Shutterfly Christmas Cards

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I finally made my Christmas Cards from my Shutterfly house party. I ordered the calendar last week and was planning on doing a dressed up picture of the kids until tragedy struck. At Sara's birthday party Evan and my nephew collided. Evans front tooth is loose, it has improved a great deal in the past 24 hours, but I'm still concerned its going to change color. I plan on calling our Pediatric Dentist in the morning. Not looking forward to anther morning out of school, my poor accounting students miss me every time I have to volunteer at Preschool (3 times in the past month, now I'm good until February). We are sticking to softer foods and reminding him not to use his front teeth. It is also a way for us to rid him of sippy cups. My poor nephew felt terrible but it truly was an accident. I told my sister in law after all we have gone through a loose tooth is pretty minor. Still hoping it tightens up and stays white though.

Evan is spelling Mom, Dad, Evan, Sara, Doll, Tree, Finn. We have been watching Word World and I picked up 2 more for Christmas. If you have small children the Christmas one is cute and a favorite year round for my kids!

Happy Birthday Sara

After a decade of waiting, the past two years have passed by in the blink on the eye. Two years ago I started my day waiting for a bed beginning at 5 am. Finally getting a bed around noon and then having an Amnio to check to make sure Sara was ready. Finally at 5pm I made it to the operating room and Sara was safetly delivered.

We had a fantastic 5 day weekend. Wednesday we picked up our pictures from JCP, and did some shopping. Thanksgiving we spent at my Moms and started putting up decorations. This is the earliest I have ever put the tree up. Next weekend we have Sara's birthday party so I figured we would decorate the house for it. Evan loves the decorations. We started decorating the tree while Sara napped. After putting on a few boxes of ornaments he told me " I love your ornaments, I love you, I love your hugs, I love your kisses, and sometimes you are so sweet" So many endearing words at once. I told him he was melting my heart.

I have a ton of ornaments, my Grandma would give me a box of ornaments each year for my Birthday and I told Evan this he told me I love your Grandma. My Grandmother passed away two years ago.

Sara has been such a joy. I had to travel to Philadelphia during November and it was my first trip away from the kids. She keeps telling me Momma home. Evan did surprisingly well, I left him a small gift each day. We have a countdown to Thanksgiving calendar and this helped him count the days until Mom came home.

The kids are making great strides, Sara is singing learning a few colors and saying the words for everything when we prompt her. She usually only strings 2-3 words together. She loves her dollies, and Elmo.

Evan is counting to 50, and wants to spell everything. He reads the letters on every sign he sees. The other day it was Pharmacy on Targets sign and he attempts to spell his own words. He can spell Mom, Dad, Evan & Sara. He has no interest in writing or learning to write. We can correctly identify all lower and uppercase letters.

We started Elf on the Shelf. Evan named him Gordon after his favorite train. He leaps out of bed each morning to see where Gordon is and two mornings I have had to dart downstairst ot move him. The Christmas season is so special having these miracles and now sharing the entire Christmas story with Evan. We set up the Fisher Price Nativity set and last year I thought we had misplaced baby Jesus and bought an extra baby Jesus at the Fisher Price store. Of course this year we have two. Well there was a big fight over baby Jesus. Sara insisted she needed two babies and Evan wanted one. We had a full religious war over Baby Jesus! Life is never boring.
My post is very random I've attempted this many times and its been a crazy week. Sara had her two year appointment she is 24.7.lbs naked and in the 23% her height was not measured correctly they measured her lying down screaming at 36 inches.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Working full time, taking care of the kids, trying to keep up with housework is crazy. Marc is gone by 5:30 am before we get up and either home between 6-8:30 or gone overnight a few nights each week. He is always home the weekends. I really feel like a single parent and overwhelmed at times. Maybe I need a cleaning service. Although then I would feel compelled to clean for the cleaning service. Laundry is a full time job alone, if its all done its never all put away. As I'm putting it away the kids are pulling something else out upstairs. Its and endless cycle. My neighbors house is always tidy I'm so envious. She can't go to bed unless her kitchen is clean. Mine is clean but there are nights I leave dishes in the sink or am running late in the morning and don't get everything cleaned up. I guess I'm missing the OCD gene instead I think I have ADHD !

Evan is trying to read. We picked up a book from the library about a Dog and each page has upper and lower case letters on it. He amazed me by sounding out the majority of the letters. He loves to watch Word World and I think it has made a huge impact on him. I swore my child wouldn't watch a ton of TV but the things he watches have increased his vocabulary tremendously. Thomas the Train has great vocabulary and concepts. Although it puts me to sleep, we were in love with it here for a long time. Today I picked up CARS 2, he was more excited about November 1 than Halloween. We had to watch it twice tonight, that won't happen again but it was like Christmas for him.

