making valentines

greta worked hard making valentines for each of her classmates.  she and otto also enjoyed looking through the bag of valentines from school friends that greta brought home.  they did this again and again (and again and again). 

storytime

it's great having a big sister who can read!

zoom zoom zoom

papa brought home some of his old hot wheels tracks.  talk about fun!

redsfest

we lucked out this year with two, two-day passes to redsfest. the whole fam headed down on friday night, and then joe and uncle bill took greta and otto on saturday.
it was super packed and super overstimulating, but super fun. otto loved it, but he barely smiled the whole time and was just looking around with big wide eyes (see exhibit A of otto in the pic with greta getting her autograph from zach cozart).
the kids got to see a whole bunch of stuff, including mr redlegs, gapper, and joey votto. they got their picture taken with bronson arroyo and heard zach cozart read a story. they ran the bases, hit balls, and jumped in a bouncy house.
but the best part was probably either the ice cream or the bags and bags of loot. and by that, i mean just all sorts of reds paraphenalia. the kids have been playing "redsfest", which consists of laying these papers out all over the floor and couch, packing them up in their backpacks, and then finding a new place to lay them out again. GO REDS!

candy

i love halloween, but i have to say i don't love the candy. up until this year, our kids have been little enough to pretty much forget about candy or treats (for halloween, easter, christmas, etc) after a day or two. but not this year. not otto. he asks for candy pretty much first thing in the morning. i mean, look at his face in the picture. he was on a sugar high just thinking about all the candy.

we love lunch!

otto takes gymnastics

the latest session of gymnastics started, and this time otto was able to sign up. oh man, was he excited!! the first day, he walked into the gym, turned around to us and threw his arms up in the air and said, "YES!!" it was awesome. he is loving it....it's funny to watch him and think back to greta starting gymnastics when she was two, and now she is almost four. not to compare, but they are truly such different children. otto does well following directions, but he also will just go and do whatever he wants (if it's time to jump on the trampoline and he wants to stay on the slide, he tries to just stay on the slide). little stinker.
greta started gymnastics again too and is doing well also. we had a few tears that first day, but she was so excited too. we are realizing that those initial tears are just her way of reacting to a change in routine. she is much like her mama in that she likes the familiar and the known, and needs a bit to adjust when something changes.
anyway, we love cincinnati gymnastics!! can't wait to sign selma up!

puddle jumping

nothing better than jumping in the puddles with your rainboots on. the kids had such fun, and i loved watching them.....

take it away!

it's a running theme around here, but our kids are definitely a little obsessed with baseball. otto especially. they study their baseball cards, they turn any toy into a bat and ball and run the bases, and they love singing "take me out to the ballgame" and "God bless america." here is the latest rendition. the video is a little long. notice how otto totally hams it up for his audience.

dog days

this week has been super duper hot. so hot that many of the days i felt like we should just stay inside and play instead of venturing out. monday was hot, but it rained early and then was overcast for most of the morning. when selma went down for her morning nap, greta and otto and i headed out back. they played and played and played. first the water table, then the pool, and they watered the garden. it was a great morning outside!

the doctor is in

greta and otto spent the night at grandma and grandpa hansbauer's while joe, selma and i traveled to vermont for johnmark and anne's wedding. here is doctor greta and nurse otto, giving gramps a thorough checkup.

headbands

greta needed a headband at dinner to keep her hair out of her face (and her food). otto asked for one to keep the hair out of his face, so i obliged.

seeing red

so our kids dress themselves. and on this particular day, they were going to the REDs game. clearly, they take supporting their home team very seriously. monochromatically, some might say. wow.....

the sweet shop

and did i mention we ended our great day with ice cream? we headed to schneiders sweet shop in bellevue for a few scoops before bedtime. the kids were super dirty from playing outside, and ice cream seemed like the perfect treat. yum. selma slept through the whole thing. maybe next time, selma.....

is this johnny cueto?

