Rachel, Happy Birthday!!!

Rach,
Some of my favorite memories of you have to do with music. Choreographing dance numbers in our family room, playing keyboard in Debbie Gibson's "band" (you were the best Debbie) and hanging out in your room listening to Belinda Carlisle, such a privilege!!! So in honor of the big 3-0, I have compiled a few songs on my blog that really remind me of you . I think that when you hear them you will understand why, so turn up the volume and dance!
I love you, thank you for always making everything so much fun!
Happy Birthday Sis!!!
Love Em

Wonderful talk!!!

Please take a few minutes to watch and listen to this entire talk. It is awesome! Mom, thanks for sending this my way, it's just what I need to hear just about every day of my life. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snAjZ8mfoYw

Happy 2nd Birthday Ian!!!

Ian turned two on June 23rd, and boy does he live up to the age. Ian is such a great boy, he loves to laugh and make others laugh. He is such a sweet heart, he loves his big brother and emulates him in every way, and he is so sweet with Simon. He get's the whole "big brother" role an is always trying to help Simon, to hold him and to calm him down and especially loves kissing him and blowing raspberries on his belly. Ian is such a great part of our family! Here are some pictures from his birthday party. Sorry they are sort of blurry, I don't know what happened, Nick took the pics and he is usually so great. Oh well!

Ian is so proud to be "2"

Ian got a tricycle for his birthday, he really rocks the helmet!

He picked out the dino cake himself, he was so excited to eat the chocolate cake!

Goofy Gabe, always ready for a party!

And of course, a great picture of Simon, he loves a party too!

T-ball!

Well t-ball was quite the adventure! It was very time consuming but Gabe loved it so it was worth it. Gabe really enjoyed the experience as a whole but he says that his favorite part was hitting the ball. He didn't like being in the outfield but as you can see below he found a way to entertain himself. Here is Gabe trying for the first time to hit a, "coach-pitched" ball...he came close!








He had much better luck using the "T".



















Look how handsome and focused he looks!
(This was his very first game, and his very first experience in the outfield)













In contrast, this is his last game. He loved the dirt! There were a couple of times when someone would hit the ball right to Gabe, he would contemplate dropping his mitt full of dirt, then most of the time decide against it and let the ball roll on by. It was funny! I think that next year he is going to archeology camp at the museum of natural history.






Here Kalli is on first base. She did a great job, she really is a natural on the field! I love this picture because off to the side you can see the 1st base coach hugging what I am guessing is his daughter, while Kalli is instructing his player to run on to second. Of course in T-ball there is no outs or score-keeping, otherwise she would have him our in a second. Kalli we love you!




The best part of all to Gabe was getting the trophy after his last game. The night he got it he kept saying, "It's my first trophy" because of course it is the natural progression in life to get trophies after anything organized. He shows it off to everyone that comes to our house. We are proud of him!

Get ready to rock!

If you have ever wanted to see what I do for a living, look no further! Recently Darlene, my boss, did an appearance promoting our company, Imagination Place on KJZZ. She asked us to come as well as some other families that we teach there to show everyone what we do. So here is a clip of our family doing our music thing. Most of you know that Nick and I are always feeding our passion for making music and we have three boys who would be hard pressed not love music too. I am lucky enough to combine my passion with my career and have taught music and movement classes through 3 pregnancies really until right before I gave birth to each of my boys. When you watch the clip you will see what that does for kids, especially an infant! For the record, Simon is drumming his own instrument, there is only one short moment where Nick assists his hand. I hate the idea of making my friends and family into potential "sales", but this program is so worthwhile and soooooo much fun! Our family has taken weekly music classes together since Gabe was born and while it may seem pricey, we have so many great memories and a hobby that everyone can enjoy for a long time to come. So if any of you want more info about Imagination Place or Music Together (one of the awesome programs I teach) please email me or better yet check out our website! We have something for every age and developmental stage starting from birth.

http://www.kjzz.com/entertainment/hometeam/tuesday/25825599.html

www.imaginationplace.com