St. Patty's Day

St. Patrick's Day was unseasonably warm this year. We decided to take in a parade and have a picnic. We thought about going to the parade in downtown Chicago, but the train schedule wasn't great for taking three small kids. Fortunately, Naperville also has a parade and it was a lot of fun! I think because of the nice weather, a lot of people had the same idea.

Our older two kids have leprechaun Mickey ears which made the day all the more fun.

We'll have to see if Tito Pogi can find Isaac a pair.

Waiting for the parade. It started with bagpipes.

Our newest Filipino/Irish addition :)

After the parade, we headed to Herrick Lake Forrest Preserve for a picnic lunch and some attempts and getting some pictures of all three little ones.

As it neared nap time, Emie got tired and decided she could fit in Isaac's car seat/stroller. Silly girl! She is still under the weight limit, after all!

Such a fun day!

That's what I'm talking about!

Nathan has enjoyed taking on some new responsibilities now that he is four. He is really good at washing dishes!

Way to go Nay! Mommy could get used to this :)

I want to remember :)

I want to remember these funny, funny kid days. I was reading one of the Duggars' books recently and they shared a story from when they had four or five little ones. They looked at those little faces and realized "these are the best days of our lives and we don't even know it!". Our kids are all at really fun ages right now and they all make me laugh in their own ways. Here are some funny conversations we've had lately.

N: Mommy, when I grow up, like in college, what should I be?
T: What would you like to be?
N: A fireman
T: really? You don't want to be a physical therapist like Mommy and Daddy? Or a teacher like Grandma?
N: hmmmm . . . No.
T: how about an accountant, like Grandpa?
N: I don't know what that is, but it does NOT sound fun.

T: Emie, time to go potty before bed, you can cook me a pot of soup in your kitchen tomorrow.
E: Potty soup? Yuck! How about fish and butter soup? That would be good!

Issac is funny in his own way too. His utter love for the giraffe on his exersaucer, his current obsession with his toes, the little joyful river dance he does when I get him up in the morning . . . all things I must remember.

You know you are in an intercultural marriage when . . .

This is your dinner table conversation . . .

T: What are you doing in there? (G is searching through the pot of soup he made for dinner)
G: I'm looking for the chicken butt.
E: No Daddy! Don't eat the chicken's butt, it might poop!
T: Pretty gross right?
N: If it is roasted, it won't poop.

Hopefully I can keep Emie on my side on this one. I've already lost Nathan to the chicken butt and pig nose eating dark side.

In reality, I love what makes our family unique and I love seeing my kids embrace our unique culture. Even if it grosses me out just a little sometimes :)

Emie and a ping pong ball

Here is a little video of the kids dancing to a Mickey Mouse song.

4 months

**Major picture overload alert**

I can't help it. This boy has captured our hearts! He is cute, sweet and so very kissable :)

Isaac turned 4 months on Jan. 22nd. He has had a great few months and is growing up really fast, it seems. He continues to be such an easy baby! He is a good eater and sleeper and almost always content when awake. I know he'll be right in there causin' trouble and making me laugh with his Kuya Nathan and Ate Emie in a year or two, so I'm savoring these very sweet cuddly days :) Here are a few (okay, a lot!) of pictures from his last month.

Here is our little guy wearing his "Luke overalls". My dear friend Kelly and I bought matching overalls for our little boys when I was pregnant with Nathan and she with Luke. A month or so later, Luke went to heaven. I always thought of him when Nathan would wear these and now I think of him again when Isaac wears them.

Isaac is a raspberry blowing machine! If you hold him, watch out for slobber!

Isaac lights up whenever he hears his Kuya Nathan's voice. Although, he doesn't look thrilled to be sharing his gym!

Isaac has also discovered the joy of grabbing everything and chewing on it. Poor lady bug never stood a chance.

At four months, Isaac weighs 14 lbs 1.5 oz and is 25 inches long. Apparently, that puts him in the 30th percentile for weight and 50th for height. But I'm pretty sure if they had a "chart" for cheeks, he'd be 100th percentile for sure!

