Happy Birthday Amelie Rose!

My sweet big girl is *7* today! I can't believe it! She's starting to get old enough that it feels less like we're counting up and more like we're counting down to her growing into an adult! She has changed so much over the year and has become so confident! She is a vastly proficient reader, loves math so much she does problems in her head when she is bored (must get that from her father!!=), is taking piano lessons, is the best big sister/helper ever and is super funny and fun. I love her and watching her grow up is like a present for me everyday! It's kind of amazing how awesome she is. =)

She had a big week this week--with Christmas, and on Monday a trip to see The Nutcracker in Philly with Granny and Pop (so special, so amazing! too bad she was coming down with a cold =( . On Wednesday she had a fun birthday party at Bounce U with her little friends! And tonight our family came over for some birthday celebrating! When it was all over she said, "Now there is nothing fun leftover and life is going to be plain." =) I think the trick to growing up is learning to appreciate all of the plain times, but that's a lesson that can be learned another day. I'm still failing at taking lots of pictures lately--but here's a couple I got today =)

Happy Happy Birthday Darling Girl!!

Merrrrrryyyy Christmas!

From our family to yours, God bless you on Christmas and everyday in the year to come!

Today was our last full day before Christmas break! YAY!!!! Can't wait to have Amelie and my husband home for the next week! They just have a half day tomorrow! Maevey had a little friend over today and we had a very fun morning.We played play doh:

Had a tea party (note Ezra's bad manners!)

Ate a snack:

Made and Frosted Christmas Cookies:

And played toys:

It was a lot of fun! 

Other than that, we had a peaceful afternoon and now my husband is up in the toy room with the kiddos and I am downstairs where it is quiet. =)

A Very Wonderful Christmas

On Sunday (after the girls' super cute Christmas Program--Ezra refused to stand on stage and missed his moment of shining glory =) we had our Weber Family Christmas Gathering! We always look forward to spending time with our NJ family!! There was tons of food, tons of kids and presents from Santa! I didn't get pictures of everyone since it's always a little crazy keeping track of everyone! =) Here's a few that I did get--Santa-Pop!

Misc. children looking at presents. And my husband. =)

The cutest 10-pack of cousins ever!

The four brothers that strated it all--and yes, this is the *best* picture I could get of them! And yes, this photo says a lot about their personalities and yes-my husband is very well behaved. =)

Cousin-Recovery-Time watching Wonder Pets In Granny and Pop's bed. =)

Yay for family time!

Sunday School Christmas Program!

BusyBusyDay

Today is my precious husband's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HIM!

It wasn't a very celebrate-y day....he had christmas cantata practice at church this morning followed by a night out in Philly playing piano for his most recent opera company production.

boo. that.

(although yay for extra work!)

I've missed him so much this week--he's been gone A LOT lately.

One more concert tomorrow and done for a few weeks. WOOT!

In other news, the kiddos and I spent the morning at Granny's, with the cousins, making Christmas cookies!

Here's the crew!

Maeve and Amelie's "candy cane cookies"

Cookie making is exhausting =)

So the little cousins spent some time relaxing in Granny and Pop's bed (watching a movie).

Thanks for a fun morning Granny!

Not only was Ezra's 2yr well check scheduled late--so was Maeve's 4yo check! =) She's getting to be such a big girl I can hardly stand it--and with her going to pre-k next year I can't pretend she's a baby any more! Boo. That. Anyways she was 31 pounds (5th%) and 36 inches (5th%)--this is SMALLER than Amelie was at 3. Ahem. Comparing them is like apples and oranges even though they came from the same tree! HA! But still, I do compare them at times--I can't help it! I was concerned about Maeve's development beause

a) she is a toe walker

b) she holds a pencil very strangely

c)colors about as well as Ezra

I was worried that there was something wrong with her motor skills possibly so I brought it up with the doctor who said I was crazy and she was fine. That not being good enough, I also talked with my friends who told me their kiddos who are a little older than Maeve struggled with the pencil hold too so I felt MUCH better. I can't remember where Amelie was at this age-but I KNOW she held a pencil and colored better. 

So..I started working with Maeve--tracing lines, and on her pencil hold and she has made a lot of progress in just a couple of weeks. She is much more confident with her writing and is even attempting her name which is wonderful! I don't expect her to be writing paragraphs--I just want her to be able to hold a pencil with confidence and be able to trace lines. We are getting there. Woot. Otherwise she is doing really well! The temper tantrums she was throwing last month have subsided and she is back to her normal fun loving silly self. 

I love my little Maevey-girl! She's such a joy and the perfect little playmate for Amelie and Ezra.

Number Boy!

So I'm *finally* taking a few pictures here and there--hooray! It's harder to get the camera out when it's chilly outside--luckily my kitchen has pretty good light so we've solved the cold problem! =)

My sweet baby E had his 2 yo well check (28 pounds 31 inches 30% height, 50% weight oy) last week (Mama was a little late scheduling his appointment =). He was TERRIFIED of the doctor's office (must remember his flu shot) until we got into the little room and he saw the letters painted all over the walls--then he felt right at home.

Because Ezra has an obsession.

Well, an obsession besides this one, he is OBSESSED with letters and numbers.