He suddenly is obsessed with Lego's and has added them to his Christmas list. Luckily I found some great deals at Disneystore.com and the Lego's were 30% off and I added a code for an additional 25% off. I love to shop online. I can usually find great bargains.

Today my houseparty.com kit came for Shutterfly Christmas cards. It included a code for 15 cards for each guest and a free calendar code. (If anyone needs one email me!) This is my 5th Houseparty, I had a Hershey Bliss, Sex and the City, Fisher Price, and Boston Market party. Usually I just share the wealth at another party.

Sara is a little terror lately. She hits and bites Evan. I think she has some major jealousy and wants him to play with her. When he doesn't respond she acts out. Evan doesn't hit her back and part of me wants him to. Time out hasn't worked, any suggestions? On a good note she is talking up a storm. We are up to four words at a time. She will repeat anything we say, her speech is not as clear as Evans was at that age.

Tomorrow I am off to Preschool with Sara, my Mom had to do the last one. I can't wait to see how she interacts and follows directions at school. Evan loves school but was very upset when he came home Monday. It took me a while to get him to tell me what happened. I even had to tell him if he didn't I would call his teacher. His little lip quivered and he told me I would be mad at him. After lots of prodding he told me that he got of his seat and his teacher had to tell him to sit down. He was very upset that he was scolded at school. Of course things like this don't upset him at all at home. I was surprised at his reaction but reassured him it was okay and his teacher isn't angry with him but he needs to listen. I hope he learned his lesson and behaves for the rest of the year. I guess I'll count my blessings I was waiting to hear something much worse!

Evan's Prayer

My parents gave our nieces and nephews $10 for learning the Lords Prayer. I told Evan this last Thursday and by Saturday he had most of the prayer memorized. He wants to buy a boat from Cars 2. I was amazed he memorized this so quickly. My parents were blown away when he said it for them. He is a little distracted in this video but does very well.

Potty training is on...

Sara has been waking up from her naps dry and sometimes she is dry in the am. She will sit on the potty but hasn't actually went on it. This morning she woke and told me potty and book. So we both went on our potties at the same time. Sara went potty! I am so excited hopefully it will happen again soon!

Puzzle season has begun again for Evan he completes 4-8 puzzles during a sitting. He wakes in the morning and wants to do a puzzle before breakfast. He is usually completing 48 piece puzzles but can do a 100 piece one. He likes to do puzzles of his favorite characters last year they were all Thomas puzzles and this year its CARS. CARS is not easy to find in anything bigger than a 60 piece. He has such patience and will stay until they are completed. Sara wants to play too, although last week when we were busy she took 4 puzzles and dumped them in a pile. It was not fun on a busy day to have to put all of Evans puzzles together to straighten them out.

We also love to watch Word World on PBS. The kids have a few DVD's and recently Evan has been making a game of building a word. He takes the magnetic letters and has to run like a crazy man around finding more letters to build a word. He then sorts the letters and numbers and groups them by color. He can use them to spell his name and Sara's name. Hopefully he will show some interest in writing soon!

It is supposed to be a miserable weekend. Marc won't be home until this afternoon. I'm ihoping we can go to the big mall 20 minutes away and stop at Sams Club and Hobby Lobby too. I think Grandma will tag along for an extra set of hands/eyes. Her wrist is slowly healing she has OT twice a week.

More Cheese Mama

Our first phrase! Yesterday I heard me up, and today we are up to a 3 word phrase. She is advancing quickly! Sara had her first solo day of preschool this week. My mom takes the kids to preschool on the days that I don't have to co-op. Sara took off and played right away, my mom snuck out without tears. Sara had a great day! Evan has had 3 solo days he goes twice a week. The first day he had a few tears but has done well ever since. He was the leader his third day, I'm not quite sure what this entailed but he was proud. He also earns a little piece of paper with WOW on it if he follows directions during storytime. He told me they couldn't move their mat in order to get a WOW this week. He is very proud of them. Hopefully we continue to earn them. I do know they become harder to earn throughout the year.

My brave little girl has climbed up the slide on our swingset and climbs over the back of the couch if there is a laundry basket or anything to stand on nearby. She nearly caused me to have a heart attack this week. I was desperate to get the kids in the tub and Evan reminded me that I had promised a freezy pop. So in desperation I told them they could have them in the tub. Sara was mad I wouldn't open it downstairs. As we were almost upstairs she headed back downstairs. I figured I would start the tub and she would be back up. Well a few minutes later I hear her say cut, cut and she hands me a very sharp paring knife. She had gone in the kitchen drawers and found a knife ( I thought these were far enough back that she couldn't reach them) and carried it up the stairs. Needless to say the knives were moved as soon as she finished her bath. Yikes! She is willing to do things Evan would still never consider doing.

Bouncing, bruises and babies.

