New Year's

I can tell it is New Year's as the resolutions are starting to show up around my house. Even Sophie has apparently switched from fat stogies to a lighter, healthier smoke....

Sophie's old partying ways....

 The new, improved e-cig smoking Sophie...

Trip

We got home yesterday from a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's, which was our 3rd Christmas this year.  We squeezed in a trip to the winery, some time in the tent, some smores by the fire, and lots of riding around in Grandpa's buggy.  In other words, it was awesome.


Amelia enjoyed the campfire....

Ev was the embodiment of "ball 'till you fall" ...

Shade

Sometimes when the sun is ruining your view of the DVD player, you have to get a little help from your dad...or at least borrow his hat...

Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Ours looked a little something like this....

Christmas gift chaos...

New play costumes....

Ev is apparently not a fan of peanuts...he kept saying "hey guys, there's something in my ice cream. Can you please get it out?"

Rudolph

Holiday serenade....

Home Again

Christmas #1 is in the books. As always, it was great to see my family.  Even more predictably, it was sad to leave them. 

On the bright side, Amelia now knows how to play fake slot machine games on the internet...

Start Your Engines

Tomorrow begins our annual Christmas travel fest. We will travel to see my family for a few days, come back home so Santa can make a visit, then head to Meg's parents' for a few days.  The kids are incredibly excited. Sophie, who spends this time in doggy jail, is not.

Naybe

I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure I heard Amelia telling her Elf, Naybe, "snitches get stitches" tonight.  Let's just say I'm thinking Naybe will have nothing but good reports for Santa the rest of the year.

Toy Stores

Here is a note to toy stores...when you have places where my kids can play with some of the toys it gives me an opportunity to shop while they're distracted and it allows me to see what they really enjoy playing with...this makes me want to spend a lot more money in your store. Bad for me, but good for you.

Voices

Amelia, like, totally started talking like this the other day. I guess she, like, learned from one of her BFFs, Claire. It's really, like, super interesting to see her learn things from friends with older siblings.

Nice Date

With Everett's social calendar full, Amelia and I slipped away for an afternoon date. I don't want to get into all the specifics because our dates get pretty wild and crazy. That said, I will share that it involved, putt putt, go karts, arcade games, and ended with ice cream sandwiches. So, yeah, you can go ahead and feel jealous...


Showing off her form...

 Sporting some post go kart ride hair...

Looking Forward

Seeing those pictures and videos from nearly 3 years ago only helped me realize how big the kids are getting. Then, seeing them both at their schools yesterday made me realize they are both much bigger than I thought.

First, Amelia now gets dropped off at a school that has kids 3 times her age and doesn't miss a beat. There is no more walking her to her class and hugging her goodbye.  You simply pull up to the front of the school and she hops out, straps on her gargantuan backpack, and heads off into the distance.  I'm equal parts proud of her and horrified at how fast she is growing.  It won't be long until I'm dropping her off at her first middle school dance, date at the movies, or first day of college.

Secondly, despite being over a month away from his birthday, Everett has already been transitioned to the 3 year-old class at school.  To make matters worse, before they separate classes in the mornings, we have to drop him off with kids in the 4 year-old room. A few days ago, he was one of the older kids in his class. Now, my little man is now surrounded by kids who probably shave before they go to school.

I know kids grow. I know I can't stop this or even slow it down. I also know I don't like it. 

Looking Back

While looking back, I also found this video of Amelia meeting Everett. In my head, she never sounded this little...

Looking Back

As Everett gets older, I occasionally like to look back at this blog to see what Amelia was like when she was his age. For some reason, it crossed my mind tonight. So, I did some round math in my head and went back to the month before Amelia turned 3. As it turns out, a month before she turned 3, she was spending her first few days welcoming her new best friend into the world....

Wish

If I had one wish it would be that a little girl this pretty when she smiles wouldn't spend every night crying like she gets paid by the tear. After all, getting bathed, read to, and snuggled until you fall asleep to the sound of lullabies is not the hardest night.

Frosty

Even snowmen need love...

All Dressed Up

When your daughter thinks dressing up is putting on every piece of fake jewelry she owns, she occasionally looks like this....

and when your son thinks his big sister is the coolest person God ever made, he occasionally looks like this.....

Going Fast

We got Everett's school pics back yesterday. I can't believe how fast he's growing.  Meggan's baby is gone. My toddler has moved on. Now, he's a full blown little kid.  We booked his 3 year-old birthday party today. I'm excited about the years to come. I just hope they slow down a bit.

