puppy love

Big Lou showing some love for Hugo. Lou is the boy Hugo needed, he just came 5 years too late. They would have been best buds back in Hugo's prime, wearing each other out from running, romping and playing! Hugo is just a tad too old for Lou, but he tolerates his affection like the gentledog he is!

smiling eyes!

snug as a bug

they look pretty cozy, don't they???

Nana's House

tumble time

i enrolled Lucas in a tumbling class at the local YMCA. He initially has some separation issues, but he overcame them and has enjoyed every class. here are some pics from one of his classes.

piggy time

Lucas loves his bank! it is a soft bodied bank that he can hold and shake with no worries of it breaking. His favorite thing to do is get in my wallet and "find" some change, bring it to me and declare, "BANK!". He is thrifty and crafty i guess!

happy valentine's day!!

Lucas' room

I don't think I ever posted the final result of Lucas' room. I think I last left you with a blue room and a pack n play! While the
room is blue, we did eventually put a crib in there! The name marquee is compliments of my best friend, Lori ann! In the 30 years
I have known her, she has never disappointed me! they are so cute! the cross was a gift for Lucas' baptism. The two piece turtle
mural is part of his orginal bedding set. The little shelves are some of my favorite things! The Haba toys were a gift from
another friend, Andrea. She sent them from Germany. Lucas is just getting interested in cars, so I am sure they will only
be housed here temporally. They have lots of miles ahead of them! The mural at the bottom left is a creation by me!!
While I still stand behind my statemnt I am not crafty, I am mediocre at borrowing ideas and putting them to work,
which is what i did here. I painted the canvas, designed the tags and viola, a memory canvas! the top left is Lucas' hospital
picture along with his hand a nd foot casting I had done after he was born. And the crib itself was a gift from Nana
Kathy and Pawpaw Lance. It was a much appreciated gift! Lastly, the pillow case. It was a gift from Aunt Kate in Texas.
She has discovered her inner crafty-ness and surprised the kids with new pilow cases! I bought the new brown sheets to
match the new case! overall, i think it is quite cute!

Zoo 2011

Our first trip to the zoo this year was a huge success. The kids loved it, the weather was perfect and the animals were out every where! Can't wait for more trips this summer!

i see this as a vision of the future. These 2 will give us a run for our money!

This year we have a pygmy goat and a river otter!! they are growing so fast!!

Knuffle Bunny

Nicole and MJ was kind enough to invite us to see Knuffle Bunny at COCA! We have the book and it was one of our favorite reads so we were excited to see the show! it was very cute and the girls were super good! I took the picture of the screen right before they said no photography! oops!

Genius!

How to brush your teeth when you can't see in the mirror!

bedtime stories

snow fun!

We finally received some snow so we could take the kids out to play! The last couple times it snowed it wasn't enough to really enjoy or take the kids out. I bundled the kids up and out we went. Poor Lucas had to borrow some items from his sister (baby leg warmes), me (gloves) and his dad (hat). he didn't seem to mind though! I think we got about 12 inches or so! the bottom 2 pictures are of the kids standing in the front yard. It is up to mia's waist and lucas arm pits!!

tiny dancer

christmas-eve 2010

Christmas eve with Nana and Pawpaw. The kids must have been super good! - they loved all their gifts!

Santa made a stop as well!

Rubbabu - a toy review

On a rare day last fall, Luca and I went shopping together. just me and my boy. We packed up and headed to the Mills mall, hit all the hip happening kids stores - gymboree, carters, old navy, gap. We found a few great finds and as a bonus we went to the toy store!! The Mills has a great toy store, it is an old fashioned store, where things are kid powered, not battery powered. I set lucas free to roam and explore the store. He found a little car he liked so we paid the lady and took it home. It quickly became his favorite car, he took it everywhere and played with it non-stop.