We had a first black eye this week. Sara hit the drain on the jacuzzi tub. Poor baby, she thought it was fun to stand up and fall to her knees, yes she is my daredevil child. I thought she just fell in the water and when I calmed her down we had a cut under her eye and an instant black eye. Almost a week later its healed to a yellow eye. The following day she fell at the playground and bruised and brushburned her forehead.

The bouncing in this house is non stop. I remember taking Evan to gymnastics at 18 months and I had to hold him to bounce on the trampoline. Sara has been bouncing for months. Evan climbs in his toddler bed which has 3 crib sides and holds on the side and says Sara lets bounce. The two of them have a ball yelling bounce, bounce, bounce and jumping up and down. I think Evans feet are a foot off the bed. We had a new couch delivered yesterday and I told the kids the delivery men would take it back if they bounced on it. So far its worked but they rip the pillows off instead.

Evan gave Sara a Fisher Price doll for Christmas. After meeting one of my friends babies Evan decided it was his baby Dani. He went through a phase where baby Dani slept with him and he wouldn't let Sara touch her. We bought a new baby for Sara and she calls it ba-be. She pretends to feed her and insists on sleeping with ba-be. She even pretends to feed baby, its so sweet.

This morning at 6:15 Evan came in our room as I was getting ready. He said Mom I looked out my window and there were stars. He asked to go outside and see them, we haven't done this in ages. There couldn't be a better way to start the day then outside holding our miracle baby and looking at the moon and stars. He asked me what if Sara wakes up, I assured him she was safe sleeping in her crib.

Evan makes me laugh yesterday we saw the neigbors lap dog and he said Mom when is that dog going to get big? On the way home today he said Mom I need to poop, I asked if he could hold it we were 2-3 minutes from home. He became very quiet, Evan usually verbalized everything. So I asked if he wanted to sing a song hoping it would distract him. He said no I need to worry about pooping. I couldn't stop laughing! When I left him at the sitters today he said goodbye Holly (the girl secret agent in CARS) I told him goodbye Finn (the boy agent) he said keep all the bad guys out of school today. His vocabulary and imagination are so fun these days.

Saras vocabulary is growing leaps and bounds. She will tell us miss you, love you, diaper and hold it to tell us its dirty. Evan has her say Chick Hicks, bad guy, and Minnie. One of the clearest words is apple she says it perfectly.

Summer Vacation Comes to an End

Why does it feel like each summer vacation passes quicker than the last? When I was pregnant and on bedrest each day felt like eternity. I was excited each evening when I could empty my vitamin box and take the days vitamins. Each week it felt like a major milestone to be able to refill the box. I had 42 days of complete bedrest and never craved grocery shopping so badly! Now I feel like I blinked and our summer has ended.

I told Evan that next summer will be even more fun. Sara will be older and we will be able to do even more. Hopefully he will learn to swim next year.

We spent ten minutes doing a photo shoot around the yard and the pictures turned out really well. Sara poses much better than Evan.

Evan came in our room this morning at 6:15 and asked why I had those clothes on, meaning work clothes. He said the hair dryer woke him up. We managed to get out of the house on time, although no one was hungry at 7am (we have been sleeping in to 7:15-7:5). Today I took them to the sitters. They haven't seen her since June. Evan ran inside and was all smiles, Sara took off for the toys in the living room and pulled out the stroller. No one seemed to care that I was leaving. Evan gave me Holley Shiftwell to keep in my pocket in case I needed help at school. He is so sweet. At the end of the day everyone was still happy. Evan took a one hour nap, something that doesn't happen at home. I said did you have a fun day or did you miss Mommy he said he had a fun day.

Florida

Florida

Wow, the afternoon before we left my mom called and said she didn't have good news. My parents went to Target and my Dad stumbled coming out and toppled over onto my Mom. My Dad is 250lbs and my mom around 140lbs. My mom ended up with a broken wrist. She was sent to an orthopedic and had a 6pm appointment. I took her to the appointment fearing the worst. Luckily she ended up only needing a cast for 4 weeks and lots of bruises. The good news was they could still go to Florida with us. Although now we had two parents and two kids to care for!

We flew out on a 8 am flight and next time we need to allow for an extra half an hour at the airport. Traveling with 2 car seats, a pack and play and strollers was hectic. Southwest was fantastic and our flight time was cut short by 20 minutes. We arrived in Tampa and picked up our minivan. We were able to grocery shop and eat lunch before heading to the condo. The Publix we went to had a parking garage underneath and it required us to take an elevator up to the store. Evan and Sara thought this was great. Evan cried when we landed that he wanted to go back to New York.

