Sledding Day at School

I went to pick up Simone at school Wednesday and the teacher told us that they decided to spend the morning outside sledding. How fun! Here's a pic from the school website of Simone and another gal in her class sledding. Simone said when you went down the hill you had to open your mouth wide and scream, "AHHHHH". She talked about it the rest of the day. Sounds like all the kids had a great time. Simone is the one in purple. :)

Simone had her first sleepover

Simone went to the McGuires the other night while Michael and I went out of town. 2 other girls had come over to spend the night as well, so in total there were 7 kids. Joyce Mcguire showed me the pictures she had taken of the sleep over. The kids played for awhile outside. They did some crafts. The girls all took a bath and had their hair up in curlers. Simone's hair looked so cute. I looks like the kids had a lot of fun.
Simone slept well, but we came and picked her up early the next morning as she was suffering from homesickness. Overall, I think it was a good first experience for her.
Tonight we got dumped on with snow. Michael and Simone bundled up and headed out to tackle the snow. Simone has her own little shovel and works hard right along side Michael.
The hard workers were rewarded with hot chocolate and strawberry milk when they came inside.

Simone is 4 1/2 on Sunday and I'll be "just older"

Simone turns 4 1/2 on Sunday. Sunday happens to be my b-day. So Simone and I kind of share birthdays. She was born August 24th and I was born February 24th.
Since Simone's b-day is in the summer she'll always celebrate it on her 1/2 b-day at school. That is exactly what she did this past week at school. She was so excited and the school put a blog picture up of her day. It was extra special for her. Tonight we had church mice (awana without the games). Since church mice is only through the winter months, they celebrated and sang for Simone tonight. It was extra special to me knowing how much is meant to her.
Simone is quickly picking up reading and has read her 3rd book. She's so thrilled and I'm excited for her as I love to read and the world of reading is opening up to her.
This weekend is also special since Michael proposed to me on my b-day back in 2001. So Michael and I usually celebrate my b-day and our engagement with something a little extra special each year. We are going to Chicago and we'll see a couple of shows. We love theater. The kids are each being watched so we'll have the weekend to ourselves. :)

Puzzles

Today was puzzle day. Simone used some of her saving to buy a new puzzle today. Puzzles are her new thing right now that she enjoys doing. She especially enjoys doing them with daddy.

Today, Simone also read her first "Bob" book. We were so proud of her and the look on her face showed how excited she was to read her own book.

Family Time

We spend many evenings playing board games. Simone loves Candyland, Hi-Ho Cherry-O, but her new favorite one is Seek and Match. It's a cute veggie tales game. Each person has to find 4 peices and then get to the center. Simone gets very excited when she finds a piece she needs. It's so nice that she is at an age where we can spend family time together like this. Tonight we were sitting on the floor in front of the fire playing this game and River was sitting up on the floor next to us. It was a great evening.

First Sit-Up Bath

Here is River's first sit up by himself bath in the sink. PTL! Simone was enjoying helping to give her little brother a bath.

Who needs to crawl when you can walk?

River has no interest in crawling. He moves around the house in his "walker". He can get to almost anyplace in the house since we have hard wood floors. When Simone used the walker, we were at our apartment and we had carpet and you couldn't really move the walker, so it's amazing to see River go. He also likes to walk around with help, but since he's still so small, it hurts my back to bend over for too long. Here he is in the picture with my mom.

We are doing so many new things!

River is now sitting up on his own. Here are my 2 gifts from heaven. Simone was surrounding River with pillows in case he fell over. She's just the biggest help. It's so nice when I feed River, she goes and gets a bib, puts it on him for me. Simone the big sis is a "Big help".

Our First Teeth

River's 2 bottom teeth have pushed through. I thought I noticed something the other day when I was feeding him with his spoon. When I put my knuckle in his mouth....ouch! Simone and I took a look at his gums today...not easy to do as he wanted to stick his tongue out.....and low and behold his two bottom teeth have definitely poked through. Another milestone down. :) Is my baby already 8 months?

Fat Tuesday

Well, yesterday was Fat Tuesday. Michael and I choose to give up some luxuries each year during Lent. Most of the luxuries revolve around food, which is sad to say. Yesterday Simone and I made chocolate chip muffins and passed them around Michael's workplace.
She loves baking and passing out food like a waitress. There are about 20 people Micheal works with so she has plenty of opportunity to share her love with others. Michael and I shared paczi last night before we delved into our lent time this morning. Michael is giving up coffee/pop and fast food. I'm giving up chocolate and fast food. It's amazing how many things have chocolate in them until you give it up.

Science Alive at the Library

Today we went to our local library for "Science Alive Day". I've never seen the library so crowded. Michael had to park quite a ways away. There were many experimental exhibits where kids could just go up and learn and play. There were star stations, health stations, animal stations and so forth. Michael and Simone wandered around while I pushed River in his stroller....he and I made many elevator trips as there were 4 floors of fun. I did find a boy who was lost from his parents and was able to take him to search for a security guard. It was too much later when relieved parents came and found him. I remember all to well being lost a couple of times and the fear of not recognizing any faces.
My Uncle was at the library doing a presentation on bees as he has been a beekeeeper for many years. It was nice to see him.
Michael and Simone shoveled snow tonight as we have been pounded the last couple of days.
Uncle Jerry came over tonight for dinner. It's always nice to have him come into town and visit.