A little update

It's been awhile again....

Marshall & Cecilia have been enjoying preschool and learning a lot. At their recent parent/teacher conferences their teacher had a lot of great things to say about them. Marshall is our little social butterfly and loves to follow the rules and make sure everyone else is following them too. Cecilia is our little artist and is social with other kids but on her own terms. Both kiddos have to work on cutting and letter recognition.

The downside to preschool? Lots & lots of sicknesses. We've had our fair share of ear infections (complete with Ce having a ruptured ear drum - ouch!), a couple rounds of the croup (Mars needed steroids & we survived a scary Christmas eve night), a few rounds of the pukies (I also suffered from this on two separate weekends) & many, many runny noses and coughing fits. I can't wait for Spring.

Christmas was a lot of fun, they were so into it. And we made the big move to twin beds! Ryan and I were pretty lucky to have them in cribs until they were over 3 1/2 and we made a last minute decision to give them twin beds for Christmas. They love them & are pretty good at night. I think it helps that their room is pitch black and they've never had a nightlight so they aren't as tempted to get out of bed and play. Although Ce does sometimes try to come out. Marshall loves sleeping so when he goes to bed, he's there to stay.

What did stop with new beds? Naps. M&C are no longer napping and although the upside is our schedule no longer has to rotate around nap time, we often have some very crabby kids by late afternoon. EEK! This age is so mentally exhausting. But, it is a lot of fun too. I love seeing their personalities and imaginations continuously shine through. I can't believe they will be four in a few months.

A few cute things they are doing now:
**Marshall LOVES football and memorized all the teams and is working on adding the cities to his memorization. Marshall is still very into cars & trucks.

**Cecilia LOVES to imagine all sorts of scenarios and recently she plans these elaborate parties for us to come to. Ce loves to cook & create.

Halloween pros...

Mars & Ce became Halloween pros this year. They couldn't wait to go and trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. Proving that they are "big kids" now they ran up to almost every door on their own, rang the bell and yelled "trick or treat!"

One funny story... A kid on our block was dressed up as Yoda from Star Wars. Marshall saw this and was too scared to go up the driveway for candy. Cecilia, with eyes always on the prize, walked up without noticing the strange character. Marshall being so protective of her yelled out with agony, "DON'T GO UP THERE YAY-YA!!!!" The kid then took off his mask and all was fine.

Summer crazies

It's been about a month again... Where does the time go? Ce & Mars have been enjoying the long days of summer. Posted are some pictures from a zoo trip and a day at the WI State Fair. I'm hoping we turned the corner on potty-training. Marshall has been stacking up "perfect days" and Cecilia has pooped on the potty 3 days in a row. She told me last night that she "likes to poop on the potty now." We'll see. Next week preschool starts. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! They are going two half-days a week. I'm emotional and they're excited. I hope they have a great time.

Well it's been 3 months...

And I guess I should update, right? We've just been enjoying the summertime and trying to get out a lot. Here's a little wrap-up of the last 3 months plus some pictures.

• Marshall & Cecilia celebrated their 3rd birthday on May 8th.
• They had their 1st dentist appointment and both did great, not afraid at all.
  
• We're in the middle of potty-training. Marshall's working having "accident-free" days for Matchbox cars & Ce's working on pooping on the potty for Squinkies.
  
• They met their new cousin last month...little Henry was born on June 8th.
  
• They've done a couple zoo trips, a festival, the farmer's market, numerous park trips and they still like to take nightly walks in the stroller.

Cecilia has turned into my little stunt baby. She has no fear (I think I've mentioned that before) and on the 4th she gave all the older neighborhood boys a run for their money by wrestling with all of them, racing them on her little trike (serving in and out of kids) and doing somersaults down a water slide. Last night I witnessed her jump 3 steps at once. Once I got over my panic attack I was pretty proud of her. I can't wait to get her started in sports. She has a competitive nature. Her stats: weight 29 1/2 lbs (45%), length 37 1/2 (60%).

Marshall loves to play with his cars quietly - we have numerous "parking lots" around our house that we have to watch out for. He loves to help and please people. His memory amazes me. The kid remembers back to Halloween. He also truly loves to play with older kids. You can see the joy ooze out of him when he's around his older cousins. He just beams. I can tell he's really going to love preschool in the fall. The kid loves to learn. He loves to rough house with his sister but he has a heart of gold. His stats: 33 lbs (75%), length 38 1/8 (70%). My big boy who tells me he's going to play football someday!!

Updates coming soon...

UGH, I had every intention to keep this blog updated but along with a busy summer schedule came the unexpected death of our laptop's hard drive AND we are having problems with our camera. When it rains it pours.

Anyways, I will soon be updating with some pictures and Marshall & Cecilia's 3 yr old stats!! I have not abandoned the blog, we're just on a little hiatus. This blog is mainly for Marshall & Cecilia and I want to keep it going a little longer.

New Friends & Spring Fun

Marshall & Cecilia have been busy attending birthday parties and meeting new friends. For the first time they met Julia, my friend Corri's daughter, and Sy & JJ, my friend Farrah's sons. They experienced their first "big kid ride" at Stonefire pizza this last weekend while attending Sy's 3rd birthday party. Ce really wanted to go on this frog ride and after the attendant said she was big enough we got Marshall on it too. I really thought they'd be scared. I was scared. But they loved it.

New haircuts & ready for Spring!

33 months

In 3 mos. these two will be 3 yrs old.

Next American Idol? Probably not, but cute anyways...

Marshall's version of Animal by the Neon Trees.

Lunch with Santa

Mars & Ce met Santa for the first time on Saturday. The zoo offers it complete with lunch, live music (which Marshall got up on stage to sing for one song), a present for each kid (a stuffed prairie dog) and the opportunity to sit on Santa's lap. We were lucky that we shared a table with "experienced" families who told us exactly where Santa was going to sit. We were 3rd in line to see him. Cecilia wanted to have nothing to do with sitting on his lap. When it was our turn she clutched to my leg for dear life. We got Marshall to sit on his lap but he was noticeably nervous and he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't sitting right there. The whole night he talked about how Santa scared Cecilia.