my ballerina

pre-recital

funny girls!

recital, first position. love her!

perfection

easter 2011

love them!

hunting for eggs at aunt debbie's

Easter 2011

We were busy bunnies getting ready for easter! We managed to die the eggs and not the kids this year! Both Mia and Lou were able to help this year which was so fun! And they must have been kinda good based on the loot the easter bunny left! The both got mini pillow pets, shoes, books and some candy! Not bad kids, not bad at all.

typical day

when you live with two monkeys!

tradition

I love tradition. I will have to look to see when this one started, but we love going to eckert's, and their is always something to do in every season! Spring is the annual Easter eggstravanganza! It is always a fun time and we love when the P family can join us! He are some shots from the day.

down on the farm

We were invited out the Three Springs Farm by my co-worker friend Angel. We wanted to take some pictures of another co-worker friends baby with the little chicks. well those little chicks grew up quick and just like that, we missed them! we were all bummed out but we decided to go anyway! We had a wonderful time. The kids loved it, Amelia was a natural at chick wrangling. She went right up to them, scooped them up and carried them around. Lucas was more shy, but he did like feeding the goats ice cream cones and feeding the chickens mini marshmallows. Amelia was pretty bummed when she learned daisey the chick had to stay at 3 springs, but she was excited that she could come back and visit her very soon!

St. Patricks Day Celebration

St. Pat's is a tradition for us! I love the parade and love going! I hope my kids will grow up loving it too! I think from the smiles we are off to a great start!

My boy!

love this one. it captures him so well!

i need to make a mental note to check my kids noses before trying to take their pics. eww!

tornado alley

one of my biggest fears is tornadoes. silly right?? as if i have any control over mother nature! We had a tornado come through our home town and here is some of the damage. We, thankfully, we overlooked this time. I was a mess that night, mainly because i was at work watching the tornado head for my family, which made me feel more helpless!! So, so thankful my family was unharmed!

silverlicious

We were invited to the Silverlicious Party by our friends Nicole and Mia recently. it was a lot of fun, reminded me or organized chasos! The girls were able to make a crown, wand, received a nice goody bag and a delicious strawberry-chocolate smoothie! And it was all free. Well, free plus the cost of 3 new books Amelia decided we needed!

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