Birthday Girl

Four years ago you were born!  My precious little bundle of joy.  You were the prettiest most perfect creation I had ever witnessed - and you still are today, four years later.  I love you, darling. 

Proud Mama in the recovery room.

Meeting Roscoe for the first time.

Daddy snapped this shot when you were less than an hour old.

Also, since last year's birthday was before I started this blog, I wanted to throw in my favorite picture of her 3rd birthday.  Her birthday party is this coming Tuesday, so I'll do a seperate post about that.

 


Happy Birthday, Babers!  ♥

~

Clever Girl

"I want to watch one episode of Sponge Bob..."

Things I never thought I'd year my three-year-old say:

"...on the Xbox!"  (we have Netflix instant streaming)

~

King of the Mountain

Photos of the kids playing on Aunt D and Uncle S's sand pile.  Sand is for their super-secret beach plans.  M learned its a lot easier to get off of the pile than it is to climb up!

Ever wondered what ten tons of sand looks like?

~

First Harvest: Cucumbers!

Since last Saturday, we have picked more than 20 cucumbers already!  There are at least a hundred more flowers too - Yay!  We are loving the garden this year.  We also have some basil, a sunflower, and lots of marigolds growing strong.

~

Boom, Boom, Boom!

My husband has been out of town all weekend to help his brother in Omaha.  While we miss him dearly, it didnt stop us from making the best of our holiday weekend.  Aunt E and Uncle S brought cousin Baby A to town for the holiday, and we had a wonderful visit.

Dressed up for the parade!

C's ready for a hot day of fun!

Lounging in the grass, waiting for the fireworks to start.

M got her nails painted red for the occasion.

C wanders in the grass.

C got hold of the camera and took this picture of Mama.

He also took about fifty pictures that looked like this:

Boom!  Splendid fireworks show.  Both kids loved it.  As soon as it was over, C started asking, "Moe?  Moe?"

~

First Time for Everything: Movie!

Aunt D and Uncle S took M to see her first big-screen movie this weekend: Toy Story 3!

While she may not have enjoyed the movie entirely (the teddy bear was a little "scary"), she did enjoy seeing the familiar characters Woody and Buzz, and she also "liked the princess."

We were afraid she would be scared when the lights went out - but she told me she didn't even notice.  She got popcorn and candy and fruit punch.  And we all went out for ice cream after the show.  Whoo!  Here's to a great movie-going experience!

~

Shopoholics

At our local County Market store, they have some kid's carts at the front of the store.  M always asks to use one, but they only have two, and usually they are both being used.  This time, however, they were both there!  M went straight towards them to grab one, and I could see the look in C's eye that said "I want one too!"

Ready to shop!

Can I carry that in my cart?

Push, push, push.

Happy shoppers!

~

First Harvest: Tomatoes!

M harvested our first five delectible cherry tomatoes from the garden. Yum Yum!

It was great, because our garden is so dense, she was able to squeeze in between the branches to snatch them up - its nice to have an itty bitty agile person around!

~

Sick is no fun - but is sure can be cute

Both kids were sick last week, but mostly my poor sweet C.  He had a high fever most of the week, and was pretty well zonked most of the time.  I had to take him to the doctor twice.

But here a couple of pictures of my sweet little sick baby:

waiting at the doctor's office.

zonked on the couch.
















This was the "I need to be picked up, Mom" picture that K, the day care lady, sent me on Friday morning.

Luckily he is feeling much better, and has been back to his normal self since Saturday.

~

Rain Glasses

"Mommy, these are not sun glasses, these are rain glasses!"  M said sort of randomly in the car.

"Why is that?" I asked in response.

"Because they can't be sun glasses - when I look at the sun I start sneezing!"

~

Blueberries!

Two weeks ago, we travelled to Pontious Farm, a U-Pick berry and herb farm in White Heath, IL.  We had such a great experience, I just had to blog about it.

The kids spent much of their time playing on the playground, and saying hello to the animals - namely cats and llamas.  The llamas were especially fun as M got to walk a llama on a leash, and we all spent time giving the llamas eskimo kisses!

But the best part was picking blueberries!  Both the kids are huge fruit fanatics, especially when it comes to blueberries.  C was hilarious, picking them right off the bush, and stuffing his cheeks full like a squirrel packing it in for winter:

Pick.

Inspect.

Taste.

Repeat!

Yummy.

Pick the berries one-at-a-time.  Eat the berries one-handful-at-a-time!

We joked that we should have weighed him before and after we went berry-picking, so that we could have accurately paid them for what we took home!  The boy had blue poop for two days!

