Carpet Burn

Exactly 15 minutes before Little E's one year check up, he got adventurous at daycare and ended up wounded. He crawled into a bouncy seat and then fell out of it onto the carpet landing on his precious face. He had a bloody nose and scrapes on it. Poor little angel!

The Water/Pirate Show

I was so excited when I found out that our library was going to bring back The Water Show this summer!! I couldn't wait to take the kids! We went a couple of years ago and they were thoroughly entertained with water tricks and getting soaked.

One hour before the show was supposed to start, a storm system blew through town. There was enough lightning and thunder to cancel the show. I was devastated!! In its place, there was a pirate show. The kids wanted to stay for the pirate show, so I sat with the boys on the carpet while Sugie sat next to us with a BFF.

At one point early on, the pirate paused and let out a loud, "ARGH!", which totally scared my boys. Buddy jumped up and ran to the back of the room to the hubby. Little E stuck his bottom lip out and started crying.

The boys were fine after we took them to the back of the room. The pirate show was funny and required the kids help to find the treasure. So, it was still a fun night, but I really missed the water show!

Scared Little E

Chunky Thighs

Little E is a chunky baby, but most of his weight is in his thighs!! Look at those chunks!

Happy Birthday, Mimi!

Mimi celebrated a big birthday a few weeks ago - her 60th!! (Hope you don't mind me posting your age, Mom! You don't look a day over 30!)

Her big birthday was spent all day at the hospital with her dad, who had double bypass surgery. We took her out to dinner and then had a small party with all of her siblings. I think that some of the highlights of her day were: Grandpa having a great surgery, hearing precious birthday songs from my babies, the message in the card from Grandpa, and the surprise waiting for her at home from my sweet niece and nephew.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Just Because...

Who doesn't love "Just Because" flowers?? He even remembered my favorite kind! Thanks, sweetie!

Sibling Love

Look at my precious angels being sweet to one another!!

Interesting Concept

For her birthday, Sugie got a 3D bubble kit. It's basically a normal set of bubble toys with special glasses. On a sunny day, you put on the glasses, blow the bubbles, and can see butterflies flying on the glasses. It's pretty cool!

I failed to read all of the directions when we opened the package. So, we tried this at night time and didn't see any 3D images. However, when you look into light, they magically appear.

Play Time

The boys have really been playing together a lot lately. Buddy has always been a playful child and will sit down for a long period of time and just play with his toys. Sugie's never been one to play by herself and usually likes to do whatever we are doing. Little E is just like his brother when it comes to playtime!

Both boys like to spend time playing in the play room. It's fun watching them interact. That is, until Buddy steals one of E's toys. They generally get along very well. I think they're going to be great buddies!

The Zhu Zhu Pet

Sugie got a Zhu Zhu pet for her birthday. A Zhu Zhu pet is a little furry thing, like a hamster, that squeaks and is on wheels. When you touch it's back, it rolls along the floor, spins around, and talks. Little E LOVES this toy! He plays with it more than the others and chases it around the house. He even gets upset when it turns over or stops moving. It's such a cute little site to see!

The Piercing of the Ears

For Sugie’s birthday, she decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced. We were fine with her decision, but did let her know several times that it was going to hurt – a lot. We didn’t sugarcoat it because I wanted her to be sure of her decision. She was sure that she wanted this done.She was so excited when the big day finally arrived. (I made her wait until her soccer season had ended.) She picked out pink daisies, of course, for her starter set. After waiting almost 15 minutes for both girls to become available, it was piercing time.

Sugie flinched when they brought the guns up to her ears. Then, she started crying. She screamed when the earrings went in and cried and cried and cried. The hubby was there holding her hand through it all.
I videotaped the whole event, but I don’t know if we’ll ever watch the video. It would be like watching someone torture your child. It wasn’t a very fun time seeing Sugie in pain.
We went out for a special lunch afterwards. She wore a “I Just Got My Ears Pierced” sticker, which hopefully explained her tear stained face to everyone.

It’s been a few days now since the big event. So, I asked her if she was glad that she did it. She gave me an emphatic “YES!” Good!

One Year Old

Our little precious E turned one on June 10!! He ate donuts while we sang “Happy Birthday” to him. His teachers at school gave him a huge chocolate cake to plow into and gave him a Toy Story 3 doll, which Buddy has since taken over.

After school, he and the kids visited Grandma. My boy LOVES cheeseburgers, so that was his special birthday dinner! We didn’t do anything else too exciting since we already had his party and he had no clue that it was a special day.

