Talia's Swim Class

Here are some pics of Talia's swim class this spring. This was her first class without Kenny

in the water with her. She did a great job as a "sea horse" and has now graduated to a "turtle". We have to decide if she will take the next one this summer or not. Here are a few fun pics of my little sea horse.

Giana wanted to get into the pool to swim with Talia. She was so cute!

Giana at 15 months

At 15 months, Giana is just so fun! She is talking so much and has such a sweet little voice. She has the best manners. She will say "bless you" after a sneeze, says "peeze" and "tank oo", and says "he-wo" (hello) or "hi" and "ba-bye" when entering or leaving the room. She will also pretty much repeat anything that you say, and her initial response to everything is "NO!" When she does not want something, so will say "mama" and hand it to you--she does this to both Kenny and Annie. She loves to give hugs (and will say "ahhh") and open mouth tongue kisses. Fun! She loves purses, keys, and any kind of musical instruments. She loves to dance and bobs up and down to any kind of music. She is walking with much more confidence, and she is getting very fast! She likes to go up the stairs and has started going down too...although she thinks that she can go down facing forward. She likes to climb onto everything! She also is starting to sing her ABC's and can count from 1-10 (although she skips four sometimes). She loves to read books now, and her favorites are the touchy-feely ones. She especially loves the one called "Little Feet Love" and touches all the touchy-feely things with her little feet. It is so cute! She loves to try new foods and loves all things meat! She is really a carnivore right now...let's hope that this continues. While she may continue to wake up at 5:30 am some days (thank goodness the 4:30 wake up is over!), she will call out to both Kenny (Dada) and me (Mom, Mommeee, Mama), and even call for Talia (Ta-we-ya) when we don't respond. Then as soon as you go in to see her, she will throw herself back down on her mattress and play a little game of "I-am-not-going-to-get-out-of-my-crib-right-now!" It is very cute! She loves drinking out of cups with straws and anything in a glass bottle (like a beer!) What a fun toddler she is!

Talia turns 4

Talia turned 4 on April 20--it is hard to believe that my baby girl is 4. While I am happy to have the "terrible three's" (3 is MUCH more terrible than 2) behind us, I am finding it hard to believe how much more independent, intelligent and considerate she truly is. Talia is able to do most everything for herself and by herself. She can get dressed, brush her teeth, get herself food and water, play and do many other things all by herself. She enjoys taking her Princess Ballet class, gymnastics and swimming. She is starting to sound out words and really has begun reading. She also loves to write out all of her friends names, the grocery list and just spell random words--and she is a pretty good speller. She is getting really good at addition math facts and can tell you what numbers add up to be...and pretty quickly. She is in tune with her body, as when she draws pics of people, she adds their "privacies"--a line for males and squiggles/curls for girls. It is pretty funny! I'll have to take a pic of her picture next time she does this. She is such a great sister--she is helpful, loving, and so sweet (most of the time) to Gigi. It has been great to watch them really start to play and interact together. She loves computer games, like Pajama Sam, reading books, listening to music, all things princesses (still), and her favorite TV shows these days are Fresh Beat Band, I Carly (which she watches at Annie-our sitter's house) and Olivia or Angelina Ballerina.

We had her 4th b-day party on Sunday, April 18 at Chuck E Cheese. It was really a great place to have a party. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Here are a few pics.

and we here are back at home opening presents...

On Monday, April 19, Annie took Talia and Sarah back to Girlfriends in Winnetka for a mani-pedi. Talia has been to this place once before, and it is great! (it is a beauty salon specializing in kid mani/pedi's). Very fun!

Here is Talia getting her super cute strawberry on her toe nails pedi.

Giana can't wait to get a pedi too! Just a few more years....

Drying off the mani...

so happy back at home...

I also was able to leave my class for about 15 mins to celebrate her actual b-day with her in her classroom on April 20. We picked out very special flower cupcakes from Jewel and all the kids happily sang to her in her classroom. She was very excited!

Happy 4th Birthday, my sweet Talia.

Easter

We had a great Easter this year. The girls were so excited to find the eggs that the Easter bunny hid, which led to their baskets.

They loved opening their presents! After church, we went up to Wisconsin, where Crystal made a delicious brunch.

I just loved the girls dresses this year and I really loved their bows!!!

Kenny and Giana--so cute!

Giana loved chasing around their 2 doggies, Frank and Seeley, while Talia spent most of her day coloring, or hiding eggs for Pierce (our nephew).

Here is a pic of the 4 kids--Pierce, Reagan, Talia and Giana.

Mundelein Egg Hunt

The Mundelein Egg hunt was held on Good Friday, April 2. Even though it was cooler and a quite windy, the girls and I had a great time racing to pick up eggs.

Giana was excited to grab a few eggs and shake them, but she was pretty content (and cute) holding her basket too!

Talia on the other hand, ran out to the middle area and picked up the eggs as quickly as she could.

She was so proud of herself after she grabbed all of the eggs.

She wanted to stop for a pic with the Easter Bunny, but Gigi did not want to have anything to do with him.

Here is a pic of the 3 of us--I told you it was windy!

Talia's Princess Ballet Class

Talia has been taking Princess Ballet class for the past 8 weeks. Here are some shots from her last class on March 23. Seeing 8 little girls in their tutus and tights is so cute!

They first start with stretches.

Then they dance around, gallop, and do some turns. I love when they flexed their foot to gallop and chanted "look how pretty my foot looks!"

Then they listen to a story about a princess.

Then they dress up in different "princess" dresses and dance around some more!

Giana loved watching all of the girls "dancing" around. So cute!!!

Giana at 14 months

14 months...the days are just going by so fast. Gigi is learning new things every day and is SO MUCH FUN!!! She is smart, funny, happy, and sensitive (she will cry/whine when Talia does).

Her language is just exploding. She will repeat everything and say new words daily--some of her new words/tricks are: wow, cookie (she'll consistently repeat this--cookie!!!), peas (please), yuck, pizza, hot (in a whisper), no, go, wawa (water), boo-yaa, goggie (doggie) and OK; she knows what a duck, cat, dog, cow, horse and sheep say; she blows kisses and gives lots of raspberries on your cheeks and arms. She also needs to know where "Taya" (Talia) is at all times. She is constantly saying her name. She even calls for her in the morning--usually after calling for "Mommeeee" and Dada.

She is also trying to bite to be playful--I think more-so to get a reaction, and there is certainly always a reaction to a bite! When she is done with food, or a toy, she just throws it--fair warning if you are around her while eating or playing. She is walking more--I'd say definitely more walking than crawling now, and is getting better at turning corners and stopping to pick things up without falling over. She likes to play with rubber balls and can kick them too. She kicks with her right foot (unlike T who kicks with her left).

Her sleep has been better since the time change, waking somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30, although she continues to call out some nights around 3 or 4. I do not go in to see her, but it is enough to wake me (and usually Talia) up. Giana is becoming more picky about food--she does not like cheese anymore, nor does she like pizza, quesadillas, strawberries or cantaloupe. She used to love those! She does love meat--chicken, hot dogs, burgers are her favorite meals. She will also eat eggs, waffles and goldfish snacks.

Chocolate Face

On March 20, Giana had her very first oreo and loved it-a little too much. Here are some great pics. I especially love the last one...

Bring on Spring....

Back on March 19, it FINALLY hit 60 degrees...so we could not resist an hour or so at the park...here are some fun pics...