I ran across the tag from the car before christmas. I went to the website to see what else they made. I found some of the cutest things! Cars, planes, puzzles, magnetic letter's and more!! I called and told Santa what Lucas would like and he must have placed an order! The toys were delivered the next week!! Everything was so CUTE! My favorite toy was the city life playset. We took it out last night to play with it and lucas loved it. he loves sitting all the cars out, putting out the additional animals we had, setting up the houses and trees. The cars are a soft rubber but they are nicely flocked with a velvet covering. They fit in his hand well and the cars with wheels roll very well.

I think the Easter Bunny may be bringing the bowling set to the kids for easter! I really love the magnetic letters for the fridge - both kids could play with them and I wouldn't have to listen to them hitting the ceramic floor!! Mia is really into "how is that spelled" or "what does this spell" and Lucas needs to learn his alphabet. The price tag on that one is kinda high - it would have to be a joint gift! Mia loves playing with the city set too, I am sure she would love the letters.

twirl-er

in any dress at any time, Miss Amelia Rose loves to twirl!

big lou's big lip!

While I was at zumba, I hear my cell phone beeping so I check my messages. It was from darrin. There was a minor accident between the kids and one was bleeding. That is never good. I expected it to be mia but it was lou. From the reports, they were playing run and scare me. You hide, they run and you pop out to scare them! They LOVE it! Darrin was hiding, popped out, scared them successfully - sounds perfect right? It was until lou tripped on the hall runner and hit his nose, then mia was so close behind she fell over him causing him to hit his mouth. Then the blood began. And there was quite a bit of it. Everyone did a great job. Amelia didn't panic, darrin got the bleeding to stop and I got to finish the most boring zumba class ever! Lou had a fat lip for a day or so, but it didn't phase him. He would just point to his lip and say boo- boo. I think the pictures make it look worse than it was!

partners in crime

My own toy story

Princess Tea

princess Amelia Rose

Before Christmas, we went to a princess tea with amelia's friends Megan and Oliva. Mia also met a new friend Lilly. The girls had a blast and were excited to meet Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White! He are some pics from the day! ! And what did the girls want to do after we ate our fabulous lunch? play with all the mom's cell phones!! It was quite funny watching them play games on the phones!

They did take time out to meet the princesses. We also found a dress up room where the girls modeled some of the latest fashions for us!

it was a day of fun for me and my girl! She had a blast and asked when we could go to another tea!!

breakfast with santa

Every year multiple places around the STL area have breakfast with santa. Last year we went to eckert's. It was nice, the kids enjoyed it. This year we decided to try Macy's breakfast with santa. It was so much fun. The breakfast was pre-plated, nothing fancy. Eggs, french toast, bacon, fresh fruit. They had jugglers, a clown and singers too. The kids had a great time, they sang and danced. I goofed up the reservations so we were one adult short. We decided to let both grandma's come. I think they had just as much fun as the kids! I can't wait to go again next year!!

Silent night

It must have been a silent night at our house for the littlest member to venture out. See her? she liked hiding under the tree after the kids went to bed.

our first pageant!

Amelia had her first christmas pageant scheduled at school. It was mainly for the parents as it was in the middle of the week. Father Winter decided that would be a fine time to dump ice and snow on us, so it was cancelled. Luckily it was rescheduled on a night that me and her daddy-pop could attend!! The kids were darling. they sang joy to the world, must be santa, we wish you a Merry Christmas and happy birthday to the music teacher!! It was super cute and very memorable!

Christmas cookies

I let the kids help make christmas cookies this year - both of them. We call them thumb print cookies - we press a dent in them with our thumbs and then add the toppings! They had a ball and couldn't wait to eat them!

Especially Lucas - he walked around for the 15 mins looking like this, crying "cookies! cookies!!". fun times!

the finished product!

Santa love

I talk about this Santa almost all year. almost. he is my favorite for many, many reasons. This picture sums up why I like him so much - he seems to love what he does and takes time to talk to the kids. And my kids like him too. here are some of both of them!

the tree is up!

When we moved into our new home, we decided to get a taller tree. We thought it would be a great idea to get a pre-lit tree and was it ever! We love this tree! It goes up in minutes and all we are left to do is decorate it! Both kids were so excited this year to help decorate. I couldn't get the ornaments out fast enough. Here is the finished product! I love the tree and all our ornzments!!