Sidewalk Paint

It seemed like a good idea at the store,

it even seemed like a good idea when we first got home and started painting.

Then Jack painted Annabelle's head, and leg, and shoe,

and then had the brilliant idea...

To paint Mommy's car.

Then sidewalk paint didn't seem like such a good idea any more.

Delicious AND Nutritious

I left Jack at the breakfast table for a minute while I went to assist Annabelle on the potty, when I returned I discovered that he had made a little addition to his breakfast:

peanut butter and jelly on a bagel, blueberries, and a battery... guaranteed to jump start any morning.

Little Girl, Big Bed

Annabelle's crib was one of those convertible-bed for life- type of things, which went from a crib, to a toddler bed, and then on to a full size bed. We never bothered with the toddler bed stage because Annabelle was always too lazy to climb out of her crib, so figured, eh, why give her an easy opportunity. Besides, she always claimed to love her crib and had no interest in moving into a bigger bed, so it seemed silly to turn it into a toddler bed when we would have had to put a side rail up anyway.

While we were away, at The Cape, she spent the week sleeping in a "big girl" bed, and really loved it. She shared a room with Jack (who was in a cage, I mean pack-n-play) and, although she did get out of her bed on more than one occasion to go over and chat to him, or pick up his teddy bear or something; she never once left their room. Not once.

The first night we were home, I took her up to her room to put her to bed, she took one look at her crib and burst into tears... The next day, we made a family outing to purchase a new mattress. It arrived about four days later. A few days after that, lazy Daddy got around to converting the old crib into the super deluxe monkey seen here:

Annabelle is very, very pleased with her new "big girl" bed.

Cape Week

We spent last week on Cape Cod with some friend's of ours who flew in from New Orleans for the occasion. They brought along their kids, who are 12 and 14, which was great for us because they completely entertained Annabelle and Jack (who loved annoying "the big kids"), AND they also babysat!

We had great weather, spent most days at the beach, and most evenings doing kiddie activities like trampolines, bumper boats, and go-carts... Annabelle loved the trampolines so much we actually went back like 4 times! We also rented bicycles one day and rode part of the Rail Trail- it was the first time that Annabelle and Jack got to ride in a bike trailer, which they were not very happy about at first, but really enjoyed once Daddy got a peddlin'. Another day we went up to Provincetown for the day.

On the way back to Beantown we stopped off in Plymouth and checked out Plimouth Plantation and The Mayflower II. For the most part, I think our kids were a bit too young for the plantation, but they did really enjoy chasing the chickens!

It's no secret that Jack loves water, he was completely in his element at the beach. Each day Nick built a big sand castle and "off roading" track so that Jack could run his cars in the sand. He had such a blast knocking down Daddy's sand castles!

Girl Genius

A few weeks ago Nick and I were driving in the car with the kids and for some reason we were trying to teach Annabelle our home phone number. She was not getting it all. She kept jumbling it all up and laughing, as she does, so we just gave up and didn't give it another thought.

Yesterday, in the car again, out of the blue she came out with: "If I ever get lost I have to tell someone to call my Mommy at ***-***-****." She said our exact phone number!! In complete disbelief, we of course asked her to repeat herself, which she did- over and over and over again, but she was correct EVERY time!!!

Now if I could only get my little genius to remember not to omit 14 and 15 when counting to 20...

Mini Football Madness

She dribbles,

She shoots,
She scores!

Where Did My Baby Go?

I took these pictures of Jack the other day, as I was looking at them it occurred to me that he no longer looks like a baby. Maybe it's the hair cut, or the fact that he is losing his baby chub, or maybe it's the way he is dressed. Or a combination of all of the above.

Maybe.

Because he couldn't possibly be growing up this fast.

Could he?

Perhaps I should try letting his hair grow, fattening him up a bit, and dressing him in animal print clothing...

Strawberry Picking

Annabelle picks her first strawberry

Watching Swans with Daddy

Upset because we wouldn't let him "swim" in the pond

Everyone needs a little strawberry ice cream

Mmmmmmmmmm.

