Chronicles of Five

The big 0 4 for my boy!

2011-08-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

This post is a little late. Sagen turned 4 on July 12th! We have been running crazy since then, so I have just gotten the chance to write.
I cannot believe he is 4! I swear he was JUST born. I think he is the best boy in the world! He is a charmer who has about 30 girls that he believes he will marry! Here are some of the cool things he is doing:

He is still a lover and cuddler. He loves hugs, kisses and cuddles.
He is a little stinker who tries to get away with everything.
He is a white belt in Little Dragons karate and does very well listening to the teacher Mr. K.
He is a good counter and knows most of his letter sounds.
He loves to play with ninja stuff like pretend swords. He is going to be a ninja when he grows up.
He loves his sister very much!
He likes to play school and "vacation" with his sister.
He is very active and athletic.
He is a BIG ham!
He is in his last year of preschool and will be a Kindergartner next year (Yikes)!

I am so glad the he is my son.

6 years old!!!

2011-06-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Lorelei is 6 years old today! I cannot believe how time has flown. 6 years ago I became a mommy to a beautiful infant and now I have a beautiful 6 year old! She is going to be a first grader. She did very well in Kindergarten and loved her teacher. I am getting better about her growing up and I am not as sappy as I use to be about it :P She does freak me out a bit when she starts talking about how cool it will be when she is nine or when she goes to college. Here are some of the new things she is doing:

She can sound out most words and can read books very well (when she wants to).
She has given up ballet and started karate. She LOVES it. She does very well listening to Mr. K and doing her kicks and punches. It is so cute to watch her. She has her yellow belt and is well on the way to her orange.
She is still a great big sister and a very sweet girl.
She has grown a little shy, but will still talk your ear off if she knows you.
She has begun writing letters and stories and has made friends at school.
She has decided that she is going to be a vet and is sticking to it.
She has become quite the little artist and even painted a wonderful picture on a canvas.
She has a mind like s steel trap. She remembers things that happened when she was 2!
She is getting some pretty healthy eating habits and will choose fruit over chocolate.

I think she is the best little girl anyone could have :)

Christmas Finally!

2011-03-08T12:25:00.001-08:00

So yes in is MARCH and i am just posting about Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas. We had an early Christmas with the Hierstein's at my parents house because Bob had to work on Christmas day. Then mom and dad came to our house on Christmas day. It was a very relaxed day and the kids for to play all day with their toys. The both got a ton of stuff. Lorelei got everything on her list that she write for Santa (in her own writing) and Sagen got everything he asked for including the Lion-o toy that "Santa" searched all over Ebay for.

Sagen decorating the tree.

Lorelei (during her glasses phase) decorating the tree.

Showing of their gingerbread house and the candy they ate
while building it.

Putting out the Christmas cookies!

Checking if he ate the cookies :)

Lion-o!!!

Zhu-zhu pets!!!

Showing off the whole haul!

Showing off her haul!

Perhaps my FAVORITE picture of him EVER!!

Goomagizzles!

2010-11-14T10:34:00.001-08:00

This summer while visiting my Grandma Paddy and Auntie Lisa the kids were introduced to goomagizzles. Goomagizzles are little treats made with leftover pie crust. My Grandma's mother use to make them. Lisa say hers included raisins, but the ones we made this summer did not. They were simply pie crust sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and baked. I had some left over pie crust today so we made goomagizzle for a little treat. We cut them into Christmas shapes because we are READY for Christmas in this house!
getting ready to roll the dough!

Manning the rolling pin!

cutting a bell

adding the cinnamon sugar

more cinnamon sugar

Yummy!!
Delicious!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-14T10:27:00.001-08:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

We had a GREAT Halloween! We went to the pumpkin patch, the zoo, carved pumpkins AND went Trick or treating. Lorelei was a fairy (didn't wear her wings) and Sagen was a Werewolf at the zoo (without the mask) and Spiderman for trick or treating (again without the mask).

Camping!!!

2010-11-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

We went camping a few weeks ago with a group of friends. We went up on Mt. Lemmon so it was nice and cool. The kids had a really good time and really enjoyed themselves.
Playing with the headlamps in the tent.

Exploring nature.

They had the greatest time on this log!

Moxie was a little sick :( she spent the whole time in the pack and play.

Just a pic of our boy.

First day of school!!

2010-11-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

The first day of school this year was a BIG day in our household. Lorelei started Kindergarten and Sagen started preschool. Since I am so late in posting this I can tell you that it is going GREAT for both of them. Lorelei Met or Exceeded ALL of the Kindergarten standards for the 1st quarter, she has gotten a score OVER what is necessary at the end of the year on one of our district tests, and she is starting to read a lot of words. Most importantly she loves it and is interested! She WANTS to read things and she WANTS to go to school. I was going to let her stay home one day because she had a cold and she didn't want too. Sagen is liking school as well. He has the option to stay home with grandma and grandpa on Fridays, but he chooses to go to school. He loves playing with the other kids and is doing well with following directions.
Here are some first day of school pictures!

Getting ready to go.

Some nervous smiles and faces!

Look at our cool backpacks!

At school.

breakfast!

With her teacher Mr. Herndon. He ROCKS!

Walking to class

Summer

2010-11-01T21:12:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Here is a slide show of our GREAT summer road trip! We drove from AZ to ME and spent about 2 weeks there. We had a great time with the Raymonds, Pipers, Allens, Lees and our family. We went to the beach, had a birthday party and went to Santa's Village. It was a busy wonderful trip. Then, we headed to MA to see Kadin, Emily and Bucky. We had a great time with them and enjoyed playing in their cool yard. After that we headed to PA to visit Molly at her grandmother's farm. The kids had never been to a farm and had a great time exploring. True to form, Sagen stripped down with in the hour and sang the "naked dance" song for Molly's grandma! After that we stopped for two weeks to see our family in Iowa. We saw friends and family there and had ANOTHER birthday party. We were tired when we finally headed home. Once we got here we hung out with the Wallace's a lot and added a new puppy to our family. Oh, and had ANOTHER birthday party. It was a GREAT summer!!

Give me a T, give me a H, Give me REE!!!

2010-07-12T18:12:00.001-07:00

Today my baby turns 3! He is the best boy in the world. He is so grown up in some ways and still my baby in so many others. He still LOVES his mama and LOVES to cuddle. If he is upset, mama is still the only one that can calm him. Here are some of the things he can do:

He can talk circles around most kids his age and many five year olds!
He can climb anything, run fast and far, and hit and kick a ball.
He is very happy boy (most of the time) he can find joy in almost everything.
He is also can cry like NOBODIES business! He is LOUD!
He can stay dry 95% of the time.
He LOVES to swim.
He has NO FEAR.
He can take a tumble and jump right back up.
He know the words to a lot of songs (even some I wish he didn't)
He is shy sometimes and VERY friendly others. He will tell complete strangers his business, but he would never go with them.
We can pretty much trust him to play in his room by himself or with his sister.
He is funny and makes us laugh everyday.
He LOVES to give me hugs and kisses

I can't believe he is three. I love him more then any other baby boy in the word and most of the girl (except one).

FIVE!!!!! That is right, I said FIVE!!!

2010-06-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is now five. I have written 5 birthday blogs about her and spent 5 wonderful years being her mama. I love watching her grow and change. She is no longer a baby, a toddler, or even a preschooler! She is a girl. A little girl mind you, but she is getting bigger everyday. She still likes to get cuddles and hugs from her mama though so I can handle it (sorta). This year has once again brought about a lot of changes for her.
She can do a lot of new things. Here are a few of here 5 year old skills:

she can hop on one foot (we found this out after we told the Dr. she couldn't and she looked at us and hopped across the room)
she can write her name and copy other words. This is still not one of her favorite activities, but she will do it.
she can read some small words and repetitive books. This is something she DOES enjoy.
she can spell small words if I help her break it down. I have HIGH hopes that she will be a great speller unlike her mama.
she is starting to color more carefully and stay in the lines better, but she does not like to draw her own pictures to much.
She STILL loves to use her imagination and will play for a long time with her brother while he pretends to be one character from their show of the day and she pretends to be the other.
She choose quiet sitting/thinking activities as much as she chooses loud rambunctious ones.
She can comfort her brother when he cries as long as she wasn't the one who MADE him cry.
She STILL closes her eyes when she says "cheese" which makes her very hard to photograph.
She can take an idea or thought and make it into a full sentence for a letter or a story.
She loves playing with her friends and her brother, but is also content playing alone.
She is still taking ballet and will join Daisy Scouts this year and MAY choose to play a sport (don't worry we will make sure she is not over scheduled!)
She is getting braver and braver in the water. We also need to sign her up for "big girl" swimming lessons where I don't have to get in the water with her.

I can't believe she is doing all these things and turning into such a big girl. I am proud of her. She is off to BIG things like Kindergarten and she is taking it in stride. I on the other hand tear up at the though :P

Preschool Graduate!!!

2010-05-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is Lorelei 2 years ago on her first official day of preschool. She didn't want to look at the camera, but we do have proof that she was there.

This is her today at her preschool graduation. I do not know where that time has gone! She is now onto the big world of KINDERGARTEN!!! Let's hope her mama can handle, because I KNOW SHE IS READY!!!!!!

Receiving her diploma

Freshly graduated showing off the goods.

Just thinks she looks beautiful here.

With mommy and daddy. Sagen was to busy eating cake.

