Falling into Fall!

Life (as many mommies warned me) continues to get busier and busier with each day. No matter how prepared I am for the week, I can never quite catch up!!  Seanna started back to school again and is loving it.  She is doing even better this year now that she has the routine down and even has a little pack of friends (I've been told by the teacher that she is the ring leader).  It's quite funny to see these four little girls all together.  The kids all get super excited when I come in to pick her up with her baby sister...  Even though she loves hanging out with these little girls, sometimes I pick her up and she is hanging by herself as well.  Not only that, but she normally makes me wait anywhere from 20-40 minutes until she feels that she is done playing.  

We are all getting ready around here too for Halloween.  She decided that she wanted to be a pirate this year so she and her sister have matching tutu's being made right now.  Can't wait to see how they turn out.  We are going to trick or treat again with the same crew as last year.  Should be fun for all!!!!!!  


We unfortunately had ANOTHER flood in our house and are going to lose all of the hardwood floors downstairs and have a huge project ahead of us to get the house back on track.  We've been in and out of the house due to construction stuff and have been put on hold for a few days while they order some supplies.  

She is still absolutely in love with her sister and still loves to mess with her whenever she can.  They have a ritual each night of playing outside after dinner and love to play in the toy cars (Seanna drives and Nola tries to chase after her on foot).  It's very fun to watch.  Seanna has an extremely STRONG personality which is sometimes a challenge to manage but it's also extremely charming when she wants to be.  She is definitely one of the smartest three year olds I've met (of course I'm a bit biased).  


Happy Halloween and Fall to you all!

Summer 2011 almost coming to an end!

It has been such a wonderful summer hanging out with the girls all summer long.  We did lots of fun things together as a family.  We were invited a few weeks ago with some friends to their cabin in Crestline and Seanna had her very first experience with the mountains and also staying in the same room as a friend (her version of a sleepover at age 3).  She had a blast and was so sad to head back home again.

Right now, Seanna and Wes are in Arizona visiting his mom (Grandmother).  I'm sure they are having a great time.  Little Blu and I stayed back to take care of Axel and hold the fort down. It's so quiet around here and no one is asking a million questions of me about "How does that work, or Why did I do that??"  etc. I really miss them both terribly.  They will be back before the weekend comes.

Seanna's has become an amazing swimmer over the summer as well.  She now loves to leap off of things into the water, can dive down to the bottom of the pool to retrieve things and can do summersaults in the water all by herself.  It's really amazing to watch.  She is teaching herself how to breath above water while she is using her big arms too.  I have to say swimming might be in that little girl's future--she sometimes wants to swim twice a day!  She and Axel have spent many summer days out in the pool and she throws the ball in for him and then jumps in the water so she can see his legs swimming under the water with her pink goggles.  We even had to put a portable potty outside because she could not be bothered with coming inside if she actually needs to use the rest room!  :)))  Crazy girl!

School is starting up again next week.  Not sure we will start her until the following week since traveling takes so much out of her.

A few weeks ago we had a mommy and Seanna day and we went to her very first movie theater.  She did great--it was the dollar theater so I wasn't sure about the movie that we went too and learned alot about even though it's a "G" rated movie it can still be scary.  She saw Astro Boy and I have to say she did wonderfully well for her first flick.  She got a booster seat and everything--we only needed one small break but she was determined to see the whole show.

Finally, I have to say how proud I am of her for what a fantastic big sister she has become.  She really loves her little sister and even though she loves to control her toys and when little Blu gets to play with them, she takes great pride in being a big sister.  It's one of my favorite things to do is watch the two of them interact in the play room together.  Their laughs are amazing and when we had an impromptu dance party in the family room the other night--they both were laughing uncontrollably and begging to dance more-mommy, more!!

Hope you all are having a great summer too!

The world is spinning by this year!

It's hard to believe that our little Sunshine is already 3 years old as of yesterday!  She is absolutely an amazing little girl and is so happy to have a new little sister.  We finished school at the beginning of the month and have been hanging out together alot these last few weeks.  We've been going to lots of parks, the library, swimming a ton and making lots of new friends.  Her vocabulary is almost at a scary level as sometimes I actually have to stop and remind myself that she is only 3 years old.

