Emily's First Day of School!

Big things are happening around here . . . . Emily went off to her first day of school without shedding a tear! Dan and I were so proud of her. She woke up this morning and when I went into her room, I told her that just like in one of her favorite movies, "Finding Nemo" it is her first day of school. She ran around her room saying "first day of school" just like Nemo did in the movie. Emily was very excited to go today. We were pleasantly surprised that she was all smiles and climbed right up on the bus when it pulled up in front. She met the driver and the aid, very nice ladies, (I have no recollection of what their names are though). We also met Nissa, the only other girl in the program at school. They were all excited to have another girl there. However, Emily will be the only girl in her classroom. She's going to the Harriet Bishop Expo School, ironically, it is the old Derham Hall High School. Very familiar territory for me . . . She'll go three days a week and be in a room focused on speech development and gross motor development. During those three days, she'll receive two sessions of 1:1 speech therapy with the teacher and also two sessions of gross motor skill development with the occupational therapist.

We are very exicted for Emily and this new stage in her short little life.

There goes the bus! She said "bye Mommy, see you later." She was such a big girl and very excited to go and make new friends at school. We'll see what tomorrow brings when the bus comes . . . .

Florida

We had a great time in Florida over the Easter holiday. This is the view from our balcony. Baby Justin playing in the fountain at the pool. We had our annual Cape Canaveral Special at the Dixie Crossroads. If you're ever in the Cape Canaveral/Titusville area, excellent seafood dinner with hush puppies can be found here. Louie was trying to give Mrs. Rock a kiss. Dixie Crossroads is famous for the rock shrimp, these little shrimp that are sweet like lobster. Delicious!

When we were at Grills watching the cruise ships depart, a little US Coast Guard boat that was escorting in a Navy submarine pulled up to the dock. They let the kids pretend to drive the boat. Of course, now all Louie wants to do is drive!

Dunkin' Donuts on the lanai on Easter Sunday.
We headed to the beach after church to take a few pictures at the beach before we departed later in the afternoon. Emmy and Louie loved the sand and the water, but it was cold. Not like the pool water.

On On Saturday afternoon, Louie feel face first into the TV credenza in our condo. He got a really nice looking bruise. It was extra special when Emily would yell for no reason "don't hit me" as we went through security at the airport. Very nice!

Bunnies!

We went and had some pictures taken on Saturday at Olivia's studio down in New Prague. She had some tame rabbits with the plan of having and Easter bunny shoot. Well, I think our kids were the ones that she was referring to that weren't that into the bunnies. Emily and Louie danced and had a great time, as soon as the bunny was put back in her cage.
http://oliviawagnerphoto.blogspot.com/2008/03/bunny-shoot.html

Sesame Street

We headed down to the Childrens Museum on Sunday to see the Sesame Street exhibit. Both kids loved the exhibit. Louie got to see all the different monsters. He loves the monsters and the Count. He loves to count to one, two ,thre . . . ten, turteen. He always skips eleven and twelve. Loves turteen!

He found Big Bird! Emily found two turtles. One of them is the painted turtle, not sure about the other one. It's not native to Minnesota, as it lives on land.
Louie enjoyed this area too. Each of the cubbies had an animal that went with the letter. He did pretty well matching them up (for an 18 month old!) He matched the duck, the cat and the turtle.
There's one area that has all these little tunnels for kids to crawl around in. Louie loved crawling around in the ones that kept going, but there was one that hit a dead end under some stairs. He started screaming and crying, it was terrible. The tunnel to get up there was so small and I started feeling a little anxious with the thought of having to crawl up and get him. Thankfully, some woman sent her older son up there to lead him out. He didn't go in the tunnels anymore.

Super Why!

The new favorite show at our house is Super Why!

It's a cute show and both kids LOVE to watch it. Louie loves it because during every episode, Alpha Pig sings the ABC song and he loves the ABC song and sings along with it. http://pbskids.org/superwhy/#

Louie's other favorite thing is to read one of the four Thomas the Train books over and over again. This weekend, he discovered that we have a different book, The Little Engine that Could. He walks around with it saying "I think I can . . ." Emily does whatever she can to irritate Louie; and if that means to hog the Princess chair, then that's what she'll do. This was the only way to make him completely unhappy.

