I just thought I'd share what is sitting pretty on our kitchen table right now. 

My sweet daughter and I picked these out of our backyard and are now resting pretty inside. 

Lately it has been raining.  Or threatening to rain.  Or misting.  Or some other form of dreary wet weather.  All of which makes for some very antsy kids as we can't go for a walk or bike ride or whatever to get them out of the house and burn off some of their endless energy.  So the other day I took them outside, just to get them outside between bouts of rain.  They couldn't really play on the grass at all as they'd have ended up all muddy and the skies weren't exactly clear, so we needed to stay close to home.  So our eldest found a way to entertain herself from the moment she was out of the house - laps.  Seriously.  She not only wanted to go onto the cul-de-sac to run, but run indeed she did.  Around and around and around.  She was so cute as she still had on her leotard from dancenastics and she was busy showing me her "starting position" for running.  See?

Which of course was followed by more laps.

Note that the pictures are a little hazy because it was so humid out due to the recent rain.  The lens fogged up and well, the kids couldn't wait for it to clear.  Afterall she had laps to run.  And then walk.  He was content to chase after her some, but not interested in running actual laps. 

In fact, for awhile his cup was more important.  And then of course when I even mentioned going back inside (after all it was pj time), he decided to kick it into high gear and do some running of his own.

And never putting the cup down.  And realizing that now that we were heading in, my lens was clearing up.  I asked our eldest to turn around so that I might get a picture of her still.  Her response?  This pose.

Hmmm....  Not sure I was ready for that, but can't say I was completely suprised either.  Where is my sweet little girl going? \

(By the way, I have been updating the photo gallery as well.  So you can check on over there to see more pictures.  Just make sure that you realize that there is now more than one page or you'll miss out on the newer ones.)

Though they weren't able to attend today's game, our children are showing off their Wolfpack pride!

Go Wolfpack - great to see a win today over Pittsburgh today!

When I bought these I never had a photo shoot with the kids in mind.  But I must say when our little girl climbed in one in the playroom to play it was perfect.  All I had to do was go find the other one and I had a container for the kids.  Which means they stayed relatively STILL.  Can I tell you how odd that is?    They were so still (well, relatively speaking of course) that I managed to get a few good pictures.

But alas even in a container they move...

He did get in and out a few times

It was quite the game.  Then she stuck her feet out a couple different ways

and fun was had by all!  I must say I enjoyed one of the easiest times I've had lately trying to catch them for a good picture, so even I was happy.

So all in all these are the perfect container.

Our little girl would like to wish you all a goodnight with a kiss...

Our little boy loves to play ball.  In fact it doesn't have to be a bat and ball at all.  He will play "ball" with a spatula and orange from the kitchen set.  Or a small ball and rake outside.  And he's pretty good at it.

Here he has a spatula from the kitchen set and a small ball. 

And he's off...

His daddy was playing tabble tennis on the Wii and he could not be outdone.  I heard he ran into the playroom grabbed a play frying pan and ball and went to town.  If this is any indication of things to come I see baseball in his future. 

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that the weekends fly by.  It goes from one moment looking forward to getting out of work on Friday afternoon to bam it's Monday morning again.  Sigh.  Jordan calls the weekend home days.  She doesn't get excited the way we do, but then again her work days aren't too bad.    Not that we did anything exciting to speed this weekend along, but it seemed to fly by all the same.  And for the record the kids naps are never long enough either.  Well, that and Jordan doesn't nap for us.  Apparently she is one of the first ones out at school, but here not so much.  At least we have quiet time for the most part.  Check back an entry or two though and you can see why that isn't always a good thing.

Jordan is very into pretend play.  She loves to play house and has a wild imagination with things that happen in her "world."  She takes care of babies, travels, and even rides on rockets.  It can be very enterataining to watch and listen to.  Here she is being a "mommy."

And of course the baby had to go for a walk.

And naturally this upset her little brother because he suddenly decided that he needed to play with that doll and that stroller.  Because well, she had them of course.  So after a little fit look who else had to take the baby for a walk.

 


Everything she does he has to do.  She rides her bike, he wants on the trike (and don't get me started on how he wanted to peddle himself despite the fact that his legs aren't long enough).  She wants to watch Little Mermaid (for the 100th? time), he wants to watch "Mermaid."  Sigh.  I don't know how long this will last and I don't know how long I can handle it sometimes.  He wants to be so much bigger than he is and doesn't understand that he just isn't as big.  Combine that with limited verbal skills and well you have what I fear is an early onset of the "terrible twos."  The good news is that the surgery seems to have helped his hearing and he is starting to say more words, which hopefully will help him express his feelings in a manor other than screaming. 

Yesterday a friend turned 1 and both children were invited to help celebrate the occassion.  They were excited to see that there were toys to play with,

food (and milk) to enjoy,

yummy cake, and lots of water fun!

