Playing the Piano

A couple of months ago, I created piano music for two songs: Hot Cross Buns and Jingle Bells. I showed Owen how to play them, but didn't push him with it. Now, he will go to the piano and play them on his own. He even creates his own music. Owen is playing Hot Cross Buns first and then Jingle Bells. I could have edited it so that he played them both perfectly, but I love when he messed up on Jingle Bells and he knew it. Check out his expression when he plays the first wrong note! The piano needs major tuning but, enjoy!

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Which dress should Aliya wear for pictures?

I can't decide which dress Aliya should wear for pictures. Please help by voting. Thanks.

YELLOW DRESS

YELLOW DRESS WITH POLKA DOTS (please ignore the crying)

WHITE DRESS WITH POLKA DOTS

The Big 35!

Dave turns 35 today! His mom sent pictures of him when he was younger, so how could I resist?

Aliya is walking!

Aliya is officially walking. She can turn, stand, and bend down. She prefers walking to crawling. However, walking in shoes appears to be more difficult. Her favorite thing to do is to walk to her brother and hold on to him. Since he outweighs her by only 7 pounds, he is unable to hold her up and she usually pushes him down much to his annoyance. Now if she could only get potty trained . . .

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Aliya's first year has come and gone. In just 12 short months of life
she has many accomplishments. She has stepped foot on 3 continents
(if you include a short layover at the Amsterdam airport). She has
learned several words including Ma Ma and Da Da, no mention of Owen
yet. She has learned to sleep through the night, which was no small
feat. She has graduated to most non baby foods. And boy has she
grown. Now standing at over 30 inches and weighing over 22 pounds she
has already started to bully her older brother, who better starting
eating all his dinner or he will always be differing to his young
sister.

Her first year of life was celebrated last weekend, with pictures to
follow. Aliya had a great time and had little problem with being the
center of attention. For the most part Owen also enjoyed the day and
was perfectly willing just helping Aliya with her big day. Although
he did make a small effort to steal the show by standing up during the
opening of gifts, and singing "Shake your booty" while performing the
dance as well. But most people could not be turn from watching Aliya
enjoy all the wonderful gifts our family and friends brought over.

Much like her brother Aliya enjoyed a sugar-free cake for her 1st
b-day. She reveled in the sounds of everyone singing her happy
b-day, laughing and smiling through the whole song, before diving into
her surprisingly tasty sugar-free cake. The rest of the guests enjoyed
a properly sugared cake made and excellently decorated by Megan.

Now with her first year behind her, she is off to a great start on
year two. Her goals for the year are: walking, talking, learning to
say "no" to her brother, and potty training (that ones a management
encouraged goal.) One thing is for certain; much like in year one, she
will have no problem making mommy and daddy smile and laugh.

Opening gifts on her own - she couldn't wait!


Playing with a new toy.


Opening gifts




Guests' birthday cake.


Aliya excited for her birthday cake.


Owen helping blow out the candle.


Hmmm . . . not too sure.


Tastes pretty good . . .


Yummy!!!


Don't take my cake away!!


Daddy serving the cake.


I love my new chair!

Owen is Three!

Owen turned three last week. We celebrated with friends and family. Owen chose to have a Diego birthday and his invitations were a hit. One girl called it her journal and wouldn't put it down! This year Owen really understood what a birthday party was. Prior to his party, he went to three friend parties and got really excited for his. When opening his presents, if he got a book, he insisted upon reading the book first. He even told his friends to back-up so he could read his book by himself. Owen received the game Cariboo which he loves to play with. We have to play it everyday. However, he now has discovered that he can look inside for the balls, but he hasn't really cheated yet. He also got a Diego play-doh toy where you can mold animals, tires, and more. He now loves to play with play-doh. We made it through the cake without tears which was exciting. He did like blowing out the candle.

We went to the doctor for his three year check-up and he is doing great. He had to read the eye chart for the first time. He had a hard time covering one eye at a time. He kept uncovering his eye because it felt weird. He also had his blood pressure checked for the first time and I don't think he really liked that. The questions were certainly funny. He really didn't want to answer them and it took a while to warm-up. He did get all of the opposite questions quickly though. He is now 36" tall and 29 lbs. Unfortunately, he did have to get one shot. He was not pleased at all and in fact he said "Why did the lady hurt me?" while crying. It was very heartbreaking!

He is potty trained. Whoo-hoo!! And we went to Build a Bear to get a bear today. The deal was that he got one and then he would have to "pay" for it with his binky. So no more binky either. At nap, he asked what he can put in his mouth and then decided not to take a nap at all. We'll see tonight how it goes.

Opening presents

Reading a book.

Blowing out the candle.

Family

Getting a piece of cake.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday. We spent Christmas Eve at our house with my sister and her family. We ate our traditional Italian dinner with homemade ravioli. We then took part in another tradition of the children opening one gift. Owen and Aliya get to open their gift from Nanny which was awesome clothes.
That night, Owen set out cookies and milk for Santa. As I put him to bed, I told him that Santa can only come to our house if all the children are asleep. He didn't come out once that night. Can we use the Santa trick every night?
The next morning we went downstairs and showed Owen that Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk. He was so engrossed in the empty dish that he didn't even go look to see what Santa brought him. We finally got him into the family room where he saw his tools. Aliya received a dollhouse and they both got table, chairs, and play food. They then looked in their stockings.
After breakfast, we opened gifts from family. Every time Owen got a book, he had to stop and read it! And when Aliya got a book, he had to stop and read hers too! After a while Owen got tired of opening presents and just wanted to play.
We had lunch at my sister's and opened a few more presents before we headed home for a much needed nap. It was a very nice Christmas.

Pretty Aliya.


Owen opening his Christmas Eve present.


The family - as a good as it gets.


Which one should I eat?


Owen fixing the dollhouse.


Owen reading a book.


Opening a gift.


Playing with the new toys.


"Send it in Jerome"


Really, another picture?


Here are some more gifts.