We've been very busy since you last heard from us . . .

On February 23, it was a family affair at Euphoria Salon. We all went and Scott cut every body's hair (except mine). It was Louie's first haircut and he did a great job, he REALLY needed it too. It's much more manageable now. Looking at the before and after of Emily, she really needed it too.

It's been a while . . .

Sorry, it has been a while since our last update.

What's going on at our house? tons of laundry and diaper changing! Dan and I have been up for the last four nights changing Louie's sheets, diapers and jammies after a bath.
Emily went to Bella's birthday party yesterday with Grandpa Don by herself, Louie has had symptoms of the flu lately. I thought she was going to get by without catching this crap, but she was hit with the flu at 11pm last night. UGH. Another two loads of laundry and a bath for her . . . it's been a real treat!
Hopefully, this will pass quickly. . .

I talked to Grandma in Florida this morning, they've had a fun weekend with all the Jansen boys. Stacy flew to her parents unexpectedly on Monday night to be with them. Her mom was diagnosed with AML Leukemia recently. Now, we're all praying for both my dad and DeeDee. I don't understand what is going on with all the illness among family and friends!

It's still stinking cold!

This morning, when we got up, it was -17 degrees. Sorry, didn't get a picture of the thermometer this time to memorialize the temperature.

We made reservations last week to go to Florida for a week in March. All of us can hardly wait to go and play at the beach and pool.

My dad stopped his chemo treatments for a while and he and my mom split town as fast as they could! I talked to him on the phone yesterday and he sounded the best he has in months! He is clearly excited to be out of the sub-zero temps and on his way to the sun and sand. They have a place rented for two months in Cocoa Beach. Dan and I are taking the kids and going for a visit. This year, we get to stay at the Resort on Cocoa Beach. It will be so nice to be there with an indoor play area, the beach and a great kids pool. All conveniently located right next door to the place my parents are renting! We're going March 17-24, so we'll be spending Easter Sunday with my brother and his family this year. Fun fun fun. . . .

Here' s a couple pictures that I've taken over the last couple weeks:

Our house is a little dry, despite running a humidifier constantly. Emily's hair has this static look to it everyday, it's it sweet?

Grandma gave both Emily and Louie a pack of these in their Santa stocking this year. I havent' had Pop Rocks for a really long time. Louie wasn't so sure about it, even though he is always up for any type of candy. He kept wiping his tongue on his pajamas when I put them in his mouth. Emily thought they were pretty cool and actually figured out the best way to feel the pops.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr . . . .

For all the family and friends that live out of town . . . . it's really cold here right now!
This was the temp this morning, after breakfast. No, you do know how to read a thermometer. It really is -11 degrees outside right now (-28 below zero windchill).

It's warming up! The temp at 11am warmed up to -3 degrees. We're talking fahrenheit too!

Teddy prefers to wear his sweater 24/7 during this artic blast we're experiencing right now.

Last weekend, Emily and Lou burned off a little energy on Saturday night. They danced and danced and danced. Notice the guy on the TV? yep, they LOVE to watch the Lawrence Welk show that is on Saturday nights. It must be the house, I've watched many an episode of Lawrence Welk, back when they weren't re-runs with my Grandparents in this same living room! It's pretty funny to guess the year that the show was recorded by the hairstyles and what everyone is wearing. Louie wouldn't be Emily's dance partner, so she cut some rug with her Bitty Baby.

Here's Christmas Morning . . .

A few pix from Christmas morning (with the crappy point and shoot that doesn't focus!):
Louie got a nice wooden cement truck and Emily got bunk beds and bedding for the Bitty Baby Twins that Grandma gave her. She loves to tuck her babies into bed for naps and bedtime. (note: we found the bunk beds in the attic of our house when we moved in, my grandpa made them for my mom year for Christmas.)

Louie got a big horse, he loves horses and cows.