Save The Toys!!

As you may know, I'm a huge fan of all things handmade.  I've also, since the lead scares of Chinese made products, become more vigilant about what toys I buy for the kiddos.  Which brings me to the reason for this post.  I can't type eloquently right now with both kids at my knee, so I'll send you to this link, but to sum it all up, congress is passing legislation that would make it almost impossible for small handmade toy makers (including, possibly, my talented lil' sis) from selling their toys (by forcing them to go through very expensive testing).  There is a huge community of people who make their living this way (check out etsy.com if you haven't already), making awesome toys that are personal, handmade, well crafted and unique.  Coming from a long line of craftsmen, and being a small business "crafter" myself, I'm asking you today to take a tiny bit of your time to help.  Because I want to be able to buy this and this and this for my babes!

Dance, Dance and more dance.

Just wanted to get this video up for everyone.

Sweetie Pie SugarBunch

Sweet is a word used a lot when people talk about Fin.  He's a "sweetie pie" a "sweetheart" he has the "sweetest voice" and the "sweetest eyes."  People just can't help but turn into gooey doe-eyed puddles of goodness when they are around him.  Not to say that he is just an angel sent from heaven who only says and does amazingly sweet things.  But there is something special about him, that touches even the most jaded of adults.  

Last week when I picked him up from school, he had a sticker on his shirt.  Everytime I pick him up he has a sticker.  And every time I ask him why he got a sticker, I get the same response I get when I ask him what he did at school.  "I don't remember."  This is a boy who remembers exactly what he wore one year ago to his Christmas pageant, a boy who remembers exactly who went with us to pick out a tree two years ago, and a boy who recognizes the hospital he was born in, though we've driven by it maybe twice.  But he "can't" for the life of him remember what letter he learned about or what book he read that day.  *grrr*  So I've kind of given up on the sticker thing.  I figure he got it because he washes his hands or something.  So as I'm signing him out, his teacher comes over and says, "I have to tell you why Griffin got a sticker today, it was so sweet."  Apparently they had more kids than usual stay for nap time, and were short a few mats to sleep on.  So some kids got mats, and some had blankets.  Well of course all the kids wanted the mats.  Griffin got a mat, but saw that his friend Blake did not get a mat and was upset.  He turned to Blake, handed him his mat, and said, 

"Here, you can hab my mat Bwake."  

His teacher continued and said, "Its stuff like that that really makes my job great, its so nice to hear a kid who doesn't always just say MINE!"  I got all teary and ruffled his hair, and said, "yeah, he's a sweet boy."

Two days later we're at his Christmas pageant and Griffin stands next to Blake on stage.  The entire time, Blake is teary and looks just miserable.  Afterwards, we were watching the video at home, and I said, "Hey Fin, what was going on with Blake?  He looks upset."  

"Yeah, I don't know.  Maybe he's just annoying."

Ahhh my sweetie pie.

Its Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We started our Thanksgiving weekend by making some felt ornaments with Auntie Jessie.  Although she said she wanted to make them since she didn't have any for her tree, she left every single one here, and will probably not remember to take them till Easter.  The kids loved the glue, and cracked themselves up by putting noses where mouths should have been, boots where eyes should have been, you get the idea.  And I mean, they were laughing so hard they couldn't breathe.  Thats how funny it was to them.  The next morning (Thanksgiving Day) we had some cheerios and watched the parade, though Daddy couldn't sit through more than two floats before he rolled over into the fetal position and started crying.  What kind of perverse childhood he had to have had to not at least have some fond memories of parades I don't know, but the man can't stand to watch them.  Then we headed over to Nannie and Poppies new house for our annual Thanksgiving brunch.  Parker walked half way up the walkway before she realized, what a tic, I have not been to this house before and stopped dead in her tracks.  She wouldn't move till she saw Nanny in the doorway.  We hung out, watched football (my eyes promptly glazed over) and I marveled at my husband as he talked football with his family.  Later in the day I would do the same as he talked with my family about football.  Its just still bizarre to me that he likes/cares/knows anything about football.  He doesn't watch at home (I'm sure because he can't stand me groaning and flopping around on the floor, not unlike what he does during parades.)  After nap time at home, we headed over to my aunt's house in Huntington Beach, where my mom's side of the family was all gathered.  Sadly my Nana was taken to the emergency room earlier that day for some chest pain.  She's okay now, but she missed Thanksgiving, and we all missed her greatly.  My great aunt and uncle (Nana's sister and brother-in-law) also joined us for the first time.  They live in Montecito, and unfortunately their house was destroyed in the recent fires.  Though the circumstances were sad, it was fun to have them there, my mom's cousin also came and brought her little pug with her, to the delight of the kidlets.  With the addition of the pug, that brought the dog count up to four.  So with four dogs, two kids, and like twenty adults, it was a loud, raucous Thanksgiving, just how I like it.  

Friday and Saturday I had to work, but Sunday we FINALLY got out the Christmas decorations and started decorating the house.  I say FINALLY because Fin has been OUTRAGED that we had not done so earlier.  "THEY hab dere Srissmiss decorations up!  Why don't we?!  We MEED our Srissmiss decorations up!"  he would proclaim at the mall.  The first words out of his mouth upon waking were, "Are we going to put up our Srissmiss decorations today?!?"  So we decorated.  We started with the kids room, and they ended up with about 75% of all our decorations, since Fin kept saying, "Yeah, that wooks good.  But what else can we put in here?"  His appetite for decorating has been sated sufficiently, though he's still a little peeved that we don't have a tree yet.  I let him decorate his little tree in his room, and its so cute to look at it, there are twenty ornaments on it, all on the right hand side, since thats the side that was closest to him.  I put up some decorations downstairs too, and when I asked him what he thought, he took a step back, pondered a bit, then nodded sagely, "Yeah. That wooks good."  Watch out Martha.  There's a new kid in town.

PinkySwear Launch

Its official!  As some of you know, I've been working on a jewelry line with my good friend/old boss Alina.  As kindred souls, we've shared the same frustration at the lack of any great "mommy" jewelry.  We wanted to show off our babies names, but couldn't find anything that we really wanted to actually wear.  So we took our combined design and retail experience and came up with PinkySwear.    

And (drumroll please) as of yesterday our line is in the Santa Monica location of This Little Piggy Wears Cotton, and by this weekend will also be in Newport Beach, Montecito, and Santa Barbara locations.  We are so excited!!  Our website too will hopefully be up by this weekend, and I'll be sure to post when that is up. 