Our condo was nice 3 bedrooms directly on the beach. The ocean was less than 100 yards away. Surprisingly the sand wasn't hot to walk on. We have been to Ocean City, MD and SC, and VA and had to wear sandals because the sand was very hot. The kids loved the beach, they loved to pick up seashells, wade in the water, and chase the birds. Evan was drawn to each sand castle with a look in his eye that we knew he wanted to destroy them. Luckily we kept every ones hard work safe from Evan. Sara loved the seashells, although Evan saved them and Sara threw them back in. We had a great time in the pool. On the last day Evan finally was brave enough to swim on his own with swimmies. We battled this all summer and there was another boy the same age also named Evan who was doing it so he caved to peer pressure.

We visited the Florida Aquarium, it is amazing. I didn't research it enough because there is a splash park that we didn't go in since I didn't bring extra clothes. We actually spent 3 hours there - a record for my kids! We were able to get half off tickets with our Buffalo Zoo membership so we spent $41.00 for my parents and us, (I wasn't honest about Evans age). We also had to visit a Disney Store. My Dad had promised Evan he would buy him some more CARS. Evans eyes lit up and he thought it was great. We asked Evan what the best part of Florida and the first time he told us stickers, and every time since he has told us the Disney Store. Our local store closed a few years ago. The mall we went to had an indoor ice rink. The kids loved watching the skating. I plan on signing up Evan for lessons in the fall.

I bought some CARS sticker books with reusable stickers. The Cars have to match up to the name, shape, or location. This kept Evan busy for most of the plane ride. I ended up buying another one at the Disney store for the ride home. He did stickers and then fell asleep watching a movie.

Sara's speech exploded in Florida we now have pool, swimsuit, ice cream, down, go, baby, high chair, Binky, bear. One night I took her for laps around the building and each time we reached the street she would see the ice cream store and she would point say ice cream and Mm mm. Needless to say she did not fall asleep in the stroller that night.

As much as I love to travel its tough with little ones, its hard to take them out to eat. We rush through meals just to get out of the restaurant. I didn't bring Sara's portable high chair and she loves to climb out of the restaurant ones.

We had a great time together and the kids love the beach. Evan cried he didn't want to go home he wanted to stay in Florida. My mom was able to use the pool a bit with a cast cover on.

3.5 Years!! I'm going for 42 facts about Evan

1. Complete Mommy's boy, he tells me he loves me, will kiss my arms out of the blue. The only downfall is he always wants to be with me. If I go anywhere he wants to come along.

2. CARS we are obsessed with them, he plays with the die cast cars all day long.

3. CARS again,he calls me Sally (the beautiful porshe and Lightening McQueen's girlfriend) all day long and he tells me I'm not Evan I'm lightning. So I hear Sally, Sally and of course I'm not paying attention and he keeps calling me it until I respond.

4. He still loves his blue bear and his monkey pillow pets.

5. Evan loves to sing, rhyme, and dance. Anything he can learn the lyrics to quickly he is happy with.

6. We love our neighbors Joe and Dominic. Everyday Evan asks to play with them and they play very well together.

7. The color yellow! Last summer we had to wear yellow everyday fortunately we outgrew that but he loves yellow clothes, flowers, and food.

8. We love to go places, Evan often wakes up and asks where are we going. In the winter I think he gets cabin fever and wants to escape even if its a trip to Target or Wegman's.

9. Evan loves summertime, he will tell us he loves wearing sandals, going barefoot, wearing shorts, and having Mommy home!

10. We love candy corn, lollipops, and gummy bears.

11. Evans favorite vegetable is broccoli, corn, and peas.

12. Favorite fruits are grapes, apples, raspberries, and peaches.

13. Favorite dinners pizza, mini ravioli., chicken and chicken noodle soup (Moms soup he tells me) but he will eat Campbell's Cars soup.

14. He loves to take a shower by himself. He will play forever in there and if I give him his color changing cars and a bowl of ice cubes its like a babysitter!

15. Our vocabulary is very advanced, he uses tenses correctly and sentence structure is very advanced. Sometimes I don't notice it until he is around his peers. Hopefully Sara will catch up to him this year! He has asked me for Thomas the train with the cylinder ( he meant Thomas and the Jet Engine). Today he showed me his left knuckles (not sure where he learned knuckles)

16. Evans memory is amazing. I told him we were going to the beach and he asked which one the one near where Daddy works? It took me a minute to remember that we stopped by and saw Marc at one of his deliveries last year on the way to the beach. Evan also remembered that we stopped and I bought him an orange juice. This was last July or August and we never talked about it after that day. I wish I could remember what happened last week!

17. The past few days we have been busy with left and right, 90% of the time he'll ask is this my left hand and it is! He then shows me left foot, right foot, arms, fingers, etc. I never initiated this, so its always a surprise when he comes up with these things.

18. Evan prefers Mom to anyone and often gets very upset (okay I'm putting it mildly, he gets furious) when I leave and have a babysitter. Earlier this week a former student of mine who has been here a few times came and he threw a temper and then wouldn't speak to her for 3 hours. Today I had a moms group at Fisher Price and Evan did great with Kaley a neighbor. He even is upset when left with Daddy.

