Saturday, April 4, 2009

Town Egg Hunt

Even though it was chilly, we had fun at our town egg hunt today.

Sienna filled her basket in no time along with the other 3 and 4 year olds!

The 5 and 6 year olds anxiously awaited their turn.
Sienna found her friend (and our neighbor), Kate!
Chaos ensued when the 5 and 6 year olds were let loose!
Isabella filled her basket quickly, too!
Collin and Isabella are in the same Kindergarten class.
(They are probably the tallest and shortest kids in their class!)
Sienna, Isabella, Connor and Josh
The girls with the Easter Bunny
(Is this Easter Bunny's face a bit creepy, or is it just me?)
Elijah hung out with Dada while his sisters collected their eggs.
Isabella's friend, Sarah, was there, too.
Sienna was happy to find her buddy, Lauren!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Elijah's New Rides!

We love hand-me-downs and items that we can borrow from friends. We borrowed this backpack from our friends, Sara and Ted, since Elijah is getting too big for the Baby Bjorn.



Do you think he likes it?

We got this wagon from our friends, Chris and Tom. Elijah can push it but he can also ride in it. He has lots of fun when Sienna gives him rides!!



Watch them in action!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Another Nice Weekend!

Isabella and Sienna made some birdfeeders to hang in our backyard.

It's hard to see, but Sienna is standing underneath her birdfeeder.
Elijah enjoyed the spring weather, too!
The Cozy Coupe is fun to push but hard to ride because Elijah's feet get caught underneath when we push him!
Sienna found a salamander and they named it Sally.
Sienna released Sally under our shed.

Elijah had fun pushing his walking toy all around the yard. He's quite the cruiser!!

Friday, March 27, 2009

13 Months Old

Elijah is 13 months old today. Is he starting to look like a big boy, or what?!?!?!

Click on the picture to see all of his teeth (and his serious need of a haircut)! He's up to 12 teeth now. His top two molars are pushing through. This must be really uncomfortable because he has been chewing on his fingers a lot, poor guy!

Elijah is getting into all sorts of mischief these days. Here he is "helping" me with the dishes.

Twice now Elijah has gotten ahold of Sienna's art projects that had blue paint on them. Sienna learned the nursery rhyme "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick." She made a blue "candlestick" at school. We put in on the floor in the kitchen so she could jump over it while she said the nursery rhyme. I forgot about it until I looked over and saw Elijah's mouth covered with blue paint. I would have taken a picture, but I was more concerned about washing the (nontoxic, thankfully) paint out of his mouth!!!!!

Elijah's language is coming along slowly but surely. He says a handful of words.

that="dat"

this="dis"

Dada="dada"

uh-oh="ah-nnn"

hi="hi"

He still has yet to say, "Mama"-that little stinker!!!! Trust me, I'm working on it!!!!

Elijah is starting to imitate more purposeful actions. Here he is pretending to use a knife and fork while eating his plastic egg.
He also tries to brush his hair with the girls' brushes, he "brushes" his teeth, and he holds my cell phone up to the back of his head as if he's talking on the phone.

Elijah loves balls. Not only will he roll and throw balls when we're playing, but he's also starting to try to kick balls, too!

Elijah is an affectionate little guy who gives lots of "hugs" (aka tackles) and "kisses" (open mouthed slobbery kisses with exposed teeth). If anyone is sitting or laying on the ground, Elijah will immediately try to get on top of that person. It's fun for the girls, but I have to be careful when immobile babies are around because Elijah will climb right on top of them, too. He either puts his head on someone's head or face or pats them on the face, but he's getting stronger so his pats are turning more into slaps. A few months ago Elijah was a crazy hair puller, but he got over that after we did a lot of modeling of gentle touches. It looks like we need to emphasize gentle touches again! He just really likes to interact with people. He especially loves big kids who will get down on the floor and play with him! Two of his favorites right now (aside from his sisters) are Isabella's friends, John and Collin.

It's hard to believe that Elijah's first birthday has come and gone and that he's well on his way to becoming a toddler!!!!

Dada Visits Sienna's Class

During the month of March, Sienna's teachers invited parents in to read stories or talk about their jobs. As he did in Isabella's preschool class, Mike went into Sienna's class and planted seeds with the kids. Sienna got to be his special helper.
First he cut open an apple and showed the children the seeds inside.
Then he showed them a seedling so that they could see the roots.
He talked about how apples fall from trees and then their seeds go into the ground to grow a new tree. Luke is pretending to be the apple tree in this picture.
Then the children planted their own pumpkin, cucumber and/or sunflower seeds.
Sienna really enjoyed having Dada in her class (and he loved going in, too)!!!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Why Isabella is Lucky

Mike and I went to Isabella's conference, and she's doing really well in school. She's ready to move on to first grade (boo hoo!!), even though she's one of the smallest/youngest kids in her class. She's quiet, but she holds her own with those bigger kids! Her teacher shared this with us:




On St. Patrick's Day, the children had to write a sentence about why they are lucky. In case you didn't figure it out, Isabella wrote: I am lucky because I have a brother and a sister that love me. Mike and I love that she wrote this since we always talk about the importance of their siblings. Our sisters have always been supportive of us (especially last summer), and we want to foster a close relationship between our children. It looks like we're on the right track!
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Future Veterinarians?

