Merry Christmas

Brody and Chase had a very Merry Christmas. We started the fun a few days early by visiting with Uncle Tom and Grandma Moran. Grandma Moran is always a gracious hostess. Now we know where Mimi and Mommy get it.

The weekend before Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa Sheffer came down to visit and stayed with us. They are always a big help and it is fun to stay up and chat with the night owls.

On Christmas Eve, Grandma Thomas came over for breakfast and to open presents. We enjoyed Laura's World Famous Baked French Toast (at least it should be world famous). She loves to see the boys open their presents. Brody is so polite. He is even happy and thankful when he is opening clothes that she has bought him.

We went to Christmas Eve Mass at St Anthony's then on to The Costa's for dinner. The boys had a great time playing with Dylan. They are eagerly awaiting his little brother's arrival.

After the boys opened their gifts from Santa Claus, Laura's family came over and we had another batch of her World Famous Baked French Toast. It was a great time. Christmas Afternoon we went over to the Melnicoff House for the Annual Beef Tenderloin Feast which hit the spot as always!

Thanksgiving

We took our annual trip up to visit the rest of the Melnicoff Family in Port St. Lucie for Thanksgiving. We have wonderful tradition of visiting with family on Wednesday night at the Residence Inn where we stay (great hotel, terrific happy hour buffet), playing golf on Thursday morning with the guys, and enjoying Grandma's feast and watching football with family Thursday afternoon. It is always a highlight of the year.

Also, the week before Thanksgiving, Brody's class had a wonderful lunch celebration. It was a really fun time that gave us an opportunity to visit with Brody's classmates and their parents.

Halloween

Brody and Chase had a great Halloween night. Brody was a doctor and Chase was Derek Jeter. They went Trick or Treating in Coral Ridge with Jack and James.

Disney World

This past weekend we took a trip to Disney World. This time it was a big family trip with Laura's family. We were actually able to hit all four major Disney parks. The added bonus for the adults was the Epcot Food and Wine Festival (although Epcot also has the best meet and greet with Mickey and his friends).

We started off on Thursday night at Epcot listening to Gin Blossoms and enjoying the lamp chops in Australia and the filet in South Africa while also fitting in a trip to see Mickey. Friday, we went to Magic Kingdom and managed to fit in another trip to Epcot on Friday night. Saturday morning, we went to Animal Kingdom which was terrific. The safari is one of the highlights in all of Disney World. Saturday afternoon, we watched the Gators beat up on the Gamecocks followed by some Uno pizza and the Canes-Seminoles game. Sunday morning, we finished up the weekend by going to Hollywood Studios which is also one of our favorites. The boys love the Disney Junior live show. We had a great weekend and really lucked out with the weather.

Brody and Chase Update

Quick update on the boys. Brody is doing really well in his PK3 class. His number recognition is terrific and he grasps the idea of addition and subtraction (he is funny when he is using his fingers to add and subtract). We are working on his drawing and coloring. We have been trying to correct the way he holds the crayon and improve the strength in his fingers to grip the crayon. No surprise that he isn't the best with drawing or coloring since neither of his parents are all that artistic.

Chase recently moved up to the toddler room at his school and has made great strides. Its funny because we remember Brody developing very quickly when he finally moved up with the big boys in the toddler room and it seems that Chase is going along the same path. Chase is doing a great job of using a fork and spoon (makes me think he will do better with drawing and coloring). He also is sitting in the chair at the table to eat in his toddler room.

Brody had lots of fun making his first paper airplane with Daddy. Now, when he is done coloring he asks if we can make an airplane with the paper we colored on. There are also some pictures and a video of Brody with his stethoscope checking on Chase and Mommy.

Chase Finally Walking

Much like his older brother, Chase has been a little slow to walk. He took some steps about a month ago, but has never really extended it by more than a few steps. He stands up on his own, but won't take steps. Whereas, Brody never would stand up in the middle of the room on his own.

Last night, we had a bit of a breakthrough. Chase took quite a few steps. He also stood up on his own and kept walking rather than going down to his knees and to crawl like usual.

Cousin Jack's Putting Green

Brody loves Cousin Jack's putting green. We call it Cousin Jack's putting green because I asked Brody "is it Uncle Jack's putting green?" He said, "no, it's Cousin Jack's putting green." He loves it so much that during his nightly prayer he said "...and thank you for the putting green at Jack's house, and Jack uses the green club, and I use the blue club, and Daddy uses a club from his trunk. Mommy do you have a club in your trunk?"

Maybe this picture will be on CBS when Brody and Jack are playing The Masters in 2030.

Brody's Puzzles

Brody is great at doing puzzles. He is up to doing 48 piece puzzles. Good puzzles are hard to find because a lot of the kid's puzzles are lenticular 3D puzzles.  These puzzles are really hard to see and do. I don't know why they are so popular.  Here he is doing a Toy Story puzzle earlier today.

Trip to Disney

We went to Disney World this past weekend. It was hot, but we still had a great time. We stayed in Clermont with Gloria and Duke Doyle. We got to visit with Carly and Scotty while Chase and Brody got to hang out with their little buddy Landon (actually he isn't so little, and he is walking). Clermont is a really nice area, and we had a great time visiting.

Brody was really excited to see Goofy's Gummies.

Back To School

Chase returned to school this morning. We were a little concerned about how he would react to going back to school, but he was terrific. Drop off went smoothly and Laura called the school to check in and they said he was having a great time.  It doesn't take much to get Chase to smile as you can see below.

Chase has come a long way with his eating habits.  He eats pasta with sauce, chicken, black beans and rice, almond yogurt, watermelon and cantaloupe among other things.  With his allergies it can be a little challenging, but Laura has done a great job introducing all different types of foods.


Here is Chase eating black beans and rice.  We were shocked at how much he loved it.

Here is Chase eating almond yogurt.

Playing up to the Olympics theme, Brody received a gold medal in his gymnastics class today.

Brody had a quick visit with Grandma at her work.  Grandma has plenty of pictures of the kids on her desk at work.  She has a picture of Chase by himself on her desk, but didn't have one of Brody by himself.  Brody wanted to know why there wasn't a picture of just Brody on her desk.  :-)

Young At Art

Brody and Chase really love Young At Art Children's Museum in Davie. It is an amazing museum for kids. There is a HUGE play area for kids. It is great for the parents because you can sit there and watch the kids roam around from activity to activity. Brody especially enjoyed playing with an ice cream scooping set. Funny thing is that Daddy used to work at an ice cream parlor all through high school. There is a Broward County Library attached that has a large children's section. Brody checks out a bunch of Berenstain Bears books each time he goes.  Young At Art is a very cool place that every kid needs to visit.