19. Evan is of average height but is thin he is around 28-29lbs and still wears 12-18 month swim trunks and 18 month shorts. Without an adjustable waist we are in big trouble!

20. We gave up naps this summer. I made the mistake of letting the pacifier go on way to long, he only used it to sleep, we gave it up at night first and then in July gave it up during naps. Giving up the Binky made him refuse to nap. We went from a 2-3 hour nap to occasionally falling asleep on the couch. Oh... I was so tempted to give it back to him. After I adjusted to it, he plays quietly and I can still get things done.

21. Although he is very spoiled by us and Grandparents he always displays gratitude. He will tell us thank you throughout the day and tell us I had a great day with you. It melts my heart every time.

22. At the beginning of the summer I thought our extensive train collection would be packed away but Evan has fallen in love with it again.

23. Today at the Fisher Price Moms group for moms of 3-5 year old boys I was the only one that does not have an electronic preschool game for my child. The neighbor boys have them and Evan wants one because they have CARS but he has never shown any interest. We have all the preschool basics down and are working on reading. Am I the only one out there without a house full of electronics? We don't have the Wii or anything else exciting. I figured we have many years that our Christmases will be overshadowed by those items.

24. Evan has started watching Disney shows with real people in them, he also likes Phineas and Ferb (sp?) and Sponge bob( not my favorite).

25. He will finally drink 2 cups of milk a day and won't eat any dairy products other than eggs. We buy all juices fortified with Calcium.


26. Evan is quirky that if he has something one way in the future he wants it the same way. He will only eat homemade Chicken noodle soup with alphabet letters, he likes his sandwich cut in triangles, and will only try Orange smoothies.

27. Evan loves ice cream with rainbow sprinkles and he will alternate between chocolate and vanilla. He also loves Freezy Pops.

28. Evan is the easy child that doesn't get into things and will ask before touching something or doing something. I can leave him in the house alone for short periods or leave him downstairs while I shower and he will sit and play or watch cartoons. I'll cross my fingers and toes this behavior continues.

29. Evan likes to kiss Sara goodnight and to get her to say new words. Tonight he had her say "bad guy" and was very proud that she said it.

30. Evan is a shopper and loves to go to the store. Of course we always have to look at CARS toys he is generally pretty good when I say no, many times he is happy to hold a toy while we shop and then put it down before we leave. So far we have only had a handful of meltdowns.

31. We recently taught him to play tic tac toe and it was fun to watch him try and cheat and get very excited each time he "beat" us!

32. Evan loves going to our cottage, riding the boat, feeding the fish, and drum roll.... going on the tube with Mom! He won't do it with Daddy but will with Mom. Luckily we bought a huge tube and we don't get wet on it. I'm not a cold water person.

33. We love the playground, he loves the slides but prefers to sit in the toddler swings. His friends climbed the rock wall and he was upset that they did it. He won't attempt it. Sara proceeded to climb the entire wall by herself. This didn't bother Evan but he won't try it.

34. Evan loved spring and asks me when the Daffodils and Tulips will be back.

35. "Will you play with me?" is often heard in our house. He plays very well alone, but loves to have anyone else join him.

36. Sharing is not always smooth. Evan has favorite toys and will hold on to them so others can't touch them. He often does this with the neighbors or he will ask me to hold onto them. We have had many talks about sharing.

37. Marc travels a great deal and Evan misses him but sometimes takes a bit to warm up to him. Resulting in the preference for Mom to do everything with him, for him, etc.

38. Another favorite snack introduced by Dad are Doritos. The smell of them grosses me out. I came home today and cuddled Sara and noticed she had nasty breath, after seeing her hands I knew why. Evan had the babysitter give them Doritos. YUCK.

39. Evan loves nursery rhymes and still loves Ring Around the Rosy - he loves to do it with Sara.

40. Evan knows we are in New York and Grandma lives in S. Carolina. He can name 10+ states on a map correctly. Although he tells us Michigan is his favorite because it is yellow on our puzzle and has a car on it!

41. We haven't graduated to a big bed yet, we told Evan we would do it when he gave up the pacifier and he doesn't want to yet. I guess there is no reason to rush it. I'll continue to save for new bedding.

42. Whew, this was more difficult than I thought it would. Okay Potty time. Evan has been fully potty trained since 31 months. He still prefers to go on the baby potty or the potty seat and doesn't like to stand. Since we have hardwood in our bathroom I haven't pushed it. He hates the loud flushing in public bathrooms and tells me not to flush. The automatic ones at the airport caught him by surprise.

20 of Sara's Favorites

Wow my baby is twenty months!

1. Twenty words Moma, Dade, hi, bye (sounds like baa), woof, apple. Grandpa, cookie, more, cracker, yuck, bubbles, balloon, eat, up, bounce, moon, boat, duck, and ball. There are more but theses are what we hear most often.

