Ms. Hannah the Teacher

I've said it many times before, Hannah is such a mimic. It's so extremely cute watching her pretend. Since most of her day is spent at daycare, she likes to copy what she sees her teacher doing. It first started off with cleaning. She loves spray bottles and spraying the tables and wiping them with a towel or sweeping. Her next favorite thing to do is changing the dirty diapers of her dolls. Over the last month or so, she'll have a pen and paper and ask me "how many?". Never quite understood why she was asking me that and thought she was practicing writing numbers. Then it dawned on me the other day that she was copying her teachers and directors at daycare. Once an hour, they go to each class and ask "how many?" so they could get a count of kids. Hannah picked up on that as well. Another thing she would do, is lay the dolls down, put blankets on them and pat their backs to sleep. It's so adorable, I had to share.

Here she is teaching.

Putting the kids down for nap time.

Cleaning

Snack time.

The proud teacher.

How can you not love this girl.

Merry Christmas from the Marlers

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The kids thought the timer was the coolest thing ever, so we proceeded with taking 10 more pictures but I'll show you just one.

The kids were so excited about Christmas. More Ian than Hannah. I'm sure she'll understand what Christmas is next year. We talked (maybe more threatened) to Ian about Santa Claus and how he delivers presents to the "nice" kids and not the naughty. We baked cookies thursday night and he told Daddy what to write in his letter to Santa. This is what was left out for Santa Christmas Eve.

I'm sure I gained 5 pounds from those cookies :)

Asked the two kids to take a picture together. Trying to get both of them to look at the camera and smile at the same time is nearly impossible. This was the best I could get.

Kids will be kids and Ian decided he'll take the picture with his eyes closed, for which Hannah thought was hilarious.

What big brother does, little sister must copy.

The kids had a great time today opening presents. They wish Christmas was every day.

My proud Mommy moment of the day. I opened my gift from my Mom and it was a Coach purse. Hannah took it from me and said it was hers. Then proceeded to put Dora stickers on it.

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas day as we had.

Pictures added to the Shutterfly site

Since I can't seem to write, the telling of Ian and Hannah's life will just be a picture book for now. http://marlerfamily.shutterfly.com/

Love the weather this time of year

This is a good time of the year here in Arizona, not too hot and not too cold. I being from San Francisco wish it were a few degrees cooler, but I'm happy with the 80s. Now that it is cooler, we've been spending more time outside. This is one of the kids favorite things to do, hang out in front of the house and play with the next door neighbors, Olivia and Jackson. Olivia is about two years older than Ian and Jackson is a few months older than Hannah I believe. The kids get along so well. Ian and Hannah just love them and get so excited when they're outside. Today, the kids rode around in their cars, bikes, and scooters in front of the house and scared a lost cat away who kept coming toward our house.

No time for pictures Mom, must catch up. (What smart kids we have, leaning in to gain speed)


Okay...time for a quick photo


And we're off again.

Hmmm...could there be a future with these two?

Happy Halloween 2009!

Has anyone seen Ian? I'm unable to find him.

Ahhh....he's transformed in to Optimus Prime.

Months ago he wanted to be a pirate again, then a Jedi, then Bumblebee from Transformers, and finally decided on Optimus Prime. He was so excited to be Optimus Prime, he was talking about it in class for weeks.

Here's Ian and his daycare class. They had their Halloween party an hour or two before this picture was taken so I think they were all going down from their candy-sugar rush. Ian's probably the tallest in his class.

I had to add this picture in, look at the air Ian gets when jumping. Too bad he's not interested in sports, he could be the next Michael Jordan.

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's Super Hannah Girl!

I've been wanting to dress her up as a ladybug since she was born. I think the ladybug costume is so cute, but Hannah is very picky with what she wears. Andrew and I predicted that Hannah wouldn't want to wear all of the pieces of the ladybug costume or any costume at all, so we went with an easy one piece costume, Supergirl. Turns out, this fits her personality better.