Notice my red nose. I didn't SOB but I did cry.

Baby Birds!!

2010-05-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we notice a humming bird sitting on a nest by our front door. When she went away for some food we check and there were two eggs.

a few days later we check again and found these cuties. We of course didn't touch them or even breath on them, but we checked on them everyday.

Last week there was only one and then none. They had grown up and flown from the nest! We are so happy.

Speaking of birds growing up and moving on stayed tuned for pictures of our own little bird as she leave the nest of preschool. That's right! OUR BABY GIRL WILL BE A PRESCHOOL GRADUATE!!

Lorelei is a punk rocker!!!

2010-05-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Last week was spirit week at our school. Lorelei and I decided to go punk and give her a mowhawk. Each pony was a different color. Needless to say, she won the prize for preschool that day (and no neither Brain and I were judges).

Spring Break!

2010-04-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

We had a great spring break. We went to the zoo with Shannon and her family, the Desert Museum with Molly and her sister Ali (I don't have pics of the zoo), went to the safety fair and got new bike helmets (for free!), had a kite flying day, and Easter! It was a busy and fun break!

Desert Museum

Riding the turtle statue at the Desert Museum

Lorelei the bat.

Sagen the bat.

Lorelei was into making faces that day!

Dying eggs

When we dyed our eggs we used the whisk trick that a friend of mine found. We stuck the eggs in a whisk so the kids could get them in and out of the dye easily. It worked great!

Lorelei showing off the whisk trick

A day outside

kite flying

playing ball

Easter

With their baskets.

A gift from the Easter Bunny. We did have a egg hunt, but all those pictures are on the video camera.

posing for pictures

Giant eggs from Gramma

While all the boys were running around Lorelei sat quietly playing with her new Polly Pocket from Lisa. It is VERY uncharacteristic of her to miss out on the rough play so she obviously LOVED it.

Dress up!

They also played a lot of dress up.

The rest of Christmas...

2010-01-24T15:13:00.001-08:00

Here are the final Christmas pics (late of COURSE)!

Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve we went to Butch and Karen's to see all of that family (minus Lance's crew who we saw a few days later). Lorelei and Sagen LOVED playing with Wyatt. I have NO pictures of this cause as soon as I would go in the room with a camera they would all hide or scatter!
Sagen Did sit still for a little snack.
Lorelei did too. I think they enjoyed their floor picnic with the Santa mat.

Then we headed back to Gram's and put out our cookies for Santa.

Christmas Day

The kids got a LOT of presents (not ALL of the ones pictured are theirs). They could barely stand to pose for this picture before opening their stuff!

Lorelei's big present from Santa was a dollhouse! She LOVED it! Although she did LOVE feeding her dollhouse people to Sagen's new dino!
Sagen got a robot truck from Santa. It is voice activated and very cool. He also got a voice activated dinosaur from Grandma and Grandpa. It is also voice activated so we had fun making them talk to each.

It was a loooonnnggg day for Sagen!!

The morning after
We hit the "slopes" in Gram's back yard for a little sledding. Both kids loved it this year. They were able to do it by themselves after we made some paths. We just had to be at the bottom to stop them!

The day after that we had a BIG family meal (see the pics below) and Lorelei enjoyed a turkey leg.

Chritmas a time for friends....

2010-01-24T11:57:00.001-08:00

This Christmas we were able to see some of our Iowa friends. Some we had never met and ohers I have know since they were born.

Sammy, Sophie and Ruby were one of our first stops. We started babysitting for the family when Sammy was 18 months olds and have babysat Sophie since she was born. Ruby is about a year younger then Lorelei. It was so nice to see them. Sammy and Sophie were my first babies and I can't believe how big they have gotten!
Nest we stop to see Caitlyn. She is now a senior in High School and doing very well!

Then we had lunch with Kameron, D, and their little boy Michael. He was so cute! It was the first time we meet him since he is only 9 months old. He is such a sweetie!

Polar Express

2010-01-21T18:14:00.000-08:00

Right before our drive to Iowa we went on the Polar Express. It picked us up in Williams, AZ and drove us to the North Pole (a spot just outside the Grand Canyon). We got hot cocoa and cookies, listened to the Polar Express story, saw Santa and received a bell and then sang songs. It was A GREAT time!

Waiting to got on the train!

Sagen on the train reading the song book.

Lorelei enjoying her Hot Cocoa.

Getting a bell from Santa!

Ready for our photo shoot

2010-01-05T20:52:00.000-08:00

This Christmas we went to Iowa. I PROMISE a lot of pictures of our adventures are coming. However, I am going to start with a post about my favorite part of the trip. A few days after Christmas ALL of my moms brothers and sister and all the grands and greats (minus my dad and Em's family) got together. We had a HUGE photo session and I REALLY will cherish these photos. I think we get together and do this about every 10 years so it really is a rare treat. Here are some of the best photo. All of the photos where taken by Wendy. My beautiful cousin :)

LORELEI'S!!!!
This first one is my favorite. It is of all the Lorelei's. My Uncle Butch and Aunt Karen started a tradition in my family when they named their daughter Wendolyn Lorelei (far left). My parents like the name so when I was born they named my Jessica Lorelei (I hope since you are reading my blog that you know I am the second from the right). Following the tradition my Uncle Bunny and his wife Marilyn named their first daughter Jennifer Lorelei (far right). My cousin Lance and his wife Cherise kept the tradition going in the second generation and name their daughter Rachel Lorelei (2nd from the left). I tweaked the traditon a little and named my baby girl Lorelei Alexis (middle). I love that we have a picture of all of use together.

Grandkids families

My family
Brian, Jessica, Sagen, and Lorelei

Wendy's family
Wyatt, Augie, Zach and Wendy.

Lance's family
Ben, Cherise, Lance and Racheal

Kids Families

Lisa's Family

Seth, Lisa, and Erica (Seth's wife)

Bunny's family
Sasha, Jenny, Ron (Jenny's boyfriend), Colin, Bunny, Marilyn, Jojo, and Mikeal (I prob spelled his name wrong)

Judy's family
Judy, Sagen, Gram, Jessica, Lorelei, and Brian (my husband)

Butch's Family
Cherise, (Lance's wife)m Lance, Ben, Rachael, Wyatt, Wendy, Butch, Karen, Zach (Wendy's family) and Augie.

Gram with her offsping

Kids
Bunny, Gram, Butch, Judy, and Lisa

Grandkids (please note while you are looking at this photo that Gram has her hand on the shoulder of her favorite grandkid ;P )
Jenny, Jessica, Seth, Lance, Gram, Wendy, Sasha, and Colin

Great Grandkids
Augie, Wyatt, Rachel, Gram, Sagen, Lorelei, and Ben

The WHOLE gang!!!
not listing all the names!

We missed Em and her family (who were at home in Mass) and my dad (who was home play Noah to and ark full of dogs), but it was so nice to have ALMOST everyone there!

Hair Cut!

2009-11-17T15:53:00.000-08:00

I finally decided to get Sagen's hair cut. I was getting tired of it getting all knotted and getting stuck in his collar. It also would get very fluffy when I brushed it. So I bit the bullet and had my mom cut it. Here is the before and after.

Before

After

I am very happy with it. He looks like such a big boy!

Cause we NEED a little Christmas!!!

2009-11-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

We are VERY excited about Christmas this year. We are doing a lot of special things so we cannot wait. We are going on the Polar Express then we are heading to Iowa to see EVERYONE!! We have not been with that side of the family for Christmas for 7 years. In that time 5 babies have been born. Four of those "babies" who range from 1-5 years old (we will miss Kadin) along with Rachel (who WAS around the last time we were all together) will be there and that will make Christmas extra special this year. I am picturing it being just like when we were all little. It was LOUD, CHAOTIC and WONDERFUL!!! I cannot wait!
All these things to look forward to have gotten us into the Christmas spirit a little early. We started listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies right after Halloween. This weekend we put up our tree. Sagen was really amazed by the tree. He knows what a Christmas tree is, but I don't think he remembers us having one. He kept saying "Wow! What's it's name?" We have named it Sagen.
Here are some pictures of the decorating. More pics of the finished product with us in front of it will follow.

Sagen using the ladder to hang an ornament. The Ladder was a bigger hit with both of them then the tree!

Lorelei showing off the ballerina ornament that Ms. Toni gave her. She can even tell you that the ballerina is doing a Passe.

Hanging the ballerina on the tree.

More decorating!

Lorelei was REALLY into this year. Sagen liked the tree, but would rather climb the ladder then hang ornaments.

HALLOWEEN!!!!!

2009-11-01T07:34:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween. Both kids really "got it" this year and have been excited ALL MONTH. We spent the afternoon carving our pumpkins and then our friends came over to go trick or treating. We went all over the neighborhood and the kids got a lot of candy. They were really talkative with the people giving out the candy and answered questions about their costumes. Sagen told everybody that he was a dragon whether they ask or not! Most importantly they remembered to say THANK-YOU at every house. Sagen was funny cause he would say, "thank-you" then he would turn to me and say, "Mama, I said Thank-you to that guy!"

Getting ready to carve the pumpkins.

Getting the "pulp" (a term Lorelei learned at school) out.
At this point Sagen was not interested.

Sagen realized that we were making a mess and decided he wanted to help.
He kept getting seeds stuck to his foot so he was mad.