2. She loves ouchies and will find anyones scratches or bruises and tell us boo boo with a sympathetic look.

3. Before bedtime she has to kiss and hug Evan saying ni-ni with a wave.

4. Sara loves Dogs and laughs almost screeching each time she sees one.

5. We love Freezy pops and Sara will often run to the freezer in hopes of having one. She says popsicle but it sounds similar to apple.

6. Sara loves Evans toys including Thomas ( trains are woo hoo) and his current favorite Disney Cars.

7. We love Laurie Berkner music and Wheels on the bus by the Bacon Brothers.

8. Talking on the phone is a big deal and she kisses the phone and says baa and will return the phone without tears.

9. Sleepimg with her Pink bear and a pacifier(hopefully this habit ends soon).

10. The neighbor boys Domenic and Joe are her favorite playmates. She will stand on the driveway or at the window and yell Ominic and O (O is said in a deep voice). The boys are 3 &4 and play very well with her.

11. Sara is a fish and loves the pool, she is also a daredevil and has to be watched like a hawk. She has taken a few trips down the slide being held and laughs her head off everytime. She is so independent that with swimmies and a ring around her I can let her swim alone for a few minutes.

12. The boat at the cottage is also a favorite, although my favorite thing is it often makes her fall asleep!

13. We love to play outside, the water table, the bikes, the pool. She is very active.

14. Sara is very brave on the swingset and climbs the ladder and the rockwall by herself. She also loves the slide and often makes me nervouse with her climbing.

15. Flowers are an obsession. She picks at least one flower a day, and if I don't watch closeley its a handful of flowers. She will even yell from the stroller if she sees one growing because she wants to hold it. Luckily I love to garden so her flower a day habit hasn't affected us to much.

16. She loves to go up and down the stairs. We have 13 carpeted stairs then a hardwood landing and then 5 more hardwood stairs. The hardwood makes me nervous, but Sara holds the spindles when she walks. The crazy little girl likes to go on her but and race Evan down the stairs. Even though we have gates at the top and bottom its a race to get ahead of her each time.

17. Sara loves sprinkles and will eat only eat yogurt if I sprinkle them on top.

18. We love fruit, corn on the cob, pizza, and mozzarella cheese sticks. Sara still refuses to drink milk. She will drink Evans milk but if I give her a cup she will refuse it. I can often sneak it into a smoothie.

19. We run to Grandma and Grandpa each time we see them (they live in our neighborhood so usually its daily). She still gives them big hugs and kisses each time.

20. Lastly sitting on Evans potty and pulling down toilet paper and putting it in the potty. Hopefully this will transition to potty training soon. Each time I tell Evan to go potty (he still likes to use the baby potty occassionally) Sara runs for the bathroom and sits on the potty and we have a fight to get her off of it.

My little girl is growing up quickly, she is affectionate but strong willed, very sympathetic, and has a great sense of humor. She is very good natured and at this point a fantastic eater. She will even give me her plate to signal that she is done.

Summertime

This is our first week on our summer schedule. The schedule is having fun each day. Monday we walked to the village for breakfast and did some shopping at Kohl's and Target. Evan loves to shop and loves to go to Target. He doesn't necesssarily like to shop for Mom stuff but loves to go with me and usually can talk me into something. Lately it has been Cars toys. Tuesday we left the house early and went to Hobby Lobby to pick up some trim for the window treatments my Mom and I are making for my Living and Dining Rooms. It was $1.79 per vard with a coupon versus $6.65 at Joannes. I need 24 yards so it was an enormous savings. We manged to cut out 3 treatments and have 3 more to go. We finished the day with a trip to our neighborhood playground. Today I had a former student come and do our mulch while I played with the kids. We took a trip to the library, Walmart, and on the way home Evan noticed the Theater in town was showing a movie (CARS 2). He asked if it was open and if we could go. I told him we would call Grandma. My parents came and took him to the movie. Sara and I are home alone, this never happens. We went for a 2 mile walk and now we are playing.

I took pictures of the kids yesterday and ordered them from Walmart. When I went to pick them up today they told me they needed a photo release. Confused and annoyed I explained I took the pictures and they argued with me. Just as I was getting to ask for a manager they relented. I guess its a compliment. Waiting in line with Sara trying to climb out of the cart and then being hassled wasn't what I had planned.

Tomorrow I am headed to Fisher Price for a Moms group. The will pay me $50 for each session and told me they last from a 1/2 hour to an hour and are held every other Thursday all summer long. Hopefully I'll be able to make them. I'm hoping Evan and Sara get called to model soon our Fisher Price gift cards are dwindling!

