Saturday 1/23/10

Some random shots of us on Saturday 1/23/10:

Xia going for my blanket again...

I don't think Herbie or I are really in the mood to play...

Seriously, did you think I was really going to smile for you?

Isa is Almost Standing!

Isa again. Look out! cause I'm almost standing now. Here are some attempts on Thursday 1/21/10. Whew, it's a lot of work...

I'm pretty pleased with myself...

Look, one hand!...

But, then I fell...



Don't worry, I'll get it. I don't know why buy Mommy says "no rush!".

Isa's Spoon Cam

Isa here. Daddy had some fun feeding me on Wednesday 1/20/10. He calls this the spoon cam...



Note in the background of take 2 you can hear Mommy telling Xia about a mouse being in her office - YIKES!



Later that night Xia and I got a nice bath. Here's Xia modeling her robe...

Isa Attempts To Eat With Her Hands

Mommy decided to try me out with some self-feeding on Sunday 1/17/10. Not sure if I'm quite ready for this or not.

First I had some toast with cream cheese. This is very serious business (I have a habit of wearing very serious faces) ...

Here's a video clip of it. Mommy swears I actually say "kitty" when Herbie walks into the room. What do you think?



Then some apples and oatmeal. Sorry Mommy, I prefer my hands over this dipper thing thank you very much!



I'm sure I'll get better with time. Remember Xia's first attempts?

Xia's 3rd Birthday Party

I had my party on Saturday 1/9/10. We had a much smaller party than other years. It was nice with just family and God families.

Here are my wonderful God parents, Phil and Sadie:

Sadie was kind enough to make my beautiful cake again this year:

Here's the big moment from the day...



We all enjoyed the 3 layer cake with chocolate gnash and raspberry spread, mmmmm:

Then it was time to open the gifts, yippee!! Mommy and Daddy got me a Spongebob card that sings...



And they got me the Play-Doh Fun Factory Deluxe Set!

I enjoyed stacking blocks with Sadie (trying to do it as quickly as I could before Isa came along to knock it down!):

Phil and Aunt Marty entertained us when she tried to teach him a few dance steps. What perseverence!



And here's a lovely picture of Sadie and her "baby" girl Alison:

I sure did have a great day!

Just another Week at Home

Here are some photos and videos from the rest of the first week of 2010...

These first shots are from Wed 1/6/10. Xia says "What do you mean, she loves this!?"

Isa contemplates how to survive more time in the exersaucer with Xia at large...

Xia still loves to put stickers on her face!

Here is Xia on Friday 1/8/10. What an audiophile enjoying a 45 from Bowie, "Fashion", using Daddy's headphones. Look at that groove!



Later that night, Mommy has a great time playing with the kids. We'll call this the Mommy train!

Xia is 3 (aka Thirty-Six Months Old)!!!

Xia here. I turned 3 on Tuesday 1/5/10! I'm 3 feet 3 1/2 inches tall now and weigh 32 lbs! It's getting harder and harder to be carried around!

Mommy, Daddy, Isa and I all went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate (I think this will become a yearly tradition). What was really cool is I could do most things on my own this year. I put my tokens in the rides, I got onto the rides and I even went up into the "tube" as I like to call it (the jungle gym filled with kids).

Here's one ride (Mommy can't remember the words to the song but finds this very disturbing the way the guy is just glaring at me as i ride with him. He's a vet or something like that...):



Next I rode the horse:



We played the "Shoot the Water" game...



I wasn't big enough to play this video game:

But I DID climb all over in the "tubes" and made lots of friends (Mommy was terrified!):

We also enjoyed the LIVE show - though it was sort of scary at the same time...



I even rode "the scary" ride - or at least it looked that way to me last year...



And the flying bicycle (though Daddy had to spin the pedals as my feet still don't reach - maybe next year?):

Happy 2010!

We spent New Year's Eve 2009 at the Volpe's. There was good food, lots of fun, video games, karaoke and more. Unfortunately, we left around 10pm as we were all getting tired (well, everyone but Xia that is). Mommy and Daddy did get to see the ball drop on TV (first time in a long time) once we got home. Wishing you all a blessed 2010!

Here are all of the kids playing some videos:

And here's Isa enjoying her reflection in a doorknob! What, you don't find that exciting!?

Isa is Nine Months Old

That's right, I turned 9 months old on Wed 12/30/09. I'm 29 inches long and weigh 16 lbs. and 6 oz. Doing pretty well! I am just about crawling (getting up from the commando crawl position) now. Blockades are starting to pop up around the house again...

Xia is trying to teach me to sing. She did a nice rendition of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" for me...

The Jumpy Seat Returns

Hi, Isa here. Sunday 12/27/09 started with a very sleepy family...

Remember when Xia loved the jumpy seat? Well, it turns out I can now enjoy it myself. Daddy put it back up for me. I think I do pretty well in it!

The Day After Christmas 2009

Hi, this is Isa. We all went over to Aunt Marty's house on Saturday, 12/26/09 (after Xia's haircut). Daddy's cousin Phil (who lives in New Mexico) was there with his wife Betsy, son Denali and new baby Carson.

Here I am with Carson (or should I say Baby Santa?):

Here are Denali and Xia playing with Aunt Marty's kitty:

A close up of Denali:

Here we all are enjoying Denali's car on the floor:

Carson and I both wanted a piece of this ribbon!:

Here's Grandy with Aunt Marty:

And Phil and Betsy:

What a nice visit we had with everyone!

Xia's First Hair Cut

On Saturday, 12/26/09, I had my very first haircut. We went to a new franchise that opened in our area called Great Clips. They had a great opening deal of haircuts for $2.99!! I did very well (Mommy was a little nervous that it might freak me out). I had a few inches cut off and some layers put in around my face and across the back. I feel like quite the big girl!

First the nice stylist gets my hair all set to be cut. I really liked my cape:

Then the cutting begins...

Mommy - the Overseer! I think she was more nervous than I was!

I survived the blow drier. This was really quite amazing as I usually run the other way when Mommy blows her hair dry...

The finished product:

Christmas Morning 2009

What a nice, quiet Christmas we had. It was just the family - all day - in our pajamas! I think this needs to be the family tradition!

First, some pictures of Xia and Isa coming down the stairs to see what Santa brought:

Next, a dark video of Xia emptying her stocking...



Then, Isa enjoys a musical ball Santa brought for her:

And Xia's favorite gift was a pair of child scissors. She spent most of Christmas morning cutting up wrapping paper!

The BIG gift came as a surprise to everyone. Daddy got us all an amazing keyboard that does a lot of cool stuff (THANKS Daddy!):





Herbie just wonders when life will ever get calm again. Notice he has his eyes covered with his tail:

Hope you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2009

We had a beautiful Christmas Eve. Mommy had to work since she's still building up her vacation time after maternity leave this year. But she got out a little early. We all had some dinner. Check out Isa and her little tongue, she just loves sticking the thing out all of the time...




Then we got dressed to get ready to go to mass. Here are Isa and Xia in their Christmas dresses. Just too cute. (Note Isa's tongue...):


And here we are in front of the beautiful manger an church. We look forward to seeing this every year. It's so moving as Father Leo carries in baby Jesus at the beginning of mass and places him in the manger!

And then a shot in front of the beautiful alter:

St. Mary's is just beautiful!