Very Proud of their pumpkins.

Our children are GOOFBALLS. I THINK they
get that from their dad!

Cheese!!!

Eating "sour kids" with the pumpkins.

Pumpkins on display! Lorelei drew the eyes on all of
these pumpkins.

Side view of our Dragon!

Cutest dragon EVER!

Our princess riding her unicorn.

Have you ever seen a cuter princess?

Connor as a lion.

Lets go trick or treating!!!!

"Where are we going?" PUMPKIN PATCH!!!

2009-10-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch today. It was a lot of fun! Sagen and Lorelei both had a blast and the weather was pretty nice. I could have dealt with about 5 degrees cooler, but LAST weekend people visited the same pumpkin patch and 105 degrees so I will take 80something ANY DAY!

Playing on the hay bales.

Gabby and Lorelei. They have been friends since Lorelei was 22 months old and Gabby was just over 2.

Sagen contemplating which pumpkin to pick.

Lorelei choosing her pumpkin!

I don't think she would scare many crows with her cute face!

I don't think he would either!

All the kids (minus the newborn) posing as animals!

Maybe we should have named him Chip!

2009-10-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

Somehow, someway, someday Sagen CHIPPED HIS TOOTH! I am SICK about it. He has a dentist appointment on the 1st on November and they will tell us what we need to do. I am sort of hoping we can do nothing since it is a baby tooth, but I am also sort of hoping the fix it. Ugh!

It is not QUITE as bad as it looks in the picture. It is his left top tooth. It kinda looks like it is both front teeth in this picture, but his front teeth are shaped kind of funny so that is why it looks like that. As you can tell he was NOT happy that I took a picture of it.

A few months in pictures!

2009-10-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

I have gotten REALLY behind in posting. School started and I just got to busy. I will make up for it today. I will give you a rundown on what we have been doing. The most exciting picture for me is at the bottom.

Lorelei had her first day of 4 y/o preschool. Her mommy had her first panic attack about Kindergarten next year! I can't believe she has gotten so big.

We went on a trip to the zoo with Lorelei's friend Jenica. Jenica's mom use to work with Brian and I and Lorelei and Jenica were in preschool together since they were 2. Jenica's mommy had another baby and was able to stay home with girls (LUCKY DUCK). Lorelei and Jenica miss each other a ton so it is nice to get them together every once and a while.

Fall came (though you wouldn't have known it for a while since it was still HOT) and we took a trip to the apple orchard. The kids had a great time picking apples, eating apple pie, and playing with their friends.

On Labor day we joined our friends Angelina and Daniel (and their mom Lori) at the Children's Museum. They were having a Go Green day so there were a lot of fun activities and music. The kids had a blast and Sagen no request to see "Dan-el and Lina" every time we go to the Children's Museum.

Our friends Heather and Elvis had a baby boy at the end of September. Heather had come to out house to pick up a shower gift and SHE WAS IN LABOR. It worked out well because their first baby boy, Connor, was suppose to stay with us while she had the new baby. So Heather said goodbye and Conner and she and I jumped in the van to get her to the hospital. Connor stayed with us and we were parents of three for the weekend. It was a lot of work :P . While Connor was here we went on the "Tucson Light the Night" walk with our friend Toni. It was a Lymphoma walk. We were part of "Toni's Team Hope". It was a very neat walk. We used lighted balloons to light the night.

The next weekend we finally got to meet the new baby, Tanner. Sagen and Lorelei are IN LOVE with him. They kept arguing over who got to hold him.
HERE IS THE MOST EXCITING NEWS OF ALL....................

Sagen is about 90% potty trained!!!! He is in undies during all waking hours. We are still taking him potty rather then him telling us, but he stays dry MOST of the time. He still hasn't mastered pooping on the potty, but we are working on that. He USUALLY poopies before we get his diaper off in the morning.

Hoped you like our little update. Hopefully I will be better about posting in the future.

Ears Pierced!

2009-07-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today Lorelei had to go have a test to see if she still had urinary reflux (she doesn't). It is a test that involves inserting a catheter and filling up her bladder. Needless to say, it is NOT a fun test. We talked about it a lot and I had promised her if she did a good job (i.e. not jump off the table or kick the nurse in the face) she could get her ears pierced. She did a VERY good job so after the test off we went. She was also a very big girl when she got her ears pierced. She cried a little, but overall was very, very brave.

Choosing her earrings.

Waiting (and YES that is a blackeye that she has.
she opened her dresser drawer into her eye!)
Right after with her lollipop!
Another after shot. It is really hard to get a good picture!
Sagen found ways to pass the time while she was getting her ear pierced!

Celebrations!

2009-07-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

If you have been reading lately you know that we had 2 birthdays to celebrate in a 2 week period. Since we already had had the party we decided to do fun family things on their birthdays.
Lorelei's birthday was first. The first thing we did was have breakfast. Lorelei had a piece of cinnamon toast with a candle in it. Then she did a scavenger hunt for her presents. She only got two on her birthday cause she got the others at her party. She had fun following clues to find her gifts. She got the "Cat in the Hat I Can Do That Game" and a Curious George video. She really liked both of there. We set the game up right away and played as a family.

Then we headed off to the zoo for a quick visit.

After that we headed over to Peter Piper for Justin's birthday party. Lisa was nice enough to have a candle for Lorelei to blow out AND brought the kids presents with her. It was a great party.

That evening we went to Little Anthony's Diner. It is a 50s style diner that is really fun. They have old rides up front that actually work, those cut out where you can look like famous people and they give you free ice cream on you birthday and take their picture with you. They then give you a card.

Sagen's birthday was not quite as busy but we still had a great time. We gave him his presents right away. He got a t-ball set and a tool box. He really liked the t-ball set and we immediately walked down to the field by our house to play. After that we had lunch and some ice cream with a candle in it. Sagen LOVED having the birthday song sang to him and blowing out the candle.

After that it was nap time and Sagen INSISTED on sleeping with his bat (I think he liked it)!

After nap we meet Gramma and Grampa at the mall for some playtime and present buying and then headed to Little Anthony's again because Sagen needed his birthday card too!

It's my birfday! I TWO!

2009-07-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

My baby boy is turning 2! I can't believe it. Like his sister it seems like just yesterday he was born. I remember clearly laying in the hospital bed thinking how he was so worth it. Wondering why I was ever worried about handling two and being SO proud of how gentle and loving Lorelei was with him. He has grown so much in the last 2 years. He is a mini POWERHOUSE. He reminds me of a tank (in the most loving way of course) he is low to the ground, but can power through ANYTHING. When I wrote about him at one (you can read that here) I wrote about he was the definition of extreme. That is still true. I have NEVER seen a kid go about things with so much passion and relentlessness that he does. Here is what he is up to:

*He says EVERYTHING!!! He is speaking in words, sentences, PARAGRAPHS. He even use pronouns correctly and even switches tenses and ownership correctly.
*He LOVES the zoo and the Children's Museum and will ask to go there.
*He says "I love you". He will just randomly say this to you throughout the day (I love it).
*He asks questions about your day "Did you have fun at ballet, Mama?" and tells you about his "I had FUN at Alex's party, Mama. Did you have fun?"
*He can sing his ABC and a TON of other songs.
*He LOVES watching Caillou (just like his sister did at his age)
*He is still very attached to his paci
*He will ask someone for a hug when he needs one
*He HATES timeouts
*He HATES sleeping
*When he does sleep it is in his big boy bed
*He has no interest in the potty although he can answer the question "Where should you put your poo poo if you don't want to have to have your diaper changed"
*He likes to jump and run and play.
*He wants to play soccer and baseball
*He wants to take ballet with Lorelei and actually sat in on her class the other day and did great, but he can't ACTUALLY take the class until he is 3
*He is very much a mama's boy

We love him so much!

Here he is through the ages :)

20w u/s
brand new!

one year

How did she get to be 4 already???

2009-06-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

That's right! My little girl is now 4. 4! I can't believe it. It seems like yesterday that I was in the hospital holding my little newborn girl and now she is 4. Then again, although it seems like just yesterday I barely remember what my life was like before her. She is (along with her brother, of course) the light of my life. She is turning into quite the little lady. Here are some of her newest accomplishments and likes:
* She is a ballerina. She takes ballet and really likes it.
* She is still nice to her brother A LOT of the time.
* She is a little sneaky and says things like "canIgooutsideandplayinthepoolrightnow? SAY YES" thinking that I will mindlessly say yes even though she has spoken so fast that I have no idea what I would be saying yes to.
*She is jumping and getting both feet off the floor at the same time. Now, I know that for most 4 y/o this is not an accomplishment, but for my big girl it has been a long time coming. Her hemangioma makes it hurt if she bares weight on her leg and if you don't put even weight on your feet while jumping they don't leave the ground at the same time.
*She can cut on a straight and a curved line
*She can write her letters with help (when she is in the mood)
*She can get herself a glass of water
*She can dress herself and pick out her own clothes (we are working on them matching)
*She can play a lot of different games
*She knows the words to a lot of songs
*She loves the shows Super Why, Handy Manny, Olivia and Caillou
*She loves popcorn, hot dogs, carne asada, oranges, corned beef, carrots, lettuce, pizza, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and yogurt
*She has her whole school career planned out through 2nd grade (she know which teachers she wants)
*She STILL has the BEST memory and will remember things that I don't remember from when she was 2!
*She stills lets me call her a little girl. She says she likes being my little girl.
*She has told me that she is going to live with me for the rest of her life. The other night she told me that she and Sagen were going to be the zookeepers that hand out the biscuit to people who are feeding the giraffes. She told me that I could go there and feed the giraffes, but I WOULD still have to pay.
*She know her letter, her sounds, her numbers and she is starting to recognize some words.
*She has a great attentions span and likes playing games.
*She has a great imagination which is good EXCEPT when she pretends for days on end that she is a cat.
*She has a lot of friends and she is a happy girl.

