Nate and Jon and Mary Grace and William!

William and Mary Grace with their cousins Jon and Nate, taking a bike-ride on a nice sunny afternoon!

Daddy, I have a question for you

I put William to bed tonight and he was a dream. Very gentle and cute, talking with his little boy voice, and extra snuggly. We read three short books, then he hopped off my lap and climbed into his bed. After kisses and tucking him in, I went across the hall to my bedroom.

A few minutes later, I heard William call me. I went back in and he says

"Daddy, I have a question for you".
"OK, William, go ahead".
"Will I have bad dreams tonight?".
"No, you won't have bad dreams, just try to think of happy things and when you fall asleep you'll dream about those things. You could think about going to the amusement park, or playing with your cousins".
"OK, I'll think about playing with my cousins".

So Nate and Jon, he REALLY loved you guys being here and playing with him. Anne and I had a nice time with you too. :)

William's made-up foods

Lately, William has been making up new foods and renaming existing foods. We hope this is a trend he continues, because we find it so cute!

Mud-crushers - Miniature Snickers bars
Spider Balls - A new type of cereal he made up which has no sugar in it.
Rainbow Dogs - A type of candy.

(Hmmm, I wonder if William knows that they all have 12 letters? Is this some sort of clue?)

A rare good picture of mommy and daddy

We don't come up with good pictures of ourselves very often, but we both liked this one, so up it goes! (at least until Anne asks me to take it down :) **

**picture was changed by Anne.

It's been nice being your neighbor Mike and Doris

With great sadness, we bid farewell and best wishes to Mike and Doris our neighbors for 7 years, and mine for 14 years, the kids for their whole lives! We'll never forget Mary Grace and William yelling over the fence "Hi Mike!" and "Hi Doris!" EVERY TIME Mike or Doris were in their yard. We'll always be reminded of our ex-neighbors by all the great toys they've given the kids over the years and the beautiful quilt that Doris made for each of the kids when they were born.

My favorite story is when I met Mike the first time he handed me a key to his house and a key to his truck. "If you need anything from the house, just let yourself in and take it; if you need the truck, don't ask me, just take it." It doesn't get much better than that. Mike taught me about building retaining walls, hanging drywall, using leverage to your advantage, trimming trees, and most importantly, pacing yourself and singing while you work.

We threw a little neighborhood surprise party for Mike and Doris a few weeks back and here are some of the highlight photos.


Mike and Doris



The gang



The girls waiting for cake



The boy being a boy

I hope we can keep in touch and see each other again because we will all miss you!

A funny thing happened at Kidtown tonight

As typical on Wednesday evenings, Rick teaches a class at Midtown Athletic Club. I drop the kids off at KidTown, their child care. The kids usually have a great time, and aside from a little over-indulgence with TV viewing.

Tonight when I went to pick up the kids at 7:30, I was very surprised to hear that William fell asleep and was still sleeping. So I walk over to the TV area and there's my boy, sound asleep with a loaner blanket with 5 kids all around him watching TV (including Mary Grace).

That boy was OUT COLD. I picked him up and took him to the car and he barely stirred. Only when I mentioned stopping at Wendys did he snap out of it!

No, William, 5:00am is not morning-time!

William had a rare bad night last night. Usually he's asleep at 8:30pm and we don't hear a peep from him until the next morning at 7:30ish. So it was very alarming to hear him screaming "Mommy!!!!!!!" with some urgency at 4:30am. Anne went and tended to his needs (he though he saw a bug in his book basket) and came back to bed. Then again at 4:45 with the bug thing, this time in his laundry basket. Dozing off around 5:00am and the screaming resumes! So I got him and brought him into our bed.

Unfortunately, the sun started coming up which in William's mind means it's time to get up. So he laid there restlessly for about 15 minutes before I finally got up with him. Let me remind you that there's not a lot to do at 5:15am. He played some games, drank some milk, then started distracting me (I was trying to do some work remotely)

So I got dressed and we took a trip to Wegmans to get some groceries, then came back and unloaded, then ate a donut. OK... 6:15am. :(

So we went back to the games and some TV and some tinkertoys. That stretched things out until I was finally able to go to work.

