Elena is 2!

Elena turned two on Sunday and was the cutest birthday girl ever. We began the day's celebration with a birthday breakfast of Elena's favorite foods- eggs, bacon, fruit and cinnamon rolls. Afterwards, she also blew out her #2 candle on a donut. When breakfast was over, we unwrapped a few presents. Elena is a little mommy to all her dolls, so Mom and Dad gave her a baby high chair and diaper bag. George Monkey got to try out the high chair first and was an excellent breakfast eater.

Alex has taken an interest in photography lately. Really, he just likes to play with electronics. It is funny to see the photos he takes with our cell phones and cameras when we aren't paying attention! He took this photo of the dolls partying together in their birthday hats.

Later in the day, we had a cookout with family members. Grandma Sandy gave Elena a baby cradle and bedding, which she promptly tried out with a new sleepy baby from Aunt Melinda. Doesn't Jeff look silly in his tiara?

No party is complete without noise blowers, tiaras and magic wands. Ellie made the funniest faces when Aunt Melinda blew on her. It is crazy how much she looks like her mommy when she was that age.

The girls tried to pose for a photo together, but there was too much going on for Elena to sit still.

Grandma Sandy also gave Elena some My Pretty Little Ponies. Instead of brushing the pony's hair, the kids groomed Mom.

The evening ended with some delicious pink princess cake.

While Elizabeth and Uncle Tony served cake and ice cream, Alex talked on the phone to cousin Jonathan who missed the party since he was out of town on vacation with his Mom.

The birthday girl has become a picky eater lately. She fights with Mom and Dad about eating dinner almost every night. However, she has no problem consuming sweets. She finished off her cake and ice cream in record time.

Happy 2nd Birthday Elena!

Lazy Sunday Morning

Elena is a little snuggle bug! She joined Daddy and "her" kitty on the couch after a delicious Sunday breakfast for a little lazy time. The rest of the day was busy with a family trip to the gym and the pool, so it was nice to have a little quiet time together.

Big Ball of Fun

The Robinsons bought Alex a big water ball sprinkler for his 4th birthday and Monday was the perfect day to try it out. It is amazing how much energy the kids have to run around and chase after each other. They have been playing with this ball, the slip and slide and water guns nearly every day this summer with their favorite babysitter in the world, Logan Rosenberg. Logan does a great job wearing the kids out while Mom is at work in the mornings. In the afternoon the tired kids like to take a nap with mom in her bed. It has been a nice summer!

Last Day of School

The last day of school for the 3's class included a party that gave the kids a chance to say goodbye to their classmates and teachers, Mrs. Halt & Mrs. Strange. The kids performed for the parents to show off some of the fun things they had learned this year. Alex was unusually sad that day, but managed to smile big for a photo opportunity with Mrs. Halt. The teachers gave each of the students a bucket full of fun to enjoy over the summer vacation.

Alex's classmates this year included an Alexandra, Alessandra, Alec and Aidan. This could be a little confusing at times! Alex stopped eating his picnic lunch long enough to take a photo with Alec, one of the happiest kids in the world. Alec's laugh is totally contagious and he always seems to have a smile on his face. Alex will miss being in the 3's class, but is looking forward to being in the 4's class with Mrs. Goldberg in the fall!

Grandma's Art Class

Grandma Sandy brought over Alex's birthday present Monday afternoon- 3-D chalk. Grandma got busy right away teaching the kids how to use it the special chalk. Before long, the whole driveway was decorated. We had talked about the commercial for this product for weeks, so Jeff was particularly excited about this present. It is fun to put on the 3-D glasses and look at the kids' masterpieces.

Grandma had one last suprise up her sleeve. She has been collecting empty bottles for weeks and brought a big bag of them over the kids to play with. They made great water guns and tools for watering all our flowers. It doesn't take much to entertain kids at this age!

Alex's Birthday

After much deliberation, including THREE trips to the cake store and countless conversations, Alex picked a Cars theme for his 4th birthday.The special day started with a donut cake for breakfast. Elizabeth was still recovering from the stomach flu Elena brought home, so it was a low-key family day. Alex opened presents all day long. A Speedy shirt and racetrack were among his favorite gifts from Mom and Dad.Grandma Liz and Papa sent an awesome robot dinosaur that has different moods and tricks it can learn to do. Elena is a little scared of it!Jeff took the kids to the neighborhood pool after naptime and they stayed for hours. When they got home, we grilled out one of Alex's favorite meals- "special hot dog." After dinner, it was cake time. Since it was his special day, he got extra frosting, his favorite part of cake. The kid could eat a whole can of frosting withoug any cake if we let him.

