A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

We got a special visit from Grandma and Grandpa this weekend. We're very lucky that they are able to visit us a couple of times a year. Here's a selection of some of the weekend's greatest moments.

~Erin and Grandma sitting at the dining room table playing Go Fish and Old Maid - over and over and over again.
~Jeffrey and Grandpa sitting at the dining room table pushing his favorite trucks back and forth while Grandpa sang "I've Been Working on the Railroad" (bet he didn't know I heard that part).
~Erin barging into our bedroom at 7:00 announcing that she was going down to wake grandma up....OK Erin, just go you don't need to tell me.
~Having an entire movie theater to ourselves for Jeffrey's first movie - Night at the Museum.
~Dining out at the Japanese Hibachi place for Tom's birthday with Erin entertaining Grandpa the whole evening (and eating his steak) while mommy and daddy did their best to entertain a very overtired Jeffrey, who still managed to eat Grandma's steak, daddy's chicken and mommy's shrimp.
~Did I mention Go Fish and Old Maid?
~"Thunder and Lightening", Jeffrey's "Cars" book that Grandpa had to read at least 10 times in a row.
~Discovering that Jeffrey needs a size 7 or 7 1/2 shoe and can wear 3T shirts and shorts. Oh My!!!!!
~Introducing Grandma and Grandpa to wrestle with daddy time...we all laughed soo hard.
~Jeffrey and Grandpa vegging out in front of the Weather Channel.
~Don't forget about that "Cars" book grandpa.
~Erin barging in at 7:00 announcing that "Mommy, It Snowed!!!!"
~Lastly the ever popular Go Fish, Old Maid and......"Cars" book.

Shameless Picture Post

Shameless Picture Post!!!! Here are some of my most recent favorite pictures of the kiddos. I promise I didn't pick too many.


I don't get these kinds of snuggles from my little man very often. I'll take all I can get.


Erin wore her new Valentine's Day outfit to Church and needed to have her Reindeer along with her to keep her company.


Getting a special horsey ride from daddy...a double decker one!!!


Jeffrey's new obsession is running into the bathroom and pulling his pants down right after sister is done in the potty. NO I'm not training him yet, but he thinks it's fun to take his pants off and sit on the potty for 2.8 seconds.


Playing together, working together, sharing with each other and not screaming....what else could a mommy ask for?

A Visit with Noni, Oma and Grandpa

Since Noni had the day off on President's day I decided to surprise Erin by taking her and Jeffrey up for a visit. I got her up in the morning and told her she needed to get dressed quickly as we were going on a surprise trip. Oh I know mommy....is it my birthday party? Are we going to my birthday party? That was her first conclusion, that her surprise was her birthday party. She kept at this fascination for about 30 minutes. By that time I had loaded enough things into the car that it seemed as if we were going to stay for a week and not a night. As we started driving Erin explained how excited she was that she was going to her birthday party. I told her that I didn't think her surprise was going to be a birthday party. That she would have to wait for that. Her birthday party would be on a warmer day that she could wear shorts and short sleeves and play outside. And play soccer, added Erin. Sure, and play soccer.

About half way through the trip Erin abandoned the idea of a birthday party and decided we were going to a parade. She became very excited about going to the parade. As I hit a little traffic she got more and more upset because she was afraid the parade was going to start without us. I let her know that the parade wouldn't start without us. But asked her if she was sure her surprise was a parade. Yes mommy, you're taking me to a parade. Very matter of fact. She was certain.

Only when we pulled into the driveway at my folks house did she put it all together and realize we were at Noni and Oma's (and Grandpa's too). I carried both kids inside and plopped them down. Jeffrey went straight for the dog. Erin ran right downstairs to find Oma. Parade totally forgotten about.

We spent a nice day at the house coloring, reading stories, eating grilled cheese sandwiches and playing piano. I also brought all of their snow things (thanks to Noni, Jeffrey finally has a pair of boots and both kids have waterproof pants). There was a nice amount of snow remaining in the back yard. When Jeffrey woke up from his nap we bundled up and went out to play. There was a crust on the snow that wasn't slippery, but you had to work to break through also. It was great for running and sliding around on plastic bags ---sleds next year I guess. Jeffrey ran around the back yard chasing the dog like a madman. Erin had Noni pull her around on her "sled". We also played on the swing set and made snow angles.

After all that playing we decided to take Grandpa out for a late birthday dinner. We went to one of Noni's favorite places where we could still eat sensibly and bring the kids. On the way in I grabbed their Magnadoodles from the back of the car (that I bring along for car trips) thinking this place might not have crayons. Proud of myself for grabbing them we walked in and were seated quickly.....right next to a couple who had brought in a portable DVD player to entertain their son. I felt not so creative anymore.