Sick Babies

We had a busy weekend last weekend. We took the kids to ride Thomas the Train in Medina, NY about an hours drive and then from there went to Tulip Festival in Holland. Marc's Aunt and Uncle live in Holland and there is a great parade and small rides for the kids. We had an exhausting day. I ended up sick on Sunday and Monday, I had my Mom take the kids on Monday and I stayed home and slept all day long. It felt weird to be home alone! The Dr's saw me late in the afternoon and gave me a Z pack and 24 hours later I felt fine. Tuesday, Evan started with a cough and it worsened as the week went on.

I took the kids to the Peds Thursday and they told me it was a cold/allegies. We went back Saturday and Evan had a bulging ear drum and Sara Roseola. Sunday his ear ruptured and today I took Sara in and she has an ear infection. We have been lucky and this has been our first round of antibiotics and ear infections for both kids. Trying to get them to take the amoxicillin is another story. Evan can be convinced after lots of whining and Sara threw it up twice today, I'm dreading giving it to her tonight. She went down for a nap at 5pm, she was exhausted.

A funny story, this morning Evan asked for a piece of candy. He looked in the drawer I keep it in and didn't see anything he wanted and then remembered he had Easter Candy on the Dining Room table. Sara watched him and I thought that was the end of it. Evan awoke from his nap this afternoon and I left Sara alone downstairs. We couldn't find her when we came down. She was on top of the Dining Room table unwrapping all of the chocolate candy. Sara was so proud of herself and making a huge mess. I told Evan she was having a feast. Its neat when we can laugh at something together! I wish I would have had my camera ready, I managed to take a few pictures on my cell phone.

Traveling with two

We survived a trip to Grandma's house in Charleston, SC. The kids were fantastic on the flights we left NY at 6am and had a minute flight to Baltimore a short layover and an hour flight to Charleston. Evan was happy to play the first flight and watch a DVD the second flight. Sara napped the second flight.

We had a great time in the warm weather. The kids loved wearing shorts and playing in the sprinkler, swimming in the pool, visiting Folly Beach, the SC Aquarium, going for a carriage ride. Sara is obsessed with dogs and says Whoof- whoof each time she sees them. She saw the horses and continued to yell whoof.

Grandma loved seeing Evan and Sara and each night Aunt Teri had dinner with us. Traveling with kids isn't a true vacation. Our time in the sun is limited, we struggled with naps. Evan now tells us he is cranky and ugly!
On the way home we were getting ready to board the Southwest plane and the woman at the gate called Evan over and had him say "Welcome Aboard". Everyone waiting had a big smile from his tiny voice. It was so sweet, to bad we didn't have a recording! When we landed in Buffalo he started yelling "yay we are in NY", unfortunatly it was 50's and rainy and everyone didn't share his excitement. We are happy to be home and in our own beds!

On the move..

Sara is so busy, she gets into things and does things that at three Evan still hasn't attempted. The other day I heard a new noise and found her behind out couch. She had crawled underneath a sofa table behind it and ended up in the corner of our family room behind the couch. Last week we were playing in Evans bus tent in his bedroom. I heard Sara yelling and didn't see her, she had crawled under Evans toddler bed. The difference between the two of them is night and day. The other day my Mom, who watched them 3 days a week, told me she'd only watch another one if they were like Evan! I signed Evan up for 2 mornings of preschool next year and Sara up for one morning. They will be at the school Evan is at this year. The 2-3 program is a co-op so I have to volunteer 6-8 mornings. Since my Mom won't have both kids on that day she can volunteer with Sara if necessary. We have had a crazy two weeks. The drama of school and budget cuts. Thankfully I was saved by a retirement, and then most of NYS school funding was restored. Hopefully that will restore the jobs of 38 people in my district. I ended up in severe pain one afternoon out of the blue. I serioulsy thought I would pass out from the pain in my chest and abdomen. Here I was alone with the kids and Marc was in NJ. I ended up calling my mom and going to the ER. They diagnosed me with gall stones. They were as shocked as I was. They said its usually fair, fourty, and fat. I meet the fair but thats it. From what I've read online it looks like its from hormones. I have certainly taking enough of those. It is normal to occur after long term birth control use. I guess I was the other end of that hormone use. Hopefully I avoid another episode because then I would need to see a surgeon. A few days later I woke up with a UTI. Ugh, another day off. Thought we were going to have a good week this week and Monday night Evan fell off a kitchen stool. He cried so hard and after an hour complained that his arm really hurt and he didn't want to move it or touch it. We headed back to the ER and as soon as I broke out a new train book he could suddenly move his arm. Although he would still complain about it. I debated stay or leave. We stayed... and stayed.. and stayed... they finally saw us 4 hours later, we finally were put in a room at 10pm, he fell asleep for 20 minutes and they woke us up for Motrin and an xray. The good news no broken bones, we didn't make it home until 11:30pm! His elbow was swollen all week but I think we are finally on the mend. Yesterday was his first bowling birthday party. Evan had a blast!

