Funny Thoughts from A&C...

*Austin is playing his "big game" (bball, of course) in the basement against the "Invisible Nuggets".  Where does he come up with this stuff?

*The kids love playing with their pirate toys in the bathtub.  They call the parrot, "Polly the Cracker" which I find hilarious!

*Austin enjoys the Olympics...he watched snowboarding with me today and I showed him Shaun White's run on-line.  He loved how high he flew into the sky!

*Yesterday Caitlin was having so much fun playing in the basement that she had a minor accident.  She came upstairs and informed me, "I waited and tinkled a little bit in my underpants.  Sorry, but that's okay."  Good thing we were heading up for a bath anyway!

*Caitlin's room is the late night "I'm not ready to fall asleep" hangout.  The kids really aren't that rowdy...they just snuggle in bed and read books or play with little toys.  Last night at about 10:00 p.m. I walked in to find an interesting sight...Caitlin was lounging in bed but she wasn't alone.  Oh no...they had a baby carriage & baby swing with the babies buckled in ON TOP of her bed.  Also, she was looking rather suspicious with her arm up by her head but still resting on something under the covers.  Yep, it was Austin.  They had covered him up in an attempt to fool mom.  I pulled the covers back and ushered Austin back to bed where, FINALLY, he fell asleep!  Nice try kids - score one for the parents!

More later...and in case you were wondering...Ry has heat in his hotel room now and should be sleeping snugly & soundly.  HOORAY!

Euro Ry

Ryan is in Serbia...sounds like a very interesting place.  He has been telling me some pretty funny tales!  He gave me a run down of the menu in business class and the amenities he enjoyed...I loved hearing about the layover in the Paris airport and he picked up some souvenirs for us.  Yesterday he had an entire day in Belgrade and was shown around by a local who has been helping him out.  He says everybody smokes and has even sent photographic evidence.  :)  Even has a headache today because of it.   This morning Dragan (his Serbian tour guide) drove him through rural Serbia to get to a place called Nis to watch some bball.  Ryan will stay overnight in a hotel with no heat - in the middle of winter.  He says he has 2 blankets so should be okay...nevertheless I worry.  My honey is cold and I am far away.  :(  I think he is getting a ride back to Belgrade tomorrow though.  Then Saturday morning it is on to Bilbao, Spain - Basque country.  Fingers crossed that he can beat the snow storm that is heading here the same day his flight arrives back home on Monday!!!

The kids have been so good!  They got to Skype daddy yesterday morning and see his hotel room in "Servia" (per Austin).  They were so excited to see their little Eiffel Towers from France too.  They were very good helpers around the house too...cleaning the basement and living room and putting away their laundry.  Today they had school and are now napping (which means a laaaaate night).  Hopefully they will run around in the newly cleaned basement and tire themselves out!

Gramma Junior, Great Gramma, Aunt Courtney, & Baby Ethan are coming for a visit on Saturday and I've got some preparations to get underway.

Happy Valentine's Day 2010!

Our kids love a good celebration!  Valentine's Day was no exception!!!

The day started off with both kids waking me up with homemade valentines that they did all by themselves.  It was the sweetest dang thing in the entire world!  Then we waited for Daddy to get home from his trip to do presents.  Ry flew home from San Francisco on the red eye just to spend v-day with us!  He got home and the kids presented him with his gifts & cards.  Then they got to open the first round of treats (a Tag book, an outfit, & some chocolates for each).  THEN, they gave each other gifts that they didn't even know they bought!  Austin said, "Happy Valentine's Day Cait-lin!" and gave her a little Snow White doll to replace one that got broken when they were fighting one day!  Caitlin was pumped.  She then gave Austin his with a cheerful, "Happy Valentine's Day!".  Austin was thrilled that it was a new Bakugan (in his words, "baa-kee-gahn).