Unfortunately for William, today is an action packed Seabreeze with friends day. Anne and I were taking bets on when exactly he would conk out. I predicted before lunch, she said just after. So at about 1:30pm, he started getting really whiney and impatient, followed by a need to "rest" in the stroller, immediately followed my sleep.

Racquetball or Whack-a-mole?

William has always had a hard time saying "whack-a-mole" and I thought it sounded like he was saying racquetball. So whenever he said that word, I would reply with the other word. This has gone on for quite some time now, and now that I'm actually playing racquetball again, it's gone into high-gear.

I overheard Mary Grace say today "Mommy, I love you just as much as you love me." They're both starting to say some really cute things lately. We can tell that William is processing a lot more, then coming up with new things to say. It's so interesting to hear the things that the kids come up with.

First amusement park trip of the year!

We got another season pass at Seabreeze this year and took our inaugural trip there last week. This year is extra special because the kids are tall enough for two new rides; the teacups and a really high airplane ride. We had a great time although we ran out of cash at the end and had to bypass all the games in favor of ice cream!

Daddy and the kids on the teacups.


Mommy and the kids posing pretty

Overnight Trip to Buffalo

This weekend we decided to take a trip to Buffalo and spend the night at a hotel with the kids. It was their first time at a hotel so Anne and I were in full observational mode. They seemed to both do very well with the concept of a bunch of strangers all sleeping in different rooms of the same building.

We checked in and immediately decided sleeping arrangements; Mary Grace wanted daddy and William wanted Mommy. So far so good. Next, we decided to take a dip in the pool. When we got there, we were surprised at how big and nice it was! The shallow end was 3' deep, so the kids required a parent each. They had such a good time in that pool! I don't think either of them stopped smiling ear-to-ear the whole time we were there!

We left the pool to have dinner with my brother's family (yum, thanks guys!), then decided to all go back to the hotel to swim some more! Again, very excited and happy kids, especially since we brought back some pool toys with us.

William and Mary Grace generally are in bed by 8:30, so it was quite a shock that they were still going strong in the pool at 9:30pm! We decided not to push our luck and risk a tantrum and left the pool for our room. William climbed right into bed, he was exhausted. He was asleep by 10. Mary Grace, on the other hand would-not-go-to-sleep. She was up past 11, whining and complaining about this or that, but finally the power of sleep overcame her reluctance.

The next morning, we got dressed and had breakfast at the hotel, then proceeded to our other destinations.

All-in-all, the kids took the whole "not sleeping in their own beds" thing in stride and had an outstanding time in Buffalo. I kept thinking about how much fun it would be to stay at a hotel with a pool in the dead of winter. So hopefully we'll be doing that.

Eating habits

I was thinking about how those two kids eat and wanted to jot down some notes for posterity.

Mary Grace refuses any and all vegetables, except for corn (on the cob and off) and she will open up sugar snap peas and eat the peas inside. She used to eat "ronis" with sauce but now will only eat them with butter. She does eat ravioli with sauce though.

She loves french fries and potato chips but won't eat any other potato (fried/mashed)

William will at least try new things and enjoys broccoli, peas. He tried mashed potatoes the other night and seemed not to hate it too much. I think he had a consistency issue with them. Tonight he tried baked beans. Consistency problem again.

Their agreed favorite food? Mommy's special recipe mac&cheese. Also hot dogs, ham/turkey roll-ups (especially with toothpicks), and believe it or not, they both LOVE Garden Burgers.

William learns to pedal his bike!

