Seriously? Aunt Annie Is Coming To Visit This Weekend???

Could she BE any more excited?

Toys and Food-What's Not To Love?

Luke's main gift from Santa was a Elmo Sing N Giggle Tool Bench (see also pix). He enjoys it quite a bit. It's Sesame Street--how could he not love it??

He's really started to pick up the pace with the things he can say and do. He can point to a duck and say "duh." If you ask him where the picture of a duck is in a book, he can flip through the pages until he finds one and points. He can get in the fridge and get his own juice box--he can't break the straw through the seal
but he can put it in once the seal is broken. My Mom and Dad got Luke a toy 4 wheeler for Christmas. He knew just what to do with it. He hopped right on, grabbed the handle bars and started making engine noises. Aunt Robbie got him a Radio Flyer scooter that has a bell he can ding on it. When he gets tired of being on one of these two things, he just transfers to the other.

He has found a new game he enjoys. It's called the "Drop food/sippy/fork/spoon from my high chair, say 'uh oh' and laugh" Game. Yeah, it was real cute the first 3000 times he did it. ..not so much any more. He can also say "whoopsie." Now that is still cute. He is getting clearer with saying Ella (more like El-uhh now), Grammie (Rammie), juice box (ooos ahx), "want that" (uhnt aaat).

The kid is wild, I mean WILD, about any kind of dried fruit. In particular, he enjoys craisins and blueberries. It almost makes me want to drag out my Mom's old food dehydrator from her basement and whip me up some homemade dried fruit. Almost. Not quite, Mom, so don't go dragging it over to my house on Tuesday. I always dream of being like my friend, Jeanne's Mom (Diane). When Jeanne was little, Diane would make them homemade yogurt. Did you hear me correctly? I said yo-gurt. This woman is some sort of patron saint of healthy eating for her kids. I think she even made them sweeten it with honey (no sugar). My hero.

Santa Comes In Our House How??

Christmas went well in our household. This was the first year that Ella really got into the whole Santa thing. She didn't quite grasp the concept that you ask Santa for something and he brings it to you, though. She was rather content to let him decide what to bring her with complete confidence that she would love whatever he brought.

She was a little worried about our friend, Santa, when on Christmas Eve, Aron wanted to light a fire in our fireplace. Ella had a little moment of worry because she thought it might be too hot for Santa to come down our chimney if we had a fire in there. If she were any other kid, I'd probably say that she was just worried that her presents would be singed but I actually believe she was worried about the ol' Claus. Here she is, sitting on our fireplace with cookies, milk, and carrots for the reindeer.

P.S. We bought a new camera so we no longer have to depend on my parent's camera. I think my Dad was a little nervous about my handling his "precious" and kept asking me if I was messing it up by fiddling with the knobs on it. Patience, Young Skywalker, your camera will be fine. (Yeah, that's right, I just referenced 2 movies in one small paragraph.)

Labile mood anyone?

Ah, how quickly the pendulum swings...(thanks Jamie for the title)

Girls Gone Wild

Last Saturday night and this Saturday night, it was Girl's Night Out. Ella, Grammie, and I all went to the movies. Last week we saw Happy Feet (I give it 3/4 of a thumbs up out of 2 which means it was tolerable enough that I only looked at my watch a couple times). This week we saw Charlotte's Web. I don't really remember reading this story as a child (Aron thinks I'm a freak because of this, and I probably shouldn't be admitting this out loud in blog form but I never really had an interest in doing so). Grammie hadn't read it either so it was new for all of us. About 5 minutes before Grammie got to our house, Aron springs it on me that Charlotte dies in the end (sorry for those of you who didn't know). Wha? Charlotte does wha? Wha? Crap! Now I'm going to have to talk to her about death and dying--just what I wanted for the holidays--discussions of spider heaven.

All thru the movie, I prepared for the end...the death...the questions...the crying...but it never came. You know why? CAUSE I'M A GENIUS! That's right, my friends--G to the E to the N-I-U-S. Charlotte dies right after she gives birth to her 514 babies while they're at the county fair. The characters briefly discuss that she is going to die then it just appears that Charlotte goes to sleep. Ella looked at me like "What just happened here?" I told her that she needed to take a nap after she had her babies and she would see them again at next year's fair. She nodded like she bought it then I asked her if she wanted more 7up. She took a sip and by the time she was done, presto! The scene was over and everyone was happy again.

Bottom line: Crisis averted.

Um, Is She Taken?

