Going Green for St. Patrick's?

(Ethan before he discovered I was taking a picture)

Ethan had a rough evening the other day and I had to take some pictures because, while I was upset, it was kind of funny. I guess he had a little too much time to himself while I was trying to get dinner prepared and attend to Ava. I was starting dinner when I noticed things were hauntingly silent in the other room where Ethan was supposed to be playing. As most parents know, unless kids are sleeping, silence usually is not good. When I walked in he was happily coloring himself. I told him I was taking pictures to show Dad what kind of trouble he had gotten into. He decided he’d better wash things off, but wanted to do it himself. I got back to cooking dinner only to have him come into the kitchen with his hair full of soap. I told him he was only supposed to be washing his hands and face, not his hair. He thought it was fun and wanted to continue, even with my warnings that if he gets the soap in his eyes it would burn. Still, he wanted to do things on his own. As predicted, he was soon crying as the soap was dripping into his eyes, so I came to help finish the job. I tried to get back to dinner, but now Ava needed attention so I sat down to feed her. Next thing I hear Ethan saying what a good hot dog I was making. I told him to leave things alone in the kitchen and when I returned I found a lovely little Ethan bite taken out of my sausage with a little green fingerprint to go along with it. We obviously missed some of the marker on his hands.

(Ethan after he realized I was taking pictures. I can just read his mind ... Oh no! She caught me.)

(Ethan after I told him to show what he had done cause when dad comes home ... )

(Ethan washing his hair as well and as you can see, getting soap in his eyes ... I tried to help)

(This is a bit blurry, but it cracks me up. As you might guess, this is after soap in the eyes)

(The chunk Ethan took out of the sausage I was getting ready to cook ... and that's not mold next to the bite, it's a green finger print indicating the culprit)

Runnin' with kids

The other day Jairo and I had an afternoon together and decided to take a run. Although it had been snowing that morning, the streets were decent for a run, but the temperature was still quite cold. We figured the kids would do fine all bundled. So, here they are dressed all cozy for the ride. We just started taking them out together in the double stroller and Ethan thinks it’s such a fun thing to do with his sister. The stroller also has a clear plastic cover, which we pulled over them to keep the wind out during the run. As you can see, they must have had a comfy ride because about halfway through the run they were both zonked. It was too cute!

I'm not quite sure how Ethan was breathing with his face smashed against his coat. To our defense, we did try to tilt his head back during the run but it just kept flopping forward. It's a wonder how kids sleep in such seemingly uncomfortable positions!?

Ava's play date

Ava had one of her first play dates with little Kate. Ethan had a few friends over to play and make pizzas and little Kate came along since her big brother Jack is one of Ethan's buddies. Kate is about 3 months younger than Ava. Of course Ava has been around other kids and babies, but I think this was one of the first times we laid her down with another baby and she actually took interest and wanted to interact.

I think Kate's done with Ava!

A Smile for Valentine's

I attempted to get the kids to take some Valentine's photos, but neither were in the mood at the same time ... shocking! When Ethan was being cooperative and smiley, Ava was fussy. When Ava was all smiles Ethan wanted nothing to do with pictures. I need the program where you can swap faces to create a photo where everyone is looking at the camera and smiling together.

We didn't do anything too exciting for Valentine's Day as everyone was just getting over colds/flu. It seems this winter we just keep getting one bug after another. Ugggghh! Ethan did help with making chocolate suckers for his preschool class, which he thought was quite fun. Surprisingly they weren't any more difficult or time consuming than cookies and was something a little different.

Photo Session ... Finally

I told myself that I was going to be more on the ball with baby number two and get infant photos ... meaning within the first few weeks of birth. Well, idealism is great, but reality was I didn't get around to having some nice photos taken until Ava was about 2 1/2 months old. Either way, I loved how they turned out. We even got Ethan to be a good sport for a few photos. It really was hard to get just two kids to look good in the same photo. I don't know how people do it with bigger families.