Wednesdays with Will and Katie: March 2013

Monday, March 25, 2013

Mascara

Katie's first attempt at applying mascara...

Sand bug

This is one my favorite pieces of Will's recent artwork. It's a sand bug.

Annual Easter Egg Hunt with Armando and Adele

This weekend we did our third annual Easter Egg Hunt with Armando and Adele. The kids had a blast! Will and Armando re-hid the eggs multiple times after the first egg hunt, and then Katie "hid" all the empty eggs. Everyone had a great time - we always love our time with the Ioppolos.

Armando and his basket of eggs!

Will on the hunt

Evey one looking for the last egg!

Will showing off his eggs!

Sitting down to open the eggs

Hugs from Armando

Will inhaling some jelly beans

Easter Bunnies

Will thought the photographer was hilarious - as evidenced by his smile. Katie on the other hand...didn't. At least she looks less terrified than last year!

Painting the Fence

Will has a new self appointed "job" - painting the fence. He uses a paint roller and rolls water on the fence. He then uses a fan cleaner (taken from a neighbors garbage) to dry the fence. It's an endless activity that he seems to enjoy.

All was fine and good until he decided to climb the fence. I am pretty sure he could make it over the top, but luckily he has some fear in him and that wasn't of interest. Phew.

Flower from Will

Will picked a dandelion for me at the park. When they got in the car to come home, he told Loli not to roll down his window or put on the air conditioner so that the flower would make it home in tact.

When he handed it to me, it looked like this. He insisted I put it in a vase so we had this on our counter for a few days.

So sweet.

Little Artist

Katie is really into painting and coloring, and unfortunately, everything is her canvas. That includes her body, her brothers face, our floor, our TV (!!!) and even a wall. I'm sure there is more that I am ~~blocking out~~ forgetting.

This is one of the few things where Will follows her lead vs the the other way around. He was never into body art until Katie started. See below for pictures of their body painting the night before we were supposed to go take pictures with little bunnies for Easter.

Getting in the water table to get the paint off

The night before Easter pictures... I think this picture really shows how meticulous Katie is with her coloring and it seems obvious here that Will was just copying her. He looks like he could care less, Katie looks proud!

Katie is also really into drawing. Here is a picture she made with a piece of printer paper and a pen she found in my purse. She was so proud of her masterpiece!

Close up

Hold You and I Do

Katie is talking a lot more all of a sudden. She repeats a lot more words and seems to have a lot to say. Chad and I love that she says "Hold You" when she wants to be held. Will did the same thing, and we think it comes from us asking "Do you want me to hold you?"

She also is doing so much on her own - she is quite independent. She will tell you "I do" which is more like "eyedo" all together. (My parents say I said "me do it" and was similar with needing independence.) She likes to climb into her car seat and buckle her own buckles. Trying to help her only results in a longer process where she has to undo what you did to help. She zips her own boots, puts on her own shoes, zips her PJ's, puts on her bloomers, etc. She is very proud of all she can do and will you look at me and smile when she does something on her own.

Sliding with dad

Pushing dad in the swing

Living at home with twins

Yesterday Will told me that when he grows up he will have twins named Margot and Harrison (some twins he knows)...but not to worry - he will still live at home with us.

I guess this is a step up from when he wanted to have 2 babies, a boy and a girl. They weren't twins, their names were to be Katie and Will, and Katie was the mom. Katie and Will were going to live in Will's room and the babies were to live in Katie's room. At least this time, Katie wasn't the mom although he didn't say who was!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Spring Break

When Will got his schedule for school, I looked for the week of Spring Break and immediately starting planning a trip! My good friend Meagan had just returned from a Disney Cruise and raved about it. We looked into it and next thing you know, we were all set for a 4-night cruise and 2 days at Disney World with my parents!

I think we planned this last April, so there has been much anticipation about this trip! Our wonderful Disney Travel Agent and good friend Kelli took care of all the details, and we had a fabulous time!

I hadn't cruised in about 5 years and I had forgotten how much I loved it! The boat was truly amazing, the service fantastic and the staff was the absolute friendliest. The kids loved it and so did we. Katie got to play in the nursery during the day and at dinner, and Will got to go to the kids club. Both were impressive!

Chad and I got some down time while the kids were at their clubs and we were able to watch Oz in 3-D and just relax. The cruise was truly a vacation for all.

Disney World wasn't quite as relaxing, but it was a lot of fun! The kids enjoyed it - Chad and Will especially enjoyed Star Tours. I think Will rode it a total of 4 times - including rides with Lovey and Granddad. The kids loved traveling with their grandparents and so did I!

Every time Katie saw Mickey Mouse she would point and say "Mouse!" There is something derogatory about pointing and yelling "mouse" and I am pretty sure we laughed every single time this happened.

One of the highlights not pictured was seeing Will and Katie interact. They really are sweet friends who often share well, play together, and truly enjoy each other. I loved listening to their squeals as they played, hearing Will ask Katie to follow him, and hearing Katie reply "Coming Toto". Nothing makes me smile bigger than seeing them happily playing together.

On the plane home, Will, while snacking on chips, looked at me and said "During take off, I need to swallow a lot. But I don't know how to swallow baked lays!" I guess he usually drinks during take off and landing, and associated swallowing with drinking. It is these sweet little things that he says that make me smile every time I think of them.

We are back home now and looking into a cruise for 2014! Our travel agent is a true Disney expert, so if you need help planning a trip, let me know and I can connect you with Kelli!

Arrival in Orlando