Halloween

Each year we spend Halloween at my parent's house with cousins. This year was no exception. We started out with a big spaghetti dinner and as the sun went down it got more and more difficult to hold the kids back. Both Briana and William really got into trick or treating this year. Alyssa spent the night in the baby carrier and actually ended up falling asleep. When we got back to grandma and papa's, papa was all too happy to check the kid's candy and ended up taking a few almond joys during the process. What a great night! We can't wait till next year.

My big boy walked the whole time.

The kids were really good sports about me making them pose in the middle of their trick or treating time.




Back at grandma and Papa's House!

Look who decided to wake up.

Hanging out with Grandma and Papa.

Briana is getting Bifocals!

Yes, Bifocals. I always thought bifocals were just for aging people who always wore glasses and now needed further vision correction as they age. Nope, they give them to 4 year olds as well. One of Briana's vision problems is due to a lazy eye that tends to cross when she has to concentrate on items that are close. Her distance vision has apparently improved over the past year and now the opthamologist would like to fine tune her vision. Now overall, I really can't complain. Briana's vision is steadily improving.
The most difficult part of all of this for me is the fact that her vision is improving but she may never be without her glasses. When we started this process a year ago I noticed that her left eye would cross when she spoke. I kept thinking that it would go away. It did not. A few weeks later my dad mentioned the crossing and so i decided to pursue the problem with my family doctor who later gave us a referral for a pediatric opthamologist. I was actually surprised when she recommended eye glasses. I always thought Briana had good vision. I thought she was just going to recommend a patch or something to strengthen the weaker eye. Patching did come a few months later. Briana was required to wear an eye patch over her right eye in order to make her left eye work harder. This process has improved Briana's vision. She actually did very well wearing her patch 2-4 hours each day.
Now the patch is on hold and we have just ordered her bifocal lenses. Not only is there a risk of headaches as she learns to use them but now we have to teach her how to use them! I am so not looking forward to the bifocals coming in and having Briana wear them. Again, I want her vision to improve. I just didn't really realize how long this road was going to be when we first started last November. Now there is still no indication on where it will stop. At this point her vision is corrected to 20/25 with her glasses on. This basically tells me she will wear glasses permanently. Her opthamologist just wants to get rid of the crossing and work on getting her to 20/20 with the glasses on. So expnsive bifocals lenses, here we come!!

Alyssa is 5 Months!

Now she is really growing up way too fast! I can now put her in one of these little chairs and she can actually sit up by herself, for the most part. Alyssa is so adorable and is growing way too fast! 5 months already.

Silver Strand Beach!

This is by far one of my favorite camping spots so far. It doesn't look like a whole lot when you first arrive. It actually looks like a large parking lot, there are no hook ups and the RVs are very close to each other. It is close to the beach and at night there is a quiet rule and so you can hear the waves crashing all night. When we first arrived on Friday the kids could not wait to go play in the sand and so, I was able to get some cute pictures of them with the beautiful sunset in the background.

A Day at the Zoo!

We spent the weekend camping at Silver Strand Beach and decided to head over to the zoo for a few hours. We actually didn't end up staying very long because it was so crowded! So, we went back to the trailor and let the kids play on the beach then went to one our favorite restuarants. It was a incredibly busy and very fun day!

Milestones . . .

Alyssa is going through her milestones like gang busters! Sunday night she decided to roll over on her tummy while lying on the carpet. Once she was on her tummy, she didn't quite know what to do from there. So she struggled for a few minutes and then began to cry. I helped her roll back. :)

That night we moved her into her own room and crib for the first time. She woke up one time for a bottle but other than that selpt very well.

Monday night, just when we thought she had just accomplished so much she laughed for the first time! She followed in big brother's footsteps. William laughed for the very first time in the car while playing with Briana. Alyssa started laughing at William and couldn't stop. The rest of us tried to get to laugh and no go. She only thought William was funny.

Such a BIG girl!

10 Hours at Disneyland!

Alan decided to take a Wednesday off so we could go to Disneyland. At first I thought it was going to be a crowded day because so many people were arriving at the same time we were. The park opened at 10am on this particular day. Once we were inside the park we ended up spending the whole morning in tomorrowland and then decided to get some lunch in downtown Disney. We were just about to head over the California Adventure when we decided to give Disneyland another chance. We realized it wasn't as busy as we thought it was initially. Around 2pm we would have usually left the park so that we could avoid traffic and instead ended up staying in the park. Once we had stayed past 4 we decided that only 4 hours until closing and it was not really a big deal at that point to just go ahead and stay. And so we ended up staying until the park closed at 8pm. Of course Alyssa decides she needs a bottle just as we were leaving the park and ended up extended our stay until almost 9 and she ate not just one but two bottles in a row! We finally made it home by 10pm. Definitely our first full day since purchasing our annual passes almost a year ago. We had a great day but will definitely keep our all day visits to a limit. We were so worn out the next day!