email.....

Received this email from Jeff this morning about Aleigha and I didn't want to forget it! :)

From: Jeffrey Bittner mailto:jeffrey.bittner.nfg3@statefarm.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 11:05 AMTo: Shelly Bittner; Shana Rodeen; Ma; Melissa Sandy
Subject: Aleigha story

I forgot to tell Shelly this story this morning.
AB got up early this morning and was sitting at the kitchen table with me, eating Lucky Charms at 5 am this morning. She was looking at the fireplace and the stockings for her and GB. She asked me…
“So when are we going to give Santa his socks back?”

Pretty cute for a 2-year old.

Imaginate Photography 2010

Thanks to Bridget-our photographer - and neighbor! LOVE these pics. :)

Santa Visit 2010

State Farm had their annual Santa visit on Saturday. Grayson is at Lake Geneva this weekend with his Aunt/Uncle and cousins so we just had Aleigha with us. Aleigha always acts brave before we actually see Santa saying that she'll sit on his lap and tell him what she wants... Then we get to see him in person and it's a whole different story!! She's been asking for bunk beds for her babies for a few weeks now so she wanted to tell him that to make sure she gets it. So after she saw Santa and they handed her a Colorforms game, she asked the man if her bunk beds were in there. It was sooo cute! She doesn't understand all the timelines with holidays quite yet. Since the Christmas tree has been up, she keeps thinking "HO HO" is coming to bring her presents every day. Poor little thing gets disappointed every day that the tree is up and there are no presents from HO-HO.

Grayson's 9th birthday-hotel party

Ty, Ben and Grayson at the Marriott Hotel in Normal. We celebrated at the hotel the actual day/night of his 9th birthday.... The boys had a GREAT time.

Swimming in the hotel pool...

At the hotel....

Harry Potter Lego Castle....

Hex Bugs Battle Bridge....

Grayson's birthday morning at home....

Thanksgiving 2010

No pics this time... we forgot our camera at home. I promised myself that i would make a post for Thanksgiving this year so I would remember where we celebrated so we'll know where we're going next year! We had lunch at my mom's house this year and then we all went to my dad's house for supper. The kids all had a great time and we're looking forward to Christmas at our house now!
Next year, Thanksgiving will be at Gma Bittner's house....

Chuck E. Cheese Party

We had Grayson's 9th birthday party last night at Chuck E. Cheese. Everyone had a great time! He had 11 of his closest friends to celebrate his big day with him. :)

Jeff made a Jaw's cake for him. Grayson and all the boys LOVED it!

Aleigha singing Twinkle Twinkle....

Singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider...

Halloween 2010

I just realized that I didn't post any halloween pics yet! They had 2 outfits each this year. The 1st outfits were a Grim Reaper and Minnie Mouse....

The 2nd outfits were Billy the Exterminator and a Bumble Bee. Billy the Exterminator is Grayson's favorite show right now on the A&E channel.

They had a great Halloween this year!! :)

Festival of Trees...

The Festival of Trees was REALLY packed this year. We went on Friday night which was a bad idea because many kids groups were singing and there was a dinner which took up most of the space. However the kids loves the facepainting and balloon creations.

Aleigha driving her tractor at the farm.

Aleigha loves her cousin, Johnny.... BUT she had a great time driving and not taking turns!! :)

Bittner Family Auction

Rosina had a farm auction in September to sell the farm equipment and clean out the sheds, etc. It was a great showing and I learned a lot about auctions ... especially since this is the 1st one I ever attended. It was beautiful weather and everything sold! The kids had a great time as well. Here are a few pics from the day and I added a video at the end to get a good picture of what was happening all day. It started at 10 am and I think it ended around 2pm or so....

Grayson's Open House- Prairieland

Grayson was very excited for the Open House this year. I think we spent an hour looking at EVERYTHING in the school. He had a checklist he was supposed to use to make sure he didn't miss anything... and he didn't miss a thing. He called me "Mrs Pusher" because he said I rushed him too much. :)

Grandma and Grandpa Quinlan and Aunt Shana drove over to go to the Open House as well and Grayson loved every minute of it.

Below is a letter he wrote about his family. It says the following:

"Hi. I am going to tell you about my family. My dad keeps us in business. My mom keeps us together. My sister keeps us busy and mad. And the most important is me. You know there has to be a funny guy. I keep us active. "

My Cuties!!!

These two can't get any cuter!!! :) This is Grayson's 3rd grade picture and Aleigha's 2 yr old school picture! I just want to hug and kiss them all day long!!! XOXOXOXOXO

Grayson with Fuzzy the Caterpillar

Aleigha singing her ABC's at 2 1/2 yrs old

I had to put both videos out here because I couldn't pick my favorite!! :)

Aleigha- 2.5 yr check up

Aleigha had her 2 1/2 yr check up with her pediatrician last week. She was 35 inches tall and 29 lbs. That is in the 75 percentile for both! She had to get 2 shots and now she is caught up until Kindergarten. She spoke very clearly to the doctor and answered all of her questions. She also put on all of her clothes by herself and the doctor was amazed! :)
Potty training is still going great. She has about 1-2 accidents a week which I think is really good for her age and only been wearing underwear since Labor Day weekend.

School begins.....

Grayson started 3rd grade a few weeks ago. He is growing up too quickly! He loves his teacher - Mrs. Whitcomb. They have been learning about Monarch Butterflies which completely fascinates Grayson. They even have caterpiller cocoons in their classroom and will get to watch them morph. I've learned more about butterflies than I ever thought possible. For After-school activities, he goes to speech twice a week at ISU -30 min each and still sees his tutor, Miss Brawner, once a week. Then he is going to be part of the Chess Club again this year and part of the Garden Club at school. He still loves the after-school program (and before-school program) because he gets to play with friends.

Aleigha started at a new babysitter's house when school started. So far, it is going well. There are 2 other 2 yr old boys and a 9 mo old baby. Aleigha started wearing underwear over Memorial Day weekend! It is quite an accomplishment. She still has a few accidents but, in general, she is doing very well! She loves wearing panties. She has Elmo, Dora, Princess and Minnie Mouse underwear. Elmo seems to be her favorite this week. I bribed her with M&M's or dum-dum suckers every time she went in the potty. Whatever works....... :)