off the thruway at the next exit, the GPS then keeps telling us to turn around! And I keep trying to have it give us the same route mapquest was giving us, but it wasnt until we were 25 min into the route. And it is still telling us it's going to take over 3 hours to get there, Emily & the kids were going to be there by 11:00 so that meant they'd be there for over an hour waiting for us! OMG! Freaking out! {{{ OK, MOM DONT READ THIS PART! }}} Fred is now doing 70+ MPH the whole way thru winding country highways. We are now making really good time & the GPS is taking minutes off of our arrival time, looks like we might make it by 11:30! THEN. . . . . Ethan says his belly hurts, OH NO!!!! So typical parent questions. . ."do you have to go pee pee???" he says "no" . . "do you have to go poopy???" he says "no". . "do you have to puke?????" w/ fingers & toes crossed. . he says "no"! Ahhh thank goodness! I said "your belly probably feels funny cause you just ate & drank orange juice & now the car is jiggling your belly around plus your watching a movie, you'll be fine, it'll be ok" So he goes back to watching his movie. 5 min. later Ethan says "mommy. . . .I think I gotta puke!" OH MAN!!! I look @ Fred we both agree we cant stop or we'll never make it! Holy Crap! What are we gonna do??? I look down to see what can i use to catch it? {There will be NO "mommy bowl" use in the car!!!} OH a Coffee cup! I Quick roll down the window, dump it out, & get it under his chin as he starts to gag! He then says " I dont have to puke anymore" Thank God I keep there for another minute cause he did! OMG!! Good save! Now he says w/ a smile " mommy, my belly dont hurt anymore!" and he goes back to his video. Ok big sigh! I think we are ok now! Well we made it! & we made in great time w/ out any other "incidents"!! {Oh, by the way, Collin slept the whole trip! Thank goodness!}

So the Day out w/ Thomas was alot of fun! The kids loved the train ride and all of the fun activities they had. The weather ended up being real nice compared to the weather man's predictions. No rain & the sun was shining but the wind was nasty!

Time for a photo w/ Thomas!

Here is a video of the kids, Fred & Poppy coming back from their train ride. { No the video isnt playing in reverse! lol! They dont actually turn the train around, they just back it up.}

Ethan got a Thomas tattoo.

The kids patiently waiting to go in the bounce house.

After we were all done @ Thomas we went into Lake George to grab some lunch. We went down to the beach after eating and let the kids stick their feet in the water. The boys had a blast throwing rocks in the water. We ended the day with a delicious treat @ Ben & Jerry's! Yummy!

Despite the rocky start the day turned out great! Thanks for the fun day Em, Seamus, Gracie, Nanny & Poppy!!