Our sitter, Katie, came over last night to bring presents for the kids. She tried to win their affections with presents but she should realize that they are already smitten with her. Look at the look on Luke's face (after you get done laughing at the fact that he's wearing a hard hat with his PJs. At least it matches, right Auntie T?). She brought Ella a set of horses with real manes and tails that you can brush and soft, fuzzy hair/fur/whatever it is that horses have.

She brought a Noah's ark Little People set for Luke--score one for Katie because he loves the Little People.

I must admit, though, that Ella went to bed last night without putting her horses away. I went downstairs this morning and saw the super big horse (I'm holding it in the top picture) on the floor and thought it was a squirrel. Hey, leave me alone--I didn't have my glasses on and it was early! Let's just say I almost screamed. Let's also just say that I almost tried to beat it with a broom handle. Let's just say it was a good thing I realized it wasn't a squirrel before the horse met it's untimely...well, Katie would've been buying another set of horses.

If You Know His Father...

Then this comes as no surprise. Luke likes to eat. I'm not going to hide it anymore. Yes, he weighs about as much as my arm with 5 pounds of bling on my wrist but I'm telling you THAT KID CAN EAT! I put a cookie in front of him and this is what happened...

I'm pretty sure this crosses the bounds of blog etiquette

I didn't realize it until about an hour ago that there is something very special about our family photo. Look closely at Ella's hand in the previous blog.

Um, I don't think Santa will be coming for you this year, Ella.

Christmas Picture

Yes, it's that time of year again, folks. Christmas picture day. Every year since Aron and I got married we take a picture together in front of the tree. Here's this year's edition. We decided not to try to get Jane in it this year. She's just to squirmy.

Mall Santa's Got Nothin' On Story Hour Santa

I think you all know by now that my Mom's day job is as an Assistant Director at a library (Hi Mom!) when she's not watching the kiddies at my house. Well, every year for her story hour she has Santa come and hand out presents to the kids. Santa's little elves (aka the story hour teachers --Hi Miss Nita, Miss Janet, Miss Sally, and Miss Katie) wrap up presents with the kids' names on them for Santa to pass out.

He came walking down the hallway of the library back to the story hour room ringing his bell. All the kids got really quiet when they heard what was going on. He gave each of the story hour kids a book and each of their baby brothers and sisters a teddy bear. That Santa...he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows when you've been picking your nose so quit it for goodness sake!

On Dasher, On Prancer

Our town had a Christmas festival this weekend. They had all kinds of stuff going on like Turkey bowling (I had never heard of this but you basically take a frozen turkey, roll it down a lane made of ice, and knock over some bowling pins), show choirs singing, and free horse carriage rides. We got in line for the carriage rides. Ella and Myles were anxiously anticipating said ride so once the horses got there, they were jumping up and down bursting at the seams with excitement. The guy who driving the horses asked if they wanted to sit up front with him (um, do thine ears deceive me? Who wouldn't want to????). He even let Ella hold the reins and steer the horses. This guy totally rocked. My camera's officially busted so if you want to see pictures you have to go to Robin's blog. If I haven't given you the link, give me an e-mail and let me know. The pictures are a riot.

As they got off, Ella got really squirmy and wanted to get back on. I told her it was someone else's turn. She told me she wanted to get back on because she forgot to tell them to "Giddy up."

Seriously, Ashton Kutcher, Come Out Cause I Got Punk'd

I'm serious this time. We tried to buy my brother-in-law, Kevin, a magazine about motorcycles for Christmas. I'll be up front, Aron and I have no clue about motorcycles nor do we know about magazines and such. We looked at the magazine display at Barnes and Noble trying to pick one out and spent a solid 5 minutes trying to look at the covers to see which one looked the best. We picked one out and thought we had made a good selection--the cover promised in depth analysis of the most recent models of motorcycles by all the major manufacturers. Sounds good, right? Once we got it home, we decided to bust into the plastic wrap it came in to get a card to send him a subscription. As I'm going through it, I notice that there seemed to be a lot of women in the magazine but I wasn't really paying attention until I noticed that it had a centerfold in it. Huh, a centerfold, huh? Yeah, there was totally a naked chick on the bike. A more in depth look at the magazine revealed that there were quite a few ladies so excited about the most recent models of motorcycles that they had to get naked.

I'm thinking we would be on Santa's naughty list if we gave it to him for Christmas. Rats.

