Fall Pictures

This weekend we took adavantage of the WONDERFUL weather we've been having and we took some fall pictures. The weather was perfect - maybe even a little warm for the sweaters the kids were dressed in. We had a fun time and the kids loved walking around the park.

Happy Birthday Claire

Claire turned 5 years old today. We had a family celebration, ate some cake and opened presents. It was a fun day, hopefully fun for my little girl. It just doesn't seem possible that she is already 5.

we gave her this ribbon wand that she loved to wave around.

Owen also loved the ribbon wand, but couldn't figure out how to wave it around without hitting Amelia on the head.

Here is Amelia trying to hit herself on the head with the wand - I think she got hit with it so many times she figured that's what it was for.

Every year on their birthdays, I write down a list of their favorites. Here's Claire's from this year:

• color: pink
• movie: Barbie Diamond Castle and Enchanted
• food: pizza and Alfredo sauce with noodles
• song: I Love to See the Temple
• watching Word Girl on PBS
• playing Word Girl games on the computer
• going to gymnastics
• and, of course, Sprinkles (her little stuffed giraffe she has loved since she was about 4 months old)

Happy Birthday, Claire.

we love you SOOOO much

Happy Birthday, Amelia Mae

I can't believe she's already one year old.

Amelia's favorite things:

• bathtime
• being outside
• playing pat-a-cake (her little finger is the cutest when she 'marks it with a B')
• her Fisher Price piano - she loves sitting on the seat and dancing to the music
• her pink blankie with satin edges
• Claire and Owen
• when Daddy comes home from work (she holds her arms out to him and grunts until he comes over and gives her a hug)
• Gerber Graduates fruit snacks

Amelia's stats (just for the record):

• 15 lbs. 14 oz.
• 3 teeth; two on the top, one on the bottom (we were worried that she was going to be 'Hagdalena Magdalena' for the rest of her life (are you familiar with the song?) "She had two teeth in her mouth, one pointed north and the other pointed south". Fortunately, another broke through earlier this week.
• crawling, but has taken a few steps
• first word: ow! - she says this anytime anything (even remotely) hurts.
• nicknames: miss Mae, Mia (Owen calls her this. I think he thinks he is saying 'Amelia' but doesn't quite get the 'L' sound in there), Amelia Bedelia (Dave calls her this all the time and sometimes even shortens it to just 'Bedelia')

Happy Birthday, Amelia. We love you.

The Next Food Network Star

Claire LOVES the Food Network.

She knows all the stars and asks to watch their shows - especially Giada De Laurentiis in Everyday Italian. She'll play in the bathtub with bowls and measuing cups like she is adding ingredients and making some sort of dish - and explains everything as she goes. The other night at dinner (Dave was working late, so we were having a very easy baked potato bar) she was thanking me for making dinner and in a very Giada-like fashion (hand gestures and all) said, "mom, this is SO good. I can taste the potato and the sour cream AND the cheese and it is just sooo good."

I am so hoping that Claire will keep her love for all things in the kitchen. I would love to have one good cook in our family!

Our Garbage Man

Our Owen has two responses when we ask him what he wants to be when he grows up: one is a garbage man, the other a garbage truck.

He LOVES practicing dumping stuff from one thing into another or simply dumping stuff on the floor. The problem with this is that lately our toy room is NEVER clean because Owen loves to dump stuff out, but doesn't love to clean up afterwards. I've tried to tell him that the garbage man doesn't make a mess, he helps us by taking the trash away so we don't have such a mess, but he isn't grasping the concept. A few responses he has made when i've been frustrated with the mess he mas made have been: "but, I was making a mountain" or "but, I was being the garbage man". I wish you could see the innocent look on his face - I just can't stay mad.

Before bed on Sunday night, Owen dutifully helps Dave gather up and take out the trash and organize the recycling. His Monday mornings are spent patiently waiting at the front window for the garbage man and the recycle man to grace the curb in front of our house. One day Owen was standing in our front yard to get a closer look at the trash being lifted into the truck and the garbage man waved at him as he went by. Owen had the biggest smile on his face for the rest of the day.

the beginning

ok, so here we are
i've been wanting to do this for a long time, but with all three kids could never find the time.
so often things will happen that I want to write down so i'll remember forever and I guess this is the perfect way to make that happen - and to share with our friends and family the things that are happening in our lives.