Christmas Eve Service

Tonight we went to Christmas Eve church service with the whole family. Everyone did great during the service and then at the third to the last song both Sammie and Tommy decided they needed to go to the bathroom. Tom Sr. took on the challenge and brought the kids to the bathroom. Upon their return, pastor Chip was explaining the Gospel and inviting those who do not know Jesus as their savior to welcome Him into their heart. Sammie runs over to me and announces loudly, with great pride, "I went pee pee on the potty!" I was very proud of her and I gave her a big grin right back, with a whisper, "Good job."

Christmas Cookies

We decorated Christmas cookies tonight. It was fun for everyone and actually not that messy, I was extremely surprised. Just look at the concentration in the photos below, they are true works of art. We all praised each other for doing a good job and stated that both Jesus and Santa Clause would be very proud of their work.

Tommy's Christmas Concert

On Monday Tommy had a Christmas concert at his school. Grandma and Grandpa were able to join us and it was a great show. Last year at this concert Tommy was overwhelmed and he just stood with the class but did not sing. This year he was the star of the class, not only did he sing all the songs, he did the hand motions, played an instrument and got hyped up during the breaks between the songs. He was also thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa were there to watch him. Here are a few photos:

Jumper seat

Allie got to test out the jumper seat today. When I was younger I guess I loved this toy, my mom still tells me storeis on how much I loved my jumper. Allie had no trouble learning how the new seat worked however Tommy and Sammie wanted to be sure she knew what to do. In the photo you can see all three kids with one leg in the air trying to jump on one foot. Sorry about the bad photo, I got caught up in the moment and my camera angle suffered.

Sitting with Santa

On Monday I took the 3 kids to see Santa at the mall. There was no line, we walked right up and got to see Santa. Sammie also got a carmel lolly pop and Tommy got a pepermint candy. Sammie is extremely fun to watch eat. It would amaze you on how long it can take her to eat a bite of food and how that one bite can cover herself, her jacket, her hair and the car. Carmel lollypops can make a sticky mess but she looks so cute covered in carmel goo.

Future Home

I returned on Thursday from a trip down to Indy to make some final decisions on our new home. Below are some photos of a model that will look like our new home. As my friend Elizabeth pointed out, it is the same design of the home we have now. So I guess I like things to remain the same as far as the house set up goes.

View of the kitchen from the family room.

View of the family room from the kitchen

Tommy's perfect bedroom. He told me that we needed a Spiderman house for him and a Princess house for Sammie. Sammie said she just wanted a princess bed and a princess phone.

Exterior of the home. We will have black shutters, deep red door and tan siding.

Christmas with cousins

Kids playing the the lobby...

Kayleigh trying to teach Tom how to play, Who wants to be a millionaire. Tom just kept wanting to take the money thus ending the game.

Cousin Maddy

We went to Chicago over the weekend to the Laurie Burkner concert. We met up with my brother and his family and stayed the night in Chicago. Before even getting on the expressway towards Chicago Sammie started pointed to buildings asking if that was Chicago. When we did arrive every building that the kids pointed to they asked if that was Chicago. I think by the end of the weekend they understood that Chicago is more than just one building. Tommy and Sammie loved spending time with their cousins and sleeping in the hotel room. We all had fun.

Sammie's award

Here is Sammie's first reward for going on the potty. Now she is just thirlled when someone sings her the success song, "Sammie went pee pee on the potty" with a little dance and jingle. Even Tommy was requested to dance when he was witnessing the act. We are all very proud of Sammie.

Sammie is Potty Training

Well, we do potty training a little different around the Seiler house. It is a cold turkey process. I don't think I understand how to explain to an almost 3 year old when and why they would wear pull ups vs a diaper vs underwear. So on Saturday after spending $100 at Sam's club on diapers and wipes I decided it was time for Sammie to move into underwear. Sammie sat on the potty for 75 minutes and then finally it happened, she went on the potty. Sammie beamed, I am not sure if it was the accomplishment, my song and dance, the reward (m&ms) or a combo of them all but she was extremely proud and so was I. Sammie now enjoys singing the "Sammie went pee pee on the potty" song with her brother and I. Sammie exclaims to the toliet as it is flushing, "bye bye pee pee, pee pee go swimming....." Anything that goes into the toliet Sammie explains that they are going swimming, bugs, tissue and now her pee pee. Happy Swimming and Good job Sammie!

Fun with Allie

Allie tackeling Tommy

Allie wedged in the toy stroller

Over the weekend we spent a lot of time with the kids and Daddy. It was a lot of fun. We placed baby Allie in the toy stroller and grabed a photo. Everyone was having fun and it was too cute to see how much Allie giggled and Tommy giggled.

5 month rolls

Well Tom and I have a trend that we have some chunky babies in our home. Here is a photo of Sammie and Allie at 5 mo. Can you tell who is who?

Sammie is in the first photo and Allie is doing the air guitar.

Allie tried cereal!

Well I could not wait any longer we tried Allie on cereal. Allie has been having a really hard time sleeping over the past 3 weeks and this last week she has been extra fussy b/c she has her first tooth coming in. You would think with her being our third child I would know the symptoms but after an urgent care visit on Sunday to Childrens Hospital during the snow storm, with all 3 kids, thinking Allie had an ear infection I learned that she was just breaking in a new tooth. It was a humbling reminder that God is in charge and I don't know everything even when its the third child. So after multiple doses of Tylenol Allie was still over fussy so I broke down and tried the rice cereal. Allie took to eating better than I remember Tommy or Sammie's first bite of food. She made some funny faces but in the end she ate it right up. The photos were of us all eating dinner tonight.