I Loves Me Our Katie-Sitter

Aron had his office Christmas party over the weekend. One of the partners of his company hosted it at his house this year. We had our babysitter, Katie, come over a little early so Aron and I could go shopping before the party. As we were leaving, Aron remembered that we needed the directions to the party. He ran all around the house trying to find them but couldn't. We took off without the directions thinking we would call someone on the way. About 15 minutes into our journey, I got a text from Katie. She had found the directions and had typed them all out for us. Man, I love that girl. She probably thinks I'm the most disorganized freak ever but who cares cause she's got my back.

We went to the mall and saw our friend, Krystal, who was working some sort of crazy, heinous schedule at Macy's (think 10 AM to 11PM or something crazy like that) and did some shopping. We went to the party and had a good time. When we came home, Ella was still awake but fell asleep 2 seconds after I put her in bed because it was 11:30 (waaaaaaaay past when she normally goes to bed). She was having too good of a time with Katie having some "girl time" doing "girlish things." Luke had fallen asleep later than he normally does, too, but he only made it to 9:00. I think they're trying to tell me that Katie's more exciting than I am. We all know she's more exciting than Aron but more exciting than me???

After Katie left, I went into the office/toy room and found all of the toys neatly organized and put away in their respective baskets. I left that room and went to the kitchen and found the kitchen neatly organized with all of their dishes done from dinner and the counters wiped down. Man, I really love that girl. Can I swap her for Aron?

Did I just get Punk'd?

I ran to the store the other day with Ella while Luke and Aron stayed home. I just had to pick up a few things and probably didn't even really need a cart but somehow Ella talked me into getting one of those car carts. You know what I'm talking about. Those ginormous carts with the car built into it so the kids can drive the car while you're shopping. A good idea in theory, but in reality it's like driving a Hummer down a one way street with parking on both sides. They're impossible to steer and you don't realize how long they are (they're longer than the regular carts). Well, there I was bopping along in the produce when all the sudden, a display of oranges jumped in front of my cart and fell over. Ok, ok, so maybe the oranges didn't "jump out" in front of me and maybe I'm "Mr No Depth Perception" ($5 to the first person who can tell me what that reference is from) but let's just say there I was in the middle of the produce section and there was a bunch of bags of oranges all over. I looked around and no one had seen my mishap so I started to try to pick them up but then I realized that I had broken the board that holds the display case together. I tried to stack them up on the shelf without this precious board but no dice. I ended up going to get the lady in the floral department because Ella kept telling me "Mommy, you need to pick that up. Mommy you should really pick that up." Curse me and my needing to set a good example--I should've just run like the wind. Double curse to me and my bad luck. Although, my luck is nothing compared to my friend, Connie. (Poor Con. 2007's gotta be better).

The Ever Growing, Ever Changing LUKE

He's growing up fast, my friends. He's started to say all kinds of new words like duckie, desitin, gator, etc. Also, he's started making gestures for things he wants like yogurt (don't show that kid a container of yogurt and expect him not to eat it). He makes simple choices of milk or juice when I show him the containers. He's definitely started to show a preference for feeding himself. He even scoops up thicker foods like yogurt or chunky applesauce himself with a spoon. There's a definite preference for fruit over vegetables--don't get him started on dried blueberries because he won't stop. If you ask him if he needs a diaper change, he points to his diaper and nods. Ah, the beginnings of potty training. Ella was only a few months older than Luke is now when we started the process with her.

Our babysitter, Katie, came over last weekend while Aron and I went shopping. She brought birthday presents for both the kids since it had been a while since her last visit. Ella got a My Little Pony with accessories to brush the hair, a crown, and barrettes for its hair. It also came with a My Little Pony DVD that she really likes....really, REALLY likes...like watch it a bazillion times in a row likes it. Curse that Katie. Luke got a truck that makes engine noises when he presses the top. He loves that, too. He knows where to find it when you ask him where his Tough Boy Truck is. Both kids had a blast with Katie and was very sad to see her go. She'll be back this weekend, though, when Aron and I go to his work Christmas party on Saturday.

Haircut!

I went with my friend, Jeanne, last night and we got our haircut with Bridget. We've been going to Bridget together for a long time now but I just now got around to giving her my blogsite (bad Anna!). So hopefully, she'll become a faithful reader (Hi Bridge). I think I also forgot to mention that I linked my blog to Jeanne's blog (www.delhall.com) about her gorgeous little cutie pie, Natalie.

I just wanted to mention something about my haircut last night. Bridget said two little words one never wants to hear right after having cut a chunk of your hair. These would be "OH CRAP!" Don't worry, don't worry, she wasn't "Oh crap"ping because she had made a mistake on my hair but because she had cut her finger with her scissors--ouch!! Despite the cut finger, she managed push through the pain to finish the haircut. Now that's dedication. Bridge rules.

