Zoo Trip

We visited the zoo with Jake who is a friend from Mother's Day Out.  We had a wonderful day on our adventure!

Headed to see all the monkeys.

 Checking out the Longhorns.  

Jumping in the hut in the Africa exhibit.

Banging on the drums in the Africa exhibit.

 Feeding the giraffes.

Riding the carousel.

These two kiddos were so good at the zoo that Mommy treated them to a new umbrella.  George picked the giraffe.  Clara picked the butterfly.  So cute!

Two Year Old Adventures

I try to keep these two toddlers pretty busy.  We've had some pretty fun times lately.  Here are a few pictures from our recent adventures:

 We are very into bubble blowing these days.

And we are getting pretty good at it too!

 Our local roller skating rink hosts "toddler roll" once a week where kiddos age 1 to 4 can bring their favorite wheeled toys and take over the rink.  We met some of our KAMOM friends there and the twins had so much fun!  We will definitely be visiting again!

All of the kids were really great about sharing their toys.  Clara loved this scooter

 On one of our recent greenbelt adventures we stopped to feed the ducks.

We ended up feeding some big fish too!  The twins loved it.

 We've had some warm days so we've spent some time in the kiddie pool.

 It involved lots of splashing...

...and our good friends The Livelys!

 I got out the big roll of paper and had the kids lay down so I could trace them.  We opened up the paint and they made their masterpiece.  

 These two love to paint!

 Mr. Smiles!

The finished product.  I'm sure our neighbors loved our garage art!

George Serenade

After we did some painting this morning (hence the naked toddler with paint on his belly), George decided to sing Mommy some songs using the cord to our umbrella as a microphone. 



You can hear him singing about elephants, lions, and giraffes.  He sings the words twinkle and sunshine from our nightly lullabies.  He sings the "Georgie song" which is from the name song ("Georgie, Georgie, Bo-Borgie...).  Then he moves onto Clara, Daddy, Mommy, Pop-pop, and finally Wanno which is Hadjioannou in two year old language.  I love how he stops to applaud himself during the singing.  His sweet voice puts such a huge smile on my face.  Of course you can hear Clara in the background telling him to stop singing.  Little stinker. I love these two year old days.

Twin Conversations

George and Clara are chatterboxes now.  It is really sweet to watch them interact with each other.  They say some awesome things.  George gets in moods where he talks a mile a minute with hand motions and facial expressions.  Sometimes it is about a movie he recently watched or it is a list of what he wants to eat at lunch.  Clara's sentences are getting longer and longer.  She is really pays attention in conversation and makes very sweet comments.  Here are some recent conversations:

Outside playing in our backyard George fell off the slide and landed on his bottom -
George: I crying!
Clara: Oh! You went boom?
George: Yes!  I boom.
Clara: (patting George on the shoulder) Georgie ok?
George: I cry!
Clara: (patting her own head) Hit head?
George: No.
Clara: (patting her own bottom) Oh, booty?
George: Yes.
Clara: (leaning in to hug George) Georgie ok?
George: Yes
Clara: Good (both run off to ride bikes)
:)

In our backyard sitting on our new patio furniture-
Me (to our dog): Bailey the new chaise lounge is not for dogs. It's for people ONLY!
Clara: Me a people! Me a people!
Me: Yes Clara you are a PERSON. 
Clara: No I a people mommy.
:) 


In our playroom I am laying on the floor with Clara sitting on my back- 
Clara: (putting her Fisher Price screws in my ears)
Me: Clara please stop putting those in my ears.
Clara: Mommy I doctor.
Me: Clara please stop.
Clara: Feels good?
No sweet girl. Your play screws do not feel good in Mommy's ears.
:) 

Getting ready for a playdate with some friends -
Me: We are going to go to the skating rink.  This means you guys need to behave.  There will be lots of kids there so share your toys and be nice.  Listen to Mommy too, okay?
George: NO! No Mommy!
Me: George there is a time-out spot at the roller rink too.  You need to listen to Mommy.
Clara: Mommy, Clara no time-out. (Smiles sweetly) Clara a princess.
:)

