Family Time

After an extremely long Sunday, consisting mostly of playing with friends and cousins, we all made it home to eat dinner and laugh a little before bedtime. There is nothing better than ending the day with your entire family enjoying one another.

Biggest and Littlest

Tante Becca took Ari and Amelia to class today and Leo and Noah stayed home with me. When Leo woke up from his nap, he had some quality time with his biggest cousin.

Little Gymnast

I decided to bring the camera to gymnastics today to get some cute shots for the scrapbook. It was great because, for the first time ever, we were in the big gym the whole time. Amelia had the best time. I have tons of shots - mostly blurry and all of Amelia's back side. Here are a few good ones - and check out Mr. Leo climbing steps. I should buy some stock in the pressure gate market.

Mother's Helper

In addition to loving Leo and wanting to be with him all the time, Amelia wants to help with anything he is involved with. She gets me his outfits, likes to comb his hair, washes his back in the bath, reads to him, wipes his mouth if he spit up, etc. Amelia has tried feeding Leo before, but there was something about this time that was so sweet, and it was Leo's expression. It was as if he wanted her to feed him. He watched her longingly and opened his mouth like a good boy (maybe she should feed him more often...). She takes care of him and he likes that - most of the time. I try to remind her that he has to learn how to do things for himself, too. It makes it much easier to listen to Leo's cries in the car knowing that Amelia is going to chime in with her ABC's any minute. With a teacher like Amelia, Leo is a very lucky boy.

Shopping List...

1. Taller stool for Amelia's bathroom

You probably don't want a picture of this...

A couple of weeks before we left for Toronto, Amelia decided it was time to start "pishing in the potty". Not wanting to stop every 5 minutes for a potty break, I told her that when we come back from Canada, she will start wearing big girl underwear. True to my word, we came back and on went the underwear. At home she was wonderful, at Bubbie and Zadie's house, she was not. With me she was perfect, but with Zadie babysitting, she was not. Today I decided to forego the diaper in the car, to just trust that she could handle it and live with the fact that she might pish all over JCPenney portrait studio (the pics of Leo came out cute, btw). Never have I been so proud to say that I did not have to take the OxyClean out once today. Never have I enjoyed walking into a mall bathroom so much as I did today, to see Amelia's face after following through with her claim that she "had to go potty". We aren't making a huge deal out of it, but as a mother, I really am amazed at this little girl who is growing up in front of me every minute, yet who continues to suprise me everyday.

Hide all your valuables...

Leo is officially on the move and nothing is off limits. His favorites are the coffee table books, plants, and the smallest piece of lint in the corner. This was my attempt at taking a few shots of the kids with very little to show for it.

Keep those fingers crossed and the Oxy Clean close by...

That's all I am going to say...

Niagra Falls - 7/11/06

All of those courses in hypnosis finally paid off...



When the little ones came to, we enjoyed the parks surrounding the major tourist traps of Niagra Falls. We saw brown squirrels and ran around a little.



After the park, we all braved the major mists and went on the observation deck of the falls. It was quite amazing and Amelia loved every minute of it.

Bumming Around Toronto - 7/10/06

We went to visit some of Danny's cousins on our way to downtown Toronto. We have no pictures of Amelia - she was playing with her "new" big cousin, Zoey.




This was at Casa Loma - a beautiful castle and gardens. Amelia had a good time hopping around with everyone.


Don't call DCFS or the paparazzi - Danny was not driving at the time! We had to stop a few times on side streets to feed the little one. Amelia makes him laugh so hard and his little tongue sticks out when he smiles, I cant get enough of it.



While Leo and I were watching TV at 5:30am in our hotel room, I saw a very cool looking fish n' chips restaurant on a cooking show (Toronto is the hub of Food Network it seems). I was determined to find the restaurant and eat some yummy food before we left. I (thought I) knew the corner where the place was, but not really. We walked about 10 blocks the other way before I found a phone book and the address. It was worth it, though. Amelia and I munched on yummy fish and the best "chips" anyone has ever had and we all played in the park across the street. Not a bad way to end the day.