The Draft

The NFL Draft is sort of a big deal in our house. Especially this year when the Broncos were expected to have several players drafted. Pennington enjoyed watching the first round of the draft. He had to get all of his football stuff out. He even laid it all out on the coffee table to highlight his bronco pride. Seriously he did this himself.  We didn't give him any ideas at all. After the picks were announced, he would pick up his jersey and put it up to his chest as if to show off the jersey of the team that just picked him. Seriously my child is a die hard sports fan. Love it!!!

New Sleeping Spot

For about a week now Pennington has decided that he no longer wants to sleep on his big boy bed but rather on the floor next to it. Not really sure why. At first I thought he was only going to do this once but he has continued to do it for about a week now. Not really sure how to convince him that sleeping on his bed is a better idea. In the meantime if he is going to take a nap and sleep through the night then if he wants to sleep on the floor so be it. Oh and he wanted to sleep with his pajama pants on his head. Silly I know. See below.

Piper Gets a Bike

If there is one thing I have learned about my husband it is that he makes sure our children have anything and everything they could want. I received this picture below last week thinking that Johnny just wanted to let me know that Piper and him went to go pick up his bike at George's where it was getting its yearly tune up. Boy was I wrong. He decided to purchase this very cute pink Specialized bike for our little princess. I was glad to here it was a used bike as I think these bikes normally cost $180. I just counted and our children now have 6 different bikes (three tricycles, one push bike, and two bikes with training wheels). I am definitely looking forward to the kids mastering their biking skills so we can go riding as a family.

Here Comes Summer

Finally summer is on its way. Last weekend the kids got the water table out for the first time since last summer. Pennington insisted on wearing a life jacket as he is so excited to go swimming. Speaking of swimming, the kids start swim lessons at the YMCA next week. Stay tune for a post about swim lessons.

Lao New Year 2012

This weekend we celebrated the Lao New Year. Similar to last year the whole family went out to the temple to give offerings to our ancestors. Additionally, this year they Lao Community put on an event at the Power House in the evening. Johnny had to work so I took the kids to the evening event. The evening event was really cool. They had a group of children put on a martial arts performance, a group of teenage girls did a traditional Laotion dance, the older women also did a traditional Laotion dance and sang a song, and finally they had a group from Burma come and do a traditional Burmese dance and song. It was awesome. It is so nice to experience all this amazing culture. I am so lucky that my children are growing up getting to be able to experience so many different cultures. Below are some photos of the festivities.

Maryann Williams Park

The City of Boise is in the process of building a new park in our area. The park is located on the north side of the river just after you cross the Parkcenter Bridge. You can only access it by bike or foot right now. They are still working on putting the access road and parking lot in. There are several ponds with fountains and lots of grassy areas. We have been spending a lot of time lately riding our bikes or walking over to the new park to throw rocks into the ponds. Below is a picture of my two kiddos sitting on a big rock watching the baby ducks.

Piper 19 Month

Here is the update on Little Miss Piper.

Piper is now a little girl not a baby. She has started to sleep on the twin bed in her room instead of the crib. We are hoping to move the queen size bed into her room in the next month or so.

Piper is definitely opinionated about what she is wearing. While she can't totally dress herself she definitely tries. This includes pants, socks, shoes, and coats. We have started to put her hair up in a side pony tail or pigtails. She looks like such a big girl with her hair up.

When it comes to gross motor skills Piper is desperately trying to keep up with her brother. She is trying really hard to learn how to ride her tricycle and runs really fast when she thinks her brother is going to tackle her. I mention in an earlier posting that she can now climb up a slide which is something I have never seen Pennington do. She is definitely a little monkey.

Piper is super artist at school. She paints at least 3 big paintings every day at school. Denise mentioned that she is very busy at school working on her work whereas Pennington is focusing more on being social.

Piper is talking a lot. This evening I realized she is starting to string 3 to 4 words together. She talks about people and objects that she knows the names of. The first thing she talks about when she wakes up is where Pennington is. She is always wondering where Pennington is.

Piper is a fabulous eater. She eats everything. It is amazing she is only 22 pounds with how much she eats. Her milk intake has increased a lot since I stopped breastfeeding. She is doing really well since I stopped breastfeeding her. It is amazing how you think some things will totally traumatize a child but they get over it in less than a few days. She is starting to sleep better and we don't have to give her any bottles during the middle of the night. If she does wake up she just wants you to lay with her until she falls back asleep.

Overall, Piper is starting to be more independent.