Funny commentary

Allison is either growing or just hungry all the time. She is 5 months and still on a pure liquid diet. Allergist suggest that families with food allergies exclusively feed their children breast milk until 6 months of age. I can see each night at the dinner table that Allison is tired of just liquids and is eager to beef up her diet, no pun intended. I commented to Allie out loud that she needs to slow down on her frequency of eating because she is, "Making Mommy's boobs hurt." Sammie immediately announces to Daddy, "My boobs are beautiful."

Sammie and her Daddy were reading books before bed while resting on Sammie's big girl bed in her room. Sammie looked up at her daddy catching the angle right into Tom's nose and comments, "Daddy there is grass in your nose."

Make a Smilebox photobook

Halloween

Well Trick or Treating can be a little high stress with Tommy's allergies but he is a great sport. We went to about 10 homes and many of our neighbors had special Tommy treats that he could eat. We went to one home that gave out full size candy bars and had a huge display of decorations. Afterwards Sammie said she did not like that house, it make her scared, but they both got a large bag of skittles from the scary house. Allie just tolerated the costume for the photo. After trick or treating Sammie would not let go of her candy bag and kept talking about what candy she was going to eat tomorrow. Tommy enjoyed having the doorbell ring and running to the door to fill up bags of candy. Grandma and Grandpa Seiler came over to help with all the fun.

Matching Outfits

The other day we were getting ready for church and we dressed the girls in matching dresses. Sammie loves to point out that Allie has the same dress that she has. We then noticed that Tom Sr. and Tom Jr. was also dress the same so we decided to take a photo.

70 in November

We had 3 days of 70 degree tempatures in November and it was a perfect time to jump in the colorful leaves. Fall is so amazing, I love that our God created such bold color and placed them all around us!

Allie likes Balloons

Allie has just been memorized with each balloon that she has seen. We were at the Stanley's birthday party for Brooke and Clayton on Saturday and baby Allie just loved watching all the balloons.

Happy Allie

Here is an updated photo of baby Allie wearing a dress that Grandma Seiler made for Sammie. This picture reflects what a happy baby Allie is, enjoy!

Vetrans Day

Grandpa Seiler and Grandpa Francis were honored today at Tommy's school. Grandpa Seiler served in the National Gurad and Grandpa Francis served in the Army Reserves. Thank you Grandpas for serving!

Moving to Indy

Well for most everyone reading our blog you already know we are moving to Indy. Today we placed our home on the market, I was very sad to see the for sale sign in our yard. I also broke down today at our MOPs meeting when I announced to our moms that I was leaving. It is easy for me to focus on the day to day tasks and not address my emotions but today they were all triggered. We will be hosting a good bye celebration at our church in January so stay tunned for the invitations.

Head Cake

Sammie spiked a fever today of 102.9 and I got to see the magic of Tylenol work. She went from tears, wanting to be held, sluggish, just worn out and back to her spicy self in a matter of 30 minutes. Wow that is some good stuff! We still went to the Dr., they thought she might have an ear infection. She told her brother Tommy that we were going to the Dr. because she had a Headcake. (Headache apparently sounds like Head Cake) Too cute and typical Sammie fashion, she was back to our big girl. She did not have an ear infection, just a virus.

Allie's 4 month Appointment

Well good news and some not so good news. Allie is growing great, she is 15 lbs. and 14 oz., 25 1/4 inches long and a head circumference of 42.6. Here is how all 3 kids looked at 4 months old:
Height Weight Head Circumference
Tommy 25 ½, 17 # 5 oz, 41.7 cm
Sammie 25 3/8, 16 # 4 oz, 41.5 cm
Allie 25 ¼, 15 # 14 oz, 42.6 cm

Allie had some blood in her stool over the past few days and a small skin rash. The Dr. believes that Allie is allergic to milk. So to help her to try and grow out of this allergy soon, I am on a milk free diet. I really want her to grow out of this so that she does not have to go though what Tommy has to deal with.

Tommy at 4 months

Sammie at 4 months

Allie at 4 months

Sammie's sing along

Today in the car as we were traveling to school, Sammie brought with her the Five Little Monkeys Sitting on a Bed book and began to sing the song. Here was her rendition: "Five little monkeys sitting on the bed, eating on the bed, mamma called the Dr., spinning on the bed, bumped his head, eating on the bed, four little monkeys, mamma called the Dr., No more monkeys, No more monkeys, No more monkeys, sitting on the bed, mamma called the Dr....." Well she got the right verses just not in the right order. It was too cute to hear and watch her hand motions as she tried to call the Dr. and shake her finger when she was singing No more monkeys.

Allie Rolled Over

Great news, today, just after Allie's 4 month old appointment (more details on that later), Allie rolled over! She has been trying to roll over on her right side but we found out that if she starts on her left side she is able to make it over. Here are some photos of her moment.....

Bubbles, Trees, Sitting Up and Zoo class

Here is Tommy in his costume that he made at zoo class, can you guess the animal?
Here is Allie learning to sit up, doesn't she look thrilled?

Here is Allie with a few bubbles:

Here is Tommy climbing a tree. What you can't see is Tom Sr. just below him ready to catch him.