We all had a great dinner. Erin and Jeffrey ordered hot dogs and tried some Mac & Cheese bites which were really yummy. Jeffrey sat between Grandpa and Noni and was so good throughout all of dinner. Both shared bites from everyone else...including Oma's lamb....which Erin asked for more of. Jeffrey enjoyed his ketchup and the artwork he could make on the table....AND IN HIS HAIR...with ketchup on the end of his fork. Of course I had to take a picture on my phone of Jeffrey with a large streak of ketchup in his blond hair before we wiped it off....the DVD people thought I was a little nuts I'm pretty sure. We finished off with Erin ordering Raspberry Sorbet and Jeffrey eating most of Noni's bread pudding.

After getting home Jeffrey got his hair washed and was ready for bed. Erin went downstairs with Oma and played until they fell asleep. Mommy and Noni watched some Supernanny and CSI and caught up on all kinds of things. We left mid-morning the next day. Erin completely in tears because she wasn't ready to leave yet. Even in the car she kept crying ---until a quick stop at McDonald's for OJ and a hash brown had her all smiles again. It certainly was a great day spent with family.

Hapy Valentine's Day

We just wanted to say Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Mommy made a little movie of us together. Here's the link:

LOVE Movie

Just click on the link and it should start downloading. It might just go directly into your Media Player (does for me). If you get an option screen, select "Open" the file and it should play fine in Window's Media Player.

Hope everyone has a wonderful LOVE-filled Day!!!

Wednesday Morning....

Erin -- Mommy Mommy.....Look out the window!
Mommy -- Erin, I'm going to teach you how to tell time so you don't come yelling at me at 7:15. What is it?
E -- Mommy Mommy....Look out the window!
M -- What is it Erin?
E -- Mommy mommy...Look out the window!
M(realizing she's not going to get anywhere without looking out the window) -- Ooohhh look it snowed. Isn't it pretty?
E -- Let's go out and play.
M -- A little later hunny, why don't you come snuggle for a bit.
Jeffrey (from other room) -- MOMMMMMMMYYYY!!!!
E -- Mommy, Jeffrey's awake! You have to go get him. He needs you.
M (realizing her efforts to remain in bed are futile) -- Ok, let's get him.

So mommy convinces Erin and Jeffrey to snuggle for a little bit and watch Disney. But Erin could only wait soooo long to go play outside. Flash forward to around 10 AM after breakfast and some playtime.

M -- OK should we get ready to go outside now?
E -- Yes Yes Yes!
J -- No (response to everything)
M -- Let's go upstairs and get some clothes on to go outside. Erin you get out of your PJ's while I get Jeffrey ready. Hmmm Jeffrey, you don't really have good snow clothes. Let's put on these old sweatpants and a pair of footie PJ's underneath. That will keep your legs warm. Sound good? Good!
E (hollering from the potty) -- Mommy wipe!
M -- Just a second Sweetie. There we go. OK let's get some clothes on. Comfy? Good. OK, let's get boots and jackets on.
E -- Is this the right foot mommy?
M -- Yep...good work.
E (throws boot across room) -- I Can't Do it!!!!
M -- Calm down, let's do it together. See? There we go. Now, do you know where Jeffrey's boots are? (after a check in his room and the basement we find them in the basket where I first looked). Let's put Jeffrey's boots on. OK Jeffrey push. Push. Let me loosen them. Yeah, this isn't going to work. Well you can't go out in your sneakers. I know...sister's old boots. Yes, I know they're pink, but it will be ok. OK Jeffrey, push.
E -- Mommy I wanna go outside.
M -- We're working on it. Ok, bud, this isn't going to work. Pants off. Footie pants off. Pull your socks up. Pink boots on. There we go bud. Now for coats.
E -- Mommy I need my mittens.
M -- I think they are in the basement. Let me check. Ok Erin, no they're not here. We'll wear different ones.
E -- NO!!! I need my pink gloves.
M (looking for other mittens) -- Erin you're going to have to wear other ones.
E -- There they are mommy. There they are. See them! Up there. I need those ones.
M -- Ok Erin. I see them. Coats on. (5 minutes later) Ok, coats are on. Let's get mittens and hats on. Push. Push your hands guys. Keep pushing them. Ok this is the best it's gonna get. Let's go outside!
E -- YAY!!!
J -- YAY!!!

Outside playing in snow...Jeffrey's pink boots keeping his feet fairly warm. Three minutes later.....

