Kids Getting Clean...

Okay All, Here are James & Katie getting clean in the bath. Jay

James & Katie Being Generally Cute...

Okay All, Here's a short video of James & Katie being cute together. Enjoy!

Snow Fun!

Snow Day!

Well, not really a true snow day as no one stayed home from work or school, but nonetheless, a snow fun day! After school James and Katie went out to play in the 12" of snow with our friends Nick and Nate. Katie enjoyed the snow, as did James. There are more pictures I need to upload from my camera phone, but here's one with Katie in the snow. This was before I brought out the sand buckets. After I brought out the pails, the boys had fun making snow castles and Katie had fun turning hers into her very own snowcone. I'm not kidding. She filled the thing with snow and then walked around licking and eating it. When it got low, she filled it up with more snow. Thanks to Alex for diverting her away from the yellow snow! I wish I had a picture of her and her snowcone- it was too funny!

Katie's very own Bay-bee and Roller

When Katie and I drop James off at school, Katie heads straight for the play area and grabs the baby stroller and cruises around the classroom. I always have to drag her away from the stroller and she is in tears over leaving her "bay-bee and roller"... After a week of this I decided she must have her own, so after we dropped James off we headed to Toys R Us. It was one of those mommy-daughter moments that you just can't compare to a mommy-son trip to the toy store. As a mom, it is fun to see your son's face light up at a train set, his first ride around the store on his new scooter car or his first pair of roller skates. However, taking your daughter to the toy store for the first time when she is going to pick out a girlie toy is just the cutest. I think this is because my imagination had a flash forward into the future, the far future, once we got to the doll aisle. We round the corner to the doll aisle and she is screaming baa-bee as soon as she sees the dolls, then she notices the strollers and she just can't decide what she wants to grab first. She gets the doll, gives it a big hig, puts it in the stroller, checks to make sure she is not going to fall out and there is no stopping her. She is cruising the baby up and down all the aisles. This is when my mind an image flashes of the far furture of her pushing a real stroller with her own baby in it. We cruise over the the check out lane and out the door to the car. When we get to the car she refuses to let me put the stroller in the back of the wagon. She must sit in the carseat, with the baby and holding the handles of the stroller (good thing it folds up just like the real thing). When we got home she had to cruise her baby around before taking her afternoon nap. Something tells me that we are going to be taking summer walks with the baby and stroller all around Oak Park. Experience with James tells me that I will probably be carrying the stroller after about 2 blocks in one arm and Katie in the other.

I just love the look on her face in this picture.

And of course, James never plays with the stroller and school but just can't keep his hands off Katie's at home.... they always want what the other has....

Messy Girl!

When James was about this age there is a picture of him COVERED in his afternoon snack of yogurt and banana with the biggest smile on his face. I had given him the snack and then ran unstairs to put in a load of laundry and when I returned, he had made a huge mess. He was just so happy I couldn't be mad and had to take a picture. Our playgroup would exchange a photo of each child at our summer playgroup birthday party. I picked that photo to pass out to everyone in the group. One of the girls now calls James "messy boy" from that picture. It appears 3 years later, I have not gotten any more creative in a snack for my kids, and Katie now can be called "messy girl." Although James still holds the title for messiest boy as his yogurt ended up in his hair, ears, and nose. Katie's a relatively neat messy eater...

The Paperwhites have bloomed!

Here James shows how much the paperwhites that Mama Diane gave him for Christmas have grown and fully bloomed. It was so cute to watch him run downstairs each morning and marvel about how much his plant had grown overnight. Thanks for a great present Mama Diane!

A Future Photographer's Early Works

On the way to Mama Diane and Papa Bede's last week James once again, got a hold of my camera. I give you, the views from the backseat of the Volvo wagon, along 290 and 294. Enjoy!

A self portrait of the budding photog!

The picture that started it all as I said I really needed a picture of Katie with her cute pig tails before she pulled them out.

Shedd Aquarium

We stopped on the way to the aquarium so mommy could get some coffee. Dunkin Donuts has a good drive thru in the area and while I was waiting for my coffee, my darling daughter was waving from the backseat at the cashier. Now, I learned this when James was little at a different Dunkin Donuts: that the cashiers, at their discretion, can hand out munchkins. So of course, my munchkin waving and being cute from the backseat, earned her and her brother some free munchkins. James took this picture of the munchkins that I convinced him to save for daddy. I did that as I think 1 for katie and 3 for james are MORE than enough deep fried goodness.

At the dolphin show we ran into a friend of James' from Concordia. We sat with them while we watched Fantasea.

Up close picture of Katie.

Katie watching the "fishies!"

We parked by the aquarium and this tugboat was in the harbor, trying to break up the ice. James was surprised that a boat could go through the ice.