The Cousino Family

Fall is Here!

2009-10-03T16:15:00.003-04:00

There are so many fun activities during the fall that we look forward to; starting with: Apple Picking! We took the girls apple picking with Nini, Clara, Jacob and Melissa last weekend. Everyone had a great time! Sophia enjoyed picking with Jacob & Melissa and Lily had fun watching us all pick apples. Enjoy the pictures!

Update!

2009-08-31T18:24:00.004-04:00

Wow! How time flies and what a slacker I've been! Much has happened in the months since I last posted.

Brendon is currently looking for employment after being laid off from Prime Renovation Group in July. We are blessed with a number of friends and family who have offered to hire him to do work for them. Thank you all! He is still a member of Richmond Rescue and has become a member of their board of directors. He was also presented with the Crew Chiefs Award at the annual banquet this year; an award that goes to a member that the crew chiefs feel have gone above and beyond the call of duty. We are very proud!

I have returned to school part-time and am working toward my bachelor's degree in photography at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division. After spending my summer working 3 days a week at Once Upon a Child, I am back at home with the girls watching another little girl named Emma, who is 2 months older than Lily. I'm hoping to find a little girl around Sophia's age to watch as well.

Sophia turned 3 this August and gets smarter and more grown up everyday! We are currently working on getting all her colors straight and will start working on writing her name and letter recognition this fall. Her current obsession is The Wonder Pets which is a Nick Jr show about a duckling, a turtle and a guinea pig who save baby animals by working together as a team. She is turning into quite an artist and her easel is her toy of choice at the moment.

Lily has grown by leaps and bounds! She turns 1 year old on September 10th and it's hard to believe a year has already passed us by. Lily's recent achievement is walking! She started walking about a week ago and she gets more balance everyday. I've noticed that she's more likely to try to walk somewhere than crawl. She also has several words including: woah, bye, hello, yup, yay, peek-a-boo, daddy, and all done. She can also make the signs for more and all done. Her favorite activity is dancing and she loves it when Mommy sings "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".

Fun in the Park

2009-03-22T11:10:00.002-04:00

On our last day in FL we took the girls to a park in the town that my grandparents live in. Sophia loved it and had lots of fun! Lily had fun hanging out w/ GG & Great Grandpa and watching her sister running around!

Lily had fun too!

2009-03-22T11:00:00.002-04:00

Explorations Interactive Kids Museum

2009-03-22T10:53:00.002-04:00

Also while in Florida we took the kids to Explorations, which is a cool kids museum. Many of the activities were a little above Sophia's level but she still found plenty to keep her busy! She got to dress up like a fireman, pretend to fly an airplane, and play at the water table.

SeaWorld 2

2009-03-22T10:46:00.003-04:00

Sophia made a squished penny at many of the exhibits we went to in Seaworld. Brendon fed the Stingrays which was really cool, although they practially took his hand too!

SeaWorld 1

2009-03-22T10:34:00.003-04:00

We also took Sophia to SeaWorld one day. She had a great time even though it was 90 degrees out the day we went! We saw Shamu, Clyde and Seymour (sealions), penguins, sharks, jellyfish, and dolphins!

Rainforest Cafe

2009-03-22T10:21:00.002-04:00

We also took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe while we were in Florida. The first "thunderstorm" startled both of the girls but after that they were fine. Both girls really liked all the fish tanks and Sophia thought it was pretty cool when the monkeys (who were in the tree above us) came to life and started moving. She was a little worried about the Gorillas (who were behind us) though.

Ready to Swim

2009-03-22T10:15:00.002-04:00

We just got back from a week long trip to Florida to visit my grandparents. There is a community pool in the park they live in and we took the kids there almost everyday. They loved it!

Lily's Favorite Toy

2009-03-22T10:09:00.002-04:00

We borrowed this Jumperoo from Zack and Trista recently and Lily LOVES it! She really gets jumping and has a great time.

Bowling!

2009-03-22T10:00:00.002-04:00

We took the girls to a Prime (where Brendon works) company party at the newly remodeled bowling alley by Costco. Sophia had so much fun and loved rolling the big ball!

Sophia the Frog Girl

2009-03-22T09:51:00.002-04:00

We bought this frog costume at a yard sale last summer, thinking it would be fun for dress up. Well, we were right! This costume is a 12-18 month size, so it is way to small for Sophia but she had a great time hopping around the house playing froggy.

Little Red Sox Fans

2009-03-22T09:29:00.002-04:00

I swore that I would never do the matching outfit thing, but this was too cute to resist!

The Many Faces of Sophia!

2009-01-08T22:16:00.001-05:00

Another first for Lily!

2009-01-08T22:07:00.003-05:00

Lily has started having rice cereal once a day now. Here are some pictures from the first time!

Budding Photographer

2009-01-08T22:02:00.002-05:00

Sophia received a digital camera (a kid proof one) for Christmas. Here is a sampling of her pictures! Enjoy!

Yay Sophia!

2008-12-16T20:56:00.002-05:00

Sophia is potty trained!! It only took her a week too. We had several accidents the first day or two but now it's very rare for her to have an accident. She's still wearing pull ups at night and during naps but she wears big girl undies the rest of the day! She is very proud of herself, and we are so proud of our BIG girl!!

Christmas Card Photo Shoot(s)!

2008-12-16T20:33:00.003-05:00

Well, I've tried 3 times now to get some good pictures of the kids for Christmas cards and gifts. Lily is pretty easy to work with (read "Lily can't talk back or run away yet") but Sophia is a whole other story (fidgety, and feisty). I thought I'd share some pictures from my different attempts. Enjoy!

Big Girl!

2008-11-10T09:12:00.003-05:00

Not that long ago we bought this cute twin bed off craigslist for Sophia. Unfortunately, it didn't have a mattess or boxspring with it. So, after much searching around my dad finally found a great set really cheap! Thursday night was Sophia's first night in her "big girl" bed! We went to walmart earlier that day and she picked out Dora the Explorer bedding. She went to bed great that night and slept until 8:30 the next morning!! We're so proud of our big girl!

The first picture is right after I made up her bed, the second is during the night while she was sleeping, and the third is the next morning when she woke up!

Halloween!

2008-11-04T12:46:00.002-05:00

We had a great time trick-or-treating this year. Sophia was a kitty cat, her costume had a hood but she refused to wear it, which is why she's wearing the cat ear headband. She wouldn't say "trick or treat" at houses but she did say "you give me treat?". I guess it's close enough! Sophia had a lot of fun, but tired out pretty quickly. Lily was a flower and looked super cute!

Pumpkin Giveaway

2008-10-20T20:58:00.000-04:00

Sunday was the annual Ben & Jerry's Pumpkin Giveaway and Sophia had a great time. Sophia picked out pumpkins for Mommy, Daddy, Lily, and herself.

Pretty Girls!

2008-10-20T19:29:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday was a perfect fall day. Brendon and his brother, Aaron were working on replacing their grandmother's roof, and the girls and I were visiting Brendon's parents. At lunchtime we brought the boys lunch then played in the yard. I had brought my camera and took some great pictures.

We're Bloggers Now!

2008-10-20T18:36:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone! Well, I've decided to jump on the blog bandwagon and give it a try. I figure it will be a great way to keep everyone updated on us and the kids. Don't worry, I will still be doing Snapfish albums! So, visit us often and I will try to keep this as up to date as possible.