Where in the world are the Ladd boys????

So sorry to the lack of posting. As it turns out, kids get busier as they get bigger! (Hey, if I'm taking over this blog, that's gonna be my story! lol) So from now on, Mommy is taking over! :) Here are a few peeks at what we've been up to over the past few months (along with my promise to be better at blogging!!)

May 2011, My Graduation from Nursing School
Jessy & Carl came and brought Trey and Riseley
Georgi & Jon came and brought Lexi and Emma
Dad came too!
We had a great New England clam bake in the back yard the afternoon of graduation and then on Saturday we took the kiddos to a Bridgeport Bluefish Baseball game!





In June, Kevin was away for work for a month! The last week of June we decided to head to see him in Omaha, NE. We had a blast! We went to the Omaha Zoo, spent a lot of time at the hotel pool, went to a place called "The Pizza Machine" (kind of like a Chuck-E-Cheese), and we even went to CoCo Keys one afternoon.





I also went to my cousin George's wedding in June. He married Karen, who we just love. It was too bad Kevin couldn't make it since he was in Omaha, but we had fun just the same. Here's a pic of the groom from the reception, the Mother of the Groom (Aunt Lori) with the Best Man (George's son "Little George), and some of the cousins, and Uncle Matt, that were able to make it to the wedding (at a bar afterwards!)





In June, I took, and passed my boards! I'm officially a RN!!!



Once back from NE, we headed to McCall, Idaho for our summer vacation together. What a much needed break for us all! Melissa and Lawson were even able to meet us for the week! It was a beautiful place and one we'd love to return to!







In July, Harrison went to Camp Jewell for a week of sleep away camp. He was so excited to go away by himself for a whole week and had a blast (even though I worried about him being there without knowing anyone). He made lots of new friends and is dying to go back next summer for TWO WEEKS! Emerson is pretty interested in going next summer too. We'll see....





When Harrison got home from camp, it was his birthday! We took Mommom Lenor and Poppop Ladd to a Yankees game! Happy 8th Birthday Harrison! Where does the time go???



August brought me and the kids down to NC for a week and a half. We were invited to stay down at the beach with "Nona" (Kathy Hartenstine), Melissa, Chris & Lawson, Julie, Tim, Kyler & Brady. What a blast we had! The house and company was perfect! Nothing says "summer" like a NC beach! In addition to hitting the beach and pool every day, we went to the Fort Fischer Aquarium. Oh, and Julie and Tim got engaged!! So excited for them! They make a beautiful couple and Kyler and Brady are lucky to get another "Mama" to love them! Congrats Julie and Tim!






We also decided to put our house on the market at the beginning of August because...





Kevin flew back to Omaha in August to be presented with an award for all of his hard work (and a month away from home working 20 hour days/7 days a week!) We are so proud of him and apparently so is InfoGroup!




At the end of August, the boys headed back to school! Emerson is now in 1st grade in Mrs. Kovlakas' class (we <3 her!) and Harrison is in 3rd grade in Ms. Dean's class. Both boys are reading like crazy! Harrison has recently read "A Wrinkle in Time", some of the "Warrior" series books, some of the "How to Train Your Dragon" series books, and he's now reading "Rifles for Watie". He was selected to participate in his school's "Academically Talented" program (he's the only one from his class!) and the Strings program. He just got his violin last week! Emerson just started his 1st year of Cub Scouts. He is a Tiger Scout and LOVES it!! Here are a few pics. I'll have to get a pic of Harrison with his violin and post it soon. He starts his lessons on Monday!




That about sums it up! I promise to be a better blogger....or at least TRY! ;)

Another of Emerson's Books...

My Favorite Letter is E
Elephant. Egg. By: Emerson. Emerson


Elephants are grey.


Eggs sometimes have chicks.


Emerson is smart.

The Easter Bunny is coming!

Even though I recently confessed to Mom and Dad that I know the truth about Santa and the Easter Bunny, I am still excited to see what tomorrow brings. I know our baskets are going to be hidden by the "Easter Bunny" extra sneaky...here are the clues that we will receive in the morning.