William has been only slightly interested in riding his tricycle so when we go for walks, he usually opts for a wagon ride instead. But yesterday, he decided to ride his bike to the playground. I walked with Mary Grace and Mommy walked with William. Since he hasn't been practicing, I was surprised to see William doing so good pedaling! (click the image below for a video)

From 2009-05-30

We played at the playground for about an hour and on the way back, we stopped to chat with some friends. I could tell the kids were getting tired as we had gone swimming at Midtown earlier, gone to the library and just ran for almost an hour at the playground. Here's proof that William was one tired puppy! (click the image below for a video)

From 2009-05-30

Flip-flopper and chatter-box

Lately William has taken on a family trait. Here's the scenario. William, do you want a pancake for breakfast? "No, I don't want a pankpank". Then once the pancakes are all prepared and served to his sister, he says, "I want a pankpank too!".

This is IDENTICAL (except for the pankpank part) to the what my brother Chris did when we were growing up and which I'm certain drove my mom nuts!

Anyway, he also flips back and forth. William, want some fruit? "Yeah, I want an apple. No, I want strawberries. I want to have some grapes. Oh, I want to have an apple". All in one breath. So many choices, so little time.

The kids spent the evening at Didi's last night, while Anne and I went to a fabulous wedding (congrats, Rich and Mel!). We picked them up around 10:15 and William was conked out but had been crying that he wanted his mommy just before sleepytime. Mary Grace on the other hand was wide awake and having a snack when we arrived. We listened to her chattering away most of the way home, but she also succumbed to the sandman.

Two sleepers when we got home made bedtime a treat for mommy and daddy for a change!

Pool fun

From 20090521

Wiping off my kiss! Hmmph!

Today, mommy was taking William and Mary Grace to Lollypop farms for a little afternoon fun. I was home from work at lunchtime and helping get everyone into the car.

After buckling William in, I asked him for a kiss and he gave me the forehead. I said I wanted a kiss on the lips, so he leans forward and kisses me, then promptly rubs the back of his hand over his lips, wiping away my kiss!

I got Annes attention and tried for a repeat performance and he did the same thing. I figured the third time is a charm, but sure enough, he kisses me and wipes his lips a third time!

Little stinker!

I had one of those moments with Mary Grace this morning. She was SO HAPPY about nothing really; she was just glowing and smiling from ear to ear while eating her breakfast before I took her to school. I just looked at her and thought I will remember this moment and that smile for the rest of my life!

Sassy boy!

First, William was playing on the new mini trampoline and was not following the rules that Mommy was laying down. As mommy was explaining the rules, William turned to her and said "Leave me alone, go in the kitchen, whatever!".

Later, William was stalling at bedtime by hanging out in Mary Grace's room. Mommy was calling him to come into his own room, then resorted to the dreaded "count-to-3". William's response? "Be quiet; I'm trying to pick out a book!".

While both of these situations were not exactly positive, all Anne and I could do was to laugh. We expect more of the same...

... as soon as his head hit the pillow

Little boys seem to have an on/off switch.

William had a very active day of playing both inside and outside. Towards the evening, there was a lot of crying going on, telling Anne and I that he was pretty tired. So when bedtime came around, he was the one telling us he wanted to go to sleep!

So we read a book, then be climbed into bed all snuggly with his two favorite blankets. And he lays down his head on his favorite pillow. I offered to sing him a song and I swear, before I got in the 5th note he was asleep.

Mary Grace on the other hand is laying in bed singing right now...

Peeling crayons and Q-cumbers

Anne and I were reminiscing about Mary Grace and crayons when she was 2-3. Every time we pulled them out for her to color with, she would sit there and peel the paper off the crayons! She preferred that over coloring with them. So we ended up with an entire bucket of crayons with no paper.

Oh, and last night, William came running into the kitchen to inform us that cucumber starts with a "Q". I guess that's logical for a 3 year old, so we just went with it.

Q-cumber it is, William!

Who's the mommy around here?

Lately, Mary Grace has taken it upon herself to try to play the parent role. She helps him out all the time, but she has been occasionally disciplining William. When I hear this happen, I remind Mary Grace that she is not William's mother and should be going to Anne or I when William does something naughty.

Today I was working on some laundry upstairs while William and Mary Grace were watching some TV downstairs. When I returned downstairs, William suddenly had no diaper on. I asked where the diaper went and Mary Grace responded, "I put it in the garbage". Huh? "Yeah, William pooped in it, so I changed his diaper" she adds.