Later in the afternoon the doorbell rang.  Did I ever mention that they LOVE getting deliveries?  Well, it was the florist with the motherload!  Caitlin got a rose in a vase with a balloon attached...she was so sweet and couldn't wait to put it on her dresser!  Austin got a cute monkey with a balloon attached.  He loved that the monkey made noise & lit up.  Mommy got a dozen long stemmed red roses that looked & smelled beautiful.

After all the excitement, 3 of the valentines had a nap.  One valentine stayed awake and cleaned the house.

After naps, Daddy and the kids made dessert for our "special Valentine's dinner in the dining room".  They made a heart shaped chocolate cake with buttercream icing.  YUMMY!  They did a great job and it was very cute to watch how happy they were to cook with daddy!

Then I got to work prepping dinner.  It was not one of my finer meals.  I tried new recipes in an attempt to be healthier.  Should have gone with my gut and used Ryan's mom's lasagna recipe!  Ah, next year... This time we choked down overly marinated flank steak and homemade skinny scalloped potatoes with a freaky texture.  The best part of the meal was the fresh steamed broccoli and the cake.  :)

Post dinner there was one more surprise for the kids.  A recordable storybook from Hallmark that has a recording of Daddy reading the pages.  Now he can "read" to them even when he is on a trip!  At first Austin plugged his ears saying it was "too loud" but pretty soon he was sitting there fixated on it.

Soooo, that was the Carr Family Valentine's celebration.  Definitely memorable.

Right now we are having a lovely snow storm.  Also it was the first time in weeks Austin was able to go to speech (finally we are all healthy).  So Ryan took him to the school.  He called me & said the parking lot was completely empty.....well, today is President's Day and there's no school!  Whoopsie!

Tomorrow Ryan will get to go on his first overseas trip for the Pacers...Belgrade, Serbia & Bilbao, Spain.  I am mostly jealous of his layover in Paris.  Nevermind he won't be able to even leave the airport, but he'll be on French soil!  :)  I pray he returns safe and enjoys this new experience.  It's pretty dang exciting.

Well, it's naptime for the munchkins!  And I have to watch the Olympics while folding laundry!  :)

Out of the Mouths of Babes....

*  The worst insult you can receive from our kids is to be called a "gussie"!  No idea what it means but the manner of delivery is unmistakable!

*  Austin asked "Why does all the angels always wear sandals?"  :)

*  Another question Austin asks..."Does God do flips on the clouds?"  Visualize that for a little giggle!

*  At prayer time Caitlin always makes sure to say, "And Jesus, I hope you had a nice birthday."

*  Caitlin has definitely captured her brother's heart...for the past few nights I have had to move him back to his bed because he sneaks into her room and spoons her while she is sleeping.  I call him the "Phantom Spooner" - it is completely adorable!

*  I checked in on Caitlin the other night when she was supposed to be asleep...instead she had her jewelry box in her bed and was decked out in all her sparkly jewelry looking in the little mirror!

*  Austin's favorite show is "Dinosaur Train" - this means that the kids have become quite the little paleontologists!  At Dinosphere in the Children's Museum, Austin shouted out, "That's a stygymoloch!"  Ryan and I were like, "A WHAT?!?!"  Sure enough that's what it was...Austin pointed out that he knew because it had little horns on it's head.

Okay I should go.  We are having a snuggle on the couch before we go get them a surprise for behaving so nicely...a new dvd for movie night tonight.  They will be excited.

The Winter Blues...

Well, for the past 3 weeks or so someone has been sick around here.  This time it started with Austin, then Caitlin, now me.  Ryan has lucked out so far.  Serious congestion, coughs, and crankiness from lack of sleep.  We are hoping this will pass...SOON!

We haven't done much of anything.  The kids have missed some school and activities which is no fun.  We are getting cabin fever.  One thing they have been doing is practicing addition on these little laptops my grandma gave them for Christmas.  They love calling out, "What's __ plus ___?" and they both know that 1+1=2.  Call me biased but I find that kind of impressive at 4 and a half.  They have also been playing games on nickjr.com - they can pretty much do it all on their own after I start internet explorer and get to the website for them.  Caitlin can be a little "computer hog" so we've gone to setting a timer to indicate when each turn is over.  So far, so good with that method.

