My girly girl

Three year olds are full of all kinds of charm. Emily has been on a roll lately!!

.........Girly girl.........
Mommy: Emily, what do you dream about?
Emily: Crowns, hearts, dresses and princesses

.........Deep thoughts by Emily.........

When walking at Mission Trails and talking about how we are going to climb Camelback Mountain together when we visit Grandma Edith in Arizona this spring, I told the kids that they have in fact already climbed Camelback - when they were in my belly. We went when I was a few months pregnant and Jeff and I climbed to the top together then. And Emily, giddy with excitement tells me, "And you put lots of food on us!" Not quite understanding what she was talking about and where that came from, she clarifies, "When we were in your belly, you put lots of food on us!" Ah ha! Based on that logic and our general talk about how they grew in Mommy's belly before they could come out, it makes perfect sense! Babies and food all go in your belly!

.........Polite Emily.........

Emily picks up a rock on the trail. A bug flies near her ear. Emily: "Please leave me alone little bug. I don't want to play right now." Bug sensitivity training sure has been working well! Many of you probably remember our trip to Goebberts Pumpkin Patch last year when a ladybug landed on her hand and at least 20 minutes of crying and screaming ensued... Clearly, since then we've been working really hard to not flip out about bugs. Even spiders...

Indy

While we were in Chicago, we were lucky to go visit Kristin, David & Ryan in Indy. We sure had a great time! We visited their local creamery for a farmer's market, fresh ice cream and lunch. And then we also visited the Indianapolis Children's Museum. For what it's worth, it is probably THE best children's museum I've been to. It's huge and so diverse and really works for kids of any age. It was a blast!!

At the creamery sharing some ice cream at 10:30am!

Uncle David & Ryan at the creamery.

Uncle David, Ryan & Emily at the Indy Children's Museum on the train

Kyle had a field day with the hula hoops at the Children's Museum. He seriously played with them for at least a half hour!

Kyle playing DJ at the Barbie exhibit for Emily who is about to walk the cat-walk

Emily on the cat-walk

On the cat-walk, yeah!

Kyle takes his 'walk'!

The ball machine was fascinating!

Ryan 'driving' our car

Kyle takes his turn driving our car. Since he saw me take a picture of Ryan doing this, he said to me, "Mommy, take my picture driving the car!"

The trio before bed.

Thanks Kristin, David & Ryan for having us in Indy! We had a great time with you all!!

Equal opportunist

I couldn't help but include these pictures from Chicago. Isaac has quite the fascination with cat food... He doesn't get to eat it, sorry Ike, but he sure does try! And Olivia just looks at him as if to taunt. When Kyle & Emily were Isaac's age, they were always after the dog food and water bowl. They loved putting the dry food into the water (when they hadn't already dumped it out) and watching it expand.

Strike!

While in Chicago, we had to find a lot more indoor activities for Kyle & Emily to get their energy out. One of their favorites was bowling. Kyle especially took to bowling. We have gone taken them bowling in San Diego, but they made good strides this time. Must have been the shoes! Normally they don't require bowling shoes for little kids, but this alley did. And even the little kid bowling shoes are gross! Didn't think that was possible.

Anyhow, we had our bumper lane and the kids started off rolling the ball between their legs. Remember the scene from the 80's movie Uncle Buck when the little girl goes bowling and the ball gets to the pins and stops? Well, we had a few of those rolls so we got the ramp. That lasted a few frames and then Kyle decided he wanted to hold the ball the appropriate way. They both learned how to put their fingers in the appropriate holes, but couldn't quite hold the 6 pound ball (lightest they had) in one hand. It was quite cute - Kyle would use his left hand to put his fingers in the ball, but then when he rolled it, he would twist it around to his right so he could push / throw it with his right despite his left fingers being in the ball.

The first game we played, the kids actually tied and they both had a spare! It was quite exciting. The second game, Emily lasted one frame and decided she was done. So Kyle bowled out the second game by himself! It was quite impressive his stamina and focus. As we were leaving the bowling alley, I told the kids how impressed I was with their bowling skills and how they are getting good at bowling, Kyle smiles, looks at me and says, "Yes Mommy. You are really proud of me!"