Emerson
#1
In the night, or in the day
I have black and white keys that make me play
(piano)

#2
When you need some food in your tummy,
I can quickly cook you something yummy!
(microwave)

#3
If you keep your room super clean,
Mommy might let you play on screens
Computers & TV shows are lots of fun
But Mario & Zelda are #1!
(Wii)

#4
Woodpeckers, Backbirds, Chick-a-dees
Are some of our feathered friends that eat from me!
(outside on the birdfeeders)

#5
Popsicles and ice cream I usually hold
This chilly place will keep them cold
(freezer)

#6 (final location of the Easter basket)
Mittens, games, and little boys' shoes
And be sure to put your dirty clothes here too!
(bedroom closet)

Harrison
#1
If you'd like to bake a cake
Just a couple of things it'll take
Crack some eggs, add milk and flour
And mix them all with my power
(mixer)

#2
Mom & Dad are getting old, that's true!
But one thing old folks love to do,
Is sit and relax and talk a lot,
Especially in these seats that rock.
(rocking chairs on the porch)

#3
Harry Potter comes alive on me,
Biggest one in the house you see!
(living room TV)

#4
Plants live here
but never touch the air
Don't tap on the glass
Cause you'll give their friends a scare!
(fish tank)

#5
When we eat as a family this lights the way,
It keeps it bright even when it’s not day.
(Light over the dinner table)

#6 (Final location of the Easter Basket)
I live in the kitchen,
I'm pretty old.
Please don't set anything on me,
Unless you want to hear Mommy scold!
(Great-Great Aunt Martha's Buffet)

Wishing you a blessed day tomorrow and that you remember the TRUE reason for the season!

XOXO,
Harrison & Emerson
(And Mom & Dad too!)

One of Emerson's books

Here is a book Mommy found in Emerson's homework folder that he made at school the other day.




Translation: I am awesome. "Yay!"


Translation: My favorite color is red. "Red is awesome."


Translation: I am 6 years old.


Translation: I can not get up before 7:00.
(Notice the alarm clock says 6:00 so we are both still in bed)


Translation: My birthday is March 21.

Where, oh where, have we been??

Well, here is an update of what we've been up to since it's been too busy to post anything lately.

After we got back from our NC/FL/NC trip for Christmas last year, we got back into our schedules. Mom went to NJ for 10 days to help Aunt Julie while she was having back surgery. While she was gone, Bailey ate something that ended up almost killing the poor cat. Fortunately, we took a drive one night (the whole family!) to the vet when Bailey wouldn't come out from under Emerson's bed. The vet said something was definitely wrong and it didn't look good. He sent us to another Surgical Vet to have him checked out. He ended up having surgery to remove pork loin netting that he had stolen out of the trash that was stuck between his stomach and intestines. Since the surgery, he's completely recuperated and Dad has his best friend back. Bailey sure gave us quite the scare!

We have such a snowy winter this year. While we were away in NC, CT had a blizzard. Since we weren't home to shovel our driveway after that snowfall, it turned our driveway to solid ice for most of the remaining winter. We've had a total of about 50" for the winter!

Uncle Eric took a train ride up to see us for a weekend in February. We had a great time! We took him to see a Danbury Whalers Hockey game. Both Emerson and I LOVE going to these hockey games! They play great music and this time Dad's friend Mr Raemdonck (who is very involved with the team)let us go out on the ice at half time to pick up the pucks after "Chuck-a-puck". Chuck-a-puck is when spectators can pay money to buy a puck that they then try to toss into a bucket (in this case, a toilet) to win money. The money that people spend to buy the pucks is donated to charity. After all the pucks are tossed, they have kids who go around the ice picking them up....we were 2 of them this night. Definitely the highlight of our night at this game!

