Make Week

This week we participated in "turn off the tv week" and "make week" and today was Earth Day! We have been making lots of things this week and enjoying time outside learning and exploring. It's been lots of fun and we plan to carry over to the coming weeks too. Here are some of the things we did during our week:

Monday: We planted some seeds to grow wildflowers and set them outside to start growing. I'm so excited for the boys see their sprouts come up soon! We also painted some egg cartons that we made into caterpillars with colored pipe cleaners.

Tuesday: We did some exploring on a walk around our neighborhood, looking for birds, flowers, squirrels, and caterpillars.

Wednesday: We finished making our caterpillars. We also laid out a huge piece of white paper on the ground and painted with our feet. The boys LOVED getting naked and running around with paint on their feet.

Thursday: We made a bird feeder and a watering jug out of empty milk jugs. We also planted some vegitables and flowers around the house. The boys really liked grabbing handfuls of birdseed to fill the birdfeeder and dirt for the plants.

Friday: Tomorrow we plan to make lots of fun indoors since it might be raining. We are going to make forts, make popcicles, and make believe with stories and pictures. It's sure to be lots of fun!

Here are some pictures of our painting adventure.

Oh, and I also started my compost pile...I'm so excited to make some rich nutritious dirt for our plants!

And on a side note...we got a pup from the shelter. His name is Duke and he's a beagle/boxer mix. The boys love to chase him around the yard! Here is his sweet little face...

What did you do for Earth Day? I am always looking for new ideas of things to do with my little guys!

Help! Super heros have stolen my heart!

Pardon the cheesy title...I couldn't resist! Christopher, although never having watched a single Spiderman movie or show, has become infatuated with the character. He has the bike, helmet, shoes, sunglasses, swim goggles (or "boggles" as he says it), underwear, and now, after a recent trip to walmart, the jammies. Gabriel has also joined the club only because Christopher insisted that they both have a pair of spidey jammies. I must admit...they look absolutely adorable in their matching pj's!

I have noticed something lately. Can you see it? They are brothers. Buddies. Hand-in-hand, finding mischeif, loving and beating on one another - brothers. I feel so fortunate to have the chance to witness this.

And this little prince of mine is now officially done breastfeeding. We had a good long run...almost 18 months. We both loved every moment of it and we (ok, more me) were ready to move on. I miss it a little, but he still crawls into my lap, rests his hand on my chest, and lays his head on me. Those moments are always to quick for me, but he is a growing little curious on-the-move boy, and there is a world to explore.

Luck 'O The Irish...German/Italian Style

We like to join in the St. Patty's fun even though we aren't Irish in the least. (I have a cousin who married an Irish girl..does that count?) The day actually snuck up on me, so I had to scramble to think of fun ways to celebrate with what we had around the house.



We started the day eating green eggs & bacon (channeling Dr. Seuss:). We made green lime jello that we saved for snack time. The boys aren't a big fan of jello, so they pretended to like it for a few pictures. We read some fun St. Patty's books, talked about the culture a little, and made some festive Irish flags to wave around in our own little parade.

Here are some pics of my little leprechauns!

Two days in a row!

This little angel is to blame for the baby fever that as infected my house. Our good friends, Cammi and Jason, had a little girl about a month ago. Her name is Aryah and she is such a doll. I could snuggle and smell her for hours. Ooohhhh...I LOVE baby smells! I know, I'm kinda wierd :)

Ok, so I'm a liar...

I said I woul be back to the blog, but...um, well...that just didn't happen as you all have noticed. I'm really going to try harder. We moved our computer out of the living room so I just don't get on it as much. I really need to figure out how to blog from my iPhone! Anyway, here are some pictures from today...we had a perfect day outside! In the morning, we walked around the nature center and went to storytime, then home for lunch and loooong naps, and out again for ice cream cones and playing at the park. I enjoyed relaxing and spending quality time with my precious boys! They are getting to be such good buddies...when we were walking on the trail, Christopher grabbed Gabriel's hand and they walked like that for a while..."talking" and giggling to each other and just being brothers.

We are still here!

I have completely neglected my blogging lately. The holidays were busy, but mostly I've just been enjoying spending time with my amazing husband and wonderful little boys. We have been hanging at home, cooking, doing crafts, playing, snuggling, and have a good ol' time. I will be back to the blog more often...I miss updating you all on what's happening in our world. :)

Here's a fun picture for now...

A Chiarino Thanksgiving

Ingredients:

1 trip to SDC to see the Christmas lights and festivities (night before)

2 home-made turkey hats for two little turkeys

1 two year old soux chef

1 post dinner baby diaper blowout (Ewww!!!)

Watching balloons and tackles on tv

Lots of lovin from the oven! :)

Combine ingredients to create a wonderful blessed day of thanks.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

My Pumpkins

We celebrated Halloween in a big way last week and over the weekend. First, we dressed the boys up for our church's fall festival last sunday, then we took them to Halloween in the Halls at MSU on Wednesday. On Saturday we got up early for the Homecoming Parade at MSU and then went home to carve our pumpkins. Christopher helped me design a little one to carve, I did a goofy face, Chris did a goblin face, and I carved Happy Halloween into one. It was lots of fun!