We had Isaac dedicated in church on his 4 month birthday. We didn't get any pictures of the actual dedication, but here is one of him having his diaper changed in the nursing room at the end of the service. It was sanctity of human life Sunday and we celebrated this little blessing from the Lord and prayed that God might order his steps and capture his heart as he grows.

Born to swim

Isaac had his first pool experience this weekend. I don't think we've ever taken one of the other kids swimming this early, but Isaac was pretty much able to float on his back without any help. I have heard that babies have a natural ability to right themselves in the water early on, but I always thought that sounded a little crazy to me. But our little three month old was just floating along like a little bob with us just guarding his head. Maybe there is something to those early swimming lessons. Don't worry, I don't think I'll be tossing my baby in the water and expecting him to survive any time soon, but maybe the idea isn't as crazy as I thought!

He even survived a few good splashes from his big brother and sister.

We'll see if any of our kiddos catch the swimming bug!

Happy Zoo Year!

We had a wonderful visit from Gus' sister and brother in-law for New Years. Being the wonderful tita and uncle that they are, they took the big kids for the morning to go to see a movie and for lunch at the mall. What does a Mommy of three do when she is suddenly alone in the house with only her sweet baby? Take a nap! The big kids had a blast and were thoroughly spoiled. They came back and crashed for a nap while we decided what to do with the rest of the day. It was unseasonably warm here, so we decided to head to the holiday lights festival at Brookfield zoo.

Here is Isaac all bundled up and ready for his first zoo trip! He actually stayed awake to go through the monkey house and I think he liked it!

We didn't get great pictures of the actual zoo because our camera was doing some weird things for some reason. The zoo had TONS of lights and was crowded, but in a good way. They had a laser light show that the kids really enjoyed. Emie is the little coat sitting on the table and our very accommodating Isaac is asleep in the car seat.

Daddy and Nathan snuggle up for the show!

The kids wanted to see the monkeys, the dolphins and the lions, so that is what we did. The only casualty was Tita Grace's feet as she thought we were driving through to see the lights and made a poor choice in footwear. We finished up the night with some Portillos and were in bed by 10. In my opinion, there is no better place to ring in the new year than fast asleep on your pillow!

Let them eat cake!

Nathan turned four on December 29th! I feel like he turned from a toddler into a little boy overnight. We had a small party with family and a few close friends to celebrate. He requested a space ship cake.

And he got more gifts! I told people they didn't need to bring presents, but they all insisted that it is all the more important to receive birthday gifts when your birthday is so close to Christmas. I suppose they are right!

Nathan has certainly grown leaps and bounds this past year. He is still incredibly energetic, spirited, curious and sure to make you laugh :) He talks pretty much non-stop most of the time and really wants to know everything about everything. I can't believe some of the conversations we have on a regular basis. He still has a variety of interests, with current obsessions being dinosaurs and super heroes. He loves playing outside, wrestling, doing puzzles, coloring (but not drawing!), playing board games and reading books. He also still loves to sing and knows most of the words to the songs we hear regularly on the radio.

Highlights for him this past year have been his first trip overseas to the Philippines, first trip to the dentist, starting AWANA cubbies, taking swim lessons throughout the year, gaining a little brother and most recently starting preschool.

We love this boy to pieces and are excited to see what being four may hold for him!

Christmas 2011

This year, we opted to stay home and relax on Christmas Eve. We lounged and ate soup :) We put the kids to bed at the normal time and then woke them up at 10:45 to head to Gus' brother's house for the midnight celebration. I accidentally left the memory card at home, so we didn't get any pictures of our giddy children at midnight, but they certainly had fun!

We slept late Christmas morning and then the kids opened the gifts from us and a few relatives who sent things. Nathan is our early bird and was wide awake, even after our late night.

Emie really liked passing out gifts, but wasn't a huge fan of tearing them open.

Nathan was really excited to give us a star he made at school.

We found this great kitchen on the side of the road! It just needed a few new screws and a wipe down and it was ready to go. We got Emie some play food and dishes for her Christmas present.

