lunch time

two videos from lunch today. captured on video are: otto's extreme mess from eating blackberries. greta's teenager face (see previous post). otto's doing a bit of flirting with me. and greta shares a bit of her letters/sounds/rhyming skills. she's got mad skills....these videos doesn't even begin to do her justice. not only can she rhyme, but she knows her sounds enough to begin to blend sounds together to make words. in other words, she is at the very beginning stages of reading. wowzers. i can barely keep up....

teenager face

over the last week or so, greta has started making this face at us that i like to call her teenager face. she gives us this look like, "what in the world are you talking about?" i'm guessing my mom will find this face somewhat familiar, because i'm pretty sure she has picked this up from me.

otto eats

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our boy otto loves his food. don't get me wrong, he is definitely more of a discerning eater than greta was at this age. when she was around a year, she would eat anything. tofu, spinach by the handful, you name it. otto, not so much. but what he does like is feeding himself. table foods mostly. he will use a spoon every so often, but he definitely doesn't have that skill mastered and he definitely thinks it's funny to watch you squirm as he puts the spoon on his head or bangs it on the table...anywhere but in his mouth.
and trying to feed him food from a spoon....forget about it. every once in a while you can slip a bite or two in while he is trying to pick up a bite of something. but where greta was fine to let you spoonfeed her while she picked up table foods at the same time, otto is quick to this idea. he hurries the food to his mouth, waves his arms in front of his face, or turns his head to refuse the spoon. unless it's cottage cheese. then all bets are off.
we can't wait to see where he weighs in at his one year checkup here in a few weeks. just this morning he ate two waffles for breakfast. the same size breakfast that i ate.

more chalk

is this weather perfect or what? we've spent a ton of time outside, enjoying bike rides, bubbles, and of course our sidewalk chalk.


doesn't this picture of greta look like some old-timey photo? where no one smiles? or little house on the prairie or something? maybe it's the braids. there's something funny about it....it cracks me up. and she LOVES picking this dress out to wear. she calls it her "who dey dress" and i cannot figure out why. either way, she was annoyed that i was trying to take her picture while she was busy drawing.



and of course here is our otto boy. he was busy trying to climb the stairs. over and over. and over again. trouble.

diggin' our friends

this past weekend, we had a gathering of some friends at our house. our friends jesse and holly and their children just moved to cincinnati, and we wanted to have a grill out to have them over and introduce them to some of our other friends. it was so much fun....the weather was perfect and we were able to be outside for most of the evening. and judging by how dirty all the kids were at the end of the evening, i think it's safe to say they had fun too. nothing like two gardening tools and a yard full of dirt to keep kids occupied. these are the only pictures i took, but they pretty much sum it up (except for the fact that greta's new buddy owen is somehow missing from the photo).

tunes and blooms and cold!

we've been enjoying tunes and blooms at the zoo again this year. tunes....blooms....what's not to like? well, maybe the 45 degree weather from last week....but we brought the coats out again and bundled them up and off we went. the flowers were beautiful and the kids still had the best time. we went again tonight and enjoyed much warmer weather....

thank you easter bunny!

we love our new sidewalk chalk!

opening day 2010

another reds opening day in the books. this one was pretty perfect, except for that the reds lost. the weather could not have been better. we were able head down early and enjoy the findlay market parade before heading to the game. our seats were fantastic (and under cover = shade!) and we had a blast! we also loved sharing the experience with some great friends....the gillards, the arthurs, and the burkholders were able to join us at the game. there were 15 people total for 8 seats (8 adults and SEVEN kids under 3!!) but all the kids were awesome and we all had so much fun! this was otto's first reds opening day and greta's third....can't wait til next year!

easter 2010

we had a fantastic easter this year, and were able to enjoy the beautiful weather with both sides of our family. click on the picture below to see all our pictures from dyeing eggs, finding easter baskets, and our easter celebrations....

easter 2010

no means no

i mentioned in an earlier post that otto has learned to shake his head no. quite vigorously. here is a video of greta getting in on the action. i wish i could make out what greta says to otto in this video. she says something i can't understand, and then says, "it's not for babies. sorry charlie." :)

tunes and blooms

so i didn't get any pictures of the tunes. or the blooms. but the zoo sure was awesome this evening! it was the first night of tunes and blooms at the zoo, so greta, otto, and i headed there this afternoon. such fun! we saw some animals, including greta's favorite the "polar bear doing his swimming exercise". then we met up with some friends for some food and live music. all in this gorgeous summer like weather. can't wait til next week!