Erin -- Potty! Mommy I have to go potty.

Sigh...thankfully our neighbor and her daughter had joined us for some snow playing. Mommy runs Erin inside, gets her undressed and puts her on the potty. Ten seconds later Erin is "all done" and we go back outside.

Lessons learned?
1 -- Buy Jeffrey snow boots....even if he might grow out of them. Otherwise it's big pink boots for him.
2 -- Plan a good 40 minutes to get dressed and get outside.
3 -- Find mittens that will stay on.
4 -- Make sure they really really want to be outside....otherwise it's 40 minutes preparation for 10 minutes of play.
and most importantly...
5 -- Go Potty First.

No matter. We had fun playing in the snow again. Erin made more snow angles and played hiking up the hill. Jeffrey played on the slide and tried to clear the cars off. I guess is was all worth it.

My Bubble-ishous

Ever since Erin was teeny tiny one of the gentlemen at our church has fondly called her "My Bubble-ishous". Probably because she had these great big cheeks and went through a phase of blowing bubbles and raspberries when she was about 4 months old. Anyway he and Erin have had a special bond since then. He sings in the choir and will let her sit with him while we rehearse and she always finds him after service for a special hug.

Recently after church Erin was trying very hard to tell me she had to go find.....well I couldn't make out what she was saying. After about 5 minutes she grabbed my hand and we went walking around church looking for what she wanted to show me. Eventually we found him. Let me give you an image of what this gentleman. He's a tall, broad, African American gentleman who has a son in high school - not a small man by any definition of the word. He was at one point high school principal of the year. Erin saw him...pointed to him and yelled, "There he is...there's my Bubble-ishous." I can assure you this is the first time anyone has called him by such a nickname. To this day she still looks for her Bubble-ishous every time we are in church and always makes sure she gets her hug.

New Game?

So Tom and I decided that as part of our New Year's goals we'd make an effort to get the kids in bed a little earlier (especially Erin) and keep the play area on the main floor a little more cleaned up. So we started out by explaining to Erin that before bed we would take 5 minutes to clean up. We'd set the timer and say, "OK, clean up time!" Well....that fell flat on it's face. Erin would throw a fit because the timer generally has negative connotations (timeout or a time frame to finish dinner). So she would just get overly dramatic whine and cry while Tom and I put away the toys. Jeffrey became more interested with every toy we tried to put away and he'd run to get it back out so he could play with it.

So after a week or so of that I came up with another idea. I let Erin pick out a CD. We play 2 songs really loud and during those two songs it's "clean up time." Erin immediately latched onto it and would run around finding all the toys and bring them to me saying "where does this go mommy?". After 3 or 4 nights she had learned where everything went. Jeffrey was still in the playing with everything phase so getting him to help was a little more difficult. I finally figured that out by giving him one thing and saying, "Hey can you put the airplane back on the shelf buddy?" He'd immediately put it away and come back to me for something else. He knew exactly where to put it also.

So we've made some good progress with this. We knew we had hit gold the other night when I had this conversation with Erin....

Mommy - "OK, let's go up and get jammies on"
Erin - "Nooooooo" (runs to the stairs and buries her head)
Mommy - "Erin I didn't say time to go to bed, I just said let's go get jammies on."
Erin - (peeking up from the steps and sobbing) "But we didn't clean up yet mommy."

That's is she won...we grabbed the World Playground CD, cranked up the volume and put away the toys. Pretty cool huh?

Snow much fun

Well this is a week late but we had our first (and possible only)snow last Sunday. Erin noticed it about 10 AM and just begged for the next two hours to go outside. She stood by the window and shouted "Look it's snowing" about every 5 minutes. We convinced her to wait about 2 hours until there was at least a little snow on the ground to play in.

So a little after noon we got all bundled up. We still don't have snow pants for the kids so we threw on PJ pants and 2 pair of socks under some sweat pants for the kiddos. It was a nice fluffy snow and not too wet.

Jeffrey had never played in the snow before so he wasn't sure what to expect. He was a little tentative for about 2.5 seconds and then barreled right into it. He started out at the little swing and slide and had a blast there. Then Erin thought she needed to clear off the cars so she lured him over to the hill. Once he got over there he was lost forever. He spent the next 15 minutes running/rolling down the hill. The biggest issue was that he couldn't get back up very well so someone had to go down the hill and get him back.

Erin was a little less interested in getting down and dirty with the snow. She really wanted to clear the snow off the cars. She tried to make some snowballs but the snow was too dry and just floated away. Right before she came inside Tom showed Erin how to make a snow angel. She thought it was very very cool.