M had fun too - and was at the perfect eye-level to pick the ripe, juicy berries on the bottom of the bush.  She bragged about walking the llama for a week!

~

Pete and Repeat

Pete and Repeat were on a boat, Pete jumps out, who is left on the boat?

A story directly from our babysitter:

I wanted to tell you what M said to me last night. I been chuckling all day. It was right before you came home. C and I were chattering on about silly things. M was trying to concentrate on her coloring and I sense she was feeling cranky and tired. She said to me, "C [the babysitter], I don't want to hear another word out of you!" I can't imagine here she's heard that before. I didn't say anything to her. C and I continue to play. She's such a little smarty pants. She even printed out my name. She was a bit stumped on the 'U'.

Thanks for the great story, C!

~

Chalk Monster

Watch out - the dreaded chalk monster is on the loose, and he's out to get you!  He'll sit on you with his chalky butt, or worse, he'll take out your leg with a chalk bucket swing!  Beware!

Fun with chalk on the front steps this morning:

~

Language Aquisition

C has mastered another very important word.  He uses it often, he uses it loudly.  He knows exactly what it means.

"MINE!"

~

Theory and Logic

We have had some very strong almost-daily thunderstorms over the last three weeks.  M's fear of storms is not extreme, but it's enough for her to come into bed with us when she is awoken by the thunder and lightening.  She doesn't cry, just quickly and quietly runs to our bedside and asks Daddy to hoist her up.

Last week we had a particularly intense storm, during which M wound up in our bed at about 2am.

The following morning we were chatting and she said:

"The thunder woke me up, but when I came into Daddy's room the storm followed me!"

Later that day we were chatting about the storm again and she elaborated:

"I think the storm went over to Bonnie's house now"  (Our next door neighbor).

Interesting.

~

Butter Lovers

We purchase a share with Prairieland CSA, operated by the Moore family on their farm in Watseka, IL.

A few weeks back, our week's share included three ears of popcorn!  It was so neat, I couldn't wait to get home and pop some.

First I seperated the kernels from the cob.

I threw them in the air popper - yum.

One ear of corn made a whole bowl of popcorn (more popcorn than in a bag of microwave popcorn.)

C with the empty cob.

M goes crazy for popcorn!

Munch, munch, munch.

~

Zonked

♥

~

Chocoholics

What is it about chocolate that makes children unable to eat it without getting it all over their face and hands.  Even M, now almost 4 years old, can't seem to keep the chocolate mustache from forming.  The above photo was C after eating just one mini-oreo.  Sheesh! Gotta love it.

~

One Liner

M has had some hilarious one-liners lately.  Unfortunately, I can only remember the best one:

"Mom, why are you talking like a baby?"

Hilarious.

~

Happy Father's Day

Here's the Father's Day gift me and the kids prepared for Daddy:

All photos of daddy lounging or sleeping with the babies - I had several more and actually had to weed a couple out!

Poem between M's footprints:

"Walk a little slower, Daddy,"

 said a child so small.

 "I'm following in your footsteps

 and I don't want to fall.

 Sometimes your steps are very fast,

 Sometimes they're hard to see;

 So walk a little slower, Daddy,

 For you are leading me.

 Someday when I'm all grown up,

 You're what I want to be;

 Then I will have a little child

Who'll want to follow me.

 And I would want to lead just right,

 And know that I was true;

 So, walk a little slower, Daddy,

 For I must follow you."

Poem between C's handprints:

"Sometimes you get discouraged,

because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

on furniture and walls

But every day I'm growing,

I'll be grown someday

And all those tiny hand prints

will surely fade away

So here's a little hand print

just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

when I was small"

Super Dad!


Relax this Father's Day!

Daddy chillin' with his babies (May 2010).

~

Passing the Blame

"I wonder who l left all of these crayons and markers out all over the table?"  Daddy questioned, knowing all-to-well who the culprit was.

"Hm?" M answered.

"I think her name starts with an M and ends with a Y..."  Daddy continued.

"MOMMY!" M replied

~

Opening day at Sholem Aquatic Center!!  We got a season pass.  I'm so excited.  I'll be there every day I can.

That's C in the green, holding two cups, and M in the back, to the right.

~

Toot your heart out

"Eww. Was that you?"  Mama asked after a very obvious toot.
"e'scuse me" M snuck in.

A couple minutes later I smelled the pungent odor again.  "Are you tootin' again, M?"  I asked, expecting her to pardon herself.  Instead, she leaned in to me, took a big whiff of my face, and then said:

"You smell like glasses"

~