Julian's Big Boy Bed!

Last weekend we set up Juju's big boy bed.   He was very excited about the prospect and Leana was eager to help build the bed.  Leana and Julian have been enjoying snuggle time together every night now and the sleeping has been going well.  The only issue is that the binky gets lost in all the covers/pillows and Julian has woken sometimes calling "binky!" Sometimes he finds it himself, sometimes we need to help.

 Leana and Jeff get to work

 first night in his bed

 Mio was equally happy about the new place to sleep

 snuggle time!

Potlatch!

Leana's second experience of Potlatch was last weekend - big potluck and community celebration with Native American music and dancing.  The kids make button blankets and practice a few dances.  Last year Leana was scared of the loud drums and costumed dancers and refused to do any of the dancing, this year she was one of the "older" kids leading the way.  Julian got a kick out of it as well, and he was in awe of the loud drums.

Julian - 2.25 years old!

Julian has grown so much in 3 months and is talking so much now!  He picks up new words much more easily now and is starting to use sentences together.  My favorite is when he says "1, 2, I love you!".  He knows most of the letters of the alphabet, and likes to count by saying "2, 5, 2, 5"- the only numbers he knows how to say.  Like his sister was at this age, he is very into the number 2, and having "two" of everything, or finding things in pairs.  He also likes to point out small and big things by saying "baby" and "mama" even if those things are puddles or trees.  He insists on doing everything on his own right now too: getting in the car/carseat, getting in the crib (which he can't quite do yet even with his overzealous teacher Leana encouraging him along), crossing the street (which makes me want to avoid them entirely), going up and down stairs, etc.  We just ordered him his very own big kid bed - he loves cuddling up under the covers in a real bed and chose to nap in the bed in Maui ever day, so we decided it was time.

And of course, he still loves all the same things: trucks, cars, trains, cats, dinosaurs and music.  Lately he only wants to wear clothes that have one of these things on them.

3D glasses!

 With Buddy and Binky and Mio - 3 of his favorite things!

 Mac and Cheese with Maddock on New Year's Eve

Juju shares one of his teddies with Mio

Juju preforms a solo on his taped over paper towel tube instrument

Maui 2013

Pictures from our wonderful warm and sunny week in Maui!
Leana was quite the little fish, in and out of the pool and ocean multiple times a day.  She loved diving down to get things at the bottom of the pool and playing hide and seek with various objects around the pool.  She also loved to find treasures on the beach every day and play in the smaller sized waves in the ocean.
Juju prefers to stay outside of the water mostly, although he went in a few times.  He liked to play with the sand and watch Leana swim.
They both loved the trip to the aquarium that Nana and Baba took them on.  Leana's favorite was seeing real sea turtles - which we also saw from our balcony one day!

Happy New Year!!

Here are some pictures we had taken this Fall.  Tried hard to get a decent picture of all four of us but not much luck with that!