We took Evan to the Futures at Fenway minor league game on Saturday and we had a fantastic day! We came up with an extended version of the popular baseball song..."buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks - and throw in some chicken fingers with fries, and cotton candy, and ice cream in a baseball cap, and a frozen lemondade"! Fortunately for us, not only did they substantially discount the tickets to this event ($10 per seat for seats that were 4 rows up from the 1st baseline - we're talking Red Sox bleacher seat prices in the '90's!) but they also discounted the prices of some of the food too....it was a great, affordable, way to take Ev to Fenway Park! Definately a memorable day for us all!
I feel awful that Sophia's 2nd Birthday was over a week ago and I have yet to post about it! To be fair, her British cousins arrived the day after her Birthday and we have been very busy visiting with them ever since. Sophia had a wonderful Birthday celebration which lasted a few days! We took a trip to the zoo with a couple of her little friends the day before her birthday, and the day of her birthday she had a visit from Nana with bagels for breakfast, a visit with lunch and cupcakes from a couple more friends, and dinner and cake with Mommy, Daddy and Evan. She opened her new kitchen set from us that evening, and the other highlight of the day was opening the musical Princess vanity that arrived from Aunt Linette, Uncle Dave and her cousins Jason and Derrick. Meg and her family arrived from the UK the next day and we had a big family gathering over the weekend with lots more fun, presents and a Princess cake! I would say that Sophia celebrated like a Princess for sure!!!
I am not sure where the summer has gone so far! It sure has been a sunny and hot one, which has been great for the kids! We've pretty much spent our whole summer so far at the Holden Pool, every morning for lessons and afternoons at "free swim". Evan took an Arts & Crafts class and tennis lessons the first session and we are now half-way through session two...Evan continued with tennis lessons this session which he seems to love, and is also taking swim lessons. He has been a bit apprehensive in this new swim class, as it takes place in the deep end of the pool, the kids are mostly 6 years old-going into 1st grade, and he is no longer doing the "fun" things like diving for rings and using noodles! After all the swim classes he has taken, it was high time he start learning the actual strokes rather than just playing in the water - I know, mean Mom and Dad!! Anyways, we have spent a good portion of our weekend there practicing swimming in the deep end, and going off the diving board and the slide, so hopefully he will feel more prepared and comfortable for this week's class.
Sophia is getting ready for her 2nd Birthday in less than two weeks! It is hard to believe in some ways that she will be two, but in other ways, she is acting much older! She tries to do everything Evan does and is constantly on the move. She has made it very easy for me to stay in shape this summer, without even having to stick to a set work-out routine!! Her latest antic as most of you have heard is that she learned how to climb out of her crib. For about the last month now, she has been in a toddler bed. It was rough at first, with about a week of crying in her room each nap and bed time, but she quickly learned that she needs to stay in her bed and in her room for sleep-time and we now have peaceful bed routines again! Thank goodness- out of all the parenting issues, I do NOT cope well with sleep issues. Although I was not ready to deal with Sophia's crib climbing at such an early age, I am now actually glad to have that milestone behind us!!
Thankfully both kids are healthy and happy and are enjoying their summer. We had a fantastic "staycation" last week with Daddy and did lots of relaxing at home along with some fun day trips sprinkled in. I will attach a few pictures and videos below. Probably my next post will be after the big Birthday. I am sure we will have lots of pictures of Sophia with her family - especially her British cousins! We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Cantillon family in less than two weeks now. They will be visiting for 2 weeks and the kids cannot wait to spend the time playing with their cousins! And Auntie Kim is counting the days until I can finally meet my "not-so-little-anymore" nephew Jack! He is 5 months old and mobile already so I am prepared to be chasing him around the room to get my hugs and snuggles in!!!!
Nana and I took the kids to Boston Public Gardens this week, a tradition started by my own Nana when I was Sophia's age! It was a beautiful day in the city and we all had a lot of fun. This was Sophia's first ride on the Swan Boats - and Ev's 2nd or 3rd. The "Make Way for Duckling" statues were festively dressed in their Bruins jerseys in honor of the Stanley Cup finals - it was a riot! We packed a picnic lunch and then ended the afternoon with a carousel ride at the Frog Pond in Boston Common. There was also a huge playground which we didn't even have time to go to behind the carousel on the Common. I think it might be new - I had never seen it before. Anyways...a fun outing if you're looking for a fairly inexpenive day trip with kids and don't mind the hour drive. Here are a few pics of our lovely day in the city.
This is pretty funny! Monday morning we awoke to Evan excitedly yelling out the window - "WE'VE BEEN FLOCKED!!!!" And sure enough, we had. Our church is having a fundraiser for the youth mission trip and for a small donation, you can send a flock of pink plastic flamingos to someone's yard for 3 days....Lizzie Tokarowski generously "flocked us" - and Evan and Sophia are thrilled about our new yard decorations!! Let's just say our yard looks very festive for Memorial Day!!! Grandma and Pepere, too bad you went back to Florida, you would have felt right at home!!!
Ev had his last day of school last Friday and they had a little singing program. It was adorable! This was the first time Ev actually sang the songs too - the last few programs he has sat with his class and once in a while has gone through the hand motions, but this year he really belted out every single song. We were soooo surprised and so proud of him! He has grown so much at this nursery school and is almost like a different little boy (especially socially). We are so proud of him....he really has come such a long way! And in a few short months he will be off to Kindegarten. We are looking forward to summer vacation - good times at the Holden Pool, Grampy's Camp, and just hanging out on Lowell Ave. The sprinkler and pool have been going non-stop the last 5 days and already lots of fun has been had - let's hope this nice summer weather continues! Here are a few pictures and videos of the little program and the little graduate!
