wow

Tonight was awesome. The kids played together sooooooo well! In the basement they ran around, played with the calendar, played bball & elefun together. Caitlin counts great...she is solid from 1-13...after 13 comes 18-29...after 29 is, OF COURSE, 20 10! Not right, but certainly logical to a 3 & 3/4 year old!!!

Then we came upstairs where we were "booby trapped" (said Austin) by Hoops in the office! We thought of numerous ideas to "escape"...the best one the kids came up with was to limbo under Hoops! Once we "escaped" (please note that no limboing was involved!) I pretended I was a laser beam and they ran all around me and tried to limbo under the laser beams. Whatever keeps 'em happy! I took some pictures of them and read a couple books and then they played on their own for the rest of the evening. They made a "camp out" in the living room and brought a bunch of stuffed animals. Then they pretended the animals were sick with the 'niffles and had to be given milk from Caitlin's cup.

Bedtime has been a nightmare with lights on, running around, jumping off of who-knows-what, crazy laughter, crazy tears....tonight I told them that if I had to come in there I was taking all of their undies out. A little unconventional, but when I did it, it was effective. Austin was crying and said, "I miss my undies!" I sat outside of their door for a bit and listened to Caitlin try to cajole Austin out of bed so he'd get busted. He wasn't having any of that and stayed put. The next thing to go would have been their copy of "Angelina Ballerina"...much too precious to risk losing. They finally fell asleep around 9:25....early for them lately.

I am hoping that sometime soon Ryan will be able to post a slideshow of the pix I took today...there is a doozy of Caitlin's self inflicted bang trim from yesterday. Thank goodness she left the top layer to cover up that disaster or we would be staying home until it grew out!

Now, I have some reading to catch up on....hoping to post more tomorrow!

Could they BE any FUNNIER???

Here are some of the gems the kids have come up in the past couple of days...

**I told Austin not to sit on Caitlin's legs because he could break them. She said, "Because they're made of plastic. Right mom?" This led to a loooooong discussion about bones and x-rays which was fun.

**Later we relayed the above story to Ryan. Caitlin asked him if her "leg was made of wood"! Our little pirate girl!

**This morning before school Ryan pointed out some flowers that were budding on our pear tree. Austin exclaimed, "I can't believe mine eyes!"

**Austin also told Ryan that something was "marvelous" this morning!

**Both kiddos love story time before bed. Every night we read Angelina Ballerina. It is fun to hear them finish the sentences on each page and throw out random quotes from books throughout the day.

**Last week Austin had a little haircutting incident...he snipped some layers into Caitlin's hair. Luckily he actually gave her some "face framing layers" on one side which look cute. Yesterday Caitlin decided to try it on herself. Thank goodness Austin hollered to me after the first snip! We are on a no scissors punishment for awhile.

The kids also have a "Job Jar" with little slips of paper with simple jobs written on them. They choose a paper, do the job, and get a sticker on their chart. Every third square on their chart has a $ and that means they get some money to put in their piggy bank. So far it has been going well. They like to choose jobs but sometimes say they don't want to do it, in which case they don't earn their sticker and can't "land on the money". Last night Caitlin shocked me and cleaned up the entire Hi Ho Cherry O game without being told to!! She got a bonus sticker on that one! :)

I'm sure more hilarity will ensue after naps...will try to post more at bedtime...

Finally - A Family Day!

Yesterday was such a fun day! We started with a trip to the zoo for PBS storytime featuring "Martha" the talking dog from the cartoon "Martha Speaks". The kids did not disappoint...there was no way they were going near the big Martha! (I think they felt ripped off b/c this Martha DIDN'T speak!) Austin made sure to tell us he liked the "little cartoon Martha" better. Funny. It was a little chilly out but we were able to go through the desert & oceans exhibits. Austin & Caitlin were pumped to show Daddy all the things in the desert (tortoise, snakes, and meerkats). They were equally excited to show him the shark touch tank...both of them are so brave! Then we watched the penguins hop from tank to tank. Caitlin wanted Ryan to see the seahorses too. They were so thrilled to be at the zoo with daddy this time! We got an up close & personal view of the walrus - he was HUGE and made the funniest noises. We let them each get a souvenir penny...Austin chose a shark and Caitlin chose a penguin. They loved their "special money".

