Bradlee's Michael Phelps Impersonation

Here's how Bradlee gets around these days....I'm convinced he's going to be a swimmer....

Tony and the kids had a great Spring Break week and we had a great Easter. I still had to work, of course, but it was nice to hear about their days when I got home.

On Saturday we went to the 3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt and Pancake Dinner at our friends' house (Matt and Desiree). They have 2 kids also, Dorian (3 1/2) and Griffin (11 months). Tony and Matt have known each other since high school. We had a fabulous time watching the kids look for eggs (which were mostly thrown across the lawn...they wouldn't touch those, though...only the ones that were up higher...go figure!). Here are some pictures:

Easter morning we were up bright and early to see what the Easter Bunny had brought...we all got a Webkinz animal and I think Emma's best gift was "Bolt" on DVD. We went to see it in the theater, and she still talks about it! She had a few other goodies in there as well. We went to mass and then to my parents' house for dinner with Tony parents', Lynne, Paul, and my grandparents. My mom and dad made lamb and ham as the main course...and it was delish! Emma even tried the lamb and liked it!

Bradlee hiding from Emma in his Exersaucer.
My mom and dad

Tony and me
Emma with her great-grandparents

My little stud :)

Our week also included a trip to the ER with Bradlee. He was diagnosed with croup and is doing fine now. Emma may win the award for "youngest in the ER" (she was taken in around 6 months)...but Bradlee won the "shortest ER visit" by far! Only 2 hours!! :) Not that this is a competition we want to continue, but what else can you do in a pediatric emergency waiting room?

Bradlee has started experimenting in his eating habits...he enjoys the biter biscuits (although they are very hard to find!) and teething biscuits and he snacks on Cheerios and fruit puffs also! He also loves watermelon and strawberries...as shown here:

Hope you have a great week!

Happy Holy Week!

It's been a while, I know...here are some pictures from our busy lives!!!

Every once in a while, Emma decides that Pinky (her bear) needs to be nursed, so she gets a small "boppy-looking" pillow (it's really one of those curved neck pillows), lifts up her shirt, and lays Pinky across the pillow, covering her up with a blanket. It's so funny...and she evens burps Pinky when she's "done eating".....

The last weekend of March, Lynne, Tony's mom, Emma, Bradlee and I went on our annual girls' weekend in Frankenmuth. We stayed at the Bavarian Inn Lodge and enjoyed the game room and pools! Here are some pictures from our fun-filled weekend!

Bradlee ready for the pool!

Emma and the "Whack-a-Mole"!!!

With the Easter Bunny at Bronner's! Bradlee LOVED the fur!

She was supposed to be taking a nap...but I caught her playing!

Bradlee's getting so big! He's really close to crawling...for right now he's content just doing the "land butterfly"...I think he'll be the next Michael Phelps (without the weed....).......He loves sitting and looking around, and especially watching Emma play...now he tries to play with her! :)

Here's Bradlee snoozing with his favorite toy...a water bottle! And yes, that's a MSU shirt he's got on!!! It's been worn more than any other outfit in his wardrobe!!

Finally, here's a great one of bath time!!! :) Have a great Holy Week and a wonderful Easter!!

Why I love preschool!!!

Here's what Emma's learned at preschool...she's mastered it, and my favorite part is "liverty"...enjoy!!!

First trip to the playground for 2009!!

Last week, as I wrote, Lynne took Emma to see The Wizard of Oz. She has been FASCINATED with this show ever since, wanting to watch it all the time, singing songs, etc. So I emailed my Aunt Laura, who works for McDonald's (corporate, in Chicago) and asked her if she could get a hold of the Happy Meal toys that were out last summer/fall from The Wizard of Oz...she wrote back and said she didn't even know they had a Wizard of Oz Happy Meal and that should see what she can do (and also thanked Emma for supporting the Happy Meal business!)!!! Well, didn't hear anything for about a week when Thursday when I got home from work, there's a box from McDonald's at our door! Aunt Laura found all 12 of the Happy Meal toys for Emma!!! She was so excited to get them all and we even got a little box for her to keep them all in. She's played with them all weekend...voices and all!!! Here's a picture of her with the dozen toys!

On Saturday, Tony was DJ-ing for the Flushing High School Athletics Booster's Dodgeball fundraiser...Emma, Bradlee and I all stayed at his parents' house for the evening and Emma, Lynne, Bradlee and I got coats on and walked over to the playground! Emma had a great time playing again...the swings, the slide, the "pony", the merry-go-round....ahhhh......she wiped out twice and had two black knees but also had the time of her life running around....and slept so well that night! :) Bradlee had a great time, too! I put him in the stroller in his little warm coat and hat and he was waving his hands and legs the whole way to the playground! He loved watching his big sister run around like a crazy woman and also slept so well!!!