a few reds games ago, the giveaway was a pack of reds baseball cards. these have quickly become quite a popular "toy" in our house. the kids like to look at them and ask who each player is,what position they play, etc. they've gotten a lot of the names down, and it's hilarious to hear otto say things like, "is this brandon phillips? is this edinson volquez?"

at the zoo

we headed to the zoo again this week for tunes and blooms. we love the bands that were playing this week, the tillers and the seedy seeds. the kids were hoping to hear one of their favorite songs by the seedy seeds, "the coyote song", so we stayed out way past bedtime eating popcorn (otto) and dancing to see our shadows (greta). alas, we had to head out before they played the song, but we settled for rocking out to it in the car on the way home.

reading

greta and otto can often be found sitting on the stairs together, reading books. the book they are reading ("i'm a big brother") is on loan to us from our friends the sprungers. and although it's about becoming a big brother (not sister), it has been a great read for both kids. especially greta. it hits on how lucky it is to have a new baby in your family, while also mentioning how special the big kids still are. and how lucky it is to be big, because babies can't eat things like ice cream or pizza. i think that's actually the message the kids really are clinging to. and we're going with it....
both greta and otto seem to be adjusting pretty well to having selma around. at first, every time she cried they'd both come running to her, yelling, "what's wrong with the new baby?" now they will guess that maybe she needs to eat or needs a diaper change. they like to hug on her and kiss her (which is why she has a cold already), and they always want to know where she is and what she's doing.
i think the biggest adjustment so far is not selma, but rather having mama out of commission a bit because of my recovery from the c-section. greta has said things like, "when is mama going to drive me to school again?"....i think they are noticing how i'm not doing as much as i was before. and they are acting out a bit....just sort of testing the limits. which makes sense. and when i say acting out, they are still greta and otto, so their acting out is not too hard to handle. i think once i am feeling better and we can all sort of adjust to what our new routine is like, things will settle into the new normal.

Greta and Otto Visit Selma

Greta and Otto came to visit their new baby sister on Saturday. It went really well.. a bit different than we expected... Otto was very excited to see the baby and really wanted to hold her. Greta was interested, but not as much as Otto.

They were both great with her. They came back down the second day, and it seemed like they were started to get worn out by the fun of staying with Grandma and Grandpa. It was great to have them be able to spend the whole weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Hansbauers... they went to Bob Evans, had bubble baths, went to build a bear, made fudge, and generally had a blast...

I don't know if they realize baby Selma is staying for good, but so far they seem to welcome her with open arms.

ikea

we woke up on sunday with nothing to do all day long. and then greta opened her dresser drawer to pick out her clothes and the drawer broke. so our plans for the day quickly became...ikea! which no one minded at all because i think we all like to go there.
so a new dresser was purchased, playtime was had, and lunch (swedish meatballs!) was eaten. all in all, a good day. and we ran into our friends the burkholders AND family from otto's music class....what's the chance of that?!

oh, and be sure to check out greta's ensemble...i particularly love the brown socks with pink shoes and capri pants. especially on a day when it was sleeting outside.

baby presents

the kids and i had a big day on friday, officially one week to the day before baby #3 is scheduled to arrive. greta was off school for an inservice, so we got haircuts, went to the toy store, went to the bookstore, and went over to our friends the arthurs house for a playdate and lunch. it was a great day!
the trip to the toystore and the bookstore were to pick out a toy and a book for the kids to give to the baby when she arrives.....sort of a welcome present. we talked about this at length....WHY we were going there, WHO we were getting something for. greta and otto even came up with a book they wanted to buy for the baby. and then we arrived. and they just wanted to play with the toys at the toystore. who can blame them? greta at least gave a half hearted attempt....she found a toy that she thought the baby might like, along with one she liked and one she picked out for otto. ha!
when we got to the bookstore, i thought i was in for more of the same. but luckily for me, the store's credit card machine was down and they could only take cash. so one book for the baby later, we were out of there. but greta keeps assuring me that even though the book is for the baby, "everyone in our family can read it because we share books".
we can't wait for the new addition to our family!