Texas "boy trip"

The boys headed to Texas to visit Great Grandma, Paula, Shelley, Kim, Trey, Blue, Porkchop, Chubsie and Mia. Mia is still not thrilled to have kids come visit, but apparently Blue and Chubsie were fine. Porkchop didn't mind but didn't really come around much. Anyway. Bet you can guess who was behind the camera of the dog pic - MAC! That kids loves animals. I'm surprised he didn't bring home a dog in his suitcase. They had a fun trip, depsite lots of travel. Chubsie, Kim's new dog. He's maybe five pounds!
Wading in the lake

Learning from Trey. There's Blue.

Seeing the longhorns.

Is this awesome or what?

Kid's Gym

The kids and I have fallen back into our Monday morning routine, after all of the summer fun activities have ended. We go to the YMCA every Monday at 9. Mac goes to Kids In Motion (a little class where they do an art project then some sort of movement activity), Adeline goes to Child Watch and usually just watches the babies or sits and eats her snack, and I exercise. It is a fabulous way to begin the week. At 10, Addie and I join Mac in his classroom, and there is 'open gym' time for the kids. They love it! Adeline spends almost all her time on the trampoline or walking on the foam abstacle course (different every week). Mac likes to jump off the big stack of cushions onto the big foam cushion. They are sweaty and happy, and I feel so much better having gotten some exercise.

Enjoy the videos!

Strawberry picking!

Summer has finally decided to show it's face here in the Northwest, and we headed out to French Prairie Starwberry Fest to pick berries. Quite yummy, but a lot of stopping over.

The kids had a blast and were very good at picking.

Mac and Garen took turns being "bucket boy".

Addie was thrilled, and actually did a decent job of finding and picking (and immediately eating) the red ones.

Yeah for the arrival of summer and the rotation of ripe berries!

(I think visiting various berry fields might be our Friday field trips for the summer!)

Just a quick story before we dash off to Mac's best friend Lucy's Rockstar Ballerina birthday party:

Yesterday, Mac, Addie and I headed to the bathroom to wash our hands. This always involves some amount of water play, peeing, talking about the dog food, washing spilled water off the floor... you get the picture. Never a short trip despite my best efforts. So Adeline was happily playing in water in the sink and Mac had to go to the bathroom. He said to Addie "Adeline, boys shake. Do you want to watch me shake? I can shake it really good." Lovely! I worked hard not to crack up. Addie seemed indifferent and went about playing in the water.

Crazy kids = crazy nights.

A little peek into our nighttime routine.

Addie has decided that she doesn't want to miss the good times in Mac's room that usually happen after we put her in bed. She's been teething, trying to walk and trying to switch to one nap, so her nights have been messed up. The past two nights, she's slept for an hour at 7, then been up with Curt and I until we go to bed at 9:30. Crazy girl.

Mac is really into making faces these days: see below for evidence.

Quote of the week: (after playing at the park with some of his school friends)

Mac: "Mom, 'Sara' bites me."

me: "yes, 'Sara' bit you last year in school."

Mac: "I don't want 'Sara' to bite me."

me: "Well, 'Sara' is older now, and so are you,

so maybe you can talk to each other and she won't bite you."

Mac: "Mom, she can't talk to me if her mouth is on my arm biting me!"

Good point, Mac.

Mac's in underwear!

No pics necessary for this post, but we believe Mac is "potty trained".
It happened yesterday. We've been taking his diaper off in the morning and letting him just have his jammy bottoms on. Yesterday, he ran into the bathroom and had already peed on the toilet by the time I got there.
Today he asked for just his jammy bottoms, and again did it all by himself. He had a couple of accidents today, but they both were when he was in the bathroom, trying to get on the toilet. Then I made the mistake of putting a pair of underwear on him that actually sort of hold the pee in because they have an outer layer made of the same material as the diaper wraps. I didn't tell him this, but he later informed me that "it's alright to pee a little in these underwear because they hold the pee in". What? I about peed my pants myself I was laughing so hard.
Later, he told Curt he wanted to wear his pants (no diaper or underwear) for his nap. OK. And he did it - dry as could be and then later went and peed on the toilet. Curt tried to help him that time, and Mac told him "No, Dad, I want to do it all by myself!" And he did, handwashing and all.
I was beginning to think the day would be a long time in coming as so many of his friends have been using the toilet for months. He's been asking me which friends pee in diapers and which use the toilet. He's also really motivated to use the little potties at school (which means he then can wash his hands at the very cool little sink), and last week told his teacher he needed to go on the toilet, but since she was the only adult in the room with 8 kids, she was unable to help him. That made a big impression.
We'll keep you posted!

This is what Mac told me the other day when we were deciding what to put in his party goodie bags, either M&M's or Tic Tacs:
" I want M&M's because kids really like candy. Kids really need candy, mama!"
M&M's it is. To him, Tic Tacs fall in the "mint" category, which apparently is NOT candy.

Song by Mac yesterday while he was quietly searching through books in Addie's room:





"One little, two little spiders jumping on the web.


One fell off and bumped his head.


Daddy called the doctor and the doctor said:


'No more spiders jumping on the spider web!'"





I cracked up!





He's in a language explosion this week. Here's a few gems:





at 5;30 this morn when he woke up and began talking, I asked "what?" his response: "I'm just talking to myself, mom!"





opening a card from Aunt Paula: "oh my goodness!" (in the exact same tone I use...)





talking to Binjin, who was worried about something and we were trying to get her to lay on her bed: "It's okay. I'm here. I'll keep you safe from Morgan (a little girl at school that has been pushing him). You can lay down. I'll stay right here. I'm here."





and in bed tonight, I always lay with him for a few minutes, and we've been putting lotion on our hands and massaging them. I hurt my finger a few weeks ago and it's still swollen. I have been showing him how massaging it may help the swelling. As he was very precisely massaging my finger, he said "I'm being very gentle with your body mama." (that's what I have been saying to him about how he can interact with Adeline) "I'm helping get the swelling out! " Again, too cute!





And little miss addie is still quite the sleeper. I see why people must have thought curt and I were freaks and exaggerators when we talked about Mac's (lack of) sleep. Seriously. She fell asleep last night at 8:00, woke at 3:00 t0 nurse, then slept until 8:00. That's 12 hours, people! I don't think Mac has ever, in his entire life slept 12 hours (almost) straight. Amazing. Hopefully our extended trip to Wisconsin for Thanskgiving won't blow the whole thing! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.





And we can't forget to wish our little sweetie a happy 4 month birthday today!





Finally, I love Wisconsin, but it's supposed to be ZERO degrees tomorrow. yuck. It will be fun, but I will be wishing I was here:

(Costa Rica)