Extra Pix From the Birthday Party

For some reason, my family thought it was hilarious to dress Luke up in a dress that Ella got as a present. In some of them, he's also wearing a chef's hat and apron. Here are some of the cuter pix...

Picture Taking

I took the kids to get their pictures taken today. I hadn't ever gotten Luke's 1st birthday picture taken (I know, I know, bad Mommy) so we did that and had Ella's 3rd birhday picture taken. I also did a quick change of clothes so I could get a Christmas picture done. I did the Smiles by Wire this time so I'll be able to send my friends and family the link to see all the pictures in a few days. Some of them are cute, some of them are not so cute. Ella absolutely, positively, would not even consider smiling for 85% of the pictures AND for some reason she decided to scratch her cheeks so they are very red and irritated looking. In most of the pictures of her by herself, she looks like she's posing for a mugshot.

Luke, as usual, was a charming little fella smiling and laughing for the photographer but he wouldn't stand still long enough for her to get a picture. I think the ones I chose to buy were the best options so let's hope everyone likes them (If you don't, I don't really care at this point because I'm not going back for a re-take).

UNFORTUNATELY, they were running very behind where we got the pictures so we missed story hour today. Ella was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO disappointed and as a result, decided to boycott lunch. Well, she boycotted partially because she couldn't go to story hour and partially because we ran out of Dora the Explorer soup. Sigh. What's a mommy to do?

They Say It's Your Birthday

I liked this picture because Myles is using binoculars to look at Ella. He must be really near-sighted : )

It's hard to believe that she's three years old already. Ella had her birthday part with my family on Sunday. We had Grammie, Poppy, UJeff, ARobin, Myles, GG and Pawp over to our house to celebrate. At my mother's instance (ahem, MOM!), we decided earlier in the week that we would have Chinese for lunch that day. I had our order all written down and called the Chinese restaurant and who would have guessed that they were closed that day? Just my luck! We had to order pizza instead. I knew I never should've listened to my mother and order Chinese. Just one more reason to tune her OUT!

On Monday, we went to the pediatrician's to have Ella's 3rd birthday checkup. She weighs 28 1/2 pounds (25%) and is 36 1/2 inches tall (40%). As we always do, we completed a Denver assessment for Ella. Turns out this girl's got some skills. She has some skills all the way up to a 5 year old (the doctor was impressed with her use of verbs, sentence structure, and ability to write/draw). She just needs to turn these skills into something marketable so she can take care of her Mommy in a wonderful wing of her mansion when she grows up.

She Was the Dancing Queen...Young and Sweet

I said DANCE, Myles!
Don't you wanna dance? Say you wanna dance? Don't you wanna dance?
Dancing Queen

The Moment of Truth

The end

The beginning

I'm sure you're all wondering...well, did they do it? Was there any crazy flower girl/ring bearer mishaps? Was it a replay of when I was a flower girl with my cousin, Josh, and I all but yanked him down the aisle because he was too busy lollygagging? Nope. These two kids did it like pros. They played to the crowd when it was needed, and they focused on their job when that was needed, too. I may have to rent them out to other people to use in their weddings they were so good.

Does It Get Any Cuter Than This? I Think Not.

The top picture is Ella, Myles, Luke, and my cousin's baby, Zak. The bottom picture is, well, I think you know who these two are by now.

Daddy!

On our way upstairs after getting ready, we found Daddy in the stairwell who was more than happy to pause for a kiss from his little princess.

Wedding Bells Are Ringing, Baby

Aunt Robbie and Ella doin' the 'do

Could this girl get any more excited?

For some reason, I decided to punish myself by doing a little bit of post Thanksgiving/pre-Christmas shopping. That's right, folks, I got up at 4 AM so I could get to the store by 5 AM and shop. I didn't last long as I only made it to one store. I was back home and in bed by 6:30 AM. I went back to sleep for an hour or so until 8:00 when Ella came home to eat her McDonald's with Grammie and Poppy.

After breakfast, we started slowly getting ready to go to my cousin's (Brant) wedding. We had to get to the church in Grove City by 2:15 for pictures. We ended up getting there by 1:45 because I wanted to get Ella dressed and do her hair there before the pix. She loved putting on the pretty dress and the necklace from Monica (the bride) and the fancy party shoes. Her basket of flowers to carry was gorgeous (see also above photo). Myles was the ring bearer (see also the photo above with the shy looking little guy in the background). I curled Ella's hair but am hair challenged beyond that so I gave Aunt Robbie the go ahead to work her magic (See also above photo of them Doin' the 'Do). After they were all done there, it was time to go to get some pix taken upstairs.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Luke decided he couldn't wait for Turkey Day so he decided to take Jane's bag of cat food and dump it on the floor. He thought it was hilarious watching me try to quickly get the food back in the bag before he decided to try and eat it. Grrrrrrrrr.

