Silas has gained a ton of confidence this last week and is now excited
to take more than two steps.

Weight – 6oz (30th %)
Height – 29 3/4" (50th %)
Head – 18 7/8" (90th %) : big brain!!

Dr. Kamon predicts walking any minute!

The kids are ready to go fishing and horseback riding (or back horsing
as Elsie prefers to call it).

The kids are ready to go fishing and horseback riding (or back horsing
as Elsie prefers to call it).

We’re up in Montana and Silas has found the best toy ever. The
princess castle play set is the most fun he’s had all day and he’ll
spend 20 minutes playing with it alone.

Lisa’s daughter Sloane makes a visit to Pam and Kevin’s to see her friend Elsie.

It’s a lovely day in June when you feel like walking to the
restaurant. Not too hot and a nice breeze.

Having a helper in the back seat rocks!

Sun protection (and wine) is very important on sunny days.

He continues to GROW sticking it out in 60th percentile for both height and weight – very different stats from his sister.

Stats
Height: 26 1/2″ (60th %)
Weight: 17lbs 11.5 oz (60th %)
Head: 17 1/2″ (75th)

Silas is already chowing down on solids, sitting unassisted, grabbing items and putting them into his gob and rolling around – Milestones complete!

Being weighed …

You know how big I am? I am THIS big! Captain chubby pants!

Silas is completely enamored with his sister – apparently everything she does is hilarious!

Our pediatrician does a great job of make shift toys –  immediately put into his mouth.

Silas is a big hit at the office, but the biggest hit is Elsie – Dr. Kamon and Nurse Karen always love a visit from little miss chatty. Today before we even made it into the room Elsie had negotiated Silas’ shot sucker since he was clearly too little for a treat.

My mom (mrs.crafty) decided to go a bit crazy with the cricut! We also got to use my Grandma Richau’s fall china – fabulous!

Gobble Gobble!!

Fortunately I am handing over my miniature to Arielle our new nanny (yes, this name goes over quite well with Elsie!) who is amazing.  We are excited to have her with the kids!

He is Mr. Giggle-pants after the roll

Silas had his 4 month check up and all is well. We snapped some photos and then looked back at Elsie’s 4 month apt and were amazed at the similarities (well in looks, Silas is clearly a biggety-big!)

Weight: 15lbs 1 oz (70%)
Height: 24 7/8 (65%)

• 11lbs 9.5 oz
• head: 15.5″
• height: 22.5″

While in the kitchen I heard a high pitched “WHY HELLOOOOO, I would love some cake!” We went into the front room to see Uncle Greg having a tea party – Greg was playing the part of the Queen of England.

Next they went outside to play dinosaurs … Greg and the girls hid in the play house, while a wine-drinking-T-Rex (Hey Josh without a beer!) tried to get inside.

Apparently the TRex got in the house and was scared by the plaid-wearing-Spinosaurus.

Its hard work playing dinosaurs!

We miss you Uncle Greg – here’s to hoping you come back to Boulder soon!!

Here are a few shots of the big sister in her element …

Cuddling baby silas – making sure to support his floppy noggin.

Getting ready to read stories in her big girl bed

Getting loves from silas after a wasp bite

And snuggling the swaddle monkey

Well done Big Sister!

glowing baby below

1. Some birds live in the forest, but some birds don’t

2. Giraffe’s eat leaves, but wolves eat rabbits … and they howl like this “AwwwWoooo”

Both very true  :)

The house backs to the beach and the waves are perfect for 3 years olds so we have been spending much of our day running from the beach to the pool and back again (a perfect energy burn for toddlers!)

The dads took the kids out in the Kayak … the kids acted as the boat coxswain (faster, faster, over there) – Scott was a great listener!

elsie decked out in her swim cap (to hold her hair),  her goggles and her swim bubble (a great invention for self sufficient toddlers in the water) …

If we aren’t swimming in the ocean, we are swimming in the splash pool.

