Finally a good snowfall!

We had so much fun the other night in the snow, and best of all, we got to enjoy it with our cousins!

Sydney's baptism

Today was Baby Sydney's special day... she was baptised at the 10am Mass at St. Brendan Church. This was the first baptism for our kids that was during a mass. Both Luke and AVa had private ceremony with only family at Ascension Church in Chesterfield, MO. The Mass was great and all 5 kids did great! Ava was a little crazy toward the end... running around and doing 2 year old stuff, but she is allowed :) We had a small lunch afterwards at our house and had a toast for our special little girl. It was so nice to have family here for the day, it really made it special.

We have been together for just 36 hours and we are having a blast with our cousins. Grammy and Pop Pop arrive today and then Nana Lass will be here tomorrow! Yay! Chase and Sydney have had some good snuggle time!

Cute face

I never want to forget this precious face Luke makes...
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Daddy time

We had our Daddy home for a 5 day weekend, unplugged and it was so nice. Steve had some good 1x1 time with Luke and Ava. We shopped, played games and did our usual kid stuff. Luke got Lego Batman for the Wii... he has been really into it. We are definitely having to limit his time in front of the TV, but as the newness wears off it is getting easier. Steve surprised me with an IPad and I love it. There are great cooking apps and photography apps I have been playing with. I love the educational games for the kids as well. I hated to see him go back to work today but Auntie Jen, Paige and Chase are coming tonight, Yay!

oh Bainy Synny...

She has had such a hard few days... digestive (we will just call it that) issues keeping her up at night, spitting up a lot and as a result... crankiness. This is one tired Mama. It's still hard to be too mad at night because she is so dang sweet and I know she doesn't want to feel that way. She just wants to be as close as possible to me.

Ava's first haircut

Ava's first haircut was Sunday, February 20th. She sat there and held still for the 5 minutes it took me to cut it. I evened it out and layered it a bit. The curls are still there :)

Sydney's baptism preparation

I went to a baptism class with Sydney on Sunday for 4 hours. She really did amazing considering the fact that we were there for 4 hours. She took 2 naps in the ergo. She did great during the mass. Her baptism is next week and I am excited for it. The church is very welcoming for siblings to be a part of it so Luke and Ava are going to sit with us. Grammy and Pop Pop are going to be Sydney's godparents. Aunty Jen, Chase, Paige and Nana Lass are all going to be here to help us celebrate. I picked up a copy of this great poem at the class on Sunday, It is not the first time I read it.

A child who lives with criticism, learns to condemn.
A child who lives with hostility, learns to fight.
A child who lives with ridicule, learns to be shy.
A child who lives with shame, learns to feel guilty.
A child who lives with tolerance, learns to be patient.
A child who lives with encouragement, learns to have confidence.
A child who lives with praise, learns to appreciate.
A child who lives with fairness, learns justice.
A child who lives with security, learns to have faith.
A child who lives with approval, learns to like himself or herself.
A child who lives with acceptance and friendship, learns to find love in the world.

Baby

Got a good closeup of Baby today. She is feeling MUCH better today and so am I!

Baby Sydney at 7 1/2 months

Baby Sydney after Ava's foot and trying to get on all 4's. Since I shot this video last week, she can get on her hands and feet and rock.

Valentines Day 2011

Baby Bean's first Valentines Day! We didn't do much since most of us are sick. Daddy brought home some roses for Mama, the kiddos got their special valentines on Sunday. Luke got an m&m stamper (he loves anything with m&m's on them) and Ava got a ballerina kitty. Steve got a box of chocolates. Sydney got lots of hugs and kisses <3

The best gift of all? Stevo is off of work on Friday and Monday and is going to unplugged. Unplugged from the Matrix (internet and work.) Yay for us!

Bainy Synney

Luke pronounces Sydney's name as, "Bainy Synny" and I think it is so cute. I wonder how long he will call her "baby" before her name. They have such a sweet connection. Luke loves to entertain her by making funny faces, and sometimes she makes faces at him... just coincidence I am sure but Luke loves it. He was showing her all of his special valentines from school yesterday. I love how he talks to her like she is on the same level as he is.

Luke and Ava Playing

Here is a video of Luke and Ava the first time they played house with the Little People Barn. Pretty funny, I think. Of course it ends in a fight.

Ava dancing to the Black Eyed Peas

Uploaded this to You Tube, disappointed in the quality of You Tube especially since it was shot in HD.