Also a couple weeks ago they were on a kick of wanting to make Valentines.  So we did.  They had free reign of all the craft supplies:  construction paper, glue, scissors, glitter, sequins, markers, crayons, etc.  They loved it!  It was very cute to watch and very time consuming to clean up!  :)

It is remarkable to me how aware of the world they are too.  They know that there are sick people in Africa, the "earth rumbled" in Haiti, and that a missionary is someone who tells others about Jesus.  Their minds are little sponges about everything: fun stuff, educational things, and miscellaneous off-the-wall stuff that they dream up!

Some people have asked if they are going to Kindergarten next year...so here's the answer...While they will be eligible to go, we have decided to wait until the Fall after their 6th birthday.  They will still attend preschool and they've got their teacher mommy at home with them so we are very comfortable with our decision.

Not sure if I already blogged this, but a few weeks ago we had a large snowfall and they kids got to go sledding.  Oh my gosh!!!  After a few times down with Aunt Bubbles & Uncle John, they were asking to go down the HUGE hill with them (they did & loved it) and then they went down the small hill on their own.  They had SUCH a blast and can't wait until we get more snow.  At some point I'd like for us all to learn how to ski -- that always looked fun to me.  The next winter activity they want to try is ice skating.   We'll see...

Okay, gotta go take a nap (all of us!).  More updates to come...

P.S. - Go Colts!!!  :)

How to Outsmart Your Preschooler...

First, when asked your opinion by a 4 year old, ALWAYS choose the OPPOSITE of what you want them to choose!  For example, if your little girl asks, "Mommy should I choose the shark or the bunny "knife" for my peanut butter?"  Mommy should reply, "Oh, I would DEFINITELY choose the shark!" Of course, your little girl's natural response would be, "Great.  I think I will choose the bunny."  Mission accomplished.  :)

Second, if you want your preschooler to go potty because he's doing the "pee pee dance" and insists he DOESN'T have to use the potty...just announce loudly, "WHEW!  I REALLY have to go potty...RIGHT NOW!"  Then, sit back and enjoy him racing to beat you into the bathroom!  This is a hypothetical situation of course.  My son would NEVER hold his "tinks"in until he is completely irritable and irrational.  Uh uh.  No way.

It's a sad day when I'm feeling proud that I've "outsmarted" our 4.5 year olds!!!  ;)

Haiti

Well, I haven't been able to get these images out of my head.  I even switched from FoxNews to CNN (not permanently!).  The most horrific thing I keep replaying in my mind is a video of a DUMP TRUCK full of dead people being dumped into a huge mass grave.  WOW.  Those people were all loved by someone - maybe someone still searching for them.  Not only were they robbed of life, but of a proper burial.


The devastation is unreal and it boggles my mind that it is almost a week later and where is the help???  Hospitals?  Food?  Water?  It also hits me because the son of one of our friends recently went to Haiti and wrote about it on his web magazine.  There were pictures of children at one of the orphanages.  They were the most beautiful little kids and his story about them, ah, very poignant.  In church over the weekend he reminded us of the poverty he saw BEFORE the quake & contrasted it with the current conditions there...he said they went from no clean water to NO WATER, no good food to NO FOOD, no good houses to NO HOUSES.  Can you imagine living like that?  My heart breaks thinking about Austin and Caitlin going through something like that...ugh.


Sorry for the downer post but I had to let it out.  If you are able, please donate to a reputable organization that will provide aid to the Haitians.  Something we all can do is simple pray for those effected by the earthquake; for the doctors and first responders; the governments of the world to use their resources wisely, responsibly, & expeditiously; and the church to be a beacon of help and hope to the people devastated by this disaster.  To quote our pastor, "We (the church) are 'Plan A'.  There is no other plan."