New Sand Box and Water Play

For their birthday the kids got an awesome sand/water toy that so far we have filled with a ton of sand. It's amazing how long they will dig in the sand and Ethan loves to bury plastic trains and cars!Jillian is getting better and almost never eats the sand.

"bye bye Thomas" he says as he buries the train

We have finally had a few warm days and Ethan and our neighbor who he adores and is so wonderful with the kids started off "washing the sand off of him". It quickly turned into a game.

And in the end he was soaked and on cloud 9!

Funny Girl

Jillian is definitely a ham and says "cheese" anytime any time the camera is out. Here are some funny ones from around the house as we were sick and did not get out a whole lot this past week!

wearing her train conductor hat that an elderly couple bought for her and Ethan at the store when Eric took them to see trains b/c they thought the kids were so cute!
showing off her Mr. T starter kit thanks to Debbie Oddo

seriously she loves beads and has a pop tart-life is good.

she knows what she likes fom the fridge...

Carnival and Art

Two weekends ago Ethan and I got to spend some much needed mommy and Ethan alone time and we joined some friends at the local Elementary School carnival. He had a blast playing games and turning in tickets for prizes and I think he ate popcorn, a lollipop and cotton candy in an hour! Jillian had fun staying at home with Mia and has learned to paint for the first time. She's pretty good at dipping, painting and only occassionally tries to stick the wet brush in her mouth!

trying to drop the ball in the fish bowls
Our friend G and his mommy K bowling

He also played a bowling game, golf game and baseball throwing game that I did not get enough photos of.

dips brush in the paint

painting handy manny and the tools-i think we need a princess coloring book

notice she's eating and painting. the girl is always eating.

Portraits

Last week Jillian had her 1 year portraits taken-thank you Aunt Elyse for the birthday gift card to Picture People. The photos turned out great and one of my favorites is below. I also had some taken with her and plan to get some of Ethan and I too for a project I'm working on. She did a great job and for fun I had to post 2 of Ethan's 1 year portraits since all his 1st year photos were on our old website. So fun to see them both at the same age side by side like this! Enjoy.

She loved this Easter Egg-1 year old
J and J

Ethan back at age 1

what a ham!

Joint Birthday Party

It was a great celebration for Ethan and Jillian turning 3 and 1 respectively. We moved the party from the park to our house as the weather turned out to be a wopping 46 degrees outside! I set up different stations around the house and the kids kept busy playing as you will see. I have so many photos but these capture the main hightlights best. Thanks to all who helped make the day so special for the babies we LOVE so much!

Jen did hand make the Rocket cake as Ethan has wanted a Little Einsteins rocket cake for months now. thanks to my mom and Aunt Paulette for making the awesome cupcakes.
blowing out their candles

Jillian had no problem diving right into a cupcake!

she loved all the attention, too

Eric, Jillian, Jen and Ethan eating cake!

the painting station in the garage was a huge success-Ethan with neighbors John and Emma

Ethan's train table probably got the most attention-I think everyone played here at some point.

the little ones loved the ballpit and Jillian pals around with William and Michael

more train tracks for Bryson, Raymond, John and Ethan

the big kids enjoyed the hammock-Averi, Jack, Emma and Alex

Julia's turn on the slide

Macie taking advantage of the bubble wand table being free

Michael and J play with a Sesame Street toy so cute together

the boys were hilarious watching a thomas the train dvd during presents. Look how little E looks in the front.

Ethan ecstatic to open the Wonder Pets Flyboat!

Enjoying opening presents-these are mini soccer goals!

Girl's Day Out

Recently Jillian and I got to spend the day with my great friends Christine and Chrissy and her daughter Scarlett! We had lunch in the little town of Celebration, FL and it was such a cute area. Jillian refused to cooperate for the group picture and mommy can barely open her eyes b/c she forgot her sunglasses. But what a fun time catching up.

downtown Celebration (near Disney)
A slightly more interested Jillian

meeting Christine for the first time

She insisted on being a big girl and wearing Chrissy's glasses

most of you have seen photos of and met Scarlett's brothers Addison and Everett but here is the little lady for one of the first times on our blog!