Crafts

Dozens of hand made Tootsie Pop spiders with 8 pipe cleaner legs and googly eyes... I have better things to do with my night....damn you, Pinterest. Damn you.

Sitters

Is there any better babysitter than the IPad? It is fun. It keeps the kids quiet. It can be educational. It keeps the kids quiet. It is safe. It never gets boring. Oh, and did I mention it keeps the kids quiet?

Fall Weekends

We have taken advantage of the fall recently with trips to the zoo and the pumpkin patch....


corn maze...

 Ev enjoying his pumpkin...

 Ev catching a ride...

 He loved this monkey...

 Milking a cow....

Home Again

Amelia came home today...and I'm pretty sure she hasn't stopped talking...and I'm 100% sure Everett hasn't stopped following her around since.

Nobody to Blame

I used to think Amelia was to blame for all of Everett's bad habits. All he wants in this life is to be exactly like his big sister. So, any time she jumps on the bed, he jumps on (and eventually falls off the bed). When she blows bubbles in her milk, he blows his milk all over the floor. When I lay on the floor and she sneaks over and climbs on me, he sneaks over and climbs on us. When she gives me a kiss, he rushes over and gives me a giant slobber. However, she has now been gone for a few days and he decided to pull a stunt tonight that she's never done before. So, there is no finger to point this time. This one is all Everett...


Apparently, he decided our table was the perfect spot to work on some pull ups....

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Walking the Walk

Ev and I found ourselves alone in the house tonight while Meg ran some errands. Nice weather. New shoes. New haircut. Not caring about yogurt all over his shirt. My man was ready for a walk.

Getting Along Fine

Amelia's energy, smile, and chatter is badly missing from our house. However, I think overall it will be a good thing for Everett. He deserves periods of undivided attention too.



Here he is teaching me how to do a puzzle...

Lonely

Amelia went to stay with her grandparents for a few days today. Naturally, while we are happy for her and them, we are also missing her like crazy. However, there is one little guy in the house who is missing her ten times as much.  It is the sweetest, yet saddest thing you can imagine. He didn't want to leave school today without her. He just stood in the middle of the hall saying "Mimi Mimi Mimi". When Meggan finally got him in the car, he kept pointing to her seat and repeated her name again....and he has basically continued asking for her all night. In fact, at one point, I'm pretty sure I caught him asking Siri "where Mimi at?"

Get Some

If you think you have what it takes to beat Amelia in a sack race, you're probably right...but, at least she tried to beat the big kids...and she wasn't last....

Tough Lessons

Amelia found out the hard way ... when you mess with the bull (Everett), you get the horns (him attacking while you're on the ground and jumping up and down on you like a toy pony)...

Siblings That Cook Together

Soon, our master plan of having the kids be able to do all of our cooking, cleaning, and lawn work will be a reality...

Family Art

While we were playing in the garage, Amelia decided to do a little chalk art. In case you can't decipher beautiful artwork or read crystal clear writing, it is apparently all of us looking at a rainbow with our names "Amelia Mom Dad Ev" at the bottom...

The View

Meggan and I have generally been considering selling our house since the day Everett was born. In a spoiled, first-world problem sort of way, it is simply smaller than we'd like it to be. However, just as I get my head more into selling it and complain about all I feel it lacks, I walk outside and am reminded that 1) in the grand scheme, your house is very insignificant and 2) sometimes a house isn't just the things inside the walls. It is also the view you have once you walk out the door....

The rainbow from two nights ago...

The view of the sunset tonight...

The Pajamas Don't Make the Man

He's faster than a speeding snail, more powerful than Sophie, and able to leap a minimum of 2 legos .... he's Super Everett....and I love him.

Observation Day

This week was Observation Week in ballet class. That means it is the one day they allow parents to come into the classroom to see all the splendor that is a 4 year-old ballet.  While it's always fun getting to see Amelia work her magic on the dance floor, there was nothing I was going to see inside the class that was more satisfying than what I had already seen outside.  Amelia will have the opportunity to do hundreds of activities in her life. However, she's a very lucky little girl to be able to share this one with one of her very best friends...

Point of View

Boys and girls are just different. When you give a little girl a new kitchen to play in, she bakes you imaginary cakes all day long. When you let your little boy play in the same kitchen, he climbs on top of it like some sort of diapered King Kong...