Christopher enjoyed digging the "guts" out of the pumpkins. I'm not a fan of that part so I'm glad the boys like it!

After four pumpkins, we were knee deep in seeds and guts!

And here are the masterpieces!

Christopher LOVES his little pumpkin!

Then we dressed the boys up one more time for some Trick-or Treating fun. We took them to our neighbor, Miss Nell, and around to a few friends houses and then we let Christopher pass out candy to kids at our house. He loved handing it out...surprisingly!


We had a little Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi this year!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween this year!

I'm so mean!

I had to take advantage of this time when I get to choose what the boys dress up as for Halloween. Gabriel is Yoda and Christopher is a Jedi...more pics to come!

This was taken at our fall festival at church tonight.

I need to perfect the face paint :)

Loving Autumn

We have been enjoying the fall weather as much as possible-that is when it's not 40 degrees and raining outside! Today it was BEE-utiful out so we waited for Chris to come back from his men's retreat and then we headed to Campbell's Farm for some fun. I enjoyed snapping pictures of the boys in the gorgeous surroundings.

Christopher enjoyed the bounce house & the little tykes choo-choo train rides.

The boys painted some mini-pumpkins on Friday.

Gabriel got more paint on his face and highchair (and my camera) than he got on his pumpkin!

Christopher is such a little artist!

I hope this nice weather stays around a bit longer...we love getting outside and playing on our new swingset. Everytime I ask Christopher if he wants to go outside and play on it he replies with a loud "YES" before I even finish the sentance!

We are looking forward to visiting "Aunt Penne's Pumpkin Patch" next weekend in Arkansas, going to baby Kyle's 1st birthday party, and dressing up for Halloween fun coming soon!

One Year Ago...

we were at the hospital preparing for our baby boy to arrive. I can't believe it has been a year already. In some ways it feels like he has been in our family forever, but it feels like yesterday when I was cradling his tiny body in my arms. He has grown into such a unique little person in the past year and he has blessed our lives tremendously. Here a few things about our little prince...

* He is speed crawling, pulling up, standing alone, and walking along furniture. Not walking alone yet, but I expect he will be very soon.

* He is still nursing, and showing no signs of being done soon. I'm trying to use up the gallons of breastmilk I have stored in the freezer so that he can transition to whole milk. I am happily done pumping for now!

* He is a little flirt and he loves to point! When he sees a girl he knows, he will lower his head and gets a little grin on his face...it's too cute!

* He is still taking 2 naps most days, but occasionally he will just take one long nap. He goes to bed at 7:00 pm and sleeps until about 7:30 am.

* He loves animals...he squeels and gets so excited whenever he sees a cat or dog.

* He also LOVES his dada! When he gets home from work in the evening Gabriel is the happiest litte boy!

* When he wants something he lets us know by screaming. He does this in restaurants, church, stores...pretty much anywhere. It's quite a bad habit and we are working on different forms of communication :)

* His favorite foods are cheese, goldfish, grapes, bread, noodles, green beans, and bananas. If he has a mouthful of food and I start to give him a bite of something before he is done chewing he will drop everything out of his mouth and open up for a bite...it's the funniest thing!

* He is a curious, happy, & wonderful little boy! We love him so much!

Hours and hours of fun!

My dad got the boys a huge birthday/Christmas present this weekend.

Here are some cute pictures of all the boys helping out...

And here it is almost put together...it still needs the roof.

This is going to be tons of fun! Thanks Papa Mark!

Happy birthday to our little prince!

Gabriel's birthday is actually tomorrow (Oct 12) but we had his party today. It was a fun get-together with close friends and family.

Here is a picture of the spread and decorations. I had fun using my new cricut to make the banner :)

This was my first time making a layered cake and using fondant icing. It wasn't easy, but I'm happy with the finished product. Chris said it's not as good as "Ace of Cakes", but he did say it was the best home-made cake he has seen. And it tasted yummy!

Gabriel has his eye on that cake!

Eating the sprinkles first

And then he went for the whole thing!

He also loved the balloons that were attached to his highchair!

When it came time to open presents he was so funny! He loved tearing the paper and pulling on the tissue, but he really loved holding the cards! He would hold a card in one hand and tear paper with the other. He looks like such a big boy in this picture!

Trying on his new coyboy boots from Mimi...

Is there anything cuter than a naked baby wearing cowboy boots?

I made Chris' family sit down for a quick picture. The photos I took with my dad didn't turn out...sorry papa Mark!

Christopher with his girl Fotine...look at the love in their eyes!

Her heart really belongs to Gabriel though :)

Our wonderful family!

He was all partied out :)

Nighty night baby.

I just want to say thank you to all of our friends and family. Thank you for loving our boys and being part of their lives. Thank you for making memories with us.

Happy birthday to my little prince. You are an incredible blessing! Your smile is the highlight of my day. Your curiosity keeps us moving! Your joy fills our hearts with joy. We love you so much.