Ellie,
We bought a Groupon for some fancy swim lessons at a swim school. You went for 4 weeks and you even got a private lesson with the teacher. You mastered the monkey crawl, going under the water, and even started learning the swim stroke. Daddy went in the water with you each time. You loved it so much you would always ask us throughout the week to go swimming in your pool.
We had a wonderful Easter weekend with our family. You were pretty excited for Easter to come because MomMom prepped you with an abundance of Easter goodies. Thanks Mommom and Poppy! But you had no idea of just how cool the Easter Bunny was until Sunday morning. Ellie, you were very pleased with your Easter basket filled with a chocolate bunny, other candies and princess gear. Patrick, your basket was filled with sunscreen, a mimi and a little splash pad for the backyard. The Easter Bunny knows you two so well. Ellie, you were even happier when you realized that there was a bunch of eggs hidden in the backyard. Each time you found an egg, you ran over to Daddy-o and said, " I wonder what surprise we will find in here." The egg hunt took a lot of time but you held up your enthusiasm for each and every one of the 20 eggs you found. Patrick, once you woke up from your nap you had a blast playing with all the eggs. You made one cute little bunny in your Easter hat. After we finished our family festivities we headed over to Grandma and Papa's house for a big Easter feast. You kiddos played in the kiddie pool and sandbox all afternoon. At the end of the day, we couldn't tell which was the pool and which was the sandbox. Poor Papa. The Chloes even put on another Easter egg hunt for you, Mikey and Mia. What lucky kiddos you are!
Ellie and Patrick,
We took you to Disney on Ice Celebrates 100 years of Magic. The Carusos went as well. It was a very fun day that started with donuts and hot chocolate while we waited for the light rail. We took the light rail downtown. The show was really good! You all loved it. Ellie and Mia stared in amazement at their favorite Disney princesses and characters skating around. I don't think they moved the entire show. Mikey was a little squirrely but he was still very good. We were super happy and surprised with how the babies did. They both took naps and watched the show when they were awake. We were happy with our kiddos because even though there was tons of kids walking around with cotton candy, treats, and shiny sparkly Disney paraphernalia....none of our kiddos asked for a thing! They all seemed really happy just to be experiencing it all. When we took the light rail back to Tempe we had a picnic at Tempe Town Lake. Grandma even came by to join us for a bit. Ellie was so good at Disney on Ice that I told grandma she might even be ready for her first movie!
Elise and Patrick have started to interact a lot more recently. It is so much fun to watch. Patrick cracks up at Ellie being silly, shaking her body, making silly noises. Ellie laughs at Patrick's baby cuteness. They steal each others pacifiers and toys. They get so happy when the other wakes up in the morning or from a nap. It brings so much joy to watch them loving each other. They surely do have their moments when they annoy each other too. Sometimes Ellie doesn't want Patrick to roll into her and touch her....or Patrick gets grouchy when Ellie screams in the car and wakes him up (I do too). But for the most part...I can see the fun the two of them will have growing up together.
Patrick,
You are six months old! We are having so much fun with you. When we are home you are a nonstop ball of energy constantly rolling around, slamming down on things, grabbing everything. You are a pretty rough little guy. When we are out and about you turn into your 'ol self where you stare at everyone/everything in eye opening amazement. You can sit up for short periods of time. You love to scrunch paper. Rolling is your mode of transportation. You continue to be an awesome eater. You eat peas, carrots, corn, avocado, banana, rice cereal, oatmeal, apples, pears, mango and a few licks of Ellie's Popsicle from time to time. When I put you in your seat to eat you scream and yell until there is food in front of you. You get so mad if you have to wait a while and your face even turns red. You are still a pretty serious little guy although you light up when your daddy or Ellie walks in the room and you even give out very very loud pitch squeals. We sit you up in the bath now and you go to town splashing your sister. We her told it's pay back time for all the times she splashed you. She loves you so much. She loves singing to you and cuddling up really close to you. She is proud and protective of her little buddy. When we have a play date all the girls love holding you and your cousin JoJo. You are a grumpy little guy when you wake up. You cuddle into my chest and moan and groan. You try to lift up your head but then it just rolls around and falls right back into me like dead weight. It makes daddy and I laugh everytime. We all love you so much!
We had a fun afternoon with Joey the other day. Ellie, you were quite the entertainment for the boys. You seem to love it when both of them are staring at you with big eyes. They had fun watching you sing and dance. You also pampered them with blush, gave them toys, hugs, kisses....and unfortunately for Joe....pink eye. Sorry buddy!
Patrick,
You had your first graham cracker the other day. It was a little early to feed you something like that but your sis was eating one and you looked very interested. I thought you would just kind of suck on it for a second and was shocked to see you go to town on that thing. I had to take it away after a while when it was getting small. It broke your heart!