Here are some things he can do at 12 months:

• Had his last bottle on his birthday and is now only drinking out of sippy cups
• Says mama, dada, Boo (our cat), uh-oh (so precious), kitty
• Waves bye-bye with both hands at the same time
• Blows kisses – he sucks in his cheeks like making a fish face and pats his mouth
• Understands the baby sign for “more”
• Pulls up and walks along the furniture
• Loves to be picked up and held – I lOVE this about him!!
• Sleeps from 7:30 – 6:30 and still takes 2 naps a day
• Hollers for food when others have it and he doesn’t
• Makes yummy noises when he eats
• Laughs and laughs when we play peek a boo or have crawling races
• Enjoys being read to – his favorite book is “Touch the Bunny” - and will crawl into my lap with a book
• Has a great pouty face – he sticks his lip way out and slowly turns on the waterworks!
• Always has a smile on his face when I get him out of bed in the morning
• Prefers to play “kitchen” in the playroom or ball with Daddy
• Still loves to crawl around with his swiffer
• Love love loves our swiffer sweeper, vacuum, and dust buster!!!!!!
• Wears size 18 mos clothes and size 3-4 diapers
• Has 3 bottom teeth and 4 top teeth
• Has had 5 ear infections in 2 months and will get tubes this summer
• Weighs 23 lbs 12 oz and is in the 30 % for height and 75% in weight.

We love you so much, Little E!!!! You are the sweetest, cuddliest, most content little baby!! We cherish every moment with you!

IT Guy to Teacher

It’s been a long journey, but the hubby is now officially employed as a teacher! He’s worked hard at school the last couple of years to complete his transition to teaching courses and put in his time being a substitute teacher. Congrats on your new job, sweetie!

To celebrate, we had a campfire with yummy dark chocolate s'mores!! It was our best fire yet!

Little E’s First Birthday Party

I know that everyone says this, but I REALLY REALLY can’t believe that we’ve had the pleasure of knowing Little E for one year already!! To celebrate his 1st birthday, we had the family and some friends over for food and fun.

Little E was clingy to me at first probably because he was scared of all of the people in his house. Buddy loved having some friends his age at the party and ran around with them most of the time. The party was also to celebrate Sugie’s 7th birthday, so she was thrilled to see all of her presents! Even Buddy scored a few presents so that he wouldn’t be left out.

Little E played with a couple of his new toys, but it was Buddy who loved opening and playing with everything! In normal Sugie fashion, she changed outfits at least 2 times during the party. She’s been doing this ever since she was 3 years old!

Little E LOVED his birthday cake!! He was a little timid at first, but quickly dove in! He had cake everywhere!! It was a really cute event to watch! The rest of us had ice cream cake from one of my favorite places.

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate. The kids had a great time! After everyone left, we jumped in the pool to relax!! What a fun day!

Baby's New Word

This is the cutest thing ever! A few weeks ago, Little E’s sippy cup fell onto the floor. He looked down at it and then looked at me and said,

“Uh-Oh!”

It was super duper precious!!

Sugie’s Pool Party

For Sugie’s birthday, she wanted another party with her friends at Lloyd Pool. She was bummed that her boyfriend, A, was going to be out of town, but so excited when other friends said that they were coming. (Luckily “A” is in her class next year so she wasn’t totally bummed.)

It was the perfect day for a pool party – hot and sticky! One of Sugie’s friends enjoyed playing with Buddy, which thrilled him. Sugie was even brave enough to jump off of the diving board a few times! Way to go, girl!

Sugie decided on a 2 layer cookie cake for her treat. She even designed how she wanted it to look. After pizza and cookie cake, Sugie opened her gifts. She was excited with her new stuff from her favorite store, a pretty necklace, her first ZhuZhu pet, and gift cards. (Sugie loves gifts cards b/c she knows that she gets to go shopping!) It was a fun day with her friends!

Extra special thanks to Mimi for watching Little E and doing some of my housework! Woo hoo!!

No More Chewie

Ever since I caught him at 4 months old chewing on the sleeve of my T-shirt, our Buddy has always slept with a “chewie”. By morning time, it was wet, nasty, and stinky. Chewie’s were pretty disgusting!

In April, Buddy had another case of impetigo on his chin. We figured that he kept getting this b/c of the wet chewie on his face all night long. So, we took chewie away. He asked for it maybe the first two nights and hasn’t said a word about it since. If I had known that it was going to be that easy, we would have taken it away years ago! Good job to Buddy on being a big boy!!

Stormy Weather

This is what our bedroom floor looks like on stormy nights:

Sugie has always been terrified of thunder and lightning. Just recently, Buddy now cringes when it storms. I think his new fear is from sharing a room with his frightened sister. Every time we see lightning or hear thunder, we get the beds out on our floor. Shortly afterwards, we hear two crying kids running down the hallway seeking protection and comfort.

This is what Little E does on stormy nights:

We’re keeping him away from the other two!

The Lake Party

We spent a Friday evening a few weeks ago at one of the most beautiful lake settings I’ve ever seen. It was an end of the year party and cookout for the hubby’s job.

Here are some of the activities at the lake:

• Fishing
• Kayaking
• Cornhole
• Washers
• Water Balloons
• Water skiing
• Swimming

The kids had so much fun playing with everything. They were very timid about getting into the lake, even with the trampoline and slide on the dock.

The worst parts of the evening were when Little E fell and scraped his cheek, our impromptu trip to IL, and the gravel road that turned our van from white to brown. Sugie seriously thought that we had the back of the van painted brown!! Overall, it was a really fun night!