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...thought I would give it a try!

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When is Julia going to take a nap?

Jack can't wait for his little sister to take a nap in the morning so he can go outside and play.  Today he was really anxious for her to nap so he could go outside and take his new bike for a spin!  I also love that he wanted to wear his helmet (I love it when there isn't a battle)!

What's a girl to do...

...when she takes a very short afternoon nap?

The funny part was that Julia fell asleep for about 15 minutes (I do feel slightly guilty for letting her sleep in the Jumperoo while I was cooking dinner), woke up and then started jumping again. 

"Old" Neighbors

Our "old" neighbors came over for a visit on Friday...they really are our "used to be" neighbors, because they are not old at all!  We were so lucky to have them as our very first neighbors in our first house.  All of the boys had a great time playing after dinner...

Kyle, Tyler, Brandon & Jack

A great picture of Lori, but not one of Julia's best poses...

I think Brandon was about Jack's age when they moved in next door...

Kids these day (now I am sounding old) and their phones...

Hut 2

Jack playing his favorite new game...hut 2...you might call it football! 

Jack wanted to play hut 2 with Daddy all weekend!

Miss Julia - 7 Months

Little Miss Julia you are 7 months old today!  You are such a happy little girl and you love to laugh and smile...the best are your big belly laughs when we tickle your little tummy.  You love to sit and play with your toys.  One of your favorite toys is the musical ball in picture above, you love to push it around (Jack likes to play with it too and I know when Jack has taken one of your toys as you let out some really loud screeches).  You love to eat...oatmeal, peas, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, peaches, pears, apples, bananas, prunes (no more prunes for you unless you "need" them).  You nurse four times a day (8, 12, 4 & 8), but you are very distracted...especially with your big brother running around and him insisting that your feeding time is his story time!  I am  probably going to jinx myself by writing this, but the last five nights you have slept from 8 to 8 without eating (I don't care what the books say, but this what I call sleeping through the night!).  You are still our little toothless wonder...let's hope that teething doesn't interrupt our new sleeping streak, because I really love it!  You are still wearing most of your 3-6 month, but you are also starting to wear 9 month and 6-12 month clothes...so you currently have quite an extensive wardrobe.  Your current method of transportation is rolling and wiggling. We have seen you try to get your little legs under your bottom, but no attempts as crawling just yet (I am in trouble when you do...I think I am going to have to vacuum the kitchen floor five times a day!).  Happy 7 months to our little princess!  xoxo

You Gotta Love Hobby Lobby!

I had forgotten that I had taken these pictures after our field trip to Hobby Lobby last Friday!  Julia is sporting her new pink hat and bow!

She has just enough hair to hold the bow...I am still waiting on those pigtails (I think I will be waiting a long time).

Naps are Nice

When I went to get Julia up from her afternoon nap this is what I found...

This little girl won't be wearing sock to bed anymore!  The sock was soaking wet!

On to the next bedroom to get up big brother and this is what I find...Jack was reading his book.  So far we have been lucky and Jack hasn't climbed out of his crib.  I won't be asking him if he can...like I did with the door handles.

Frozen Peas!

We have been having a difficult time getting Jack to eat vegetables...at one time Jack would eat an entire plateful of peas, but not any longer. Today was a different story, Jack got a hold of the FROZEN peas before they made it into the microwave and ate 1/2 the bowl. Fine by me...one less thing to do while making dinner!

Jack's Quote of the Day

"Ju Ju Bean is wearing a bunch of pears today!" It's so funny what that little guy comes up with these days and yes, Jack you would be absolutely correct!

Almost as funny...last night Jason answers my questions with a "yes" and as soon as I leave the room he says, "what did you say"? I responded by telling him to ask his son and Jack repeated everything I said...at least someone was listening to me ;) The only time Jack doesn't listen is when you tell him NOT to do something, other than that he's all ears...so watch what you say!

What a beautiful day...

...to go to the park! Julia almost missed out on all of the fun, but she finally woke up from her nap before we headed home!

Grandma, Jack, Isaac & Valerie

Grandma & Jack

Julia Loves Tag Too

Julia was actually listening while Jack played with Tag and she even tried to grab it from him a few times! Let the sharing begin!

Jack says...

"I want Ju Ju Bean to wear purple today"! This is after we had a battle in his closet because he didn't want to wear what I had picked out. I didn't realize that a 2 1/2 year old could be so opinionated...especially about clothes! So here's Julia in purple...as this was a battle that was certainly not worth fighting!

Food for Thought

I've read different articles that say you need to expose your child to a vegetable 10, 20, 50 times (depending on the article) to develop a taste for it. Grandma's mission has been broccoli and I think that she has tried giving Jack broccoli at least 15 times. Today at dinner the little guy polished off at least 12 pieces (of course they had dip on them). Mission accomplished Grandma! As a bonus he even ate a piece of cauliflower! We are probably going to be in big trouble tomorrow...if you know what I mean ;)

It's only been a few weeks, but so far this little girl LOVES her food! She loves fruit, vegetables, yogurt, and now Mum-Mum's. It's only been a few days and she is even doing great with her new sippy cup!

Don't tell Jack , but she is way more coordinated than he was ;) She wants to feed herself most of the time and actually does a good job making it into her mouth. This is her first attempt at a Mum-Mum (something new for us...they didn't have these in France!).

I know Jack's causing trouble...

...when I hear him say, I spy a little boy-insert the naughty item here -(touching buttons, turning on the lights...the list goes on and on).

On Friday I hear Jack in the front room yelling, not the normal naughty items, but "I spy Grandpa in the front yard". I had to go look because I couldn't figure out what Grandpa was doing in the front yard. Grandpa was power washing the street (I thought we were living in Paris again, where they wash the streets every morning). I thought it was funny that this man was washing the street, but it was even funnier that Jack thought it was his Grandpa (he looks NOTHING like his Grandpa)!

Jack's Monkeys...how it all started

This little boy LOVES his monkeys or as he calls them...his bonkeys! He talks to them every night before he falls asleep and he starts making monkey noises when he wakes up in the morning.

All of his monkeys have names...Jack's favorite monkey is Big Brown George, but I think Jack George  is the best name (the one in the red t-shirt)...there are more, but these just happen to be the ones that he slept with that particular night.

Monkey Kisses...

How it all started...It was the first toy that we ever bought for Jack.  This little monkey makes "monkey noises" and I used to play in on my belly when I was pregnant...

October 2008 - When we moved back to the U.S. Jack got  "Big Brown George"...we figured it might be a favorite so we have two at home and one at each Grandparent's house...

Here are a few (not all!) of our favorite monkey moments....

January 2009

July 2009 - Jack watching the monkeys at Binder Park Zoo

September 2009 - Napping at Grammy & Pa's

Christmas 2009

January 2010...it's still love at first sight!

January 2010...when we knew Jack really loved his sister

Valentine's Day 2010

March 2010 - Super Monkey!

Follow That Monkey...or maybe not

Jack's been feeling a little bit under the weather since he got up from his nap (not that he really even napped) yesterday afternoon, so I thought we would watch Follow That Monkey and have a bit of a rest this morning while Julia was napping....

Jack doesn't get to watch TV so this really was a special treat and he enjoyed himself...for the first 5 minutes and then...

...our little bookworm wanted the TV off so we could read books!

The funny thing about toys...

These toys have been sitting in Jack's bedroom and then they were put away in his closet because he NEVER played with them, but for the last month they have become his favorite toys (go figure!)...he pretends he is vacuuming (now if only they would pick up the cracker crumbs on the floor)...

...at least the Swifter and Swivel Sweeper pick up the crumbs...nothing wrong with putting Jack and Isaac to work since they were the ones that made the mess with the crackers!

What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine...

...it's normally Jack playing with Julia's toys, but today I heard the airplane playing music while Jack was eating breakfast...Little Miss thought it was her turn to play with Jack's toy!

Jack "showing" Julia how her toy works, but it wasn't much longer before he swiped it off her tray!

Happy Easter 2010

Happy Easter! 

Julia and her Easter basket...

Jack loved the grass...the mess started out like this, but by the time I had taken a shower and Dad was "supervising" with the grass it was ALL OVER the entire downstairs (including the bathroom)...it must have taken 1/2 hour to clean up, but at least Jack had fun!

Our second egg hunt of the day...the first one indoors in the morning and then outdoors with Grandma & Grandpa in the afternoon...

Julia watching Jack gather all of the eggs...

A little time in the sandbox...

Jack reading Julia her new book...

Yeah...they are both looking at the camera!

My favorite..."I Love the Easter Bunny"

Jack playing with the tissue paper with Grandpa...they must have played this for 30 minutes (which was great as we were trying to finish getting dinner ready!).  Grandpa was hiding Jack under all of the paper!

What a great day...we may leave the eggs out for a few days as Jack loves to play with them, but the grass will not be staying, it's already put away for next year!