What a cutie she is

This one is my favorite, it has such attitude in it.

And now she's off to save the world!

What's Halloween without pumpkins. Instead of carving the pumpkins, I had the kids decorate it. Here's their final masterpieces.

Hannah's

Ian's

Here's the only picture we could get of the two together.

This was Hannah's first time trick-or-treating. In the past, she's been home with me passing out candy. Ian showed her the ropes like a good big brother. Hannah probably ate half her candy while she was out.

Pictures Posted

I posted all of the pictures we took from the last couple of months on the shutterfly page, http://marlerfamily.shutterfly.com . Now, if I could only update this blog...

The Question

I know, I know, I'm so behind in posting updates. I promise I will upload pictures and update the happenings of the kids soon. I had to add this tonight though before I forgot.

About a month or so ago, Ian and I had this conversation as I was about to read to him:
Ian: "how do babies come out of mommy's tummy?"
Mommy: (Thinking...how should I answer this...the truth...or tell him the stork delivers the baby...Andrew and I never talked about how we would answer this...why is he asking me, he's only 3...this should be a conversation when he's at least 8) "Ummm... Ian time for bed" (maybe he'll forget his question)
Several minutes pass by...
Ian: "how do babies come out of the tummy?"
Mommy: (Thinking...oh great, I better say something this time) "When the baby is ready to come out, Mommys go to the hospital and the doctor helps take out the baby"
Ian: "Mommy I don't want to go back to your tummy"
Mommy: "You will not go back to my tummy, you're too big! Small babies are in the tummy"
Ian: "Like Hannah? Hannah can go back in your tummy"
Mommy: (laughing) "No Ian, Hannah is too big, you have to be a really small baby"
That was the end of that for the night. Thank goodness he didn't ask me where do babies come from.

Until tonight...
It was bed time again and I was letting him watch an episode of Diego. I wasn't really paying attention to the episode, but then Ian said to me:
Ian: "Mommy you eat me"
Mommy: (Thinking...where did this statement come from???) "No Ian, I didn't eat you"
Ian: "Yes, you eat me, that's how I got in your tummy"
Mommy: (Looking at the Diego episode, it was a turtle and I think she had babies. This must be where he got this topic from) "No Ian, that's not how you got in my tummy"
Ian: "How do babies get in the tummy?"
Mommy: (Thinking...why me? Why doesn't he ask these things to Andrew? Oh great, what should I say) "Ummm...when Mommy and Daddys are ready for a baby, they wish and wish and a baby grows in the tummy"
Ian: "But how do babies get in the tummy?"
Mommy: "Uhhhhh...Mommy and Daddys love each other a lot. They decide they want to have babies and they wish for one and a baby gets in the tummy"
Ian: "Then how do babies get out of the tummy?"
Mommy: "They go to the hospital and the doctor takes the baby out. That's how you were born. You were small and you came out and were crying"
Ian: "Why was I crying?"
Mommy: "You were happy to be out and wanted to say hi to mommy and daddy"
Then I changed the subject to end it there.

Let's just hope, he doesn't ask me again. I think I need to search the web for better answers.

Mommy's Birthday Disneyland Trip

March 11 was my 33rd birthday. Can't believe I'm 33 now. It hurts to just say it. So, how do I decide to celebrate getting older? Going to the place where a I can be a kid again. It also helps that the kids love it there too.

It started off just being a one day trip to take advantage of the free birthday thing, but since several members of my family were goings, it became a much longer trip. Andrew was a bit tired of Disney since we just went in December, so he didn't go. No sweat there, I had three other babysitters.

We all had a great time. We got some Spring Break crowds, but not too much. Our longest wait time was 20 minutes and that was for Dumbo. The weather was good, not too hot and not too cold. It was my birthday, but the trip centered around the kids and I wouldn't have it any other way. We did whatever Ian wanted to do. Hannah was just happy to sit in the stroller and be pushed all day long. I think in another year, she'll be telling us where to go as well. We rode all of the kiddie rides and the newly remodeled It's a Small World. The more popular rides of the kids were It's a Small World, the train, Chip n Dale's roller coaster, and Winnie the Pooh.