Isabella and her friend, Sarah, like to pretend that they are "vetrareeins" who work in an animal "hospitool" or a "hospootl".

Monday, March 23, 2009

Meet Elijah's Friends

Since I have three mornings a week when both girls are in school, I am able to participate in a baby playgroup through our MOMS Club. Several of my friends who have kids who are Isabella and Sienna's ages also had a third child around the same time that I had Elijah. How convenient!!! Along with a few new friends, too, we were able to form a nice little playgroup.

Logan, Bennie & Elijah
These three are about six weeks apart in age.

This window is the perfect height for these little guys!

Sarah, Adam, Logan, Elijah, Bennie, Sam and Jack

(They are in age order-18 months down to 7 months) Sarah was not happy about getting her picture taken. Can you blame her-with all of those boys?!?!
Logan really wanted Bennie's pacifier!

Happy Birthday, Dada!

Isabella made the gigantic Happy Birthday banner for Mike. She was excited to show it to him when he got home from work tonight.
The kiddos gathered around as he checked out his homemade cards.
Everyone looked on as Mike read the questionaire that the girls completed for him. (Check it out in the following post.)
Mike modeled his new t-shirt for basketball.
Two thumbs up!
Since Mike doesn't like cake, he got a birthday pumpkin pie instead.
Can you guess how old he is by looking at the candles?!?
Here's to another year!!! Happy birthday, Dada/Petro/Michael/Mike!

All About Dada

Since I asked the girls some questions about me for my birthday, I had them answer the same questions about Mike.

By Sienna (age 3 3/4) and Isabella (age 5 3/4)

1. What is something Dada always says to you?
(S) I love you, Peanut.
(I) I love you.

2. What makes Dada happy?
(S) When we tickle him.
(I) When we hug and kiss him.

3. What makes Dada sad?
(S) When he gets hurt.
(I) When Sienna bites me. She used to bite me. When Sienna used to rip books.

4. How does your dada make you laugh?
(S) Tickle us.
(I) When he does what Papa did for him when he was little. The "Be Happy" dance. (Mike sings "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFarrin)

5. What was your dada like as a child?
(S) Acted like a baby and said like, "Goo goo ga ga."
(I) He was crazy. He would bug Aunt Tracy.

6. How old is your dada?
(S) 3 2/3
(I) 23 (23? I asked) 33

7. How tall is your dada?
(S) 100 pounds
(I) Uh...I don't know. He's tall!

8. What is his favorite thing to do?
(S) Play fumble with us.
(I) Play baseball with us.

9. What does your dada do when you're not around?
(S) He doesn't do anything.
(I) Just kind of hang out in the house, go somewhere like the store.

10. If your dada becomes famous, what will it be for?
(S) Hitting us with my grape ball. When we run and he hits us. (Like dodge ball)
(I) Loving us.

11. What is your dada really good at doing?
(S) Playing basketball.
(I) Giving us hugs and kisses. Playing basketball.

12. What is your dada not very good at doing?
(S) Playing checkers.
(I) I don't know.

13. What does your dada do for his job?
(S) Work at work.
(I) He works at P... ... (she said the name of the company) and he sells seeds.

14. What is your dada's favorite food?
(S) Our toes.
(I) Pigs in a blanket. Why do they call it pigs?

15. What makes you proud of your dada?
(S) When he hits us in the face with a rock. (Sienna giggled. Of course, he's never done this! I have no idea what made her say that.) When he kisses us.
(I) For winning in basketball and shooting lots of scores, baskets.

16. If your dada were a cartoon character, who would he be?
(S) He would be a prince with Belle. (The Beast?) A prince for Mama!
(I) Superman

17. What do you and your dada do together?
(S) Play checkers.
(I) We practice baseball, and Dada throws grounders to me with my mitt.

18. How are you and your dada the same?
(S) We are not the same.
(I) We both have the same hair. I'm the only one in this family who has blond long hair!

19. How are you and your dada different?
(S) Because we have a different hair.
(I) Because he's taller than me and I'm short.

20. How do you know your dada loves you?
(S) Because he loves to hug us.
(I) Because he gives me hugs and kisses.

21. Where is your dada's favorite place to go?
(S) Bertucci's
(I) He likes to go places with us like Bertucci's and Emma's.
Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

.

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers
Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers