Three 1st Haircuts!!

First, here are some photos from the end of March when Anna went out on a bike ride, talk about a happy girl!



This weekend all three kids got their first haircuts! It is hard to believe we have yet to cut Anna's hair but the time had come to even out the length a bit. On Saturday morning I took her to get her hair cut and she was very excited and a bit nervous, not knowing what to expect.

Here is the before picture.
And here is the first snip!
Can you tell she is excited?
And the after!
Much shorter in the back! So much of the baby hair gone.
And being silly at gymnatics!
Mason playing outside at the water table Saturday afternoon!
And here is Olivier! I got some good photos of him. He was being very silly!
What's that Mom?
Love that girn!
And Anna's hair blowing in the wind! She loves the haircut!
And the next morning she still has what we call a "birds nest". Not sure how she does it but it is that way every morning!
On Sunday we took the boys for their 1st haircuts. Here is Olivier before:
And Mason:
Eating their snack before we left. So funny how they decide to sit places together sometimes!
Mason went first and was very quiet while his hair was cut.


Olivier was a little more wiggily. He didn't like the water being sprayed to get his hair wet but other than that he wasn't scared.
He didn't want to look where he was suppose to look so Matt had to hold his face! Made him look silly!At times the phone was a better distraction!


And Olivier after!
And Mason after!
And Sunday afternoon I colored eggs with Anna. Here are the beautiful eggs that she colored!

This video is a few weeks old of Olivier making the sounds like he is "eating". So funny to see him pretend he is eating.

Park, Sleep Eating and First word!

Matt took Anna to a local community park on Sunday and it was a great find! Anna enjoyed playing in the castle (and all the other equipment!).


And here is a photo of Anna on the slide that looks like a nose to me!
I let the boys play with Play Doh and they did fairly well keeping it out of their mouths. I took their pictures, Mason wouldn't look up because he was "too busy" but I did get a big grin from Olivier!

On Sunday, Mason was very tired at lunch time and was falling asleep at the table. Poor guy needed a nap! Reminds of Anna doing the same thing around the same age!


And last but not least, Olivier now has a few words in his vocabulary! Nothing helpful; the first word was boo (he loves peek a boo), the next was uh-oh and over the weekend he started saying whoa. Here is a video of Olivier going into a room and saying boo (although he wasn't able to scare anyone because we were all behind him).

Happy Weekend!

This weekend the kids were in fairly good moods and we tried to use the time change to our advantage today to push dinner time a little bit later and hope for continued success later in the week!

Matt got all three kids together! A rare moment. He got a few but as always, almost impossible to get all three smiling!
Anna and Olivier were just hanging out by the front door today. Anna is really enjoying the fact that her brothers are walking and interacting more but at the same point she doesn't like that they can get into a lot more of her stuff now too!

The kids are playing basketball a lot more with the hoop we gave the boys for Christmas. We will work on catching Mason as well, he always claps after making a basket!


Olivier likes to throw the small Mr. Potato Head because it makes a lot of noise and today when he went to throw it he did this funny shrug like he was saying "I don't know" and then he would get very excited. Notice how he runs over after, only to realize nothing exciting was going on!


Anna is growing up so quickly! She now can pump her legs and swing all on her own! We are so excited because it means we don't have to push her any more but at the same time we will miss her needing us!


Mason and Anna love to play on the teeter totter. It is so much fun to watch and hear the squeals but it makes me so nervous because as you can see Mason does bounce around a lot but he loves it and has gotten a lot better at holding on tight!

A niece on the way!

Today we found out that we have a niece who will be joining us in late July! My brother and his wife found out that they will be adding another little girl! We are thrilled that she looks healthy and is on track for her arrival! We can't wait to meet her and see her!

Congratulations Michelle, David and big sister Natalie!

Well baby checks!!

Today Matt and I took all three kids for well baby checks! It went surprisingly very well except Mason whining and not wanting to be more than an inch from his mommy. They tag teamed us when we arrived to get all their stats which made for a very full exam room (four adults and three kids in a very small room!) but it was oddly very organized. We didn't get all the percentages written down and although they told us, I can't remember all of them!