 In the meantime, here's some pictures of what we're doing.  All the pieces are made from 99.9 pure silver.  The silver we use is recycled silver that is combined with an organic binder, that we sculpt and fire (like clay).  When you fire the pieces, the binder burns away and you are left with the (almost) pure silver.  It makes the silver a really nice pale color, and all the pieces have this really great handmade, organic feel to them.  And since there is more silver content than sterling, it doesn't tarnish as easily.  We're also really excited that all the pieces are really flexible, in that we can add (or subtract) whatever you want from them.  So if you want a piece to show your love for your babies, your puppies, your man, whatever, we can do it.

Please feel free to show this to all your nearest and dearest (and whatever strangers you run into too!) :)  I'll be sure to post again as soon as the website is up!

Also, I owe a HUGE thank you to my brother-in-law, Chris, whose amazing pictures really made all this possible (aren't the pics bee-yoo-tiful??).  There's no way we could be where we are without those pics, so THANK YOU SO MUCH and I owe you some horchata!  :)  

A Reminder That They Are Always Listening

Parker was fussing.

"What's wrong Parker, are you hungry?"

"No.  I wanna 'ote."

"What?"

"I wanna vote!"

"You want to vote?!"

"Yes."

As we exit the polling place:

"That was fun!  I had fun!  Its weally cewl!" she exclaimed to everyone waiting in line.   

Next election season I'm going to send her door to door to register new voters.  Who could say no to that kind of enthusiasm?   

This is Halloween! This is Halloween!

We're big on Halloween in the Wright house.  We started talking about costumes months ago.  Parker immediately declared she wanted to be Tinkerbell ("A pink one!") and Fin initially wanted to be an astronaut, but I was hesitant to take that at face value so far away from the actual date.  But as time went on, he kept coming back to it, so an astronaut he was.  My dad asked if was learning about astronauts, or where he came up with that idea, and I have no idea.  Fin said he didn't learn about astronauts in school, and its not something we've talked about, we've been more all about spiders and dinos.  Its funny where they come up with this stuff.  It was probably something little like he saw a show where the kid dressed up as an astronaut.    We went homemade this year, and I think they turned out pretty awesome.  Fin's entire costume cost me $6 and Parkers was under $20, but more importantly, everything can be reused as regular clothes, and dress up.  Aunt Jessi made Parker's awesome tutu, and we painted her wings.  Fin's helmet was made out of a plastic pretzel jar, and he decorated it himself.  I made his "patches" out of foam stickers.  They looked so cute.  

We started our Halloween festivities with a pumpkin carving party at Gammie and Papa's house, where we made Fin a spider pumpkin and Parker a Mickey Mouse pumpkin.  Every time Parker would look at her pumpkin, she'd hug herself tight and say, "Oh, I wuuuvv it!  I wuuuvv it!"  Unfortunately those pumpkins only lasted till Tuesday, till they all burst into hairy mold and collapsed.  I didn't see  a lot of pumpkins out this year, so I'm thinking this was a common phenomena.    On Thursday we went with our friend Christy (or "Sristy" as Fin would say) to the Circle in Orange, where they were having a "Trick or Treat" The kids walked around a bit and got some candy, played some carnival games and danced with a "boneman" in the pseudo dance club they made for the kids out of two easy-ups.  They had a blast.  And finally on Halloween night my grandparents and parents came over for pizza and lasagna before we all headed out to trick or treat.  I was nervous because Parker has been going through an "anxious" phase, where she doesn't want strangers to talk to her, look at her, acknowledge her existence.  While my grandparents aren't strangers, Parker still immediately burst into tears when they arrived and demanded to go to bed.  But two hours later she was dragging Grandpa by the hand, commanding him, " 'Ome on! ome on!  I wanna go see Halloween!" as she walked over to our neighbors house.  The house is covered top to bottom with Halloween decorations, and Parker has designated it simply as "Halloween."  While trick or treating Fin was all business, running ahead to the next house as Parker chatted with the neighbors about how cute their dogs were, or explaining that she was Tinkerbell, or exclaiming "I'm having fun!"  Fin's helmet got too hot after a while, so he'd take it off in between houses, ring a door bell, then frantically yell, "Give me the helmet, give me the helmet!!"  They lasted about an hour, and half way through we had to hold the bags ("ugh! too heaby!" Parker'd say as she handed it off to Josh)  We'll have enough candy to last us till next Halloween and I'm already having to answer "When can we go trick or treating again Mama?"

A Weekend Without Papa Bear

Included the following:

• Mama burned her finger so badly she still has no feeling in it as she types this sentence
• Fin fulfilled his life long dream to drive a battery powered vehicle (a task he took quite seriously) as Parker fulfilled her life long dream of being in a one woman parade as his passenger.  She worked that beauty pageant smile for all it was worth.
• Mama spent her first night alone (all alone, not even a bean to be had) for what may be the first time in more than six years.
• Mama was awoken at one in the morning to hear the sounds of partying in New York on her answering machine.  Twice.
• Mama got miserably lost in HB, finally found the (wrong!) house, got pulled over when she answered the phone when the lost house finally called her, talked her way out of a ticket by admitting to being completely in the wrong, horribly lost, promising to never again answer her phone while driving, and by the fact that her last ticket was in high school ("well that was a really long time ago" says the cop.  "thank you??" I replied)
• Mama, Fin and Parker got to shake hands with a monkey after he politely took our tickets and placed it in his pumpkin-festooned vest pocket.  What?  They don't have trained monkey's at your pumpkin patches?  I weep for you.
• Daddy got stuck in Atlanta and almost arrested for voicing his...annoyance.
• We met our newest addition to our extended family, baby boy Shaenen, who was delightfully tiny and mellow and sleepy.  
• We celebrated Mama's Nana's birthday with a surprise birthday party at her house, where Parker promptly burst into tears whenever anyone looked at her. (see following post for partial explanation,  she was to nap en route)
• Fin and Parker caught a cold and awoke Monday morning, sniveling and miserable.

I'm Outnumbered

"Fin, can you please leave Sissy alone, I want her to take a rest while we drive."

"But I don't want her to west.  Sissy? Do you want to take a west?"

"No!"

"See Mama, Sissy doesn't want to take a west."

"Yes, I know, but she needs to rest!"

"Sissy?  Would you like to hold hands?"

 "Yeah!"

They both smile and hold hands smugly.

I sigh and turn to Sarah, "Even if it is to spite me, is that the cutest darn thing you've ever seen?"

