Monday, September 21, 2009

SOLD!

...and off our driveway!

WAHOOOOOO!

Our old purple van that adorned our driveway for the past 9 1/2 months is gone! And Sarah is happy!

To celebrate, I think we'll have to play a little basketball or get busy with some chalk.

I can't believe I'm blogging about this! Aren't you glad you checked in?!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

8 and 6

That's how old my September babies are. Ok, Seth is actually 7 years and 361 days old. So in 4 more days, we'll have an 8 year old.

We celebrated Seth and Caroline's birthdays with our extended family today. It's always so good to have everyone together!

The kids all helped to get ready for the party, from doing their regular chores, to extra cleaning and setting up, to decorating. Caroline was particularly fastidious on that job, and pretty much streamered everything...
...including her cousin, Nadia!

The kids chose their favorite clothes to wear for the party. Evan chose his Batman costume, of course.The adult table!

Here are the cousins all together, aside from Robbie. My little one year old nephew was a busy boy today!

Happy birthday, Kiddos! (Don't their faces look alike in these next two pictures?!)

Saturday, September 19, 2009

GOOOAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!

We are so proud of this young athlete! She made her first goal in a soccer game today! She came bursting into the house after her game, shouting, "Mommy, I SCORED A GOAL!," and when I saw her face, she was absolutely beaming! Her cousins, Anabel and Nadia, are soccer players too, and they are coming over tomorrow. She said that she can't wait to tell them!

Dave wasn't sure how she was going to do in soccer, mainly because she spent a lot of time in the first game and practice twirling and playing with grass. However, during the last two practices and this game, she has been more assertive, staying with the ball a lot more.

YEA, CAROLINE!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Brothers

My mom, mother-in-law, and aunt have often advised me that I should write down memories about the kids. They are right. If I don't write about these sweet little stories, I am surprised how things I thought for sure I would remember start to fade.

So, I was looking at this picture of the boys tonight, and I was inspired to write a few random memories of the two of them. (This blog has been an excellent tool to capture memories!)

I remember when Seth was born how happy I was that Henry would have a brother. Henry shared in my excitement. :) When we pulled in the driveway bringing Seth home from the hospital, Henry was outside playing with his Aunt Debby and Great Grandma. I can still picture him running down the sidewalk yelling, "WHERE'S MY BABY SETH?! WHERE'S MY BABY SETH?!"

We brought him inside and Henry was so sweet and gentle checking out all his fingers and toes. He looked at all his bandaids, concerned that he had gotten shots, and then gave him lots of kisses. It was such a tender moment. I remember him looking at Seth, and then looking up at me saying, "I like my baby Seth."

I remember Henry spoon feeding applesauce to Seth, making such a mess, but so pleased and proud to be a big boy. I remember Henry's giggles when Seth kept babbling, "ba ba ba ba ba."

I remember a 3 year old Seth calling after a 5 1/2 year old Henry when Seth felt he rode too far away on his bike from him. "Henny, HENNY!"

I remember letting the boys have a sleepover in Henry's room when they were 6 and 4, and how they decided the next morning that they wanted to share a room. It has been sweet, most of the time :), listening to them talk before they go to bed at night. Oftentimes, they read books together before they go to bed, laughing at some poems in a Shel Silverstein book or poring over a dragon book.

Little moments in time...treasures in my mind...I love my boys!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Seth

I love him. Obviously, right?! But sometimes you can just tangibly feel in you chest just how much you love your children, like your heart might burst. And tonight was one of those times.

I don't know if I could specifically say what it was tonight...It was partly his sweet smile, and happy giggle as he was telling me about a funny story at school. It was partly his excitement and happiness at having made a new friend. It was partly my reflecting on how his responses to my questions may take some time but they are so often deep and spot-on. It was partly watching him come in and give Evan a kiss good night. It was partly just me looking at his sweet face, his greenish-blue eyes, and the curls on his head as I tucked him in to bed tonight.

I love him.

Monday, September 14, 2009

I love this...

When I was a Caroline's age, my best friend was a boy. Tim and I were in to climbing trees, playing in the mud, playing cowboys, spaceship, you name it...we really didn't have much use for dolls. I was definitely a tomboy.

Caroline, on the other hand, is a great mix of tomboy and girly-girl. She loves to get dirty, and wrestling with the boys, and playing superhero with Evan :), but she also loves wearing dresses and playing with dolls.

Caroline had her friend Elyse over today for a playdate, and they set up their own American Girl Cafe, and insisted on having a meal set for their dolls at lunch. They were kind enough to invite me to join in their fun, and I have to admit, I quite enjoyed myself! She has introduced me to a whole new world, and I love it!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Yes, that's our daughter...

...the one with the mustache and the technicolor "chicken pox." She got this fabulous look at a neighborhood block party. We went for a few minutes just as it was closing down after we got back from our American Girl outing yesterday. I'm not sure who created this look, whether it was our sweet daughter, or if it was the 5th grader painting her face. Either way, she was quite happy to show off the results with her kindergarten friend, Meme.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

My American Girl Doll

What a day for Caroline! We met my mom and took the train to downtown Chicago to the American Girl doll store.

We had lunch in the cafe. Because we had not purchased her doll yet, they lent us one that she could put in a booster seat to eat right next to her.
Here's my mom and Caroline at our lunch.

All of the food was presented in such a fun way...Caroline's meal was in a picnic style, with a mini hot dog, a mini hamburger, a fruit skewer, and a mini serving of mac and cheese!

Here's Caroline's doll-on-loan eating her dessert.

Here's Caroline after she had decided which doll to get...a "Just Like You" doll that looked just like her!

Grandma and Caroline looking through the catalog to see what to put on her Christmas list!

On the way home, Caroline met some littl e girls who had just been to the American Girl Store. They played non-stop.

That's a happy girl!