esskayelle

photo ops, take them up when you can!

the weather dropped to a lovely upper 60's/low 70's. 

so we packed up the car, and headed out to the zoo.  :)

I LOVE THE ZOO!  :)

after a picnic lunch, the kids decided to run like crazy around the lawn.  fine by me!  gets them nice and tired for their afternoon nap.  ahhh.

as i was relaxing on the picnic blanket, i looked straight ahead to see a beautiful lawn, clean of geese poo, and a great view of the fountain.  hmm...will the kids cooperate if i ask them to take some pictures?  can't hurt to try!  boy am i glad i did.  which reminds me, and hopefully encourages you, take up those photo ops, even if the kids are dirty, clothes don't match, and hair's a mess.  you never know how great they'll be, until you try!

upon leaving the house, i was in serious debate with myself about whether i should take, what i have named my "big camera" the SLR, or the "little camera" the point and shoot.  i left mr. big camera at home.  man, i knew i'd regret it.  oh well, the photo op was still worth the while.  :)

mommy starts to act crazy to get them to smile.  another tip, do what you can, it's totally worth the humiliation!

    

sunflowers and a muffin

after seeing the sunflowers in bloom, my neighbor and i decided to take a walk to the local "farm".  we walked away with four sunflowers, for only $2.  the man said that they won't live for very long, so he gave us more than the one sunflower, out of generosity. 

apparently, the sunflower is d's new favorite flower.  she was very excited, to say the least.  so i took the opportunity to take a few pictures.  :) 

 

 

inspired by her favorite flower, she drew this picture.  i get so impressed by her growing skills with a crayon and paper!

and that muffin...my little cheese muffin, e, enjoying his own double-chocolate muffin while out running errands with mommy while d was in vbs.

my little emergent writer

i can't believe that dillan is already reading and writing.  it's the same joy a parent gets when he/she sees your child starting to talk. 

with evan starting to talk, and dillan starting to become more literate.  i'm overwhelmed with cute moments!!!!

this past week, dillan has been in this phase of making signs.  we will be in the middle of playing a game, when all of a sudden, she will stop and write a rule, post it up where we are playing, and then make sure i read it and follow it.  i have no idea why this has come about.  it's quite endearing.

while playing a dancing game, dillan stopped to write this sign:

"no babies allowed. big sisters game."  poor evan. 

{below} a rule for the same game

"take off your socks, take of this apron" she was wearing an apron at the time, and wanted it taken off.  hahaha.

{below} a post on her bed.

"girl's bed no boys allowed." specifically, evan. not daddy.

{below} posted on her bedroom door, the bedroom she shares with her little brother.

"girl's room. no boys allowed." notice the "X" over the picture of the boy.

{below} while playing our homemade "tetherball" game, i started kicking it all fancy with my feet.  dillan did not like this new style.  stopped playing, and quickly whipped up a new sign.

 

"tether ball with your hands."  boy, i don't get to have any fun around here.

:)

how to give a lion a perm

evan is days away from being 9 months old.

unbelievable.  these 9 months have flown by MUCH faster than the 9 months that he baked in my belly.  

i am so blessed with a wonderful little boy.  i cry at the thought.  

well, like his big sister, he's not crawling yet.  although, i think he's a secret crawler, because he manages to move all around his little crib without a problem.  he's started to sign.  i'll have to blog about that at another time.  the kid definitely knows his likes and dis-likes.  i am praying that he will be patient, because that is not looking so good right now.  if he's hungry, once i sign or say "ooo-you" (milk in korean), he'll start to whine until it's given.  if he wants a toy that is out of reach, he'll use the same "cry" to get it.  oh my son.  i will continue to pray that you will be patient.  

anyway.

evan's found a lovey.  it's the cutest little thing to watch his love grow for his stuffed animal.  i tried to encourage him to grow attached to a smaller toy, or a blanket...but his love grew on its own for this lion:

this love started less than a week ago.  he literally lunges to get a hold of lion and hugs him with the cutest little smile spread across his face.  *sigh*  

anyway.  after a few days of a little too much "love", i stuck mr. lion into the washing machine...and didn't think twice about sticking him in the drier.  thus giving lion a perm.  heh heh, woops!  