I am so proud of how big and grown up she is getting. It also makes me a little nostalgic. About a year from now she will be heading off to Kindergarten. KINDERGARTEN!!!!

At least I have a year to get use to that idea. For the time being I will just relish in having a beautiful, smart, wonderful 4 year old who I love more then I thought was humanly possible.
If you are feeling as nostalgic as I am you can check out what she was doing at 2 here and at 3 here.
unfortunately I think I lost her one year old post :(

And here are some pictures through the ages:

20w u/s Just born!
One year
2nd birthday! 3 years old!

Ballerina!

2009-06-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today was Lorelei and my ballet performance. Lorelei did a SUPER job and I am SOOOO SOOOO SOOOOO proud of her. I think I did good too :). Here is video proof of HER job well done. She is the 6th little girl to go across the stage about 3o seconds into the video. At the end you will see her looking into the audience and forgetting to go off stage. Maybe it was just her attempt at a solo :P
I am very proud to have been a part of this production and the Dancing in the Streets family. I LOVE this dance school and the teacher Mr. Rodgers (he is the one playing Puck who helps Lorelei find her way off stage) and his wife Soleste. Lorelei is typically very shy and takes a while to warm up to people. However, I believe she may think the sun rises and sets on Mr. Rodgers. She LOVES him and LOVES going to ballet. It is also GREAT physical therapy for her leg. She can do so much more since she started ballet.
I think she was the cutest little fairy in the show.
If you want to learn more about the school, especially if you are in Tucson and want you kiddos to take ballet, click here

Braid!!

2009-06-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

I can FINALLY french braid Lorelei's hair! I am so excited. I am not GREAT at it but I think it looks pretty cute!

Back view.

Side view.

Front view with a cheesy grin :)

Let's slip and slide!

2009-06-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

Heather, Elvis and Connor got Lorelei and Sagen a slip and slide for their birthdays'. They LOVE it. They need a little help, but they don't care. They laugh and laugh and laugh!

Action shots of Sagen!

Action shots of Lorelei!

Resting at the end.

The Birthday Party

2009-06-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

We had Lorelei and Sagen's birthday party on June 4th. It was a little early, but we had planned on being gone for the summer. It was a great party. The kids had fun with their friends and got a lot of really cool gifts. Sagen is STILL talking about his party and asking everyone "When's YOUR birthday?"

Lorelei's Dora cake made by ME :)

Sagen's Elmo cake, also made by ME :) It is the SAME cake that Lorelei had for her 2nd birthday.

The pinata. We got one of the pull string ones. Something about watching small children beat the crap out of a cute little character disturbs me. SO pull string was the way to go.

Collecting CANDY!!!

I always used to get a little embarrassed during the birthday song too!

Blowing out FOUR candles!!!

Sagen's FAVORITE part of the day! He LOVES the birthday song and blowing out candles!

OUCH!!!!

2009-05-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

The other day Lorelei got a rope burn from Ginny's leash. Brian was pushing her in the swing and holding Ginny's leash. Ginny saw another dog she wanted to play with and started to run. We can't quite figure out how it got Lorelei's leg so bad, but it did! Of COURSE it was on her "bad" leg (the one with the hemangioma). She cried the awful no sound cry for about 1 minute and then was up and playing again. I can tell it still hurts her though. We are dressing it with huge band aids and antibacterial creme. She is taking it like a trooper though. She is a tough little lady.

Children's Musem

2009-05-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

We have been busy during the first week of our summer vacation. Today we went to the Children's museum. It was MUCH cooler then I remembered. They have a lot of new exhibits. The kids had a blast and we got a membership so we will be spending a lot of time there this summer cause we bought a membership.

I like to call this group of pictures "What will I be when I grow up?"

"Maybe I will be a firefighter..

or maybe a policeman like my Uncle Bob.

Maybe I'll just hang out with my friends instead" (I think this picture is AMAZING!)

"Maybe I will join forces with my sister and drive a submarine
or work with other scientist to figure out how to make things work

or maybe I'll just hang our with my friends."

Pow pow powerwheels

2009-05-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted about the Powerwheels car that Sagen fell in love with at a party. Well, since their birthdays are coming up we decided to get them one. The both love it. Sagen likes to get in and ride for about few seconds and then park it cause he got to Ms. Toni's house. Lorelei likes to drive much further. The other day she was going to visit Amber and Joe (our neighbors who moved to Germany). She is actually a pretty good driver. She even knows how to throw it in reverse to get out of sticky situations.

Sagen usually needs his big sister to step on the gas for him.

Going to Ms. Toni's house to see the "mohawk" (she has a peacock).

RELUCTENTLY posing for mom.

Lorelei shows you the zoo.

2009-05-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo the other day and Lorelei took some pictures....

The cup holder in the wagon.

Her view while riding along.

More wagon.

Sagen's leg

Brain and I took some pictures too :P

Sagen

On the peacock with Gabby

Movie Nights

2009-05-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

We have been having movie mights a lot lately. We pop some popcorn, push the coffee table back and all sit on the floor and watch a movie. We even got cool popcorn containers at Target to make it even more fun!

BIG BOY BED

2009-05-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

A few months ago Sagen started climbing out of his crib. This of course meant it was time for a BIG BOY BED. At first, we did not know how to make his crib into a toddler bed, so we just got out our airbed and put it on the floor until we could get him a new bed. Then, we figured out how to to turn the crib into a toddler bed, but that did not go over well. Sagen still saw it as a crib. He would look at it in disgust and say, "Mama, I BIG". He much preferred the air mattress. This week we FINALLY got him a bed. We got a double mattress because the crib also turned into a headboard and foot board for a double. Sagen really likes it. He sleeps on it and tells us that he has a new "mat rest". Now if he would stay in it ALL night instead of waking us up 1-2 times a night to have us walk him back to bed!!!

The bed.

Sagen would NOT pose in his bed. Having his picture taken laying in bed was just TOO CLOSE to going to sleep. Lorelei was happy to show you how the bed works.

Instant love!

2009-05-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

I was reading someone's blog the other day and she was talking about how she didn't bond with her baby right away. I know this happens to some people and that is is a totally normal thing, but I loved my children from the moment I saw them (well I loved them from the minute I got the positive pregnancy test). I remember when I was pregnant with Sagen I would have nights that I was cuddling with Lorelei and I was thinking "How am I going to do this with two?" "Can I handle two?" "Is Lorelei ready to have a brother?" I was a little scared. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. Then, Sagen was born. I heard him cry. I held him and I KNEW that I could do it. Having the two of them was going to be the best thing that ever happened to me. THEY were the best things that ever happened to me. I clearly remember holding him in the hospital and thinking "Even if I never sleep another night in my life (I must have instinctively known he wasn't going to be a sleeper), these kiddos are SO worth it.
I am so grateful to my children and I love them more then anything. After reading the other woman's post I realized that I was lucky. Not everyone has an easy ride into motherhood. For me, it was easy. There were hard things, of course, but the instant love I felt for them made those hard things not so hard!

Crazy Hair Day!!

2009-05-07T18:03:00.001-07:00

It is spirit week at our school and today was CRAZY HAIR DAY!!! AS you can see we really got into it!

Brian even shaved his beard funny. All the kids thought he was trying to be Wolverine. Lorelei had two ponies sticking straight up and some color in her hair.

Sagen joined in from home with some green coloring in his hair and I had a lot of ponies all over my head.

Like father like daughter.

Riding in cars with girls!

2009-05-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

We went to a Cinco De Mayo party on Saturday. The house that we were at had Power Wheels. Sagen spent the ENTIRE time driving around. He wasn't the BEST driver, but we finally got it so that he held the steering wheel in on poistion and drove in circles. It was really cute. He stopped and picked up a little girl. I was having visions of future dates!

Our Prima Ballerina!

2009-05-03T08:04:00.001-07:00

Lorelei started ballet. She LOVES it. The teacher (Mr. Rogers) is great. He is silly and doesn't expect the girls to be serious in the pre ballet class. The learn ballet terms but in a fun way. They play and dance with ribbons and at the last class they were all given one minute to dance all by themselves. Lorelei was a little timid at first and kept running over to me, but at the last class she only came over once. One of these days I am sure I will be allowed to sit in lobby with the other mommies.
The studio is a little dark so the pictures aren't great, but she still looks cute.
(Sarah, I only got her to pose for the ones at the bottom because I would told her I would post them so Isaac could see them so make sure he sees them)

They are suppose stand on there leg for a count of 5. Mr. Rogers counts like this 1...2....3...4...4...4..4....4......4.

Barre work.

Releve!! While the are on the barre they do a plie (a knee bend) the rise up on their toes and scream RELEVE!!!!

Showing off for Isaac.

Being silly!

Wrestle Maina!!!