Sadly early in the evening we got some freezing rain. Not enough to make the snow melt, but enough to make the snow icey and crusty on top. I had to spend 10 minutes the next morning explaining to Erin why she couldn't go back out and play. She was simply heartbroken. But she finally relented. Sadly by Thursday the snow was pretty much gone :( Maybe we'll get some more before the winter is truly gone.

A Family in the Woods

Well we decided to take advantage of the unusually warm January weather and take the kids out geocaching and for a picnic yesterday. We decided to head over the mountain to find a few caches we hadn't yet picked up. (For those of you who don't know what geocaching is we describe it as, "using multi-million dollar government satellites to find Tupperware hidden in the woods." Check out http://www.geocaching.com/ for more information.) Tom packed up a picnic lunch for us to stop at a picnic area on Skyline Drive on the way back. Erin was totally enthused about the idea of a picnic. She's been playing picnic with her guys and little pets recently so all she could talk about was "time for the picnic yet?"

Our GPS sent us a little screwey in the beginning but once we got it set back on track we headed off to the first cache. This one was in a little park in a small town of Shenandoah (on the way to Luray Caverns from here). It stood on the site of an historic furnace. There was a little pond, picnic tables and a walking path. The kids were excited to see some ducks in the pond. Jeffrey and Tom walked down towards it for a closer look. As usual Jeffrey was wiggling to get away. Tom restrained him well though, until he fell for the old, "OK Daddy I give up" trick. At that point Jeffrey bolted immediately into the pond. Tom caught him by the back of his shirt (appropriately his "Little Wild Man" shirt) before he fell face first. Still he was soaked from his thighs down. Mind you we had left the diaper bag by the front door and this was the first stop. He didn't seem bothered by it so we just kept on. Found the first cache without any trouble and moved along to the next one which was very nearby at an old general store.

After nabbing that one, we decided to skip the one we had printed out that required the mile long hike up the mountain and do another that was marked as relatively simple. It took us to a really cool Civil War Furnace site in the George Washington National Forest. The furnace was huge...about 30 feet tall. Right next to a confluence of 2 smaller streams into one slightly larger one. The setting was beautiful. Given Jeffrey's recent expedition into the pond he was confined to the backpack as soon as we got out of the car. We let Erin go explore around the stream though. I even got her to sit so I could take some pictures in front of the stream. We headed off on a walk to find the rest of the cache. Since it was pretty cloudy the GPS was jumping all over the place. We're pretty sure we were in the right place for the actual cache, just couldn't get right on it. With it beginning to get into the afternoon and Erin still focused on the picnic we abandoned that effort and headed back up into the mountains for lunch.

There must have been a strong wind storm since the last time we were up here as many many trees were bent or broken. The picnic area we had planned on eating at was closed to cars. We decided to park in a little area out front and walk in anyway. There were trees down all over the place, but the tables were still standing and there was enough room for the kids to run around. We had a Frisbee and ball with us too. Both kids immediately started eating, but it didn't last long as they wanted to explore the area. They peeked around trees and kicked the ball around. They even decided to play some hide-and-seek (still one of Erin's favorite games). Erin loved hiding behind the different trees - no matter how small they were. Jeffrey doesn't quite have the hang of it yet though. So if you aren't sure where the hider is...just follow Jeffrey who is generally loudly trying to hide alongside. So we all finished with lunch, climbed around on the fallen trees with daddy and just had a "great outdoors" day. All in all it was a blast.

By the time we drove the 6 miles back down the mountain Jeffrey was fast asleep and Erin wasn't far behind. What a perfect way to wear the kids out and have a great family day together.

Merry Christmas To All

Merry Christmas to all!!!

We had such a wonderful day yesterday. Of course I took way too many pictures (especially given I got a new camera from someone special). The kids we totally into it and had a real blast all day, even though they are both feeling under the weather.

We had a nice Christmas Eve together at the house. Since we had gone to church earlier in the morning, we didn't go back for the evening service. We cooked a pork tenderloin and got some other yummies together. Then the kids each got to eat a cookie they had made Saturday with Tom. Since Jeffrey decided to wipe his hands through his hair a short bath was required after that. When both were dry and in PJs we gathered up some Christmas stories and went downstairs to read together. Erin chose Clown of God (which is this beautiful Italian Christmas story)first. Then Jeffrey had me read a mitten book. Lastly we decided to read The Night Before Christmas together. By the 3rd page of the book Erin was fast asleep in Tom's arms. I carried her up to bed before she even got a chance to leave goodies for Santa (we'll do that next year). One last story and Jeffrey headed to bed too. Tom and I turned out the lights and listened to the Nutcracker on the radio and looked at the tree.

