Violet Elizabeth is here!!!

Introducing Violet Elizabeth Pulcini

Born: 10/20/11 at ~8:17 am, wt: 7 - 1 oz, length: 20 1/4 inches

First family picture

Violet Elizabeth

Mommy and Baby

Big Brother Isaac - unsure about Violet - hestitantly touching

Watermelon Boy

John loves to have watermelon in the warm summer months. Isaac decided that he would "help" his Papa. While John was scooping up already cut pieces of watermelon and putting them in a bowl, this is what Isaac was doing. I had to laugh when I saw Isaac taking a huge bite out of the rind of the watermelon . . .

so we turned the piece around and let him try it again. This little boy loves food!

If anyone ever needs to advertise for watermelon, we know just the kid. So CUTE, I could eat him up!

Hot Dog Days at the Zoo

The days have definitely been "dog hot." But this particular Saturday in July, the weather was beautiful and the zoo was sponsoring a Hot Dog Day with cheap hot dogs, chips, sodas and ice cream. While the zoo was packed and it was hard to enjoy the animals, the food was cheap and good. As you can tell from the pictures, Hot Dog Day was a huge hit with the Pulcini boys (I think that they each ate three)!One of Isaac's favorite foods is hot dogs. He often can't eat the bun but the hot dog inside always brings a grin! This is number two of three for this one and a half year old.

Papa ate his share of hot dogs too!

Even our pickiest eater enjoyed a huge meal of hot dogs today.

Pointing out the giraffes to Mom

Boys enjoying some bonding time:)

Children's Museum with Friends

John's best friend from high school came to visit us in SC with his wife and youngest daughter. We had a great time showing them the town and catching up.Isaac playing at the water table.

Grantham and Ruthy trying to redirect the flow of water.

Discovering and getting wet!

Playing in the sprinklers - Grantham had a blast, Isaac was very hesitant but enjoyed watching other kids get soaked

Random happenings in May

Just some random pictures of the Pulcini's activities in May:

Brotherly Love
Grantham enjoys helping in the yard, especially when demolition is involved.

This is more Isaac's idea of helping

Every morning the boys watch their Daddy (Papa) leave for work: two honks and a wave "goodbye"

I have no clue what caught their eye while they waited to wave goodbye to their dad - must have been interesting to catch both their attentions.

A favorite game of Grantham's that he has now introduced to Isaac - being pulled around in a blanket by John - thank goodness for hardwood floors, when this game was first introduced John had to pull Grantham around on the carpet (Don't think that would be happening with two)

Grantham's K4 Graduation

Grantham had a great experience in K4. His teacher said that he loved to help her in the classroom, was super smart and was always ready with an answer. From home we watched Grantham grow and learn how to be a friend, especially to children who needed extra help, develop impressive math skills and begin sounding out words. Watching Grantham "graduate" was bitter sweet. Next year he will go to Kindergarten and be gone five days a week. He is ready academically but Mommy is not ready to see him go! Waiting his turn to receive his "diploma."
Showing off his diploma to one of his classmates.

Singing a song about being ready to go off to Kindergarten. Grantham singing and doing motions was a huge improvement over the beginning of the year when he would hardly make eye contact during the assemblies.

Two wonderful teachers who helped Grantham to shine!

We are having a . . .

After a roller coaster of a first trimester, we found out today that we are having a GIRL! Grantham has been wanting a sister, so we were so excited to share the news with him and now all of you! I will add a few pictures to this post at a later date. But we couldn't wait to share the fun and exciting news.

Strawberries Everywhere

I really enjoy picking strawberries with the boys each year. This year the kids were a great help both eating and picking:) The following are just a few fun pictures we took:

Grantham showing off how big the strawberries are that he is picking.

Isaac helping out.

Daddy was even able to come and help.

Eating OR Picking???

Isaac showing off the "left-overs" of his strawberry

From the mess on Isaac's face you can probably tell that he ate as many as he picked. We actually caught him taking the strawberries out of our containers, eating a bite and then throwing them back into the strawberry plants (hiding the evidence).

Misc. April

Having fun and hanging out in April.As John would say, "Harvard, here we come." We can't seem to help Isaac understand that he keeps putting this space hat on backwards. So he bumps around the house trying to see out of the bottom of the hat instead of looking through the clear visor that should be in the front. Funny Boy! Maybe he can get into college with his adorable smile? (Peek)


Grantham continues to excel in sports of all kinds. This was a class field trip to a TaeKwonDo clinic. John was able to get off work and go with him. Other parents were commenting about how impressive he was and that he must have taken lessons before (no one knew John was his dad - it was a proud day for John)! While this was Grantham's first experience, we will probably try out some classes in the Spring. He had a great time!

This Spring we tried out baseball (tball). We had a wonderful Christian coach who taught Grantham A TON. Grantham continues to dominate with his left hand when it comes to sports, even though he is righty when he writes. The sport was less active than we had hoped but Grantham had a great time and made a lot of new friends.

Easter

Easter Morning Doing my own thing?
Posing for Nana's camera

Dying Easter eggs - a fun tradition at Nana's house

Isaac's first time to get in on the fun

The "pro" showing us how it is done

The beginning of a VERY big mess - Isaac created beautiful eggs and . . .

HANDS

- it took soaking his hands in bleach and a bath to get most of the color off

- I know my mom never let us have "this much fun" :)

Isaac caught on really fast to the game of hiding and finding eggs. He had no clue there was anything inside the eggs but he loved hunting for them and collecting them in his basket!

Grantham had a blast hunting for eggs. After he was done finding his, he helped some other younger children. It warms my heart to see him caring and helping others.

Reaching deep behind a tree to retrieve an egg (we hide them really well).

A hot but successful afternoon of Easter egg hunting

Starting a new tradition - making reserection rolls the night before Easter

Hard at work in the kitchen Making a yummy mess - they were a huge success for breakfast the next morning