More on the big birthday...

Talking to Grandpa (my dad). He called at the perfect time. She was so excited for her presents, but had to wait for Daddy to be home. Great redirection. ;) Poor Al, binkaholic, had just gotten up from her nap.



Yummy cake. Even better, ice cream that was on clearance at Target. I didn't know, until tonight, that icecream ever went on clearance. Love those little red stickers.

Happy Birthday, Giuliana

My baby is 8. Wow. It really does seem like just yesterday. This year, she was tickled to hear about the day she was born and how we felt about her.

She chose Cici's for dinner and a white cake at Target. She's changed her favorite color, it's no longer pink, but sky blue.

Her birthday list this year explicately stated she wanted clothes. There were toys too, but she was specific on clothes and what she wanted.

My baby is growing up.

I love her birthday picture. She's showing her nails off (without prompting). Last night was chick night. :)

Little Soccer Power House

Little did we know just how closely Tre had watched Giuliana play soccer last year. He gets it. He gets that the white lines are out of bounds and that you stop and kick away from them. He gets that even though there is no goalie in PreK soccer, someone should stop the ball from getting in the goal (yes, self appointed goalie).

Today, the whistle stopped for half time and he continued to kick it into the goal.

A couple of his corner kicks were dribbles out and to the goal. We'll have to work on what a corner kick is.

"Hey guys, follow me to the GOAL!"

Yep, that's my kid without shin guards. Seriously. What what I thinking? It's not that we didn't already have them bought either. Nope, they were sitting in our closet, still in the bag.

But he's got great moves.

A guy's got to rest some time. :)

Baby's 1st Head Split

It has finally happened. He crashed into a wall and split his head. I was relieved in that it didn't appear to need stiches- it's but a flesh wound. His eyes on the other hand had the symptoms of "head to the ER." Angelo of course offered to take him. Uhm, no. Mama bear wasn't about to allow the injured cub out without her. I am guilty however of saying "here, hold this (ice & gauze)" as I snapped a picture.

If it's going to gross you out, scroll quickly. Really, it's not that bad.

The ER waiting room was quite, uhm, educational. Tempting to take the camera out a times. I figured out a "trick." If you are really loud, obnoxious and distracting, they will totally triage you just to get you out of the way. Then again, the guy might have just been mental- security had to escort him after he charged through the open (security) door. Then there was a diaper rash (kidd you not), a "we heard a funny sound when he fell" (uhm, he has no pain and isn't acting altered in any way, he probably doesn't need the ER) and a girl that had cut her finger with a nasty pair of scissors. The cut and the mental guy were the only 2 that really looked like they needed to be there- but, not being the doctor, who am I to say. The doctor was a piece of work and mocked me when I mentioned the cut. Well, duh. It's not the cut I brought him in for.

See all the equipment behind him in this pic? There's also a bunch of stuff hanging from the ceiling. I got to explain just about everything in the room. I was at a loss though in regards to what they use "medical air" for. I just couldn't come up with an appropriate 5 year old answer.

Giuliana chooses glasses...

Yes, I took all three with me. G did a great job and it really wasn't all that painful. ;)

These are the final two. She chose the bottom one because it had bling. Her frames will be purple though (instead of blue).

Other Giuliana milestones...

Earlier today, Giuliana became the owner of her very own LIBRARY CARD!!!! Here (above) she is signing the paper card that goes into their system. She even got to check out all her own materials today.
In other news, we were informed at the eye doctor's today that she also needs glasses. She is near-sighted. I was beyond tickled to find out that our change of vision coverage this year will cover her glasses completely. :)

Big Wheel keep on turnin'....3.16

No tummy aches tonight! Being himself, he made sure to pose for me a couple times.

Much more confidence here. And, thankfully to mommy, not in her new sweat pants this time. Soon, we'll be using the bike she currently fits (we know this one's too small- it's just a balance thing for learning).

Look out world, she's discovered the Big Wheel! Same game as last night. Easier on Mommy- less distance to fall and ofcourse, bigger smiles.

"Just like riding a bike." 3.15.09

Poor Tre, at dinner, he complained of a tummy ache. Combing that with the fact that he was starting to smell, I threw him in the shower. :) Just as he was getting out, Daddy had decided it was a good time to take the girls out front. It proved a perfect time for the boy to have some Wii time.

Before the last season change, Giuliana had learned to ride without training wheels. Here she is getting ready.

She picked it up again, fairly quickly. We had a couple minor crashes- the final being a little on the muddy side. She just needed to build her confidence. Daddy, as usual was right there to help her.

No surprise, raring to go!

Here she is coasting down the drive way to Daddy. Little Miss "Life's a Party" apparently also has no fear. She was royally torked with me when I had her come inside to get ready for bed.

Ice Skating

So, AWHILE back, we had an ice skating social for Flower Girls. The week before in the car, Giuliana said "Can we please invite Aunt Stephie....and, Uncle Doug- Oh, wait, Mr. Doug and ice skating, we might want to re-think that."

We invited. Aunt Stephie was working, but, Uncle Doug can skate!!!

Here he is, catching G. Serious coordination. Oh, and yes, those are HIS skates- as in his own. He wasn't kidding when he said he could ice skate. ;)

Nikki, grab your Pepto.

I'm going to do some catch up.

Consider yourself warned. ;)

She's something else alright...

Earlier today, I sent Ali potty. She's been good about staying dry, but hasn't quite made it into the habit mode. She was excited about "using the Bigs' potty." After a few minutes, I noticed how quiet she had gotten and then heard squeals of delight. Oh. NO! She had filled the sink of (and no, it doesn't have the emergency drainage holes that keep it from overflowing) and was playing. She was soaked- hair, face, clothes, etc. Water on the floor. Absolutely tickled with herself. Breathe in. She's 3. Breathe out. She's 3. This too shall pass.

Now, it's 11:25pm. My sweet girl just got up because she needed to go potty! Could this be a step toward night training? The other 2 were night trained right away, so this has been a whole new thing...

Inconceivable!

We had tacos for dinner. The kids went crazy. Tre even tried both tomatoes and lettuce so he could try 2 new veggies. Yeah, seriously, pick your jaw off the floor. Giuliana ate more than I did. Ali, well, Ali was Ali and got distracted after the first and had difficulty focusing on the 2nd.

In other news, Ali is in panties. We had minor difficulties today when her brother raced in front of her when she mentioned needing to go potty. There was also nap time when she didn't want to get up to potty. Over all though, it's going well.