Anna - 3 year well check
She is now 37 inches tall, and weighs 30 pounds 2 ounces. It was amazing that they start taking their blood pressure too! She was 72/48. She was great and didn't need us to hold her hand while she was looked over and she listened very well. The Dr. mentioned everything that he was going to check and after he was done with everything and left the exam room, she was sad because he didn't tickle her toes like he said he would! And no tears when she got her one shot. Such a big girl!

Olivier - 15 month well check
He is now 31.5 inches tall, and weighs 23 pounds, 13 ounces. His head circumference is now more than 2 cm smaller than Mason's and he continues to weigh about a pound and a half less. We talked about how he was doing and we are going to reduce his medication and soon we will try taking him off if that goes well. We are all happy with his progress!

Mason - 15 month well check
He is now 31.75 inches tall, and weighs 25 pounds, 5 ounces. I think a fair amount of the weight difference is due to the roughly one month head start that Olivier got on walking but who knows. As a side story, when I was in Costco the other day with both boys, someone commented on how Mason is "thriving". Why don't they just say it, he likes to eat (at least when he is feeling well, not right now with his cold!). He is doing very well and managed not to whine while the doctor was checking him out, whew!

Very happy to have three happy, healthy kids!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!

Acomplishments!

We are amazed by what the kids can do now! They all have a check up on March 1st so at that time we will have an update on how big they are now!

Anna is loving preschool and continues to amaze us with her growing vocabulary and skills. She is learning about the continents (she even points them out when she sees them at places like the zoo or on a globe). She really enjoyed Valentine's day and was very happy to wear her heart "dress".


For Tom's birthday, Anna made him a card. She wrote his name all on her own! We just instructed her on the best way to write them and she did the rest! And after only writing some letters for the last month and a half a preschool! And she signed her name on the back! It wasn't as straight and her small a looks a bit like a q. We are so proud of her and amazed at how quickly she is learning to write! Way to go Anna!
Olivier had a lot of boo-boos last week. He took a big spill and scratched up his face and he banged his lip and got a fat lip and cut. There was a few more spills, thankfully relatively minor in comparison! We weren't able to catch it on video but he did sleep eat at lunch time this weekend just like Anna used to do! Poor guy was tired, now just if he would learn to nap!

Here is Mason half awake eating lunch over the weekend. We have moved him to eat at the table with us. Olivier is still in the high chair because he does tend to be so messy. I think he was tired because he is busy getting around the house because he is now walking! Yeah! He has been for a few weeks now but he has really made progress in the last few days on the amount of walking he is doing versus crawling.

And here is a video of Mason showing off his steps!

Zoo!

Matt and I decided on a whim this morning to take the kids to the zoo. A busy weekend but great to see them having fun.

When we arrived the tiger decided to visit with us. Anna decided to name him "Big Head". We went to see him a few times during our visit and he was out and about a couple of times.

And here he is up close. And this is with no zoom on the camera!
We also saw flamingos and Anna was very excited, although she refused to stand like one so I could take her picture with them.

I had to get a photo of Anna drinking from the fountain! If I remember correctly, there is a photo like this from when I was a kid! Fun to share some of my childhood memories with my own kids!
We were checking out the meerkats. The boys liked that we could push them close to the glass. Anna wishes she could dig like them, we are glad she can't!
After visiting the zoo we went to the park for lunch. Olivier fell asleep on the way home. This is a rare event for Olivier to sleep so quickly, Anna and Mason were still awake and chattering away.

And in case I don't get a chance to post tomorrow, Happy Valentine's Day! We hope you are able to spend some time with those you love!

Gymnatics!!!

Today Anna got to do something fun! She started gymnastics (thank you David, Michelle and Natalie)! She had a lot of fun and enjoyed being there with her friend Reese! It is amazing how they can run around so much for an hour and we were thankful for a good nap this afternoon! :-) We have a feeling she will sleep well tonight too. A fun thing to do on Saturday mornings!

Cat in the hat towel

For Anna's birthday she got a Cat in the Hat hooded towel from Grandma Linda. The boys have Thing 1 and Think 2 towels as well from their birthday. Had to share the big smile!

Happy 4th Birthday Julie!

Today we went to celebrate Julie's 4th birthday! So much fun to see all the kids growing up together!

Anna and Julie had a blast riding the rocket rider together. You wouldn't guess it by this photo but Anna was having a ball! Also, it was really hard to get this photo! Matt got some great ones while trying to get this one of both girls as they went flying by!