One day after he turned two Ezra picked out a book from the book box and brought it over to me. He opened it to the numbers page and started identifying all the numbers (in and out of order). He *knew* and correctly identified all the numbers 1-10 even though we had never quizzed him or shown him that page in that book before. It was weird and surprising and pretty cool! And then....

...the next night we were at Applebees (surprising! NOT!!) and he was coloring the children's menu when he started correctly identifying the letters on the front of the book! I couldn't believe it! I'm not a flash card/sit down and quiz the children type of mom so it REALLY took me by surprise. So now, whenever Maeve sits down to work on her writing skills (different story, different day) instead of coloring he yells at me until I write all of the alphabet/numbers on a sheet of paper so he can say them all to me!

I think he's pretty amazing. 

Also handsome.

Also a baby genius. 

Obviously. =) HA!

Weekend Concert Update

'Tis the busy season at the Wonderful household! My husband always has 9,000,000 commitments and concerts and now Amelie and Maeve have concerts too! Friday night Amelie had her school concert and it was lovely! The kids did a great job singing and the songs were a lot of fun. Amelie is always right on top of the motions and kept her eyes on the director at all times. She loves singing!

I didn't take too many pictures (since we're going to buy the dvd =) but here's a shot of half of the elementary choir:

 Saturday was a day full of errands and playing catch up. Sunday I kept the kids home from church because I am presently TERRIFIED OF ALL GERMS. Gah. I just need a week to not have sick kids or sick me. Hopefully. =)

Sunday night was Amelie and Maeve's Church Christmas program. Maeve was so excited for her concert and was pretty sure she was going to be able to sing her own original composition entitled: Cookies (I'm a little cookie, cooking in the dark, take a bite I'm yumm....etc). =) She was disappointed when she learned she could only sing the songs the choirs were singing. HA!

Gospel Bells (tune of jingle bells)

J*E*S*U*S* (tune of bingo)

Amelie was part of the big kids production and had lines to say and sung in two trios and had a big solo at the end. She did a great job and was very confident on stage.

Part of the kids choir:

It was so much fun to see how much fun Amelie had! I used to love performing in the kids choir at church--she came home and said--"I want to sing a solo every day!" HA! Out. Of. Control. At least I know we don't have to worry about stage fright with Amelie! HA! It was a great weekend with our little family! Thank goodness--because we have a longggggggg week ahead--my husband has two dress rehearsals in Philly for the show he is playing for and two concerts for school. I'm totally bummed because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to go to his high school concert, which is pretty much my favorite thing to do. Boo. Oh well--we will survive! =)

Happy Monday!

I fully intended to write an Ezra-bloggy-2-year-old-guy update on Monday but the day came and went...and then Monday night brought with it another round (!!!!) of the sickies. So, Amelie was off to the doctor and we had her home yesterday and today. Gah. She is doing well and goes back to school tomorrow but my brain literally exploded when I realized she was sick. I can't take any more! Makes me want to pack up my kiddies and hibernate until SPRING! 

Oh well! Hopefully we are really on the upswing this time as we have a lot of special fun stuff coming up! Amelie's Christmas Concert! Amelie's Church Christmas Concert! Etc! And so on!

I enjoyed having Amelie home--we had fun together even though she was upset about missing school!

So anyways, hopefully I'll get a chance to have an Ezra photo shoot so I can post a proper update! =)
Happy Wednesday!

Well--it's been another eventful couple of days in the Wonderful household! Just as Mama is on the mend from 4 weeks of bronchitis Maeve came down with a fever thursday night--I thought it was due to the shots she rec. at her well-check this week (the doctor said to expect a little fever) but then...

the UNTHINKABLE happend.

Stomach. Virus.

WAHHHHHHH

Ezra and I soon followed suit and it was not good. Luckily the kids fared much better than me. Also, I know now for a fact that the stomach virus is preferable to not breathing. You know, just in case you were wondering. 

Still horrible but not as scary. =)

The kids bounced back in just a few hours and then the UNTHINKABLE happened again.

Ezra woke up in the middle of the night BURNING up with fever. I hate that! There is nothing worse than a BBQ baby! So we put him in lighter layers and cooled his forehead with a wet cloth and gave him some tylenol. He's still fevery this morning but luckily that is his only symptom and he is happy and playing. Of course, he's sick right in time for his WELL-check tomorrow! =)

Anyways, that's us right now! I think a plague is upon us! =)

We are NEVER sick and have NEVER had this much sickness in such a short span of time. Usually one cold a year for each of my kiddos. I guess we're going for a record this year! HA! 

In other news.... My Ezra guy has decided he is a grown up and doesn't want to sit booster seat anymore! So voila! Big Boy in a big boy high chair. He even prefers big boy cups without lids. Oh my. *tear*

I have to write a post about Ezra--he's kind of a baby-super-genius. Well, not super-genius but an extra-smart-guy. He's learned lots of new tricks in the months since turning 2!! 

But fever-baby needs a hug so I'll write about him genius-ness later. =)

Happy Sunday!

My lovely little Maeve always keeps me laughing and the other day she said something that *REALLY* had me rolling! She must be learning about size comparisons in school....

She help up 3 items of different sizes and said, 

"Mommy--which one is Big, which one is Very Medium and which is Too Short To Ride The Rollercoaster?"

bwhahahhaha I think everyone should refer to small/smallest as too short to ride the rollercoaster! HA!