Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Finally, Christening pictures (are you happy Steph!!).
we had a beautiful ceramony and day for Angelina's Christening. We again had Father Mike, whom we really like perform the ceramony for us. He is just so down to earth and really makes it so personal. We love being in such a small church and being able to have a single Chrisening (I think Austin was Christened with 6 other babies at the time!!). We got some good pics of Uncle Dan and Aunt El, who are Lina's Godparents.
It was a absolutely beautiful day!! We could not have asked for nicer weather for an outdoor party, God really blessed us as well as Lina. We had a fun time out in the yard, mostly family and a few friends. A lot of our friends could not come due to prior plans, summer is such a hard time - but we wanted to do it before school started. The kids (and some adults) had a great time in teh bouncy room and the pool, and we had such good food once again made by Judy (we used her for Bells Christening as well!).
It was a beautiful day and we are truley blessed!
Thanks so much to all our family and friends who traveled to be with us!!!






Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Our vacation (mini)

OK, I did not fall off of the face of the earth, just never seem to find the time to sit down and do this! More posts probably early next week with pics from the Christening (have a baby fair in DC this weekend).
We went on a mini vacation to Lancaster, PA with the girls while Austin was in New York. It was a nice little get away as we did not have a big vacation this summer with Lina's birth and the Christening at the end of the summer, and Don wanted to take me away for my birthday.
Lancaster has lots to offer for both the kids and adults. We went to the Strodsburg Railroad museum, which has a great kids room with lots of hands on train sets for kids to play with - Bell had a blast! Daddy enjoyed the real trains much more, but as the main hall is not air conditioned (and the kids room is!!) and it was 97 degrees that day, we let him spend more time in there than us. It really is a fun place for both kids and adults.



On Saturday we went to the Harley Davidson Factory in York, PA. They give tours of the factory for free, but you must be over 12 yrs old, and wear closed toe shoes. So Don went back to hte hotel to change from his sandals, and Bell climbed up and down on the motorcycles while daddy took the tour. I asked if we could bring the kids if we were wearing them, but they would not let us, oh well.


I think we have created a monster!!
We also went to an Alpaca Farm on Saturday. When I suggested this, Don kind of looked at me weird, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Bell loves animals, so she had no problem with 10 Alpacas ("pacas" as she calls them) standing over her. They are really pretty neat animals and are raised for their very soft "fiber" as it is called, as well as breeding to sell the animals to others. A husband and wife own the farm and the husband Kevin gave us a really great personal tour (just us, you call up and if they are home, you get a tour!!). Female Alpacas run about $10.000 to buy!! Wow, I was amazed, but their fiber goes for $2.00 an ounce. He actually sells lots of htem as pets he told us. Bell loved it, and Kevin gave her a little Alpaca finger puppet before we left, which she loves - Paca, Paca, she calls it!!

On Sunday we went to the Hands on Childrens Museum in Lancaster. Another good choice. Lots of fun hands on exhibits for the kids, a dress up costume room, which Bell loved, and daddy even had lots of fun with the ball mazes!

The hotel (Holiday Inn of course!!) had an indoor and outdoor pool as well as a mini golf course, so daddy and Bell took advantage of that while Lina and I watched.


All and all, it was a great mini vaca, we packed a lot into two and a half days!


(OK, that took 40 minutes to upload all those pics here, I am off to bed!!)

Monday, July 30, 2007

Smiles, Sunshine and Shelly....

Angelina is growing so fast!!! This week she is really recognizing faces and smiling when she sees us. She is cooing and laughing as well, and is just SOOO cute!! Daddy got some pics of her smiling at me yesterday.


Itsn't she just so cute!!

We are spending a lot of time out on the deck when the days are sunny. Bell loves to play in her little pool. She loves it so much that when she is in the house and wants to go in the pool, she takes off her clothes and diaper and says over and over "suit on, I go pool". Onies with snaps are the greatest invention, as she can't get those off yet!



Daddy brought home a "present for the kids" last week. He found it (we think "it" is a her) at work and thought it would be a fun pet. We named her Shelly - yes we are now the proud owners of an Eastern Painted Turtle. Of course, until we looked up what kind of turtle it was, we did not know she was an aquatic turtle. So our pond out front has turned into a turtle pond. That is OK, we keep killing all the fish anyway!! Bell loves to stand on the couch and watch Shelly crawl around outside (looking for a way to get out and run away!!). The fencing will keep Shelly in and Bell OUT of the pond!!

Bell in action......

She loves her glasses!

Daddy and Bell reading Dr Seauss!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

We have been busy!!

Hi again all,
Wow, has it been hectic around here, getting in the swing of having two under two and then some surprises with Angelina. So I will start from early July when I last posted and come back for the pics, as I know I will not have time to type and then wait for the pics to load now. Probaby get more pics in tomorrow.

We had a fun 4th of July weekend. We BBQ'd at home, just the family (as you can see from the pic bacon was the theme for dinner!!), and then went to the fireworks up in Dover. Bell liked them for a few minutes, then lost interest and had more fun climbing into the car and putting on and off the seatbelt. Earlier in the day she played with her dolls and took them all out to change their diapers. The little preemie diapers you got for her to play with are coming in handy mom!!!















Austin is doing a dog agility class with Lucky on Thursday evenings. Lucky is doing well and Austin seems to be having fun teaching him the jumps and going through the tunnels. He really likes working with dogs and may continue with it after this class.