A Stay At Home Mom Rant

Seriously?  You're using a leaf blower right now?  A LEAF BLOWER?!  Right now when the wind is blowing so hard my windows are rattling, trees are falling down, and my screen door just came off the track?  Is that necessary?  Is your only goal in life to interrupt my kids naps?  Isn't enough you spend all morning on your riding lawn mower to mow our 10ftx10ft lawns?  The same mower that completely strips my lawn of any grass, not just clips it?  The lawn mower that terrifies my children, and backfires and gives me an aneurism?  And while we're talking, can I ask why it takes not one, not two, but THREE days to complete the lawn maintenance around here?  And why can't you use hand clippers to trim my tiny bush right in front of our windows?  What's that?  Oh, yeah, I know.  IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY NOISE.  What was I thinking...

Random Thought for the Day

The Ice Cream Truck just drove by, and instead of playing a normal ice cream truck song like "Pop Goes the Weasel" or something it was playing a song I finally recognized as the theme song in the movie Love Story.  

'Cause nothing gets the tots more excited about eating neon colored popsicles in the shape of SpongeBob like classic seventies romantic dramas.  

Happy Birthday Fin

My boy!  My baby boy.  You turned four today!  You've been so desperately and patiently waiting for this one.  This is the first year you've really grasped the whole idea.  

"Mama is it my birsday yet?"  

"No babe, not yet."  

"How many more preschools till my birsday?"

"You go to preschool three more times and then its your birthday."

Almost immediately after you were born we decided you were exactly like your dad, and everyday the similarities between you two become more and more pronounced.  Superficially you share a few qualities, though I think most people wouldn't say you look exactly alike.  You share the same giant long-lashed green brown eyes that crack my heart in two (whether it be Daddy's or your eyes I happen to be staring into).  You also share a mean underbite that gives you a toothy goofy grin.  But the greatest similarities between you too are your personalities.  Your Nanny has taken to calling you "You Little Josh Thing You."  In your Nanny I've found the greatest sympathizer in my trials and tribulations with you.  Not that they are many, but it is nice to have some one understand what it is like to have a four year old in a complete panic because the exact tiny accessory from your tiny tiny toy just happens to be missing, and no that other thing will not work!  This amazing attention to detail is equally fascinating and frustrating for a freewheeling mama like yours truly, and I frustrate you as much as you do me.  Just like Dad, you love scary things, are thrilled that it is Halloween time.  Every time we go to Target you have to stand at the end of the aisle as I push all the buttons on all the "scawey" decorations.  You're too terrified to come close, but you have to see it, and always walk away reassuring yourself, "Yeah, those are just a widdle bit scawey."  You love the thrill of the roller coaster, and are ecstatic to finally be tall enough to ride them.  You only want to read the dinosaur books with the "scawey" dinosaurs (the ones that look realistic, no cartoons for you). 

You still possess what seems like the endless capacity to remember any tiny thing that has ever happened to you.  At your aunt's wedding you instantly recognized a family friend as someone who had visited us. Once.  When you were ONE.   I could write a whole post on the insane things you remember.  But my favorite part of everything that you remember is how you recall it to me.  " 'member yesterday Mom, she came to our house?"  Doesn't matter if it was three hours ago, last week, or two years ago, it always happened "yesterday."  This crazy memory of yours sometimes leads you to think that I don't always know what I'm talking about.  On a car ride to Gammie and Papa's house you spent the entire car trip pestering me with questions like, 

"Are you sure this is the way to Gammies.  I don't fink it is.  I don't fink this is the right way.  Are you sure we hab enough gas?"

As we pulled off the freeway and you finally recognized where we were, you laughed at yourself, "Oh!  You DID know the way!  I didn't fink you did."  and rolled your eyes at your doubt.  

You are the sweetest four year old.  We got you giant building blocks for your birthday, though we had talked all week about you getting a K'Nex Rollercoaster (which I couldn't find to save my life).  You were excited about the blocks but soon asked about the roller coaster.  

"I looked, but I couldn't find a roller coaster for you."

"Oh.  You could only find the one that was too much money?" (we'd seen an expensive model at Target the day before)

"Yeah.  But I'll keep looking okay buddy?"

"Okay Mama!"

Ten minutes later you came to find me as I walked out of the bathroom you threw your arms around me and said,

"Sanks for buying me those building blocks Mama." 

No one had told you to say that.

You are so kind and patient with your sister.  She adores you and thinks you're the absolute funniest thing in the world.  Whenever you sense that she is upset, you always immediately start making funny faces for her, or reassuring her.  Nine times out of ten, if you want something she has, or is she wants something you have, you take the time to find a toy for her and adorably talk it up so she'll be excited about the other toy.  "See Sissy, you can hab the green car and I can hab the blue one! Yeah!  Now we bos hab one!"  and invariably she agrees.  Sometimes when she's sleeping you feign surprise and say, "Oh!  I fink I heard Sissy.  I'll go check on her."  just so you can wake her up to play with you.  For your birthday she picked out a slinky for you.  She was excited so she gave it to you early.  On Friday I asked what you wanted to do since it was almost your birthday.  You thought and then said, "Ah!  I hab an idea Mama!  We can go to Target and get Sissy a slinky, den we can both hab one!  Yeah, that'd be a great idea!"  You always "hab an idea" and its always a "great idea!" whenever you want something.  You keep me on my toes trying to keep two steps ahead of your ideas.  

"No, we can't go to the train today, Mommy doesn't have enough money."  

"I hab an idea Mommy!  We can go to the bank, and you can get money and den we can go on the train.  Yeah that'd be a great idea!"  The best part of this whole "idea" game is your face after you've presented your idea, one of complete and utter shock that you have come up with this groundbreaking, solves all our problems idea.  Eyes wide, blinking, mouth slack jawed.  

You are teacher's pet.  They all adore you at school.  Even the secretary has a special spot in her heart for you .  Every time I see her, she sighs and says, you're son is just the cutest sweetest thing, I just love him so.  Our first ever parent-teacher conference lasted about five minutes, because all they could say was that you were wonderful, perfect, just a delight.  I asked, there's nothing else to say, nothing we should work on, or be worried about?  No, not at all.  He's just a doll.  I had to start shuffling papers so they wouldn't see me tear up I was so proud.  And what's not to love?  You have impeccable manners.  You are very smart.  You are kind to the other kids.  You are outgoing and funny and thoughtful.  Just as I struggled to describe your sister on her birthday, I struggle to convey just how amazing you are.  And as you get older and add layers upon layers to your personality and character I just find myself more and more in awe of the amazing little person you are becoming.  I'm so honored to be a part of it.

I love you booger-butt.  Happy Birthday!

My Kids Have a Drinking Problem

Fin walks into the kitchen.

"Ohhhhh!!  What happened to my BEER?!  I just wanted to drink it all the day!!"

Parker chimes in, 

"Awwww!  Wha happened beer?!!  I want it!!"