Star Wars meets Batman...

I know it is hard to see the light saber but Luke was battling his Bat Bot with it! This one is for you Uncle Doug!

Baby or Big Girl??

Ava is confused... she doesn't know if she still wants to be a baby or a big girl. I set up her old booster at our kitchen table for Sydney and she wanted to sit in it again, not Sydney. Eventually she let her Sissy sit in it (when I put her in the high chair) but she insisted that I feed her some applesauce. Later she wanted me to spoon feed her yogurt with Baby Sydney. On the other hand, the other night when she and I were singing before bed, she made it clear to me that she wanted me to sing to Sydney while she sang to baby Stella. She wanted to be the Mommy too. Whenever I would look at her and sing to her she would get mad and tell me not to look. So cute.... I will let her be Baby Ava when she wants to.

She found her binky!

Sydney has been doing a good job at self soothing lately. When I put her down for her nap in her crib, she finds her binky and sticks it in her mouth, then she falls asleep. My baby is growing up so fast! I started her on yogurt lately and give her some mixed with rice cereal before bed. She has been sleeping for 5 hours at a time, only waking up 1-2 times per night. Yay me! It is amazing what a longer stretch of sleep does for me the next day!

What a face!!

Valentines

We made Valentines this weekend. The kids had so much fun and so did I.

New Hat

Someone got a new hat today :)

A day in the life...

We had so much fun today. We woke up, ate muffins, cereal and fruit. Luke slept in his own bed all night with the help of a little bribery. Then when Baby Sydney went own for her morning snooze, we finger painted. It was so messy and fun and completely washable, thank goodness. We all made some masterpieces. After we painted, we went outside. It has been nice all week so we have been walking down to the field, setting up cones and kicking the soccer ball to knock them down. Luke loves it! Ava just kicks down the cones with her foot. Sydney just sits in the stroller and watches us, she is very entertained. I love how big the kids are getting and that we can finally go outside and play little games like this. I feel like I have been waiting a long time for this to happen. Before I know it, Sydney will be outside running with us. It amazes me what an advantage the 2nd and 3rd born kids have by watching and learning from their older sibling. Ava has learned so much from Luke and I just see Sydney watching it all, soaking it in. I love it. After our little soccer match, we walked and got the mail. We had 2 exciting packages in the mailbox. I had a book made of the kid's totsite and it was so rewarding to watch Luke be in awe of it. He kept thanking me for it. The best part is that he doesn't even know everything in there. All he sees is the pictures and he loves them but he does not know what all of the writing is yet. To me that is the best part. All of the journals I wrote 2-4 times a month for 3 years and all of the comments from loved ones... all of their firsts recorded. It was so much fun for me to look back on some of that stuff and it was just a year or two ago that I wrote it. How quickly we forget the little moments that were such BIG moments at the time.

When we got home, we watched Caillou and Dora and ate grilled cheese sandwiches with grapes. Ava fed Sydney her pear puree for the first time. She did so good, she even held the little container of it. She insisted that I let her feed the whole thing by herself. She always says "I do it." to me because she wants to do EVERYTHING on her own. All the power to her, I love it! Evelyn and Missy came over for a bit and we visited while the kiddos played. Luke and I played Super Mario on the Wii together, while the girls napped. Sydney is pretty much down to 2 naps a day.

It was a fun day with nothing big on the schedule... those are my favorite days. I love watching Ava and Luke play together. Ava makes all of these voices for the Little People animals that crack me up. She can play with all of that stuff for a long time. Until Luke comes in with the bat robot and harasses her Little People village. Before we knew it, Daddy got home, we ate a couple bites of dinner, played, took a bath, did our nightly puzzles... tonight it was Dora. And the kiddos went to bed. Goodnight :)

Little People, Little People and more Little People.

And the masterpieces...

Luke...
Ava...

Time to hide the tiny toys...

Baby Sydney spends a lot of time on the blanket on the floor playing with her favorite toys. She is starting to move around a lot and this past week started lifting her chest off the ground in hope of crawling. She probably has a few weeks more of practice before she can finally do it. Stay tuned...

Luke and his bots

Luke's latest fad is robots. He builds them out of legos, megablocks, and pre existing toys by flipping them around and manipulating them. He makes robot Mr. Potato heads and robots out of magazine cut outs. Lately, he started carrying around his R2-D2 and I introduced him to Star Wars. He picked out an R2 book at Barnes and Noble. Uncle Doug and Greg would be proud!