Nathan Walks!!!!!

Our friend David was commenting on how well Nathan stands by himself.  He was surprised when I told him he had never stood that long alone before.  Elizabeth told me to take a video, which I almost didn't do because I was convinced he would sit down before I could get the camera on.  That's when I caught Nathan taking his first steps!  He walked right into our friend Alan's arms.  Boy, Andre was jealous!

Olivia's Glasses

Olivia has taken to wearing glasses.  No, they're not prescription.  These particular ones are from her Build-a-Bear "Clark Kent".  She decided she couldn't see without them and had to borrow the pair from her trusty bear.  She will walk around squinting and telling us she can't see without her glasses.  She'll breathe a sigh of relief when she puts them on and "can see".  We found a different pair for her at Claire's.  They have pink wire frames and she wears them EVERYWHERE.  Can you believe they sell fake glasses for little girls?  They're called "attitude glasses".  Who knew!

Olivia sings onstage in B-ham 9-27-09 (try to ignore her Uncle Truong's goofy laughter in the background)

Little Man!

Can you believe Nathan is ten months old already?  Our little baby boy is growing up FAST!

He can pull himself up now!

Our two handsome fellas!

Olivia's debut concert!

We were at Andre's work for an event and they had ROCKAROAKE where you can sing with a live band and back-up singers. Olivia thought it was time for her to make her stage debut, so she signed up to sing Taylor Swift's "Picture to Burn". She had so much fun! The quality of the video isn't the best because we used our phone. What do you think? Do we have a future diva on our hands?

Olivia starts her second year at Preschool!

So on 09-09-09, Olivia started her second year of Preschool. She was so excited!She struck this pose all by herself!

Out on the front porch on a beautiful September day.Daddy, this is going to be the best day EVER!Olivia is in the house and ready to learn!

Summer Recap!

Yet another summer has flown by and we can't believe it's September already! We know we haven't posted anything since July 4th, so for everyone who keeps reminding us to update our blog, here's a quick summary of our summer adventures:

It was hot, we drove a lot, we had lots of
fun!

Well, what do you expect? We've been busy! Between Olivia's second ballet recital, Andre's 20 year high school reunion in Kennewick, a great week in Montana, a quick drive up to Whistler for Crankworx, and some Spokane trips squeezed in here and there, it's a wonder we had time to listen to Olivia sing all her favorite Taylor Swift songs word for word, notice Nathan's three new teeth and realize he weighs more at nine months than Olivia did at two years, enjoy watching Olivia put "princess" crowns on her little brother and exclaim "AWW! BABY GIRL!" to him, and have the whole family crack up when Nathan belly laughs at Olivia's antics!

We've posted pictures of Summer 2009 in the "Our Recent Pictures" link!

4TH of July Pics

We had a fantastic Fourth of July. We went to the celebration at the park behind our house, then just hung out at home and set off fireworks with our friends and neighbor. Here are two pictures from that day. Nathan had so much fun celebrating his first July 4TH! Nathan's first 4TH of July
Olivia at the park

Olivia's Dance Recital June 20Th 2009

Olivia had her dance recital last Saturday. Here are some pictures! I haven't had a chance to check if the video turned out yet, but I will post it if it turned out ok. She had so much fun and LOVES the stage. She did a tap number to "Stepping out with my baby". Strike a pose!
Waiting to go onstage.

Tap, tap, TAP!

I hope I'm doing this right...

Dancing her little heart away...Isn't she adorable?

She was so excited that Daddy got her flowers!

With mommy.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Nathan's six month doc appt.

Nathan had his six month appt and is growing like a weed and healthy. He weighs in at 20lbs 8 3/4 oz (90th percentile) and is 28 1/4" long (97th percentile). Olivia at 6 mos was 15lbs 10 1/2oz (50th percentile) and was 27" long (97th percentile).

Olivia at 6 Months Nathan at 6 months

Some pictures to share...

Here's some highlights from the last few weeks. The rest aren't online yet. We'll do that soon. Enjoy! Happy Birthday daddy! Andre gets his two favorite desserts: Carrot Cake (thanks Chi Thuy!) and Rice Krispy Treats (thanks Angela!)
Olivia's preschool went on another field trip to a farm close to the school. She got to pet a yak!

Olivia thought the cheese room smelled "Stinky".

Brunch on Mother's Day!

Baby boy! He's sitting pretty good by himself!

Mary was holding Nathan on her lap as she chatted on the phone. He was facing away from her and Olivia kept running up to him and touching his face. Here is Nathan at the end of the call.

New countertops, sink, and faucet!!

We love, love, LOVE our new countertops, sink, and faucet! (Ok, Mary is more excited than Andre is...) Here are some before and after pictures. Old sink: White, double, top mount, polished chrome faucet.
Demolition! (We saved about $400 by tearing off the countertops ourselves)
New sink: Stainless steel, banjo style, undermount, with Moen brushed nickel/pull down faucet. (Andre is becoming quite the handyman. He saved us around $300 by taking care of the plumbing himself.)

Old island: Dark grey laminate.

We had to chip away the laminate and hunt for the screws holding the countertop in place, but we did it!

New Island: Sensa granite in Caledonia from Lowes/Precision Countertops.

Old contertop by the stove.

The first piece to go...

New countertop with backsplash.

Impromptu trip to B-ham!

It was anther sunny day today! We decided to get Olivia up to see the tulips now that they are in full bloom. We were so close to Bellingham, we couldn't resist driving just a tiny bit more and see Mary's brother Truong. What a fun day! Olivia oooohed and aaaahed over the huge field of flowers, then we went to a seafood chowder cook off. Here are two pictures from our day. The rest are in Our Recent Pictures. Olivia in the tulip fields
At the chowder cook off: Andre, Truong, Nathan, Mary, & Olivia

A garden for Olivia

This month, Olivia is learning about growing things at preschool and we decided it would be fun to have a garden. The dirt in our yard is like concrete with big rocks mixed in, so we decided to do a raised garden bed. Andre did a terrific job building the box out of untreated cedar and filling it with topsoil and compost. Olivia was so excited to start planting! We can't wait to see things grow!

The box is built and getting filled with dirt

Andre is turing into such a handyman!
Thanks daddy! You're the best!
Ready for the seeds! We are planting peas, carrots, beets, some flowers and tomatoes.

Put the peas right here...

Hey look! It's the crazy antics of the Ciabattari's!

Here's some pictures from the last few weeks. Some are goofy, some are serious. Can you tell which ones are which? Just two seconds earlier, Olivia was singing and eating chicken nuggets. It suddenly got quiet and I turned around and saw her like this. Notice she is still holding the chicken nugget in her hand! (and no, I did NOT take this picture going 70 on the freeway...I waited until I was going 25 on a residential street...)
Little man! When will you start crawling?
Sitting like a big boy!

EH?

Enjoying his free prime rib from The Keg for his B-day!

Is this the "good" picture, or the "goofy" picture?

We're not being silly!

Olivia, PUH-LEASE smile pretty for the camera?

Yes, the two hour wait to see Dora was totally worth it to see the excitement on Olivia's face when she FINALLY got to her. (No, I'm serious. Not being sarcastic at all. Would totally do it again. Would wait THREE hours if we had to...yes, it IS the REAL Dora the Explorer herself!)

Dolphin face painting!

Decked out for the 'DA BEARS!

Nathan told daddy what to wear so they would match for Easter

Ready to hit the slopes!

Don't EVEN mess with me right now...