We left the zoo around 11:45'ish and took the kids to the "milkshake restaurant" (Steak-n-Shake). They were soooooo good there! It was nice to have a meal together! Caitlin ordered her own shake (in the quietest voice she's ever used, naturally)..."I'd like a swirl milkshake please." Austin ordered chicken tenders and fries and ate a ton - a big shock as he usually likes to order and NOT eat a thing. Caitlin ate spaghetti noodles w/butter and then ate some of my fries w/"sauce" (ketchup). They got these cute cardboard mustangs that helped keep them occupied as well.

After that we headed home for naps...for ALL of us! Then we went to church. During service the fire alarm started going off! It was completely bizarre and a false alarm...but it was when the band was playing & there was a dance performance/drama and the band didn't hear it b/c of their earpieces. Sooooo they kept playing and we all just sat there not wanting to be rude. I thought that was a little funny...had it been real, we would all burn so we weren't being rude! ;) Finally everybody got up and tried to leave. Then a pastor got up and announced it was a false alarm...one of the little kids pulled the fire alarm. So the service finished up and we went to get the kids...we heard on the way that it was a little one in the Colt's room. Ryan and I looked at each other with wide eyes...Austin and Caitlin are Colts!!! We were like, "Man, I hope it wasn't one of ours!" Ryan said to me, "We don't want to forever be known as the couple with THAT kid." WHEW...it wasn't our kids! Upon pick-up Austin informed us that they "had an "emergency" and the teacher told them to sit on the stage and he put his fingers in his ears because it was too loud and the firemans came." He was very informative.

On the way home we stopped at Subway and then both kids wanted cheeseburgers (only from Wendy's)...we got home and had a picnic in the living room. Austin ate most of his burger, Caitlin ate the cheese off of hers & had some leftover fries & sauce and then some peanut butter. She also ate some potato chips dipped in ketchup (EW).

Finally it was bedtime! They were up and at 'em (fighting with each other) at 6:45 this morning! Then they brought the fight into our room at 7:00. Not a great start! We will have a very low key jammie day today...

Hope your weekend has been fun too!!!!!!!!!!

Today's events...

This morning the kids had school. Austin woke up wet at around 6:45 so I just changed him and he snuggled in our bed until about 7:15. Caitlin woke up around 7:30. Both were in good moods considering they did not fall asleep until 10:15 last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We managed to eat some breakfast and make it out the door on time. YAY! This week's letter for show & tell was "s" so Austin took a stethescope that makes noise and Caitlin took "skunky". Too cute!

Our kids are nose pickers. There. I said it! This is important background information for the next story...the past few days Austin has been fishing out some whoppers. So I told him that he's a "boogie factory"! Well, he had a runny nose during speech and told his speech teacher (proudly)..."I'm a boogie factory!" Thank goodness she also has a 3 year old AND a good sense of humor! :)

While the kids were at school I took some time to wander around Meijer. Funny that the Easter Bunny also shops there and he found the BEST book ever for Austin...an NBA coloring book with tatoos of the NBA & team logos. His favorite logo? The Miami Heat! He loves that "flying basketball"! If he applies all of the tats at the same time, he too could look like a majority of the NBA's roster! ;)

I had some time to kill after Meijer & I didn't want to drive all the way home and back to school, so I went to Barnes & Noble. I spent a long time looking at books in the children's section...some moms are addicted to buying their kids clothes, my obsession is books. I could have easily bought them each 10 books today. BUT I settled for one apiece. Then I grabbed a copy of "The Shack" and a marble mocha macchiato @ Starbucks and relaxed. I've made it to chapter 8 and it is soooo good and thought provoking once you get into it. After reading for about 40 minutes it was time to pick up the kiddos! I like the time to myself, but really do miss them a lot when we are away from each other. Geesh, what will I do when they start Kindergarten in 2 years?!?!?! I'm thinking I see some volunteer work or a new hobby in my future... :)

Also, is anyone else walking around saying, "1,2,3,4,5...poke my eye"?! I swear that is catchy!!! I've caught myself saying it a ton today.

Well, this house is a pit. Must go try to make a dent in it while the kids are napping...

some entertaining tidbits...

Caitlin - "1,2,3,4,5 - poke my eye!" (her variation of "1,2, buckle my shoe...)! This sends Austin into fits of laughter!

I was looking at a news website that had a tiny picture of the President in the corner...Austin walked into the office and said, "That's Barack Obama!" Guess I watch too much news... ;)

Both kids are into re-enacting scenes from The Backyardigans...Caitlin loves the characters of "Stinky Pants" and "Pirate Captain Austin". Today they were pretending that their playset was a pirate ship...they also had their umbrellas up there with them. The other day Caitlin shouted, "Hurry up Austin! This pirate ship is about to set sail!"

