Sunday, May 13, 2012

Annie's birthday celebration

For Annie's birthday this year we went to see a play in the city then went to the Rainforest cafe for dinner. The play was based on three Eric carle books the girls love and it was a fun show for them to see. We had a great time. Papa came on Friday to visit for the weekend and the girls played in our backyard all day it was so nice out - even ate lunch outside.
Annie received a bike, sit and spin and books from grandma and papo, dresses from uncle Brian, and a basketball hoop and ball from papa. She received money, gift cards and a few other toys from other family and friends She had a great birthday - thanks to all who made her day special.



















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Friday, May 11, 2012

Mothers day tea

Today I went to school with Mia for her class' Mother's Day Tea. It was adorable. We had some refreshments and visited with the other moms. Then mrs wexler read us the story "my mom is magic" that was really sweet. The kids sang a few songs and told us a poem. Then we each got to pick out a china cup and saucer and plant a flower inside. Mia also painted me a brick to put in my garden. It was a great morning and I felt so special to be Mia's mom :)












Mia's best friend Sophie (left) and Abby (right)



Her lovely teachers Mrs. Woods and Mrs. Wexler who adore her too!


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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Annie's check up

Today Annie went see Dr. Roome for her 2 year old check up and all looked great. She is 24lbs (Mia was 26) and 33 inches (Mia was 32). Here are some highlights. Like I've mentioned, Mia was so academically advanced at this age I didn't realize it. But Annie is smart in other ways and learning a lot

* talking in short sentence, loves saying 'yep, nope, ok'. Says more than 50 words and repeats nicely. Starting to use the term "remember" when telling us stories she has experienced.

* recognizing circle, triangle, star, heart and square and some color, a few letters, she knows the ABC song and can count up to 10. She is starting to dress herself and has gone on the potty a few times. She tries to emulate Mia so much that she picks up on things quicker than Mia did in non-academic areas.

*I call her the 'tornado' because she is all over the place, Mia would be able to work on puzzles or color for hours at this age, Annie is very active and has a short attention span...but she also does what she likes and will play very nicely independently. She is not a follower by any stretch and is very secure and confident in her play. She is an explorer for sure!

* She loves playing house, loves swinging at the park and climbing high things, she often goes on her own to play but plays nicely with others. Every morning when we drop Mia off at preschool, Annie goes into the house area or the car area and starts to play. She will be ready for preschool and confident knowing her big sister was in the same classroom. When we pick Mia up, Mia is usually on the playground, Annie will join right in on the play and several of Mia's friends often take Annie's hand and play with her.

*She is the sweetest little thing ever, she will rub my arm or give me hugs, say Love You, and is just a cuddler. One night we had an awful Thunderstorm that lasted several hours, corey ended up sleeping in Mia's room and I ended up brining Annie into bed with me, she went right to sleep cuddled up to me (Mia would never sleep in our bed in situations like that, instead she'd wake up thinking it was time to play).

*Annie is a pretty good eater. She has grown fond of fish (cod and salmon mostly), avocados, all fruit, carrots and humus, she LOVES guacamole and loves to dip things and loves any form of pasta. We are switching her officially to skim milk now which is nice. And she is super excited to be eating the big girl vitamins now too (anything she can do like Mia, she is ALL about).

*Mia and Annie generally get along although they have their moments of fighting when it's time to share. When they are experiencing something new or around new faces they usually hold each others hands, Mia becomes very protective of Annie. It's so sweet to watch. They have been renacting "Little Red Riding Hood" in our back yard using the grass as the forest and the playhouse as Grandma's house - it's super cute to watch and hear their dialogue.

It's so interesting to see their personalities and how different the girls truly are from one another. I am so thankful for this time I have to be home with them to experience it all - it's worth all the sacrifices as this time goes by too fast.

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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Happy birthday daddy and Annie!


































we had a great day celebrating the double birthdays today. This morning we started the day with some special pancakes and maserated strawberries. Then we headed to Lincoln park zoo with our friends. Annie insisted on going to the zoo for her birthday. Then we picked daddy up from his office since we were in the city for a picnic lunch in Grant Park then took him back to work. The girls and I headed home to make our birthday cake (our triple chocolate favorite birthday cake) and grandma Caporale's spaghetti sauce for our spaghetti and meatball birthday dinner. After daddy came home we ate then we let the girls stay up a bit later to play in Annie's birthday present - a playhouse for the backyard. They had a blast! The weather was perfect today and we all had a great day. Annie goes for her check-up Thursday then on Saturday we are going to Victory Gardens theatre in Lincoln Park to see the Eric Carle play then out to the Rainforest Cafe for Annie's birthday. Papa is coming to visit and grandma, papo and uncle Brian are all coming with. Should be fun!
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Thursday, April 19, 2012

Easter x 2




The girls are lucky to be able to celebrate Easter twice each year (except when the Orthodox Easter falls on Christian Easter). This year we celebrated twice. Easter was fun, we had gotten back late Sunday from our trip to Springfield, but the Easter bunny still managed to leave the girls Easter Baskets hidden for them to find. We made a yummy dinner and dyed eggs outside since it was so nice outside.
Greek Easter weekend we went to grandma's from Saturday until Monday. Daddy went to New York for his Gala fundraiser so he left on Sunday. The girls and I joined our greek side of the family at a nice restaurant in Wilmette. In the morning, the girls woke up to Easter bunny prints and lots of eggs that were hidden and their baskets. We had a nice weekend visiting in the city too. Saturday night the girls had a movie night with daddy, grandma and Papo while mommy went out with her best friends from high school. Sunday was Easter then Monday grandma stayed home to hang out with us. We took the girls out for breakfast then to the family cafe to play, then shopping at a new fresh market near my moms then back home. It was a fun Easter weekend.










Sunday, April 8, 2012

Springfield trip

This weekend we took a train trip to Springfield, IL. There was a half marathon that I wanted to race in so we thought we'd make a weekend out of it. The girls had a blast and loved taking the train. It was so fun just walking out of our front door with a few bags and our double BOB and going somewhere new. The town is home of Abe Lincoln so there was a ton of historical things to see, plus being the state capitol it was neat to visit.

We took an early train down on Friday morning and arrived at the hotel around 1pm. We had a quick lunch then walked around a bit. We walked over to the half marathon expo to pick up my race packet then after some more exploring went to dinner then out for ice cream. We were pretty wiped out but managed some pool time then all headed to bed.

Saturday we woke up around 5am. I was all set for the race and Corey got the girls set up in the stroller all set with their cow bells to cheer me on. They saw me off at the start line, then again at around mile 5 then around mile 10 then at the finish line. It was a beautiful course, but the second half was very hilly, I still made good time, finishing in at 1:56 (11 mins faster than my first half last fall). I was so glad to see the finish line, we hung out a bit, took a pic with the Abe Lincoln walking around then headed back to the hotel. At this point we decided to stay another night since we still wanted to go back and see some of the sights I ran past and the museum. We had lunch at the Alamo for the post race party then while the girls napped in the stroller walked to Lincoln Park to see Lincoln's tomb and let the kiddos play at the playground. We walked back (Corey and I were pretty tired by now, must have walked a least 5 miles) we went to the Illinois State Museums which was excellent, all about Lincoln, a great kids play area and a neat movie. We had a nice pizza dinner, one last dip in the pool then to bed. We took an early train home in time for Easter Sunday!






















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Monday, April 2, 2012

Messiah - ballet recital

Mia did an amazing job in her first ballet recital. The entire performance was about 1.5 hours long. It was called "The Messiah" all about the Easter story Mias class did a dance to a song called "little lamb". She did great. Dad, Annie, mom, grandma, papo and great aunt Stacy came to see her. Then we all went to dinner to celebrate our little ballerina. No stage fright at all - she is a natural!












Mia is second from the left.










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