Puzzles, Puzzles, and more Puzzles.

We have been doing puzzles since Evans birthday at the beginning of February. We started out with 24 piece ones and he mastered them in a few days. Quickly moved onto 36 and 45 piece puzzles and he quickly mastered them. I bought a few 60 piece puzzles and he is amazing and so patient when he completes them. We've progressed to 100 piece puzzles and after a half an hour or so he completes them without any help. He will complete puzzle after puzzle if we spread them out on the kitchen table, he will move from chair to chair completing puzzles. The Ravensburg brand seems to be the best puzzle quality.

Lots of funny Evanism's lately, as I was trying to clean up the kitchen I heard "Hey, Mom", "yes, Evan", "Give me a smile". I have no idea where this came from, but it brought the biggest smile to my face, it was priceless. Last night he asked where he was going tomorrow, I told him Grandmas. He told me when he goes to work he is going to take me to Grandma's.
Evan has been busy singing songs, the ABC's, anything he hears at preschool, and the entire refrain from Mr Roboto by the Styx. He heard his 7 year old cousin singing it and after watching it on Youtube a few times he mastered it. I'll have to post a video.

Evan was an every day Super Hero model at Fisher Price last week. It was so adorable, hoping to see him on the advertisements in the fall. He was the last model of the day and they told us they wished they all followed directions like him. I would of loved to of had those pictures. Maybe we'll recreate the costume this summer, it was all created with things a family would have at home.

Sara has become Daddy's girl. She cries when he leaves the room and prefers Daddy over Mommy. Daddy isn't home everyday like me so when he is he is the hero. She is running, she loves to wear shoes. I've been trying to do her hair each day, we usually can get her to keep a little pony tail or barrette in for a few hours.

I thought the Dem Bones video ended a year ago, Sara discovered it and carries the case around until we put it on. It really is a catchy song and Evan loves to watch it once again.

Our house is always chaotic and we never seem to stay caught up for long but its always full of smiles and laughter.

And She is off!

Today we hit 20+ steps. She is so proud that she starts clapping as soon as I praise her. Evan asked if she can talk yet. He must equate walking with talking. I think I'll be in trouble if she talks half as much as Evan does.

The basement was carpeted today. Evan kept telling me this is the best basement ever. He loved being able to run! I will love having a place for the toys. Now we need to get a gate for the bottom of the stairs and install one at the top. The one on the top is so I can leave the door open and Evan can play down there alone and the other is to keep Sara down there when I'm down there. We still need to move the treadmill and possilby gate that also. Marc will help me move it this weekend. No more exercise excuses!

We had Evan's third birthday and it was a blast. Our house has turned into a train station and we have every Thomas train imaginable. He loves them and spends so much time playing with them. They are his imaginary friends. At the end of the party he had a very sad look on his face and told my Father in law "Grandpa you didn't give me pankings" Grandpa didn't understand. Once we translated to spankings, I told Evan he had to bend over so Grandpa could give him his birthday spankings. He grabbed the edge of his train table and Grandpa gave him some birthday spankings. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my son would ask for spankings! Marc told him all week that Grandpa was going to give him spankings. I wish we would have had it on video.

First Steps

Sara took a few steps today. She went from standing alone to walking to me and from the edge of the couch to me.

I think I've held my children to much, Evan didn't walk until 15 months, and Sara will be 14 months on the 27th. Thats okay after waiting this long for them every cuddle has been a gift!

Sibling rivalry is setting in. Evan plays in the living room with his train table and the minute he hears Sara on the hardwood floor (our kitchen and foyer) he comes racing out yelling I'm going to trap her. Then he tackles her and lays on her. She begins to scream - probably thinking what did I do wrong? Yet when we are upstairs and they are bouncing on his bed he is mad at me for taking her downstairs. I hear don't you want to play Sara, come hide with me. It is so sweet to see them play happily together.

Yesterday was a tough day. Its been 6 years since we lost Rachel. I teared up a few times, but didn't realize how upset I was until I woke up this morning. I had tossed and turned all night and must have been clenching my teeth. This morning my head, neck and teeth killed. Luckily some Tylenol and Ibuprofren did the trick. Its amazing that day and night play through my head like a movie. I can see every detail, the wallpaper, the tv, the details of the room, the expression on Marcs face and my moms. I can still feel the warmth from her in my arms. Life can never prepare you for losing a child.

I have met a handful of friends that have also lost children. Its not the club we expected to join but these are woman I never would have met, and we share so much. They have been such great support and have become such wonderful friends. The good news is we have all gone on to have children. My Dr. put me in touch with Katie last spring, she had lost her daughter at 8 months. Katie is scheduled for an induction in 30 days and came to visit me yesterday. I can't wait to meet her little Dani and I look forward to play dates in the future. I know the anxiety she is facing this month and pray that it goes quickly and she is holding her daughter soon!