We were lucky to have a last-minute visit from Grandma & Pepere last week! I am sure they are glad to be back in FL and not here this week, since we are on day 4 of rainy, 40 degree weather! Here are a few pics from our outing to Elm Park...
I am testing out a new blogging app for my iPad so this is my first attempt! Hope it works! Ev had a field trip last Friday to the Ecotarium and he got to ride a school bus for the first time! He loved it! Here are a few pics...
Yesterday was Ev's first day of tee-ball - the opening day parade down Main Street and ceremonies at the CRA field. The kids were SO cute! Evan was really excited to be in a parade and meet his new teammates. Their team, called the Bagel Inn (after their sponsor which happens to be my favorite bagel/sandwich shop in town!) was the very first team in the parade and they got to walk right behind a huge red fire engine! The kids were so excited! Jeff is coaching the team this year, which has added to Ev's excitement. Their first game is this afternoon so I am sure I'll have another post with some footage of the big game. Here are a few pics from yesterday.
Monday, April 4, 2011
It's about that time for another post - the months are just flying by! Sophia turned 20 months old on Monday and Evan is 5 1/2 this month. I have posted a couple of pictures of the kids and a video of Sophia singing below. Here is a snapshot of what is going on with the kids these days.
* Sophia is a complete chatterbox these days! Her vocabulary has gone through the roof this past month. She is talking in sentences and even asking questions! I remember the explosion with Evan, although with Evan it was right around his second birthday. Sophia is talking so much earlier. She asked Evan to get her a bowl of yogurt early this week, and she also was able to tell us what happened in the other room that caused her to burst into tears! (Evan swore he didn't know what happened, but then Sophia said "Eman kicked my eye". When we asked Ev about it, he said, "well, it was an accident!" He can't get away with anything anymore now!!! She calls him Eman and just started today calling herself "Bia".
* Sophia's three favorite things in life right now are milk, "Lella" (Cinderella) and her brother Eman. She is often cranky when she wakes up from her afternoon nap and she cries until she either sees Evan, has a cup of milk or starts to watch a Cinderella video. It's a funny combination! She has developed a slight obsession with the Disney Princesses; Lella and Belle are her favorites although she has been talking about Snow White a lot lately too. She makes me sing one of 3 songs before bedtime - forget about Twinkle Twinkle and the other lullabyes I used to sing. Now I can choose from "Bibbity Bobbity Boo", the "Work Song" (sung by Cinderella's mice) or "So This is Love" - the waltz that Lella and the Prince dance to. Oh, and she calls the Prince in the movie "Daddy" b/c I think she thinks Jeff looks like him. Quite a compliment, Jeff! If only she would call Cinderella "Mommy!" - I guess she sees no resemblance!
Here are a couple tidbits on Evan, as he turns 5 1/2 this month:
* School - Ev just loves going to school these days and is nearing the end of his preschool days, with just over a month left. He will be going to full-day Kindegarten next year and seems excited about it. We walked to his school one day last week and he was excited about his "new school" and to play at the Kindegarten playground. He even met one of his Kindegarten teachers who was in the parking lot as we were leaving (she was my first grade teacher if you can believe it!!!) He has a new preschool teacher who has been sending home lots of fun letter projects for us to work on - the change has turned out to be a very positive one and Evan really has responded well to her.
* Swimming - still one of Evan's favorite activities! I just love bringing him to swim lessons every week just to see that huge smile on his face when he jumps in the water! He is swimming without a bubble now, and doing the crawl stroke, the back stroke and diving and swimming under water. He has continued with swimming lessons at the "Y" all winter/spring and sign-ups for the Holden Pool are next month. He's such a fish!!
* Tee-ball - Ev's first season of Holden Tee-Ball starts this month. He and Jeff have been outside playing catch the last week or so and he is doing great! He has quite an arm on him already. Jeff is going to be his coach and has gone through "coach's training" so he is all set to play ball!
* Artwork - Evan's favorite activities besides swimming are coloring and drawing. Yesterday he colored pictures for a total of about 4 hours during the day. He just about went through an entire coloring book! He loves to sit and draw some of his favorite things such as trains, flowers, dinosaurs, and airplanes. He definitely has his father's artistic passion and ability!
That pretty much sums up life at the Pelletier household these days. I always try to keep it brief and simple, but let's face it, there's nothing brief or simple about life with a 5 yr old and a 20 month old! Always something new!!!!
Enjoy the pics and video!
NOT a great pic, but it's the only recent one I have of both! I guess Evan wasn't all that thrilled about the photo op before church!!
We are home from our trip to Florida/Disney World and we had a wonderful time. I know people are asking for pictures, but it's going to take me awhile to get them all downloaded and into a Shutterfly album. I have over 800 to go through! For now, here are a few of my favorites that I have gone through so far.
Sophia right after she got her "lella" doll at Magic Kingdom Evan holding up the Epcot ball! The whole gang at Magic Kingdom one night for fireworks and Main Street Electrical Parade Sophia finally meeting her favorite princess Cinderella! Cool chick! All the cousins together