2009-04-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

I swear my kiddos LOVE each other, but lately they are always wrestling! As you will see in the pictures Sagen is usually "winning". You can also see that they are laughing so MOST of the time we just let them play. You know cause like mom always use to say " It is all fun and games until someone gets hurt".

They begin!

Sagen takes control!

Victory smile!

Easter!

2009-04-27T20:25:00.001-07:00

Sagen and Lorelei were both very into Easter this year. They loved dying and searching for eggs, they loved hanging out with their cousins and the LOVED getting all that candy. Sagen was very interested in the Easter Bunny himself. He kept saying "Bunny HOP HOP!"

Lorelei putting her first egg in. She chose green which is her favorite color.

Sagen putting his first egg in the blue dye.

Easter morning Sagen finding his first egg.

Lorelei finding an egg. She was very good at giving Sagen some of the eggs she found.

Showing off their haul!

Gotta love the chocolate on Sagen's lips at 7:00 on the morning!

In their Easter best!

Hunting for eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Lorelei is a great egg hunter I think she may have found the most eggs out of all of the kiddos!

Grandma and Sagen.

Zoo 2!

2009-04-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

Over spring break (4/6-4/10) we met some friends at the zoo! It was a really nice day. The kids had a blast. Afterwards, we went to lunch. I got up to take Lorelei to the bathroom and Sagen started to cry. Brian was done eating so he took Sagen out to the car. Sagen was so mad, stubborn and tired that he cried until he threw up! That was NOT the end to the day that we wanted!

Watching the otters.

Lori and Daniel feeding the giraffe.

Sagen and Conner. Best Friends!

Conner and Heather.

Water play area. Kenya Get Wet!

Post puke nap!

Hair Cut!

2009-03-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

Today I took Lorelei to get her hair cut. Her grandma cut a little bit of last summer, but this time I took her to a salon to get her hair shaped. My mom could have done it but I wanted to have a cute photo op! She got a certificate for her 1st haircut which I changed it so it says "1st PRO haircut."

I of course took a lot of pictures. At the bottom are the before and after shots. You can't really tell in the front.

Waiting for her turn.

Showing where she got her hair cut.

Getting in the chair

The first cut!

All done

Front before Front after

Back before Back after

Addict

2009-03-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

Sagen is addicted to his pacis. Here is the proof!

We will eventually take them away from him, but not TOO soon!

Soccer

2009-03-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

Lorelei is playing soccer this year. She loves the practices and saying that she is a soccer player. She didn't like the game to much though. I think all of the kids on the field intimidated her She made me stay on the field with her. It was still pretty fun though.
Cutie getting ready!

Team meeting.

Mama plays too!

Greer this year!

2009-02-26T13:36:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went up north in search of snow. Yes, you heard me right, when you live in Tucson you actually go LOOKING for snow. We went and stayed in a cabin in Greer like we did last year. Our friends the Pergers went with us. WE HAD A BLAST! Lorelei LOVED sledding this year (she hated it last year) and Sagen LOVED playing with Alex (who is 7). Sagen did NOT like sledding or even watching other people sled he would say "Mama, Dada FALL! OH NO HE FALL!!!" every time he watch Brian sled down the hill. Even though he was truly sacred it was funny! In the evenings they had fun running around in the cabin playing with the big kids.

Here are 3 of the kids hanging out in the van.

Here we are in front of the Tin Star. A cute little store by our cabin.

My boy looking cute. He is wearing his sister mittens.

Lorelei sledding BY HERSELF!!!

Lorelei sitting in the sled.

Getting pulled in the sled. Sagen was okay with this.

Throwing snow!

Me pulling Lorelei up the hill.

Lorelei pulling her sled.

Sagen looking cute even from behind.

If you want to read about our trip last year go here:

http://chroniclesoffive.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-made-snowman-and-angel-i-didnt-like.html

The kids have REALLY grown and I shrunk (yay me!)

Cousins 2009 or rub a dub dub three bottoms in a tub

2009-02-26T13:33:00.000-08:00

Kadin, Emily, and Bucky visited again this year for the gem show. Sagen and Lorelei loved having Kadin around. They played a lot and ought a little. Lorelei said, "That Kadin is a Stich." I am assuming she heard somone else say that because I don't think she would come up with it on her own. When I asked her what it meant she said, "You know like on Lilo and Stich." I thought that was pretty cute. We had a lot of fun and I didn't get as many pictures as I'd like, but here is what I have.

This is the best picture I have of all three of them.

I love this picture of the two boys.

Emily has more pictures that she is suppose to send to me.

If you want to see the pictures from the last time they visted go here:
http://chroniclesoffive.blogspot.com/2008/02/swing-kids.html

If you want to see the pictures from when we visited them go here:
http://chroniclesoffive.blogspot.com/2008/07/cousins.html

Princess Pretty Teeth!

2009-01-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

Lorelei is going to be a dental celebrity (I am too)! She went to the dental clinic at our school on Monday and she did a GREAT job. She was not even scared and she let them do everything they needed to do. They said her teeth were BEAUTIFULLY clean and well taken care of. They were so impressed with her behavior and her teeth that they took a picture of her in the dental chair (I was sitting by her). They are hoping to use it as a poster for the clinic!
Here is a picture of her showing off her shiny teeth.

She has not yet mastered the open eyed smile :D

Wagon!!

2009-01-24T15:47:00.000-08:00

Brian's mom (Grammie) sent us some money for the kids at Christmas time. We had been wanting to buy the kids a wagon and couldn't find one we liked. Well, right before Christmas we drove past a kid's second hand store and there was a wagon outside. It cost almost EXACTLY the same amount as Grammie had sent the kids so we jumped on it! The kids love going on walks in the wagon. It is a great family activity.

Pictures from one of our evening walks (sorry they are so dark)

Choo-Choooooo TRAIN TABLE!!!

2009-01-17T15:52:00.000-08:00

Sagen got a train table for Chirstmas from my parents. The first one we chose was a bit of a bust and the wheels broke off, so we took it back. Last night we went to Toy R Us to buy a replacement. The one we found was a bit more then the other one, but it was worth it. Both kids have been playing with it ALL day long today
CHEESE (and yes it IS warm enough here to run around in undies!)

.

Christmas Day!

2009-01-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

We woke the kids up at 7 A.M. on Christmas day. Yes, I said WE WOKE THEM UP!!! They NEVER sleep past 6:30 and they choose Christmas day to sleep in!!! We couldn't wait after 7 so we woke them up. First, we had to check out the cookie situation.

Bed head walking to the tree.

Making sure Santa ate the cookies.

Then we moved onto presents. They open their stockings first. Their stockings had a lot of fun little things.

Stocking time!

Showing of the goods!

Lorelei digging in!

Then, they moved on to their presents. Sagen got a Handy Manny tool box (which was broken so he is now the proud owner of a vaccum instead), a ride on 4-wheeler, books, bath toys and a few other things. Lorelei got a scotter, a Wonder Pets doll, a watch, a Easy Links controller for the computer and some books.

Lorelei opening a present.

Sagen opening a present.

Sagen on his 4- wheeler

Helping her daddy put her scooter together.

Riding her scooter.

After we opened our presents and had breakfast we headed to my parents. There Lorelei got her new bike a Sagen got his train table. Our friends Hua and Xue Ying and their girlds were visting from Boston with their friend Dr. Bai. It was so nice to see them and spend the day with them. Lisa, Bob, Jimmy and the boys came when Bob was done with work. We spent the day eating and chatting it was very nice. I don't have any pictures from there because I forgot my camera!

Christmas Eve

2009-01-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

We had a GREAT Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas Eve with or friends Melis and Freddie and their family. Santa (aka Freddie) came to visit and handed out a present to each of the kids. It was a very nice evening and the kiddos had a great time.

Sagen playing with his "we oh we oh" from Santa.
Melis and baby Alex

Lorelei and Gabby playing with Gabby's Handy Manny doll.
Lorelei, Gabby, Sagen and Alex posing in their PJs!

When we got home we put out the cookies (that we had made a few days before) and milk and headed to bed so Santa could come.

Making the cookies (Before Christmas Eve)

Posing with the cookies.

Showing off the cookies.

Putting them out for Santa.
Showing where Santa will sit to eat the cookies.

Santa-What a difference a year makes!

2008-12-08T20:14:00.001-08:00

This years trip to see Santa went MUCH better then last years. This year there was almost no line. Last year we waited in a LOOONNNGGG line which meant they were tired by the time we got up there. Like last year we had been talking to Lorelei about it for a long time. Last year, that didn't help she still freaked out. This year it was very successful. She was SUCH a big girl. She talked to Santa and answered his questions. She even made sure to tell him what Sagen wanted for Christmas. Sagen was a little freaked out (which is why the paci stayed in), but he did okay. At one point Lorelei reached out and took his hand so he wouldn't be scared (we had talked about how she wasn't going to cry so Sagen would know everything was alright). Here are the two pictures for a comparison.

2007
2008

Gingerbread House

2008-12-07T15:47:00.000-08:00

Lorelei and I made our gingerbread house today. I think it turned out pretty cute. I am not very artistic so what we ended up with was good for me.

Our little Naked Chef

2008-11-28T17:52:00.001-08:00

My kiddos have a thing for being naked. Today Sagen decided to cook sans pants.

Decorating our tree!

2008-11-28T17:43:00.000-08:00

We decorated our tree today. While we were decorating we thought that Sagen was going to be a booger and keep taking the ornaments off, but as soon as we were done decorating the tree he left them alone. He was only taking them off cause he didn't get the concept.

