Wednesday, April 29, 2009

happy birthday g!

april 27th marked g's 37th birthday. or so she says. we gathered at our house, ate chinese, some fancy desserts, and then were able to soak in the pleasant spring evening. here are some pics.


g and ava make a funny face...


rae rae


the happy couple.



time for some football. ava throws the ball to daddy.



and last but not least, bompa.

happy birthday g! part 2..

vincent

ruby

florence



xx.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

bath time..



scott and ava were at swimming lessons tonight.. and since "mom days" are bath days... i ran the water in the sink for v and f. it is easier on my back to do it there, and plus.. they are so stinking cute when they can look at each other and laugh and play. i don't have to worry that one of them is going to face plant into the tub full of water.
i haven't updated on them recently.. and there is so much to tell. the prior post talks about their eating. so crazy to think they are now eating real people food... where did the last 10 months go? ha ha.
anyhow.. they are both pulling themselves up as often as they can. florie is by far at this moment better on her feet than the captain is. he still likes to stand on his tip toes, and has much more weight to get off the ground than she. either way... i sense walking in the future.. maybe closer than i suspected. flors likes to challenge herself by standing without hanging on instead of sleeping in her crib... she spends the first 20 minutes or so just standing up... seeing how long she can go. vin on the other hand.. is lights out just about the second after his head lays down. motherhood is so great. i was home for 12 days with all three kids.. and for only 1.5 hours of that time did i wish i was at work. summer is going to rock.

here are pictures of my princess and lion...



oh.. and by the way.. vinnie found his favorite man part during this photo shoot. it was quite fascinating to the little guy. boys will be boys.

xx.

go finger...

last week i was on passover break from school.. make that almost to weeks. anyhow.. i decided to really get caught up on my baby food makings, and made over 200 cubes of varous fruits and veggies. great idea, right? not so much.. when the two you are feeding decide they would rather do it themselves.. with their fingers. we will make it work.. it just surprised me. clearly they are of the age where becoming more independent is wanted and all good.. i just laugh when i look in my freezer at more cubes than one can imagine. go finger... i mean figure.

xx.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

prince charming



thank you for being an amazing father to our children. i try not to take your involvement for granted. thank you for keeping me smiling and laughing, even when i want to cry. thanks for letting me sleep in somedays.. even when you really want to. thank you for letting me lay on the couch when we watch tv at night. thanks for always putting our families needs before your own. thanks for making the dogs food and taking them for walks. thanks for taking crazy self portraits like the one above with the camera, and not telling me.. so i find them myself. thanks for working so hard to that i can only work part time. thanks for our date nights. thanks for the million times you have painted rooms in this house. and the million more times you will paint in the future. thanks for being the finance man in our house, yet driving the less desirable vehicle. thanks for staying true to your dreams and values. thanks for being my prince charming. i love you.

Friday, April 17, 2009

garage sale.

as i am going thru things around the house to put in a garage sale next weekend, i can't believe how many clothes ava had/has/will have. she has always had the most clothes in the house, and as i go thru multiple tubs of her old clothes, to either dress florie in, sell, or keep i am a little embarrassed. the good news is, florie is moslty set for spring. they are a little off in seasons, but maybe flors will hit a growth spurt here. i am also getting rid of more clothes than i have in the past. currently, we are content with three kids. i don't believe this will change, but sometimes god's plan is greater than mine. either way.. i do not need this excessive amount of clothing. wish i had that much myself. maybe the cash i earn will provide me with some fun spring updates.

no pics of the kids today. pinky swear to have some next time.
for now.. get outside and enjoy the weather!

xx.

i will never understand...

i was peacefully asleep at about 6:45 this am, when one of the dogs jumped on the bed. i instantly got a huge whiff of poo. scott was getting ready for work, so i called downstairs to tell him kobe had rolled in poop while he was outside this am. yuck. the bad news is, scott thought he had cleaned him up, as he was already out of the bath. double yuck. that means i had to give the second bath. i just don't get it.. why do dogs find stinky things, and then roll in them? like i don't have enough people to bathe around here? it is gone now.. and i sent him outside to dry. hopefully he does not repeat the 6 am behavior.

xx.