To be fair, earlier in the week, Anne noticed that Mary Grace hadn't done a good job of wiping after going #2 on the potty and mentioned it to Mary Grace. Her response was that it was William who didn't do a good job of cleaning her up! We had to remind both of them that it wasn't the responsibility of the other to wipe.

Here's a recent photo of Mary Grace and William enjoying a cool morning on the back deck.

Ma'daddy!

William, having been calling Anne "mommy" all day long takes some time to get used to saying "daddy" when Daddy gets home from work. So I'm known as "ma'daddy".

For example, "Look at this, ma'daddy!" or "Come over here ma'daddy" or "Can you help me with this ma'daddy?"

This usually goes on for an hour or so, then he adapts. But he never says "da'mommy". Hmmmph!

Random items.

Some funny things lately...

William responds to calling his name from another room in a very unique way, one that Anne and I have no idea where he got it from. Example

Anne: William?
William: What is it?
Anne: How you doing?
William: Good.

Neither Anne nor I use the phrase "What is it?" when responding to someone calling our name.

Yesterday, Mary Grace was sitting at the table coloring while I was helping Anne make some chocolate pudding (from scratch; you gotta try it!) While I was stirring the pudding, William came running in the kitchen saying he made a poop in his diaper and wanted it changed. So I'm telling William he'll have to wait and we go back and forth a few times on the poop thing. Meanwhile, I'm done stirring the pudding, so I hand the spoon to Mary Grace and ask her if she wants to taste it.

Now, Mary Grace had been focusing on her coloring and only heard the word "poop" being thrown around. She looks at the chocolate pudding covered spoon and gets completely grossed out because she thought it had poop on it! "Ewwwwww, I don't want any of that!"

My little boy

Tonight, when getting ready for bed, we were talking about William wearing his undershirt to bed. We decided to take off the undershirt and put on his pajama top instead. William starts talking about undershirts and how they scare him because they wake him up at night. When he started saying the word understorm, we realized that he has confusing the words undershirt and thunderstorm. Funny.

After the jammies were on and all the goodnights were done, we were sitting in his glider reading. He snuggled right in and pushed back to a recline position. I sensed exhaustion, so capitalizing on the moment, I started humming a lullaby. Sure enough, he was asleep in short order. I know that the days on the kids falling asleep while we hold them are probably coming to an end, and this was such a good opportunity that I had to take advantage for as long as possible. So I held him tightly and kept humming songs while glided away.

Good night, sleep tight little boy.

William turns 3!

William had a great day today on his third birthday. William responded to everything saying "Happy Birthday" to him by saying "Happy Birthday" back. He was treating it like "Merry Christmas"... :)

It started with a beautiful day weather-wise; sunny and 70s. Because it was so warm outside, we decided to let him open one gift at lunchtime. He got a nice water table with a little pump in it so that it works like a sink. That boy LOVES playing with water, so it was a perfect gift. He and Mary Grace played with it on the deck all afternoon.

We had DiDi, John and Mary Jo over for pizza and cake and ice cream. We had an appetizer on the deck in the sun while the kids played with the water table some more. We went back inside and had dinner. At one point the adults were all talking and William was trying to say something but nobody heard him, so he yells "I....WANT....MY....CAKE!" We all stopped what we were doing and went for the cake, afterall, it is his birthday!

He got some great presents, which Mary Grace was most than happy to help him open.

At the end of the day, Anne asked what his favorite parts were and he said with a big smile on his face, his cake (a bug-themed cake) and his water table!

He had a really good day; a perfect birthday for a 3 year old.

William and his godmother	William and Mommy	William and his sister

"Last Day" and William's birthday tomorrow!

I was just IM'ing with Anne and I used a phrase that Mary Grace has been using for some time and I wanted to document it, so here goes.

At some point, Mary Grace started using the term "last day" as a replacement for yesterday. We both found this very cute, so we've adopted it into our vocabulary. Everytime MG says it, Anne and I share one of those "that's so cute" glances.

