Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Summertime

We are having the best summer and just trying to soak up the days at home...Gianna starts preschool in less than 3 weeks and while this may clear up some time for me to spend with the boys and get other things done...I am dreading it. I don't know how to feel about someone else being a big influence over her (and the boys in the future). Up until this point I have kept my kids pretty sheltered/protected in a little bubble. Who knows what will come along with the time away from her?

For now, I am going to just try to enjoy the next few weeks... maybe we'll try to get in another session of swim lessons or just spend some time playing with friends. Maybe a quick family getaway? Who knows. I just want to be here and giggle about Connor's deep voice and look on lovingly as Gianna is the best big sister I have ever seen and watch her learn and explore her world, and watch Brennan continue to be the biggest trouble maker yet! The kid opens cabinets and pulls books off a shelf like no other 10 month old. They are all learning so much about their world and exploring it together in such a special way.

If there was a pause button, this would be the time to press it.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Boys are pretty too

Connor gets pretty excited about anything his big sister likes, so as you may guess he loves princesses, anything sparkley or shiney. It's really not fair to be a boy and wear brown and blue when your big sister has black patent shoes with rhinestones on them and fuschia glitter mary janes.

So lately Connor has been reminding us that he is pretty too. After I put Gianna's hair back (our daily battle) he brushes his and says "Look Mommy, I pretty too!" and he constantly parades around the house in princess high heels and Gianna's too-small patent church shoes asking if I like his pretty shoes. Of course I let him know how pretty he is.

And so very sweet too.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

What a year can do...

It's been over a year since I last blogged. Even longer than that if you count when I was regularly blogging. But I find myself at the beginning of Lent and thinking about Lenten promises, making use of our time and reflection. I miss being able to look back at the blog and read our fun experiences and remember those moments. I've thought about restarting my blog often over the last year. Although to be honest, the further I got from regular blogging the more daunting it became to catch up on the amount of time I had missed. Now I am at the point where I wanted to start blogging so much that I am going to skip to the present and add some catch up as I go along. I'll also use the blog more to just record phases, expressions and things the kids are doing along with photos. I hope that this will make it easier to keep up and just add short posts and anecdotes when I only have a moment.

For now: The biggest news of the past year is that Brennan joined us on September 17, 2010. He is a sweet baby and has added so much to our lives. Right now, at almost 6 months he has rolled front to back but has very little interest in doing it much. He can sit up assisted but isn't too steady yet. His favorite thing is to jump. He LOVES his freestanding jumperoo and also uses the johnny-jump-up. He can bounce so high and could do it forever. The only thing better than jumping is having someone's full attention while jumping. He is so cute.

Connor is 26 months and is a lively "terrible two" he throws many tantrums daily and keeps me on my toes. His new favorite thing is running. This can be both scary and hilarious. Luckily he understands parking lots so it hasn't gotten too scary yet. Yesterday it got pretty funny when we were getting ready to leave the mall and he didn't want to leave so he ran as fast as he could away from me and into a lingerie store. He ran straight to the back and hit behind a rack of garters. When I found him he threw his shoes to the left and ran to the right...smart boy. I finally caught up with him somewhere around a rack of neon green bras and we giggled our way out of the store. He is a happy boy when he wants to be and is a climber and outdoorsy kid. Nothing makes him happier than bouncy balls, riding bikes and daddy coming home from work.

Gianna is 4 years, 2 months going on 13. She is little miss bossy and has an opinion about everything. She can be shy in newer situations but once she feels comfortable she can be pretty outgoing. She is enrolled to start preschool in August and is finally getting excited about it. She loves learning but is unsure about being away from Mommy and her brothers. She defines herself by her role as a good big sister and nothing makes her happier than making Brennan smile. She loves books and going to the library and even has her own library card. She is also in a combo ballet/tap class and is starting to learn a dance for her recital in June.

In other family news: Justin is training for a half ironman in July, I am getting back into running, and we are staying busy. We are settled at our house in Brentwood and love our neighborhood. We have a new (to us) minivan after totaling our car in November on the way home from Justin's parents house in Oregon (everyone was fine but our old ford escape). We are looking forward to planting a new garden this year and having a great summer.