Summer Fun

Playing in the sprinkler




Playing in the pool with friends



And Ethan being Ethan


Such a male. He kept walking around with this sword between his legs. Typical.

Growing Butterflies

One of Mimi's presents was a Butterfly Garden for Belle. The kids really enjoyed watching the caterpillars and then their chrysalis. We then eventually were able to let real butterflies loose.

Happy 4th Birthday!!

I'm way behind on blogging it seems.

A couple weeks ago we took Belle on her annual birthday trip to Ohio. We always go to the Strawberry Festival parade because it falls on her birthday weekend. The kids loved it. This was Ethan's first year of really being able to participate. They loved catching candy and dancing to the bands. And Belle loved all the horses, of course.

Belle did an awesome job at the recital today. And we got it on tape!!. After the circle part you'll notice Belle and another girl are confused. Its because the teacher mixed them up on their positions at the beginning and then Belle tries to go to her old spot that she was supposed to be in. They just stand there for a bit and then eventually get into the groove again.

She even got her first ever trophy. She's so excited to have her "gold". ha ha

Recital

I have so many things to blog about, but thought I'd get this one in while it's on my mind.

We had Belle's rehearsal for her recital. I wish I had video to attach to this post, but I stinkin forgot to push record on the camcorder. So I held up that dumb thing thinking I was recording.

But anyways, it was a lot of fun seeing Belle up on stage. You could just tell that she loved being up on stage. Not a bit of nerves. She was eating it up. One little girl in her class was terrified though. The teacher carried her out and then asked for the girls mother to come up to the stage so that she knew her mom was there. That was no use, the little girl just cried. The teacher got them into position on the floor and Belle looked at the girl, winked and gave her a thumbs up. It was the cutest stinkin thing ever and I didn't get it on video. Errr.

The girls age from 3-5, so the actual routine was pretty rough. I think their routine is harder than the 8yr old ballet class, but anyways.

I admire Belle's confidence, it was fun to watch.

Preschool Celebration

Belle's preschool opted for a preschool celebration rather than a preschool program. They rented some inflatable slides and bouncers and let the kids have fun. Probably the best idea ever. Rather than make all the parents sit through a boring program, we got to wear our kids out before bed. =)

Belle had a blast. She met some of her friends and had a great time. Nic was the lucky one to chase Ethan around.





Belle and Kai going through the maze. This was the kid that mom loudly asked "is that a boy or a girl?" right in front of the BOY'S mother. ha ha.


Belle and her teacher Miss Trish


Belle and Sydney.


Belle and Adrienne. Adrienne isn't in Belle's class, but is in Belle's ballet class. Adrienne will be going to Pre K at FMCC next fall. Maybe they'll be in the same class.


Ethan even got to go down the slide a couple times.

All Boy!

Ethan is one active little boy. We've had many outfit changes because he's always in the mud.



He goes down the slide head first.



I usually just let him do it all. He's really coordinated for a 19 mos old and I've always been pretty confident when he's doing all this crazy stuff. I shouldn't be surprised that he ended up looking like this.



This evening he took a header off his trike. How you might ask? Well he usually hops on his bike at the top of the driveway and rides it like a maniac all the way down the drive and into the street (We're on a cul-de-sac). He's done this loads of times and never fell off, but tonight he hit the edge of the driveway and flipped over and ate concrete. Poor boy.

But then a couple hours later he was doing this. (Such short videos are not uploading well, stay tuned)



This boy is going to be the death of me.

While he's all boy, he sure can play dolls with the best of them.

He loves his sissy!

Ethan sure does love his sissy. The first word out of his mouth in the morning is "sissy?". He's been saying "sissy" so much that he's gotten pretty good at it. At first it sounded like "shishy"

Just now Ethan went to the kitchen and asked for a graham cracker and after I gave it to him, he kept standing there. He'd point to the box and say "sissy". Ah, so sweet, he wanted to make sure his sissy got a graham cracker too.

