GRAMPS!!!

After a fabulous visit with the Borns over Thanksgiving, Gramps Super-Pooper (as the kids love to call him) arrived in town on Saturday. We've loved having him here and Gracie particularly enjoyed his snuggles and coos. We hope Gramps will come back very soon, and we'll try to be croup/fuss free!!

The Luck of the Irish

We were very lucky to have Grandmommy and Grandfather stay with us for a week. They headed south this morning, and we miss them already!

Grandmommy and Grandfather

We have been blessed to have Grandmommy and Grandfather visit us this past week. They've played nonstop with the boys, snuggled with Gracie, took Sawyer to the train museum, snuggled with Gracie, visited Jack's kindergarten market, snuggled with Gracie, took Sawyer to the park, snuggled with Gracie, watched all three kids for us one night so we could enjoy a date, snuggled with Gracie, took the boys to see Lion King in 3D and snuggled with Gracie. We're so thankful that we get to enjoy a few more days with them before they head south again.

A family favorite

Following in her brothers' footsteps, Gracie has fallen in love with the red spatula. So glad we have all these toys around the house! :)

To market, to market...

Scott, Grandmommy, Grandfather, Sawyer, Grace and I all had the privilege of shopping at ECDC's kindergarten market yesterday. His class has been studying multicultural markets this past month, and they created their own shop full of produce, their class cookbook, treats and drinks. Jack proudly added up our selections, and his teacher noted that he loved leading the younger classes around the market. I'd buy anything from this cute face!! :)

Learning about Love

These days it seems like I'm paying for a matchmaking service rather than kindergarten. Love is abound in the kindergarten class at ECDC, and Jack is right in the middle of it all. The teachers (and parents) are trying to slow down this courting process, but the kids are pretty gaga about love.

Jack came home with this the other day from school. Rest assured he's talking to "Olivia" and not "Oliver." Thankfully, his future wife has changed about six times in the last couple months. I don't think I'm quite ready for the title of mother-in-law.

Ding-ding-ding

It's a Wonderful Life is one of my favorite Christmas movies. At the end of this classic film, Szu-Szu utters her famous line, "Daddy, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings."

I am 100% certain that there was a bell ringing in South Bend this week for my Uncle Tim. He braved our busy life and really helped me while Scott was away for work. We loved having him here to celebrate his birthday, too. Thanks for everything, Uncle Tim!

Pondering Pets

Sawyer's class has been talking the past few weeks about pets and animals. When asked what kind of pet lived at our house, Sawyer added his name to the "fish" column of their class chart. Many other kids in the class noted that their family did not have a pet, so at least we are not the only pet-less household.

I admit to loving the idea of surprising my kids with an adorable dog for Christmas, but the reality of adding another member to our family right now seems slightly overwhelming! For now the Egan family will just have to pause our pondering about pets (a purposeful alliteration!)

Now that I think it, we do have a lot of ladybugs enjoying free room and board in our house these days. Maybe we should simply give them each a name and welcome them home? And of course we also have this adorable little puppy...

Sleeping Beauty

It's exhausting being the baby in this busy family!

Julian Child

Introducing Mommy's sous chef! Sawyer is all about food...eating it and cooking it. We enjoy a lot of special time together whipping up yummy meals/treats. Thankfully, he loves doing the dishes, too!

Speeding along

Jack's soccer team celebrated their season at Strikes and Spares last week. The kiddos got to bowl, play glow-in-the-dark putt-putt, drive go carts and munch on pizza. Jack loved whizzing past us on the go-carts, and he and I giggled incessantly as I drove us on the bigger go-cart.

Jack seems to be speeding along these days...flying past me. He runs out the door to kindergarten, loves playing with his friends in the neighborhood, is learning new information at lightning speed and picking up on big kid mannerisms right before my eyes. He seems to love his exciting pace, but to be honest I really want to just slow him down a little. I never thought it would be so hard to see your little boy turn into a big boy.

We're Thankful FOUR

Time flies when you are having fun, and this sweet girl adds a whole lot of fun to the Egan house!
Grace turned 4 months old this week and survived three shots at the doctor's office. Even after her shots, she was still smiling!!

Gracie currently loves cooing/smiling at her brothers, chewing her hands or anything she can put into her mouth, kicking away on her play mat, exploring her exersaucer toys, standing up, being outdoors in the fall weather, reading books (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Olivia Counts, Playtime Faces, My Many Colored Days and Goodnight Moon) and staring at herself in the mirror.

Our family is creating a piece of artwork where we detail the things that we're thankful for in our lives. When asked what he was thankful for yesterday Jack replied, "That beautiful person in your arms."

Gracie, you have stolen all our hearts.

Going backwards...

Better late than never, right?? These are some other shots leading up to the fun on Halloween!


Sawyer, Grace and I got to attend a fun Halloween party for our playgroup. Sawyer did sport his engineer outfit that day, and his booming voice could be heard saying "All aboard" over the roar of the party. Grace loved wearing one of her Halloween tutu outfits (thanks again to Grandma and Grandmommy!)



Beautiful boy and leaves



We all got to attend a Halloween party with some of Jack's friends from school. Their property was idyllic...beautiful leaves, old barn house, flowing stream, etc. The boys loved going on a treasure hunt throughout the property and picking up little treats along the way.


My family enjoying their caramel apples.



Pumpkin scoopers/designers 2011. Thanks to Daddy for his carving skills!



Spooky masterpieces



The boys also loved painting pumpkins this year, too. You may notice they look pretty similar. Sawyer is really into doing anything that Jack does these days!

Trick or Treat!

We LOVE Halloween! The kiddos had a blast trick-or-treating, and both boys made it through the entire neighborhood. Jack ran ahead with his buddies and never stopped smiling. Sawyer ran, yes RAN! He also loved chatting it up with all the neighbors. Gracie just smiled and looked cute!

Building up some energy with a pumpkin pizza before we head out to collect our loot.



Little Miss Minnie



Darth Vader - aka Jack Egan


Our wild tiger - Sawyer (who originally was dressing up as a train or engineer but had a wardrobe change at the last minute!)



Smiley baby!



And they're off!



Looking over their loot and enjoying some hot chocolate with neighborhood pals


Scott and I were also thrilled to donate about half our candy to our dentist. He ships it over seas to the troops and paid us $2 a pound. We made $16 off our kids...score!!! Don't worry, they still have enough candy to last them until Easter!