John at 4 and Anna at 2 and a Half Years

This is a long post....sorry! Trying to make up for lost time and document a few little details about the kiddos personalities that have had me smiling lately.

Tonight as John and Anna were bathing we were talking about our family. John told me he was not ready to be a daddy because he wanted to be a pilot after he was a garbage man. Anna was happily turning a bucket of water over her head and laughing hysterically.
I told them that I was so happy to be their mommy and what would happen if God hadn't given me them....who would make me laugh?
That had them stumped...John proposed that Kyle would be around to make me laugh. I suppose that's true but he wouldn't be around constantly during the day to make me laugh because he'd be at work....thoughtful silence....Anna is still laughing at water all over her face, really not interested in John and I's deep convo.

I haven't blogged much because I've spent most of the summer enjoying these little people that seem to be growing too quickly!

 Here are recent observations on John and Anna's personalities:



John loves analyzing things. This totally reminds me of stories I've head about my dad when he was little. Taking things apart around the house just to put them back together. Just this evening John and I were inspecting the tooth floss dispenser. John looked at all the pieces and muttered to himself "ok, the string starts there....it goes around that thingy (the metal cutter) and you take it off...ok...got it" He is so curious about how things work. Ever since our trip to California (more on that trip later) John has been OBSESSED with airplanes, how the baggage loading conveyer belt works, how the air traffic control tower works, how pilots fly planes.....the questions are endless but we try to feed his curiosity with our best answers. He picks things up so quickly.



Anna has a very funny and charming personality. She LOVES to sing, she sings in the car, she sings at home, she sings at the grocery store, wherever she goes she is usually just singing to herself. The other day at McDonald's the cashier commented on how she just happily sings to herself. Occasionally when she's trying to get someone's attention with her singing, she sings LOUD and truly expects people to clap for her because she puts her hands together and does this coy little smile. It is the silliest thing I've ever seen.

Anna has also developed a habit of acting like a puppy, requiring someone to take her invisible leash and walk her around the house, give her treats, put her in her "cage" (a baby tent) and, yes, clean up her tinkle and poop because puppy Anna makes lots of accidents all over the house. Shame, shame...



She also has an invisible lizard that appeared almost daily for a week. Her name is Pink and Anna happens to find her in the same spot hidden in her bedskirt every evening (freaky, I know). Somehow Pink appeared in California. You know when Pink is around because Anna holds one little hand in a cupped position while doing other tasks. It's difficult to do things as a two year old with only one available hand. But we pet Pink and make sure she is loved until the next time she reappears.

Next week my babies will start their MDO program. They will both be in 3 days a week! I can't believe how big they are and Kyle and I are so blessed to have these little people in our lives. What joy you bring  us every day with your unique little personalities.

The Day Has Come....

.....John can sing the Aggie War Hymn on his own. He's ready for Aggie football season 2010!

He spontaneously broke out in song at lunch time and actually did the entire song with out any help the first time....notice at the beginning he very seriously says "you ready mom? ready?" while I get the camera ready...haha

A Rainforest Experience

Ah, what to do on a Sunday afternoon/evening?? The kids woke up pretty early from their naps and we were facing about 4 hours of "what to do now" time. The last few evenings have been rife with refusals to eat dinner and potty training regressions. Kyle and I needed a break from the inevitable power struggle so we loaded up the kids and headed to the Galleria. They just opened a new play area so we decided to check it out.

It was a hit. The kids loved climbing and crawling and creeping all ove the place. It is just right for Anna and John's age. My only gripe is that it is not closed in with a gate. There is just an opening that any little one could wander off or, heaven forbid, be whisked away if not closely supervised. But it redeems itself with a nice little changing table where you can change a diaper and a odor blocking pail to throw away dirties. It's very thoughtful to have that area so you don't have to pack everyone up and leave the play area when you have to take care of some bidness.

Afterwards we headed to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. It was great. The atmosphere kept the kids entertained enough so we could have a decent meal experience. The food was ok and the service was a little crazy (we were seated at three different tables before being served) but overall I would give the expereince an A- and I'll tell you why in a minute.

I was concerned the giant animals, particualrly the enormous elephants with flapping ears we were seated under, along with the thunder and lighting that happens every 10 minutes would freak little Anna out. But after the second cycle she could care less about the elephants and was chomping away on her ribs. Which brings us to another story....
Anna certainly takes after her dad in preferring BBQ fare. It was hilarious watching her take a bite of ribs from my fork. She would shut her eyes tight, take a bite with gusto, clench her teeth and smile, then smack her lips and go "Mmmmm....mmmmm....mmmmmm"


So the experience reached "A" status because of the Volcano dessert. I forgot to take a picture of it but I snagged this bad one off the internet

It's basically a thin brownie with a pyramid of 3 or 4 pieces of chocolate cake on top and vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, caramel and chocolate sauce inside the pyramid with a sparkler on top. YIKES!

