3 1/2 and 1 1/12

Our boo's hit a big milestone this weekend...3 1/2 and 1 1/2!!  Only six more months til we are the parents of 4 and 2 years olds!  Oh goodness, I don't think they could be more "boy" then they are now (I really hope I'm not jinxing myself and they do something crazy tomorrow).  Declan is really loving school and making some good friends.  He's learning so much and still asking so many wonderful questions.  He's really into Christmas and we can't wait to see his face when he comes downstairs:)  He loves finding Jingle Bell every morning and even sharing the chocolate from the advent calendar with Conall.  He's started to play really well with Conall, there's still plenty of "moments", but it sure is fun to watch them together.  Conall is really starting to say more words and even trying some new food (pizza and noodles).  He too loves Jingle Bell and all of the Christmas lights:)  Christmas morning should be so fun with him too.  He's been really into throwing things down the stairs lately, stuffed animals are okay, but it's the big heavy toys that are a problem!  These boo's are just so awesome right now (and always) and we love them so, so much!

christmas party

Yesterday Declan had a Christmas party at school!  They made crafts, decorated cookies and had pizza before Santa came to visit:)  I came in to help with the party (Conall also came along) and was able to snap a few photos...here's Dec with his buddy Jack eating some pizza.  They both had 3 pieces!

 Conall even had some pizza, 3 bites!

 Mrs. Copple reading a Christmas story to the class:)

 Waiting for Santa to arrive!  I think Conall thought he was in school since he was sitting with the big kids:)

 Listening to Santa tell the story of the Night Before Christmas!

 Santa gave all of the kids a candy cane, Conall found some courage and let Santa give him one too!

 Waking up at 6 am and having a super fun Christmas party left this little guy quite sleepy!

letters to santa

Saturday afternoon we took the boy's down to the circle to send their Christmas letters to Santa!  Santa has his own special mailbox, no stamp required:)  They worked hard on making their lists and writing a nice message to Santa.  Declan asked dad what he wanted for Christmas last night and got himpaper and a pen to write it out, when BC started writing things down (5 things) Declan said "that's a lot of stuff dad dad"!  He was okay with that because then he went to find an envelope for dad's list:)

 Declan sliding in his letter:)

Conall getting a little help from dad:)

Here's our festive dressed guys at our neighborhood party!

Happy Holidays!

Ho, ho, noooo!!!

 Let's just say Conall didn't tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas!

Declan, on the other leg, was super excited to tell Santa what was on his list.  And doesn't Santa look jolly?!  It's just too bad I already ordered our Christmas cards:)  Last night we went to the Children's Museum for Jolly Days (BC's work sponsors it so there was no waiting in line for the yule tide slide and the playscape was all ours!).  The little ones sampled almost every cookie and were ready for bed when we got home:)

Wheee!

 Got one!

 Declan racing dad....he won!

And with mama and Conall too!

Bring it on Christmas

The boo's are ready for the holidays! 

And so are we!  Our "Chris Chris Tree" is up and decorated.

"Jingle Bell" our elf is up and watching the boo's, ready to report back to Santa each night on their behavior:)  Let's all hope it's a good report! 

Let's get merry!!

Giving thanks

Here we are, the O'Rourke's...Emily (5), Grandad, Gram, Kylie (8), Cohen (2 months), Kori, Emily, Caitlin (19 months), Conall (17 months), Shiloh, Seamus, Andy, Erin (3 1/2), Kienan, Declan (3) and BC...celebrating Thanksgiving!  Gram had a wonderful spread for all of us to get chunky on:)  It was a beautiful day and so great to spend it with everyone.  The cousins had an awesome time playing together and the brothers (along with Grandad) had a late night out!  Hope you all had a happy turkey day!

mama & boo date

Saturday morning boo and I had a date!  We went to an early screening of the new movie The Muppets!  (thanks dad for getting us tickets)  We snuck in M&M's and Twizzlers (Dec doesn't know that!) and had great seats:)  It was a really fun movie, great music and the cameo's were awesome too.  It was fun to tell Declan all of the Muppet names, his favorite was Animal because he played the drums!  Definitely a great family movie, but the best part was watching Declan in the big movie seat looking up at the "big tv"!