Next time I throw away the root beer bottle, its going straight to the dumpster.

Early Morning Games

Fin and Tammie came up with a new game this morning.  Parker had put a sock on her hand and was walking around talking about mittens, so of course Fin had to have a pair on too.  When he went to show Tammie she began to tug on them till she had pulled it off.  She would pull it off, run and put it under the table and run back to get the other one.  

When I tried to get a video of it this is what happened:

Parker saw the camera and immediately started posing.  I love her reaction when I tell her, "Not you Sissy!"  The kids and I must have watched this video twenty times already.  Cracks us up.

This is Fin and Tammie playing their game:

Look how gentle Tammie is.  She is the sweetest little thing...most of the time.

Faithfully

Happy Anniversary babe.  I love you.  Every crazy minute.

You must be this tall...

For a long time Fin's only goal in life was to ride a roller coaster.  Ask him what he wanted to do when he grew up, and the inevitable answer would be, "I wanna ride a roller toaster!"  One of our greatest tools in our "get Fin to eat" arsenals was the "don't you want to grow bigger so you can go on the roller coaster?"  Almost always works.  This Sunday all that eating finally paid off for our little man.  While he went on the Tower of Terror ride a while ago, he just so happened to be wearing his cowboy boots, which gave him an extra little boost in the height department.  If you are unfamiliar with the ride, its an "elevator" that takes you up, oh I don't know ten stories or so, where huge doors open up so you can see just how high you are (any maybe find your car in the parking lot) and then drops you all ten stories, all amidst a lot of lightening, loud music and screams.  A woman who was waiting with me for her family (Josh took him on the ride) exclaimed "HE went on the ride?!" when she saw Fin come out.  When asked if he liked it, he said, "Yeah, but it was just a tiny bit scawey."  On Sunday when my uncle asked him if he wanted to go on it again, he politely said, "No thank you."  So I kind of thought the whole roller coaster thing was postponed.  But on Sunday my family decided they wanted to go on Big Thunder Mountain, and when Fin found out it was a train, he was all in.  At about 41.5" he was all ready to go.  Thankfully there wasn't a long line.  I think if he had to stand there and watch the train come barreling by he would have chickened out.  We got into our train car, and I pushed that little lap bar as far as it would go and still allow me to breathe.  He didn't make a sound the entire ride, and I covered his ears in the caves (where seriously it was so loud it hurt my ears).  When we came around the last turn and slowed down a bit, he was quiet, then suddenly looked up at me and exclaimed "THAT WAS FUN!!  CAN WE DO THAT AGAIN?!  PWEASE CAN WE?!"  We went and had lunch, and he pestered us again and again till Josh finally took him on it again.  After that we all headed for Space Mountain.  Same height requirement, and again, no line to speak of, so Uncle Rick took Parker, and we all headed for space.  He sat with me again, and again I pushed that bar down, put my arm around him and held on tight.  As we plummeted and turned and whooshed and whizzed, my stomach sank.  I had forgotten how dark it was inside (we all agreed later that it was darker than it usually was, the track was completely invisible).  I just kept thinking, oh god, I've scarred him for life, he's going to be terrified, he'll never go on another ride again.  As we pulled into loading dock I looked down at him, ready to console him.  His eyes were huge and he was silent.  

"Whatcha think Boogs?"

my heart skipped a beat as he stayed perfectly still.  And then he beamed at me

"THAT WAS FUN!!!!!  YEAH!  These are some rides Mama!  They sure are!!  Can we do that again, can we can we??!!"

I looked back at my mom, and read in her face the same relief I felt.  "I'm so glad he liked it" She said softly as we walked out, "I was so worried once we got in there, it was so dark, I thought for sure he was going to be scared."

"I know.  I did too."  

Sometimes we don't give our babes enough credit do we?  

Conversations with the beans

Last weekend I had to work Fri, Sat and Sun. As soon as I got home on Sunday night, I went directly to the couch with the intention of not moving till bedtime. Josh had to leave as soon as I got home, but it was almost bed time for the kids, so I put some cartoons on and rested my feet. Fin sits down next to me, pats my head and says,

"How was work Mama?"

"It was a long day, Mama is really tired."

Fin nods his head sagely, "You should just west on da couch Mama."

Parker scowls at me, "Mama! You go bed!" and jabs her finger towards upstairs.

We have a cuckoo clock in the kitchen, but the "cuckoo" part of the clock is merely decorative. Fin was looking at it the other day and says,

"Mama we should get a coo-coo cwock that makes music, and da people just move around and dance and stuff."

"Yeah, that'd be cool. Like Gammie's?"

"Yeah. That'd be so tool." and then he starts singing "So tool! So tool!" in the same exact notes the bird in the clock would sing "Coo-coo! Coo-coo!"

Parker has never been a huge fan of clothes. If she could be naked 100% of the time, she'd be the happiest little person in the world. Recently when I do let her go naked as soon as she's "free" she'll strike a pose (arms wide, legs bent like a sumo wrestler) and half growl, half yell

"I'mmmmmmm nnnnnnnnnakkkeeeed!!!!"

It reminds me of the Saturday Night Live Molly Shannon sketch where she plays the fifty year old woman who is always saying "I'mmmm fifty!!"

This morning Parker dumped a full cup of juice on the carpet, so I took her cup away. She was obviously upset, and proceeded to have a tantrum, which landed her upstairs in her room in a time out. While I was cleaning up the mess, Fin looks at me and shakes his head, "Why is Parker so schwif-i-cult (difficult) Mama? Yeah? Why is she?"

Fin has never eaten the skin off an apple, even when I slice it he eats it like you would eat an orange slice. Yesterday Parker was eating a whole apple (uncut) and he decided he wanted one. As he's eating it he informs me "Dis part of the apple helps your gums Mama." pointing to the skin

"It does help your gums. Who told you that?" I was curious, since I know I didn't tell him that

"Nobody did. I just know dat."

On the way to school yesterday Fin says

"Maybe we don't have chapel today."

"Umm, I think you do, its Thursday."

"No! I don't think we do!" he says forcefully

"Okay, I guess we'll see. Don't you want to go to chapel?"

he sighs, "No. It just makes me so tired."

At the Spectrum last night Parker kept clasping her hands behind her back (like you would to stretch your arms) and running around saying,

"I'm a butter-fwy! I'm a butter-fwy!"

And when she wasn't doing that she was trying to convince Jessie that there were a) monkeys hiding in the "twees" ("siwwy monkeys. Funny!") or b) there were "scawey spiduh"s in every corner.

When its too hot to play outside...