First Crush

2008-11-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

Our neighbors came over the other night and Sagen offically has his crush. He was smitten with Amber. It was very cute. It was also very ironic because Lorelei's first crush was on Amber's husband, Joe.

Lorelei had fun with her too.

The other night...

2008-11-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

No story with these. Just some night in the life shots.

Baking a cake with daddy.
Look a lot like his big sister.

Eating a yummy apple.

Enjoying some cake batter courtsey of Lorelei and Dada

Enjoy the cakes of her labor.

Christmas Tree

2008-11-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

Yes. We have our tree up already. We have been bitten by the Christmas bug. Actually, we are thinking that if we introduce the tree slowly then Sagen will not mess with it as much. So far, it has worked. He loves it and looks at it ans touches it gently, but does not pull it over. We are hoping that when we put the ornaments on that will still be the case. Lorelei LOVES it to. She likes to lay under it and has already been posing by it.

Change!!

2008-11-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

When Nixion resigned my Uncle Butch and Aunt Karen took a picture of their family holding the newspaper. It was one of their moment in history pictures. They did the same thing when Obama won. Of course, this time their children are gown and have to take their OWN picture. Today Brian and I had my mom take a similar picture. We are so proud to part of this INCREDIBLE moment in history. I will never forget this. I know my children will, but I am hoping the picture will show them years from now that they were here when it all happened! I will be able to tell Lorelei that she was quite the little Obama fan. She made sure to wear her Obama shirt while watch the results come in. She also told me that "Obama was on her team. Just like Santa Claus". I will be able to tell Sagen that he loved the u-tube video that chanted

O BA MA and that he would sing with them.

So.....

I will also have to remind them how much they hated having their picture taken.

Scooby Dooby Doooooooo!

2008-10-19T16:22:00.001-07:00

Lorelei wants to be Daphane from Scooby Doo for Halloween, so we decided to make it a family affair. Lorelei is going to be Daphne, Sagen will be Freddie and Brian and I will be Shaggy and Velma. Ginny of course will fill the role of Scooby! We had a Halloween party last night so I have some preview pics. You can see the kids costumes, but we got to busy to take one of all of us. Brian and my costumes aren't the best, but they get the point across.

Apple Picking

2008-10-16T20:42:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we went apple picking with our friends Nikki and Scott. It was really fun the kids loved being outside and playing by the trees. They had a strong frost at the beginning of the season so the apples were not plentyful, but we still picked more then we could eat.

Pinnicle Peak

2008-09-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

We went to Pinnicle Peak this weekend. It is a cowboy themed steak resturant. If you wear a tie they cut it off. Lorelei was going to wear one, but decided against it at the last moment. So Sagen did it instead.

My little politicers...

2008-09-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

Lorelei and Sagen saw these shirts

the other day and begged me for them (I swear)! They also want to get fake IDs that says they are 18 so they can vote! Perhaps they can run together when they grow up!

Raymond (cause she IS going to marry Isaac) and Michaud 2056!!

P.S. Don't get any idea that he is crying because of the shirt (ahem LISA H) it is becasue he is being made to sit still which he no longer does!

He SAYS there is no secret password....

2008-09-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

My cousin Bob graduated from the police academy on Friday. He is now a deputy. He SAYS that if I get pulled over there is no password, I still get a ticket :(

Guess I will have to follow traffic laws.

Pool Party-warning NAKED babies.

2008-09-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

Lorelei and Sagen's friend Connor came over for a dip in the pool the other night.

TALKER!!!

2008-09-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

We all know that Lorelei is EXTREMLY verbal. She has spoken in sentences for A long time and she even knows the meanings of a lot of pretty complex words. Well, I think Sagen is about to follow in her footsteps. At 13 months he can already many words and some 2-3 word pharses. He says Mama, Dada, Lorelei, hi, bye-bye, Dog, car, Gramma, down, done, MINE, Alright, want, please, I , up, and thank-you (this one is not really clear). He also says "I want Mama". I think that is pretty good!

This picture has nothing to do with talking, but it is cute!

Does this make him 2?

2008-09-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday party for Sagen with my mommy meetup group. So we he has now had two birthday parties. Does that make him 2? It was really fun and Sagen LOVED it! I made cupcakes in ice cream cones because ice cream cones ware Sagen's favorite. I think they were a big hit.

What do YOU think?

New Room

2008-09-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

We are in the process of redoing Lorelei room. She wanted Curious George and it has been hard to find stuff. The only bedding set we could find was to expensive. Luckly, grandma can make one. We DID find some wall clings to hang on her wall AND an alarm clock. So far we have only gotten one cling up, but Lorelei is REALLY proud of her new room.

PRESCHOOL!

2008-08-10T18:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Lorelei's first day as an offical registered preschooler. She is still going to our school which is where she went last year, but she is now a preschool kid not a daycare kid! She did a great job! Last year she was pretty clingy to Brian, but this year she sat with the other kids and played with them. I think I have a BIG girl on my hands! She wasn't all the interested in posing for pics, but we have a few even though she is not looking at the camera.They have to wear uniforms at our school, but Lorelei likes to show she is an individual by wear pink (or balck dragon) chucks and carrying a cool lucnhbox!

She may be a big preschooler, but she stills like to be held by her mama.

My boy likes to potty all the time!

2008-08-10T18:42:00.001-07:00

Sagen wants to be JUST like his big sister so he is already showing interest in the potty. We have been letting him sit on it. One time in Iowa we noticed he was starting to poo poo and we ran and put him on the potty and he poo pooed in there (on the way home he also poo pooed on Gram's rug...) and the other day he started to poo poo while in the bathtub so we put him on the potty and he pee peed in there! He is no where near ready to train, but he is showing and interest in sitting on the potty so we figure we will let him and get him use to it.

Hello! I am on the potty!
That's right the potty!
Hello again!
No more pictures PLEASE!

Rollin' with my homies....

2008-08-10T18:30:00.001-07:00

Sagen has a little friend. Our friends Heather and Elvis have a little boy named Connor. He is just about 6 months old. Before we left Connor was just a little guy that came over with his parents. Now he is big enough to interact with Sagen and Sagen is THRILLED. He LOVES baby Connor. Right now his babysitter is out of town so my mom is watching Connor too (she sometimes has all three of them!!! I call her SUPERNANNY). Sagen loves spending time with
him.

This is the picture that inspired the title. I think Sagen's pants look like the are hanging low like the "homeboys" wear them. That is probably not PC.

I think this is a BEAUTIFUL picture of Connor
Sagen being the BIG guy and showing Connor how his toy works.
So PROUD that he is the BIG guy.
Sharing pacis

We have FINALLY been given a sleep fairy!!!

2008-08-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

That is right ladies and gentlemen SAGEN IS NOW SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! I cannot find a font big enough to express how AWESOME that is. After 12.5 months without a full nights sleep I was beginning to go a little nuts. It took two LOOONNNGGG heartbreaking nights of letting him cry in his crib for about an hour and then SUCCESS!!! He has slept through the night every night since. He still comes into our room at about 5:30, but I consider that a good night sleep. Technically, I could just get up with him at 5:30, but if he is willing to cuddle for a little longer then I will take it :)

I am very proud of my boy (and becoming more sane by he minute!)

He is not sleeping in his crib in this picture. Once he is asleep I do NOTHING to put that in jeopardy!!!

Parties galore!

2008-08-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

Because we were in Maine for their birhdays we had a lot of parties. Lorelei had one before we left with her AZ friends, then she had cupcakes in Maine with grandma and grandpa one the day before her birthday, then she had candles in her pancakes on her birthday, then on Sagen's REAL birthday we had a ME party for Lorelei, Sagen AND Kadin (my nephew who is 6 weeks older then Sagen), then in Iowa they got a cupcake witha candle and Seth and Erika's bday party! Sagen STILL has one more to party to go with his AZ friends. Here are some pictures!

Caillou cake from her AZ bday. I made it!

AZ bday. Posing beore the party.

Cupcakes with G&G at the condo. She helped decorate them!

He helped eat them!

Pooh cake for triple party. Even though I spelled it they spelled SAGEN S-E-G-A-N I will be making to AZ party cake.
Birthday song!

YUM!

Presents!

Storyland!

2008-07-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

While we were in Maine we went to Storyland. It is a great little amusment park that is aimed at little kids. Lorelei could ride a lot of the rides as long as we went with her. She LOVED the Flying Dutch Shoes, the Train, and, the Model T that SHE got to drive. She also loved all the little storybook themed houses and playgrounds.

Ball Pit fun!

Sleeping in Baby Bear's bed. It was JUST RIGHT!
What a cutie boy!

Sitting on the wall with Humpty Dumpty and Isaac.

With the little old lady who lived in a shoe. She didn't "whip her soundly" don't worry!

Brian has a picture of every kid in his family in this jail at some point or another! Cool huh?

Friends!

Lorelei and Isaac had to ride this 2 times!!

Beach

2008-07-23T14:44:00.001-07:00

We spent the day at the beach with Sarah, Amanda and Isaac. It was a really nice day. The water was cold of course, but we did a little wadding. Lorelei and Sagen loved exploring the tide pools and finding interesting sea life.

Friends!

2008-07-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

Lorelei and Sagen got to meet a lot of new friends while we were in Maine and Iowa. None of them were really "new" friends (well Lyra was pretty new), but they were new to them.