I have to brag, I'm so proud of my little man. His favorite ride was Thunder Mountain. That's the fast roller coaster train. He kept wanting to go on it again and again. The pictures make him look like he's scared, but he loved it.

Here's just some of my favorite pics from the trip:

Now I'm not a big fan, but Hannah took a huge liking to cotton candy. It's sugar, so I guess what kid wouldn't. She'd ask for cotton candy and popcorn every time we walked by them.



I asked him to take a picture on Dumbo and he decides he'd rather hang off of Dumbo.


Mommy gets motion sickness so Auntie Kristi was more than willing to take the kids on any of the rides that spin even the teacups. Thank you Auntie Kristi!


Anyone who knows Ian knows he's fascinated with vehicles. He was pretty giddy when we went to Main Street's firehouse and he got to climb around the old fire vehicle. There was lots of imagination going on. In this picture, he's telling me to hold on tight, they're rushing to a fire.


I for "Ian"





I just love these shots of Hannah. She has such a great smile. She refuses to wear hats or sunglasses, so I had to catch these moments really quick. It's too bad, I really wanted to buy her some minnie mouse ears.


Our one family picture that we were able to get.

Goings On

We were playing outside over the weekend and I had propped open the garage door so we could have easy access to the house. The door had been kept open by a small wooden block held between the door and door frame. Hannah decided that the door should be closed so she went inside and started pushing. Instantly there was a loud pop and the door stopped moving which mad Hannah frustrated so she redoubled her efforts. Shortly after there was a second loud pop which got Daddy's attention. You can probably see this coming.

In a few seconds our one year old and a one inch wooden block had managed to separate the door and frame in two of the three hinges (that's 8 wood screws folks). You may now refer to Hannah by her honorary title - Princess of Power.

Ian was playing tonight and seems to have slid and landed too hard on the furniture, hurting his bottom. He then walked up to me, turned, puts hands on the floor and rump in the air and requested, "Kiss my butt daddy!"

Daddy kisses can fix any ill. And yes, I did.

New Pictures Added

Added pictures to the Shutterfly site. http://marlerfamily.shutterfly.com

Ian finally got his hair cut!!!!

For the past two months, Ian absolutely refuses to get his hair cut. We've taken him many times in the past to this place called Snip-Its. He'd fight and cry a little but we'd eventually calm him down and get his hair cut. We'd go to the same very nice lady each time. The last time we were there, he sat by himself and was very good about the hair cut, so we thought that's the end of the battles. No way Jose. He's refusing to go. He gets in to these huge crying fits about getting his hair cut. He's says the clippers hurt him even though we've told and shown him it doesn't. So, after much going back and forth with him, we got him to sit down one day in our bathroom and Andrew clipped his hair. We didn't want to push our luck, so we didn't get to cut it with scissors and here's how it looked for about two weeks.



His bangs werealmost touching his eyes and being the obsessive compulsive that I am, it just bugged me every day. He was also helmet head since Andrew could only buzz the bottom. After much convincing, I got him to let Daddy cut his hair a second time. He flinched when it tickled him as you can see below.





He wasn't that happy about it at times and was not enjoying Mommy taking pictures. So, both Ian and Daddy kicked me out of the bathroom, hence the few pictures of the experience. Anyways, his hair looks so much better now, he's such a handsome boy.



This morning, he told Daddy, "My hair is getting long again, I need you to cut it tonight". We didn't get a chance to do it today, but yeahh!!!! that he wants it done.

More pictures added to February album

I added pictures from our picnic dinner last night at the park. Liam's family joined us after our dinner and the kids got to run around a bunch.


Taken today. Ian was not wanting to put his shirt on, hence the naked top. Hannah and Ian were just fighting over the grapes. Hannah won, but she wasn't in the mood for pictures.