This is John after eating his share of the Volcano

This is the Anna-mal

 Score one point for Dad! Sunday evening disaster averted with cheese pizza, ribs, brownie and ice cream!! WAHOO!

John the Helper

John has become quite the little helper. One of his favorite things to do is help me cook. The other day I made a new salmon recipe (side note: salmon with a red wine butter sauce, it was delish). Anyways, I was chopping the shallots and John was standing at the island with me. Ever the safety concious little boy (must take after Grandpa--safety first!), he would seriously tell me "don't touch that pan, it's hot" and "be careful that knife is very sharp, you might hurt yourself". Where was John when this incident occured?! Good thing I have someone to remind me knives are sharp these days....

Sadly, despite his enthusiasm in helping he still refuses to eat most anything "we" make together. However, he did help me make my annual Flag Cake and (surprise, surprise) decided that one was worth a little taste test

John is also very interested in doing "hard work". Whenever Kyle includes John in yard work or pulling weeds they talk about the importance of "hard work". It's funny to hear John say in his serious voice "Mom, I'm going outside with dad to do some hard work!"

When John is with me, he aids and abets me with my crazy projects. He is my compadre in crime. And he has lots of opinions and suggestions. I usually ask for his opinions only to be amused by his funny feedback but sometimes he makes surprising sense. Recently I made some new curtains for John's room. I was checking out fabric options and asked John about this red ticking stripe. We put the swatch up against the pillow on his bed and I asked him how he liked it. He studied it, twisted his lips, then said "um, it doesn't go with the other pillow". Indeed, it was not the best fabric choice but his candid response was really amusing and made me laugh. Once we decided on the appropriate fabric (with his approval, of course) he helped me pin the fabric in place to sew it. He handed me the pins then put them back in the pin cushion after I removed them. I know, should I let a 3 year old be handling pins?? but he really is so careful....and I was closely supervising him.

Here are our curtains:

ahhh, light and bright! Ignore the white sheetrock patches I need to paint over. YIKES! I'll also point out that when John saw the completed curtains hanging he made a surprised face and said "Mom! The colors of the curtains match my bed!" Point noted, little man....check!

Well, lest you think John is a perfect angel all of the time, a virtual mini adult helping us here and there, cooking, weeding, and sewing at our command,  I must be real and let you know that scattered with the good stuff is our fair share of disobedience spells, selective hearing, back-talking, crazy tantrums, and delayed response when asked to do things. We have had our share of power struggles the past few months. But I guess since John made it through the two's fairly easily I can't get off scot free without the three's being a bit more trying. But as all parents know, the sweet moments far out weigh the bad ones so we'll focus on the good here!

Pictures from January 2010

I have all sorts of random pictures so I'll load them up in this post....

Here are some beautiful roses that have been in my house this week. These flowers were just the perfect shade of the palest pink you ever saw. I hate to see them go. Had to dispose of them yesterday. So sad! Why do floweres have to die? Why do we have to die? Let's get deep....

...or not.....

If you remember my posts from Philadelphia's Longwood Gardens here and here and here, I am obsessed with taking pictures of flowers. They are stationary and they're usually very well lit. Perfect conditions for an amateur photog........

Kyle and John chillaxin' on a Saturday afternoon watchin the Ags play basketball.

GIG 'EM!
Ridin' the new trike!

When Mom is too busy to feed Anna, we put brother to work!

Reminiscent of the 101 Ways to Have Fun With A Burp Cloth post from Baby John days, here is

Anna dressed as Mary, the young mother of baby Jesus, and the bride of "Jofus" (as John says when we recount the Christmas story)
Watching the big kids play at Pump It Up

Portrait time with the camera. Too bad she had a rashy mouth this particular day

I have FOUR teeth! Seeeeee

John is teaching his sister the proper way to conduct a ride-on train. What else are big brothers for?

Couldn't resist this sweet little puckered face!

The Angry Itsy Bitsy Spider Song

The other night at dinner John started singing what can only be described as a hostile rendition of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".

Not sure how he got so worked up but it made for a good video. We made him perform it several times before we got the camera so this version isn't as hostile or as clear but I think you get the point.



And here is another video of John showcasing his stellar air guitar moves to entertain his sister who, by the way, finds this curious little man absolutely hilarious

Pumpkin Patch - The Man and The Mama Version

I'll just preface this post by saying that both my kids have an aversion to the camera lens. Which is a bummer for a photography-loving mom like myself. But I gotta work with what I got.

Unfortunately, Anna has given up her modeling career earlier than John did because I believe he was still a working model for me at 7 months. Anna is so over it. So this was more of a "candid" photo shoot....

Anna posing with the pumpkins

I'm not sure why I even thought I could get a picture with the two of them together

And those are Anna's arms peeking out from under John's body as he body steam rolls her


So we go back to the single shot of Anna

John lifting a pumpkin with Daddy..."Too heby, daddy!"