In all honesty I was probably more excited than the kids were about Christmas morning. Erin knew that when she finished her calendar that Santa would be there, but I'm not sure she really comprehended it. I actually had to get up and start moving around about 8:30 so they would begin to rouse. Noni had sent them Christmas morning outfits and "Santa" hung them on their doorknobs after they had gone to bed. Erin woke up thrilled to see her little dress and to show Jeffrey his.

We got dressed and moved the kids downstairs to take some pictures in front of the tree. Oh the excitement!!! So many presents under the tree. This is the first year Erin has really gotten excited. Jeffrey just feeds off her energy. Santa left them great stockings full of new stuff for the kitchen for both, Little Pets for Erin and trucks for Jeffrey. It took at least 30 minutes for them to get through their stockings.

Then we made special eggs and bacon for breakfast. The kids ate a little but were too excited to really focus on eating. A few encouraging words like "Erin if you eat all your eggs we can open presents from under the tree" got them eating.

Several hours later we were swimming in piles of paper, boxes, clothing and toys (including a new camera for me and an Ipod for Tom). The biggest hits seem to be these little phones from Target that work like real cel-phones. Both of them got one and they make real ringing sounds and talk to you. Best of all - if you set them down closed....they call you back. A plethora of Little People invaded the house also including a plane, firetruck, zoo and, best of all, a pirate ship. Nearly everything Jeffrey received had wheels on it and he pushed it all around the living room. And of course being Jeffrey, the first thing he did with his new dump truck was sit in it. Erin also got a bunch of dress-up clothes from Grandma W. She spent most of the evening sitting around playing pirate ship, saying "arghhh" while wearing a purple feather boa, big pink hat, and fuzzy purple high heels. Quite a site to see.

So the living room is still filled with boxes and paper, toys, games and clothes. But it's just thrilling to see the kids have such an exciting time playing with everything. We hope you all had equally exciting and fulfilling Christmases.

Oh Christmas Tree...

We decided to tempt fate and get the Christmas tree more than a week before Christmas this year. With Jeffrey, Erin and 2 cats poking around the tree we'll see if we decide to do the same thing next year. We picked it out in town yesterday and got it put up and decorated last night. We started at the Boy Scout set-up in town. Although they had a fairly nice selection of trees it was a "self-serve" operation. Meaning there were no scouts there and a sign reading measure your tree here and put a check in the slot. Although I'm in favor of buying from the Boy Scouts I prefer if there are actual Boy Scouts on the premises. So...there was another nursery selling trees in the same shopping center. We headed over to look at them. Gorgeous trees, displayed well ---- WAY out of our price range unless we wanted a white pine that had be wrapped up or tossed on the ground. Needless to say we continued our search for the perfect Christmas Tree. We moved further north to someone who had a sign "8 Foot Trees $25". When we got there there were lights and an older woman coming out of a camper. As we looked around I realized that most of the trees were white pines, but at least these had been standing up and had a nice shape. We walked around for 10 minutes or so letting the kids, well mostly Erin we didn't trust Jeff enough to really put him down, to run around. We eventually stumbled upon a great tree for our corner. Tom shoved it into the trunk of the Intrepid, packed up the kids and headed home while I went to Target to get a couple strings of lights.

After staring at an empty shelf where lights used to be, I finally found some that would work grabbed a couple stocking stuffers for the kids and headed to meet Tom and the kids. I entertained the kids while Tom got the tree ready to come into the house. You know how they always look so much smaller standing outside? Well Tom's first attempt to bring the tree in revealed we needed to cut at least 18" off the bottom. Even then it was still a little tall and the angle almost didn't fit on top.

After a short pizza break we got to decorating the tree. Erin got all the ornaments ready and handed them to mommy and daddy to put on. She tried a few on her own, but white pines can be tricky and she got frustrated. Jeffrey tried his best also - mostly by throwing ornaments at the tree hoping they'd just stick there. No matter, they both had lots of fun getting all the ornaments out and up onto the tree. Erin's favorites are the few bells we have. Jeffrey likes the mesh balls that we sit over the lights (sadly this might be the last year for those as they are looking pretty smushed these days). After we had properly adorned our tree, Jeffrey got a quick bedtime story and headed off to sleepy land while Erin, Tom and I sat in the dark living room looking at the lights and just relaxing.

So we'll see how long it takes Jeffrey to knock the whole thing down. Certainly I'm going to be receiving ornaments from the tree as little gifts all through the day for the next couple of weeks. No matter it looks beautiful and the kids really had a blast this year getting it all ready for Christmas.

