dinner conversation

(Mommy and Daddy nagging a very distracted Allia to eat her dinner)

Allia: Jesus will eat my dinner because he is in my heart.

Me too!

Mariana says this a lot. She is always trying to keep up with big sister, and now with our little homeschooling lessons it is no different. When I finish Allia's reading lesson, Mariana demands that she have one too. So Allia and I point to a few of the sounds and have Mariana repeat them after us with a little smile on our faces. She loves it!

Reading success

Well, we have formally started homeschooling preschool, which for me means the 100 Easy Lessons Book at least 3 times a week and making a point to use educational toys/puzzles/games daily. I am happy to announce it is going great! Allia is breezing through the book so far. It says "20 minutes a day," but I don't think we have spent over 15 minutes yet because she is just picking things up so quickly. I know all of our homeschooling days will not be so easy, but I am sure enjoying a good start at least! I am so proud of her and so excited for her to be able to read on her own soon!

Lessons gone awry

Today at the lunch table, Allia spontaneously proclaimed that she likes Prince Romance. This is one of the princes from the book, The Princess and the Kiss, which we really like. My sister was so sweet to get it for her for Easter. It is one of Daddy's favorite books to read to her.

Anyway, the problem is that in the end the princess chooses the humble farmer out of all the men courting her because he saved his kiss for her just as she did for him. Why, then, does our Allia favor Prince Romance? "Because he gives the princess chocolate, and I like chocolate." Hmmm...not the message we were hoping she would get. We obviously have some work to do here!

Healthy, growing girl

We were able to take another peek at our sweet growing girl today. At our last ultrasound, they couldn't get a good shot of her heart. Today we saw a much bigger, very sweet and healthy baby...definitely a girl! Supposedly she weighs a little under 2 lbs right now. We can hardly wait to meet her. She even stuck her little tongue out at us during the ultrasound! So cute!

A birthday treat

I really like store made cakes, so I grabbed some birthday cupcakes for Mariana and I at the store this morning. All they had were ones with brightly colored icing, so it made for some fun eating experiences!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Mariana!

and Happy Birthday to me too. :-) Mariana was my perfect little birthday gift 2 years ago. It is so wonderful to celebrate her life today. What a spunky, fun little girl and a wonderful addition to our family. Allia sure loves and enjoys her little sister and so do Austin and I!



Happy Birthday!



1 year old



Our big 2 year old! She actually pedaled her trike about 7 feet this morning. Yay Mariana! We love you!