They had a great time playing with all of them. They spent a lot of time playing with Lyra and Isaac (they will be in MOST of the other entries). I will not lie and say the Isaac and Lorelei LOVE each other or that they hit it of immedatly, but they definatly liked each other by then end of the trip. We even saw a few child iniated hugs by the end of the trip!

She also LOVED playing with Callum, Little James, Hailey, and Noble. I didn't get pictures of all of them though.

In the sandbox at Isaac's house.

Lyra

Eating a banana popcicle with Noble

At the children's festival with Isaac (I had to laugh while picking

this photo cause I have 3 more and they are not BOTH looking at the camera in ANY of them!)

Cousins!

2008-07-22T21:56:00.001-07:00

While we were in Maine (and Mass) Lorelei and Sagen got to spend time with there cousin Kadin. He is about 6 weeks older then Sagen. He and Sagen are a lot alike. Although some people think they look a like (there are some similarities) the crazy thing is they act very much alike! All three of the got along very well. I forsee many summers of them rasing heck together and it makes me very happy!

Kadin had a thing for Sagen's pacis. It didn't bother Sagen

as long as they were back when he "needed" them.

They actaully ASKED to be in there!

Sagen giving Kadin a lift.

Lorelei took her role as the oldest very seriously.

Here she was giving them both raseberries on there tummies.

Sisters and babies at the Dr. Suess garden.

Uncle Bucky and Lorelei chasing the birds.

rub a dub dub three kids in a tub...this was the all time favorite activity of all the kiddos.

Oh BOY! He's 1!!

2008-07-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

My baby boy is one! I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with him and now he is one.

Being as that he is one I tried to think of one word to describe him. That word is EXTREME!

This describes his personality to a T.

He is EXREMEly cute (he has chubby baby legs and soft baby hair)

He is EXTREMEly sweet (today he kept kissing Meli's new little boy Alex)

He is EXTREMEly happy (he has a grin that really does streach from ear to ear and a cute little dimple)

or sometimes he is EXTREMEly mad (he can throw a major fit)

He is EXTREMEly active (he was walking at 9.5 months and today climbed on top of the kiddie piano)

He is EXTREMEly smart (he can say mama, dada, cracker, dog, car, uh-oh, shake his head yes and no, understand EVERYTHING we say, and knows how to get what he wants)

He is EXTREMEly stubborn (he hasn't eaten babyfood since he was 7 months old which was excatly 2 weeks after he finally STARTED eating it

He is EXTREMEly strong (He does PULL-UPS to get where he wants to)

He is EXTREMEly photogenic (when we were in San Fransico when he was 9 months old he was already POSING for pictures)

and to top it all off we are EXTREMEly happy that he is ours!!!
I love him so much! We all do. Lorelei STILL wants to see him first thing every morning and thinks he is a great little brother.

Wow! She is 3!

2008-06-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

Today my little girl is 3. The thing that is crazy about 3 is that it REALLY hits me that she is no longer a baby. Everything (toys, admittion to a lot of places, buffet prices) is usually divided into under 3 and over 3. She can now "legally" get the real McDonalds toys. I know this sounds silly, but it just really makes her seem so big!

She is doing great. She is a nice little girl. She loves[0 her brother and takes care of him. She is very talkative once you get to know her and she says things you would not believe! She signs songs (some that she probably shouldn't which lets I know that we should edit our music choices)and loves to DANCE! She can get down! She is getting fierecely independent (which I keep reminding myself is a good thing.) She is also senstive and gets her feeling hurts easily. She is a drama queen and will often act like you are cutting off her arm when you are washing her hair. She LOVES Caillou, Curious George, Backyardigans, dollys, strollers, imagining and watching T.V. Vegtables RARELY touch her lips although they are ALWAYS on her plate. She LOVES fruit, mac & cheese, hot dogs, cake, M&Ms, Lucky Charms, Gramma's cereal (bran flakes!), Goldfish crakers (notice that not many of these are healthy). She loves her family (she told me that when she is getting close to her gramma she gets happy) and her friends.
I always tell her she is the best little girl in the world and it is TRUE!!!

Walking video...

2008-05-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here is some video of our walking boy.

Walking and Talking....

2008-05-09T20:10:00.001-07:00

Walking....

I am not sure when you can consider a kid a walker. Sagen is not there yet, but he will be any day now. Walking is NOT his choosen mode of transport, but he does walk by choice quite a bit. He can walk about 8-10 steps at a time before lowering himself to the ground. He will be 10 months on Monday. I am definatly thinking he will be a 10 month walker! YAY! He is such a smart boy.

I don't have a picture of him walking yet, but here is a slightly washed out picture that shows is eyes!

Talking...

Lorelei has always bee a talker, but lately she has come up with very complex things and is making very strange connections....

The other day she was smell a container in the bathtub that use to have oranges in it. she said, "mama, what does this smell like?" before I could answer (cause she talks non-stop) she said, "I can't understand what it smells like, it must be Spanish". I think she must have realised that some people here speak Spanish and she can't understand so anything she does not understand or know what it is (the smell of the oranges) she thinks it is Spanish. I thought that was kinda neat.

Here is a cute picture of her.

(and yes her hair is blue!)

My boy!

2008-03-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on Sagen. HE IS EVERYWHERE!!! He started crawling at about 6.5 months, but wasn't really GOOD at it until 7.5. NOW at 8.5 he CANNOT be stopped! He climbs over boxes and everything. He still would MUCH rather be walking, but he has decided that crawling is okay for now. He is pulling up on everything and will push anything he can in order to cruise around. He also has 2 teeth and is waving bye-bye! He is getting so big!

Easter

2008-03-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely Easter egg hunt in the morning and very nice lunch at Hi Falutin resturant with my parents and my cousin Bob's family.

Lorelei loved dying the eggs and finding them. She wasn't really fond of her chocolate bunny, but she DID try it.

Eating her bunny.

Sagen being cute.

My kiddos and I!

The Hiersteins

VACATION part 2!!!!!

2008-03-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

the saga continues........

On Tuesday we were going to have a picnic on the beach, but it was a little cold so we decided just to visit the beach and then have some pizza. Sagen LOVED crawling in the sand. We also discovered that he was a little ham. Whenever we pulled out the camera he would pose!!!! Lorelei liked feeding the seagulls, and building sand castles, but "didn't like the water so much"

Lorelei and Gramma feeding the gulls.
O,ur family on the beach.

Our little model.

Lorelei making a sand animal.

After we got home from the beach we did some more shopping around while grandpa took a nap.

Froggy chairs in a store in Union Square

A park in Chinatown

Couch in the lobby to the Hotel Triton outside of Chinatown.

On Thursday we went to the San Fransico Zoo. It was a good zoo and Lorelei had a good time, but I don't think she was anymore impressed that she was with the Reid Park Zoo.

Flamingos

Merry go round

Lorelei in the interactive part of the meerkat exhibit.

Riding a turtle statue.

That night we met Wendy, Zach and Wyatt at Chevy's for supper. It was really yummy then we walk to get cream puffs. On the way there Lorelei and Wyatt reached out and held each others hand. It almost melted me on the spot. I was one of my favorite moments of the trip and of course......no camera!

Our drive home was from HELL althought he kids were good. We won't talk about it though.

VACATION! Part 1

2008-03-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

My parents, the kiddos, Brain and I just spent a week in San Fransico on Spring Break. We had a GREAT time! Here is a breakdown of the days with pictures :)

We left on Friday afternoon and drove to a hotel just outside of LA. On Saturday we drove the rest of the way and went straight to Wendy (my cousin), Zach, and Wyatt's for dinner. When we got there Wendy ask if we would like to go to the steam trains. It was so cool. We took a ride up the Berkley hills where we could see the whole bay to the trains. Wyatt is a train expert and showed us how to say "Woot, Woot" thorough the tunnels.

On the first ride!

On the second ride in the boxcar!

Running through the doors of the little musem.

After the train rider we headed back for dinner and playing. Wyatt and Lorelei got along really well (Wyatt even shared his toys, which I heard he is not fond of doing). Wyatt was a little scared of Sagen (babies do strange things), but I caught him patting his head at one point :) On Sunday we walked to China Town (past Union Square) then met Wendy et al for lunch and then we all went down via a electric train thingy to Pier 39 to see the sea lions and the aquarium. Union Square

Chinatown

Walking around (and no we weren't PUSHING them when they were in there together!)

Starfish up close and personal.

One Monday we went to Napa and went to a beautiful vineyard. We got some picnic stuff then drove to Fairfield and had a picnic on the grounds of the Jelly Belly factory. Then we toured the factory and bought some bellyflops (mishapen Jelly Bellies). It was a lot of fun and Lorelei liked watching the the machines on the tour.

at the vineyard

Jelly Belly (can you see tiny Lorelei in the first picture?)

Sagen at Jelly Belly.

I will post more later!

Catching up!

2008-03-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

I have left you all blogless for a few weeks. We have just been really busy. We are excited to be going to San Fransico next week. We will definatly have pictures of that.

Sagen is offically crawling! He doesn't LIKE to do it, he would rather walk, but he CAN do it. He also has 1 tooth that has broken the gum line and one that is just below it. He doesn't like to show them off, so no picture of it but it is there! Here are some cute shots of him.