Thanksgiving Day was good. Aunt Annie and Uncle Kevin made the big trek from NY for the occasion. As always, Ella enjoyed hanging out with them and made them pay all kinds of attention to her. We ate lunch with Aron's family and went to my parent's house after that. Overall, much good food, many good times. Woooooooooo...

Ella decided that she wanted to try to spend the night at Grammie and Poppy's house. She hasn't done this for a long time (probably since Aron and I went to NY 2 years ago). She was very excited. Poppy decided he would get more sleep if he went to my old room (Ella technically kicked him out by telling him that it was "Girl Time" for her and Grammie and that he needed to go somewhere else but we let him think it was his own decision). I hear that they ate popcorn and watched some Flintstones cartoons in Grammie's bed. They picked up McDonald's for breakfast on their way into town to drop Ella off. Tasty.

Wedding

I know, I know. Today is the day for the greatly anticipated wedding photos for my friends. I promise I will try to get them up this afternoon. Ella has her 3 yr check up and I have to do other assorted errand type things this morning but I will do it later.

The Big Talker Who Has an Appetite For Destruction

I know Tori will appreciate the GnR reference in the title.

Luke's really coming along with his emerging skills. He is starting to say all kinds of new words and even stringing together a few. I went into his room this morning and started tickling him as he was standing in his crib. As I picked him up, I said "I tickled you, you little cutie pie. Gotcha!" He giggled and said "Gah-uh." He said it again a few times after that.

He has also started to laugh differently. It really sounds like an old Woody Woodpecker cartoon. It's very stacatto and huhhuhhuh sounding. Its very hard not to laugh when he's doing it.

The appetite is also increasing. Today for lunch he had 1/2 a toasted cheese sandwich, a whole hot dog (I know, I know, hot dogs are bad for him AND they're a choking hazard for such a small kid but cut me some slack), some noodles, a whole container of yogurt, and some cheerios. Seriously, he eats more than I do. There must have been something in the air, though, because Ella was a Starvin Marvin, too. She had a hot dog, 1 1/2 yogurts, 2 bowls of cheerios and some noodles PLUS she had just eaten at story hour. I think I'm going to need a 2nd job so I can pay for their food.

Now that's tasty!

Ella went to Grammie's story hour today. They celebrated Thanksgiving. I was hoping for Pilgrim and Indian costumes but there weren't (darn!). However, they did enjoy a Thanksgiving feast complete with turkey (turkey lunch meat--a fave of Ella's), popcorn (also a fave), and ICE CREAM. I don't think that the pilgrims had ice cream at their Thanksgiving nor did they have the strawberry syrup to put on top but that's neither here nor there (hey, I just used "nor" two times in one sentence. I can't say I've ever done that before. I hope I used it properly both times).

The kids also sang Happy Birthday to Ella because it's her birthday on Sunday. The big 0-3. She was very excited to have everyone sing to her.

She also made an enormous turkey. Our camera's thinking about dying so I didn't get a picture of it yet. I'll have to see if I can get it to work using my magical skills.

New Format, Bayyyyybeeee

I hope everyone enjoys the new look and the new link I added to my friend's blog.

Belated Halloween Pix

I didn't get around to putting in pictures of Luke's Halloween costume--I'm such a bad Mom. I will now flood you with a flurry of pix of my little Parrot.

They're Just So Darn Cute

How in the world did I end up with the cutest kids ever? It's a mystery to all, my friend.

I think Luke's finally hitting the stage where he has the skills to interact and wants to play. He loves taking his little Gator tractor and running it around the living room floor while he's making little engine noises. Aron has taught him to put the Gator in the barn when he's done playing with it. How cute (and delightfully organized of him).

The kids have really started to play with each other lately. They love to share snacks with each other and generally really get along. Ella likes to give him bites of her pudding or sips of her milk. I'm a little worried because I'm sure the day will come that they're smacking each other and pushing the other one away from a toy but that doesn't stop me from sitting back and enjoying the peaceful co-existence now.