We went outside again this afternoon....over 50 degrees! :) Emma played in her sandbox from the outside (so she wouldn't get completely filthy!) and Bradlee just watched everything around him. It's going to be so much fun this summer!!

Pictures!!!

I got a new haircut and wanted some pictures with my cuties!

Monday (March 2nd) was Dr. Seuss' 105th birthday, so my mom and dad took Emma to the Flint Public Library for their "Seuss Celebration"...they made "Cat in the Hat" hats, read "There's a Wocket in My Pocket" and "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish", sang "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed some cookies!! Emma had a great time...I had to read her the Wocket book again before bedtime!

Today, Lynne (Tony's sister) took Emma to see "The Wizard of Oz" at The Whiting...the local theater... (Tony and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar on Saturday!)...She wore her Valentine's dress and ruby shoes...and even Pinky got dressed up!! Bradlee was just happy to have a quiet night away from Emma! :)

What a great week it's been...busy, but good! At the end of last week, after dinner one night, Emma and Bradlee were in a fabulous mood, so Tony and I took the opportunity to get them together for some pictures. They were so funny. We put Emma in the big chair and then Bradlee in her lap. They both giggled like nothing in the world! It was so great...here's the proof!

Then it was Valentine's Day and both Emma and Bradlee had outfits to wear to school for their parties! Emma and I made heart crayon necklaces for her friends....all 36 of them! It was time consuming, but I was so happy we did them because she got so much candy from everyone else! Her friends loved them and she told me she had to tell everyone that we "only color on PAPER!"!! What a girl! It's not the best picture of Emma, but it's the only one I got with her wearing her "Dorothy shoes"...red sparkly dress shoes! Bradlee had a cute little one piece with Mickey on it that he, surprisingly, kept clean all day!!

This past Monday, my grandfather (Dad's dad) turned 87!!! So on Sunday we went to their house and my grandma made a delicious brunch for us to help celebrate! As Emma's gotten older, she's found different things to play with at my grandparents' house...most recently was the "little pool" they have in their bathroom...when we couldn't find her, we would just go look in the jacuzzi tub and........

there she was!!! The best part of the afternoon was when Emma and Snookie (my grandma, don't ask!) were checking out the air ducts on the floor of the guest room and Snookie told Emma to yell down there to see if anyone was there. Emma was laying on her tummy with her head practically in the vest yelling, "Hellllooooooo down there!!". LOL I went out to the dining room where my mom, dad, sister and Papa were and told them what was going on in the bedroom (Emma was making a lot of noise!) and my dad went down to the basement...the next time Emma yelled, "Hello in there!" my dad banged on the duct from the basement and yelled back, "Hey! Who's up there?" Emma SCREAMED and flew under one of the twin beds in the room...counting in SPANISH! It was like, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.....uno, dos, tres, quatro, seis ocho!!!!" While she's hiding under the bed! LOL We laughed so hard we were crying and I swear my grandma was going to have a heart attack!!! :) What an afternoon! Here's a picture of my kids with their great-grandparents!

Hope y'all have a great weekend! :)

Rolling Over with Teeth

Hey All....Bradlee has discovered how to roll over from back to front!! It's so funny to watch...he'll start by looking up and behind him, straining his neck, then his arm will go over, then he swings his leg over with all he's got. So cute! Once he gets on his tummy, though, he gets this look like, "How the hell did I get here?"

We also discovered a small razor-like tooth coming through on his bottom center gums! Yippee!! I've stopped breastfeeding, so that's mightly convienent! LOL Other than that, he's doing really well.


Emma has been wonderful. She just loves going to school and even when she's home just for the weekend, you can tell how much she misses playing with kids her own age. Putting her in school was one of the best things we've ever done!


I'm hoping to get Bradlee into some music classes soon...I'm sure he'll love them. I may try to get into them with some friends of ours and their kids. Emma loved the music classes, only we wished we had started her earlier. They have classes for 6 month olds at FIM (Flint Institute of Music), so I'm going to look into those for the next term. Emma's still loving her gymnastics and goes swimming with Aunt Lynne (Tony's sister) just about every weekend. Her teacher told us that she's really advanced for her age, so keeping her busy with extra-curriculars is going to be really important. I think we're off to a great start!



All for now, I believe...have to go make sure our basement isn't flooding from all the snow melting and RAIN we've gotten today!! Pictures coming soon!!!