At school with Grace

Grace attends a "Child's Day Out" program at a nearby church every Friday for 2.5 hours. I'm happy to say that Grace loves school and on the way to school each Friday she is non-stop talking about how "school is my favorite". I guess we don't have enough fun at home painting, reading books, watching whatever Dora show we want to watch without Lily picking, shopping at Target, taking walks at the botanical garden or having a pretend picnics with the Barbies/Disney Princesses (just did that one today). I think Grace loves school the most because she can be independent there and go to school just like her big sister. OR maybe because she is smitten with a little boy in her class, called "my Jonah". When I drop her off school each Friday she is so eager to find "my Jonah" that I have to call her back to give me a hug and kiss goodbye.

A few weeks ago, Marty and I attended the "Dads for donuts/Moms for muffins" day at Grace's school. Grace was happy (but acted shy) that we stayed at school with her. She showed us around her classroom, we had circle time, ate some yummy donuts and muffins for snack, did a craft and then danced and sang songs.  We enjoyed spending our morning with Miss Grace. We also realized that 1.) We need more one-on-one time with each of our children and 2.) How easy it is to just have one child to buckle up in the car seat :)

Running into school!

She is in love with her Daddy!

Gracie and I

Making a Fruit Loop bracelet

Putting it on

and now eating it off :)

Playing her "drum"

Thanks for the great day Grace!

When it's 85 degrees in March...

...the sprinkler comes out!

Gabe just chilled in his car seat in the shade (it was his nap time!)

The sprinkler days are over for now- today was a long sleeve shirt, pants, and a jacket on for playing outside kinda day.

twins!

A few weeks ago, while at Gabe's doctor appointment Marty and I spotted a baby in the current Parents magazine that resembled baby Gabe. We couldn't get over how much that baby reminded us of Gabe. I couldn't just steal the magazine from the doctor's office so I waited for my March issue of Parents to arrive. Once I opened it from the lovely plastic bag with the reminder telling me to renew it as soon as possible, I tore through the issue looking for the baby that looked like Gabe.

Here he is: Mystery baby on page 52.

Here is Gabe today. Yes, I had to find his polka dotted blanket to lay him on and a blue onesie (he does have a blue and white stripe one, but that's in his dirty clothes hamper so the blue and white star one had to do). They sorta look alike, right? At a first glance?

***I like taking look-a-like pictures. One time when Marty and I were young (like in our teens still) we went to Steak n' Shake and the guy on the paper placement looked EXACTLY like Marty. So much so that after lunch I found him a Steak n' Shake workers uniform and had him pose just like the guy on the the place mat. I will have to find that picture somewhere (it was pre-digital so it may take me awhile to find it!) The things we do for love. ***

Ring Pop Love

Grace earned all her stars on her star chart and was able to go to the Dollar Store and pick something out. Usually both girls fill up their charts around the same time and go to the store together, but this time Grace filled up her chart first and got to go alone to pick something out. She was practically skipping in the store and right away found what she wanted- a pack of 4 Ring Pops.

Grace declared to me that her ring was a diamond ring

*** The chart we have is just something I made up that has 16 stars and when we catch the girls making good choices- sharing, listening and following directions the 1st time, trying a new food at dinner time, etc. we color in a star with a dry erase marker. Once all the stars are colored in, I give them a dollar to pick something out at the Dollar Store. They like earning stars and it helps me to be more watchful for positive behavior :)

Potato Painting

I found this cute art project on pinterest a few weeks ago and made sure I did it with the girls since St. Patrick's Day was coming up and the girls love rainbows- oh yeah, and my mom gave me a bag of potatoes when we really didn't need any more at my house. (Who else is obsessed with pinterest? It's addicting! I've been making all kinds of new dinners and getting inspiration on decorating our master bedroom because of pinterest!)

The girls love painting. Painting with a potato was new to them. We've painted with apples before but never potatoes (a few days after we painted with potatoes we painted with green peppers to make shamrock prints- very cool too!)

Rainbow painting from potatoes:

(She likes to pose this way for pictures)

I love how she sticks out her tongue when painting.

Dear Gabe (6 Months Old)

Dear Gabe,

Stop it! Stop getting bigger. You are now 6 months old and I guess it's official- time for me to start planning your 1st Birthday party. The past month probably has been the most fun. You are sitting up on your own now, sleeping through the night every night now, laughing at everything, spitting up less and less, eating solid food (so far you have eaten sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, and squash), loving pulling hair, jabbering away and screaming happy loud screams, loving the excersaucer, sleeping on belly (we put you to sleep on your back but you roll over), drooling like crazy (getting more teeth?), and just growing happily in our family.

You weigh 14 pounds, 8 ounces and you are 27 inches tall. That's good because my goal was for you to weigh 14.5 pounds for your 6th month appointment. The doctor is happy with your weight :) You didn't cry at all for your shots (just held your breath, turned blue, and then returned to your normal happy self after I blew in your face and held your afterwards). We visited the pediatric surgeon the other day to go over the results from your recent ultrasound and blood work that was done this month- your gallstone is still there (it won't ever go away) but since it's not blocking anything or causing you any pain (not that we know of) and your blood tests looked okay (one test was a little elevated but that could be because you are still so young). We just have to go back in September after you turn one for more blood work and another ultrasound. Hooray for not needing surgery!

I love you Gabers!

Love,
Mommy

*My favorite pictures from the last month*

First time swinging! (Olander Park)

First time swinging in our swing... later that day you went back into the swing and fell asleep. Grace did that all the time too. I hope to get a picture of it next time!

Lily asked to give you a bottle and I agreed. Mommy needs a break sometimes :)

What makes me SMILE

Special time with Lily at David's Bridal to see my sister try on wedding dresses. We were there for 3.5 hours watching Aunt Erica try on dresses. We have a while before thinking of flower girl dresses (both Lily and Grace are the flower girls for the June 2013 wedding!) Lily sweetly requested if she could try some on. Of course, she loved the big princess tulle kinda dresses. She happily spun around for an hour, made poses and asked if I could take a picture of her.

Seeing Grace play in the sand at the park. She loves mud, sand, playdough, basically anything she can play in and get dirty/messy. I love seeing her so happy and in her element. Hooray for happy toddlers and warmer weather.

While our car was parked at the donation center and Marty was unloading the old toys and clothes to donate, Gabe started laughing and wouldn't stop. Lily said he was laughing at this:

Sure enough he was. It was the cutest thing ever. So cute in fact that I went home and found 2 more bags of things to donate just so I could go back and hear him laughing at the air-puff-green-donate-here-guy! 

~Wordless Wednesday!~ Perfect Day for the Zoo