The monsters....i mean....munchkins!

The boy loves everything is sister does. Even the high heels.

  Look at the way he looks at her!

 He is everywhere, all the time. And he is fast! His favorite activity is throwing things. Anything he picks up- throws it across the room. That will come in handy later when he is in the pool, but for now- I would prefer he learn to play a bit more gently! He has learned how to climb on just about everything as well, and if he doesn't know how to climb on it- he finds a way. And forget about getting down! The kid has no fear! Today, he actually did a flip right over the side arm of the couch, got up and cried a bit, then climbed right back on and fell off the side of the cushion!



trying to throw one of his little people through the window

  And on the homefront....MORE home improvement projects! Yeay! We finally put in beautiful, amazing, soft, thick, fluffy carpet in the living room and it was one of our best decisions! It has completely transformed the house into a home and we feel was our best investemnt (besides the kitchen, of course). Amazing. We couldn't be happier! We also put carpet in our bedroom, which gives a lovely warm and cozy feeling and I love stumbling out of bed onto a sea of softness! Plus, I'm pretty sure the living room carpet has helped in preventing multiple concussions for our little adventurous Levi ; )

 and I even used some leftover shelving to throw together a cute little home office in our back hallway nook....

Emma's first trip to the dentist! She was extremely excited. After watching Barney going to the dentist for the past few months, she knew exactly what to expect and loved playing dentist on us any chance she could get. She loved the toys in the waiting room, the "special" chair that laid down, the tools, and the light. The hygenist didn't turn on the light, and Emma questioned her on it!! She also got to enjoy Nemo during her cleaning.

 The whole thing took less than 10 minutes, and yes, I was gently encouraged to lose the binky. Emma's front teeth are also chipped, which I knew, but they told me to keep an eye on it. Levi has chipped teeth too. Perhaps the children should stop slamming their face on the floor.

 Woohoo for dentist prizes! Along with her big girl toothbrush and toothpaste, she picked out a magic wand and a Justin Beiber sticker. So exciting!!! She did great, wasn't scared at all, and thank goodness- received a great report for clean and healthy teeth (despite the spacing issue, of course)!

 And to finish off the day of beauty, she came home for some much deserved hair & make-up time with the boys!

Once a month, I try to have a "girls night" with my friend Kristy who I never get to see because she works way too hard coaching at Brown. We used to see each other everyday when we were roomates, worked at MIT together and then HMR. But, she eventually went on to coach at Brown and I stopped working and stayed home to play with Emma & Levi! So now she & Felix see each other daily, which is just not fair!! So, about once a month after I put Levi to bed & Felix comes home from work- Kristy & I go out on the town (actually- any restaurant we can find that will stay open past 9pm!) and catch up over dinner while Felix puts Emma to bed.

I came home around 11pm to find my husband sick in bed and sleeping, and when I checked the baby monitors- Emma's bed was EMPTY!!! I noticed the hall light on, so I quickly chose which words I would use to make her get and stay in her bed, crept up the stairs to her room.....and found this:

 
 My sweet little girl, passed out cold on the floor, snuggled up with her Emma bunny, a book, and her binky. She didn't even wake when I picked her up and put her back in bed!

Since preschool started this year, we have a very nice, fulfilling, busy schedule. This is turning out to be my favorite time yet! I am not sure if it is the kids ages, or that there are two of them, or what- but I am loving this time we have together! Emma has school from 9-1 on Tues and Thursdays, which she loves. Levi & I run errands and spend quality time together on Tuesdays while she is in school, and on Thursdays we go to music class- where he has a blast! Wednesdays the three of us go to storytime at the library and then play in the kids area picking out all sorts of books and movies. And Fridays, Emma takes a sports class and Levi plays in the kiddie play area. I tried to get some pictures of her sports class, but the lighting was bad and I had Levi screaming his head off trying to escape out of my arms- so the pix are a bit blurry!

 Originally, I thought this sports class was a great idea- Emma would be in the class for an hour while Levi played in the open court. Plus, the kids can play in the open court with all the ride on toys & bouncy houses and slides anytime we want during the week. Win-Win, right? Well, I underestimated how CRAZY and FEARLESS my 1 year old boy is! I was literally sweating from chasing him around saving his life the entire hour. Every time I turned my head he was either standing at the top of a slide about to fall, climbing into ride on toys with half his body still dragging on the floor, escaping into storage closets or other no-kid zones, trying to join Emma's class, and the worst one.....he wiggled himself into the corner behind the bouncy house and actually had his finger on the power switch when I swooped him up just in time. EXHAUSTING!

 But, Emma has fun in the class (as long as she doesn't see the open play area first!)

We also made a nice trip out to Salem one Sunday to visit my friend Alison who brought us to this awesome park that was totally kid friendly! It was a very historic area with walk-up window restaurants, little shops and some carnival rides. Oh, and lots of ice cream stores- our favorite! It was the perfect opportunity to sit & chat to catch up with my friend over some lunch while Emma ran around the park. We then let the kids loose to enjoy some rides before heading home.

We have been busy busy busy, but it has been so fun. These two are hilarious together, and I've noticed that with our busy "pre-nap" activities, after nap-time we actually enjoy hanging out in the house together just relaxing and playing whatever imaginary game Emma sets up for us. And when I go into my (newly gated) kitchen to cook, the kids play/yell/play/yell/play together quite well!