Another Uncle

Congratulations to Emily and Salvatore! We are all so happy that Salvatore is joining the family. Tonight Jack was sorting it all out... "Em is already my auntie... buuuut ... Salvatore will become my uncle after the wedding happens... and .... well, great. Another uncle."

A 4 Year Old Fireman Gets Serious about Cake!

Jack enjoys a final piece of cake in the quite time after the children have departed. He informs us that he doesn't like "the bread of the cake so much". Um, you mean the cake?  
 
 
 
 

Rose wants cake too!

Note that shirt is size 18 months :).  
 

Cake Time

All kids were as close as humanly possible without actually eating cake before singing and blowing out candles.  
 
 
 

Party Time!!

Jack ripped right into his presents, including a fireman costume that he wore the rest of the day. We had flower pots to decorate and plant flowers in (thanks Grandma for gardening assistance) and the always scary (if you are a parent), but always fun, pinata. In fact, Jack had 2 pinatas, and idea he latched onto a long time ago from the Hooray, A Pinata! story he got for an earlier birthday. He wanted a Lightening McQueen (not to break, but for decoration and a "thundercloud." Rosario and her husband took him to the pinata district downtown, and they were able to find a nice McQueen (wish I had a photo--let's just say I don't think Disney got royalties...). The best thundercloud they could find was the LA Dodgers star. That little kid had quite a sing, but eventually we did need to send Uncle Pate in to "loosen things up," and Jack was able to give it the final crack.

Thanks Sam!

for the Southwest Airlines set! We never sent you a thank you card, but we have been enjoying it nonetheless!

Actual Birthday

 Started the day with a package including 4 special cards from Uncle Matt and 4 muffins with 4 candles. At breakfast, I say "Jack, I can't believe you're 4." He responded, "Do you want me to stand up?" and jumped out of his chair. He continues to tightly associate height and age, but he is getting to understand the correlation is not strictly 1 to 1. He commented that his friend Becca turned 4 before him, even though she is shorter. And he has come to the realization that grown-ups keep having birthdays but do not get taller. We mentioned recently that eventually they actually get a little shorter, but he didn't seem to make much note of that.

The Week-Long Birthday Celebration

Jack began his week of birthday celebrations at preschool. Mom, Grandma Nonie, and Grandpa were on hand to watch him blow out the candle carefully taped into the yogurt squeezer by his teacher.  
 

Cousins

Baby in black

Cute Kiddos

Apologies to blog fans, we have been so busy we haven't even had a chance to post ot the blog. Rose is practically all grown up. Well, not really. She does have 4 teeth, with 2 more coming in. She started crawling back in March, learned to do the stairs almost immediately (though she is still working on getting down). She can stand on her own for a few seconds, and loves to climb up on things.

That baby loves to eat, and she is BUSY--exploring, exploring. Also sweet.

Jack does get frustrated from time to time when Rose starts taking apart what he has built or tries to eat his puzzle, but he is still really sweet with her.

A few weeks ago, we were talking about animals during snuggle time. I asked him what his favorite dinosaur is. "Brontosaurus." Then I asked what his favorite mammal is. "Rose is my favorite mammal." :-)

These photos are from Mother's Day after brunch at UCLA Faculty Center (joined by grandma Martha and Uncle Matt).

Will try to fill in some of the intervening months soon!

Circa 6 months old

Proper snowman making attire

 Helmet and goggle (because they are new). Rolled up pants (so you can see new Spyder socks). Scarf. Boots. Gloves.