We have proof that mom can actually be around dogs!! She is getting better with our dogs, as you can see from the picture where they are actually at her feet!

Mom came down to Delaware on the train last week to help out with the kids while Angelina was in the hospital. She had a fever on Saturday (7/7) and since she was less than two months old, the doctor wanted her evaluated in the hospital. As it turns out she had a urinary tract infection (UTIs) and was in for three nights, poor baby!!
























We went for tests yesterday and to see teh pediatric urologist today. She has Level 2 (they run from 1 to 5 (worst) Urinary Reflux. Normally urine travels from the Kidney, down the Ureter and into the bladder. There is a flap that closes so that urine cannot flow back up into the kindey. Well on the right side, her flap does not work properly, and thus the Reflux. This can cause UTI's and Kindey infections, which can lead to scarring of the kidney. So they put her on a preventitive maintinence daily dose of antibiotics and we have to go back for more testing in 6 months and 1 year, then yearly. Hopefully it is something she will outgrow, kids usually do with this level reflux by age 5 or so. We just need to be careful whenever she gets a fever to be sure to have a urine culture done to make sure she does not have a breakthough infection.
But all in all, it could be so much worse. just being at the AI duPont Childrens Hospital today made me realize how blessed we are that our children are so healthy!!

Bell is a bundle of fun these days. She is talking up a storm and is saying 4 and 5 word sentences, and wants to tell you teh color of everything. Of course right now everything is "lello" or "geen", so we started a color box. Right now everything in teh box is yellow and we are pointing out all kinds of yellow things. Once she learns that, I will move on to another color, as it seems to really interest her right now.

She also loves to climb on and in everything (except thankfully out of her crib!). She found the cabinet in the kitchen empty the other day (usually full of DDP, but it was the day before shopping). She was in and out of it so many times. She would close the door and say "bye mommy", stay in it for a minute and then come back out "here I is", all proud of herself. The fact that it was pitch dark inside when she closed the door did not bother her! Oh and if you are wondering about what is on her legs..... that would be pen. When I told her we do not write on our legs she said "write paper". OK, she knows how to say it.....


And then yesterday was so funny, I could not help but laugh and take a picture. Someone (ummm, Austin!!) left the bathroom door open. Bell climbed up on teh toilet, got teh bubble bath bottle, climbed into the tub (clothed!!), opened the bottle and poured it all over - the tub and her clothes. She did this so quitely, I was sitting in teh liveing room and did not hear her! Of course then she started screaming because it was so slippery she could not stand up to get out of the tub.




We went to the drive in movies last weekend to see Harry Potter (then I went home with the girls and Don and Austin stayed to see transformers). We have it worked out - we take two cars (you pay per person, not car). That way we can put the sleeping kids in the one quite car, we can listen to the movie from the radio of the other one, and then the boys stay to see the second movie and I go home to bed!! Last time I stayed for both I slept through most of it anyway. So this week. Don and Austin usually bring a football to throw around because you have to go early to get a good spot. Bell loves the football! She runs back and forth between them yelling "I got it" over and over. They intentionally drop it for her and she throws it about two feet!


Don went up to the snakc bar to get some fries (otherwise we bring our own snacks and drinks). In typical daddy fashion her came back with an ice pop for Bell. But not just any ice pop, it was one of those fat round ones with rainbow colors. You know the ones that drip all over and stain your mouth and hands blue and red. He handed it to me and I said "no way"!! He bought it, he could deal with it. See I would only give her sometihng like that in a high chair with a bib. Hey, that is what dads are for!!!! She was such a mess (and stayed red for two days!), but she had so much fun with her daddy and that Ice Pop! Before and after pictures....

Don and Austin were cutting up some wood that was in a pile behind my garden this weekend and look what they found. You know you live in the country when you have Black Widows in the wood pile!!


Well that's it for now. Oh I forgot, Don got poison ivy two weeks ago, so we were all off limits for awhile until it went away. I ended up getting a little of it, but luckily the girls did not!! A very convient way to not have to change diapers for a week or so, don't you think.
Karen






Sunday, July 01, 2007

Beautiful day today!







Yesterday we went to one of Bell's friends 1 year birthday party, and Angelina was dressed in her little red, white and blue shirt and jeans. She looked so cute!! This is her sleeping on mommy after the party ( I forgot to bring my camera to the actual party!). Daddy just had to take a pic because he thought she looked so cute with her hand up by her face.

Today was a beautiful day and the girls and I spent some time out on the deck this afternoon while dad and Austin mowed the lawn! Don did such a great job redoing the deck and we are getting so much use out of it now!


Bell thinks it is the funniest thing to walk around in our shoes!! She did a pretty good job of walking in my sandals this afternoon, as you can tell by the look on her face she was having a great time!!
Bell carrying around her bucket like a pocket book in one arm, Dora in the other, watching daddy trim the grass. We took two of the section of her playyard to use as gates on each of the deck stairways. They work great and now Bell can play up on the deck in her pool while I can stay in the shade of the canopy with Angelina. It works out terrific.
Dora and Bell playing "shopping" on the deck. Toys go in and out of the cart again and again!!
Look at those deck boards - bare feet worthy!!



Last year at a craft fair I got Bell a sundress and a little matching one for her doll!! She wore it to church today and carried her doll, it was so cute!! Whan I was small my mom made doll clothes to match mine - I will never forget a little purple sundress that mom made for me and my doll!!
Don't they look cute!!