First Movie Theater Visit

The Monkeys made their first visit to the cinema yesterday, to see Shrek the Third. I was a little bit nervous about taking them because they can barely sit still for five minutes, let alone two hours but, in general, they both did really well.

Annabelle was very, very excited... more so about my nephews coming with us than seeing the film but I'm sure she didn't really understand what was about to happen. Once we arrived at the cinema her eyes widened and the excitement level elevated through the roof, especially when she saw the snack kiosk. I got her a bag of popcorn and then barely heard a peep out of her until the movie was over. She sat in the row across from me, in between my nephews, so if there was any chitter-chatter they got the brunt of it.

Jack wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. When we first walked into the theater there was a very loud preview showing on the screen, which must have frightened him because he clung to me and would not let go. He started to relax a bit once the scary preview was over and by the time Shrek had started he was sitting calmly on my lap. He sat on my lap quietly, eating popcorn, for a good hour before he started getting fidgety. There was another little girl, who was about Jack's age, in the row behind us who kept getting up to say hello. Before long the two of them were running up and down the center aisle together, at one point, Jack stopped and did a little dance while announcing to the entire audience, (at full volume) "I'M DANCING!" It was then that I knew Jack had seen enough of Shrek. So Jack was removed, he and I spent the final 15 minutes of the film wandering around the lobby.

Current Favorite

Annabelle's new favorite song is Bohemian Like You, by The Dandy Warhols. Have a listen. Then repeat play about 40 times... It'll be like a car ride with Annabelle.

The Dandy Warhols ...

Two Year Check Up

Jack finally had his two year check up, (only 2 and a half months late).

He completely freaked out in the Doctor's office so we were unable to get accurate measurements but, they estimated that his height is about 35 inches and weight about 30.5 lbs., putting him in the 50-75Th percentile. He was too upset to do any of the visual tests, although he did manage to identify an apple before his meltdown, and when Dr. P asked him where his hair was, he quizzically responded with a, "on my head". The highlight of the visit though was when Jack, dressed only in a diaper, grabbed his shoes and legged it down the hall yelling, "time to go home!!!"

Um, you forgot your pants Jack.

"My Five"

The girls at the gym daycare taught Jack how to give a "high five" today. He is too funny, he calls it "my five".

Little Clown

Annabelle is a strawberry fanatic. When Nick heard that there was a strawberry festival a few towns away, naturally, we just had to take her. Imagine a whole festival devoted to strawberries! For someone as small and as mad as Annabelle, that would be a dream come true.

The entire way there all she talked about was how she was going to eat all the strawberries and bring home a big basket full. She was so excited! But when we got there she sadly asked the burning question... Where are all the strawberries? We walked up and down the rows of tents looking for the strawberries; we saw pottery, we saw jewelry, we saw some nice crafty handbags, and some framed artwork. There were plants, and balloons, and all sorts of knickknacks... But there were no strawberries. We kept looking.

Finally, on our second go around, we noticed a group of people standing in a line in front of a frail old woman, who was seated under a tent behind a huge cash box. She was taking their money and handing them tickets. Then we saw the sign... STRAWBERRY, could it be? Actual strawberries? But why is there a need for tickets? Are they housing the world's largest strawberry in there, we wondered? We read further... STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE.

Strawberry shortcake? All these people are waiting in line for strawberry shortcake? Maybe the strawberry shortcake lady knows where the real strawberries are, we thought. So we waited in the line. When we reached the old woman and inquired as to where all the strawberries were hiding, we found out that this was it; the highlight of the festival. People waited all year for this strawberry shortcake. Turns out, the only strawberries we would be seeing at the "strawberry" festival were in the form of shortcake. How disappointing for the small one, so we thought...

We got her a bowl of strawberry shortcake and a few balloons and she was as grateful as if we had let her loose in a strawberry field on an empty stomach!

