how sweet!

Twice this morning Caitlin told me, "Let me kiss you mommy." Then she puts her little hands on my cheeks, gives me a kiss, and then hugs me tight. She is such a lovebug!!! Austin was quite a cuddler this morning too. He loves to snuggle next to me, rest his head on my shoulder and let me rub his hair or cheek. This was one of the nicest mornings in a long time. The kids played so nicely together and I experimented with letting them play upstairs (bedroom level) all by themselves for awhile. When I went back upstairs they had ALL of their stuffed animals transferred from their room to our bed. There were a lot, so we counted them...36! They told me they were playing with their pets. It was a funny sight. Ryan said I should have taken a picture...it didn't even dawn on me. Sorry! BUT I'm sure there'll be a next time! :)

Okay, it's nighttime now...Austin and Caitlin slept until almost 4:30! But I think they are still fighting colds so I put them to bed only a half hour after thier regularly scheduled bedtime. Now, they are chatting it up so time will tell...

Let me just say, today was sooooo enjoyable. We didn't do anything special...just hung out and talked mostly. With A LOT of laughing. Whining was kept to a minimum and we only had a couple skirmishes, so it was great. I love reading to them so we did a lot of that. Caitlin brought over a fleece blanket & the 2 of them just snuggled on the couch and looked at books alone for awhile. It's fun to see them interact like that. Caitlin usually takes the leadership role and Austin happily goes along with her. If he's not in the mood to play what she wants to, he wanders off and pushes something around or shoots hoops.

Funny story......Austin was bothering Caitlin while she was eating dinner so I went to have a little discussion with him. Ok, it was me telling him how it is, but that's beside the point! So I have been making them look at my eyes when I'm talking to them and when they squirm or turn away, I turn their head toward me again. Well, Austin decided he REALLY didn't want to look at me and SHUT HIS EYES! I was trying hard not to laugh...it was pretty funny really. Clever little guy! :)

Time for me to straighten up the house and catch up with "Desperate Housewives" and "Celebrity Rehab w/Dr. Drew". Crap TV here I come......

another funny saying!

Well, speech got cancelled this morning because the therapist was sick....so, it's another pj day for us. It is rainy and COLD here!

The kids were excited to see Ryan this morning but it was downhill from there. I think Austin's cold is returning so he was grumpy and Caitlin is going through a whiny phase which is driving me nuts. I am pretty patient with them but I CANNOT stand whining. That is probably one of my biggest pet peeves (except when I do it! lol). They are napping early today so hopefully their moods will improve with some rest.

Anyway, the reason for this post is to tell you of Austin's funny new saying. For a long time if you offered him something he didn't want, he'd say, "No thank you." Awesome, right? Well, now he is doing something funny...in that situation now he'll say, "No welcome"! I'm pretty sure it's because we've moved on to teaching him that when someone tells you "thank you", you need to say "you're welcome". I love how their little brains process things!!!!

Oh, and Caitlin has a new favorite stuffed animal. It is a skunk my mom bought me during my student teaching. Caitlin thinks it's cool that I let her play with a toy that gramma bought for me. She has proudly named him "skunky" and is always concerned about his whereabouts! Funny!!!

Tonight we have small group, so I must shower and clean this place up! For a fun break during your day, go to freerice.com and play for awhile. Last night I did the English vocab, French, and Art subjects and earned about 4,000 grains of rice for impoverished people around the world. Oh yeah, and I had a good time doing it! :)

cool benediction

I heard this at church and then found it on a blog (bravenotsafe.blogspot.com). It was attributed to Craig Groeschel at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.

This is something I hope Austin and Caitlin grow up to embody...

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

perceptive!

A quick funny story...tonight at bedtime I had gotten Caitlin all settled in bed (see previous post to realize this is no small feat!) & she started complaining about her pants. They wouldn't stay down at her ankles. So I took her out and changed her pants, but was not happy at all. She sensed this because when I went to put her back in bed, she looked up at me and said, "Thanks mom. You're the best." What a character.

And everything Austin sees he thinks he needs to ask "nanta" for! But he swears he won't sit on Santa's lap (Caitlin either). We'll see! They are both big on asking Santa for toys this year.

Nothing much has been going on...both kids have not been feeling great and Ryan has been working up a storm (today he drove to Kentucky). So we haven't done much of anything. A lot of playtime in the basement. I have been thoroughly enjoying my new ipod that Ry got me for my birthday...been bopping around the house pretending I can sing and dance! :) I was on the fence about whether I really wanted an ipod...I had an mp3 player that worked fine. But dang! Tonight I discovered the "games" feature and I love the fact that I can watch a movie when I work out if I want to. And podcasts? Forget it! I'm subscribed to a bunch already!