Getting into the Spirit

We spent some time getting into the holiday spirit this morning. We've already got the advent calendars and some Christmas lights up. This morning we decided to make some Christmas cards. Noni brought us so really cool stamping blocks when she was here in November and we used those. Getting Jeffrey to use paint without getting paint everywhere is a little bit of a challenge (to say the least). After several struggles and a bit of time letting him just play on the floor with his trucks he joined in the fun. Erin had a blast and stamped every last card and gift box that we had. Thought I'd share some pictures of our projects. Enjoy :)

Erin beginning to get the idea of what to do

Showing off her work

Jeffrey decides to give it a try

Getting into it now - look out mom

A Sign of What's to Come?

Clearly I'm just in big trouble with our little man. We've known this for a while. But this morning I got another sign of what's to come.

While lazing around in bed I could hear Jeffrey waking up. He seemed happy enough so I didn't stress about hopping up to get him. I let him play in the crib for a bit. Eventually Erin came in to get me and the two of us went downstairs to get some milk and start breakfast.

Hearing people up and moving, Jeffrey got a bit more agitated. I went upstairs and opened his door. I immediately called Tom to come upstairs and see the sight that was greeting me.

You see, when Jeffrey went to bed he was snuggled tight in his footie PJs with his assortment of blankets (including the ever important "blankie"). Letting him play around in his crib when he wakes up is not an unusual occurrence. So what I saw when I opened his door was quite a surprise.

There was Jeffrey standing naked in his crib swinging his PJs around his head like a lasso. Thankfully he hadn't gotten the diaper off yet as it was loaded with quite a stinky. All of his other blankets were thrown on the floor about the crib. I was totally surprised that he'd managed to unzip the PJs and get them completely off. Imagine how much more astounded I was when I wrestled them away from him and realized that they were still mostly zipped up. Either he had wriggled out of them without unzipping them, or he zipped them back up after getting out of them and turning them into a lasso. Either way it was quite a feat.

Sadly the camera was all the way in the basement so I didn't get a photo of Jeffrey in all his glory so proud of his accomplishment. Hopefully there won't be many more chances to capture one but with my little wild man, you never know.

Happy Turkey Day

What a fun time we spent with our family. Everyone but Uncle Jonathan and Oma were here to relax and have fun with us. Although we missed them, we still managed to have a good time. There was lots of running and playing and climbing and picture taking. Uncle Bill seems to be the object of Erin's affection these days as I even found her curled up on a couch in the living room because "Uncle Bill" was taking a nap on the other couch. A voluntary nap? You've got to be kidding me.

Dinner was great as Tom smoked the turkey outside and I baked a ham inside. We had all the regular sides and plenty of desserts. It worked out well as there are a little bit of everyone's favorites available.

Erin got to go to her second movie in a big theater. We took her to see "Santa Clause 3". Although it wasn't the best movie ever made (very far from) it was cute enough to be entertaining. And Erin had a blast.

The best time was just spent hanging around the house with family. We played cards and Erin's games. There was lots of story reading and snuggling. Aunt Katie had her camera so there were tons of pictures taken. Cousin Rylie loved playing with Erin and Jeffrey in Erin's room and Erin LOVED sharing that time with Rylie. Seeing the kids play together with each other and all the adults was great.

It was just such a great few days filled with fun and family. Thanks everyone for coming down and playing with us.

The Star of the Show

Well, at least in mommy's eyes. Erin had her first real role in a play this weekend. The fall show was Tom Sawyer. Like most of the fall shows recently it was a musical with lots of great songs and just a bunch of fun. Erin started out as "Girl Number 5" and even had 2 lines. By performance time she'd lost the lines (which is really OK, we couldn't count on her to say them) but gotten a name in the program.

"Lucy White - Erin Wallace"

She had such a fun time with the shows. Her group had parts of 3 songs to learn with little dance moves involved. They also had a little part where they got to play "Ring Around the Rosie". Erin will tell you her favorite part was playing "Ring around the Rosie" or singing the "Ring that Bell" song or the "Part of Being a Kid" song -- especially the frog in a box line. She had an adorable orange costume with a bonnet that just made you want to eat her up. She was clearly the smallest and youngest one on stage and sometimes got a little lost among the bigger kids (I mean, wow, 5-year olds these days seem soooo big). Still she had a blast with it.

Of course every 3-year old has their on-stage moments. The first show she saw her Noni and Oma and when Erin first came on stage she gave them a little wave. OK - that was cute. Apparently she wasn't sure that they saw her, because for her second scene she shouted "Oma, Noni, Jeffrey - Hi". I was standing next to her and must have turned a lovely shade of purple to match my own orange costume. If she got bored or a little lost she always resorted to putting her thumb in her mouth, but would take it out when she was supposed to sing her songs at least.