Happy 1st Birthday AJ!

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Now I just wish I could say that the day ended on such a happy note.  The kids had an absolute blast at the party and then came home for naps.  He was worn out from the fun!  Apparently though she was not.  It isn't out of the ordinary for her to not actually nap.  Instead she has "quiet" time in her room.  It helps her relax and it gives us a needed break as well.  So you can't imagine my shock yesterday when I opened her bedroom door.  I had to close the door back and call for her Daddy.  What I saw left me speechless.  And beyond mad.  I was so mad I had no idea how to handle it.  I was glad that Daddy was home and then he handled it.  He handled the discipline and clean up.  And more clean up.  You see our sweet little angel had been playing in her closet.  Ok, so she isn't supposed to, but no problem.  Except that in one of her luggage bags that makes a perfect diaper and wipes bag (for her then and little brother now) she found a bottle of diaper cream I had left behind was the last trip we had taken.  I tend to forget to pack it as he rarely needs it, so I guess I left it in the bag.  This should not have been a problem for our sweet child.  However, today it was.  A HUGE problem.  I guess the urge to decorate or do art overtook her little body as she proceeded to smear the contents of the tube all over her room.  As in down the front of both dressers, on the carpet, door knobs, curtains, her beloved Pooh, and well, practically everywhere.  So while I have no pictures to share I have some very vivid ones in my mind.  I also know that one day we may laugh as we look back on this, but I can assure you that we are not there yet.  That day may come when our sweet little child calls us on the phone to say that her sweet child has done the very same thing - then I may laugh.  But today, not so much.  Today I am still wondering what truely gets diaper cream out of carpet.  

If anyone has any tips for truly removing diaper cream (Desinex Creamy to be exact) from a wide range of surfaces - especially carpet and walls I'd love to hear them!  We seem to have the bulk of it removed, but I don't think it has been completely removed and I have no idea what would work best.  

So as we embark on the unofficial end to the summer it seemed appropriate to spend the weekend living up the summer activities such as the beach and pool.  And for the most part the children agreed.  At least when it came to enjoying the fun in the sun. Welearned that while little man loves fish he does NOT like alligators or turtles.  Really turtles?  And our little princess does nto have complete faith in glass.  She was all about the alligators until I suggested she stand right by one for a photo.  Then suddenly she was sure he was going to get her.  So Daddy rescued her. And to her surprise she wasn't eaten by the gator.  :-)  Then again Mommy and Daddy always suggest things that get her hurt.  Sigh. 

Far away turtles became OK.  He was content to stand on the bridge and watch a whole family of them (photos in the gallery).  But inside even remotely close up - NO way!  And alligators for him - HA!  But fish - yes, fish are his friend.  :-)

And after a break for lunch we headed out to the sand for a little while.  Not too long as we knew that our little people would start to tire and get cranky. 

 

But they had a chance to dig in the sand, find sea shells, and dip their fit in the water (and then some on little man as his legs aren't so long).

 

He even tried to chase after a little bird in the sand.  I'm not sure what made him think he was ever going to catch him, but he sure gave it a go.  Luckily the bird was smart enough to run away and eventually our guy gave up.  Not sure what his plans were if he were to catch the bird.  And fortunately I didnt' get to find out.  :-)  And then it was back to playing in the sand and water.

Overall I'd say it was a hit with the children.

And everyone was happy until we headed home.  And then Daddy stopped for a caffeine drink and it went downhill for us.  Apparently the couple minute nap little man took before the stop was all that was to be had for a nap for the day.  And then we fed them a little candy.  BAD IDEA!  Instead of Daddy getting peace and quiet to drive home while everyone napped, he got two WIDE open children in the back seat.  And now we are rethinking ever traveling again.  Seriously. 

Our oldest child is all girl.  She absolutely loves princesses and likes to be called one.  She also insists on wearing dresses all the time as apparently that is a criteria for a princess.  Then again they don't typically show any of the pretty princesses dressed in pants now do they?  So it isn't all bad, just gets interesting at times.  She also has a love of pink (her self declared favorite color), though I think green comes in a close second.  Today as it was cooler she wanted to wear a new dress with leggings.  As some weather reports had the high near 70, I figured it wasn't a bad idea.  So here she is sporting her new colorful look.

 

For school today she even added a light pink cardigan sweater as it was in her words "cold."  Personally I thought it was a great relief from the heat, but hey what can I say?  And of course since she wanted a sweater before leaving, guess who also had to have a jacket?  They really are two peas in a pod.  To get a picture of him I just had to take her picture.  Then look who was also interested. 

And of course once she leaves, look who also leaves.

You can't tell, but he did some weird shuffle thing down the wall of the hallway like he thought he was sneaking away.  All I can say is that it was interesting.  :-) 

BTW there are more pictures in the photo gallery.