My little pumpkins...

I can't seem to stay caught up on anything. Oh well, I'll get over it. We went to Idaho two weeks ago and I got some great pics of the kids. They had a great time with their cousins, who were still visiting from Mass. It was good to spend time with them.
We got back and discovered ourselves to be the new owners of a little kitten. She is the cutest thing in the world. I'm not much of a cat lover, but I must say I was in love. Tragically, I discovered myself to be extremly allergic to cats. I always have been allergic, but I've never reacted so badly (I'm blaming it on hypersensitivity due to pregnancy). Anyhow, after two weeks of pure torture, we gave the cat to Joe's brother. The kids are still pretty upset about it, but hopefully their pain won't last forever. I, on the other hand, may never be normal. I still can't breath through my nose, my eyes and throat still burn, and I've gone through two full boxes of Kleenexes. Heaven help me.

Ali is growing so fast. I love this pic because it is her favorite hat, crazy I know. She is always wearing it around the house. A good hat and shoes. What a girl.

Sunday she was dressed to the hilt in her fluff and frills and in the middle of an amazing tantrum. Joe looked at me and said, "She's the prettiest cactus I've ever seen!" That's my girl in a nut shell. I couldn't have put it better myself.

This is my darling Ali eating Chocolate pudding, all by herself of course, at Grandma's house. She is saying "Cheese" for the camera. It makes her look almost scary.

Quin is hillarious. He is always saying the funniest things. He also is my pickiest dresser. He is the only one of my children who throws a fit over what he wears. If it doesn't have something cool, like batman, superman or spiderman, on it. No dice. (I almost wish he only cared about his shoes like his sister!) He really likes to play Xbox with Joe and Clay and is getting pretty darn good at it. He loves riding his bike and will be disappointed when it starts to snow and the bike goes up in the garage. He hasn't had an 'accident' in three or four weeks! We are so happy, I am so happy. I'm holding out hope that Ali will decide she wants to get potty trained soon. Fingers crossed!Clay started Karate last week. He is absolutely loving it and he is learning a lot. He can count to five in Japanese and has learned a few 'moves'. I am excited to see how much he progresses over the next few months. Clay goes back to school next week, hooray! He is so ready to be back in school. He seems to need that extra stimulation that he receives there. I must also note that Clay learned how to ride his bike without the training wheels. We are so pleased!This is a pic of Joe on the swing in the backyard with Ali. It is the kids favorite thing to do in the yard with their dad. They love it.

We were so excited to have Joe's mom out visiting last week. One of our neices had her baptisms on Saturday. It was at 9 in the morning so we were hurrying to get ready and Quin says, "I don't want to go to church today!" I informed him he had no choice, but we would get to go to Uncle Erik's afterwards and play with the cousins. He accepted that, somewhat begrugingly, but he was less than pleased on Sunday when he realized he would be going to church again!

This is a pic Clay took of Joe practicing the drums. I must mention that his mother brought out an old antique Accordion for him. If anyone is of the opinion, as I mistakingly once was, that drums are the most obnoxious instrument...they are sadly mistaken. If one does not know how to play the Accordion, that is far and away more obnoxious.