I'm so glad she enjoyed it. If you look closely in the pictures here she's the bright orange one. Thank goodness she looked like a little pumpkin because it certainly made her stand out on stage and much easier to get pictures of. I think Erin really got a lot out of being in the show. We had to learn new songs and dances together. It was a good experience for her to sit and listen to instruction from someone other than me. She made some great friends too. So the spring show is Bye Bye Birdie - we'll see if she decides she wants to do that. I certainly hope so, because she was just so darn cute in this part.

18 Months Ago

18 Months ago Jeffrey was this adorable and cuddly tiny baby. The spitting up was still a few days to come. He was simply precious. Today....

...he is a complete and total WILD MAN. Jeffrey is now officially 18 months old. He had his Pediatritians appointment yesterday and came away with a great report. Dr. says he looks great, loves how verbal he seems (although he didn't want to talk to her much) and how clearly physical he was. She says he's long and lean (which we had figured out already). He's 33 3/4"tall (90%) and 25 lbs (30%). That may actually put him above his sister in weight. I haven't thrown her on a scale recently.

He is still into absolutely everything. Loves to Eat. Goes up and down the stairs without thought. Sings his ABC's (kind of). Talks back to Dora and Little Einsteins. Climbs on top of the couch. Helps empty the dishwasher. Jumps off the bottom step. Reads stories. Builds towers and so much more.

Here are some pictures to show how big our little man is getting.

6 Months Old


1 Year Old


18 Months!!

We're off to See the Wizard

Well, Dorothy and the Scarecrow took center stage yesterday. Erin wanted to be Dorothy for Halloween (Ruby Slippers and all) and decided that Jeffrey was going to be the Scarecrow. Noni made their costumes and they came out simply adorable. Erin was so excited all day yesterday to be dressed up as Dorothy. Jeffrey less enthused about the Scarecrow, but he did well and really didn't fuss unless you were in the process of putting the costume on him.

Last Thursday was the Halloween Party at one of our shopping centers. They had Trick-or-Treating at the stores and a costume contest. The kids wore their costumes and walked hand-in-hand to the stores. Erin even sang her "Off to See the Wizard" song a couple of times. Jeffrey did a really good job of staying with us too, which amazed me. They were adorable at the costume contest putting on their biggest smiles for the judges (and Jeffrey being his usual hammy self tried to throw Toto into the fountain right in the middle of it). Erin was so excited when they announced that they had won Best Team Costume. They each got a goody bag full of games and toys. Thankfully it all ended when it did because Jeffrey only went downhill from nearly throwing Toto into the fountain and ended the morning collapsed in a heap perfectly befitting the Scarecrow he was.

Tom took part of the day off on Halloween and we went for a drive up in the mountains. A lot of the color has passed but there are still some patches of beautiful color. The kids wore their Halloween T-shirts. Erin's said "Ghoul Power" and Jeffrey's, "Little Wild Man". Alas, Jeffrey spent the entire drive sleeping in his seat, but since we had a busy night ahead we let him sleep. Erin enjoyed getting out and walking around and climbing on some of the rocks. I'm so glad that she loves to be outside as much as she does.

We decided, because it was so beautiful, that we'd take kids to the University Lawn for Trick-or-Treating. Apparently, so did every other family in town. It was completely mobbed. Erin did good, but Jeffrey got a little overwhelmed. He spent most of the time obsessed with his candy bucket and getting as much candy into his mouth as he could without us noticing. Such a major difference between the two of them. Erin's first real Halloween, when she was Jeffrey's age she didn't know what to do with the candy and was just as interested in giving it to other people as eating it for herself. Not little crazy man, he figured out what to do right away.

So many people commented on their costumes and how cute they were. Even complete strangers were asking to take their picture and the media that was there also seemed to find them. One of the students who was dressed as Dorothy came up and asked Erin if she could get their picture together and Erin was so excited. The comments about how cute they were just kept coming - Great costumes Noni.

The kids has the best time when they found a corner with a big pile of leaves and just started playing in them. Erin would throw them up to the sky and Jeffrey would run around and fall down - just like the Scarecrow should. It was a priceless moment to realize how fun a pile of leaves can really be. Then Erin decided she wanted to Trick-or-Treat a little more. She took Aunt Margaret (who ventured out to come see the cutie-pies) to a couple of stops along the Lawn. Erin ended up with quite a haul of candy.

