Mud Bath

Since the weather is getting warmer, Daddy started to do some work in the backyard. He was digging up some rose bushes that we didn't want anymore because of all of the thorns. Ellie and Patrick took this is a good opportunity to play in the big dirt hole and make mud lakes. They were working hard running back and forth between the mud and the water table. They did a nice job creating the perfect mess!

Celebrations and Fire Trucks

Within the scope of a few days we were at two celebrations that had a fire truck for the kids to climb on and explore. They were in heaven. The first was a birthday party for a little friend, Rhys.  They went for a ride on the fire truck, sprayed the hoses, put on the uniform and boots, and climbed all around the fire truck.

The second celebration was a "We Love Our Members" day at the Arizona Museum for Youth. It was a Curious George theme and he was there walking around. I think this might have been one of Patrick's first experiences close to a costume character because his face pretty much looked like this the entire time. He was amazed but cautious and when I tried to hand him over to Curious George for a picture ...he frieked out. But when Curious George walked away, Patrick was walking around with his hands up asking where he went.

ASU Gymnastics

We have been to a few of the ASU Gymnastics meets this year. Ellie and Mia are both in gymnastics so it is fun to watch them get so excited about all the girls doing all of their flips and tricks. They are a riot at these meets. They stand up in their seats and dance to the music. They get very into it and try to mimic what the girls are doing on the floor and beam. After the meet they are so excited and they run out of there and try to do tricks on the way back to the car.

 After one of the meets, Chloe slept over at our house. Here are some cute pics of Ellie styling her hair.

 

Valentine's Day

We had a sweet Valentine's Day this year. It was the first time Ellie exchanged Valentines with her friends (Little Explorers). We made some valentine cookies for friends and daddy. Ellie and Patrick recieved a wonderful package in the mail filled with goodies and fun from Mommom and Poppy. Daddy came home and spoiled everyone with fun gifts and then took us all out to dinner and ice cream. If Daddy-O keeps treating Ellie like this every year on Valentines Day....her future boyfriends are in for it. =)

Ellie's First Sleepover

After having plenty of cousin sleepovers at our house, we finally decided to let Ellie sleep over at the Caruso house. This was a big deal because the only other night Ellie wasn't with us was when Patrick was born and she stayed with Grandma and Papa.

She loved her sleepover! Ellie, Mikey and Mia all slept in the same room together. Here are some pics from Auntie Angie's camera.

 

Our house was very quiet without her. Patrick stopped by her room to look for her a few times. We were excited to go pick her up the next day. I am sure this is the first of many sleepovers at the Caruso's.

Rain!

Ellie and Patrick,
We had 3 or 4 days of rain in a row last week. That is a lot for Arizona. We were all loving it. Especially you two. We let you go wild in the rain one morning. You had so much fun jumping around in the puddles. Patrick, I thought you would hate being wet and cold but the only thing you hated was when Daddy-O brought you inside.

We had to occupy you guys indoors for a few days during the rain so we brought out the good 'ol air matress so you could jump around and get some energy out. Here are a few videos. One is of Ellie telling us how to do a flip and the other she is Ellie telling us who is at the jumping party. She is very loud. All of the time. Fun times.

 

Mimi Fairy

Ellie,
The Mimi Fairy came last week and took them all away. We had been talking to you about how the she was going to come for over a year! We were dreading this day because we didn't know how you were going to handle life with no mimi (pacifier). Everytime we would talk about it you would always say that the Mimi Fairy was going to bring you a telescope. Well, we should have told her to come a lot sooner because you were just fine. You were so excited about the presents she left you... a telescope and a kitty that you named Whiskers. You never cried about your mimis being gone. There was a few times you asked about it but you got over it really quick. One morning you did seem a little sad and then you told me you had a really good dream about your pink mimi. Another morning you told me your dream was about a gold sparkling mimi. I asked you if you wanted them back and you said that you didn't need them anymore. Way to go Ellie! You are finally mimi free. Alleluiah.

15 months

 

Patrick,

You are such a fun and lovable little 15 month old! We mostly call you Patchy these days but Little Stinker is a close second. We recently had your 15 month check up and you are 19 pounds and 30 inches (3rd and 10th percentile). You are little but you are tough. Our friends comment on how you never cry when when you pushed or fall down. Sometimes when you are at our house you will try to run down the hallway but you end up going right into the wall hard enough that it makes you fall all the way back like you were knocked out. You just lay there for a bit...stare at the ceiling, roll over, get up and move on. It always makes us laugh. You seem to roll with the punches. You are so easy going and sweet. Your hair is reddish brown and has a few curls. You have these dark brown eyes that get soooooo big when you are excited. You are really good at using facial expressions to communicate. 

 

You love books. We will often find you snuggled up in Ellie's bed looking at one of her books. Sometimes you jibber jabber outloud while you are trying to read the book outloud. When you wake up in the middle of the night you point to your basket of books and say "book". I never read to you in the middle of the night but you never give up trying.

 

Ellie is starting to learn the troubles and annoyances of having a little brother now that you are walking around and starting to talk.... but she also loves you to pieces. You love to wrestle and jump on anybody that is laying on the ground. You get all fired up. You also like to take some of Ellie's most prized possessions. You think you are big stuff when you are walking around the house with her things. You are very affectionate with her. You love to give her hugs and kisses. When she is in the mood, it is very very cute. Daddy and I love to see you two loving each other.

 

JoJo is still your best bud and you have even started to say JoJo. It was making all of us laugh the other day because you were both sitting on Auntie Angie's lap chugging Muscle Milk. You only stopped to breathe. You need your energy though, Grandma and Papa's backyard wears you out. You have also taken over our kitchen stand from Ellie. She doesn't like to stand in there to eat that much anymore because she says it is all sticky and gross from you. You are a very good eater. I'd say that you eat 3Xs as much as Ellie right now. Who knows where it all goes. You are a sneaky little thing and have figured out how to open the child proof cabinets to get your own food. You love walking around the house with a bag of goldfish. It might be your favorite thing to do. You love food.

Some other things about you at 15 months: You like to wave to everybody. You also like to walk up to people and give them a stare down. When you are looking for something or someone you put your palms up at your sides with a concerned look on your face. You are saying lots of words such as ball, book, dog, Eeyyyee (Ellie), see (can I see?), num nums (food), cookie, bye, no and hi. When Ellie is taking a nap you walk all around saying shhhhh with your finger to your mouth. You also love to play peek a boo. You are mostly all sweetness but there is certainly a fiery little temper that comes out at times too. You are very good at throwing your body all around and banging your head to the ground if you are upset about something. Or if you are mad at me, you headbutt and it hurts!  You kick, arch your back and do all of those fun things that toddlers do when they are mad. Thankfully, you get over it pretty quickly. You are still very snuggly and I love that about you. You wrap your little arm around the back of my neck when I pick you up from your crib and you squeeze like you don't ever want to let go. It is the best. We love you, Patchy!