Some favorite Elise things...

- How her nose scrunches up when she really smiles (see above picture)
- How she'll shrug her shoulders and smile at me if I randomly look at her sometimes
- Her feet
- Her left handedness
- Her muscular little legs
- How she runs
- How she says "alll la lem"
- When she initiates 3 hugs (with G and I)

Tonight, I was doing dishes and she randomly yelled to me from the family room, "Hey Mama, I love you". Then came running in, gave me a kiss and went back to playing. Those are the moments I need when I am feeling like a sub par Mom (especially lately!).

She is my favorite little girl, I wouldn't trade her in even in her most "spirited moments". :)

Some favorite Patrick things...

- His left "micro" dimple
- His expressive eyebrow raises
- How one eye scrunches up more than the other when he smiles
- His hands (miniature Greg hands)
- How he rubs his hand up and down my arm when he's eating
- His belly birth mark
- His mellow demeanor
He's my favorite little man!!!! It's amazing how much you can love them, there's something about a mom getting to have a son :)

Sledding in ? March ?

Elise found the sled in the backyard on Monday after we got home from daycare and insisted on pulling Patrick in it. I tried to tell her sledding was only for winter, but she started pulling him and said, "see mama, it works great!" I suppose, who made up the "rule" that sledding is only for snow :)

Deep thoughts

"The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have."

Beautiful day

We pretty much spent all day outside today, this was our end of the day wagon ride, we're so lucky to have such happy healthy kids. :)
It was in the 60's, we were outside for 2 hrs this morning, Elise colored the outside of our door with chalk and told on herself :), Patrick and Elise swung, Elise pushed P in the swing and we played "chase", P was shrieking when we were chasing Elise. Then G got home a bit early from work and we took a walk around a lake, fed the ducks - Elise ate more bread than she fed the ducks - P had his first "park swing ride" (of course the camera was at home - he was smiling to say the least), E and G hopped like frogs around the park on "lilypads". What an awesome day!!!

"Pump" ears

Yes those are my pump shields on her ears...enough said!

"Going out attire"

So last night I went out with some coworkers and G took the kids "out" for dinner - Elise refused to take off the following attire before leaving the house - so, G took her out wearing it and she wore it the entire time - what a goof! That would be a chef's hat, cat ears and a Hawaiian lai. And when they were out, she got this "cell phone" and he said she talked on it all dinner. Most of the time she was saying, "ohhhh, ahhh, haaaa, I know, I know". Apparently that's what we must say on the phone :)

7 month photo shoot

I know I'm partial but he's so darned cute and SOOOOO happy! We think we'll keep him :)
We have a "professional Target" picture of Elise around this age and G and I just looked at the sepia picture and compared it to Elise's pic - WOW do they look alike. Day in and day out we don't feel they are that similiar, but their mouths look exactly the same, as do the eyes and eyebrows. Patrick's nose is a bit bigger than hers, and of course E had waaaaaay more hair. It just amazes us!

Happy (St) Patrick's Day!

So our kids are about 40% Irish - G is 1/4 to 1/3rd and I'm about 2/3rds Irish, despite their strong Filipino traits, they are more Irish than anything else - CRAZY! Anyway, Elise thought that Wed was "Patrick's Day" not St. Patrick's day.
These pictures are of them wearing the same shirt - Elise at 10 months, having been walking for a month and a half already and Patrick at 7 months sitting, note that the shirt is tighter on Patrick than Elise. :)

The big March wedding

My good friend Leanne got married last weekend, the wedding that Elise was practicing for for weeks in her dancing shoes. She danced and danced, a very fun evening and the kids did great. They were out 4 hrs past bedtime. When we were little we went to weddings and stayed late and if we were tired we fell asleep between 2 chairs put together - thus we keep our kids out too - ours didn't go to sleep however until we got home!

Almost 7 months - tomorrow

Patrick is getting so big so fast!!! I can't believe he'll be 7 months tomorrow. He's sitting up so tall and can play without falling over.
The first 2 pics were of him when he tricked me into thinking he was ready for a nap - silly Mom :)

Dancing Shoes and "Lelene Leon"

So ever since last Friday when Gamma watched the kids, Elise is in LOVE with "Lelene Leon" and dances every day to a CD (it didn't help that we saw the Celine Dion movie in Milw) - she also is alllll about dancing shoes and dancing for her "wedding" this weekend - my friend Leanne's wedding.
And Elise was dancing, while Patrick was shrieking and sitting up watching...she told him, "Patrick when you grow up and get teef, you can be a princess too". I guess she thinks growing up means getting teeth - 1st concern; 2nd concern that she thinks P can be a princess - oh well, I didn't correct any of it. :)

Visit with Papa and Gram

Patrick got lots of love from Papa and Gram during our Milw visit - we all got a lot of love from them...they are amazing!!!

Cleaning the orfaces

Took the picture cuz she looks just like G Bob with the Q tips in her ear, then I caught her "cleaning her nose" too :)

Feel the love...

Hangin out

So, P was relaxing a bit while G was holding him, he laid like this for 10 min...goofy boy!

A few toys

I asked Elise to get a few toys to entertain Patrick while I got dinner...