We ended the evening and the same place we spent last Halloween. Sid had a Haunted Maze set up in his back yard. Erin was hesitant at first, but decided it was pretty cool and even took daddy for a tour of it. We let her Trick-or-Treat a little along the street. She would walk up to a house and knock quietly on the door. Then she'd should "Trick-or-Treat" and hold out her basket. Most of the time she'd remember to say thank you. Then she'd say "Happy Halloween" and turn to look at Tom and I and say -- "Next House Now". HAHA she had it down to a pattern -- "Thank You. Happy Halloween. Next House Now." Jeff walked for a little with us but mostly got carried. Not because he was too tired to walk, but because he was trying to grab handfuls of candy from the bowl and was simply being his crazy self.

Back at Sid's the kids played around outside some more. Erin danced around the lawn in her Ruby Slippers. They snacked on some candy and junk food until Jeffrey crashed. We all had such an awesome time just out having fun and being kids.

The Pictures Say it All

I couldn't resist picking up this shirt for Jeffrey at the store the other day. Can you guess why?




"I tried to be good but I got bored."



Perfect. Simply describes my little "Jack Jack" to a "T". The wild and crazy man who tries to be good but it just gets boring sometimes.

Gymnastics Class

Today was the last morning for this session of Gymnastics. It's been great, and Erin really still loves it. The class is much smaller, only about 7 regular kids there. Erin's friend Julianna signed up with us and they love to play together at class. Since the class is smaller they made it more structured -- which I love. There are two instructors - the same coach from the spring and Miss Kimmie who I suspect is a college student and is more of an assistant.


They begin the classes with a little free play in the big gym while everyone get there. Then they head back to the smaller room with all the equipment. Miss Kimmie leads the stretching exercises. Erin's got better each week about following what she was doing - stretching just doesn't have the flair that the bar does, so Erin found it a little boring.

Then they'd sit and work on skills on equipment. They'd walk on the beam forwards, sideways and even backwards. Erin LOVES the beam. The low one she'll do all by herself and she's getting more and more comfortable on the higher beam. High bar is still her favorite part - they do pull-ups and some swinging and what they call monkey walking down the bar (hanging straight and moving down the bar by sliding hands). Erin keeps really good form on the bar generally and is even supporting her own weight most of the time. She does have trouble with the monkey walking because her hands are still a little small I think.

Erin also loves to do the mat exercises. She works with coach really hard on her handstands (but with feet against the wall). She'll hold up for a solid 10-count. Making tables is still fun as well as back rolls, log rolls and forward rolls down the incline mat.

So we now have a two week break before the next class and then another 6-week session. I love to see her having so much fun and learning to listen to instruction and work on skills at the same time.

Pumpkin and Apple Weekend with Grandma W.

Grandma W. came down for a weekend visit and we decided to take her to one of our favorite places. It's an apple orchard on the top of a nearby mountain that has the best apples, apple donuts, apple cider and pumpkin selection around. We met some other frinds there and had a fun-filled morning.

While Erin and Tom went apple-picking with our friends, Grandma, Jeff and I played in the pumpkins. Sadly I didn't realize that the camera was not working very well and most of the pictures ended up pretty poor quality. Still Jeffrey had a BLAST climbing among the pumpkins, sitting on them, tryin to pick up ones that were heavier than he was. He just ran around like the wild man he usually is.

When Erin came back she played around looking for the perfect pumpkin while Tom got some snacks - Apple Pie for mommy, apple donuts for everyone else. Yummmy. Erin also enjoyed the fruits of her apple picking labors and munched down on a fresh juicy apple.

Afterwards we decided it would be fun if we all took a hayride. This was a blast. The view from the mountain is awesome. The day was soo clear we could see for miles and miles. And the hayride went some close to some of the trees we could almost pick the apples from the ride (but decided against it). The kids had fun throwing the hay around and filling Grandma's purse with hay. I think she's going to find bits of hay in her bag for a long time to come, but it was soo much fun she probably won't mind too much.

After the hayride we picked out some more apples. I got my favorites, Pink Ladies, for the kids and I to snack on. Tom got 2 big bags of Macs for making applesauce and 5 gallons of cider to try and make some "hard" cider at home with the beer-making supplies. we then spent the rest of the afternoon with our friends eating lots of great food while the kids played together.

Sunday continued the apple theme with Erin, Tom and Grandma making applesauce. Erin had lots of fun working the food mill to smush the apples into sauce. And of course she LOVES the results of her labor as does Jeffrey.

So we had a really fun weekend with Grandma and look forward to her next visit. Thanks for coming to play Grandma.