Score One For Miss Lori--Awwwww Yeah, Baby

We finally made it back to story hour. Today's letter of the day was I. Miss Lori read the kids tons of books with the letter I in it and showed them tons of things that started with the letter I. All of these things were fine and dandy with the kids but she had one heck of a closer. She let them make ice cream. Awwwwwwwwwww yeah, Baby. Nothing beats the old double ziploc bag method of making your own vanilla yumminess. That Miss Lori. She's such a rock star to my kid.

Getting Back in the Saddle

Finally, after almost a week of sickness, we're getting back on track. I had my first ever trip to the ER. The unfortunate side of living in a small town is that everyone knows you and you know everyone else. The nurse that checked me in to the ER was the mom of a friend of mine in high school. Oh well. The point is that I survived but I didn't get out of the ER in time to vote. Curse you, 7:30 poll closing time!

The kids got a little bit sick throughout this week but they survived, too. Luke had a little bit of a fever a couple times and Ella threw up a couple times but didn't get sick enough to really slow either of them down.

We missed story hour yesterday because I just didn't quite feel up to it. I got a burst of energy in the late afternoon but then lost it again by bedtime. Double curse you flu virus!

The House of Sickness and Fog

We've been a house of fevers, vomiting, flus, and all sorts of other yucky yuckiness for the last few days. Hopefully, we'll all be back up and running by Thursday for the Story Hour Circuit.

My Kid's Tougher Than Your Kid

My kid's tough as nails. I think she could out-tough a guy in one of those Tough Man Contests (or whatever they're called). I think she watches football and wishes they wouldn't be quite so wimpy and have to wear all that padding. You might be wondering why I'm saying this. Here, let me entertain and enlighten you with a little story.

Ella had to see Dr. Brown yesterday. She enjoys seeing her mostly because she knows it means a sticker or some awesome something or other. Anyhoos, Dr. Brown decided that she wanted Ella to do a urine sample and a blood draw. We had to do the blood draw at the hospital across the street from her office. As we went over to the hospital, I told her all about how there would be someone there who would take a little bit of blood from her arm and about how she would have to be a big, brave girl for me. She said she could do this. So, we registered then we went downstairs to the lab. We waited our turn and then went in the room and said hi to the phlebotomists (the nice ladies who take your blood). I wasn't able to get her to do a urine sample at the doctor's so after we gave the phlebotomists our paperwork, we trotted off to do the sample in the bathroom. We tried to go back in the room but noticed that a man was in the room getting his blood work done since we had gone potty. She watched him do his thing and I told Ella "See? He's getting his done, too." She leaned over to me very solemnly and said "He's being very brave, Mommy." I told her I thought he was brave, too.

It soon was our turn to get it done. Ella went right into the room and crawled up into the chair. She sat right down , rolled her sleeves up, put her arms out with wrists up and said "Ready." She then assumed the thousand yard stare. I asked her if she wanted to sit on my lap or hold my hand. She shook her head and said "No, thank you, Mommy." The phlebotomists looked at her and shook their heads. We were all thinking that this bravado wouldn't last long. They put the needle in her arm and she never moved a muscle. Didn't so much as bat an eye. She sat still the entire time they took the blood. When she was done, they asked if she wanted a sticker. She said "Yes, please." She picked out a sticker, pulled the paper backing off, and then placed it on my hand while telling me "You were very brave, Mommy. Good job."

My kid eats kids like yours for breakfast! Yea!

They call him The Tank

My family enjoys calling Luke "The Tank." They think he's very stocky and tank-like when he walks around. He looks like he's going to knock over anything and anyone in his path. Well, that and the fact that he'll eat anything that doesn't run away from him.

We went to Dr. Brown's office today for Luke's 12 month check up. She dispelled the myth that Lukie is chubby and tank-like. She weighed and measured him and it turns out that he's still a pretty small guy. He weighs 19 1/2 pounds which is at the 6% and 28 3/4 inches long (20%). She said he's still doing pretty well with his skills especially his speech. He can say words like Daddy, Ella, Jane, David, Banana, moos, and clucks like a chicken. I asked her why she thought he was so low on the weight chart when he had been up around the 25% at the last check up. She's not sure but her theory is that because he started to walk earlier than typical baby (he walked at 10 months and the average is 12 months) he started to burn calories at an accelerated rate earlier (all babies start to stop gaining weight at a fast rate once they start walking and thus, burning more calories).

He also enjoys a good dance. Ella likes to sing to him while he dances. The dance mostly consists of bouncing around and swaying side to side a little bit. He also enjoys running around the house carrying his Farmer Tad Fridge Farm (an excellent toy from our good friends at LeapFrog by the way. I highly recommend it) and hitting the button to make it play music.