Kyle getting his fingers just right

Strike!

Emily getting her fingers in the ball. This ball is 20% of her body weight!

A good looking roll!

Happy birthday Isaac!

Wow, time has flown by! Isaac is already one!! I know as a parent how fast time goes. As an aunt, it seems to go even faster!! Happy birthday Isaac! Luckily and thankfully, we were in Chicago to celebrate Isaac's first birthday with him. It was a lot of fun. Everyone was there!

Emily helping Isaac with his birthday vegan cupcake. Poor little guy is allergic to a lot of tasty things right now (eggs, dairy, nuts, etc.). Hopefully he grows out of them! So he celebrated with some vegan chocolate cupcakes his loving mommy, Aunt Kimmy made for him. Like many one-year-olds experiencing sugar for the first time, he wasn't so sure what to make of it.

Some downtime in the festivities - Emily, Kyle & Ryan cuddling on the couch, watching a show. They sure loved being together!

And the action begins again! Emily & Kyle wrestling Uncle David.

Post cupcake jam-session with Uncle GT. Kyle sure loves jammin' with Uncle GT.

On his actual birthday, Kimmy and I took the kids over to the Elk Grove Park District for some fun at their carousel and play center. Ike's first go-round he wasn't so sure what to make of it, but was totally fine because he knew his mama was right there with him. Admittedly, the carousel goes quite fast! Makes you a bit nauseous standing next to your kids spinning around.

Kyle & Emily loved it! (The first time we ever took the kids on this, Kyle wanted NOTHING to do with it. Clearly, he's since changed his mind!)

Miko rides Olivia. Too funny not to include.

Making cut-out cookies later in the week for some fun since we didn't make them at Christmas.

Fancy haircuts

Kyle & Emily got their first haircut in an adult salon this week.  Colleen gave them the royal treatment!  Kyle, who hasn't worn the cape since his very first haircut and has been that kid running around the place with his shirt off to get the hair off, wore the cape.  On the way over, I even tried bribing him saying Miko could come in with him and stay under the cape if he wore the cape.  Not even the bribe of Miko got him excited to wear the cape.  But Colleen has the magic touch!  He even let her put spikes for his do.  While Kyle was getting his cut, Emily got her hair washed in the big sink.  Then for Emily's turn, she got a trim, blow dry and straightening.  They were so excited to get home and show Jeff their new do's! And the next day they wanted the same thing, spikes and straightening.  Thanks Colleen!

Sporting our new haircuts with Colleen.  Don't forget the lollipops!

Oh yea!

Check out my spikes!

Little Gamers

Jeff has introduced Kyle & Emily to the wonder that is Nintendo and he couldn't be more proud of his little gaming prodigies. He found his old system from when he was a kid and has been working his way through the games with the kids. Kyle, in particular, is incredibly thrilled about this. His favorite games include Karate Kid and Off Road.  And for Emily, while she enjoys the games to some extent, her most favorite part is when any girl shows up on the game, she exclaims, "Look, there's a princess!!"  Even the women presenting the trophies on the race car game are princesses! 

Nighttime funtime

Nightime is often quite fun with the kids. Over the holidays at Papa's house, we had lots of fun with nighttime, especially with all of the cousins around.

Emily, Kyle, Ben, Aunt Stephanie, Davie & Jadon listening to the story.

Aunt Stephanie reads to Ben & Davie, Kyle & Emily, and Jadon while Brennan looks on (not in the picture, but just to Jadon's left)

Snuggles!

We wanna see the words!

Looking at the lyrics while snuggling with Mommy.

This is a prelude to an older post, but I won't backdate it, of the kids singing Billy Joel's lullaby which Jeff taught the kids. It's the cutest thing listening to them sing the song.

Uncle GT's story time

Yes, I've been slacking on the blog. A lot of posts to do from the past month+, but here's a few cute pictures from the other day. GT was reading a book to Isaac before bedtime and Kyle & Emily wanted to join in. So Emily crawled into his lap. And then Kyle jumped in right in the middle.