She has been "cooking" a lot this week already!

I think Nathan's favorite gift was a bat cave given to him by his Tita Grace and Uncle John.

After gifts, we had a big breakfast, took a walk, played with our new toys for a while, took long naps and then headed to Grandpa and Grandma's house for dinner and another gift exchange.

Isaac watched all of the action this year. It is crazy to think he'll be right in there ripping open gifts next year!

Emie loves playdoh, so I know she'll enjoy this playdoh ice cream set.

Mommy and Isaac

We had so much fun spending time with both sides of our family, but we were pretty tired when Monday morning came and it was time to head to work/school/babysitter. I really wish Americans celebrated Boxing Day!

Prepping for Christmas 2011

Advent at the Arceos was a lot of fun this year! Nathan is understanding more and more about the significance of what Christ did for us and Emie is just starting to grasp some of these truths. Having a baby in the house was helpful with this as Nathan was very fascinated that someone so powerful could be helpless like our little Isaac. He also couldn't believe he would sleep in an animal feeding box - yuck! We tried to spend time each day of advent reading about the Christmas story, learning songs and Bible verses and of course, making those oh so beautiful homemade ornaments to adorn our tree.

Here is an attempt at getting a picture of all three in front of the tree after decorating. No smiles and one blurry foot, but better than the other attempts!

The older kids had fun making salt dough ornaments this year. They especially liked the painting and glitter. I absolutely love that when you are two or three you just can't have too much glitter. Nathan asked to put more and I told him I thought his star was already beautiful. He told me "but Mommy, more glitter will make it more beautiful!". Knowing that Jesus would absolutely love these excessively glittered decorations for his birthday, I gladly handed him the bottle and let him have at it.

I always thought I'd detest all of the homemade ornaments when they started pouring into our house, but secretly I really like them. The kids are just so proud to see their work hanging on the tree, that I can't help but like them.

An early visit from the tooth fairy

We've had our first visit from the tooth fairy! Poor Emie took an unfortunate spill at the playground last summer which left one of her front teeth pretty loose. It held on for a while, but she took another unfortunate spill a few weeks ago and it came completely out. So it looks like she'll follow in her Aunt Kelly's footsteps and be toothless for quite a while.

It wasn't too painful for her and she got over it pretty quickly. And we think she is still pretty darn cute!

And she has a crisp new dollar in her piggy bank :)

Busy bags

One of the best things that I did to help prepare for Isaac's arrival was to participate in a busy bag exchange. A friend of mine organized it and was able to gather 30 women to each make 30 of one activity for either toddlers or preschoolers. It was a lot of work at 38 weeks pregnant to make the bags, but soooooo worth it! Our box arrived when Isaac was about 2 or 3 weeks old and we have been loving exploring all of the different activities. They keep the big kids occupied and I don't have to plan out as many things for our learning time. Here are some pictures of the kids doing some of the activities.

Nathan is shaping play dough into numbers and Emie is doing it with shapes.

Emie is matching felt popsicles with the stick with the appropriate color on it. The other side of the sticks have the name of the color written in black, so Nathan can work on his sight words.

Nathan is doing a bug match game. He has to find the appropriate matching bug and they are a few layers, to challenge a bit more. I helped Emie with it and it was good for talking about big/small, the type of bug and colors.

Emie is stuffing pom poms through small holes in a plastic container. Great for keeping her occupied and good for fine motor practice too!

Nathan is working on patterns with pom poms. They start basic and get more complicated.

I know the kids have enjoyed it because Nathan was wondering if Santa might bring him another box of "activities"!

When people ask me for advice on preparing for a second baby, I always recommend putting together activities for your older child. Someone recommended this to me when Emie was born and it was a life saver. While it was a lot of work to put together my 30 bags, it would have been far more time consuming and expensive to do 30 different activities.

Here is the link to where we found all of the busy bag ideas, in case anyone wants to make any of their own.

http://unsolicitedadvice-n-such.blogspot.com/p/busy-bag-swaps.html