Thankfully Belle was nice and took the cracker and said thanks. Then when Ethan walked away brought it to me and said she didn't want it.

I'm glad those two are getting along, atleast for now.

Just postin

Belle got her ballet recital outfit yesterday. Its pretty cute. She's really excited to get up on stage and to wear makeup.



Maybe it's a boy thing or maybe it's an Ethan thing, but this kid LOVES dirt. Can't keep him out of the stuff. He's already ruined our one little garden and made us decide to not persue another one. We went through two outfits yesterday.

Little Daredevil

Ethan has really learned how to climb up the slide now. He's such a little daredevil.

Muffins with Mom

Yesterday I realized how different Belle and I are once again. I was a terribly shy kid and the teacher often had to be reminded I was even there. Um, not so with Belle. Yesterday we had a Mom day at Belle's preschool called Muffins with Mom. It was interesting.

When we walked in the kids were in circle time and Miss Trish was reading a book. Belle and her BFF Lexi Z. were in the back. Belle was doing a really good job of listening. Well until she saw me. Then she had to keep looking back and giving me big smiles. They sang their days of the week to the tune of the Adams Family and they did their months of the year to the Macarena. It was cute. Then they put their date on the calendar and moved the weather wheel.

Then it was times for the kids to take their moms to a different room. Miss Trish told the kids to find a partner and THEN find their mom. Belle of course just ran to me. I saw Lexi stand looking for Belle, but then she found a little boy to be her partner. I told Belle to go find a partner. Of course she went and snatched Lexi away from this poor boy.

We then headed to the room with the muffins and an activity. While all the other kids sat nicely and colored their flower pots, Belle was entertained for a minute and then just scribbled the rest so she could be done. She was constantly telling Lexi and her mom what to do and what color to use. Once it was time for muffins Belle picked a double choc muffin and choc milk. A recipe for disaster of course because that sugar soon kicked in and Belle couldn't stay in her seat. She was constantly going over to Lexi's mom and trying to strike up conversation.

Oh Belle, it's certainly entertaining with her. She still knows no stranger and is so social. And possibly a litte ADD. ha ha. I got a feeling she'll always be our little handful. It will be interesting to see how Ethan turns out. Maybe he'll give Mommy a break.

Interview with an almost 4 yr old

I did this little interview with Belle. She gave me mostly one word answers, but it was still funny.


~What is something mommy always says to you?

"Listen"

~ What makes mommy happy?

"I be kind. Laugh"

~ What makes mommy sad?

"Grumpy"

~ How does your mommy make you laugh?

"Tickle"

~ How old is your mommy?

"Young" (Thanks hun)

~ How tall is your mommy?

"That tall." (while holding her hand to my head)

~ What is your mommy really good at?

"Play games"

~ What does your mommy do for her job?

"Type"

~ What is your mommy's favorite food?

"Carrots" (Does she know me at all?)

~ What makes mommy proud of you?

"I clean my room"

~ What do you and your mommy do together?

"Cuddle"

~ How do you know your mommy loves you?

"So much"

Zoo trip

We made a trip to the zoo with Jamie and Olivia as well as some MOPS girls. We had a blast and the weather was perrrrfect.




We even made it through the dolphin show and Ethan pretty much sat for the whole thing. Miracle right there.


Poor Jamie basically had two kids the whole time. Belle wanted to hang out with her the whole time.


The kids have even gotten into mowing the lawn with Nic. Belle has come a long way when it comes to the sound of the mower. Ethan on the other hand has never had any sort of sound sensitivity.

Easter wrap up

We went to my side of the family for Easter a week early and celebrated my birthday as well. Belle got to see Cooper again and Brody and Ethan got to play some more. We had an Easter egg hunt in the basement and the kids had a blast.






Then on Easter weekend we went to the Freshours for Easter and Waren's first birthday. The kids had a blast being "country kids" and riding on the Mule and playing in dirt piles. It would be nice to be out in the country if we could afford it.









