KerryAndGabe.com

Something that makes me happy: We had a family photo session with Catherine this weekend, and I think it went well! I’m looking forward to seeing our photos.

Something I’m thinking: I am thinking I could probably sleep for a week. I’m still not recovered from our trip. I didn’t have the energy to attempt to write this up Sunday! We had a busy weekend.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping I can feel caught up soon, but we have some busy weeks leading up to the super busy holiday season (as usual).

Something I’m reading: I finished the second book of The Mysterious Benedict Society series, and I’m really enjoying this kids’ series. I started and finished reading Looking for Alaska for November’s book club. I also started and finished Where We Belong by Emily Giffin. All of these were easy reads!

Something Gabe is reading: The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks.

Something I’m creating: I haven’t been able to create anything lately, but I need to work on blog posts and photobooks…and sorting through photos…and….and….and…

Something tasty: I received a surprise box of Jelly Bellies in the mail this weekend. YUM!

Something about both kiddos: They are not quiet in the car in the mornings. Last week, they pretended like our car ride was a roller coaster ride. “Put your hands up! It’s a roller coaster! Mommy, go faster!” I had to explain to them the traffic laws, and now I’m sure people are going to think that we were pulled over by a police car (or “dragged over,” as Maddie explains it). They have been talking about how the policeman might pull you over and say, “you are going TOO fast.” It’s fun to see what sticks with them these days. Both kids are interested in playing on the DS, LeapPad (Maddie’s), and iPad (Daddy’s). We are turning them into little device junkies. We need to cut back on their device time…they have gotten more time than usual between having a lot of it during down times on the trip (and now with Cullen getting sick). I think they have decided that they want to have a (small) joint birthday party with a LEGO theme. Fun!

Something Maddie is doing (4.5 years old): Maddie hasn’t wanted to go to school the last few days. I’m not sure what is going on with that, but we also heard from her teachers that she hasn’t been listening very well to them (again – we have gone through phases of this before). She acts excited about her Halloween parade (well, maybe just the part where they get candy) tomorrow morning, but I have a feeling she is going to be very cold! Last year, it was chilly on the morning of the parade, and Maddie looked miserable.

Something Cullen is doing (2.5 years old): Cullen has had a great week (and a half) with the potty. He’s only had a couple of accidents. He’s doing very, very well!!! He had a fever yesterday afternoon, so we have spent the day together with a lot of cuddling and TV. Don’t judge. It keeps him calm and happy. It’s good for recovery, right? He hasn’t had a big appetite, but otherwise he doesn’t have too many symptoms, thankfully. Hopefully, he will be fever free tonight so he can go to school tomorrow for Halloween. He has been clinging with me since returning from the trip. I think he got used to being with us all the time while we were on vacation, so the separations for school and bedtime have been harder than usual.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’m making a little progress with sorting through photos from Disney. Big job. I’m hoping to make a first pass through everything before we get the photo pass photos in the mail this week.

Something I learned: You have to have the photos mailed to you from photopass if you have over 700 photos. I do like the instant download that I did in April, but a few more days gives me a better head start on organizing the pics, right?

Something I’m looking forward to: Halloween (hoping everyone is well), including Maddie’s parade at school tomorrow morning. First visit from the cleaners in a month since we skipped a cleaning while out of town. Finishing up much needed service on both cars (the van was serviced yesterday and the accord will be on Friday). A play on Saturday as well as the magnet fair. It’s just a busy time between now and the end of the year, it seems. As usual.

Something captured: We had another wonderful anniversary dinner! Happy 6 years!

Sneaks from our latest session with Catherine Keene Photography. I can’t wait to see the whole set!!! The photo of Gabe and me in the collage is probably one of the best photos of the two of us ever taken. I look forward to seeing more shots of the kiddos!

We had a session for the kids a few weeks ago, and these are our first couple sneak peeks!

I can’t believe how blue Cullen’s eyes are in these shots!!! Wow! We had a wonderful session with Catherine Keene Photography! I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the images.

When we have sessions from this time of year, we’re always thinking about potential Christmas cards. From what Catherine has shown us so far, I think that we have some great candidates! I’ll post Cullen’s sneak peeks on Monday!

We had a session with Catherine last weekend, and she is starting to share some highlights from our session. I can’t wait to see them all! I think we had one of our best sessions yet. The main goals of the session were to get Cullen and family shots, but we got a few of Maddie as well. Just wait until you see Cullen’s photos. You won’t believe how blue his eyes are!

I have been meaning to get these photos ready for posting on the website for a little while. We had another great session with Catherine Keene Photography. Let me know if you’re interested in doing a session with her in the fall. She’ll be coming back to do some more photos for Cullen. Click the photo to see the rest of the album. We are thinking about getting a large print of this one framed.

We had Maddie’s 2-year old session and Cullen’s 3-month old session recently with Catherine Keene Photography. She posted a few sneak peeks on Facebook. I can’t wait to see the rest!

