A Map Party

Yesterday I asked B what kind of birthday dessert he'd like. Buddy then asked why kind of party he was going to have... you know, since kid parties have themes. I asked what he thought Daddy would like, he said Homer Simpson. I quickly talked him out of that since I couldn't think of how to decorate for a Homer party with what we had at home, not to mention making a Homer cake (me being frosting impaired and all). So I talked Buddy into a map party since B definitely likes maps and geography. Here's how the theme went:


Globe decoration by Princess Sparkley.


Happy Birthday banner (lettering my me, coloring of "Happy Birth" by Buddy, coloring of "day, Daddy!" and a globe cake by Princess Sparkley, all of this courtesy of a nap by Baby X).


Map banner by Buddy.


Brownie and abstract Earth design by me.


Please ignore the moustache!?!... I try to.

Playing Outside

As we were laying around the house, being lazy on Christmas, B mentioned that growing up we could play outside. I guess that's one of the benefits of being a kid in California at Christmas time... if you get a bike for Christmas, you can actually ride it that day. We were lucky enough to have a warm day after Christmas that melted most of the snow (it's back now) so we let Buddy take his new bike, and Princess Sparkley her new scooter our for some fun. Here's a wimpy video of it:

48 weeks

11 months

Merry Christmas!

Left to Right, Top to Bottom. Row by Row. Sort of. (Click to enlarge.)

PS and her new Webkinz pink poodle that she's named Lavender (since according to her new Fancy Nancy's Fancy Words book, Lavender is a fancy word for light purple... not sure why she decided to name a pink dog that.)
We gave Baby X PS's old "bike" aka Little Tykes ride-on and doll walker push toy. Notice his Bandaid by his eye... big owey.

PS and her new pink scooter.
Baby X.
Aebleskivers.
PS and her new Webkinz cat which she has named Tiara (another fancy thing).
Buddy in his new fleece robe reminding us of Uncle R.
Christmas Day dessert... Peppermint.Candy Cane Ice Cream Pie.
Buddy and a train book.
The stockings here hung by the chimney with care.
PS being fancy... the theme of today.
Aebleskivers cooking in their pan.
Buddy on his new bike.
PS extra fancy... notice how the shoes complete her look.
The kids are the top of the stairs waiting to come down and open presents.

Buddy riding his new bike... he thought I was taking a picture,
not filming, so he stopped riding to smile for the camera.

B's 1000th County

photo by Buddy (age 4 1/2)

I'm sure we've mentioned it before, but just in case we haven't, B keeps track of the counties he's been to. Sort of like what some people do with states. He and Buddy went on a county getting trip last weekend and they got 45 counties and B got is 1000th county. Yea! He's about 1/3 of the way done... or, more specifically:

1042/3132 (33.27%) as of 12/21/8

Noel

As I've been out and about this holiday season with the kids, Buddy has noticed Noel signs and asked me what it means. I haven't really had an answer other than it's Christmas related (turns out, it means Christmas). Today we were listening to Star102, Kansas City's Christmas station (which has been playing Christmas songs since Halloween and in between songs... 20 minutes worth of ads) and the song "The First Noel" came on. I told them to listen up. I explained that I guessed Noel meant Jesus' birth or Christmas. Buddy* said, "Maybe it means no L. Is there an L in Christmas?" No, there isn't. So in our family, Noel now means there is no L in Christmas.

*He has been hilarious lately. He's got this new crack up laugh that I need to capture on film. And he's been making up super silly "jokes." This is my favorite (did I already write this here?): How do you know you're a Clementine? You got peeled!!

47 weeks 1 day

Princess Sparkley Rocks Out

Princess Sparkley: Can I listen to my [Princess Sparkley's] profile . . . (She means playlist.) to hear that song?

Me: What song?

PS: All the Single Ladies.

Me: [Cracking Up.]


B and I saw the Saturday Night Live skit a couple of weeks ago with Beyonce and Justin Timberlake singing and dancing to "All the Single Ladies."