The money shot. My only decent picture from the pumpkin patch. It was worth the 80 or so shots I took.

Apparently pumpkins are for climbing too

Giving Anna a kiss

Anna is not too excited about pumpkins this year

She certainly didn't like the tower of mini pumpkins John was stacking up her chest

Happy Harvest!

JT & RT & Pumpkins ~ Br^mance

Today was the 3rd annual John 'n' Rusty Pumpkin Pals Picture Fest. Emily and I have gotten the little men together the past several years to take pictures. The first year, no one was really into taking pictures, no one could sit up very well, and no one could deny it was HOT. The second year, everyone could sit up but no one wanted to look at the camera...and it was hot.


This year, well, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....still not much success in getting a straight look at the camera but we had fun and it was Anna's inaugural visit to the pumpkin patch. Bonus: it was cool this morning!


First, I'll post pictures of John and his bud, Rusty (whom he refers to as "Resty") at the pumpkin patch today....my how these little guys have grown! What a blessing to have sweet friends.

Here Rusty is giving John some important advice: "Hold Up. This is serious business, dude. Stop. Concentrate. And let's find the perfect pumpkin"

Try banging on them like drums! (while Anna chokes herself in the background)

Rusty and John giving Anna major pointers on how to find the most perfect pumpkin on her first pumpkin-scouting trip. She appears to be listening intently.

Always bearing a social conscience, John and Rusty get distracted and take a stance against flagrant pumpkin abuse. Do not pick up the pumpkins by their stems! (so says the sign) Free the pumpkins! Get us outta this pumpkin slaughter field!

Ah, these little ones might be the perfect ones for us!

A long morning at the pumpkin patch. See ya later, home-slice!

Uh, you know Emily and I are going to force these two to re-enact this picture senior year. Our sons are gonna LOVE us.

Next post will have John and Anna pics....later....

John's Big Wall Climb

So my sweet husband is very generous in allowing us to have a babysitter come help out with the kids during the day on occasion. Usually I leave both of them with her while I do things like grocery shopping and run errands that would normally take me forever to do with 2 kids in tow. Today, however, I decided it would be a good idea for me to spend a little one on one time with my man. I left Anna with the sitter and John and I took off for our big date at Pump It Up.

I chose Pump It Up because when we were leaving church yesterday we drove by the large movie theater/entertainment complex where Pump It Up is located and John pointed and wistfully said "I go to Pump It Up..." He's only been there 3 times but apparently it's made an impression.

The last time I was by myself with John was in July when I took him to the pool for an hour while Anna napped with a sitter. It had been a while and I was so happy to have this special time to focus on John and he was SOOOOO excited when I told him where we were going.

I was very proud of him today because he did this huge and difficult (for his age) obstacle course all by himself. Last time we were here (in August) Kyle or I had to do this particular obstacle course with him and he was terrified of the whole thing especially the slide part. I was so proud to see my little guy work so determinedly (is that a word?) to climb and do this himself. This a little boy who went down a playground slide for the first time by himself only 2 months ago. "Cautious" is his middle name, baby.

Here's a video of the last part of the obstacle course---a really steep climbing wall to the top of the big slide.

Go John!

It was so sweet to hear him tell the story about it all day long...and my favorite part of him telling the story is that he says, "Mommy, I go beery fast but you catch me" and then he nods his head as if to say "I knew you'd be there for me". I feel so special knowing that he felt like he could conquer that big slide because he knew Mommy was going to catch him at the end....if only I could catch you always, little man....but I'll do it while I can and while you'll let me.

I love your little 2 1/2 self, baby! XOXOXO

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Yeah, it's the little woman thrown on the ground on the hardwood floors while the big one gallavants in the exersaucer. Everything is wrong with this picture....

I'll tell you what else is wrong with this picture:

I went to Walgreens today to print out pictures of John the teachers at school requested for the classroom and various school things. Kyle picked up my pictures on his way home from work but when I saw them they were way too dark. I immediately marched right back up to Walgreens and asked them to reprint them please. I'm talking to the photo man, I also stepped in as an impromptu translator for a woman who was getting passport pictures but couldn't speak English....all of this was done with no memory of the giant smiley sticker John had plastered on my face hours earlier. Awesome.

1st Day of School 2009

Yo, Peeps. It's my first day of school and I'm too cool....repeating the Toddler Class is a piece of cake. I knew my teachers, they knew me. I slapped 'em some skin as I walked through the door. I knew where to grab my lunch box at lunch time and I sure knew what to do at playground time....no problem saying goodbye to the lady who spends 24/7 with me....mom schmom....I'm good.

BUT Mom's still gotta embarass me by posting last year's 1st day of school picture....(c'mon mom I was only 15 months old...gimme a break!)