We had a great Father's Day and were planning on enjoying a bbq with friends (although due to an unexpected leak in our kitchen it ended up being quite a big ordeal.  Although the day ended up being a super fun day with lots of friends food and swimming!

The following weekend was daddy's bday and we celebrated with cooking some steaks on the grill and celebrating with some family and friends.  The next day we had Sunshine's bday party a week early so that she could have some fun with all of her friends since we were going to be out of town with other friends on her actual bday.  We hosted a zoo cupcake decorating party complete with aprons to decorate, and zoo hats too.  The kids swam in the pool and decorated lots of cupcakes to end the day with some pizza and a sugar high :)!

For the actual bday, we were in Carlsbad at the Hyatt and could not believe how much fun they made it for the entire family.  Sunshine swam every day with her friends and jumped in the free jump house, colored flags and made sun visor hats for her dad.  She ran around with friends at night during our in prompt too pizza party on the lawn and she got to see her first firework show this year as she could stay up late enough to see them.  Although she liked them, she was very happy when the loud noises were finished!  Hope you all had a great 4th and are having a wonderful summer!

Happy Belated Easter and Early Mother's Day!

We are so blessed by these two little ones and they make us laugh daily!  We had a wonderful Easter together and did the annual Easter Egg Hunt at the club (had a new hunter though this year :) and it was better than ever!  (By the way, Seanna ONLY picked up pink ones during the egg hunt.  All other colors were ignored which is very out of character for her and one of her best friends did EXACTLY the same thing!!  Too funny  :) We celebrated with two other families and enjoyed a day of food, festivities and fun all around. The kids had a blast playing on the golf course and the dad's even stumbled on a second easter egg hunt and took them to that one as well.  Looks like we might have an annual tradition beginning!!  


I was invited to Seanna's school today for a Mommy and Me tea that was the most amazing thing I have ever seen.  I walked out onto the playground and could not believe my eyes.  It had been transformed into a beautiful garden for all mommies to enjoy.  Seanna chose my outfit and also made special placemat where I was seated.  


We talk about her tummy mommy every day as well and want you to know that you and all the grandmas and mothers are celebrated on this day as well.  We found a poem (and changed it a bit) to tell you how grateful we are to you for choosing us to raise her.  You have truly given us a gift we can not repay.  
So please allow us to send you this note to know how special you and your family are to us as well on this special day.




We have a bond, dear birthmother and I,
It’s the love of a child, we can't deny.
You are a blessing from afar,
To send to us your bright, shining star.
Her journey to us would not have occurred, if your love for her had ever swerved.
I thank you this day from the bottom of my heart, a sacrifice to one, to another a fresh start. 
This start includes honor to you, as you are the birthmother, twill always be true.
I will treasure my blessing every day, and pray you'll be there, so I may thank you again.


Love to all,


Us

Starting to actually like her new sister

Well, it's been almost 5 months since the new baby came home and Seanna is finally realizing that she is here to stay.  The baby is beginning to motor around now and smile as well as laugh out loud.  Finally Seanna realizes that she's not just a ton of work but can actually be fun too!  Seanna is asking to "hold" the baby and help feed her--we have somewhat moved past the whole baby does that so I will too phase (hopefully).  Seanna thinks that she is a really big girl now --which in reality she is becoming.  She has gone through a few growth spurts recently and is now more than half my size.  She is wearing a size 7 shoe and wearing 4T clothes already.

She will be finishing up school soon for the summer and has been in swim lessons again for this year. These are more refresher lessons in an attempt to get her ready for some (she actually forgot how to swim over the winter and was a bit paranoid of the water).

She has made alot of friends lately and gets funnier by the day.  You never know what incredible statement will come out of her mouth at any given moment. Her memory is almost scary as she very rarely forgets anything.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Crazy Girl!

 

Crazy girl!