Anyhow, tomorrow we will get out of the house because Austin has speech in the morning. After that, we'll see how it goes. He gets mad when we have to put on pants and go to speech, so I'm not anticipating a great morning. Hopefully seeing Ry will brighten his mood - he LOVES his daddy!!!! His first question every morning? "Is it a work day?" - he likes to know if daddy will be home or not.

That's about it for today!

funny ritual

Caitlin and Austin love the predictability of having a routine...so heaven forbid if we stray from it. Bedtime goes as follows: pj's on; brush teeth at sink with "big kid" toothpaste and "noisy" toothbrushes; read 2 or 3 stories in the yellow chair; pretend to be "something" when being put into bed (Austin loves to be a motorcycle and Caitlin loves to be a baby); hold hands while kids pray and then our family prayer; hugs and kisses; then covers and lights out. Now, for Caitlin, the "covers" portion of the evening is a bit tricky...she is VERY particular! First, she sleeps with between 10 & 12 stuffed animals (I'm serious)...her pillows have to be just right, then she rolls onto her side and "spoons" her animals (all of them). Then it is time for covers...first the pink one, making sure to cover ALL of the animals also. Next, the white blanket, then the yellow ducky blanket, and finally the Christmas blanket. If it is not in that order...she will freak. Austin is a little less complicated. He rests his head on a wadded up fleece blanket because he's not a fan of pillows. Then he will lay on his side and raise one arm in the air so you can cover him with his knit blue blanket. He likes his arm out...Caitlin likes to be completely covered. It's very entertaining! :)

The best part of waking up....

is drinking from these cups! (sing along if you know the tune!)

The kids made me these cute coffee cups for my birthday. Yet another good reason to enjoy my morning coffee! So cute! Caitlin is blossoming into quite a little artist...she draws pretty good looking people. I'm serious! She also draws a wicked squid! Austin is not so into coloring/drawing as it requires him to sit down for a period of time. :)

They had school today and had no problems when Ryan and I left. As a parent, that's a good feeling...we know they love it there. Kind of stinks that they actually want us to leave, but that's part of them growing up. :(

Anyway, that's about it...nothing very exciting today. Yesterday was not so great because they both have a cold.........hopefully they will feel better soon. I don't want to have to take them to the doctor. They hate that!

Oh yeah, can't remember if I blogged about this, but on Monday we went to the "BIG CITY" to visit daddy. Actually, it was so I could get a flu shot...but they LOVED going to daddy's work. Austin was transfixed by the "big guys" practicing. I think he could have watched the entire practice. It was cute. They both wore their Pacers gear and loved seeing all of daddy's work friends. Mommy was happy because it went so well AND I got to say hello to my all time favorite Pacer, Sam Perkins (a.k.a. Big Smooth) YAY! Yes, years ago I even named our cat after him. :)

Okay, gotta go eat lunch. I think the kids and I are going to hit Starbucks this afternoon, if I can get them into weather appropriate clothing. Austin thinks he needs to wear shorts and a t-shirt year round and Caitlin is all about her sleeveless dresses and sandals. Geez!

some funny moments

Yesterday the kids were cracking me up (not so much today because they are both feeling under the weather)...here are some cute little tidbits...hope you enjoy them as much as I did!!!

Caitlin: "Mom, can we get dressed?"
Me: "Oh, I thought we were having jammie day?"
Caitlin: (thinking very hard & saying with absolute delight) "Let's have clothes day!"

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When I walked in to their room after naps, Caitlin says excitedly, "Mom, we were playing hide and seek in our bed!" I found this hilarious...they are still in cribs! AND, it is a testimony to their "hiding" skills (HINT: look in the most obvious place!).

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I saw something in Caitlin's hair so I told her to stand still so I could get it out. She asked what it was. I told her I didn't know because I couldn't get it with all of her wiggling. She then asked, "Is it ear junk?"! :)

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Caitlin came running into the kitchen crying & telling me Austin pinched her on the back. Austin told me "I didn't pinch sissy!!" (in the CLEAREST talking EVER!). I told him I would see if there was a mark on her back and if there was, he was in trouble. Sure enough, there was a red mark on Caitlin. I told him to come see it & tell Sissy "sorry". So he walks over, looks at her back and says, "OH MAN!" in a real dejected, I'm busted kind of voice. He knew he was headed to time out!
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Kids say the darnedest things!