Pop and his helicopter

The boys have learned to say helicopter. Well, I wish it came out as "helicopter," but unfortunately they both say it and it sounds like something that rhymes with "clock"...you get the idea :)


Anyway, the boys get so excited when they see a helicopter outside and have to call it out. Sometimes, Eric's dad, or Pop as they call him, will fly over the house in his helicopter. We take the the boys out to see him and tell them that Pop is in the helicopter. They've seemed rather confused by this so yesterday we took the boys to see Pop get into his helicopter and take off.


It was so cool to see their expressions. They were just amazed by the helicopter, but when it came to getting into it, they wanted nothing to do with it :). Maybe someday they won't be scared and they can go for a ride.

When we first got to Grandma and Grandpa Groen's and they saw the helicopter, they were so excited.
Carter was very apprehensive once Pop moved it out of the hangar. This is as far as he would go!
Brandt watching Pop start up the helicopter.

Carter watching the helicopter start up.

And here Pop goes. Up up and away!

Here Eric is pointing out Pop as he flies around.

And here he comes back! The whole time Eric's dad was flying, they boys kept saying, "Pop! Pop!" and pointed to the helicopter.

Walking out to see the helicopter

Both boys were apprehensive about the helicopter. They were fine from afar, but neither wanted to get inside.

awww...poor Brandt! I think maybe the boys thought it was going to take off.

The boys were really amazed seeing the helicopter up close and seeing Pop take off. Hopefully now they will understand that their Pop is in the helicopter in the sky.

Elina's two month appt

Last Monday was Elina's appointment for her two month well check. I took the boys with me and it was quite the experience to say the least. If it could have gone wrong that day, it surely did! The doctor was running late and the nurse took forever to take Elina's measurements and give her her vaccinations. The boys were cranky because it was their naptime and fussed the ENTIRE time. Then when we left and I had everyone back in the car and buckled in, I noticed Brandt had lost his shoe and I had to take everyone back in to retrieve it. All this happened and it was past the boys' naptime. Needless to say they were CRANKY. Ugh...it was just an awful day.

The good news is that Elina is doing great!

Here are her stats:

Weight: 10lb 10 oz~44th percentile

Length: 22.5 inches~56th percentile

Head circumference: 15.16 inches~44th percentile

In the past month she has begun to coo and it is just soo cute. She's quite the little talker. She still doesn't enjoy tummy time, but loves playing on her activity mat and trying to swat at her toys.

Elina's 1 month appt

Last week Elina turned one month old and went to her one month well check. I can't believe she's been here for a month already! Time is flying so fast!

We had a monther/daughter date and visited the pediatrician. It was fun and we even wore matching leopard print outfits :).

Below are Elina's stats at one month:

Weight: 8 lb 13 oz - 37th percentile
****last month she weighed 7 lb 1 oz at her appointment. What an increase!***
Length: 21.5 inches- 66th percentile
Head circumference: 14 inches- 23rd percentile


Here she is before her appoinment trying on accessories.
In our matching outfits ready to leave.

At the doctor's office (she'd just had her Hep B shot).

Ponyo

The boys loooooove the movie Ponyo. Everytime we put it on, they stop in their tracks and are mesmerized by it. It has saved dinner many times recently! I've been waiting for them to be able to watch tv so I can turn it on to get something done (and no, I'm not ashamed to admit that!).

Anyway, it's a really good movie and is just beautiful to watch. Oh, and the music in the movie is so pretty. The English version has a great cast: Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Cloris Leachman, Betty White, Cate Blanchett and Leeam Neeson are some of the voices in the movie.

Here are the boys watching while I got dinner ready a few nights ago.

They just sit there being good little boys!! The movie is a miracle!!

One Weird Recipe

I guess I should start this post with mentioning that I got an ipad!!!!! I never really wanted one or thought they were as cool as everyone said they were until Eric's mom let me borrow hers to use while I cooked a recipe. They are sooo handy to have in the kitchen. Anyway, last Saturday, Eric surprised me by saying he wanted to use the stipend he gets for educational expenses (and for some reason computers are included in the approved purchases) to buy me an ipad. Sooo sweet of him and I just love it!

I got the All Recipes application and randomly found this recipe. The ingredients are so weird! All the comments were good and some people mentioned they made the recipe as a joke only to find the cookies were good!

The recipe is called Breakfast Cookies. You know what makes them so weird? They have bacon in them! I know! So weird. The bacon adds some salty crunchiness that makes them pretty darn good. You don't want to like the cookies; there's something just wrong about seeing little bits of bacon in a cookie, but let me tell you, you're probably going to like them :).

Here's the recipe. I made them with craisins instead of raisins.

And here's what they look like.



Let me know if you try them!

Congratulations to mi padre!!

My dad received some incredibly exciting news last week. He made captain with American Airlines!!!!

This is so exciting as Dad was questioning whether he was ever going to make it. It's all based on seniority and with the airline's mergers, etc., he seemed to never be senior enough.

I am so excited and proud of my dad. He's the hardest working man I know and the promotion is well deserved. Way to go Captain!!

He'll be on the Super 80 based out of New York.

Cousins!!

While Eric's sister, Laura, was here for Christmas with her family, we had our little girls do a little photo shoot since they had matching outfits from their Grandma Groen. Our little girls are less than 2 months apart. They're going to be great friends :).

We tried to get a few with all the cousins