Photography trials

Pictures can be deceiving.  Sometimes I take 20 photos of my kids crying before I can finally get a good one where they look happy.  But you wouldn't know that based on what I post in the blog.  So here's an example of what our pictures really look like most of the time.

Screaming during tummy time.  This was from a couple of weeks ago.  She is much better at tummy time now and much happier.

Really not enjoying this photo session

Making a face at me

What are you doing Mom? She looks very bulky in this picture.

Twenty pictures later, I finally get a decent shot:

There's my beautiful girl!  Still not smiling but I'll take it.

Halloween 2016

This year for Halloween, after much consideration, Eliana was a cat ... again (3rd year in a row).  At first she had said she wanted to be a dog (which I was excited for the change).  Then a mommy dog.  Then a rainbow kitty.  Finally she settled on a pink kitty with a purple belly and purple ears.  Her outfit was pretty easy to make.  I just used a pink sweatsuit as a base, then with hot glue added purple "fur" along the bottom of the pants and sleeves, a purple fur tail, foam ears with purple fur, and a big purple belly (attached with velcro so the zipper still worked on the jacket). 

As for William, he decided to be a dog like Eliana, except he stuck with it even after Eliana switched to a cat.  He was a yellow dog - a combination of Spot the dog and T-bone, a dog from Clifford. At the last minute, William told me he wanted to be a pumpkin, which is what he was last year, but I wouldn't let him.  I had worked to hard on his costume.  I wanted to do an outfit like Eliana's - use a yellow sweatsuit as a base and just add spots and a tail, but I could not find a solid yellow outfit.  So I ended up just sewing one myself, using velcro to fasten it in the back.  I wish I had taken a picture of William from the back (David was actually in charge of pictures Halloween night because I was nursing Laney, so I blame him).  I added three spots and a tail with hot glue.  It was so cute!

Magdalena was Snow White.  Her costume was a gift from her Aunt Hannah, which was adorable.  She attempted to trick-or-treat with us, but after half of a block in the stroller, she started crying, so I carried her the rest of the way.  She was wrapped up in a blanket in my arms so no one could see her costume any more.  That's ok though, she didn't need any candy anyway. 

To celebrate Halloween, we dressed up at my sister Rebecca's apartment with all of the little cousins the Saturday before Halloween.  The kids just played in their costumes for a bit and posed for pictures.  Trying to get six kids all 4 years old and under to pose for a picture is ridiculous! (I must has had the wrong setting on my camera as everyone is a little blue.)

I couldn't find William's ears.  And Laney didn't really want to participate.

Trying to get everyone arranged.  Hannah the monkey also wasn't so sure about participating.

Oops, there goes the monkey

And there goes Claire the lion... Shortly after this William tried to get up and dump Rosie the caterpillar on the grass.

We did slightly better when we added in the grown ups.

Flanigan Halloween 2016

For Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night, we went with our friends Adele and Hannah again.  Apparently while I was feeding Laney, a group picture was attempted but it was also a failure with 6 kids running in all different directions.   Eliana, William, Adele, and Hannah all had a blast running from house to house.  William was so adorable with his determined little strut up to each door, his little tail wagging behind him.  He definitely like it better this year than last.  I think I like Halloween almost as much as the kids just because I find them so adorable in their costumes.  I hope they never grow up and want to be scary things for Halloween.  Kitties and doggies are the best.

My little doggie - this time with his ears

cutie!

Best picture of Eliana from the night

William riding with Hannah who was also Snow White!

After trick-or-treating, enjoying their treats. This was the best picture of the two of them from the whole night.

And the most adorable part of Halloween!

William's 2nd Birthday

Poor Will, the forgotten middle child.  I never got around to posting about his 2nd birthday way back in July, which has been on my list of things to write about for months now.  Better late than never...

To celebrate William's birthday, David's parents and brother came to our house along with my brother Michael, Melissa, and their daughter Claire.  We had cake and ice cream (Will doesn't actually like cake - just the icing on top), played outside in the sandbox, and checked out his new toy truck and soccer goal.  I didn't get many pictures because, like I mentioned above, William is the forgotten middle child.  :)

Singing happy birthday

Blowing out the candles.  Eliana wanted to see if he needed help.

Enjoying some birthday cake!

Hanging with his best friend Claire.  She is the closest in age to him of his cousins, and they play together really well.

William was reading her a book.

At his two year check up, William was 34.5in tall and 28lbs.  I will have to look that up for the percentiles.  He talks a lot for his age!  He says full sentences, which I always find so cute and surprising with his little baby voice.  He can recognize the letter W and knows that is his special letter.  He knows most of his colors and Eliana says his favorite color is green.  He likes riding his "moto" (big wheel tricycle), playing with balls, hitting things with sticks, and playing with dinosaurs.  He understands a lot of Spanish but at this point he mostly talks in English.  Although a few words still hang on - ardilla for squirrel and oso for bear.  He loves watching the garbage men take away the trash and has told me that he wants to be a garbage man when he grows up.  He also likes to walk around carrying books above his head, saying he is a priest, and offering you the "Body of Christ."  So who knows, maybe he will be a garbage truck driving priest.  His favorite food is pizza.  And he wants to go to preschool so bad.  He has his own little backpack that he fills with dinosaurs and says he is going to "pretend preschool."  Sometimes he is so sweet - giving kisses and hugs, while other times he is really aggressive - he loves to pull Eliana's hair.  His latest thing is to give "head bumps" which is like a fist bump, except with your head. 

Here is my latest funny William story:

Eliana was talking about getting a pet, and I said, "If you could have any pet, what would it be?"  Eliana said, "A cat!"
"And what about you, William?" I asked.
"A Dinosaur!" he replied.

I sure love my sweet little boy!

What our days are like

We have been very busy lately!  Every weekend we have been traveling out of state - first to my niece's baptism, then to my brother-in-law's wedding, and this weekend to my parents' anniversary party.  So throw in a fussy baby and I haven't had much time to blog.  I actually started this post a few weeks ago but never finished.  So here goes:

Some of our escapades the past few weeks.

On a wet, dreary day, Eliana asked to go outside to jump in the puddles.  I dressed her and William up in their rain coats and boots, and set them outside.  They quickly found the little pool that I had not put away from this summer and started jumping in it.  They were drenched by the time they came inside!  However, Laney and I stayed warm and dry watching from the doorway.

Eliana got a new pair of purple slippers that she has been wearing all the time!  She loves to wear them in bed while she is sleeping.  Silly girl.

Tummy time with big brother.  I told William he should show Laney his trucks while she does tummy time to make her happy.  He brought over so many cars!  He leans over her and says, "Waney, you having fun on the floor?  Good!"

She obviously is very interested in his toys.

Activities while the baby is sleeping: William got to play with shaving cream.  This was a hit!  He drew several pictures or had me draw some like this dog.  After a little bit, we added a dinosaur to play in the shaving cream, which William really liked.  Then he had fun giving the dinosaur a bath in the sink to clean up.  Great indoor activity.  I cover the table in plastic which makes for easy clean up.

We also practiced writing the letter "W"

Playing with playdough