Not the Parent

This is not the first time something like this has happened and I know it won't be the last. I am constantly telling all of them not to tell each other what to do, since I am the parent and it's my responsibility to correct them. Not to mention, it usually turns into an argument when one of them does it.

This time Katie, Timmy, and Eliza were sitting at the table having sandwiches and I had my back to them.

Eliza to Timmy: Stop that.

Timmy: What?

Eliza: Stop telling Katie what to do. You're not the parent.

Katie and the Kitchen Cabinet

One of Katie's favorite things to do in the kitchen is to get in my cabinets and take out all the dishes. Today, I found her inside on the shelf!

The Desk/Ladder

Lately, Katie has been opening the bottom drawers to the computer desk, so that she can use it as a step-stool. Then she can either reach what's on the desk or climb onto the computer tower and climb onto the cabinet with the printer on it.

So, she still can't walk, but she can climb like crazy!

Fun in the Sun

The kids love going to a small, local water park. Today was grandparents' day. That means that if my mom goes with us, we get in at a discounted price. So we took a bunch of food and met my mom, Whitney and her kids there. The older kids ran off to swim in the big pool and go on the water slides.

Eliza's favorite hangout is in the beach-like pool. It doesn't get very deep, so she can go in pretty far and I don't worry.

Katie and Timmy stayed with me and didn't go in the water too much. They really have to warm up to the idea of going in.

At the end of the day, Timmy was pretty tired, so he climbed on one of the chairs, totally covered himself with a blanket, and went to sleep.

Katie's First Year

Here is how much Katie has changed her first year of life:


5/18/08 - This is a picture of me pregnant with Katie and of Linda pregnant with Spencer. My belly looks huge compared to Linda's!

6/6/08 - 1 hour old

7/11/08 - 1 month old
(This is one of my favorite things to do with a newborn.)

8/19/08 - 2 months old
(She had just started learning how to smile.)

9/13/08 - 3 months old
(Notice that she's wearing her first Mets shirt.)

10/6/08 - 4 months old

11/6/08 - 5 months old
(She loved sucking on her lower lip.)

12/17/08 - 6 months old

1/16/09 - 7 months old

2/9/09 - 8 months old

3/8/09 - 9 months old

4/5/09 - 10 months old
(The kids put these huge earphones on her and then took a bunch of pictures. They thought it was so funny!)

5/23/09 - 11 months old

6/10/09 - 1 year old
(She's playing with some toys that she got for her birthday.)

Christian's 12th

Last year, I started asking the kids if they want a birthday party or a more expensive gift. Both years, Christian has chosen the gift. Last year he got a Nintendo DS Lite. Unfortunately, for the past several months, he hasn't been able to find it. This year he requested a remote-controlled dragonfly. He saw a boy flying one in the church gym quite a while ago and has wanted one ever since. He said that if I couldn't get that, could I get him a Nintendo DSi, which is better than the one he got last year, plus it has a built-in camera. Michael and I decided that the dragonfly probably wouldn't last very long, so we decided to get him the DSi.

We had to celebrate his birthday a day early since we had a funeral to go to on his birthday. As Christian requested, we went to Bertucci's for dinner. He love the rolls and oil dipping sauce. He had pizza (one of his favorite things to get) and was pretty excited that they came out and sang him "Happy Birthday". He also was happy to get his very own chocolate layer cake!

The whole weekend before his birthday, he kept talking about how excited he was about getting a dragonfly. When it was time to open his gifts, Michael told him that he wasn't going to get a dragonfly since he was still talking about it. He didn't look happy at all.

I decided to let him open his gifts in whatever order he picked them up.

Not too excited about socks (who is?).
Putting on a brave face. How many 12-year-olds get a tie, after all?
NOW, we're talking! (It's a DSi case, so I think he knows what he's getting...)
I don't think he minded that he didn't get his dragonfly...
I had to talk him into opening his suit...then he went straight back to his DSi.

On his birthday, my mom waited at our house for the kids to get home and then took them to her house. They had some yummy food, ate outside, and watched a movie that Christian picked out (The Wizard of Oz). My mom was also ambitious enough to make a dragon cake, one of Christian's favorite things...

Big Boy Haircut

I cut Timmy's hair last Saturday. Wow, was it getting long! I had a whole dustpan of his hair! He was pretty lucky because he got two baths (he's been requesting them lately by saying, "Mom, I need to take a bath."). I started to give him a bath and decided that if I was going to give him a bath, I might as well cut his hair, too. He was pretty good and held still, that is, until he got some of his hair on his face and body. Then he got it in his mouth and really started to wiggle and complain (aka whine/cry). I gave up on getting it "perfect" and settled for "pretty good".

Before

(I couldn't resist putting this one in!)

After

He didn't really want his picture taken, but I got a couple anyway!

By the way, this was his second haircut. His first haircut was professionally done.