Busy Bees

He says his name! We get overly excited when we hear him using words, putting two words together, and communicating with us. He walks around calling for Emma, he leans forward in his carseat trying to see her next to him, calling her name, and when she answers- he has nothing to say- just wanted to know she was there :) In the video, he is posing for a "picture" in the beginning, so he keeps saying "cheese"....

Look at my big girl!!!!!! She is on the lower balance beam in this picture- hard to see- but there she is, all by herself in the pink leotard, inching her way to the end. On the first day of gymnastics, she was absolutely terrified of the balance beam. Grabbing on to the teacher's hand, and eventually a death grip on the poor little girl standing on the beam behind her. But look at her now! By the end of the class, she was a confident little cookie!

 And speaking of confidence- we celebrated big when she buttoned her pj's all by herself :) Little miss independent is getting dressed on her own, often times picking her outfit out by herself. And for some reason, always does a wardrobe change during "quiet time" while she is locked upstairs during Levi's nap. I send her up there wearing her clothes from the morning, and quite often, she comes down in a fancy skirt and shirt, ready for the afternoon's activities.

 Levi has quite an arm. Seriously- the kid can throw. Emma.......still working on it, but little L- he can throw that ball! So we pulled out the hoop when the sun began to peek through and had some fun. It wasn't long before he realized he could toss the ball off the deck & I would have to go get it for him. Mama's gonna put a stop to THAT game!!

 But we are certainly looking forward to Spring! Perhaps we jumped the gun, but we already brought out a lot of our toys in anticipation of the warmer weather. I can't wait- they are at a great age right now, and we are going to have so much fun together!!

 And we make the best of it no matter what :) With our one big snowstorm this winter, I decided to bring the kids sledding. I have never gone sledding myself, so I really had no clue what I was doing but figured I would give it a try. First of all- it is EXHAUSTING dragging them around on the sled! AND even more so running up the hills to try and sled down the hills. After running circles around our backyard a few times, and sledding down the tiny hill off our front steps, we went to the neighbors for an hour and went down the hill back there. They are New England natives, and showed us the real thrill of the snow! We made snow angels, went tubing down the hill....even on our belly! And I learned that I was using the sled backwards.....whoops!!!

 Playtime at the YMCA after Emma's gymnastics class. Levi was hesitant to go down the slide, so Emma ran right over to him, sat at the bottom with open arms and said "Come on Levi, I got ya!".

 The little scoundrel! Stripped down naked all by himself, took off his diaper, walked over to the diaper & wipes stash and wiped his little tushie! Saying "tush, tush, tush" the whole time. I began to have flashbacks of poop covered cribs & walls- and immediately pulled out the footless bodysuit PJ's we zipped up backwards on Emma when she was his age. Ya know.....just incase :)

 My biggest fears, have been put to rest :) I was so worried that my kids wouldn't play together or be close because they were different genders. Well, they have proven me wrong! They feed off each other. Levi mirrors Emma- everything she does. EVERYTHING!

 The kid can really rock the high heels! I need to get him some manly dress up clothes so he can join in on the party.....

 My creative little genius. Her teddy names are (in order) Emma Bunny, teddy, girlie girl, and catty cat. Oh yea, and her blanket- blankie blank.

 Time Out! These chickens can be very mischevious. After clearly telling them BOTH not to crawl up onto the window ledge, they completely ignored me and continued on their journey to the window. I pulled them both down and told them to sit in time out (where Emma is). But- they were a little over excited to be in there together, so I seperated them. And as I sat watching them, it was just too cute not to take a picture!

That being said- I wish I had the words to convey just how much I really do enjoy my little loves. Especially now. Levi is SUCH a sweetheart. SO much more enjoyable than he was for the first year of his life. And I say that with lots of love for my difficult little baby boy! He is awesome. Totally turned a corner, he is happy, loving, and a total clown! He seems to have chilled out A LOT and enjoys playing and snuggling now. Always making me laugh- his facial expressions are hysterical. The looks he gives me with those big brown eyes- I don't know where he gets it from!!!

Our crazy fun life

I have a mix of different pictures from before & after our trip to FL that I've been wanting to post. They capture all the fun we have on a daily basis :)

Emma's friend Samantha came over to play after school one day. These two are so crazy together. They met when Emma was Levi's age (18mos), they are in preschool together, they fight, they chase, and they love! This particular playdate reminded me of a friend of mine and the way we used to be when we were their age (any guesses.....michelle.......??)!

Playing on the swings in FL. We have a picture in our house of Levi on this swing from last winter, and Emma always talks about going back to the park in FL to play on these swings. So here we are. And surprise, surprise, little Emma can pump that swing all by her big-girl-self!!!