Happy 4th Birthday Alex!

Sick Day

Elena brought home the stomach flu on Monday. The poor girl finally fell asleep in the middle of the floor after crying and throwing up all morning. Unfortunately, Elena managed to share her cooties with Mom later in the week.

5K Run

The Walker family participated in the first annual 5K run for the Kids First Adoption Agency. Proceeds from the event paid for a playground at an orphanage in Russia. Most of the orphanages do not let the kids outside until age 2 or 3, so it should provide some much needed entertainment for the older orphans. The weather on Saturday morning was gorgeous out at Fort Benjamin Harrison park. Thankfully, the rain held off until the car ride home. The kids enjoyed the scenic trail, but their frequent requests to stop and walk ruined our efforts to set a 5K record time. We enjoyed the chance to see so many children from all over the world join together for this good cause.

Alex's Shabbat Nosh Show

Alex's preschool had a special evening to celebrate Shabbat Nosh with the families. Alex's class sang Happy Birthday in Spanish and Alex got to hold the sign since it was so close to his birthday!Mom and Dad posed with Alex after his terrific performance.Elena was thrilled Grandma Sandy was able to join us. She sat in Grandma's lap the entire evening and was totally distracting. At least Mom & Dad got to watch Alex.

Ballerina Girl

Elena dances around the house whenever she wears her tutu. Her favorite music to listen to is the Laurie Berkner Band.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Walkers, Robinsons and Galvins met for breakfast at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Mother's Day together. Grandma Sandy and Elena held onto their littlest babies.

Mom and her favorite girl took a break from the delicious food to smile for the camera.

Uncle Bill and Elena checked each other out while hanging out with Aunt Kathy.

Some of the boys were not very interested in posing for the ever-present camera.Elizabeth and Melinda take a much-deserved break from taking care of their kids.

Mom's Day at the BJE

Both of the 3s classes sang "Spring is Here" as part of the Mom's Day luncheon at the BJE. Even though Alex and Jack are not in the same class, they both chose to be the grass and were able to stand next to each other for the performance.

Aiden and Alex posed for the camera while wearing the tie dye shirts they made themselves
Alex did a great job saying cheese with classmates Alessandra and Megan. Caroline and Alex drew on the chalkboard while Elizabeth snapped away with her ever-present camera.

Alec and Alex sat next to each other at the Mom's Lunch. The kids made the Moms terrific gifts including a vase and hand print garden stone. Elizabeth's favorite present was Alex's drawing of the two of them together.

Before it was time to leave and pick up Elena from her class, some of the girls posed with Alex to make funny faces for the camera.

We Love Spring!

Spring is in full force! We have been taking advantage of the gorgeous weather by going on nightly family bike rides (Mom & Dad keep up on rollerblades), playing on the deck every afternoon after nap time, and planting flowers. Our weekly trip to the gardening store has gotten a little expensive, but the kids LOVE planting and watching things grow. Elena, our little pica girl, has been sampling the dirt and vegetation.

Curious George at the Zoo

Alex's best friend Jack joined us at the zoo to visit Curious George storytime Saturday morning. Elena was a little scared of the big George, but carried her stuffed George everywhere that day. The kids had a great time enjoying the beautiful spring weather and seeing all the animals.

Bears at the Zoo

The polar and grizzly bears were a big hit.

Seals and Slides

A stop to watch the seals being fed their breakfast and a visit to the park finished off our exciting zoo excursion.

A Visit to Michigan

We visited our family in Michigan over a the weekend. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins outside in the gorgeous weather. On Saturday, we visited the local Physicians Park where older cousins JD and Isabelle keep a close watch over Alex & Elena.

After some dinner and a bath, the kids went back outside with more cousins to run around the front yard.

Grandma Liz has a way of making doing nothing fun. She found an old bowling ball in the garage and the kids had a blast rolling it down Papa's wheelchair ramp. Grandma also helped the kids take turns walking along the garden wall. It was sad when it was time to head back to Indiana!

Elena's Cat

Although Alex calls Ghengis his cat, and Jeff would argue that he is his cat since he has had him since med school, he really is Elena's cat. He sits under her chair at the table every night at dinner, comes over to her to be petted, and lets her lay on top of him. In the morning after Elena wakes up she runs around upstairs yelling for her kitty. In this photo and video Alex is sitting on Dad's lap watching his new favorite movie. No, it is not the Disney Cars movie anymore- it is Enchanted. Our Butler college babysitter Julie brought it over to watch and Alex hasn't let her take it home since. Jeff isn't too thrilled about the princess movie obsession!