17 months

Only one more month til our little Conall Bear will be 1 and a half, please go slow!  Wow, has Conall became his own little guy lately.  Loves to have his puppy with him, can't get enough fruit (doesn't really care what kind as long as he can eat it), really likes to read...Go, Dog Go and Put Me in the Zoo are his current favorites.  And he really is such a good little brother, if Declan needs a kleenex he goes and gets it for him:)  He's finally sleeping well, no longer nursing means no more getting up in the middle of the night!  I think he actually likes to sleep now!  He's really close to do a somersault and likes to say "boo" (thanks to Declan always saying it).  His top and bottom cuspids are poking in, thankfully!  Now if we could just get him to start liking pasta!  We love this little bear:)    

3 years + 5 months

3 years and 5 months is just one month away from 3 and a half, AAHHH!
Trucks, books, pretzels, cinnamon toast, Curious George and singing...some of Declan's favorite things!  Oh and school, he's loving school:)  We've been reading a lot of books about trucks and Thanksgiving and he has been singing so many songs from school lately, it's just been so much fun!  He's really, really ready for it to snow (not me) and for it to be Christmastime.  And he wants to get our Christmas tree so bad!  He is just a little guy full of love, laughs and questions:)  We love our boo and all that he is!

caught!

I caught the boo's spending some bro time together the other day:)  Declan was reading a book to Conall, just too sweet!

boo's in capes

The boo's were sporting some dish towel capes the other day:)  I love that they didn't care, they just had fun running through the house with "power"!!

Happy halloween!

 Happy Halloween from Fireman Declan and Train Conductor Conall!  We had a boo-tiful night to trick or treat and the boo's came home with full buckets!  We once again ventured down to Lockerbie Square where Dad got his annual Halloween beer:)  This year the boy's cousin Erin joined us, she was a hocus-pocus witch!  Erin had a full bucket too!  Hope you all had a Halloween full of happiness!

 Declan and Erin getting ready for some treats!

 Conall got a good one!

 Erin, Conall and Declan at the end of the night:)

 Dad, mama and the boo's!



pumpkins!

And the pumpkins are carved!  The guys had a fun time designing faces, scooping out goo and cutting out their faces:)  Declan picked a grumpy face and Conall has a goofy face.  Neither of them really got into the goo, so dad once again was left to do the yucky part!  Here's dad and Conall getting started.

 Declan just having fun:)

 Touching the goo!

 Pretty sure your pumpkin is not a horse Conall D!

 Pumpkin mouth!

 Helping Conall put the "lid" on:)

 Here's Grumpy and Goofy!  Happy Halloween!



Field trip

Declan had his first field trip today!  I was able to go with him and it was so much fun:)  He was excited to go not just because we were going to the pumpkin patch, but we rode with Carly and her mom and they have a car with a sliding door (a minivan)!  So funny!  Another little girl from his class, Aidan, rode with us too.  We took a hay ride out to the pumpkins and every one got to pick out a pumpkin to take home:)  Here's Declans pumpkin!

 Here's Aidan and Declan with their pumpkins:)

 Declan loved the combine slide!

He was even more excited that he got to go into the cab at the top!

 They even had a dinosaur that ate pumpkins!



Pumpkin patch

After church we drove up to Stoneycreek Farms in Noblesville to pick out the boo's pumpkins!  We took a hay ride out to the patch in search of the perfect pumpkins:) 

 Conall walking through the patch, he liked patting the big pumpkins:)

 Declan trying to pick up a huge one!

 The little guys playing in the big hay stack!

 Conall as a pumpkin:)

 Monster Declan!

 And the quiet ride home:)

It was a great time, but the fun will really be when we get to carve the pumpkins!