Kids at the Park

These amazing photos were taken by Grandpa Faiola. They came up and took care of the kids for a a night so Chris and I could do an overnight date to California for a friend's party.

Jamisen has turned into quite a little dare devil; grandpa Faiola was astounded to see Jamisen's developmental progress since the last time they were at that park together.

Lily loves to do anything that Jamisen does and just follows him along everywhere. They are the best of friends.

Anyone that knows our family in the slightest, slightest bit knows that I think sugar is poison (no really and truly, I believe that with all of my heart). Sugar is limited in our house hold as is junk food or processed food.  Lily found my Xylitol based gum in my car (primer: xylitol has some research showing it helps to clean out your teeth in between brushings and inhibit bacterial growth, thus preventing cavities). She naturally wanted a piece. I gave her one. She of course, swallowed it.

Later, she said to me, "Mama, I want more gum! I want another piece of gum." Jamisen looked up and appeared rather puzzled, asking, "Mama, what's gum?" I'm not going to lie; my heart leapt with pride. He's almost five and doesn't even know what gum is (!). That said, xylitol based gum is probably something I should introduce to my kids. After all, if it's something I do for my health, I should do it for them too!

We're trying to figure out what we're doing with Lily and school next year. We know we want to put her in Montessori school but she has such a strong bond with her teacher at Hillcrest that we hate to break them up.

But, keeping her in school at Hillcrest for 2 days a week also seems like overkill (that's five days of school for her and it totally messes up the nanny schedule too) so we're trying to figure out what we're doing that is best for Lily, the family schedule and the needs of the nanny (he needs enough hours to stay with our family.

Baby Alise is growing up so quickly too. She's starting to talk a bit is super mobile now. Shout-out to Grandma and Grandpa Renoud who gave Jamisen the hat that Alise is wearing in the photo above. It's gotten a lot of love from multiple kids and still looks awesome. =)

Grandpa Faiola took Jamisen to the electricity museum. Jamisen LOVED it. Grandpa reports that he was very polite and interested in everything at the museum. He came away with an intense curiosity about all things electrical and quite a momento, courtesy of Grandpa. His plasma light globe has a place of honor in his room and it sure is cool when all the lights are turned off. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for coming up and taking care of the kiddos!