Mom has to get creative.  So when I saw the plans for this newspaper hut, I was super excited.  Every kid loves a tent/fort/hut and we've made many a fort using the sheets and furniture.  But they always end up falling apart, or falling on top of them, and take up the entire room.  This seemed a little more permanent, and at the very least more contained.  It would also let them help me make it.  They helped me roll all the poles and tape them, and then they lined up all the triangles for me to staple together.  Its when I started stapling that I thought, mmm this is not as easy as I planned.  It was difficult to staple two poles together, let alone three, and then five (at the top).  I thought, this is impossible, something must be wrong.  I went back to the computer, and realized I had make the poles twice as thick, and half the length they were supposed to be.  Oops.  It came together anyways.  Once I get some more staples, I'm gonna try it again.

Fin had me put a sheet over it (and given the choice between a pink sheet and a tan one, he of course, chose the pink).  I added the boa for flourish.  

They had their morning snack of grapes, strawberries and yogurt covered raisins inside, and were adorably polite to each other.  "Here Sisssy, hab a straw-bewry, its yummy!"  "Dank you Pippin!"  "Here Pippin, a bewwy!"  "Sank you Sissy!"

Some more creativity:

Last week Parker decided to give herself a pedicure, and after getting my approval both kids went to town coloring all over themselves and each other.

Then Fin decided he would like to be a tiger, so I drew some whiskers and he and Parker ran around the house roaring.  Poor Tammie ran for her life.

Next up, I'm thinking macaroni noodles and yarn.  

Start making room in your jewelry boxes now!

The Most AMAZING Video You Will Ever See

Is this:

Yes, thats right.  Griffin "I only eat pb&j, vanilla yogurt, and chicken nuggets in the shape of a dinosaur" Daniel Wright just ate spinach.  SPINACH.  Which just goes to show that patience and persistence is key with my little man (and all preschoolers, I'm sure).  Never have I been so excited about some one else eating something.  

Take me to the fair

So I'm a little backed up in my posts, but I'm just going to continue the chrnological flow of this blog and hope to catch up sometime soon!  So a post all about Ms. Parker Leigh's fab doggy glamour party is coming, I promise.  But I just had to write about our trip to the Orange County Fair.

We almost didn't go, money being a little tight, what with birthday parties, car problems, you know, the usual stuff.  But when it came down to it, the kids were so excited about going, and I'd already broken their hearts once.  See, on Monday of last week, I thought, well I'll just take the kids during the day, and we'll look at the cows, buy some cotton candy, and we can declare the County Fair as DONE.  So we packed up, put our sunscreen on, sippy cups firmly in hand and headed down the 55.  Pulled into the parking lot.  Or rather, didn't pull in.  Since our way was blocked by a giant sign that read: NO PARKING.  FAIR CLOSED MONDAYS.  Oh.  Uhhh, guys we can't go to the fair today.  "We're gonna go seeee coooowwwwsss!!!" Parker sang from the back.  Uhhh, no Sissy, sorry no cows.  Cows are closed.  "But maybe we can go ober dere Mommy"  Fin said pointing to the other parking lot.  No buddy, the fair is closed.  "But wwwwhhhhhyyyyyy!!!"  Oh man, here we go.  So I thought fast.  I thought, where in the heck can I get my hands on some cows?  And fast?  And cheap?  And as we got back onto the freeway it dawned on me.  THE ZOO!  The glorious Santa Ana Zoo.  Which boasts $9 entry fee (and thats everyone combined) funny monkeys, and an entire barnyard with, yes, A COW.  So we went there instead, and the kids had a blast.  But throughout the week, everytime he woke up Fin would ask, "Are we going to the fair nooooowww?" and then Parker would chime in, jumping up and down "we're gonna go see coooowwwsss?!"

So we went on Thursday.  Auntie Mimi, Uncle Pez, and baby-girl Lily met us there.  We first hit up a small petting zoo, where Parker stuck her hand into every single mouth of every single animal there.  Even the giant camels.  That girl has no fear of animals whatsoever.  They would lunge out at her, trying to get the food she didn't have, and gum her hands and nibble at her fingers and she'd squeal with joy, saying "Awwww, cute!!!  Tickles!"  Fin spent about thirty seconds in there glancing at the animals, before asking over and over, "Can we pwease weabe now? Please Mommy?!"  So we made our way to the rides.  Fin spotted a tiny roller coaster that he wanted to ride, but after seeing it squeal and lurch and rock, he decided that perhaps the bumper cars were more his style.  Except he didn't want to go alone.  And they were kids sized bumper cars.  So in the picture you'll see Josh, knees up to his chin, one leg over the steering wheel, the only adult in a ride filled with six year olds, trying desperately not to knock into them.  It was hilarious, and Fin looked miserable the whole time, but as Auntie Mimi and I predicted he declared it "sooo much fun!"  We hit up a couple more rides, including one that again, was not made for adults, and I thought I'd break (and thats bad, since I weigh less than most adolescent boys) a sort of "offroading" truck ride that bounced along.  I could not stop laughing, and Kim, Josh and Pez were all cracking up yelling at me not to break the ride.  Then Fin and I rode a train, where Fin chastised me for pushing buttons and spinning the steering wheel, he took his position as driver very seriously.  "What does this button do Fin?"  never taking his eyes off the track, he swats at my hand, "No Mom.  Stop.  Just don't." 

We then headed over to some more animals, and Parker once again got a hands on experience.  As a couple was ooohhhing and ahhing over "How cute she is!" Parker stuck four of her fingers up a cows nose.  Yeah.  I lunged to grab her as the couple and everyone else cracked up.  She also had a baby chick who bit her finger, which of course she thought was "cuuuttee!"  After that we headed over to the "big kids" rides, where Uncle Pez bought a sausage and while he ordered and ate it, we all boogied to mariachi music, Baby-girl Lily especially.  Her little legs were kicking in perfect beat, and she had a giant smile on her face.  When the music stopped, then started again, her face just lit up in another giant smile.  She was loving her some mariachi music.  Any gal who will dance in public with us is okay by me, and Lils passed that test with flying colors.  She knows how to party.  So now that Pez had finished is giant sausage, with onions, peppers and god knows what else, we thought, well we should probably go on one of these rides.  How 'bout that one, the one that spins you around and then the whole thing swings around upside down so you're hanging in the air three stories, spinning and spinning and spinning, upside down, till all the blood rushes to your head and you feel like your eyeballs are going to explode.  Heck yeah!  So Pez and I did it.  There were two girls in our little section with us, all of twelve years old, and one turns to me and says, "You're not going to throw up right?"  Umm no promises.  No one threw up, but we all decided that the County Fair was officially DONE.  So we took our photo booth pics and loaded up the car and the kids were asleep before we got on the freeway.    