Arrrrrrrr Matey!

Last night was trick or treat for the kiddos. Ella and Myles were pirates (Arrrrrrrrrr) and Luke was their parrot. Aunt Robbie constructed them a pirate ship complete with sails and a skull and crossbones flag that fit over Myles's little red wagon. Aunt Robbie should've been a carpenter with all the skills she has. I made Luke's costume this year because I couldn't find a parrot costume that I liked.

While we were out trick or treating, my Mom and Aron's parents handed out all kinds of candies and mini containers of playdoh. I hear that the playdoh was quite a hit. Much to Aron's dismay, I still have not let him be "Full Size Candy Bar Guy." He wants to be that guy that hands out a full sized candy bar to all the kids. This year he decided that his ultimate dream would be to hand out the full sized candy bar AND a can of Coke. I told him the instant we win the lottery he will be allowed to do that. Until then, I'm just going to be a meanie and squash his fun.

Our friends, Matt and Kortney, came over with their daughter, Kaylene, to help us trick or treat. Kortney made Kaylene's costume and she is way more skilled than I am in that area.

After trick or treating, we all came back to our house and enjoyed a variety of soups, bread, cookies, birthday cake (for Aron--Happy 29th!), and pie. Mmm...mmm...good.

P.S.--I used some photoshop magic to white out our For Sale information. You never know if there might be a psycho who stumbles across the blog.

Ears Are For Listening

The kids. They hear what they want to hear sometimes, ay? Ella has been picking up on phrases that I say that probably aren't the nicest things to say. Like when Aron is nagging at me (an every day occurrence) to do something, I tend to mutter under my breath "ok, ok, you're killing me." The other day Luke was pulling at Ella's sippy cup trying to get a drink of her milk and I heard her tell him "Lukie! You have to stop. You're killing me!" Hmm...probably not the worst thing she could say but not the nicest either. I guess I should stop saying that, huh?

BUT she also picks up on the good things I say, too. When she's being a good girl, I try to make sure I reward her with a little something. I try to reward good behavior as often as giving her a negative consequence when she's not behaving. When I give her whatever it is (be it a special hair clip or a sticker or whatever), I tell her that she's been a good girl, that I'm proud of her, and that she's special to me. The other day, she was eating an apple. I asked her if I could have a bite. She leaned over, kissed my arm and said "Sure. You know why? Cause you're special to me, Mommy."

Oh, the sweetness. I think I could make a batch of cookies with all the sugary sweetness that kid has.

Luke's Big Speech

Luke likes to talk now. I mean, he really likes to talk. He'll tell you all about anything and everything. He's learned how to moo when he sees a toy cow (that trick is courtesy of Grammie). He also makes engine noises whenever he plays with his cars or tractors. A favorite pass time is to point at Jane and tell you all about whatever she's doing. This of course is a series of non-sensical syllables but the point is that he's learning how to tell people a story. He pauses while you answer him. Once you stop talking he continues with his story. He's learning how to be a polite listener that way, I guess.

He likes to tell you all about the big haul of birthday presents he got, too. He especially enjoys his Sesame St tool belt as he is modeling in this picture. I think you can see the Ernie screwdriver and the Oscar the Grouch hammer. Both of which he tries to use on our kitty, Jane. Poor Jane. Ouch

If you didn't know me...

you might think that all I ever do is sit in this chair with one of my kids and the cat.

The Finale--Me Thinks Me Need Cake Edition

Sunday was my family's turn to celebrate Luke's birthday. My grandparents, ARobin/UJeff/Myles, and my parents all came over to celebrate. Luke got to eat a bunch of cake and ice cream for the second day in a row. Mmm...tasty...

Birthday-palooza part 2

On Saturday, we had Aron's family over. We celebrated both Ella and Luke's birthdays that day since Aunt Annie is really busy and lives far away. I opened the front door while we were waiting for AAnnie and UKevin to come. I found the kids standing in the doorway watching for them. (See also bottom picture)

Aron's Granny was supposed to come to the party along with Aron's Grandpa but she ended up not feeling well so she went to the hospital. It turns out she has atrial fibrillation which has responded well to medication so she should be fine. She's supposed to get out of the hospital tomorrow.

Granny Lindy made Ella and Luke special cakes.
Ella's was a doll cake--her dress is a decorated cake. Luke's was a special little cupcake just for him. Both cakes were a hit! (See top picture).

