Daddy's Little Helper

I'll hold this end, Daddy

Looks good so far!

Let me just check to see that this door works

Oh, wait...is that a bunny?

Oooh, dandelions

Back to work...I gotta test out this slide thing!

go through here...

crawl around under here...

...and up through here once again!

How does this thing work? I saw Daddy using it...

Clean up time!

Charlie and Sophia put up a new play structure for Sophia in the backyard this weekend. We got this awesome climbing toy from some friends of Stacy and Pam's. They have four kids who have all outgrown it and were about to sell it in a garage sale when they said we could have it...uh, awesome! It's pretty fun to play on, but apparently way more fun to help Daddy put together. Each time Charlie got a piece connected Sophia would clap and yell "yay, Daddy!" She was also very interested in the tool box, but couldn't help being distracted by back yard nature every once in a while! It's been pretty rainy since we put it up but I know we'll get lots of good use out of it this summer!

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

A Russell Stover store opened just about a mile from our house recently. We were all rather excited as this meant ice cream within walking distance! Friday night was a perfect night to try it out! It took us just over an hour round trip and it was well worth it! If you can read Sophia's shirt it says "I scream for ice cream!" and it has little matching ice cream cone shorts. As soon as she walked in the store the ladies behind the counter laughed and asked if were there for ice cream...Charlie asked how they knew and they said Sophia's shirt gave it all away! ;) All too true.

Animals! Animals! Animals!

Two little cuties enjoying the view

A baby bison (10 months) and his mommy

Sophia trying to get up close and personal with the animals

Goats!

Here you go, Goat!

Goats sure do love to eat!

practicing our counting!

relaxing on the swing



DeAnna Rose Farmstead is up and running once again for the season! We only made it there once last year, but this year we are ready to be regular customers! Sophia is a little older and even fed the goats all by herself this time! She kept exclaiming, "Animals, animals!" all the way through, it was too cute! Lisa and Isaac joined us for what turned into a beautiful morning and we all had fun. I think we only made it half way through the farm before both kiddos were tired and hungry, but it was still worth it!

Love Your Mother

While Emma and Massimo jumped on the big trampoline...

Sophia and Luca tried out the small one! Isabelle was skilled enough to transfer herself between the two! ;)

Here she lets Luca take her for a ride! She didn't quite get the idea of the trampoline, but she worked on it.

Lunch time!

Luca and Sophia on a romantic swing for two!

Big Girl swings are too much fun!

Of course, you always run the risk of falling off! :)

Well we really got our wish this year because Earth Day was absolutely gorgeous! We took full advantage and spent about 90% of our day outside! We all spent the morning at Jodie's house in her rockin' back yard that is fully equipped with two trampolines, a playhouse and a swing set! The rest of the day we spent in our own back yard playing on the slide and monkey bars and throwing the ball for Walter.

In Denial?

So, I have been a bad blogger this week! But...I will have you know that since my last posting, almost a week ago, I have managed to take 148 more pictures. You see, it truly is a sickness. I am a textbook Mommarazzi.


A few people have said to me recently that I will not be so diligent with the pictures and videos once the second kid comes along. These nay-sayers insist that I will be too busy to document the subsequent child(ren) like I have done the first. To this I say....Boooo!


In truth, I have worried that I won't be able to do it, but I set my bar low with Sophia. I really can only maintain or go up. Although I take a ton of pics with our own camera, her baby book is minimal and she's only had professional shots taken twice. So, you see, I try to be realistic!


The blog really does help to motivate me. I am a girl who needs this extrinsic motivation so that I'll feel guilty enough to get things done. This kind of thinking got me through college and I'm confident it will help me here as well!



So, in the end, I do hope that I won't fall prey to the classic behaviors of many parents past and present, my own included thank you very much, that have ignored their second child with the camera and that you will all continue to see the progress and growth of all our children! Oh, and stay tuned for some more of those 148 pictures to come!

Greek Easter Celebration!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

So, these pics have been a long time coming, hope they're worth it! There are a few really cute ones, I might add! We had a great day...the Easter Bunny paid us a visit and although I was more into finding the hidden basket than Sophia, it was all good! ;) Charlie, Sophia and I attended Church that morning but opted out of the egg hunt. It had rained and the ground was soggy so they moved it inside and I decided Sophia did not need to be apart of that chaos, so we headed to Red Robin instead! Dinner was fabulous and my mother did an awesome job, as usual! The lamb was cooked to pefection and I even enjoyed the last of the leftovers last night! YUMMY! Nick, who really must somehow cheat, won the egg game again! If you aren't familiar, we take our hardboiled eggs and crack them against our opponents. You have to crack fat end to fat end, skinny end to skinny end. The one with one or zero cracked ends in the end is the winner. We take this competition very seriously. One year my brother and I stood over the sink for the better part of an hour blowing out Nick's egg through a pin hole, it didn't work though, he figured it out as soon as he picked it up! The weather was nice enough to play outside and all the kids enjoyed that. Cole started up a game of baseball with the men while Shelby and the little girls enjoyed running, dancing, and playing ball.

Earth Day Celebration

Slam Dunk!

She didn't really understand the idea of bowling but loved throwing the ball around anyway!

Stacking "homemade" blocks made of grocery sacks

Parachute time! She was a bit reluctant to check it out but once she warmed up she ran and giggled her way in and out!

A ball as big as Sophia!

That didn't stop her from picking it up and carrying it around! Beach balls are one of the top 5 toys in our house! This Big Bertha would not fit, though!

ooooh, feathers

stir them up!

Jill and Aubrey, Matt and Lauren

Mommy and Sophia!

Jill and Matt were headed to an Earth Day celebration and Sophia and I invited ourselves along, thanks guys! ;) It was actually an event sponsored by the Olathe Parents as Teachers (we live in Shawnee Mission, oops!) so it was free and available to all. I really need to start attending more of these PAT events, I just never remember! There were not a lot of theme related activities, and you know how I love a theme, but it's mostly lost on kids of this age anyway, so it all worked out! Sophia had a wonderful time! She would go off and do her own thing and then she'd insist we tracked down Jill, Matt and the babies. I think she learned from Walt and has her own set of herding instincts, by the way! We stayed for the full hour and half and she would have stayed longer, but after hitting just about every station we packed up and headed home! I hope that actual Earth Day will be pleasant and rain free this year so we can enjoy the Earth some more!

Sous Chef

Oh this egg dipping thing again...I LOVE that!

stir it up good


All done eggs!


put the cookies in the bag and...

roll, roll, roll, crunch, crunch, crunch!


Sophia getting ready for her motorcycle ride!





Sophia and I joined Mom yesterday to help begin the preparations for the big Greek Easter feast tomorrow evening. Sophia was quite the helper, as usual! And, since it was such a lovely day, Stacy and Pam happened to be on a motorcycle ride and stopped by to aid in the festivities! We dyed more eggs, which was much more successful this time around! Having had one go already, I was prepared for the chaos to ensue! We only broke 2 of 17 eggs, while we were 3 for 3 last time, so this is major progress, of course we still managed to make a mess and stain our clothes, that much is to be expected!




I also made a chocolate cheesecake that Pam and Sophia very diligently crushed cookies for the crust. Mom had to whip some cream for the famous jello mold and Sophia was very anxious to help her, but Mom had a hard time holding Sophia and the mixer so we just supervised that task. Although, Sophia chanted "mix, mix, mix" all the while so I'm sure that helped the process along quite nicely! We got a good start and the rest of the fixins will be put together tonight and tomorrow...more pictures to come, especially since the Easter Bunny is scheduled to stop by here tonight!