Natural History Museum

We took a trip to the Cleveland Natural History Museum on Good Friday while the kids were out of school. Jeremy had to work but my parents brought Madeleine and Kate along. Uncle Matt came too, since he was in town for Easter.

The kids had so much fun looking at all the exhibits. There was so much to see! They of course, loved the dinosaurs!!

Here's Carter checking out the alligator.

Carter was annoyed I made him turn around and pose for this picture. He'd much rather be facing the triceratops and t-rex.We told the kids these mineral eggs were fancy Easter eggs.

Here's Grandpa helping the kids figure out the brain teasers.

Madeleine and Carter took their time and traced the skull while Kate watched. We then hung it up on a display.
Fun with Mr. Potato Head

Outside, there was a large dinosaur statue the kids could climb on.

Kate and Leah

Ridin' with Style

For some reason, Carter and Leah like to ride with their swim goggles. I'm sure it gives the neighbors something to talk about...

Happy Easter!!

A very special first Easter for Elliot. Quite the close up. I was holding him while taking the picture.Leah found her Easter basket hidden in her doll cradle....that Easter bunny is the master at hiding. Candy, gardening gloves and princess underwear!!

Carter was so excited to find that the Easter bunny had left him dinosaur work gloves, a dinosaur cup and candy. His basket was hidden in the tinkertoy bucket.
We headed to church with my family and then went back to my mom's house for brunch. I was rushing to get some decent pictures after church because Carter was already asking to put on his play clothes.

Just the girls! So pretty in their Easter dresses.

Can you tell they're looking right into the sun?! Oops.

We did a basket hunt at Grandma's too. They ended up with way too much candy so the kids and I baked cookies yesterday, adding in all the misc. chocolate chopped up, and threw them in the freezer for future enjoyment. It was that or their teeth were going to fall out!!

After brunch, we then headed to Jeremy's parents' house for dinner. Ginger put together an Easter egg hunt and put coins in the eggs. Carter stopped to open each one. He would then ask what each coin was worth and have someone add them up.

Maybe I've already mentioned this, but he's been trying to save money in his piggy bank lately. It seems he's inherited this trait from Jeremy. Hopefully he'll be a saver! Those college books are pricey.

G-ma and Pop-Pop gave the kids magnifying glasses to look for bugs. Here's Leah checking out an ant with Aunt Nancy.

Happy Easter!!

Easter Egg Decorating

We decorated eggs with the Kler crew over at Jeremy's parents' house one night last week.

We had a million different colors, but most of Leah's eggs turned out some shade of brown because she kept moving the eggs and then she'd stir for a few seconds before moving the egg to the next color. I gave up trying to stop her after a while. You're only 3 once.

Thanks to Uncle Steve, most of the stickers ended up on the kids rather than the eggs!

Here's Carter. His eggs turned out great and he topped each one with a spider man sticker.
Here's Elliot afterwards. He's cutting about four teeth at the moment and for some reason his cheeks get rosy.

I love this picture of Ginger and Elliot. He's been going through a phase where he won't let anyone hold him, so I was thrilled that she got some smiles!

Easter Egg Hunt

The weekend before Easter, Carter and Leah had an Easter egg hunt at their school, including crafts, the Easter story reading and lunch. I would say the crafts were the best part! Here they are decorating eggs.

They both made beaded necklaces with died noodles.

Here's Leah during the egg hunt. The kids were divided by age, and since only one of us had the camera, I wasn't able to get any shots of Carter for this part.

A chat with Carter

I was reminded yesterday during lunch of something my dad always talked about after raising us....the difference between conversations with me vs conversations with my brothers. Most talks with them were as brief as they could make them, usually consisting of mostly one word answers. However, when I would talk I'd elaborate and give lots of detail and explanation, emotional and otherwise. Well, this afternoon, Carter had come in to eat his lunch. Leah stayed out in the yard an extra few minutes, so we were sitting at the table, just the two of us. I started to chat with him about his morning at school. It went like this.....

Me - "How was school?"
Carter - "Good"
Me - "What did you do?"
Carter - "We played"
Me - "Did you learn anything new?"
Carter - "Yeah, a lot"
Me - "Like what?"
Carter - "Nothing"
Me - "Did you talk about numbers or letters?"
Carter - "mumble something..."
Me - "What did you say?"
Carter - "I didn't say anything"
Followed by 15 secs of silence
Carter (eyeing her lunch)- "Is Leah gonna eat that?"

I just had to laugh. Though rare, there are moments where he wants to tell me a long detailed story. For the most part, he's pretty straightforward and action oriented. Not interested in chit-chat with his mom. I'll have to rely on Leah for that. :-)

Elliot - 9 Months Old

Here's Elliot on March 26th, officially 9 months old. He went to the doctor for his 9 ms check-up and weighed in at 17 lbs. 11 oz., 10th percentile. He had gained 3.5 lbs since the last visit so we were happy that he's growing fine, just still on the smaller side. This week, he's been pushing up onto his hands and knees and likes to scoot backwards. He's been babbling a lot and says Ma-Ma. I don't know if it's official to call it his first word because he says it a lot even when I'm not holding him. Of course, I'd love to think he knows my name! He has three teeth and is working on two more.
His eyes get huge when the flash goes off and this one's evidence of his love for sweet potatoes and carrots. Compared to Carter, Elliot was the color of an oompa loompa! This was taken a few weeks ago and since he's been eating more table food, his color is starting to return to normal.
We're always talking about how much Elliot looks like Carter did. Here's Carter at 8 months old.

Let's Dance

While the kids ate dinner last night, I was dancing around the kitchen with Elliot (he was fussy). Anyhow, later on Carter and Leah started dancing in our bedroom, which of course sort of turned into a wrestling match.

Here's the link to the video. Please help! I'm not the best on the computer...can't figure out how to link the video like you guys have. A tutorial would be great. :-)

Spring Has Officially Arrived

Carter told me this morning that today is the first day of spring. Wow, I thought!! Good thing he mentioned it because I didn't realize it was the official first day. Miss Jane at school had told him. Later on while he was outside, he came running to tell me that he found something and had me follow him over to the tree by their playground. "They're new spring buds!", he said! No joke, that's really what he said. Now if he's this into plants, I'm hoping he'll help me plant my garden. Wish I could say he inherited the green thumb from me. Happy Springtime!!!