I hunted down the video on YouTube while Princess Sparkley was nearby and if the computer ever starts making noise (music, videos, etc.) the kids come running to see what it is. She loves the song. So I made a Princess Sparkley playlist on Napster and she has her songs from Enchanted and this song by Beyonce. Oh, and also the David Duchovny song by Bree Sharp.

She's just informed me that she'd like this video posted on her blog with the boys dancing funny as well. Oh, she says she likes the boys and she doesn't like the girls.

Smarty Pants

Because Princess Sparkley is smart. And because she knows that I get all of my answers from the internet. And because she doesn't want to do math, she just asked the following:

Can you look up how Santa gets around where it isn't winter?

Snow plow

After driving around in lots of snow on unplowed roads and getting stuck twice (which is one of my worst nightmares) I picked B up from the bus stop and said, "We need to get a car that can never get stuck in the snow. What kind of car is that... a snow plow?" Which got a loud, excited response from Buddy in the backseat who said, "YEAH, a snow plow." This might have been the most exciting idea he's ever heard since he'd spent all morning with our snow shovel pretending to be a snow plow** complete with his own snow plow noises.


**Yesterday he snow shoveled right along with out complex's maintenance guy. It was so funny to watch, especially since he's normally pretty shy around adults he doesn't know. I asked him if the guy talked to him, he said, yes, twice. I asked if he talked to the guy to which he answered, "umm... I don't think so."

Buddy Makes Jokes

Buddy: Mom, why are you a clementine?

Buddy: It's a joke. I made it up. You know how it ends?

Me: No.

Buddy: Because you got peeled.

And he walks

Baby X took a couple of steps on his own accidentally last week (Tuesday and Thursday ish) and since then he's been walking along our walls and letting go and trying to keep walking. Or walking along something and letting go and walking a few steps to get to something else (ie: chair to coffee table, etc.) So at 10 1/2 months, he's "walking." Here are my pathetic attempts at capturing it:


By this point, he was so excited about walking that he was more running and thus just falling down.


*Have I mentioned that Baby X has a third tooth. Top front, his left. It's been around about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks.

Santa's Early Delivery

We woke up this morning to this
,

and this


and it kept snowing all morning and after lunch.


"Santa" couldn't very well send the kids out to play in the snow knowing perfectly well that she (I mean he) had boots for them in her/his closet that they'd asked for on their Christmas lists. So Santa dropped off a special delivery due to the snow that came before Christmas.






We also got B this new yellow snow shovel which he's going to have to fight Buddy for. PS wanted to sled. Buddy wanted to shovel. I can't wait until he's a teenager.

46 weeks

How we sleep at our house

This is normal sleeping, right? His arms are sort of crazy, but this looks normal.


This is how we found PS the other night.

Decorating the Tree

Look how big Baby X has gotten!!!

This is how B contained Baby X from the tree decorations.

Our new friend Allison

Princess Sparkley raided our recycle box and created Allison, her new friend. Unfortunately mom and dad considered Allison to be trash and insisted she be returned to the recycle box immediately upon completion of this picture. (Note: she'd already visited PS's bed.)

B and Buddy sleeping Sunday morning

45 weeks

Cahokia Mounds

Today we went to the Cahokia Mounds in Collinsville, Illinois just outside of St. Louis.

If you look closely in the center picture, or really closely in the two similar pictures of PS and Buddy posing, you can see the St. Louis Arch in the background.

Setting up the trains with Grandpa

Putting up Christmas Lights

The day after Thanksgiving, Grandma had Grandpa on the roof hanging Christmas lights. Our kids asked if they could get on the roof so B finally agreed that he'd go up with them one at a time. They were a bit nervous, but mostly excited.

10 months

Buddy Builds Train Tracks

We used to have to build the entire train track for Buddy's trains to run on. Then he'd "help" and we'd have to somehow make it all come together. Now he gets his box of train stuff out, and every day creates some new, elaborate lay out that comes together and involves all these creative bridges, etc. He'll only let us take them apart if we take their picture, or leave the most elaborate bridges up for him to build a new track for in the morning. So, you'll probably be seeing a lot of pictures like this one.