William turns three tomorrow! He's started on his potty training and even goes all by himself now. He's doing great and we're really proud of him. He's also started saying his "L" sounds when we work with him. Previously he used the "W" sound. For example, Mary Grace's lovie was "wovey". Last night I was explaining it to him and click, he got it! I was saying it over and over. Today he's reverted so I guess we'll have to keep working on in.

He's also a fast talker (like Daddy) who doesn't have time to sound out all the consonants when he talks. For example "i-a-do-that" rather than "I want to do that" and "i-a-milkey" for "I want some milkey". Also "maa-gwace, you wanna pway w'me?". The later is one of my favorite lines from William to Mary Grace.

Heartbreaker? William Dangerously?

While watching some TV, Mary Grace heard the word "heartbreaker". Not knowing what it meant she asked Anne "Is a heartbreaker a tool, Mommy?" Containing her laughter, Anne explained what the term meant.

William has taken a turn to the dangerous side. He climbed on top of his toy box and then was standing on the window sill. Seeing this, Anne told him to get down. He asked "why do I have to get down?", to which Anne responded "because it's dangerous!". William came back with "I like dangerous things!"

A slight misunderstanding

Tonight, Mary Grace announced to Anne that when she is 6 she can wear the clothes that Frank gave her. Anne replied, "The clothes that Frank gave you? Frank who? Frankie didn't give you any clothes." Mary Grace replied,"No, not Frankie, Frank who drives the CVS truck!" Anne said, "Do you mean the UPS truck?"

After a little analysis, Anne figured out the misunderstanding. We buy a lot of stuff online, so the UPS guy comes to our house probably once a week. He's very friendly and knows the kids now and the kids know him. His name is Frank. So Mary Grace thought that when Frank brings boxes to the door and the box has clothes for her, that it's a gift for her... from Frank!

I think Anne straightened her out.

Fun at the pool in Arizona!

Here's a few photos and a video of how much the kids enjoyed Uncle Jack's pool in Arizona. Seeing the perma-smiles on their faces while in the pool really made the trip worthwhile!

This is William splashing his cousin, Nate.


Here's William lounging poolside.


And finally, here's Nate and Mary Grace.


And a fun-in-the-pool video



Unfortunately, cousin Johnny was sick while we were there. We know he'll have a better time with the kids at the beach this summer!

Oh yeah... that's right.

During our vacation, William started saying a new phrase: "Oh yeah, that's right". We're not talking saying it once or twice, but over and over again. Asking questions that he knew the answer to, just so that he could say again "Oh yeah, that's right". "Daddy, Where's Mommy?". "Upstairs, William". "Oh yeah, that's right". It was very cute and everyone got a big kick out of it.

Today, Mary Grace and I watched Beauty and the Beast (thanks Uncle James...) and we both really enjoyed it. At the end, Mary Grace said she wants to see "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Mermaid", "Aladdin" and "Cinderella"; essentially, all the Disney Princess movies. I got to thinking and wondering if she's deprived since she's 4 and hasn't seen them?

Brothers and Sisters

William, while being a very mischievous little kid is also quite a lover. He enjoys hugging and kissing mommy and daddy and even his sister. He REALLY enjoys kissing his sister... because she dislikes it! Yesterday, after a big hug and kiss from William, Mary Grace got mad and standing there with her tiny index finger pointing at him, she said "William, I don't ever want you to hug or kiss me again!"

His response? More kissing, of course.



This picture was taken at the Phoenix Zoo in front of the Macaw exhibit. Look how you two are holding hands...

Fun with a led light and a slow shutter

Mary Grace swinging the led light while Daddy takes a picture with a 5 second shutter speed.

 

You're in our thoughts and prayers, Sarah

Wishing and praying for a successful surgery and a quick recovery for my niece Sarah, who is having corrective surgery for scoliosis today.

And also wishing for strength and peace for her parents as they support her through the surgery and recovery.