Monday, April 13, 2009

easter blessings

as usual,
the bottolene bunch had an action packed holiday. we attended good friday service in monticello with my dad and margie, and spent some of the day saturday at my dad's. sunday we were at my aunt and uncles for the big charlebois gathering. an egg hunt and brunch were the events, and everyone was thankful for the warm spring day. we then arrvied at our house just in time for the bottolenes to come for another egg hunt and lasagna dinner. we served both a meat and vegetable lasagna. believe it or not.. i was the one who made the veggie one, and it was actually good. don't get too excited mom, it isn't like i am going to start cooking. but i was proud of myself. even greater compliments were given to scott.. who some said made a lasagna better than his nanny (who is an authentic italian).
i didn't take out the camera for part two of easter, but will get some pictures up of those cute massie kids soon!
we hope you had a wonderful easter, and took time to reflect on what easter means to you.

ava finds her first egg.


pp and rae.


coby the boy.



xx.

easter blessings part two..

devin on the hunt

big pete shows his eggs.

erika and nana

handsome boy shows his teeth.

swimming lessons

when i was an infant, my papa took me to swimmming lessons. he has such fond memories of it, and although i can not remember, it warms my heart to think about the special time just he and i shared. i wanted to contniue the tradition. when ava was about 9 months, my dad and larry a couple of times took her to swimming lessons. she loves the water and was ready for the next level, so this spring we took the plunge and registered at foss. i was a little skeptical at first of the cost, but i will say that in three lessons, we already got our money worth. her and my dad love it. she goes under water with no hesitation, and can't wait for wednesday nights. these pictures are not great, as they were mostly moving while the pictures were being taken.

xx.




Thursday, April 9, 2009

the park is back.. raise the roof.

tonight it was so nice out that we all loaded up and walked to a nearby park.
we were in two "strollers". ava was in the burley/bike trailer.. which she calls her "supercar". she loves it because she can bring her dolls, dinner, and whatever else with her. vinnie and florie were in the double stroller. next time i may get creative and load them all into the burley. that way i can do it by myself. ava was thrilled to reconnect with the swings, slides, and monkey bars. vinnie and florie tried the swing for the first time.. and it was adorable. they shared one of those baby swings, so they were facing opposite directions with thier backs touching. i unfortunately forgot the camera.

raise the roof for two days now in a row where we could enjoy some fresh air. and.. two days in a row that ava has napped.

xx.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

our first walk

today we bundled up and braved lake calhoun. all three kids were in a stoller. luckily, i had two lovely friends with me to help push them. it was probably the longest walk of mollie and cassie's life, as it took close to an house and a half to get around the lake. we did stop at the park to play, so i guess our timing wasn't terrible. the good news is, we were able to get out and enjoy the weather. this was ava's first time at the park this spring. she was thrilled. i am on spring break, and look forward to many days ahead of outside time. vin and florie are so excited and curious to see what the outdoors have to offer. i hope you are enjoying the weather!

xx.

Monday, April 6, 2009

REAL SIMPLE??

today i came home from work early. up until today, all of my childen have been without baths for more days than i care to share. ava was helping me put up a new shower curtain, and requested a bath. this was her second of the day. i said sure and started the water. she and i have been talking about vin and flors coming in with her, so i asked her if we should try it. for about 10 minutes, i had all three of them in the tub together. i thought... oh this will be so easy, get them all done in one shot. as you can imagine.. it wasn't so simple.... but they all had a blast!

no picture for this post...as i wasnt' about to try to take my hand out of reach for even a moment.

nap time


well... i think i must admit nap time for ava is over. in the last two weeks, she has slept maybe three days. scott doesn't agree with me, but i am certain this is the path kids take when they don't need/want naps anymore. the other sign is, she really isn't so crabby in the evenings anymore, and the days she does nap.. is ready to party till 9 oclock.

she does a great job at staying in her bed. she entertains herself in a variety of ways. here is a picture of her in her "french hat" as she called it. you may know it as a pull-up diaper.

quiet time is still important.. maybe more for me than her. we will make a "rest basket" that she can do when she is in there.... resting.

9 months and at the table

vinnie and florie are officially 9 months. really, it has flown by. they are now sitting at the table to eat, and are so cute thinking they are so big. what else are they up to? florie moves everywhere... and i am not sure she stops for many seconds unless she is asleep. vinnie is actually moving around more on his tummy, and hopes to crawl soon. she has two teeth, he has four. for now, i think we will enjoy the calm of only one child running this.. i mean around this.. house. :)

here are pictures of the new eating digs.

xx.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

not one.. but two?

seems like things are better in pairs at our house.
we had one child, ava.. and she was so great, we decided we would get a two for one special. we were not disappointed. now.. and many of you may laugh.. we are the proud owners of not one... but TWO minivans. my dear grandma hyster passed a couple of months back, and scott is trading some painting of her place for her van. we now have two vehicles that can transport the whole family. we just need to equip the second with all the carseats.
maybe i will take a picture and post it soon. every time the garage door opens, it puts a smile on my face. who would have guessed?
xx.