Christmas Spirit

We are in full Christmas spirit around the house these days.,..even Sophie is getting in on the act....

Chatter

As Everett approaches 3 years old, his vocabulary grows by the day.  This is both good and bad.  In just the past few days he has made great strides in being equal parts annoying and incredibly sweet.  For instance, he has now reached a stage where regardless of what you say, he responds with "why?".  Then, no matter what reason you give him, he'll ask "why?" again. This will continue 100 times in a row if you let it.  Generally, I just walk away before I yell "because daddy said so!".

Now, to offset that toddler annoyance, he gave us a surprise two nights ago.  He decided he would start saying his prayers with us at bedtime.  I wasn't as surprised that he wanted to say them as I was shocked at how much he had been listening to as we've been saying our prayers. He hit all the high points that we usually touch upon.  He asked for rest, health, good dreams, and more rest.  He may not have really understood anything he said, but it was sweet watching him try his best to do exactly as Amelia does each night. It's even adorable to hear him start by saying "Pure Jesus" instead of "Dear Jesus".  As a dad, there have been few times where I've felt more like our parenting was on the right track.

Rock Circle

Amelia's class just completed a lesson series on Native Americans.  Tonight, she took about 20 minutes explaining the meaning of each article of clothing, jewelry, and drum she made. Then, she made a "rock circle" and performed this little tune for me.....

Twist and Shout

The little one has been working on his moves...

Time Well Spent

When a day includes trying your first ever ICEE and riding your new Christmas tree around the parking lot, it's safe to say you had a good day...

Turned the Corner

Now that Turkey Day and Black Friday are over, it is time to turn the corner and head to Christmas. We got started tonight by setting up a winter village in our house. As you've seen on here before, Everett loses his mind over villages. Unfortunately, he thinks they are just really luxurious toys.  This particular village was given to us by family...I'm not sure that sentimental note will keep it safe from him. After all, he already put his hippo toy in there and ran around saying it was a zoo.

Sneaky

I can't tell if Everett is about to sit on his sister, is sneaking away from his sister, or is squatting to potty on his sister. Either way, it is safe to say he isn't cooperating with taking this picture...

Strong Medicine

What is the best way to spend the morning when you are feeling under the weather? Did you say hanging on the couch with your big sister and two of your favorite stuffed animals while dressed as Spiderman? If so, you'd be very, very correct...

Water Works

After bath time tonight, I happened to glance into the toilet. This is what I saw ....

 

....At first, I wasn't sure if it was a dead lizard or some sort of animal coming up the pipes. However, upon closer inspection, I saw exactly what it was .....

....Apparently, Everett decided his rhinoceros was a water dwelling animal. I'm just glad I rescued him before he got flushed. 

Power

I generally take a second or two to terrorize my kids any time I vacuum.  This is easy because they both firmly believe I can/will suck them up in the vacuum. Naturally, that is impossible. However, they both also clean as hard as they can when we threaten to sweep up any toys left on the floor. Of course, that is also an empty threat...or so I thought. Apparently, as we learned tonight, our vacuum is mightier than we thought. This is what happened when Meggan accidentally came across a sock...

...it instantly got sucked all the way into the filter.  Maybe the kids better watch out after all. 

Training

Do you know what happens when your son is completely sleep trained and only halfway potty trained? Apparently, he sleeps so hard he dreams he is pottying, pulls his pants down, and sprays down his bed with pee. That happened last week. I thought it was an isolated incident until we checked his baby monitor two nights ago and all we saw was a naked toddler.  It's like having the world's smallest drunk living with you.  This should be fun.

Well Fed

As a parent, you are lucky enough to get the "pleasure" of having lunch with your children from time to time. Of course, it is always nice to see your little critters in their natural habitat. However, sitting in tiny chairs, eating school food, and having to peel them off of you while you head back to work sort of puts a damper on the situation. This year we had an added bonus - kids going to two separate schools with parent lunches on the same day.  Thanks to some coincidentally bad scheduling on my part, I was only able to attend Everett's lunch. Meggan, however, found a way to have lunch with Amelia, drive all the way across town, and have lunch with Ev as well. That's what you call being a great mom.

Helpers

Smashing Oreos into bits so you can make Oreo truffles for your work pot luck is much easier when you have helpers. Luckily, they also helped taste test everything to make sure it was up to their standards...

Challenge

Out of the blue this afternoon, Everett walked up to me and said "I want to wrestle you and punch you all over." I calmly explained to him that we don't talk to people like that and we never try to hurt anyone...and then he and I wrestled for the next 45 minutes. He put up a good fight, but I was able to seal the victory with my signature tickle-him-into-submission move.