Tonight Austin wrote the number 7 on his dry erase board. He was so excited and so was I... That is his favorite number because unless his clock says 7, he can't come into mom & dad's room and he knows the difference between a "morning 7" and a "night time 7". Pretty cool!

The past few days have been fantastic in terms of Austin's food consumption...he has branched out from goldfish and cookies! We got him to eat some pancakes that DADDY made (one of the cutest things I've ever seen!) and he has been eating raisins, yogurt, "square crackers" (saltines), strawberries, bananas, the occasional plain jr. cheeseburger from the "cheeseburger store" (Wendy's), chocolate pediasure, and "chicken on a stick" (cut up chicken tenders that he stabs with a lollipop stick). HOORAY! Caitlin is still hooked on peanut butter and peach oatmeal. She has also been eating cucumbers, strawberries, string cheese, Fritos, and raisins.

Well, that's about it for today...heading up to bed now...I'm wiped out!

Pictures

Looks like we have a few fairly recent pictures...They are just kind of random, but are cute...enjoy!

Sorry for the Delay!

Sorry it has been so long since the last post. I am happy to say that my travel is pretty much finished up, finally. This has been quite a season. More days on the road than the past, which was definitely good for preparing for this draft, but man am I happy to be home! I have a couple of more trips in the next couple of months, but they are short. It will be great to be home to play with the kids and for us to have some family time to do things...not to mention catch up on some sleep and get some great workouts in!

It has been a lot of fun to have more time with the kids the past few days. Austin really just wants me to shoot hoops with him. I think he could do it pretty much all day. It is nothing for him to spend quite a bit of time even alone in the basement just shooting and dribbling. It is pretty cute. He will tell you that he is practicing lots. I don't really care if he ever plays or not, but it is great to see him so determined at something. Sometimes he will kind of give up on stuff if he doesn't get it right away, but he will shoot a basketball all day long.

His speech is really progressing the past few weeks. It is amazing how the sounds are becoming more and more clear. We are very proud of him for how he really applies what he learns at school. He is doing great. The other day I took him to speech, and the teacher came in the waiting room to get him. He looked at me and whispered, "There is Ms. Tonya." He followed that up by another whisper, "Shhhhh...I will be right back in a few minutes." And off he went with her. It was very cute. After speech, he decided he needed to cut his hair down because it was too long. So, we headed to Daddy's hair cut place and he showed a great amount of courage by sitting on a booster and getting his haircut. This was the first time he didn't need to sit on my lap. He started a little slow, but by the end he was talking with the lady cutting his hair, and showing some of the huge personality he has when he wants!

Caitlin is doing her thing...She is big on all the letters and wanting to know what starts with each letter...She also can spell both her name and Austin's verbally and written. It is pretty good for a little one her age. She will also spell stop, go, dog, mommy, and daddy. Kim is going to start working with other sight words. She really only needs to hear something one time and she pretty much knows it. Everyday we are amazed at some drop of knowledge she gives us. She is very interested in dancing and anything to do with princesses. It is probably about time to look into some tumbling classes for her, and Austin, too. Kim and I think they would really enjoy doing that stuff, and it will be great for continuing to develop coordination.

I had a birthday the other day, and the kids gave me some hand painted crafts they made at a pottery decorating place. Austin painted a ceramic dino for me, while Caitlin painted a ceramic kitty...these things are on the mantle now, holding a very proud place in our home. They also both painted a ceramic holder for the pens and stuff on my desk at work. Caitlin signed it with her name, and Austin put a couple of A's on there. It is great. I hope that they will still make me things when I am 75, rather than buy me anything. I love to see their creativity and have something I can keep.

I will check to see what new pictures we have and try and post them tomorrow night. I have pretty much been out of the loop on that kind of stuff, but will see what we have.

Oh, for all the people that have ridden in the baby mobile the last 4 years, it is about 2 weeks from being retired back to the dealership. It is a little sad because we brought the kids home from the hospital in that van, have taken it from here to to Mt. Rushmore to Seattle to the Oregon Coast, to Florida, to who knows where, but the lease is up, and Kim did a very diligent search to find the car that she wanted to replace it.

That is about it...better get some sleep. Promise to get some pictures up tomorrow...