Celebrations!

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!

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???

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!

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!!

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!

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

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!