When I was a kid we would always go to the fair, but we never went on any rides.  I never felt like I was missing out.  For me the fair means ridiculous food, like giant turkey legs, fried twinkies, and popcorn.  It means looking at farm animals, booths selling jacuzzis, and dancing in public like a fool.  Mainly it meant being with my family and enjoying each other.  

The County Fair is officially DONE.

Till the LA County Fair, that is.

The ants go marching...

We have a major ant problem as of the last three days.  Its bad.  And since I've become the food crumb nazi, they are turning up in crazy places.  Like my dishwasher, in my cupcake sprinkles, in the closed dog food, even my closed box of cereal (that was a fun surprise early in the morning).  I discovered that my Method all purpose surface cleaner instantly kills them.  I mean instantly, there's no writhing around or anything.  Which made Josh and I wonder, why is there a need for something like Ant Killer Raid, which is perhaps the most foul, toxic smelling stuff there is.  My Method cleaner is "non-toxic, biodegradable, and naturally derived" and smells delicious and clean (I have cucumber).  So I didn't mind when Fin wanted to help me hunt ants today.  This is the conversation we had while he was spraying our recycling bin:

"We don't wike ants Mommy?"

"Well, we don't like ants in our house, they should be outside."

"Yeah.  Can ants bite you?"

"No, not these ones.  Red ants can bite you."

"But why don't we wike dem?  Are dey bad?"

"Well they're not bad, but they eat our food, and we need that food for us."

Parker walks up, "Whatcha doin' Pippin?"

"I'm killing the ants.  They hab to die." he squirts a few more and sing-songs in falsetto "die! die! die!"

Okay and before you think Fin is homicidal both kids are currently playing with the ants marveling at how fast they can run, and how they can climb up walls, letting one climb on their arms and laughing that they tickle.  

"Mom can we just keep these ones?  Can you get them food, they're just weally hungwy.  Dey are Mom.  Plllleeeaasse, can you??"

Party Girl

This picture really needs no explanation, but it does make it a little funnier when you know she went from table to table taking all of these leis off and putting every single one on.  Its not something we did to her.  She also kept trying to throw away the "message in a bottle" decorations they had on the table.  I can just hear her inner mononlogue, "seriously, who is just leaving these empty bottles laying around!  Guess  I'll have to pick up around here!"

To the Birthday Girl

You turned two yesterday!  Two!  I can't believe it.  Although its what all mother's say, I just can't believe you've gotten so big, so fast.  This last year has brought so many changes in you.  You have hair, for one!  Beautiful golden curls that you will loathe ten years from now and everyone coos over now.  95% of the time are a good girl, complying with most of my requests with an enthusiastic, "OK Mommy!"  The other 5% of the time, the times when you make up your mind about something (and usually its that you will not wear shoes/diapers/dresses that day) your stubbornness is, quite frankly, exhausting.  You spent a good hour at Gammie's house screaming your head off because we dared to say you could not go in the pool without a diaper.  No amount of ignoring, sternness, time outs, cajoling, or trickery was going to deter you.  When you finally gave in (albeit through compromise, you wore a diaper, but not the swim diaper I wanted) you were all smiles, hugging me and telling me "Thank you Mama, thank you"  Later that day you made me put a swim diaper over your regular diaper while you watched cartoons.  You thank me for everything.  When a song comes on the radio you like you say from the back seat "Thank you Mama!"  You'll take your dirty diaper off yourself, hand it to me and say "thank you Mama."  If Daddy brings you something most times you still say "thank you Mama."  Drives him nuts.  After "thank you mama" you next favorite phrase is "Okay Mama" or "Okay Daddy" even if you have no intention of actually doing what you are agreeing to.  Daddy asked you to stay in the kitchen with your drink today.  "Okay Daddy!" you said, oozing sincerity and enthusiasm as you walked right out of the kitchen.  You've started to mimic me.  When Fin wakes up from nap you coo at him "Awww, Didju wake up Pippin?  Diju have a goo nap?"  When you see dogs or cats you say in the exact right pitch "Awwww! Sooo cute!" over and over.   You love playing with Fin, but your equally happy making anything you can find two of "kiss" and swaddling and rocking your babies.  You pack enough personality for ten people into your tiny frame and charm the pants off of most everyone you meet.  Today at a birthday party when I suggested we go say hi to the birthday girl before we played, you said, "OK Mommy!" and ran over to a large group of women (whom none of us knew) walked into the middle of them and said, "Hi! Hi! Hi!"  At the party we went to last week, you pulled all the leis off the table and wore them all.  All thirty of them.  You will eat anything I give you.  Especially if it happens to be a small example of that particular food.  In example, we made brussels sprouts and one happened to be very small.  Daddy gave it to you and said, "Look Sissy its a baby one"  You immediately snatched it up and cuddled it and kept cooing "Awww its a baby one!" and ate three all together.  You jumped up and down in your seat when you saw my ceasar salad (out of which you will only eat the romaine lettuce).  Anything tiny is deemed "a baby one!" and you say it in the high pitch tone people use when talking to babies, and even make hand motions like you want to pinch it, its so cute.  This past month you want only to sleep in my bed.  This would bother me if you wanted me to be in bed too, but you don't care.  And we've given up since, even if we put you in your bed, without fail when I go up three hours later there you are, tucked in tight in the middle of our queen size bed.  We simply pick you up and put you in your bed, where you stay till about four in the morning and sleepily wander into our room, climb over me, bring the blanket over you and say "Hi mama, hi mama" before falling asleep again.  You've lost a little of your bravado on the playground.  You won't go on slides anymore.  You still scare me to death on the swings, throwing yourself as far forward as you can go in the bucket seat, flinging your arms back and flapping your hands, "I'm fwiiinnnggg!  I'm a butterfly!"  You've developed a keen imagination, usually having to do with something "scawrrey!"  In the car you'll gasp "Oh!  A wwwwiiion!"  "A lion?!" I'll say "Yeah!  Outside!" you'll whisper, terrified, eyes wide in mock horror.  You crack your brother up when you do that, and you know it.  You're smart, and you pay attention.  While I've been trying to teach you colors, you've been studying when I talk about letters with Fin.  You can point out and identify about half the alphabet, without hardly any instruction from me.  You can "count" though it usually sounds like this "one, tree, fibe, six, seben, eight, one, TWO! yeah!!"  You love puzzles and always amaze me at how good you are at them, putting pretty abstract shapes into the correct spots, and taking the time to get it in right.  You know all your shapes, even pentagon ("tent-ta-gon!"), you say triangle, "tri-ang-gil gil."   I could go on for days trying to tell you who you were at two.  It seems an impossible task.  But everyday you make me fall in love with you a little bit more.  Every time you yell out "MAMA!" when I walk back into the house and throw your arms around my neck my heart grows bigger.  And every time you hug me and say "yuv you mama yuv you" it makes my throat grow tight and eyes tear up a little bit.  You and your brother spoil me with your love, and I could not ask for anything more in my life.  I'm so glad for every moment we've had together and couldn't be prouder of my little girl.