And favorite past time is jumping in …

More beach

Time to collect Shark teeth …

The yard is covered with fabulous shady palm trees which drop coconuts, scott spent an hour opening the treasure, we spent a few minutes gnawing on it, and then Scott and Mark whipped it into yummy coconut rice.

Elsie and Nicholas are perfect sidekicks – they spend most of the time swimming and then relaxing

They have managed to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs at least 10 times …

View from our rooftop where yesterday we had fabulous massages

Finally the superheros! We put the costumes on and the kids set out to save a baby turtle on the beach!

Today we are finally headed out of the house to do some exploring in the local town …  more to come

Josh was on hand just in case we needed him (also note the beer in his hand, I actually am not sure I have a photo of Josh without a beer in his hand).

Even saffie did some driving …

Our neighbor Meredith was also out and everyone took turns (3 year olds taking turns, can it be?) – Elsie opted to run next to the car while when she wasn’t in the drivers seat – whatever burns energy!

I got the starter outfits at target for $8 each, and Hobby Lobby was having a sale on La-me, 2 nights of sewing and basic superhero costumes are ready!

Batcuffs!

I would have put them on my mini-model, but she is snoozing it up! More photos from Mexico!

The instructor recommended we purchase a bike with pedals and bring it to class to start the transition. So for Elsie’s 3rd birthday – we headed to the bike store determined to select a unisex bicycle that our next child could share …  of course, Elsie and I settled on Purple with Butterflies. The bike is quite a bit heavier and pedaling is a whole new concept. She is desperate to ride the pedal bike and keeps at it …

Tonight after dinner Elsie and Mark were outside practicing – she burst in the house and wanted me to come and see what she could do …

Well done stinker!

This easter elsie was really into the Easter bunny. While at the mall she desperately wanted to sit on the Bunny’s lap and ask it some very important questions – sadly it turned out to be a Mute, but she waited patiently to get some tickles anyway. This is when my mom announced that Elsie was officially ready for Disney Land!

The next morning before Brunch, we decided to color some easter eggs – I find this wasteful because we rarely use any of the hard boiled eggs – but its tradition, so out came the coloring pills and cups. Elsie (with Grammie and Mommies help) followed the Martha Stewart sticker method …

We ended up with some very fabulous colored eggs spelling out Elsie – I vowed to make deviled eggs, but who am I kidding, I can’t cook.

We had brunch at the Flatz restaurant which is a humungous (Elsie thanks Murray from sesame street for that word!) buffet which is perfect for pregnant woman and boys.

The girls quickly made friends with the stuffed bunny – and so far saffie felt safe …

until you know who showed up. Saffie is very clear that she does not care for Santa, The Red Robin or the Easter bunny. Elsie on the other hand monopolized the bunnies morning.

The brunch was filled with many yummy treats – and elsie zeroed in the chocolate covered strawberries!

After brunch we had a mini egg hunt in our backyard with the girls – G.G. Ruby created her traditional candy filled nests and the girls had a great time hunting them down. (grammie did a great job of hiding the nests in very obvious places).

We also sent the girls on a mini-scavenger hunt to find their easter basket. This year I took photos of the places they were to look to find their clues which eventually led them to the baskets (again in plain sight!).

Happy Easter from the Sladdens!

Kevin has spent many weeks down here doing the framing, helping us select the subs and of course fine tuning the design. The wiring and plumbing is all done, the insulation has been blown (so the home theatre can be nice and loud without waking up the rest of the house), and the drywall is up and ready to be textured. At least now the dirty part of the job is done.

You may notice that we’re moving our office downstairs so we can set it up to exactly how we like to work. There is a lounge area in front of the wine room (despite my Dad’s warning that “you’ll never get through all that wine”), a service bar with a fridge and icemaker, a bathroom, space for our exercise machines, and a home theater.

