Katie Turns 2 Years Old

Katie turned two on May 14th.  Poppy and Grandmom came up for the day to celebrate with us and we had a fun day in NYC.  Grandmom and I made a yummy cake that we decorated with Diego toys since Katie loves the tv show Go, Diego, Go!

Blowing out her birthday candles.

Grandmom and Poppy holding the birthday girl.

Katie wouldn't take her eyes off the cake!

Things about Katie:

- She is so funny! She loves to laugh and tell jokes.  Her way of telling a joke is by singing a song and adding the word "Poopy" to the lyrics...for example, "Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you Poopy" and then she laughs and laughs!  She also has this funny way of looking at you out of the corner of her eye and smiling when she is doing something bad. It is hysterical.

- She loves to dance and sing and be the center of attention.

- She absolutely loves going to the playground and could spend all day there playing.  

- She LOVES her brother Drew and thinks he is the best person in the entire world. She wants to do everything that he does and watches him and then does the same thing.

- She is very independent and loves to go off exploring by herself.  She has a really great sense of direction too.

- She is very athletic and is really good at gymnastics.  She loves to swing on the bars and do flips and forward rolls.  

- She loves Poppy, he is her "best friend".

- She is tall and skinny, 98% for height and 50% for weight.  

- No matter where I say I am going, she always wants to go with me. She is always up for an adventure.

- She rarely complains and is very easy going. She is happy all the time!

- She wakes up happy and goes to sleeping singing or talking to herself. 

- She goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up at 5:30am. (No matter what time we put her to bed she gets up at that time... UGH.) However, she loves taking a nap and takes one everyday for 2-3 hours. Lately, she has been happily climbing into her crib when I tell her it is nap time.

- She loves cuddling with her milk while we read books at bedtime.  She loves to read and will bring me books many times during the day so I will read to her. 

- She loves to go for bike rides and loves getting special treats!

- She loves her daddy so much and has him wrapped around her fingers.  Whenever she hears him get home from work, she stops what she is doing and runs to him.

- She loves to race Drew and play crazy games with him every day around the apartment. 

- She loves her toys--- right now she is into princesses, dress-up, dinosaurs, animals, barbies/babies, books, her computer, her piggy bank, and her doll house.  

- She loves her friends and her family and talks about them all the time. 

-She is the toughest 2 year old little girl.  

-She is my sweet little miss and I love her so much!

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl.

Drew Turns 4 Years Old

After many trips to Maryland to look at  houses since January, it turns out that we found our new home on Drew's 4th birthday, May 6th.  What a birthday present!  Even better, Drew had his family together with him on his birthday, including both sets of grandparents and a bunch of cousins! We had a wonderful time with everyone in Maryland and we are all looking forward to many more celebrations together once we move to our new state.

Drew opening up a gigantic remote-controlled dinosaur.

Ready for some cake!

Katie and Granny

Family of four for a little while longer.

Things about Drew:

- He is so sweet and thoughtful. He loves taking care of me and my belly and the new baby. He has been playing house with Katie a lot lately and he is always the dad. They have a pretend baby... actually about five of them! He feeds the babies, takes care of them, kisses them, rocks them to sleep, and makes sure that they are happy.  Then he goes to work. He told me that he deserved a father's day gift because of all of the hard work he has been doing lately while playing house!
- He loves being a big brother and always takes this role very seriously. Recently, he told me that he is worried about being a big brother to two kids once new baby arrives. I told him not to worry, that being a big brother comes naturally to him.  He really likes teaching things to Katie and he is very good at encouraging her with "Good job, Katie".  At his pre-k interview in January, the admissions officer asked him how he learned everything he knows if he doesn't go to school and he said "My mom teaches me and then it is is my job to teach Katie." 

- He is tall and skinny--- 92% for height and 50% for weight.  

- He loves to play with his toys.  His favorite toys right now are dinosaurs, space shuttles, pirates, cars/trucks, puzzles, art or painting projects, musical instruments and anything that he can crash!

- He loves to play with his little sister and they have elaborate games that they play together every day.  They love to make pretend and play pirates and princesses, monsters, fort games, animal games, freeze tag, hide and seek and other silly stuff that half the time I have no idea what is going on, but they completely understand. 

- He hates to get dressed/leave the apartment but as soon as we get outside he is happy as can be and doesn't want to go home.

- He loves to eat meat----bacon, steak, porkchops, sausage, ribs, ham, chicken....anything that is meat he will eat!  He also loves anything chocolate!

- He is a really good soccer player and is a very fast runner.  He also loves to tackle people and has recently gotten into fishing and golf. 

- He loves going on adventures and exploring different sections of the park. He loves to have picnics, go rock climbing, and play in the playgrounds and sprinklers. 

- He loves to drink milk and cuddle with is blankie while we read books before bedtime. 

- Things that he wants to be when he grows up include an orthopedic surgeon, a paleontologist, an astronaut, a race car driver, and a chef. 

- He goes to sleep at 7pm and wakes up between 6:30am and 7:30am.  He is such a good sleeper!

- He loves his friends (his age and my age), his cousins and his grandparents, his great-grandparents and his aunts and uncles.

- He gets home and immediately take off his shoes and shorts/pants.  He doesn't like to wear clothes!