All too soon it was time for AAnnie to head home. Ella missed her a bunch after she left so we decided to call her to say hi on her long drive home. At the end of the conversation, she told her "Love you, miss you, bye" which is her typical sign off but this time, she kissed the phone and then gave it a hug. It was very sweet.

Weekend in review--part 1

You know it's been a busy weekend when I have to blog about it in multiple posts.

On Friday, a friend of mine (Steve) came to visit me and the kiddies. You can tell that he doesn't have kids because he thinks it a riot to bring presents in the form of loud, annoying toys. Curse you, Steve! This visit's selections included a large Tonka Truck (see also top picture) and a large tub of legos (see bottom picture).

He also brought me flowers (always a good choice. You can never go wrong with flowers). The kids and he took turns pushing each other around the house while riding in the Tonka truck. I tried to give him my kitty, Jane, as a housewarming present for him but he rejected the offer. I offered her several times and several times he rejected her. Poor Jane.

House

In a weird twist of fate, the house buying might be back on. Will post more when I know more.

Ella's Sweet Ride

On Saturday, the whole fam went to Grammie and Poppy's house to watch the OSU game. After the game was over, Poppy got ready to go out to combine one of his fields of soybeans. He asked Ella if she wanted to come along for a ride--heck ya, she wanted to come!

The field Poppy went to was over at my Grandparents house so he drove over in his car and we followed after him as soon as Ella went potty, put her shoes on, got a snack, etc (this took about 15 minutes because she's very slow at getting ready). The whole drive over to my Grandparents Ella talked non-stop about how she was going to drive the tractor and about how she was a big girl and ready to ride on the combine. She was very excited until we got there and she remembered exactly how big the combine is. She was a little nervous about getting in but I told her I would ride along, too. We all climbed in--Poppy shared his seat with me and Ella sat on my lap. She was a little nervous at first but then I started explaining to her about how the combine works. She watched it cut the soybeans in the front while the rotating part of the head pushed the cut soybeans to the side. Then it goes to a part that we couldn't see where the soybeans are taken out of the plant. After that, it gets spit out behind the combine where it holds all the soybeans until you're ready to dump them out. She enjoyed watching the whole process after she got over her initial nervousness. I told her about how soybeans make soy burgers, soy milk, and baby formula. She thinks that they get made into marshmallows, too, but I told her they were mostly corn syrup and air. I don't think she really believed me but who knows, maybe I'm wrong.

I'm sorry to say I didn't get a picture of her steering the combine. Maybe next time.

Happy Luke-Day!

It was Luke's birthday yesterday. We didn't do much to celebrate because his parties aren't until this coming weekend. We're having one with Aron's family on Saturday (Aunt Annie and Uncle Kevin are making the long trip for the occasion) and my family on Sunday. He will have plenty of opportunities to eat tons of yummy birthday cake so please don't worry that he will be deprived.

Luke has been talking non-stop lately. He has started to work on perfecting his "Daddy" and it has evolved into more of a "Daa-ee" sounding word. He has also starting calling our kitty by her name (her name is Jane but from him it sounds more like "Ayyn-ee"). He is able to say "Duh" for duck. Basically, anything that starts with the letter D he'll at least attempt to say. We tried to get him to say Poppy over the weekend but it didn't work so we had him calling my dad David. It worked enough that he could get out "Day-i." Pretty good for such a little guy.

We have busy week coming up. Today there's not much planned but tomorrow is Grammie Day (think fun Disney movies from her library). Wednesday is Granny Lindy day. She's going to attempt to take Ella to Miss Lori's story hour while I'm at work. We'll see how that goes. Thursday is Grammie's story hour for Ella and Miss Lori's story hour for Luke. Friday my friend, Steve, is coming for a visit before he moves from Detroit to California : (

Leaf me alone

Aron decided to take a day off work yesterday so he was with the kids all day. I was a little worried about how it was going to go but it sounds like it went well. They had all kinds of leaf raking fun together.

Random Cute Pix

This picture was harder than it looks

Do you know how hard it is to get 2 small children to sit still and look in the general direction of a camera both at the same time? It's hard.

Go Bucks, anyway.

Lukie's First Birthday Pix

I tried to get Luke's first birthday pictures taken last week. Unfortunately, the night before we were to get them taken, he took a head first dive into the fireplace. Then he fell into the side of the toilet (yuck) then he fell yet again into the side of the sand box.

This was the unfortunate result. Check out his fat lip. So, you can see why I didn't want to take him to get his picture taken when the only purpose it would serve is to document the abuse of my poor baby.