Well, She's Learning

Amelia is learning so many things these days. This morning she counted all the way to 100 for me. Then, on the way to school, we worked on addition and subtraction.  I honestly was very impressed with how well she did. I was even more impressed once I realized she clearly hadn't been going over this in school and hadn't heard of it (instead of subtraction, she told her teacher she could do "contraction" and then on the way home she asked if we could work on "Subtricity") .That said, as proud as I was for her math skills, I was even more proud at dinner when I realized she had learned a life lesson about the finer things. We were talking about what she wanted for Christmas and she said something that nearly brought a tear to my eyes..... she asked for a one hundred foot tower of bacon. Now, that is they kind of gift I can get behind.

You Win Some. You Lose Some.

Bad news on the day - Everett had to go to TimeOut for wrestling AGAIN today.


Good news on the day - my little guy used the potty for the first time. I don't know if it will happen again for another 6 months, but for tonight, he is the man.

In This Corner...

Everett can be the sweetest, softest, most caring kid around.  His tiny kisses melt your heart. His teachers all love him. He visits his sister in Timeout. His report card came home the other day. It praised his concern for others and cited examples of him loving on his friends when they are upset.

And then there is this other side to him. The boy is turning wiiiiiiilllld. Today, we were informed that he had to take more than one trip to Timeout at school...for wrestling....a little girl with a cast on her arm. In his defense, he probably was just trying to pull her cast off so he could wear it (See: several shoe/girls' clothing accessories related posts). As if that wasn't enough of an indication that he is trouble, I'll leave you with this visual (since a picture would have me on an FBI watchlist) .... he spent a lot of time tonight running around the living room completely naked except for a pair of his sister's shoes and his Woody cowboy hat like some sort of miniature Matthew McConaughey.

Like Nobody is Watching

Hey, when Janet Jackson is playing, sometimes you have to dance like nobody is watching...until of course, you realize someone is not only watching, but they are recording as well.

Good Night, Gorilla

This video will include 10,000% more talking from Everett than most of you have ever seen. It will also feature him saying "beep beep" (his version of excuse me), "mine", and trying to push Amelia away on several occasions. For those of you who don't speak toddler, he is saying "night 'rilla" for every page of the book "Good Night, Gorilla"




I think my favorite part is when, in true big sister fashion, Amelia informs me that I should not have given him dessert tonight. I suppose in her eyes his selfish behavior did not merit a sweet treat.

Zone Defense

Yesterday, while Meggan was working and the weather was perfect, I thought it would be a great idea to take the kids to the playground. The one thing I did not account for was the fact that it is hard for one guy who is stillllllll recovering from knee surgery to watch two kids who are running around like wild animals. By the end of it, we were all tired and sweaty, but we managed to have a great time in the process ....

It started off very organized and friendly...

 and then Amelia tried to make Everett fly over the swingset like Inside Out Boy (Google it)...

 and by the end, Everett had gone full dog on me and started carrying his water around in his mouth...

Different

As Everett gets older and develops his own personality, it is clear to see he is a very different person than Amelia. She gets so freaked out by masks and Halloween that she has 1) refused to return to an entire park because a kid was wearing an Iron Man mask, 2) remembered a home improvement store we almost never go to because it had a robot skeleton...6 months after Halloween, and 3) ended Trick or Treating last year immediately upon coming across a lady dressed as a witch.


Meanwhile, when I tried to scare Ev with a zombie mask, he tried to rip its tongue out....

Good Help

You know, they say it's tough to find good help, but I have it all around me...of course, that assumes your definition of "help" is two little people who make you work twice as hard to get anything done and make a much larger mess than should be legally allowed.


Here is Everett helping us pour Rice Krispies into our Rice Krispy treats...I even think some of them got IN the pot....

Helpers

Well, they can't quite mow the lawn yet, but they have their little ways of helping with yard work...

Here We Go

I posted last night about the Open House and how it was a small step toward starting her future...Well, apparently, the future is now and the steps are getting bigger. We sent off Amelia's application today and she will do her first round of testing next week. So, while she won't be in Kindergarten until next fall, we are already doing homework.

It is Beginning

Meggan and I attended an Open House for prospective kindergartners at Amelia's future school tonight. Seriously, Amelia, who was a baby like a week ago, is closing in on Kindergarten. As I sat in the crowd listening to the Headmaster speak about the school, I almost got teary eyed at the thought of my little Amelia navigating this big, unknown world. I also became filled with excitement for all she is about to experience. She'll have exposure to things that I never did - her classroom has IPads for the students, the science room has a huge touch tank where you could reach in and feel different kinds of sea life, she will be taught Spanish, French, and Chinese from Kindergarten forward. She is a lucky girl and we are very thankful parents for the opportunity she has ahead. We intend to do everything we can to help her get the most out of it. I have no doubt she'll far surpass my wildest dreams for her.  Tonight may have been only the first step to the future, but every journey starts that way. Here we go.