[Image]Seanna's personality is coming out in full force now.  She is LOVING her new preschool classroom and I'm pretty sure the teachers on on their heels with her because she is giving them a run for their money daily.  She is OBSESSED with reading books and does it for hours--at night she sings and reads herself to sleep. Her newest thing is telling us that there are 7 days in the week.  She can count to 20, knows her ABCs and several, several songs and recites tons of fairy tale poems by heart.  She has an extremely strong personality and will test you to the limits if she knows she can take an inch --she will take 10 more.

[Image]She is a really good, good girl and loves her new sister.  She helps with baths in the evening and if she spits up or is crying she is the first one to tell us about it.

This weekend we went to a party where the Lizard Wizard was the main attraction and Seanna held several snakes and also brushed a pet turtle.  I'm not even sure her dad wanted to hold the snakes :)

She LOVES the bear that you gave her and we really appreciated it.

[Image]Love to all...

Growing up soooo fast!

The last few weeks have been an absolute blur with Seanna's progress.  We had a number of visitors to our house (Wes' parents for one week, followed the next day with a visit from my dad--aka Grandpa Nick).  Immediately following my dad's visit,  Seanna and Nola both got sick--Seanna with a double ear infection and Nola with a bad cold.  Seanna decided that week that she was going to start sleeping in her "blue room" which is her big girl bedroom and hasn't looked back since.  She loves everything about it and actually asks to go to sleep now!  We have transitioned Nola into the crib!  This past week, Seanna decided that she was going to start going poop on the potty (a few weeks ago I pulled her diapers and she has been wearing big girl underwear since then).  She is completely potty trained except for #2 which over the past few days we have had some success with!!  She is also been attending actual Pre-School this past week as she has outgrown her other classroom and is soooo excited to go into this new one.  She is growing up soo fast it's almost scary.  We unfortunately also learned some very sad news this past week as Wes' dad passed away suddenly after his visit to our house.  We are all suffering a great loss for a super wonderful man.  He will be greatly missed by all of us.  :(  We know he is in a better place now watching out for us all...

Survived the Holidays!

We now have a new addition to the family and she is already 8 weeks old.  She was born right before Thanksgiving so needless to say we ended up having a take-out turkey dinner this year.  Seanna had her homemade applesauce and a few other wonderful items that she loved (although her very favorite was the pumpkin pie which with her gluten allergy she should not really have but it was the holidays and she needed some extra attention)!  She also had her very first Holiday show with school where she performed "We wish you a Merry Xmas" in front of a very large audience.  Although she knew the song well and sang in the car almost daily she decided to "sit this one out"when it came to the actual performance --but she did sit with her class during it and looked super cute up there on that big stage!

We also enjoyed a lovely Xmas this year too as we stayed home on the actual day but celebrated Xmas Eve with friends and an Italian Meatball Dinner.  The kids all made Santa Cookies for when he came to their homes later that evening and we all stayed out way too late.  Christmas day was lovely too as we made a big beautiful ham dinner with lots of trimmings and opened presents slowing for most of the day (in between bottle feedings, naps and diaper changes).  :)  New Years was also very quite and Seanna, Wes and I celebrated New York New Year and she thought it was the greatest thing ever that there was a party on TV!  New Years Day we had friends over to watch football and eat rueben pizza and other traditional dishes.  The house was a mess afterwards but we sure had a great day!  Seanna woke up and went to her play room the next day and said "someone needs to clean this up!"  Yes, our little one likes things in their places and do not mess up her areas :!

Seanna is getting used to having a new sister although I think she realized the other day that she is here to stay and was not so excited about it.  When I changed the photos in the hallway to reflect the new Holiday photos she told me "I don't like them!"  Oh boy, here we goooo!  She is an absolute doll though and her personality is as sweet as they come.  Her teachers all love her and she seems to be a class favorite.  Her vocabulary is such that the teachers are now telling me that they want to move her up to preschool already at 2.5!  So we will be working on potty training over the next few weeks.  We have some additional family members coming into town so I will be asking them for some assistance as well.  She has not moved into her big girl room yet, but that is right around the corner as well.  

Hope everyone is doing well and we love and miss all of you!