:: looks a little mullet-like, no? ::

nonetheless, it's good to know evan's love is unconditional.  he hasn't noticed the difference.

meet mr. bunny

we met my brother and family at the mall last saturday.

coincidentally, lauri, my SIL's sister was there with her family too! 

mr. easter bunny was around for a photo-op, and we had to take it.    this is the reason they are not dressed appropriately.

i felt sad that little lucas and leah ended up on the sides, so i made leah hold evan's hand and lucas, the cutie, naturally put his arm around the bunny.  so cute. 

i was so afraid that mr. bunny was going to drop evan...it was clear that his depth perception was way off.  after we took our picture, i told the kids to thank the easter bunny and give him a hug.  i don't know which kid asked, but someone asked where mr. bunny's nose was.  mr. bunny, acting his part, was listening and proceeded to point to his nose, the nose that exists beneath the mask!  he was pointing to his mouth!  keeping myself from cracking up, i lightly tapped mr. bunny's nose and said, "oh, there's his nose!"  to which mr. bunny followed suit and pointed to his bunny nose.  the kids looked very confused.  :)

the snow is here to stay

it's finally warmed up to the balmy twenties.  i decided to take advantage of the sun and warmth by taking dillan out for some snowtime fun.

it is a pain in the butt to get two kids out of the house and snow-ready...especially with an immobile six month old,  but it was well worth the fun.

if i did this everyday, i would be in the best shape of my life. 

here are some pix to enjoy:

:: the look of pure joy ::

:: my snow bunnies ::

:: SNOW!!!! ::

here are a few more:
facebook album

one hundred

it's evan's one hundredth day of life today. 

he's a healthy one!  according to my cheap scale at home, he's around 18lbs {i weigh myself, then hold him and subtract the difference}. 

time has passed so quickly. 

when i hold newborn bella...i can't believe that evan was smaller than she was a mere 100 days ago.  she felt like a beautiful feather in my arms, i didn't want to let her go. 

happy one hundred days evan lee!
 

so much in so little

i have so much to do and no time to do it.

update my dimple doodles site
update pictures {sorry for you dillan and evan fans}
keep a nice house {sorry husband and children}
cook delicious meals {a work in progress}
be crafty {not the sneaky kind}
buy : mail : send goodies

well, now that evan is sleeping through the night.  yes, you heard me correctly, he's sleeping through the night!!!!  woohoo!  i will be able to do some of the above! :)

my doctor told me to start sleep training once evan went 5-6 hours through the night for a few nights and she told me to get him out of our room.  hey, i'm for the latter part of her advice, but we only have a two bedroom...where'd he go?  well, we worked with what we have. 

he's in our walk-in closet.  sad. 

but it totally worked.  it has also given fred and me a newfound freedom.  we don't have to sneak around the bedroom while we get ready for bed and we can even be louder in the living areas {aka dillan} because he is tucked away {we leave the closet door open and use a white noise machine}. 

my two reasons for being so busy:

one
 

two

chunkin' up

i love fat babies.

so it makes me happy that evan is following that route.

we went in for his one month check-up today, and he's gained 4 lbs and grown 3" in the last four weeks. 

yay! 

no time for lots of pic updates, so here's one that i think you'll enjoy.

dillan is really into chapstick lately.  she will literally apply and re-apply for as long as we will allow it (she'd go hours if she could). 

:: my little princess ::

three

three weeks with my little guy.

he's growing fast.  i get really sad thinking about how much he's going to change.  he already looks so different. 

at the same time, it's exciting...and should be celebrated.

me?  i'm doing great.

sleep: miss it {so why am i up blogging at 4 in the morning?}
food: not quite up to cooking full-fledged meals yet
recovered: 85% there

:: some pix ::

touchdown!

that's nice mommy

at least once a day, dillan asks me to hold evan.  i love it when she says, "oh evan!  you're so cute!" and then a "i love you so much!".

her little PB chair is the perfect place for dillan/evan time...when she's had enough she says, "okay mommy, it's your turn now."

:: three of my greatest loves ::