Having some dinner

.Enjoying the Tucson sun (as much as you can when you mother slathers you in sunscreen) at the Renisance Festival.

I know he is really washed out i this one, but I LOVE how you can see how lue his eyes are. Also he crawled to me to grab the camera!

Lorelei is doing great to. We discovered that she knows many of her letters but like to pretend she doesn't:

Me (pointing to a C): "Lorelei, What letters is this?"

Lorelei: "ahhhh.....W"

Me: What letter is it REALLY?"

Lorelei: "C"

She did the same thing when she was learning her colors. She is still a talker. She talks from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep. She has a lot of friends at school and has the best memmory. She has actaully remember two things in the last few weeks that I couldn't!

Here are some pictures of her:

Showing off her new cooking outfit (note the lack of clothing under the apron)

She painted her hair blue at school. I think she wants to be a punk rocker!

From punk rocker to Fairy Princess.

On the butterfly ride at the Renisance Festival Having a picnic with her cousins.

Swing Kids!

2008-02-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

Kadin is in town and we are having a blast getting to know him! He is very cute and loves to kiss and get kisses from Lorelei and Sagen. The other day Lorelei thought he should try out our park so we went over for some swinging.

The swing twins!

Kadin

SagenLorelei

"I made a Snowman, and an angel. I didn't like sledding very much"

2008-01-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

That is how Lorelei sums up our weekend. We went up to Greer, AZ and stayed in a cabin. We had a great time playing in the snow and watching movies. Lorelei knew all about what to do in the snow because of "Calliou". She loved walking or being carried in the snow, picking it up and throwing it, and making angels. Sledding was not her favorite. She didn't mind sitting in it at first, but she didn't like being pulled in it or going down the hill. We brought some home in the cooler and Lorelei was realy excited to show it to our friends Heather and Elvis.

Sagen hanging out in the cabin.

In the sled.

Making snow angels.
Snow family.

snowman #1

Snow Lorelei

Snow Daddy
Snow Mommy and Baby Sagen

My kiddos and me!

Lorelei collecting pinecones.
The little store by the cabin. They had a cat in there and I think THAT was the highlight of Lorelei's trip!

Hope you enjoyed our pictures!

Bath time!!

2008-01-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

Both of my kiddos LOVE bath time!

Our Christmas Season...

2007-12-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

So you have already seen our Santa picture. Now come look at the rest of our Christmas activities.

Christmas this year was really a blast because Lorelei was really into it. Despite her reaction to sitting on Santa's lap she was REALLY excited about him coming and that made it so much fun for all of us.

We made a gingerbrcead house. As you can see by her face she ate as much as she decorated.

Sagen didn't help with the house, but he was still having a good time!

They showed off their Christmas outfits before going to Grandma and Grandpa's to hand out presentson Christmas eve.

Here are picture of Lorelei will her haul! She LOVED LOVED LOVED everything she got and spent almost the whole day playing with her kitchen.

A few days after Christmas Sagen got ahold of a cookie and he knew EXACTLY what to do with it! It will be the last one he has for a while (his tummy hurt after), but we did by him some teething cookies.

Lorelei has decided to take advantage of Christmas vacation to ride her bike.

There are pictures missing. I think they are on the video camera. We decorated cookies for Santa and talked about how we were leaving them out for Santa. We also talked about what to leave for the reindeer. Lorelei was sure that they ate poop (lol) so we decided not to leave anything for them.

We also had a visit from Grammie (Brian's mom). When I asked Lorelei if her Grandma from Maine was here she told me "Her name is Grammie, Mama". Lorelei had a fun time getting to know her and play with her.

It was a GREAT Christmas.

12/24/2006

2007-12-19T20:24:00.000-08:00

My cell phone rang and I saw that it was Sarah. I figured she was calling to wish us a "Merry Christmas" so I answered with a cheery "Hello!". I will NEVER, EVER forget the sound of the "hello" I got back. It chilled me to the bone and brought my stomach to my throat. She told me to sit down and although I didn't know what was up I already had tears in my eyes. She told me that her little sister Laura, who was only 25, and Laura's fiancee Steve had been in a car accident early that morning. They were on there way home after doing some Christmas shopping after Laura got off work. She had been really excited cause she was able to buy presents for her whole family that year. It was also her nephew Isaac's (Sarah's son) first Christmas so it was going to be a good one. Another car had crossed the center line and hit them head on, neither one of them survived (nor had the 4 boys in the other car). I was at a loss for words never in my life had I felt like I did at the moment. I was mourning the loss of a friend/little sister AND feeling so much pain FOR Sarah. You see, I feel like Sarah is my sister even if we don't share blood. I love her as much as I love everyone else in my family. I knew she was in unbelievable emotional pain. I didn't know how to help ( I still don't) all I knew is that I wanted to fix it and fix it NOW! I also knew that her mom and sister Amanda would be hurting. I knew that Sarah would want to be strong for them, and I wanted to make sure I was strong for Sarah and that she had someone there to be strong for her. Lucky for me she has good taste in husbands, because I knew that although I couldn't be there, Bob would be strong for her.

As the next days past I got all my news from 3000 miles away. The more news I got the more angry I got. The boy who was driving was driving on a suspended license. He should not have been on the road. Then it was confirmed that his blood alcohol level was WAY over the limit for a person of legal drinking age (which he was not). This whole tragic, terrible thing could have been prevented.

So it has almost been a year. I am still mad, I am still sad and my best friend is about to face her second Christmas without her little sister. I am afraid that this one will hurt even more because last year they were all so numb from the newness of it all.

I asked myself today what can I do? I cannot fix this. I know that. No one can, but there are things I can do. I will NEVER drink and drive. I NEVER, EVER, EVER, had anyway. I have always been ULTRA careful about that. I am the type that doesn't get behind the wheel with even ONE drink in her system, I can talk to my students (even though they are very young) about not drinking and driving, I can talk to my children about it as the years go on, I can also write this blog and get it out there. Tell Laura and Steve's story so EVERYONE who reads this can see how many lives drinking and driving can effect.

So I write this for her:
Laura
and for them:

Sarah and Isaac
beacause I love them and I think that MAYBE if someone reads this and remembers they will think twice before getting into a car after they have been drinking.

Ho!Ho! OH NO!!!!

2007-12-10T19:48:00.000-08:00

We went to see Santa on Saturday. Lorelei was SOOOO excited the whole time we were in the LOOOONGGG line. Brian would hold her up so she could see and she was laughing and saying, "Hi Santa!" and tell us she was going to ask for a new kitchen. The line was long and by the time we got up there it was nap time. That could have had something to do with her sudden change, but I am not sure. Here is the pic:I think it is DEFINATLY worth a thousand words. The funny thing is if you ask her why she cried she says "I didn't" and when you show her the picture she talks about how baby Sagen is crying, but will NOT disscuss herself! If you clcik on the picture it will become larger.

Christmas is comming....

2007-12-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

We have had our tree up since BEFORE Thanksgiving and we out the ornaments on it the day after Thanksgiving. Brian has the light on the house and we are fully in the Christmas mood.
We are REALLY playing up Santa in hopes of a picture this year (it was a no go last year). So far we have TALKED to him, but not sat on his lap. I DO think we will get there though. She is not as afraid of Santa (or strangers in general) as she use to be.
She ask Santa for a new Kitchen which is good cause that is what we bought her!

( I wil add pictures, but it is not letting me right now!)

Sitting and spitting!

2007-12-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

Sagen is getting SOOOO close to sitting up! He can balance for a realy long time, but still leans more forward then he should. I am proud of him. He is only 4.5 months. He can also stand for a few seconds if you let him hold onto a table. He is very strong.
He is also blowing rasberries ALL the time. Lorelei thinks that is REALLY funny.

Pulling My Leg aka uncles are funny guys...

2007-11-26T20:43:00.000-08:00

I read a book to my students today called "Pulling My Leg". It is one I inherited when I inherited my room so I have no idea who it is by or when it was published. It was great though. It is about a little girl who has a loose tooth. Her unlce tells her to bring him all these funny things so she can pull it. She does it, but the whole time she is trying to figure out if he is going to pull her tooth or if he is just pulling her leg. It is well written and you can feel (or at least I could) her feeling of knowing her uncle is joking and being silly and her thinking maybe he is not. You can tell she is thrilled and that her uncle REALLY cracks her up...
It reminded me SO much of a certian uncle or two of mine and "TICKLE TIME!!!!!" I was smiling so big by the end of the story and laughing. My kids musta though I was nuts!!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Lorelei got to play with her cousins, we all got to talk , and we had great food. It is nice cause Nick and Lorelei actually play and talk to each other now (Nick is about 10 months older). Brian walked up to them in the middle of a deep conversation about "boo boos".
Sagen was a pretty good boy too. He of course started screaming as soon as we sat down to eat, but I was able to eat and bounce him at the same time (I figure the calories I was eating at that point don't count) and he was asleep after a few minutes. I put him in the pack and play and he slept until dinner was over (a big accomplishment for my little non-sleeper).
Now we are moving onto Christmas! We are playing up Santa REAL big in hopes of getting a picture of him and Lorelei together this year. So far she has talked to him at the mall and told him she wants a "new kitchen" (which he IS bringing her), but has not ventured onto his lap yet. We are hoping she will do it for Sagen (she will do AMYTHING for her baby Sagen).
Pics to follow as soon as I resuce them from moms computer.