A tea party for 3. Hands down, my favorite part of any day is when I see these two playing together, giggling, calling/looking for each other, snuggling..........anything. As times goes by and Levi is able to communicate with Emma better, they are playing more and more. The other night, Emma leaned over to Levi in bed while we were reading books and said "Levi, you are my best friend", with a big hug. My two little loves, love each other, and I love it. LOVE!

It helps that he lets her dress him up :)

Emma's new giant size dollhouse she got for Hanukah!

 

playing catch, aka, avoid the ball Levi chucks towards your face



Look closely, Levi is sporting a pink princess skirt. And I'm pretty sure he slipped out of his high heels as he was running to sneak into this picture :)



Playing with the neighbors. We are so lucky to have a best bud for Levi living right behind us!!



And the big news!!!! We finally said goodbye to the Cav......and hello to a Chevy HHR! Felix was driving the cavalier ever since we bought the van. This two-door beauty served me well since my sophomore year in college, and with just over 120k miles, it was slightly sad to give it up. But, with a trunk that wouldn't open, an emergency break on the brink of failure....again......, a door that alerts EVERYONE you are here with its awkward squeal when you open it, and the strange ticking sound the car made when in reverse, we felt it was time. Not to mention the fact that we didn't think it was safe enough to drive the kids in, perhaps Felix shouldn't be driving it either!!

So, hello HHR. I'm not sure what is most exciting about this new car. The nice drive, the black color and tinted windows, the electric locks & windows, room for the kids, the working & spacious trunk. Felix is so happy to be driving it, AND, he picks Emma up from school when he can so Levi can nap, which makes ME happy. A very exciting time for all!!!

Little Jill

I just went through a box of my old things that were stored at my parents house. (It has been sitting in a trunk in my house for 3 years now.....).

We kept a journal in 4th grade. Some days were "free writing" and others were assigned topics. I get the feeling this was the first year they taught us D.A.R.E. Here are a few excerpts. Not much has changed :)

Nov.29, 1989
The thing that worries me the most is that people are taking drugs and it might get worse. I thnk that it should be against the law to even sell cigarettes. That way people who smoke wont smoke anymore. I also think that if people make cigarettes they should get arrested.

Dec. 1, 1989
I think boys get it easy because boys go and look for an easy job so he can leave the girl at home and have her do the chores. Boys just load the dishwasher. We unload them and dry them and put them away. We also have to take care of the children like getting ready for school and carpools.

March 14, 1990
If I was asked to make a ten minute speech, I would talk slow and the subject I would talk about would be about drugs. I would talk about drugs because I would want everybody to know all the harm drugs do to you.

March 29, 1990
No, I don't have too many chores, and if I could assign chores, I would keep the ones that my dad does. The ones my dad does is make hot chocolate in the morning, and come home at night and eat dinner, or help with homework.

May 8, 1990
On June 28, it is my birthday. I am going to get my ten speed bike. I cant wait. This time, my bike will be brand new. It wont be one from the garage that everyone has used. I can't wait.

June 1, 1990
I don't know if I will do as my parents expected when I grow up. I think I will do better than they hoped I would do or at least I hope so. But I don't know what I will be like when I grow up, I only know one thing that is going to happen when I grow up. It is that I will still have my sisters that I hate but won't hate them then, and I will always have my family and friends. But you have to play it by ear to see how you are going to be later on.

June 6, 1990
When I am 30 years old, I will have a job which is teaching. I will have a nice house, and when I wake up, I could go downstairs and have coffee on the table, then get dressed. I would go to school, teach and have fun. I would also be planning in the summer to be a camp nursery school teacher. After school was out I would sit down, grade papers, clean my desk, and do whatever teachers do when school is out. Then I would go home, and take some school stuff home to do too. I would go home in my red sports car, because school is too far away for the van. I would be home by about 3:00 and probably about 3 hours later my husband would get home. On my way home I would pick up my two toddlers and go home to cook them dinner or pick something up. Then after dinner, I would sit down and relax. My two 2-year olds could be in bed. My husband would be doing work like paying bills or still trying to put Amy & Leslie to bed (the kids had names????). After that my husband and I will eat because we would have already fed the children. Then I would relax and feed my hermit crab, turtle, and bird. In the morning at the breakfast table my husband would sit down and eat breakfast, and leave for work. I forgot to tell you about my house. It will be white and peach, it will be a two-story house in California so that in the summer on weekends we can go surfing. We will keep the surfing boards in the airconditioned garage along with rafts to go in the pool. I will have a playroom in the garage for the children. Inside will be my room with a water bed, and mirrors, and a big bathroom. The children will share a room.