Easter 2011

We have been having lots of fun visits and trips, but, once again, with minimal picture taking.  I am hoping that this will get better before #3 gets here.  Two weekends ago we had a visit from our friends from the UV- Christa and Reid.  We went to the children's museum, colored eggs, and even ventured out to Chucky Cheese:)  Last Saturday I had to work in the morning, so the Easter Bunny visited on Saturday and hid lots of eggs.  Noah was very much into the game of finding the eggs and James was way more into eating the chocolate... thus why there are not many pictures of James... he had a drooling mouth full of chocolate in all of the others (that was after he tried to eat the Easter Bunny's carrot). On Saturday afternoon we drove north for Easter #2.  We had a great supper and got to visit with lots of family we don't get to see often.  Sunday morning the Easter Bunny visited again and Noah is now convinced that there are 2 Easter Bunnies... one that puts M&Ms in the eggs at his house and one that puts cheese balls in the eggs at Grampy and Grammy's.  Sunday afternoon we drove back to Portland and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon in short sleeves with our neighbors.

Noah's First Art Show- 2011

 Last Tuesday Noah had his first art show.  Apparently this is something that the preschool puts on every year.  It was a fun evening out to see all of the preschool art work.  It was a little challenging to get pictures of this... Gabe had to work, so I was trying to hold James (who was trying desperately to get down and grab at all of the art projects) with one hand and take the picture with the other.  Thankfully Noah was patient.  

Noah's First Fire Truck Ride

We had such a fun filled weekend last week!  Grammy & Grampy Civiello were here for the day on Saturday before their flight to Florida and we got to really enjoy the sun and warm weather.  We took a walk around the Evergreen Cemetery, got to feed the ducks, and the kids got a "special" grilled cheese sandwich from the store.  The kids and I left and headed north while Gabe stayed in Portland to be on call.  Saturday evening Noah and his friend Tyler got to go to the fire station to look at all of the trucks, and Chief Brown even took them on an extra special ride in the fire truck.  Noah was trilled beyond words, and I have tried to include part of the video here.  Saturday night we had a sleep over with Aunt Amy and Trey.  Sunday Tyler came over to Nannie's house for playing and a campfire in the back yard to roast hot dogs on.  Monday we spent the day with Aunt Holly and baby Trey while Aunt Amy was working.  We finished up our extended weekend with our last swimming lessons class until summer.  We were exhausted and everyone took a great nap on Tuesday!  

Noah Reading to James

James is not always super attentive to book reading (though he is getting much better), except when Noah is doing the reading.  To our surprise, Noah has memorized several short books, luckily these area the books that James loves. When James is given the choice of Mommy reading him the book or Noah, he always chooses Noah.  He has been doing this for a few months, but I had yet to get it on video.  This is Noah reading "Blue Hat, Green Hat" by Sandra Boynton. (Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of the screen)

Maple Syrup-2011

We had a great, though brief visit home last weekend.  We went up to see my cousin Jacob in his high school musical, which was wonderful... good job Jacob!  It I hadn't been so preoccupied with keeping all of the kids happy and quiet, I may have remembered to bring my camera in... oh well.  After the play we went back to the Pelkey's for supper and visiting, which turned into Noah wanting to go outside and "help" with collecting sap... Once I saw Gabe and Bryan trying to carry the buckets and help Noah trudge through the snow, I thought that maybe they could use some help;)  Amazing how clear the sap is that boils down into that good maple syrup!!  We spent Saturday night and Sunday morning with my parents, to which the kids insisted on playing in the cellar for most of the morning.  Once again, a really fun trip that I failed to get many good pictures of... here are a few of the "mapeling" (is that even a word?) part anyway.  On a separate note, I have hit 17 weeks and can no longer fit into my regular work pants or jeans... on to maternity clothes from here on out. I am never sure why I wait so long... the elastic waist is so comfortable! 

Boston Children's Museum Visit

This week Gabe has been on vacation which has been really great.  We didn't plan any big trips, but instead have done lots of little day trips and fun things around this area.  One of the most exciting things for the kids was to visit their good friends Suvi and Rain in Boston.  We met at the Children's Museum in Boston (thank you reciprocal children's museum membership).  It was wild, and I will try to avoid going on a weekend again, but the kids had a blast.  The boys LOVED the construction zone and would have stayed all day if we had let them.  What all of the kids really enjoyed was the "active" exhibit where they got to turn, pull, and the biggest hit, dance.  I thought that I had gotten some video of the dancing, but I guess not.  We then went back to play at Suvi and Rain's house, then got to go swimming at a hotel.  I got some pictures with Gabe's phone of this, but without the flash, it wasn't really worth putting them on here.  It was an action packed and busy day, but we all had lots of fun, and as always, it was nice to catch up with good friends!  Thanks guys for a fun day!  (We will do it again when it is warmer out;)  

Noah's fish

Noah was lucky enough to get a few dollar bills for his birthday.  The first thing he bought was a bee book, then he bought a fish.  He has been talking about having a pet for a few weeks now.  He initially wanted a cat, then a dog, then I was finally able to convince him that a fish would be the perfect pet for him.  He has named this little guy "nemo, like the movie".  He talks to it often, especially in the morning after sleep.  He is pretty proud of this fish:)

Noah turns Four!!

As you can see, Noah had a great time turning 4!  He picked out his "blue race car cake with a driver" back in January AND had been asking to eat at the restaurant "Kon" each time we have driven by for the past 2 months. He had a lightening McQueen birthday party with red glasses and temporary tattoos (grandpa was a good sport here). When I asked Noah what he wanted to eat for his birthday his reply was "pancakes", I told him that he needed to pick a different food to serve at his party and he responded "english muffins with peanut butter", so I went with pancakes.  Here is a picture of his pancake bar and all of the fixin's and the race car cake. We finished up with present opening and he was once again very spoiled with gifts. His favorites were "the purple car", "the fleece with a hood", "the golfing clubs" and "the dancing show". He did also take a liking to his bike, which he was tentative about at first, but took to it much faster than either of us expected.  He is now incessantly asking to go for a bike ride... he is sometimes so fast that we have to jog to keep up with him.  My sister came with Trey for his first sleep over away from home (with his mom of course) and we traumatized him by taking him to the Japanese Hibachi restaurant... don't worry Trey, you will grow up to love it too, just like Noah:)  The bottom few pictures are of Gabe and Noah trying to catch the egg in their mouths... neither were successful... we were shown up by the couple on the other side of the table who were 2 for 2. All in all an exciting and exhausting day!  Thanks for all who came and celebrated with us!!