Hat

Last night Everett was drinking yogurt out of a bowl. Tonight, he dumped a small garbage can on his head and asked Meggan if she liked his hat.  I'm not sure I like his recent habits.

Learning

For homework, Amelia gets a new batch of words sent home each night. So far, she is around 170 words into this assignment and has had virtually no issues with any of it. So, basically, she's almost ready for the academic life of college...

On an unrelated note, Everett has now learned to kick off his cowboy boots, take off his shirt, and drink his yogurt from a bowl. So, basically, he's almost ready for the fraternity life of college...

Can it be?

The kids received their first Christmas gifts today. Can it already be that time of year?  Naturally, I can't let them know they have gifts or else they will beg, cry, and sneak around until they figure out what they are. Even more naturally, I haven't given one thought to what I'm buying my own kids while others have already delivered their packages. Oh well, at this rate, if I wait long enough, I might not have to buy them any gifts at all.

Some Good, Some Bad

I mentioned we were having a conference with Amelia's teacher last week. The conference went really well.  Her teachers were very pleased with her progress academically and socially.  They were also very complimentary in regard to some of her abilities and to how much of a "responsible classroom citizen" she is. So, all that is the good news. 

Well, this week isn't going as swimmingly. Today, we received an email from her teacher letting us know that Amelia was having a hard time living up to community expectations. Apparently, Amelia claimed she was too tired to do the right things.  That is a) not true or b) not a tolerable excuse in this house. So, let's just say tonight she went to bed early enough that it will be impossible to claim tiredness tomorrow. We'll see how that works. 

Absence

I know I haven't posted in a few days, but when you are staying here...

 

and having dinner here.....

...it's a little hard to remember to blog. 

Big Day

Tomorrow is a big day. In the morning, we get to have our first parent-teacher conference at Amelia's school. We just got her report card and it was great. I'm excited to hear what her teachers have to say about her progress and her transition into kindergarten.  So far, I couldn't be more proud.

In the afternoon, we are heading out of town for our anniversary. Grandma and Grandpa came up to watch the kids so we can get some actual relaxation. Judging by the fact that they brought their own sno cone machine, I doubt relaxing is what they have in mind here....

Teachers

When you have children, you find out the world is full of teachers. They learn from the teachers at school. They learn from their parents. They learn from their friends.  They learn from everything.  However, there is one place where they particularly like to pick up bad habits - the television. This has become especially evident with Everett. While the kids only watch age appropriate shows, he gets the benefit of watching his big sister's favorites. This provides a growing vocabulary words it isn't ready to handle. Thanks to Sheriff Callie and Charlie Brown, he's got two new favorites.  He used them both on me recently...

Me: Everett, be still so I can change your pull up

Everett:  Nooo, I don't want to change my pull up

Me: Buddy, we have to change it. Now stop moving.

Everett: You stop bullying me, blockhead.

Me: 1) Don't say that 2) We gotta stop watching TV.

So, there you have it. I'm a blockhead and a bully. Who knew??

Brrrrr

It looks like Jack Frost has decided to stop by our house. Luckily, Ev is a man who loves a hat...

Parade

What is the only time you are rooting against your own son? When they are handing out Halloween costume awards, your insanely competitive daughter hasn't won one, and her new friend she met on the parade just won the Most Royal award for her Elsa costume.  Unfortunately, our rooting didn't matter. Everett won the Most Heroic award and while she's the most beautiful witch I've seen, Amelia came home empty handed.


A fire truck led the way with a witch and ninja turtle following close by...

 Ev's award....

Ev using his new found hero fame to convince his new little friend that those ghosts weren't real...

Winning

Today was a great day.  My mom and sister are in town. The Gators won their big game against Georgia. Meggan made delicious brownies. However, the biggest news of the day was Amelia finally earning her yellow band at swimming (on the same day her best friend earned hers). A yellow band essentially means you will not immediately drown if you get in the pool. To earn it she had to swim to the middle of the pool and float for a time period. It may not sound hard, but for a kid who had a year's worth of lessons and still would not let go of the swim instructor a few months ago, this was a miraculous accomplishment.  I couldn't be more proud of her and she couldn't be more proud of herself...

Carving

This is how we thought Everett would look while enjoying our pumpkin carving last night....

This is how Everett actually looked after he went back inside 2 minutes into pumpkin carving (as photographed by Amelia as she went to check on him)...

Mirror Image

Amelia drew Meggan this portrait to hang in her office. I don't know about you, but I think it looks just like her...well, at least it has blue eyes....