I handed Clara her toy while playing upstairs -
Me: Clara, say thank you.
Clara: Welcome.
Me: No Clara.  You say thank you. Then I say you're welcome.  Say thank you sweetheart.
Clara: Welcome
Me: Clarabear, you say thank you when someone does something for you.
Clara: Welcome.
I gave up!
:)

We had talked about Uncle Jay getting a job as a personal chef during the Masters in Augusta but never directly to George. We were driving to our friends' house for dinner.-
George: Uncle Jay?
Me: You miss Uncle Jay?
George: Yes.
Me: George that's sweet.
George: Cooking?
Me: Yes George Uncle Jay is cooking.
George: (silent for a while) at Masters?
Me: (stunned) Yes Georgie.  Uncle Jay is cooking at the Masters.
Then we turn onto the main street that both our friend's street and Aunt Christina's street run into.
George: (Looking around at all the houses.  Points out the window) Aunt Christina?
Me:  That's right George!  Aunt Christina lives off this street too.
George: (big smile on his face) Aunt Christina!!!!
His memory astounds me!
:)

Waking up in the morning Clara is usually extra cuddly.  One morning cuddling while watching a princess movie-
Me: Clarabear I love you! You're so sweet.
Clara: Mommy sweet too!
A few minutes later-
Clara: I a princess! I a princess!
Me: Clara is a princess.
Clara: Mommy princess too!
Me: I am?
Clara: Yep!
Melted my heart!
:)

Clara's mixed up words:  butterfly/"flutterfly" - ballerina/"rinabella"

George's fun words and saying: banana/"nanaba" - motorcycle/"mo-cycle" - Grandpa Hadjioannou/"Pop-pop wanno" - "Hey, whatcha doing?"

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderfully busy Easter celebration this year! We enjoyed all of our time with our family celebrating Easter.  It is such a beautiful time of year with a great message...the spirit of Easter is all about hope, love, and joyful living.

 Wake up George the Easter Bunny came!

Wake up sleepy Clara bear!

 The bunny left a note and some foot prints to follow.

Checking out the note.

Look what the bunny left...a princess movie!

What is in here?

Mr. Potato Head and Minnie Mouse!

Mater!

CANDY!

Mommy's Little bunny

That is how you rock some bunny ears!

Ready for Easter Sunday church service!

Ready for church service with Grammy Quinn!

Just brushing up on our hymns!

 Easter Basket at Grammy and Pop-pop Quinn's house!

Easter basket at Grammy and Pop-pop Quinn's House!

Hanging out at Grammy and Pop-pop Quinn's house before brunch 

 Easter Dinner was at our house.  My Easter table. 

Easter baskets from Grandma and Pop-pop Hadjioannou

 Happy First Easter sweet Elyse!

 Egg Hunting!

 Aunt Christina, Uncle Sayed, and Elyse

The cousins...no one would sit still!

A note about the following pictures:  My family grew up playing an egg game called Epper.  In this game the hard boiled eggs that were dyed for Easter are used and hit together.  The oldest person hits the egg of the youngest person until there is only one unbroken egg left.  Whoever has the last egg standing is the champion.  In John's family they played the Greek version of this game.  It is called Christos Aneste which means Christ has risen.  When one person hits the other person's egg they say Christos Aneste and the other person responds Alithos Anesti which means truly, he is risen. Yet another way our upbringings parallel each other.  Playing the same game under different names.  We always look forward to this fun game each year!

 Grandpa George hitting Elyse's egg

 Grandpa John hitting Clara's egg (or Clara whining long enough that she hit his egg)

 Grammy Carole hitting George's egg

 The final round between the Hadjioannous

Grandpa George is the champion!!!

Ready for Easter

George and Clara headed to MDO this morning ready for Easter.  Their awesome teacher made these cute outfits for them.  Looking forward to a visit from the Easter Bunny and celebrations with family this weekend.

 Smile!

 George, why are your eyes closed?

This is about how it usually goes.  Smiling sweet Clara.  George saying, "Is that a plane?"