43 weeks

These are getting harder and harder to capture. See below:

42 weeks

Again, Buddy is crazy

When B tucked Buddy in last night, Buddy was laying with his head on its side and he wanted his one pillow on top so he was a sandwich. When we went in to check on them later on he'd rolled his head to face the ceiling and still had a pillow on his head, his face now.

Cute Smiles With His Two Baby Teeth

Buddy is crazy

I was sorting dirty clothes the other day, and Buddy, freshly bathed, laid down in my dirty clothes pile and rolled around.

Mouth

*see his scratched forehead... just a tiny fall and a big scratch.
Baby X sticks everything in his mouth, then crawls around with it in there. It's pretty funny.

Baby X Goes on a Horsey Ride (Daddy=Horsey)

This is Baby X's first horsey ride on Daddy. Buddy likes to call them bus rides now. And for PS they are fairy unicorn rides, or something. But for now, they are horsey rides for Baby X.







Clean dismount.

Prop 8 in California

A family friend who is an officer for the LAPD and whose area covers the LA Temple wrote this article for Meridian Magazine about all the craziness that is going on there.

41 weeks

Teeth

Not such a flattering picture, but a great shot of his two tiny little teeth.

Princess Sparkley on the swing

PS can pump her legs on the swing as of a month or two ago. Again, poor film quality. She wanted me to film her because I'd just filmed Buddy on the trike. She's trying to get going by pumping without a push to start her. Doesn't she look tall!?!

Buddy's Trike

Our kids both outgrew their bikes/trikes before they learned to pedal. I sold PS's on Craigslist, but Buddy's trike sale fell through. He's been riding it all over and has mastered it... forwards, backwards, three point turns, etc. Baby X likes to crawl after him. Buddy hates that. Here he is riding the trike outside. Sorry for the poor film quality... it's my digital camera again, no sound, and I was holding Baby X who made my filming all wobbly.

Strange Sleeping Habits

Colds have been going around. Buddy's had a hard time breathing through his nose at night so he stacks every pillow he has under his head at night. I went in the other night and found this... every pillow and a stuffed bear. Doesn't it look uncomfortable!?!

Reasons to hate Kansas

Look of the size of this bug. It's body was the size of my thumb. And it looks like it is part dinosaur. Yuck. Apparently, thanks to a friend's previous research on this but, it's a Wheel bug. And it can sting. Ick.

More Tongue

Baby X has had a bit of a cold with a runny/stuffy nose and a fever this week.
This is what he looked like all afternoon... the tongue sticking all the way out like a puppy dog.

40 weeks

Out of me as long as he was in me.

Cardiology Check-Up

As if Halloween wasn't crazy enough... Baby X also had a check-up at Children's Mercy this afternoon with his cardiologist. He hasn't been since the summer as the appointments have been getting further and further apart. This time he got the go ahead for a year until his next visit, which got moved to 9 months when I mentioned that we'd probably be moving next summer.

Baby X was awesome. He's the wiggliest baby ever. I can't get him to lay still for a diaper change or getting dressed so I was sure that having an EKG (about 8 little electrode stickers on his chest, arms, etc. with little wires clipped to them... he loves wires!) and an echocardiogram (which requires him laying still while she squirts goo on his chest and takes 20-30 minutes doing an ultrasound of his heart) was going to be horrible. He did great. He just laid there and starred at the woman doing it. It was his best time yet. Even as a newborn he'd cry and fuss a bit before eventually falling asleep. This time he just laid there and looked around. When he got a bit fussy she handed him a Dory fish toy that he chewed on until she was done. It was awesome. I had been really worried about how these appointments would go as he got older and more mobile. Good job, Baby X!

He weighed in at 9.34 kilograms (20 lbs. 9.45 oz.). I dont' remember his height, and it was in centimeters. They also take his blood pressure, etc.