In March, Mom had Spring Break the week of the 7th through the 11th. She really wanted to drive down for the week to not only have a little break from the cold, but to hopefully be there to when Aunt Jessy's new baby arrived. When we got there on Sunday the 6th, Uncle Eric was in town visiting. It was cool to get to see him one last time before he heads out for his deployment in Afghanistan. We spent most of the days playing outside in the nice weather. Poppop told us it was ok to go play in the woods (we called it the "forest") behind his house as long as we watched out for snakes. We got to see Miss Connie and Brooke a couple of times during our visit too. Miss Connie gave me, Em & Trey our own kites! One night we all went to CiCi's pizza together too. Every day we rubbed Aunt Jessy's baby belly and tried to convince her baby to come out. Aunt Melissa came down to Poppop's house on Thursday night and brought baby Lawson with her. I changed his diaper THREE TIMES!!! I even changed one that was POOPY! Mom couldn't believe it! He is such a sweet boy. He's 18 months old and loves to play with us since we are the big boys. Friday night Mom and Aunt Melissa were making dinner when Aunt Jessy came into the kitchen and told them that she was going to be having the baby that night! This was around 5:45pm. Lucky for Mom, Aunt Melissa finished up cooking dinner and got me, Trey & Em to bed so Mom could go to the hospital with Aunt Jessy & Uncle Carl. Baby Christian "Riseley" Wilson was born at 11:16pm! Mom got to be there for his arrival and she was SO happy! The next day Uncle Carl picked up Trey and brought him over to the hospital to meet his new baby brother. He was so proud! A little while later, Mom and Aunt Melissa took Me, Em & Lawson over to meet Riseley too. I held him 1st! He was just so sweet and I didn't want to share him. Mom made me pass him to Emerson who tickled his little piggies. After our visit we went and picked up Trey and took him to Sonic to celebrate him being a BIG BROTHER! Mom let us play on the playground and she even bought all of us ice cream! Later that afternoon, Aunt Melissa and Lawson had to head back to Raleigh. Once they left, we played a little more until Mom decided it was time for us to take a tub. She put all 3 of us in Poppop's BIG bathtub in his bathroom and gave us lots of bubbles to play in. She got us all dressed in jammies and took us all back over to the hospital for one last snuggle with Riseley before we had to leave early the next morning. It was a nice quiet visit with just the boys, Aunt Jessy & Uncle Carl, and Mom. We didn't want to leave!! The next morning, we were up bright and early to head back to CT. Poppop Suter rode with us to MD so he could pick up Uncle Eric's car and drive it back to his house. We did stop at Aunt Julie's on the way home and she made us a YUMMY dinner. Meatball Mommom & BangBang Poppop came over to eat with us too. Meatball Mommom even brought some of my favorite.....MEATBALLS! I ate 5 of them! After dinner, we hit the road again and made it home to Dad around 9:30. It was a LONG day, but a great week!






Monday, March 21st was Emerson's 6th birthday! He made himself a birthday crown the night before so he had it available to wear to school on Monday. Mom brought us to school on Monday so she could bring cupcakes to Emerson's class. After school, Mom picked us up and got dinner ready. In our house, you get to pick what we have for dinner on your birthday. Emerson requested ham, corn, and chicken wings! After dinner, Mommom Lenor and Poppop Ladd came over for cake, ice cream and presents. Em got the big Hogwart's Lego Castle, the MegaMind BluRay (from me), walkie talkies, a drawing book, and a dot paint set from Mommom and Poppop. He sure racked up!

This past week we also had our first Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts. Mom took us to the woodworking shop down the street from our house to cut our cars to the right shape. We each got to use the saw and then they used the belt sander on our cars to make them nice and smooth. We spent some time painting them and getting them ready for the competition. I named my car "The Speeding Bullet" and Emerson named his "The Sonic Mobile". I won 1 of my 4 races. Emerson was in the "non-competition" category because he isn't a Cub Scout yet. He won EVERY race he was in and had the fastest car in that category!








We've been pretty busy as you can see, but hopefully we'll be a little better about posting from now on!

Merry Christmas from North Cackalaky!!

Because Aunt Jessy is pregnant, we decided we should spend Christmas in North Carolina at her house. This was the first time we have ever done Christmas away from home, and Emerson wasn't too sure about it....but of course he had a great time like the rest of us! It was also the first time in 7 years that Mommy and her family were together for Christmas, which really made her happy.

We all went to Christmas Eve service at my Mommom Suter's church. She used to play the piano there so it is a really special place. Emerosn and Trey both fell asleep during the service, but I managed to stay awake. After the service, Uncle Eric and Uncle Drew took me up to the front of the church to see the baby grand piano that the church ladies bought in memory of Mommom. I was the one that found the gold plate on the side that said "In Memory of Debby Suter, 1953-2003". Uncle Eric took my picture next to it.



After church, we went back to Aunt Jessy's house where we were all allowed to open 1 present. Everyone got a new pair of Christmas jammies! Thank you Mommom Lois for our jammies again this year!! They were so comfy and Mommy and Aunt Jessy thought we looked so cute!




After jammies it was time for bed. All was fine until Treyman started puking around 3am. Poor guy was sick all of Christmas and Uncle Carl helped him open most of his presents. The next day he didn't even remember what Santa had brought him! Santa really out did himself again this year. I guess Christmas can get a little out of control when you have 10 of us all together (or 10.5 counting the growing baby Riseley!) We woke up around 6am, and Uncle Eric called Poppop Suter. He got there in 10 minutes!! My favorite presents this year were my Kindle and my bow & arrow. Emerson's favorite presents were his scooter from Santa and his bb gun from Uncle Drew!







The day after Christmas Mommy threw a baby shower for Aunt Jessy & baby Riseley. It was a "Sweets" Shower. She had a cookie cake and all different candies and ice cream. The funny thing was that Aunt Jessy didn't pass her sugar test at her doctor's office a couple of days before!