Happy Birthday Baby.  Mama loves you.

On the Fourth of July

This year my parent's rented a cabin in Big Bear for the fourth of July weekend.  To say we were all excited to get away is an understatement.  I spent the entire week before hand on the phone with sisters and moms deciding who was bringing what, who was cooking what, and most importantly, who was bringing the beer and board games.  A couple days before we went I was telling Griffin about what we were going to do.  "Thursday, when Daddy gets home, we're all going to go up to the mountains and stay in a cabin with Gammie, and Papa, and Auntie Sarah, and Auntie Jessie and Uncle Chris!"  No response.  "It's going to be like camping, except we're staying in a house."  "We're camping at Gammie and Poppy's house?" he replied, mildly interested.  "Well, no we're staying somewhere else.  But Poppys bringing his canoe, and you can probably go fishing-"  "WE'RE GOING SISHING??!!  I HAF TO GET MY SPIDERMAN SISHING POLE!  WHEN ARE WE WEAVING?  ARE WE WEAVING AFTER THIS NAP?!  DID YOU GET MY SISHING POLE OUT OF THE SWOSET? (closet)" 

So he was a little excited after that. He even slept with his fishing pole up until we left.  We hit mild traffic on the way up, total travel time about three hours (not so bad for a holiday, I think).  The kids slept most of the way, but both were awake while we climbed up the mountain, and thats when things got interesting.  Ever since I was pregnant with the kids I now get car sick.  I get car sick when Josh drives to the grocery store.  I get car sick when he pulls into our parking spot.  So I came fully prepared and was utilizing my deep breaths, concentrating on the road and slowly drinking my water.  About half way up the mountain, when I started congratulating myself on not feeling even a little woozy is when Parker started crying.  Screaming.  Thinking it was the pressure on her ears we both frantically tried to calm her down, telling her to suck on her binky thinking that would help her ears.  And then the hot pink projectile vomit started.  Maybe slurpees weren't the best on the road treat.  So we cleaned her up and the car best we could and made it the rest of the way without incident.  The rest of the weekend was spent lounging by the lake, lounging in the cabin, and eating anything and everything under the sun.  We played lots of board games and discovered that Chris, while in general very mild mannered plays board games like a Nazi general, he has no mercy for anyone, even his adorable wife.  We also laughed hysterically as the later we played Scattergories, the more insane Mom's answers were.  "Oh an insect that starts with a 'B'?  I got earthworm, aren't we doing E?  We're not?!  Oh well, no one else got it, so can I get the point?"  Um no Mom.   On our last day there we met up with Josh's family (who also rented a cabin for the weekend) at the Big Bear Alpine Sled.  If you've never been there (and I hadn't) they have this gigantic toboggan run you "sled" down on a little, well, sled on wheels.  You have to go up the chair lift to get to the top, thats how long the run is.  Griffin just about died, he loved that thing so.  And I will say that we all loved that thing so.  The sled has a hand brake so you can go as slow or as fast as you want, and its just pure fun.  Fin went down with every single one of us at least once (Parker was denied because she wasn't two yet, but Nanny made it up to her with strawberry ice cream).  They also had a water slide, and when we were on the chair lift Fin said he wanted to go on it.  I thought, there's absolutely no way you would ever go down that.  So I told him, oh well, you have to have a bathing suit.  But he kept persisting, and when I said, well, actually your suit is in the car, he flipped.  He kept telling everyone, "Oh!  I fought (thought) I didn't have a swimming suit, but I did!  Yeah."  with his little hands raised in a mock, "aren't I just so silly!" expression.  And he did it!  Josh had to throw him down it (and here's the major distinction between moms and dads, the second he balked I would have been all, okay, we don't have to do it! and dads just go, oh you'll be fine and toss em down).  And when he hit the bottom he looked like a little doggy trying desperately to keep his head above the water.  He shot out so fast, none of knew he was coming.  But we were all so ecstatic that he did it, we were clapping and shouting like he'd won a medal.  Even Parker got into it, exclaiming over and over "Yeah Pippin!! You did it! You did it Pippin!"  It was all very sweet.  We all can't wait till next year.  

Oh, and since I promised a mention, thanks for all the pictures Jessie, Sarah and Kim!  You all got some really great ones!

Laundry Day

So we do a lot of laundry.  A lot.  With four people usually going through two outfits a day on average (what with play clothes, work clothes, cleaning clothes)  it all adds up.  I kept reading little blurbs that said to save energy, save the world, save the dolphins (okay I made that up) you should hang your laundry every once in a while and enjoy some free energy from the sun.  Made sense to me, and I was mulling over the idea and even mentioned it to the whole family while we were in Big Bear and decided, yeah, when I get back, I'll buy a little rack and dry the clothes at least once a week on there.  And then we got back from Big Bear.  With at least three loads of laundry.  Dirty dirty laundry.  It involved a lot of dirt, some sand and even some car sickness.  So I did a load of laundry.  Popped it in the dryer.  Went to take it out of the dryer.  And found my laundry as cold and damp as when I had thrown it in there.  No heat.  My hallway piled thigh high with laundry and my dryer has no heat.  Well thats annoying, but its happened before and my handy Pops fixed it in fifteen minutes.  So we'll wait for Papa.  We still had clean clothes.  So Papa made it over to the house on Saturday and we replaced the part we replaced before, and...no heat.  Papa declared it out of his realm of knowledge and time to head to the Home Depot for a new dryer.   But the problem with our dryer being broke is that we are too.  So a drying rack and some clothes pins it is till next payday or two.   Today was my first attempt at life without a dryer.  Now I know some of you reading this are thinking you had to do this all the time, you had no other option.  But for spoiled lil' me, hanging laundry is one of those quaint "roughing it" things you do when you're camping.  Like showering under a bag of water and peeing under a pine tree.  Not completely foreign to me, but definitely a change of pace.  Here's what I learned about au natural laundry today:  Unless I go back to Target for two more racks or figure out a way to hook up a line to my vinyl fencing, I need to seriously decrease the amount of clothing in each load.  I loaded up that little rack ("27' of hanging space!" the box proclaims) for all its worth and still was not able to hang half of my load of the kid's laundry (I shudder to think how long a load of towels is going to take me).  Also decided socks are the most annoying things in the world.  In the world.  Especially tiny ones balled up into damp little knots of cotton.  Impossible to detangle and ridiculously time consuming to hang.  Also, never try to hang laundry while both kids are awake and have nothing better to do than pester you with a million requests and try their hardest to step in dog poop, try to get bitten by a black widow or trip you as you reach for more laundry.  I'm seriously contemplating asking my across the way neighbor if I can hook up a line between my house and his on a pulley, so I can go Italian alleyway style.  That seems so much more romantic.  Wonder how the association would feel about that...  

