Our First Morning Back at the Park!

Our First Niece!!

Penelope Rose is Here!!!

Just want to tell Matt & Amy congrats from the whole fam on the birth of their little Penny this morning, March 18th, at 6:30am. She is 8lbs 13oz and 20in long. I heard she was nice to her Mommy and only took about 5 hours of labor to make her appearance! We are all so excited to have her in the family and love her to pieces already!! Alex saw her picture and said, "She's So Cute!" Well that about sums it up!

Stuff....

Here's a clip of a typical family playtime around our house!
This is from about a month ago, so Sam has a lot more words he can say, and does say mommy more now, thankfully.

Hang Time with Daddy

Daddy is our favorite dude around here! We're all missing him today because he is on a trip with the school and left before the boys got up (I got up and saw him off at 4:45am but went back to bed directly!!) and won't be home until after they are in bed. Here's a few fun facts about daddy around here!
1. If Ryan comes home and does not acknowledge Sam's presence within the first few seconds the little guy gets really offended! He wants Daddy to come right to him and play!!
2. Both boys have started a little ritual when Ryan leaves for work of walking him to the back door and standing there waving, yelling bye, and blowing kisses until he is out of sight. It's really cute.
3. Alex rarely refers to Ryan as just "Daddy" anymore when he's not in his presence--it's "MY Daddy." Especially if he's mad at me or gets into trouble (I know shocking!) he will say, "I want my daddy!" Or he'll tell me, "I miss my daddy at work!"

The Children's Museum

This winter one of the best things that happened to us was being pointed in the direction of the small children's museum in town. And when I say small...I'm talking itty bitty. But, it is packed with stuff the kids love and has really helped us with this ginormous bout of Cabin Fever that has settled in!! The boys' fave things to do at the CM are: the Thomas Trains, of course, the little grocery store, the keyboard, the face paints (just recently Alex got brave enough to let me do his face like Bolt--or a version thereof...Sam is still opposed), the dinosaur landscape, and the puzzles/brain games they have. I purchased a membership for us last fall and we have probably gone 10+ times since then, so we definitely got our money's worth! The kids love it and you would be amazed at how fast the toys get cleaned up when I say we can go to the CM as soon as the house is tidy!! Here are some pics from one of our last outings to the CM.

Stories...

A few Alex quotes of late:
--When naming some of his dinosaurs he told me his scariest one was named "Mommy!"
--Yesterday out of the blue Alex said, "Mommy, today is I Love Mommy Day!"
--When sitting on my lap watching some Olympic figure skaters do some triple jumps on the internet Alex shrugged his shoulders and said, "I can do that at home!"
--A little while ago Alex walked into the kitchen and proclaimed, "Daddy, I'm Danger!"
--A lady at church was teasing Alex about playing in the snow with him and she asked him if she could throw him into a snow bank. He thought really hard and said, "No not today, come back tomorrow!"
--Almost every day now Alex has to put his head on my tummy to hear the baby "talking" to him. We tell him not to worry, he'll be hearing baby loud and clear soon enough--he doesn't seem to get that yet!!

Some Sam Stories:
--a while ago I could hear Sammy fussing in the livingroom, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I searched all over and was starting to get that panicky feeling in my stomach when I saw the curtains behind the couch wiggle a little. I went over there and the poor kid had wedged himself behind the couch and the wall and couldn't move. Just his little head was sticking out!
--Sam spends a lot of time playing around in his bedroom before he falls asleep at naptime. The other day I went in there and he had piled all the pillows from Alex's bed (Alex naps in our room), all the stuffed animals, and the bean bag chair in his bed. There was almost no room for him in there!
--I'm sitting in the livingroom with Alex when I hear struggling noises coming my way. I look up to see Sam carrying an entire jug of milk in to me and smiling. Guess that meant he wanted some milk??? ;-)