Time for a new Christmas list!

Today, Mary Grace announced that she wanted to write her Christmas list. Mommy's reaction was that Christmas is a long time away, but Daddy remembered that we had almost no idea what to get her, since what she wanted changed on a daily basis! So we encouraged her to start her list... on Google Docs!

Doing her dooty as promised

Mary Grace has been stalling on her potty training for at least 6 months, as the regular readers no doubt know.

Anne set up a deal that Mary Grace would not be provided any more pull-up diapers once she turned 4. In Anne's own words "I will NOT be changing the stinky diaper of a 4 year old". Mary Grace agreed to these terms, and we all waited for that fateful day.

The day after her birthday, she kept her word and went on the potty all by herself. We're so proud of her and how quickly and easily and independently she's doing her dooty now!


Here's Mary Grace and her cousin Emily at Mary Grace's birthday party

Potato Chips

Since this was Superbowl Sunday, we had stocked up the house with all kinds of junk food, including potato chips. Mary Grace LOVES potato chips, and we've tried to get her to eat mashed potatoes using that as leverage, but it didn't work.

Tonight I asked Mary Grace to guess what the ingredients are in potato chips. Her guess, while logical, was a little off. She said: Potatoes, Salt and Chips.

Anne's valiant attempt to get Mary Grace to eat a vegetable

Relayed from a story Anne told me.

Anne was trying to get Mary Grace to try some glazed sweet potatoes that Anne had made for dinner. Mary Grace wasn't interested. So Anne resorted to bribery. "If you eat one bite, you can have anything you want".

Mary Grace replies "Anything? Can you name some things that I could have?"
Anne replies, "Well, a new doll, or a toy from the Strong Museum gift shop, or ..."
"OK! What do I have to do?" asks Mary Grace.
"Just eat some sweet potato".
Here's the kicker: Mary Grace replies "Well, that won't be happening."

William impersonating Mr. Nut Cracker

When we took the Christmas decorations out this year, William was all about the Nut Cracker. He just loved to hold it and make the mouth move. It became his new favorite toy. Then one day, he gave it a voice!



Other things to note. Mary Grace making her breakfast, and William repeatedly slamming the Nut Crackow into the washing machine at the end. He's a boy.

Mary Grace and William dancing.

The kids spontaneously started dancing last week. Luckily we were there to catch it on video!

Daddy the non-blogger.

Santa brings Daddy a new digital camera for Christmas and daddy hasn't blogged any photos since. Naughty daddy. Hope this makes up for the recent lack of photos!

Here are a few from Build-A-Bear. William and Mary Grace each got a Build-A-Bear gift certificate from the Tobins for Christmas. Of course Mary Grace made hers a Cinderella bear, and William's is a Spiderman (but without the mask thank-you-very-much, because the mask makes him scary).




Next, we have William sitting pretty on the pillow with his blankey watching TV. Mommy liked how he had his head propped on his folded hands.


A little wrestling action in the kitchen. It's so fun to see them playing together!



William playing firetruck with his fireman hat on. Great toy, thank you Sarah, Aunt Lori and Uncle Chris!



Sledding at Cobbs Hill Park with Mickey; who "is not at all like Micky Mouse, she's just a normal lady". (quote from Mary Grace this past summer)





Mary Grace's first baby shower. She was a perfectly behaved little angel and she was a great helper, not only bringing presents to her cousin Lindsay, but opening them too! :)

Hoe-dozer

How William says "bulldozer". Maybe he's combining back HOE and Bull DOZER? He woke up this morning and told me a long story about colors and hoedozers and robots. He was just rambling in his half-intelligible speak. It was very cute. I wish I had recorded it.

Mary Grace is off the wagon.

My excitement about Mary Grace's progress was premature. We're back to pullups.

Also, William lately has been running up to mommy and daddy saying "I made a poopy". There's hardly ever actually a poopy, so I had a little talk with him explaining the difference between poopy and peepee... He seemed to get it, but it didn't take.

Our best Christmas present!