Ian at 3 1/2

Ian's so proud to be there. Everything to him needs to be in 3's... 3 kisses, 3 hugs, 3 stories to read, 3 bites. For the longest time, he's been doing 3 on his primary hand, the right hand. Today, was the first time he showed he can do it on the left hand as well. Go motor skills!

Most annoying habit: Nose picking. He is constantly picking his nose and we tell him to stop, but he just gets a kick out of it. As I've mentioned before, he's handing us his bugger in the picture below. What a guilty smile.

About mid January, we changed Ian's school schedule. If you've read previous blog entries, we had Ian at 2 different preschools and daycare (Kindercare). For most of December and early January, Ian was fighting going to Carebear preschool. He kept saying he missed his friends at Kindercare. So, around mid-January, Niki had an opening on thursdays and Andrew and I decided to take Ian out of Carebear. Ian hasn't missed it since we've taken him out. It was a great preschool, but Ian wasn't enjoying it as much as we'd hoped. He's been really happy to be back at Kindercare and playing with the friends he's grown to know over the years.

Ian's new schedule:
Monday: All day at Kindercare. Tumble Town Gymnastics class while at Kindercare
Tuesday: PB&J Preschool in the morning. Kindercare in the afternoon
Wednesday: All day at Kindercare
Thursday: PB&J Preschool in the morning. Kindercare in the afternoon
Friday: Donut day at Kindercare! Ian loves pink donuts. All day at Kindercare.

Somewhere in Ian's days at Kindercare, he also attends Phonics and Music class so he's still getting a well-rounded education.

We're very excited for Ian to be at Ms. Niki's PB&J Preschool two days a week now. Thanks to Niki, we have seen much more alphabet and letter recognition. He even knows the number 100. When we ask him about a number, he'll often repeat the song that goes with it. For example, for the number "3", "Around the tree, around the tree, that's how you write the number 3". Or for the letter "R", "A line down, a curve around, and then a kickstand". He's very good about writing "Ian" and recognizing the letters that make his name when we're out driving around. When we read to him, he's very interested in the words that we read and pointing to each one as we read. This is only from two days at Niki's...can't wait for him to attend 5 days starting this summer!

One of Ian's recent developments is memorization of books. We make it a habit of reading Ian 3 books at bed time at least 5 of 7 nights of the week. Often times, we read the same book, "Little Thomas", "Green Eggs and Ham", "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", "If You Take a Mouse to School", "Go Train Go", etc. Well, now when Ian feels like it, he'll read some of the pages to us. I swear he can recite half of "Green Eggs and Ham" to us. Even Niki made a comment the other day that Ian's starting to memorize the books. I'm impressed.

We're taking a break from Rollie Pollies right now to give us time for other activities. I've signed Ian up for T-ball to start in a couple of weeks. It'll expose him to the sport and for socializing. I'm highly expecting him not to want to play but we'll keep encouraging him.

Favorite shows: Ian is over Oswald now, isn't even interested in watching him anymore. Woohoo! Now, he's back in to Diego. I've managed though to get him interested in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He seems to really enjoy that. He'll also watch Tigger & Pooh if it's on. I've tried to expose him to Handy Manny and while he'll watch it, he doesn't really ask for it.

He still loves everything that moves. He enjoys playing with his train set occasionally, but will also build trailers, cable cars, and airplanes with his duplos. Ian's been very much in to pretend lately and loves to pretend he's a super hero. With the weather being so nice right now, we spent a good amount of time in front of the garage or at the park. Ian is still enjoying riding his bike and scooter. He can even ride standing up on his bike. We've thrown the idea of taking his training wheels off to him, but he's not agreeing yet. Here's Ian trying to add air to his tires. He watched Daddy add air to the Mommy's tires, so he had to do it too.



Here's Ian helping Daddy make Mommy a Red Velvet Cake for Valentine's Day. He just loves to help...especially licking the batter (something Daddy taught him to do)