Marlena's Gap Tooth Smile

A recent picture of Marlena and her new smile. She lost her tooth after eating a dinner of tacos. It actually became completely turned around and was poking her and bleeding. She finally calmed down enough and I just plucked it out of her mouth. The tooth fairy was pretty generous and gave her a toonie and a loonie.

Happy Easter

We enjoyed what's become our Easter tradition again this year. Meeting our friends at a petting zoo in a nearby town, followed by a picnic and easter egg hunt. This year we planned ahead and looked for a park to have the picnic at rather than driving aimlessly around hoping to stumble across something.

It was enjoyable, if a little cold, despite being April, and somewhat sprinkly.

Here are some of the best pictures, not particularly "Easterly", but recent, of the kids from the day.

Halloween 2010 - August

August doesn't get a home-made costume this year. Maybe next year. She did get a flower-petal-hooded jumper. She wore that to a Halloween party this last weekend. And I tried to dress up as a little girl with August as my doll. My first thought was to be a gardener, but I have no gardening supplies. Then I thought about being a florist - but really, what does a florist wear that screams florist? I don't know, so I went with the little-girl-holding-her-doll option.

Don didn't get dressed up. Originally he was supposed to be a scuba-diver (octopus, jellyfish, scuba-diver...) but that didn't work out...

Halloween 2010 - Wolfred

Wolf's costume is a little on the dark side. He's an octopus. I tried to paint the suckers on using glow-in-the-dark fabric paint, but the sweatshirt material just sucked it up. Instead I used a circle craft punch and punched out a lot of white circles, then colored dark circles inside and glued them on. I think it worked out pretty well...

Halloween 2010 - Marlena

This year I decided to be proactive and take pictures before we went trick-or-treating. The last 2 years, taking pictures while trick-or-treating has always been more miss than hit.

Marlena originally wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween. She received a really beautiful dress-up Cinderella dress for her birthday and thought that she would be sure to win a costume contest with such a beautiful dress. I had to burst her bubble and tell her she probably would not win since there might be more than one Cinderella. Since winning the contest was/is important to her (she was really upset that she didn't win last year and Wolfie did) I was able to convince her to be a jellyfish. I did add lights to the hat, figuring that I would be a more responsible parent this year by dressing at least one child in a costume more visible at night. Last year both kids were dress all in black... So Marlena is pretty happy with her costume, even tho the hat with the battery operated lights is a little heavy. The costume contest is Friday, so we'll see how it goes.

Much Better, Mom...

If I had categories of posts, this one would belong under "Kids say the darndest things..."

Wolf has pretty regular bowel movements. Usually right after breakfast. This morning was no exception. I was feeding August and Wolf was standing at the end of the chaise part of the couch when I noticed he was having his morning poop. After he was done, he looked up at me, smiled and said, "Much better, Mom, much better".

Marlena's First Trip to Disneyland

Back in March (March 19th to be exact), I took Marlena to Disneyland for the first time (it was my 2nd time). She LOVED it. LOVED LOVED LOVED it. We met up with my friend and her daughter and had a great time.

Marlena keeps asking when we can go back. My answer is usually "Not anytime in the near future". Poor girl.

Anyway, here is a video of our day - it was a long one and for everyone's sanity I didn't include all the videos, just the highlights.

Wolf's 2nd Birthday

Here is a short little video of Wolf's 2nd birthday. He certainly enjoyed the cake - that was probably his favorite part. Marlena was thrilled to open the presents that came along for her and August, so a little clip of that is included as well.

Wolf's First Haircut

I see that it's been ages since we've added anything to our blog. Not even an update of August birth! How sad...

But here's a video of Wolf's first haircut. Don suggested cutting Wolf's hair and I took him up on that offer right away, as I've been dying to take a razor to Wolf's hair -as a few close family members know, I am somewhat scissor happy, altho' it doesn't always turn out well. Anyway, here's a video - I left out most of the screaming since Marlena was holding the camera and spinning in circles rather than actually filming.

Some Updates

Marlena's drawing skills have improved. Don now thinks her drawing skills are starting to surpass his! This particular picture is of me, with the new baby in my tummy. I'll admit I grabbed the picture away from Marlena before she could totally scribble over it. I find myself thrilled to actually be able to recognize what it is she is drawing. Not so thrilled about the mean expression on "my" face...

And here is a recent picture of Wolf. I took it yesterday. Wolf is enjoying books at the moment, and sitting on chairs. He's also starting to scribble, but mostly he just likes to dump out the crayons and markers and scatter them.

Let's Make it Official

We need a new car... come end of January (or maybe beginning of February), our family will no longer fit in the car we currently have. I'm currently petitioning Don for an 8-seater mini van, either Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey. With those cars you can fit 3 car seats in the 2nd row, and you'd still have a 3rd row for the grandparents, friends, soccer teams, volleyball teams, etc. Alternatively, once all three kids start fighting, you can split them up. Or I can move all three of them way to the back and then I'll be able to ignore them better.

So, what am I making official? Don and I are expecting baby #3. And this time I promised Don I wouldn't find out the sex, so it'll be a total surprise. Actually the fact that I was pregnant came as a total surprise, too.

This baby is due January 29th, 2010, just after Marlena's 4th birthday and before Wolf's 2nd birthday, so next year should be a lot of fun...

Marlena's Fashion Sense

Tonight, Marlena put together a marvelous outfit... well, she thought it was marvelous. My only contribution was tying the strings of her hat into a bow. Then I had to take some pictures - maybe these pictures can be used to blackmail her during her teenage years...

Marlena and Wolf

Got a nice picture of the two of them today, just before lunch. Trying to get a nice picture of Marlena and Wolfie together is worse than trying to brush Marlena's teeth. I did manage to get one picture where they're both looking into the camera and Marlena, at least, is smiling and looking happy. Wolf doesn't smile on command yet.

One of my Favorites

Hullabaloo is a local kids' band that sings some great songs. Marlena enjoys their music and they have a lot of concerts around here. One of my favorite songs is called "Sippy Cup", and they have videos, which Marlena loves to watch.

Marlena's (Not So New Anymore) Haircut

What happens to you if you have a frugal dad and a scissor-happy mom? An at-home-haircut! Marlena's hair was hanging in her eyes and since she always pulls out any hair clips, it was time for a hair cut. She was supposed to get a basic bob - like Dora the Explorer, if you know who that is. Well, she wiggled and moved and the hair kept getting shorter and shorter. Finally Don held her head in place and I tried to fix it. Here is a picture, a few weeks later, of the end result:

Not too bad, if I do say so myself. Marlena was pleased as punch with her haircut. Since I'd cut my hair short she's been asking for me to cut her hair short, too. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

One unfortunate side effect of Marlena having short hair though, is that she is constantly being mistaken for a boy, no matter what she seems to be wearing... OK, so I dress her in jeans and t-shirts a lot... but the jeans have ruffles and pink stitching, and her blue shirt has pink buttons. Can nobody pick up on these details?!?!

Wolf, on the other hand, doesn't have enough hair for cutting.... yet. He'll probably just end up getting buzz cuts since we happen to have an electric razor handy. So, no big image changes on his part, but here's a fairly recent picture of him anyway.

Happy New Year!

Wolfie feeds himself lentil soup - mid November 2008 - 6 & 1/2 months. Just getting comfortable with this eating thing.

Wolfie plays the Cymbals

Also from November, Wolfie learns to play the cymbals.

Wolfie's sleep-aid

This is a little out of order date wise (it's from November), but here's what we get when we wake up Wolfie when he has had a good nap . 

Merry Christmas!