Each day (first thing out of bed) Elsie picks a note that gives her a clue about her daily present

Here are a few examples:

• What can make your lips so shiny? [lipgloss in a hello kitty phone]
• Soak me in wter and see what happens. [dinosaur egg - which hatched in 48 hours and then soaked for another 24 - a very good lesson in patience]
• What is a wonderful toy for girls and boys (its like a spring) ** [Slinky]
• Rhino may be part of this surprise [Hamsuta the happy hamster]
• Climb the stairs and drop me! I will float all the way down [parachute man]
• Who lives in a Castle with a prince [disney princess stickers - which are now all stuck to one page in my US weekly ... yes I do read US weekly]

The calendar is a hit!

** Grammie wants to make sure Elsie gets the clue – since she wasn’t alive for the original slinky marketing campaign.

here is the snow blob or snow tower maybe?

Turns out Elsie was more into Eating snow than building anyway.

this year she wanted to be a pig (sticking with the animal theme) and as I started to think about costumes – heather pointed me to a premade cutie. Mark pretty much pulled the trigger on ordering so he didn’t have to help with the costume sewing …

We visited Andersen Farms for the Annual Ghouls Gathering

We took a hay ride and stopped to feed some bulls

Elsie was pumped for Trick or Treating – she started at Googleween for a bit of practice and quickly realized how easy it was to snag candy – she was off!

This year we did our trick or treating with Saffie and Jaeger.

Elsie with Min (nanny)

We hid the candy when she got home – although Mark first went through to collect all of his favs.

After scones it was out to feed Kissy the horse …

Jan and David live on 5 acres of true English garden all years of hard work.

Elsie picking a pear with Jan

Elsie was instantly attached to David, who spent much time touring elsie around the gardens and playing games in the house – she was hooked!

We had a beer at the local pub followed by another delicious dinner. Our rest was coming to an end.

David realizing we had two true Sladden’s with us (who are notoriously late) helped us get on the road on schedule and we were off to Dorset.

The flight was uneventful and we landed in London prepared for a few days of sightseeing. It wouldn’t be a visit to the UK without pouring rain … so we decided to go with it.

The girls did a great job holding their own umbrella’s and staying dry in Papa’s dry cleaning bag.

After a short walk (well isn’t wasn’t short – turns out Mark and Josh may have Stanford Educations but that doesn’t help you navigate London streets to the nearest Tube station) we finally made it to the tube – the girls were fascinated by the tunnels and signage – I can already feel a budding graphic designer on our hand.

The rain was much lighter by the time we hit Piccadilly Circus and we decided our best chance at seeing all of the London sights with toddlers was the Double decker tour bus.

The tour was awesome – it was a great way to get history and see everything in a short amount of time. We were able to jump off the bus and head to a local pub to have traditional english lunch – Beer!, meat pies …

And Toad in a Hole (sausages wrapped in dough with gravy)

Elsie enjoyed the steamed carrots

After lunch the girls were desperate for naps – fortunately for us we had both a Grammie and a Papa. We finished our tour on the top level of the double decker bus with both girls cuddled and sleeping.

After our day of touring we headed over to Glynn and Cindy’s for a fabulous home cooked dinner. Elsie instantly knew who she needed to sweet talk to get her way …her Uncle Glynn.

Our first day in London was filled with activities. Mark and I were headed to Steeple Aston and my parents and Josh and Amy were planning another day in London sightseeing …

Mark and Scott decided to make the ultimate sandcastle which was perfect for the destructors …

Our last night in New York we took a ferry over to Connecticut to see Scott and Julie’s renovations and stay at Mart and Lew’s house (which had a pool!).

After some daddy swim time the kids moved on to the best game – SPLASH!

Niko and Elsie would kick their legs and make a big splash …

mark and scott would SPLASH

Kids squeal …

and repeat!

We ended our stay with dinner from Pepe’s pizza – MMMM.  We love this trip with the Johnstons – especially with Elsie and Niko being partners in crime. We have a few years before we really have to worry about the two.