Here's is one he got of Andy as the girls flew by to the right.
And here is Anna as they went right again.
And here is Julie as they went to the left! :-)
On their way back to the left!

And here is a short video of the girls having fun!

Mason wanted to check things out. He is not normally too adventurous but today he sure was!
And just as we were pulling into the garage, Mason totally crashed. Now lets hope he takes a nap this afternoon!

No photos of Olivier, he was too busy walking to get his photo taken!

Happy Birthday Julie!

Princess!

Here is Anna in full Princess attire, her lovely wand from Grandma and Grandpa Arnold (it even lights up!), her crown, pearl necklace from Joe, Heather, Lina and Audrey, and the most important piece, the amazing dress that Heather made! She loves the dress! She is now a true princess!!

Photos from Anna's 3rd Birthday!

This morning Anna slept in a bit (past 7 a.m.! Yeah! Although the boys didn't.) She was very happy! And once she was all dressed and ready to go she still was grinning ear to ear!
During her party she did not want to leave her friend's side! They have the best time together!
Enjoying her tea and heart sandwich!

And of course we had cake! :-) Anna had her own cake and everyone else got cupcakes.Anna loved having her own cake. She ate only a bit of the frosting, great to see so much excitement over something so little.
Anna and some of the girls!
Olivier enjoyed a cupcake too! I don't even think Mason touched his.
And tonight, there was not a gift that went unopened, unread or tried on. It was a busy afternoon and we are hopeful that maybe they will sleep in a bit in the morning!

Happy Birthday Anna!

Happy 3rd Birthday Anna!

Today Anna is 3! Wow! We have a fun day planned; we will have a great tea party at the park!

I will be sure to post photos of the days activities as we get time!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Anna!

Happy Birthday to you!

We love you Anna!

January is keeping us on our toes so far!

The new year has been keeping Matt and me on our toes. Here is a little bit about what the kids have been up to and you might understand why!

Anna
She started preschool on January 3rd! She has done extremely well and is enjoying all the projects. They have been teaching her how to trace her name and she is doing really well with it. She has been a busy bee and very tired by the end of the day. She caught a small cold the first week and got a fever at the end of the second but nothing serious. I think she is disappointed that she will be staying home one extra day this weekend and not going to preschool.

She is thrilled about her upcoming birthday and we try not to mention it because she wants it to be now! And after all, when you are almost three, whenever you want something you get it, right? Of course she thinks so!


Olivier
We have had a lot of ups and downs. We have moments where we have our happy boy and moments of frustration when we know he is trying to tell us something, we just haven't been able to figure out what yet. On the 1st his diet became milk and gluten free and we are getting better at figuring out what he will eat. He has also had a tooth explosion! He went from having four to having at least ten! All in the matter of just over a week! Yikes!

And he is walking!!! He has been taking steps for about a month now but in the last few days he has taken off, and is great to see him cruising around. He is going to keep us on our toes because he is our curious one and now he can get around that much quicker!



Mason
He has been the easy going one and I think he was feeling lost in all the craziness from the last few weeks that he got a rash this week, a head cold, and a horrible cough. He also managed to crash on his face this morning, he looks like a beat up boxer! He has been enjoying some extra love from Mommy and Daddy and we hope he will be feeling better soon!

He is starting to take a few steps but is usually too excited to get somewhere that he leans forward to reach it and doesn't stay upright. He gives some of the best hugs and likes to "wink" back to you when you wink at him. He has also gotten quite a few new teeth but we don't know exactly how many because he refuses to let us check. I believe he is now up to at least eleven but it is likely that he has more.

Another niece or nephew on the way!

We found out that Michelle and David are expecting! The new addition will arrive in late July or early August! Needless to say we are very excited, the new niece and nephew count will be up to five!
Natalie's shirt says it all, "BIG SISTER". :-)

Watch Out Preschool, Here Comes Anna!

Today was Anna's first day of preschool! Where does the time go? Anna was so excited; she got new shoes, a new outfit, and the most exciting part was her lunch box of course!

She was so excited to have her picture taken because she knew that she would get to hold her lunch box!
Lots of silly faces! Can you tell she is excited? :-)

She had visited preschool twice so she knew some of the activities that they have already and she has her favorite already!
Does she seem inconvenienced by having to pause to take this photo with Daddy before he left?
She had a great day and did really well! We know she will love it! So grown up!