Waren and Ethan are 6 mos apart and they are pretty much the same size except for maybe an inch or two.


We had to head back to Indy for Easter sunday because we had to do the nursery. The kids looked super cute in their outfits.



With all this warm weather the kids have been outside a ton. Ethan LOVES his little foot powered bike. He can really move on that thing. It's got a big crack in both handles so I'm trying to figure out what to get him. Not sure he's ready for a trike but man does he want to GO.

Spring has sprung

We've been so glad for the warm weather over here. The kids are able to go out and play in the back yard and I'm able to have some peace and quiet in the house. It's been nice to just turn them loose and let them play outside. Belle even broke out her bike and rode in the cul-de-sac with her friend across the street.

In Belle news, she is still enjoying school. We just got her second report card and she's doing great. She loves going to school to see her friends. She's still practicing her ballet moves for the recital at the end of the year. She's learning all kinds of things like, where she lives and what her parent's names are. She's even memorized the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ethan is growing up more and more each day. He's always adding new words and has a pretty extensive list of animal sounds. He knows all his body parts and I'm still trying to get that on video. I'm pretty amazed at his ability to pretend play, but that has to do with Belle I'm sure. He loves playing dolls with his big sister. =)

Here are a couple videos of the kids. Belle is saying her ABC's although she messed it up for the video. I thought it was pretty cute though. The video of Ethan is him and his list of animal sounds. What cute kids I have.

The circus!!

Since our plans to go see Baby Cooper changed we decided to head to the circus. Belle has been saying she wanted to go see the clowns and acrobats every time she saw the commercial.

We didn't tell Belle where we were going til we were in the doors with tickets. On the way we told her we were going somewhere special. When we got on the interstate she said "we going to Mimi's or something?". Cracked us up. Once we got in the doors and Belle saw the clowns all her feelings about wanting to go to the circus changed. We had to drag her up the stairs. We had to assure her that she was at a safe distance from the clowns.

Ethan was just in amazement of the whole thing. His eyes were bright and he was just entranced. Well that soon faded and he was bored. He lasted probably 4 acts or so. At intermission Ethan and I had to go to the car. We watched a little bit of a movie and then walked around the fair grounds a little since it was so warm.

Belle warmed up to the circus and we ended up having to pull her out after it was all over. She did really well during the whole thing. I think 3 was the perfect age for the circus, 17 mos not so much.



Part of Ethan's problems was the M&Ms Nic fed him beforehand. =)



I look so old in this picture. Hard to believe I'll be 30 in a couple weeks.

Ethan's Ear tubes

I just realized that I missed a blog post. Ethan just got his tubes put in last thursday I believe. He did great. We had already been there and done that with Belle so we had no anxiety about the procedure.

Ethan and I had to get up at 5:30 so that we could be at the surgery center at 6:15. Ethan did great considering. They got us right in and he got in his gown, turned on Disney and tried to wait. Ethan isn't all that patient and spent most of the time trying to find buttons to push.

After the Dr and the Anesthesiologist came and talked to us a nurse came and took Ethan. That didn't go over well and I heard him scream all the way back. They did however let Ethan take his blanket and a stuffed animal back with him. It was so cute, they did Bucky's ears too. Its funny, but Ethan is more attached to his blanket after that experience. Go figure.

We came home about 8:30 and Ethan was his usual self. You'd never know he had surgery.











For some reason playing Mario Kart always makes Ethan feel better. And mommmy is becoming quite addicted.

Style and Grace

Yesterday was another watch day at Ballet. Its fun to see the girls and how they are learning their routine. God bless her heart, poor Belle has to work against the coordination genes her parents gave her. She does really well, but there is one move that has stumped her all year. The padashaw (sp?), you'll see it here.


Belle's BFF Audrey just joined the class. This was her second time. She did a great job of jumping right in. Of course though now we have the problem of the girls talking too much during class.





Their recital routine is coming along nicely.