- He is really into telling jokes and being silly. He loves to sing and dance.

- He loves to visit Collingswood, Maryland, Connecticut, the Mountain House and Myrtle Beach. 

- He is really inquisitive and thinks things out and wants to know details on how things work. 

- He has a really great memory and amazes me everyday with the stuff he remembers. 

- He loves Friday night movie night with popcorn and cuddling with daddy.
- He tells me that his job as a kid is to play and eat good food and sleep all night and my job as the mom is to clean up all of the mess he makes!!  GREAT!

- He is very protective of his family, specifically his sister.
- He is my little man and I love him so much!

Happy Birthday Drew! My big 4 year old!

A day at Coney Island

The kids and I have been going to the Brooklyn Aquarium and then the beach a bunch of times over the past few months and they really wanted to show Andy.  One weekend in late April, on a beautiful day, we drove out there and showed him why we love it so much!

Katie loves looking at the shark!

I love quiet little moments like this.

Ice cream on the boardwalk!

Katie and Drew love playing in the sand.

Our happy family!

Easter in Collingswood

Easter was the last holiday of the year that we had to spend without Andy.  Andy was stuck in NYC on call so the kids and I went to Collingswood for some Corso family fun.  As always, the kids had a great time.

Grandmom helped everyone decorate Easter eggs. 

Katie and Drew loved their Easter baskets!

Katie loved the new animals for her collection...

...and Drew loved eating all of the candy.

Lily, Drew and Katie eating Easter dinner at the kids table.

Katie touching PopPop's beard.  Adorable!

The Easter egg hunt was a huge hit with Drew.

Katie loved finding eggs all over the backyard.

The kids posing for a picture...Drew, Molly, Katie and Lily.

One of my favorite moments of the day was finding Drew and Molly hiding in the playground eating all of their chocolate together!

Super Poppy took the kids for a treat at the end of the day. 

Cousin time!

Cousins!

The kids and I also went to Connecticut in April to visit with family.  Andy's mom was going to be watching Mac, Mackenzie and Madison for a week while their parents brought their new boat home and we decided to go and spend some time with them. It was their spring break from school so we had lots of time for hanging out and playing! Drew and Katie absolutely love being with their cousins and of course, their Granny.

Drew and Granny walking along the river. 

Drew was so happy that Mac wanted to build elaborate forts with him.

Katie loved all of the girl attention.

I loved all of the help!  

They played lots of Twister.

Katie and Drew enjoyed watching Madison and Mackenzie play lacrosse.

Meal time was of course lots of fun!

There was lots of cuddling and just being silly together!

An Easter Egg Hunt in the Bronx

In mid April, Andy and I took the kids to the Bartow-Pell Mansion in the Bronx for an Easter egg hunt.  The weather was cold and windy for an April day and it was a little disappointing because the mansion and surrounding grounds would have been breathtaking on a beautiful sunny day.  The kids had fun anyway!

There is something so sweet about a daddy and his daughter holding hands. 

Very serious painters!

Our trip to Boston

Right after my birthday in April, the kids and I took a mini-vacation to Boston to visit with some of my college friends.  What a trip!  We stayed in a condo with Kristin and her family only a few miles away from Janinne and her family. It was just like old times with my two freshman year roommates.

Janinne, me and Kristin

Janinne bought the kids matching pajamas -how adorable is this?

Evie (Kristin's daughter), Katie, James (Janinne's son) and Drew

We had lots of dinner parties with friends and did lots of hanging out ( with Laura and her boyfriend, Katie and her fiance, and Chris) and we all agreed it was just like college....except there were crazy kids running around.

Janinne and Chris playing games with Drew and Katie

The kids all got along great and Drew has been asking when he is going to see Evie again, while Katie has been asking to hold baby James!

Katie wanted to hold James all the time!

James watching his momma being attacked by Drew and Katie!

We went to downtown Boston and visited the Boston Children's Museum.  The kids loved it!

Checking out the view outside the Museum.

Another fun morning we went to the Boston suburbs to visit my friend Jes and her three children. Jes had set up a massive playdate with a bunch of Amherst friends since I was in town and we had a blast!  It was so nice to hang out with all the moms while the kids ran around inside and outside.

This was just the big kids---there was another group of under 1 babies! Katie, Will, Emily, Drew, Caroline and Lily. 

Drew loved the play room and all of the toys! Lily, Drew and Emily playing.

The kids and I had so much fun on our trip to visit with friends in Boston. I really enjoyed hanging out with Kristin and her husband Eric, and getting to know their adorable daughter Evie. I gave Evie her first "girly" present of play makeup and she was obsessed with it the entire week!  It was fun to watch Drew and Katie play with her and to see their little personalities.  Also, Janinne cooked us the best meal of the week at her and her husband Mike's house....the food was so good!!!  We are all looking forward to getting together in September again at Katie's wedding.

Our new house!

I am the worst blogger ever.  Sorry that I took such a long break, but things have been busy.  And I have been tired at night and going to bed early!  But, we have been having "wonderful adventures" as my Dad says and I will take some time over the next few weeks to update them here.  

The biggest update since early April is that Andy and I bought a house! We close August 1st and move in right afterward.  We are so excited and the kids are really excited about the big move to Bethesda, Maryland.  More on the house later.