It might be time to invest in a doggy door

Since officially adopting Tammie we have been reluctant to invest in a doggy door for a house that isn't ours.  This means that we have to leave the back door slightly ajar, because while she's pretty good at letting us know when she needs out, sometimes she just gives up and pees right next to the door instead.  Can't really blame her, we're probably pretty distracted most of the time, and she's not a scratch at the door, bark and whine kind of dog.  She's mostly a stare at you intently and leap at the door when you ask "potty?" kind of dog.  And in a house dominated by a preschooler and a toddler the silent stare can go under the radar.  Tonight though, we are questioning wether it just might be worth shelling out some money for a doggy door.  One that preferable only lets in and out Tammie and Tammie alone.  I just got home from work, and Josh said, well I've been trying to call you.  Oh?  Why?  Did you need something?  No, no, I was just calling to tell you while I was sitting at the computer (which is about three feet away from our back door) A SKUNK WALKED INTO THE KITCHEN.  

Now, let me tell you a little bit about my darling husband.  He's absolutely certain we will be eaten by mountain lions while walking to the Dairy Queen at twilight.  Once we saw a skunk across both a creek and a ravine, and he nervously started walking quicker, barking at me that we needed to get home, because LOOK ALL THE ANIMALS ARE COMING OUT.  When we went camping in Big Bear he spent the entire weekend sure that every snapping twig was a grizzly out stalking adorable toddlers.  The idea that a wild animal would just saunter into his kitchen less than three feet away from him is probably right up there in his greatest fear list with armed robbery and his computer crashing.  

What did you do? I asked.  I yelled "OH CRAP!"  and then he starts to do a headstand so I bolted to the living room, where I yelled at it.  And did he walk out?  Yeah I only went back in when I noticed Tammie came out from under the table, so I was yelling at her to stay away, so then I snuck back into the kitchen and he was gone.  

All the fun stuff happens when I'm at work.

To Josh

I just want to thank you for the dad you are to our kids.  Thank you for being the dad whose there for every doctor's visit, every first day, every last day.  Thank you for never having to be asked to be there.  Thank you for being the dad who still gets misty eyed when you watch them sleeping.  Thank you for being the dad who will always be on their side.  Thank you for being the dad who isn't afraid to be alone with them.  Thank you for being the dad who goes to work early, works at night while their sleeping, but still takes the time off when their sick, when they want you there, when it's important, and even when its not.  Thank you for being the dad who wants to show them everything, who wants to take them everywhere.  Thank you for being the dad who writes the email about the bully (even when fully aware that it may all be a fabrication).  Thank you for being the dad who coos about how cute your children are, who melts when they look deep into your eyes, who every once in a while cries when you have to discipline them.  Thank you for being the dad who rolls his eyes, but goes along with the mom who wants to feed them organic, shampoo them organic, clothe them organic.  Thank you for being the dad who promises great bodily harm to whoever hurts them.  Thank you for being the dad whose heart stops whenever they jump off the slide, roll down the hill, bike just a little too fast.  Thank you for being the dad who loved them heart and soul the second they came into this world.  Thank you for being the dad who allows me to be the mom that I am.  I love you more than I can say.

Love, 

Lauren

Our Week in Review

This past week was Fin's "summer" as he starts summer school on Monday, and I was mildly apprehensive that I was going to go crazy with the two of them home all day, all week.  But we fell into a pattern pretty early on (and it definitely helps that Fin is taking naps again!) and I found the days went quickly.  We did a lot of reading (this week its all about "Monster Hug" and "There's a Bird on Your Head" by one of our favs Mo Willems), had a "picnic" lunch everyday in their room, dressed up, rocked out, went for "nature" walks and more general silliness.  And it also helped that we had Thursday to look forward to.  Thursday Gammie and Papa came down and we went to the science museum to look at the insides of dinosaurs, throw balls down a funnel, and make giant marble mazes.  It was madness till all the school groups left, but once they did we were able to really look around and enjoy it.   Parker was alternately terrified and enthused about the dinosaurs, wanting to see everything, but not willing to do it on her own two feet (Mama or Papa had to hold her).  Fin loved every minute of it, though he's still not to keen on that smoke ring machine (the first time he went to the museum he absolutely refused to go near the "ghost").   What I really came away with from this week with the two beans is how much they do love each other, and how good they are together.  When I was pregnant with Parker all I heard was how much they would fight, how they would be jealous, blah blah blah.  But they are so good to each other.  Not that they don't fight, tease, and in general behave badly towards each other every once in a while.  But I have to say the majority of the time this week they played together more than they did on their own, without me needed to intercede for any reason (except for the occasional, "DO NOT FLIP OVER THE ARMCHAIR PLEASE!!!!!!").  My hope for them is that they remain close, especially into their adult lives because as my folks always said, "you're sister is always going to be your sister" and I cherish the relationships I have with my lil sisters, and always wished I had a big brother.    

Here's some moments from our week

Monday I washed Parker's face with a washcloth, and she was cracking Fin up by holding it in her mouth and spitting it out.  This led to Fin wanting his own washcloth, and they played merrily with each other for a good hour making each other laugh with their washcloth antics.

Tuesday we went to the park down the street and practiced rolling down hills.  

Wednesday we were rock stars and strummed our guitars along to songs:

Thursday was pirate day as we anxiously awaited Gammie and Papa to come and take us to the Science Museum ("Diiinnnooosauuurrrsss!!!")  While we waited Parker and Fin dueled all over the house ("I'm a pirate and Sissy is a..ah...a giant squid!") only pausing when they accidentally hit each other to apologize.  I'd hear "Hiii-ya! Hiii-ya! OW!"  "Sowry Pippin!"  "That's okay.  Hiiii-ya!":

And today, inspired by the dinosaurs we saw with Papa and Gammie, Fin was a "tie-ron-a-sauras rex!" and Parker was alternately either a dinosaur herself, a baby dinosaur, or a damsel in distress.  This clip shows her in all three roles: