Monkey Joe's

Today our Mom&Me group went to a fun new indoor playground in Fairview Heights called Monkey Joe's.

Julia learned how to jump with both feet off the ground a month or so ago, and the "newness" still has not worn off. I'll often catch her saying "Jump, jump!" as she goes up and down. Naturally, she thought today's activity was SUPER.

Ry decides that maybe the slide is just too high and he comes running down the ladder.

We met Danielle there, a photographer who noticed my camera. She shot a few shots to test out our lens. Julia was not cooperating (and that is an understatement!) for this photo opp, but she still got a few cute ones!

Girl/Boy Differences

Ryan and Julia have spent much of their free time this week playing in the dollhouse. It is so interesting how differently they play! Here, Julia has the family all set up enjoying a meal.

And while she has moved the furniture out of the respective bedrooms, it is fairly organized.

Ryan takes kid sister from the nice meal and poses her on the roof, from which she jumped shortly after I snapped this pic.

Then a huge rock lands in the kitchen (thank you Ryan) and a monster truck drives through, stopping moments before hitting baby brother. I think baby was only spared because Julia started screaming at Ry at this point...and she can scream pretty loudly. =)

Job Perks

Every job has it's perks. Today, I am SO appreciating one of the SAHM perks...it is BEAUTIFUL outside. You know those days..the first great warm spring days where you just want to stay outside and revel in the amazing fact that you don't need to be wearing a coat? The fact it doesn't take 10 minutes to put on socks, shoes, coats, hats, gloves, etc. on the little people. The freedom to just walk out the door as is!?!
I remember in my "last life" when I had my "real job" (you know, the one that required heels, pantyhose and lipstick?!) going out for lunch on these days and being sad to not have the freedom to just spend the rest of the day outside...SO, we are taking full advantage of today!

She can actually reach the pedals now! Such a big girl. We had her 2 year old checkup this morning. 32 lbs puts her in the 95% for weight, and she is 90% for height. She's a "healthy solid girl" were the actual words the Dr. said. What every mother wants to hear about her little girl..uh, sorta! =)

Crazy for peppers

I pulled out these peppers as an ingredient in something I was cooking. Julia was sitting at the counter and said "Apple, Mommy." I said, "No, red and green pepper." And the next thing I knew, she took a big bite out of it. And liked it...and kept on eating.

Of course, Ryan wanted in on the action too. It is funny, when Julia was chomping away like it was candy, he didn't want to miss out!

Bob the Builder

Here is a conversation I had with the kids this morning.

Me to kids: A guy is going to be coming over in just a bit to fix our front door.
Ryan: Oh, Handy Manny?
Me: Um, no. Actually, his name is Bob.
(And I don't know how I didn't think ahead to realize this was coming...)
Ryan (very excited!): Oh, YEA! Bob the Builder is coming to our house?!?!
Me: Ohhhh, well, not THAT Bob you are thinking of, Ry. A different Bob.
Ry (clearly disappointed): Ohhhh.

We're expecting!

A new baby cousin!!!

Julia reads the great news!

I had this Star Wars onesie I've been hanging on for just this occasion -- it says "Who's Your Daddy" on the front.

Congrats, Beth and Mat! We are SUPER excited!!!

Celebrate!

Tonight we had a fun family celebration.

Attempt #312 at a decent family photo.
Celebrating our birthday girl (age 2) and our birthday daddy (32).

Ok, seriously...how do you get two children this age to look at the camera at the same time? M&M bribes just aren't cutting it around here anymore! Dancing aunts and grandparents don't work either!

And yet more reason to celebrate...these two have been married 65 years!!!
(February 20th is a BIG day for our family, apparently!)

Uncle Patrick and two of his favorite little people!

The birthday girl!What a fun way to wind down the evening...

Happy 85th, Grandma!

Large family bonus = LOTS of mements to celebrate! Last night we celebrated my Grandma Harrison's 85th Birthday! She was born February 23, 1924 in New York City!
Here grandma is with Connor (my cousin Jenny's son) and Devin (my cousin Jessica's son).

And here are some random pics of the family...grandma in the center. Top left and around: Julia eying the cake, my cousin Mandy and Jess, Jen holding Mandy's daughter Samantha, my mom and her sister Debbie, Ryan and Connor playing Nintendo DS and my cousin Chris's wife Tiffany and Samantha.

There are several little ones running around (I really need to be fired as the photographer, I did a very poor job of capturing all this!) which makes family gatherings on this side of the family never dull! =)

Happy 85th, Grandma!

Julia's Playdate Party

We had some friends over to celebrate Julia's birthday this morning. Our little princess didn't leave a crumb of her cupcake. All the other kids had finished eating, and she was still sitting at the table enjoying her treat! She did a GREAT job blowing out her candles. In fact, we had to reenact for this photo (top right) because she blew them out faster than I could grab the camera! (Bottom left) Julia and her little friend Madeline enjoy their lunch, and looked so sweet sitting next to one another at the little table.

(Top left): Kelli, Jake, Emma and Julia all check out our "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" game. (This was going to be a "Pin the Candle on the Cupcake Game", but at about 1am last night Mommy was too tired to stay up and make this, so we went with the generic one I had...I don't think the kids minded a bit!!)
(Top middle): Ryan is super excited after we sing "Happy Birthday" that it is finally time to eat cupcakes!
(Top right): Tyler is excited to be hanging with his cousins! And probably even more excited that cupcakes are coming!
(Bottom left): Lucas and Andrew enjoy some sweet snuggle time.
(Bottom middle): Andrew, Ryan, Lexi and Nicolas help Julia open presents.
(Bottom right): The kids search for their names on edible heart paper.

Happy Birthday Julia

Dear Julia:

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby girl! I can hardly believe (and I admit, it is a bit sad to me!!) that you are turning TWO!

Similar to most moms (I think!), I dreamed of your arrival long before you were even conceived. I dreamed of getting to dress you up all cute (let's just be real -- the girl clothes are so much CUTER than the boy selections!! Poor Ry, although I don't think it much matters to him!), and dreamed of the hairbows that would adorn your sweet head. You can only imagine how excited I was when you were born with a full head of hair, and before you were even 24 hours old the nurses put a cute little polka dot bow on your head!

You are very much a "daddy's girl." It should come as no surprise, however, as you and Daddy share a birth date! Two years ago today I had a surprise 30th party planned for your dad. He was not too sad when we had to cancel that for your arrival...you were by far the best birthday gift he has ever been given.

Since that day, we have loved watching you grow. And grow. And grow. (sigh!). You were late to crawl and walk (which I loved, because it made you seem all the more "baby" to me, and also I knew you would be right where I left you if I sat you down!), and early to talk. You still amaze us with your speech. You have been talking clear complete sentences now for, geesch, what seems like a LONG time. (Very foreign to us, considering your brother is a guy of very few words!!). And you are bossy. You know what you want, and you speak up to let us know!

You are a caretaker. Your preschool teacher (Mrs. Gwen) says all the dolls in the classroom wouldn't be taken care of if it weren't for you. You show this same servant attitude to Ryan. You are always looking out for him. If I give you something, you say "For Ryan too, Mommy!" When it is time to put shoes on, you get yours from the shoe bin, and then bring him his. You are my helper!

Your brother adores you (ok, not always, but mostly!) and it is so precious to me seeing you two interact. When I can't understand what you are saying, he will try and talk to you and find out. "What do you mean, Jugi?" he asks. "Tell Ryan again." And he tries to decipher what you are saying. Last week when you were asking for "Sac-ka" and I thought you were asking me for a "sucker" Ryan let me in on the fact that you were actually inquiring about "Papa".

"Jugi" is a nickname that started when you were just an infant, and Ryan couldn't pronounce "Julia" yet. For the longest time, we thought he assumed this was your name, as until recently, he never called you by your real name. Other terms of endearment we use for you: Princess (let me tell you, it melts my heart when your bro calls you this!), my Jugi Bug (mommy calls you), Stinky J (Ryan and Daddy started this one!), Jugi Claire (Ryan. I am falling in line with my own mother, mostly using the middle name when you are in trouble!), and Baby Sister.

You are a girl after my own heart in the fact that you LOVE sweets. "More candy!" you tell me "I 'ant candy!" so often! If we would let you, you would skip dinner and only eat dessert.

So, my sweetie, may you have the best 2nd year. I thank God every day that he choose me to be YOUR mom. What a great blessing!!!*These pics were taken by Daddy for your 1st birthday, February 2008.

Eek!

See this sweet girl? I made her cry tonight. There is nothing worse than hurting your baby (Mother of the year!). We'll just leave it as I was trying to clip her fingernails. And not using the baby safety clippers. I never imagined this would be a reason to page the Doc. YIKES. Little fingers bleed. A lot. And don't stop for a long time! From now on, clipping nails will be Daddy's job...because I don't know if I'll gain confidence to do that again, and I am not sure she'll ever let me near her with this tool. Ever.

Sorry, my sweet baby!

A Valentine Thank You to Grumpy and Kathy

The kids made you this video to say thanks for the McDonalds gift cards. Enjoy!
Jeff

Preschool Valentine's Day

The kids gave their school friends fortune cookies with a note attached that said "I'm so FORTUNate you are my friend!"
Our kids are very into these cookies lately. "Read me the note inside!" Ry will tell us. Then when we read it to him, he usually cheers. It's so funny. I wish I had written down his last one, because it made no sense, and Ryan was jumping up and down clapping like it was the best news ever.

When we got home from school, the kids wanted to play outside. I thought it might be a great idea to let them burn off the extra sugar they consumed today by doing just that. Look how excited Julia is to see her shadow! (And how BIG my baby is getting!! She almost looks like a little girl here, doesn't she?!)

Does this seem a bit dangerous to anyone else?

Love Celebration with Glammy and Pappa

My mom loves to celebrate. She looks for about any excuse for a party and opportunity to give the kids little gifts. (Which they LOVE). So here we are, celebrating our love together! =)

My sweet girl. Check out that fake smile!

The cousins had a blast dancing to Thomas the Train music.

My sister Krista blogged about this also, so for more pics, see her blog. (This event was actually last week...I have been a "single mom" all week with Jeff gone for work, and have let the blogging updates slip some!)