A Day With Grandma Della & Official Walking!

Grandma Della received a very special Christmas gift from all of us this year - a full day with the Baranko clan!  She got to cash in on her voucher on Saturday when we invaded her house for about 8 hours or so.  We all went out for lunch, talked, watched the Olympics, played with the kids, ate dinner, and had a great time overall.

On Sunday Claire had her first playdate where she actually played with the other child.  My friend from business school, Olga, has a daughter just a few weeks older than Claire.  Sophia actually has the same exact birthday as our cousin Nora.  Anyway, Sophia and Claire had a grand time together and Claire was very impressed with Sophia's advanced walking abilities.  In fact, the very next day after our playdate Claire decided to start walking for realsies (instead of getting frustrated and zoom-crawling every time she fell over when walking).  It was as if she thought to herself after observing Sophia…. "I can do that, too!"  It was like a light switch - she's a walker now!

The last few pictures were just family photos from the week.  Matt and Luke played in the snow for a couple hours over the weekend and Matt dug out an "igloo" in the huge pile of snow next to the driveway from where all the snowplowed snow built up.  Luke loved his little igloo, but despite being warned about the perils of climbing on the igloo's roof, he continued to do so.  You can see what the result was from the attached video!  Hilarious!

Sophia and Claire have similar features and personalities.

Love this one:)

They actually were wrestling!  Ha!

Igloo

Banana Splits

Naked baby!  She loves to put her winter boots on her hands.

Valentine's Messterpiece

On Friday I attended cousins Nikki and Brad's grand opening of an expansion and 5 year anniversary of their gorgeous bridal boutique in Wheaton, The Dress by Nicole.   I'm in awe of their beautiful store and beautiful taste!  They are such a great match, with Nikki's fashion talent and Brad's design talent coming together so harmoniously.  

On Saturday we decided to get out of the house and tried the "Make a Messterpiece" place I had seen many time in Glenview, but had never gone to.  Luke is a messterpiece himself, usually, so I knew he would fit right in.  He had a great time doing all sorts of arts and crafts and creativity stuff.  We even made some Valentines just in time for Valentine's Day the next week.  

We celebrated Valentine's Day a couple days in a row.  On Thursday I went to Luke's preschool classroom to cohost his Valentine's Day party with the other Room Moms:)  It was really cute to see all the kids with their homemade Valentine boxes and Valentines.  Then on Friday we all just celebrated at home with our traditional Walgreens-bought goodies. 

Bubble paint art - so cool!  The bubbles blow out on to the paper and they have stencils to make different shapes.

"Where are those bubbles coming from?"

Making Valentines.

Snowflake bunny

Sledding at G&G's.

Herself the Elf

Another impromptu nap.  We've reinstated regular naps now, skipping naps only a couple days a week instead of everyday, and it seems to be working better.  While he goes right to sleep at night when he doesn't have a nap, he is such a handful to deal with when he doesn't have a nap that we're not sure its worth it to skip the nap.

Buddha belly

Isolene is going a little crazy with the hair opportunities that Claire's hair allows.

Ice cream cone treat

Luke's classmate Elise putting her Valentines in all the boxes and bags.  Luke's is the hot pink one.

Luke and his bestie Shale

Snack time during the party

The class party ended with a story read aloud by yours truly:)  Luke loved having me in his classroom again and wanted to show me everything.

Valentine rose for baby Claire's first Valentine's Day.

Luke got this singing doggie

Cutie Valentine's Day outfit was from G&G Mackus and Iso gave her that adorable heart headband.  

Selfie

Letting Claire "air out" one night and she absolutely loves being pants-less.  Hopefully she grows out of that, ha!:)  We had to put these leg warmers on her because she was crawling all around the cold tile.  

Kleenex bandit strikes again