Something that makes me happy: Weekend afternoon naps.

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about gifts for our teachers this week during Teacher Appreciation Week.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that this week isn’t too stressful.

Something happening around the house: We had guests this weekend. Catherine came to take photos, and Matt and Aiden were here to visit as well. Catherine took a ton of photos of all of us, and we had a nice time visiting with her family.

Something I’m reading: Not much time for reading this week.

Something I’m watching: We watched Pixar’s Up with Catherine’s family this weekend. They hadn’t seen it yet. I forgot how much I enjoyed that movie.

Something tasty: We had our first week of The Produce Box. We have managed to use the majority of the veggies in our box even with the tons of lettuce. Our salads have been very good! The strawberries were especially tasty! I’m happy that little to none of the box is going to waste this week.

Something Maddie is doing (26 months old): She’s officially counting to ten and attempted to tell her first knock-knock jokes this weekend. She’s not quite getting it. It generally goes something like this (with Maddie telling the joke): “Knock knock” “who’s there?” “banana!” “banana who?” *giggle, giggle* “banana who! knock knock joke!”

Something Cullen is doing (14 weeks old): We have finally turned a corner with bedtime! The past several days, we’ve been able to put him into the bassinet without me being in the room. The last two nights, I’ve actually been able to put him back into the bassinet after he wakes up to eat, too. He still spends a little time at the end of the night in the bed, but this has been encouraging! This afternoon, we took a nap together with him swaddled in the bassinet and me sleeping next to him in the bed.

Something I am struggling with: Making cookies for Teacher Appreciation Week. The Ginger Snaps are very tasty but a bit of work! It didn’t help that I forgot to add baking soda in the first batch. Who knew that baking soda was a key ingredient in baking? Oh, and just now I forgot to set the timer on the last batch, and the cookies are totally black. Awesome.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We’re getting close to booking a cruise on Allure of the Seas which certainly qualifies as a megaship!

Something I learned: I’m not a fan of making the ginger snaps, but they make others happy, so I guess I’ll continue making them.

Something I’m looking forward to: Seeing our photos from Catherine Keene Photography.

Something random: Gabe is currently snuggling with the Boppy while we watch Amazing Race.

Something captured: Cullen looks like he’s dancing!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Raising over $10,000 for the National MS Society made me very happy this week!

Something I’m thinking: Weekends are much too short now that I’m back to work.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that Cullen gets over this whole hatred of the car thing. I thought it was better this past week, but I was wrong. In the past few days, he has gone back to hating it again. Not fun.

Something happening around the house: We’ve been playing outside with Maddie quite a bit lately! Her favorite toy right now is her bubble mower.

Something I’m reading: Um, it’s taking me a really long time to get through Sugar Queen. I should probably start on the next book club selection, or I’ll never finish it on time.

Something I’m watching: We are now caught up on Glee! We added it to our DVR list. Now it’s going to be hard to wait a week between each episode!

Something tasty: Mmmm….peanut butter toast is yummy!

Something Maddie is doing (26 months old): We were shocked when Maddie ate mixed veggies this week – lima beans, carrots, corn, green beans. She’s usually not a great veggie eater, so this was quite the breakthrough. Hopefully, it wasn’t a fluke! She likes playing outside, art projects (painting at school and crayons and markers at home), play dough, her baby doll and accessories, and books. She’s been interested in numbers and counting. She is doing fabulously in her big girl bed! We have been shocked at how easy the transition has been. Amazing.

Something Cullen is doing (13 weeks old): He started his first week of “school” and has been adjusting fairly well (better than his Mommy!). He has been sleeping quite a bit (especially at school). He has been restless at night but still sleeps the majority of the night. It would be nice if he was a little less wiggly! We’re still waiting for him to magically sleep through the night. We had a couple of “bad” nights this week which are still pretty easy when you compare them to Maddie’s bad nights at his age. I’m thankful for perspective.

Something I am struggling with: It’s an adjustment figuring out the new routine and juggling two kids now that I’m back at work.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We ended up raising over $10,000 for the MS Walk! Wow! We were recognized for an “Above and Beyond” award at the walk.

Something I learned: Instead of learning what happened on Amazing Race, I got to see news about a tornado NOWHERE CLOSE TO HOME. Hopefully, we’ll be able to watch it some other way before hearing spoilers.

Something I’m looking forward to: Book club and photo sessions with Catherine.

Something random: My sister says that there are catfish that can grow to be over 300 pounds, AND THEY CAN EAT PEOPLE. She’s a vet, so I’m going to trust her. She knows about animals. I think I’ll stay out of the river.

Something captured: Maddie and her next door neighbor boyfriend. They are so excited to play together. Maddie talks about him all the time. When we get home from daycare, she asks for two things: to push her bubble mower and to play with Anton. Very cute.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey