Brother Sister LOVE

Below are some pictures of the kids together. They are starting to be able to really hang out together.

Uncle Elliott's Birthday Dinner

Uncle Elliott and his girlfriend Leasley moved into a super cute house in the North End right behind Hyde Park and a few blocks from Camels Back Park. For Elliott's birthday we had a BBQ over that their new place. Below are some pictures of the kids at the birthday party. We will probably be stopping by their home a lot to say hi when we go to place at Camels Back park.

Passover 2011

On Monday evening we hosted Passover dinner at our place (aka Groves Home). Our Passover Seder this year included reading of the kid friendly Haggadah that Nonie put together over 10 years ago. The Haggadah includes pictures that Uncle Ben, Uncle Elliott, Uncle Henry and Mommy drew when they were little. Mommy and Daddy received several comments about how well behaved the kiddos were considering they had to sit through the Seder. Pennington loved listening to Oliver Thompson play the violin. He just loves music. Below are pictures of the kiddos at this years Seder.

Lao New Year 2011

Last Saturday Mommy, Daddy, Pennington and Piper joined Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Rocky at the Lao New Year. Similar to last year we participated in a ceremony to provide offerings to our ancestors. Pennington enjoyed getting to climb up a big dirt hill and throw dirt. Piper enjoyed looking at all the girls dressed up in the traditional attire. Below are some photos from the New Years celebration.

Piper with second cousin Robecca Luangaphay.

Pennington on top of the huge pile of dirt with third cousin Bella.

Pennington and Grandma giving offerings.

Pennington and Uncle Rocky.

Piper Eight Months Old

Piper turned eight months old yesterday. Over the last month she started pulling herself up to a standing position next to furniture. She is awesome at getting herself back into a sitting position from standing. I pretty much never have to worry about her falling and hitting her head. She is just super careful.

On the feeding front, she started to feed herself Cheerios. She is also starting to reject baby food. I remember Pennington went through this stage as well. Which is difficult when they don't have teeth yet. However, I put my finger in her mouth on Sunday to find that one tooth has popped through. Crazy how she didn't really give me any signs that we was teething. She pretty much never drools and doesn't really like sticking things in her month.

Piper started taking big girl baths over the last month and she is now sleeping in her own room. About a week ago we decided that it was time to move her out of our room. So far it is going okay. However she still wakes up several times a night.

Below are some recent photos of Piper. (NOTE: PICTURES TO COME. CHECK BACK SOON.)

Sick Baby Piper

Pennington woke up from his Sunday nap coughing and a runny nose. Of course at some point this would spread to Piper. However, it some how mutated when it got to Piper. Piper started puking yesterday afternoon while Nonie was watching her. She then proceeded to puke on Mommy and Daddy today. 36 hours later she is all better. Luckily no one else got it. Not sure if it was some sort of flu or if she had a reaction to some of the different types of foods we have let her try. I will admit with your second you are a bit more lenient so we have let her try (little tastes of) yogurt, ice cream, and smoothies. All of which have milk in them. We have decided even if it was the flu she had we should probably cut back on letting her taste things she isn't ready for.

Pennington 20 Months Old

Overall the last month Pennington has really begun to excel in the gross motor skill activities. Below is a list of some things he has been doing.

1. Playing Basketball. He LOVES his hoop at home. He can make baskets standing a few feet away from the hoop with the hoop bring a few inches higher than his head. Honestly it is really amazing how skilled he is for his age when it comes to sports. One thing I love about it is that he d

oesn't get frustrated when he can't make it. He just keeps trying. He also asks us to move the hoop up to make it more challenging.

2. Climbing at the playground. At the little playground in our neighborhood Pennington will climb up the stairs, crawl through the tunnel, walk across the bridge, and go down the slide all by himself over and over again.

3. Running and jumping. He loves running around in circles at home as well as jumping up and down in his crib. There is a mini trampoline at school that he gets to jump on so I think he things his crib is like a trampoline.

Pennington is starting to improve in the fine motor skills area. Below are some things he has been working on.

1. He likes stacking blocks on top of each other. The other day he stacked 9 two inch blocks on top of each other without them falling.

2. He loves baking. Over the last month he has helped to make cookies, cakes, breads, pancakes, ect. His favorite is getting to stir and "crack crack" the egg. Below is a picture of Pennington baking. Or should I say tasting what he was baking.

Pennington still isn't talking very much. Right now when he wants something and you ask him if that is what he wants he gets really excited and says "YEAH". One really interesting thing about Pennington is that he pretty much never says "No". Sometimes he sakes his head no but hardly ever. Even though I wish he would say no sometimes when I am trying to figure out what it is that he wants I love the fact that it isn't the main word in his vocabulary right now.

Over the next two months Pennington has a busy schedule. We ask switching school to Tuesday and Friday so he can do Soccer Tots on Thursdays. Below is his schedule for the next two months.

Monday: K'tamin

Tuesday: School

Wednesday: The Little Gym

Thursday: Soccer Tots

Friday: School

Playing at the Mall

One activity that we did with the kids a lot this winter was go to the mall. We would get Pennington something to eat (usually a strawberry banana smoothie and a pretzel) and then we would let him run around the play area. Piper is just now getting big enough that she can play as well. Johnny has taken the kids alone several times. All I can say about that is he is a "Super Dad". Today I took the kids with Grandma. Below are pictures of the kids playing at the mall.

Piper Standing

Daddy got a "Bloggie" which takes really good videos as well as photos. So we have been into taking videos of the kids lately. This is a video of Piper talking and standing up. Enjoy!

Feeding Time with Daddy

This is what happens when Daddy has to feed two kids at once. Enjoy!