The Black Marker

I was sorting through my spices, which requires a black marker to label the tops of the bottles. 

However, when I got up from the table, Sarah found another way to use the black marker, yet again.  

Although she thinks she having a great time when she finds a black permanent marker under a chair and decides to decorate it and the lamp shade next to it, she thought her skin would be more fun this time.  

Fourth of July, 2012

Happy 4th of July everyone from the Aiello kids.  

Sarah has turned TWO!

 Sarah got a new bike for her birthday.  

 She wanted to show off her new sunglasses and necklace at Meme's and Paca's.  

(She already had the costume on for the day and wouldn't take if off.)

 Cake and ice cream at the grandparents.

So, how do we describe Sarah at this stage of her life?  She is determined and a show off.  She loves to dress up to get attention.  She uses her face a lot to express her thoughts. She loves to follow Daniel around and now likes to make tootie noises and laugh at herself.  Aren't we so glad for his example?  She is also VERY loud when she is expressing her frustrations at anyone, much like Dan.  She loves to try to sing songs at home and says parts of prayers by herself.  She talks a lot, but isn't always very easy to understand yet.  She is a mama's girl and a Meme's girl.  Most importantly, she loves to smile and play with her brother and sister.  We love you Sarah.  

Smile...

Frank getting his grove on.

I don't think he got the high score.  

Can you say "heart attack" Daniel?

Daniel put butter spread on his own bread this morning.  He put even more than Meme or Paca, and that is saying something.  Gross!

Abby was baptized...

Abby was baptized April 14, 2012, and confirmed a member of the LDS church the same day.  

We are very proud of her choice to make this commitment to her Heavenly Father.

Abby's wants to say:

 I know we can all receive the gift of the Holy Ghost when we get baptized.  

Playing dress up

 Strike a pose...

Frankie, Jr. 

I can't explain this one.  

Kids love to dress themselves.

The kids both happen to get themselves dressed this evening, but Sarah did an extremely impressive job.  

Now, mind you, she is only 22 months old.  So, look at the skill in which she can dress herself.  

As for Daniel, he was just having an off night.  He did turn it around later before bed.  

Abby turned Eight

We had a fun weekend this last week.  Not only was it Easter, but Abby turned 8 on Friday and had a party on Saturday.  I posted more pictures on Facebook of the weekend.  

 In this picture, she has her eight candles on her strawberry heart shaped cake from the family party, Friday night.  

On Saturday at the party, each girl decorated a double layered heart shaped cake, which they made from scratch.  I think they had a good time.  

So, what does it mean to Abby when she turns eight?  Well, she is so excited to be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Now that she is growing up she gets to learn and receive more responsibilities.  She has her own little planner (pocket calendar) to keep track of her events, such as Activity Days, and her goals she has set.  She is learning to do more around the house, but also gets to stay up a little later each night with mom to write in their journals together. 

She is growing up so much.  She loves learning and doing nice things for other people.  She still loves hugs and kisses.  She enjoys being a big helper and example to her brother and sister.  She loves to be silly with her dad and Paca, oh, and wrestle with her dad any chance they get.  It just doesn't be better than a good wrestle.  We are excited to get the chance to interact with her more when she starts to homeschool next year.  We just are not getting enough chances to teach her about the gospel and Heavenly Father's laws, which is the reason we are all here, while she attends public school.  Her homework runs close to dinner time many nights and then we have little family time before day, when do we ever get a chance to teach her anything new?  Mom felt very prompted to homeschool the kids, much to her dismay.  But, it has already helped Daniel a ton in his countenance( in only three weeks), and we are excited to see Abby's countenance grow and shine even more, along with her knowledge of things she is meant to learn here on earth.  We love her and are so glad she is part of this family.  We don't know what we would do without her.  

We hope this next year is a great year for you, Abby.  

Over tired kids...

Just a little update

 Sarah loves her bags.  

One bag to carry her books was not enough, she had to have a second for the other shoulder.  

Isn't this priceless.  My mother-in-law, Rose Ann, made these silhouettes of the kids for Frank's birthday.  

Just an update on what Daniel is up to...

Sarah is always trying to keep up with her big brother and sister.

This is her latest adventure.

I love the way Daniel runs, so here is a quick clip of him.  Though, it wasn't the same as a straight run from behind, that is one of a kind.   I will post that when I get it recorded.  

This is bed time stories with Frank.  

It is so much livelier in person, but I had to attempt to share.  

Sarah loves to color

Sarah loves to color on paper, but every now and then she forgets to keep the crayons on the paper.  I just handed her a flower coloring page so I could finish the marshmallow post below, to turn around and find the black crayon was on her face instead of the paper.  This is her saying "Cheese" for the camera with the black crayon she used on her face.  It looks worse in person that this picture can show.  

Camping in

Well, even though it is February, it has been wonderfully warm here.  We even slept with the window open one night for the nice breeze.  So, the kids wanted to camp outside with their dad.    But just as they had it planned for a Friday night, it got too cold.  So, we had to go for plan B.  We camped inside, well, by "we" I mean, Frank and the kids.  I slept in my own bed while Frank took the couch and the kids slept in the indoor tent in the living room.  They have done this before, so, I had to do something special to help with the disappointment. So, I bought stuff for indoor s'mores, and used the mini marshmallows for a marshmallow fight.  We had a blast throwing things at each other, and it didn't even hurt.  I think we will have to do that again another weekend.  

Sarah had a blast too.  A few days later when we were having hot chocolate and marshmallows, Sarah took a marshmallow and walked up to Frank and threw it at him.  I don't even think she knows that you can eat them, thank goodness.  I wonder how long they take to break down in your stomach? 

Just some fun pictures

 Our silly Sarah.  She loves these old frames.  

 I tried to make her look like a mad scientist.  

 Daniel got stinging nettle.  He was using ice water in a baggy after washing his leg.  

 He just wanted a silly picture here with his ice water.

Notice the mark on her check, her chin and pen on her forehead.  She had a busy afternoon.   

This week in our house.

 One Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Abby played with play dough. 

She sculpted a family heads.

Then Sarah's toddler bean activity turned into a kids hay day on the kitchen floor.  

Sarah managed to get herself stuck in the elliptical machine this morning.  She was very calmed about it.  When I stood up to get the camera she softly said, "ep".  Too cute.  

Our Handsome Little Guy

As you can see, our little man got glasses.  He started to get what is commonly known as "lazy eye" right before school started.  It would start to get better, but stress would bring it back again.  But lately, his eye is not getting any better, so he finally made it to the doctor.  After some struggles to get the eye drops in, his dilated eyes were tested.  It was a long  two and a half hours at the eye doctor (with all three kids).  He survived the whole experience with many promises of a frosty from Wendy's.  

About a week later, he got is glasses, which have a plastic frame to handle whatever he can dish out.  He has tested them out during a few tantrums already, and they are doing great.  He has to wear the glasses all day long, and an eye patch 4 hours a day.  Today was his first day with the patch, and after a sugary bribe and some tears, he let me put it on.  He is being a big boy and doing really well considering everything he is going through.  We love our little man.  He makes us smile, along with our darling girls too.