Today, daddy was out running errands and got a phone call from mommy asking me to pick up some candy necklaces for a reward for Mary Grace. When I got home I found out what the reward was for. Our little girl (finally) made a poopy on the potty! She's been making pee-pee on the potty like a pro but refused up until today to do #2.

When I asked how it happened, she said she was making pee-pee and some poopy came out too (been there done that). After all the scheming and badgering and rewards that we tried over the last year, she ultimately just did it all by herself. A good lesson and our best Christmas present too!

Mary Grace sings Winter Snow Is Cold

Her performance was a big hit at Christmas Eve...

"Winter Snow Is Cold" debut tonight

Those lucky enough to be in Mary Grace's presence tonight will get to hear her sing the song she wrote and produced "Winter Snow Is Cold". She's been talking about singing it all month and tonight is the big night!

We've asked her to sing it for us and she's only given us a few lines, then she stops and says "that's all, you have to wait until Christmas".

So everyone be sure to ask Mary Grace about it tonight and have your video cameras ready to go!

Relief about Mary Grace's dreams

Our kids sleep really well. We've seriously been blessed; I know that after hearing about some of our friends experiences with their kids. They ordinarilly sleep 11-12 hours continuous over night with the rare exception of one of them waking during the night (which happened a few nights ago when William rolled out of bed onto the floor, poor thing)

On a rare occasion, one of them will wake up crying calling for us. Mommy usually springs into action while I mumble some supporting words or just go right back to sleep. We usually think it's a bad dream although we never know for sure.

So I was leaving this morning and noticed that Mary Grace's covers had fallen off and were on the floor and she was curled up in a little ball. I put her covers back on her and she half woke up, looked at me and said "Daddy, there's rain in a rainbow".

It's so relieving that Mary Grace is dreaming about rainbows! Hopefully, there are unicorns and puppies and flowers in there too.

Pank-pank

William's word for pancake. Which he has been asking for at every meal lately. :)

Advent Calendar

Mary Grace got an Advent chain made of paper, where you take one ring off each day, and each ring has a little task. Some of them have been "take a walk with your parents", "build a snowman", etc. She's been getting more and more excited with each one, until she read today's task. It said "Eat some vegetables".

So said "that's not very fun." Mommy said, "Maybe tomorrow's will be more fun". And Mary Grace replied, "Yeah, maybe it will say something like "go to the farm and ride on a horse!".

Halloween pictures a month late.

I've been blogging from elsewhere lately and haven't had access to my photos. I was just browsing the blog and realized I didn't do a halloween post. So here are some of the more memorable photos:

	William and Mary Grace posing in their costumes just before we left for a trick or treating adventure! William is Curious George and Mary Grace is Princess Arial
	The Princesses; Catherine is Cinderella
	First trick or treat stop at Damien and Annette's house.
	And a photo of all the little trick or treaters.
	Curious George enjoying the fruits of his labor!

The Princess and the Silly Prince

Mary Grace took her stuffed fabric letters out as she does periodically and we spelled "princess" together. I told her how to spell it and she picked each letter and laid it down on the floor. Yes, we were short one "s". Once she was all done and sitting there as cute as could be, I had to snap a picture! I love the way she put some letters down backwards!

Conversely, William decided to take off his pajamas and run around the house in his diaper and snow boots. The funnier thing about this photo was that he was saying "I want to go outside", as if he expected he could go play in the snow so long as he had his snow boots on. :)

And finally a loving picture of mommy, Mary Grace and William.

Pakasil:

The word that William says for Popsicle.

Our wonderful kids

Mary Grace got in trouble tonight for turning the TV back on after it was turned off because it was bedtime. William got in trouble like 50 times, so I'm not even going to start going through them. But at bedtime, I offered to sing William two christmas songs in place of the normal Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle. HE LOVED IT. He laid there with a big smile on his face, staring off into the distance. I swear he had visions of sugar plums dancing through his head.

So I sang the songs to Mary Grace too. She started to get really excited for Christmas and promised that she was going to make up a new song and sing it for us on Christmas day. The title: "Christmas Snow Is Cold". As I walked past her room to go downstairs to watch TV, I heard her experimenting with the lyrics. Our little performer.

Mary Grace and William's first movie!

This past Saturday, Mommy was working so I had the idea to take the kids to the theater to see Madagascar 2. The kids loved the first one for a long time until someone played with the DVD and scratched it up.

I looked up the information online and there was a 10:20am matinee showing, score. Also called Eric (neighbor from down the street) and we decided to meet there with his two girls, Clementine and Adelade.

So, we get there and buy the tickets and gave them to the kids and said DON'T LOSE THESE! So we get to the ticket-taker and the kids gave them to her and it turns out that I lost my ticket! Found it on the floor and moved to the next hurdle.

As you might expect, the theater was nearly empty. We found a good spot and settled in. The kids were instantly hyponitized by the big screen as they watched the previews. When the lights dimmed for the feature presentation, the both got a litle anxious, but when they saw the clouds clip for Dreamworks Studios, the anxiety switched to excitement.

An hour and a half later, the movie was done. The kids did surprisingly well. William got a little fidgety towards the end. They chowed down two candy necklaces, sippy cups with apple juice, a snack-trap full of goldfish crackers and William had a LOT of popcorn.

It was a good experience, but nervous dad didn't really get to enjoy the movie. I was focused on the kids and making sure they were ok, needs were met, etc. We'll catch it on video soon so Mommy can enjoy it too.

Fun With Leaves

A little something I like to call "Creative Leaf Un-Raking".



They loved it. Played over and over until it started raining.

The age of figuring things out?

Last night we were all watching the new "Dora Saves The Ice Princess" movie premier (you HAVE to see it, it's so awesome!) and in one scene, Dora and her friends all need to use magic to jump into a book to help the Ice Princess.

A little while later, Swiper the Fox appears and tries to steal a magic pendant. Anne, William and I were ok with this, but a very observant Mary Grace says "Haaay! How did Swiper get into the book?" (he wasn't one of the friends that jumped into the book)

It's strange how when the kids were infants, every single thing they did was a major developmental milestone (rolling over, sucking thumb, even sleeping for X hours at a time), but now that the kids are getting bigger, they exhibit strong reasoning skills like what Mary Grace did, and we hardly notice.

Playing with birthday party playdough and a nice moment.

Anne was trying to get William to sing Happy Birthday and caught the following:

1. William at his cutest.
2. Mary Grace trying to take over.
3. William saying "my do it"
4. William saying "emm!" (the universal "and I mean it" punctuation)
5. Mommy suggesting Mary Grace let William sing the song.

Plausible deniability

(10:54:01 AM) Anne: "I dont do stuff naughty to myself"
(10:54:20 AM) Rick: ?
(10:54:34 AM) Anne: Mary Grace after she accused me of "bending' one of her coloring pages and I told her that I didnt do it, she did
(10:54:42 AM) Rick: hehe

Poor Mary Grace was sick with some short-term stomach bug yesterday afternoon into the evening. She's much better today, eating and playing just like herself. And even contradicting her mommy too.

Sisters and brothers

There are times when the kids fight over toys or fight over what to watch on TV or fight over who gets to play on the computer, or fight over food or treats or just try to see who can scream the loudest.

Then there are times when William will walk up to his sister and give her a nice big hug. And times when Mary Grace will put her arm around her brother just because. They always give a hug or a kiss goodnight and are always happy to see each other in the morning.

So long as it all balances out in the end, it's all good.

William's favorite sayings

Mommy was putting William to bed last night and leaned in to give him a sleepy kiss and whispered "William you are so sweet!" to which William responded "I not sweet, I a boy!". This has also been his excuse for getting into to trouble around the house.. "William, why did you make this big mess with your goldfish crackers?". "I a boy"...

He also recalls the time that he fell off a piece of playground equipment onto a (luckily) soft surface playground base several months ago, whenever anyone asks him "how are you"? The standard response: "I fall down playground, go boom."