Happy Days Are Here Again

And all is right with the world; Jack's favorite car has been found!!!

The sneaky little bugger was hiding behind the stove... Silly me for not looking there sooner. He probably would have stayed there for all eternity too, had Jack not lodged a different car in between the stove and the wall, requiring me to move the stove out to retrieve.

Today, Jack is a happy, happy boy.

Oh No, Chiiiiiiiick!

Jack is completely distraught because his little die cast Chick Hicks, from the movie Cars, is missing. He's been carrying that thing around with him for weeks, even taking it to bed with him. Twice I've been woken in the middle of the night by Jack crying because Chick had fallen from his crib!

I can't even recall how many times I have torn the house apart looking for that stupid car over the past few weeks, somehow it has always managed to turn up... Not today though, it seems.
Jack has been standing at the bottom of the stairs all morning, moaning, "Chiiiick" because he thinks Chick is in his crib. We've searched his room 3 times, the car is not there. Jack keeps insisting, "Chick fall down" (from his crib) but, unless Chick has fallen through the floorboards, he is not in Jack's room.

I've actually been looking for a new Chick Hicks car for a while now because the one Jack just misplaced had lost a wheel, but I can't seem to find it anywhere... I suppose I could always order it from Amazon.com and pay $26.75 + shipping, but that just seems insane, considering I got the first one at Target for $3!!

Little Floater

The Water Boy

Jack and Annabelle were quietly playing with the sand/water table yesterday, I thought it would be a great opportunity to snap a picture of them together. I ran inside to grab my camera, when I returned I found Jack in the water... Of course, I was not surprised at all.

Feeling Better

And who wouldn't be, with a brand new Disney Princess scooter to cheer them up! Thanks Nana.

Annabelle is just about back to normal... She is still on antibiotics and has a slight cough, but other than that she has resumed her normal activities, which include persistent badgering and whining.

Sickity Sick

Poor little Annabelle has had, what we thought to be a cold, for about a week now. She seemed to be coping with it just fine until this morning, when she woke up at 6:30am screaming that she was very hot and needed some medicine.

I gave her some Motrin, because she was in fact burning up (good call Annabelle). The Motrin did bring her fever down, but soon after I noticed she had developed a deep, phlegmy cough, so I called the Doctor. Luckily, they were able to squeeze us in this afternoon, because it turns out she has pneumonia! The Dr. prescribed some antibiotics, and wants her to go in for a chest x-ray tomorrow...

For the most part, Annabelle has been very lethargic today, and QUIET (a rarity for her). Apart from the occasional movement from coughing, she has pretty much been in this position all day. She is now on her 4Th viewing of the movie Flushed Away.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

It is impossible to get a decent picture with these two Monkeys!

Puddle

Heaven. I'm In Heaven

Standing in a massive vat of water with a car in his hand. For Jack, life doesn't get any better than this! Unless of course, he also had his Teddy Bear... And a cookie.

Baby Makes A Comeback

Annabelle has had that baby doll (who is coincidentally named "Baby") for ages. Poor Baby has never really received much play time in the past two or so years since she's been under Annabelle's care... Never, until recently. Suddenly, after seeing pictures of her new baby cousin Luke, Baby was brought out of the corner.

I thought it was cute when we went for a walk to the post office and Annabelle wanted to push Baby in her carriage... I had my baby (Jack) and she had her baby (Baby). We had a nice stroll, Baby didn't even act up when she wasn't allowed to have any M&M's! After our stroll we packed Baby up and headed to the park.

This Baby business became less cute the next day when Baby had to come grocery shopping with us. Then this morning it was a trip to Target. It wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for me having an extra little creature to look after, and an extra stroller to fold up, and open (because it has to be folded up every time we get into the car or else Baby's Mommy has a melt down)... At least Baby doesn't whine.

Crazy Little Thing...

I was cleaning out the kid's rooms; sorting through their clothes to see what still fit, what needed to be put into storage, putting away some new summery things, etc... When I remembered that I had left Annabelle's sandals, which were muddy from a few days ago, on the back porch. When I went to go get them to clean them off and neatly store them with her other 10 pairs of shoes, I discovered that they weren't where I had left them. I looked around and couldn't find them anywhere so I asked Annabelle if she knew where her sandals had gone. The conversation went something like this:

"Annabelle, do you know what happened to your sandals?"

"Yes."

"Did you put them somewhere?"

"Yes."

"Where did you put them?"

"Ummm, I threw them away."

"Why did you throw them away?"

"Because they were old."

"Did you really throw them away?"

"Yes." "I put them in the trash." "I need new sandals... Those ones are old."

Apple Jack

Jack is so sweet. When I put him to bed last night, as I was leaving his room he said, "I love you."

...Which has nothing to do with this picture. It's just the most recent one I have. (I suppose apples are sweet too?)

Could It Be This Easy?

Annabelle just came up to me out of the blue and said "Mommy, I don't want to wear diapers anymore." Clearly I must have misunderstood her, just two days ago she informed me that she will be wearing diapers forever because she loves them so much. And not the pull ups either, real diapers. Naturally I asked what she meant by that and she repeated herself and then proceeded to tell me that she was ready to wear big girl pants and use the potty. This came as a mighty shock considering Annabelle has NEVER actually *gone* on the potty... Not for lack of trying on my part, of course. So when she asked if we had any monkey underpants (which we do) and could she wear them now (right when she was about to go in for a nap), I was overcome with a feeling that cannot be described in words. It was sort of a feeling of horror, dread, fear and joy all jumbled together. She was so pleased with her decision that there was no way I could have said no. So at the moment Annabelle is napping and wearing her big girl Curious George underpants and I am wondering how much laundry I will be doing today.

*Update: Annabelle of course woke up from her nap completely soaked. She has decided that she would be better off trying pull-up training pants for a while... I concur.

The Weed Wacker

Last Saturday was the first nice day in a loooooong time. Annabelle and Jack played outside most of the day with the little sand/water table that Jack got for his birthday. After Nick filled the water side of the table, Annabelle grabbed the hose and discovered that she could make a rainbow, so she set the nozzle to "mist" and made her own personal geyser!

Bored with the Geyser, Annabelle breaks out the bubble mower and attempts to give our weeds, I mean grass, a trim.

Quickly distracted by something much more exciting, Annabelle runs the mower directly in front of Jack, who was charging full speed ahead!

Baby Boy

Annabelle-isms

A few things Annabelle has said recently that have made me chuckle...

on riding her bike in the house:

Mommy, I need to park my bike in front of the spaceman door.

The spaceman door? We have a special door for space men?

No Mommy, the spaaaaaceman door. You know, where you take the laundry.

Do you mean the basement door?

Yes Mommy, the spaceman door.

on what to eat for dinner:

Mommy, will you make forgetties and neatballs for me?

running in to Jack's room one morning and discovering that he was not there:

Where's the little fella?

seeing Jack with his binky downstairs:

Remember the rules Jackie, the binky has to stay in your bed.

helping me make breakfast this morning:

I'm very proud of you for making me pancakes, Mommy!

trying to calm her little friend who was upset about a cookie:

(patting him on the back) It's OK, if you behave and stop crying maybe your Mommy will make banana bread for you.

and my personal favorite:

Excuse me, Mother.

What a Difference A Year Makes...

April 14, 2007
April 12, 2006

Happy Easter!!!

On Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt with the kids on our cult de sac. The kids all gathered at our neighbor's house while most of the adults went out and hid the eggs. They were each given a special basket for egg collecting... Jack of course swiped a couple of cars from the neighbor's house and carried them around in his big pink basket. When anyone tried to put an egg in his basket he looked at them like they were insane and then chucked it out.

Once Jack realized that the eggs were filled with candy he quickly changed his tune. Sadly by that time all of the 300+ eggs had been found.

Lucky for Jack, big sister Annabelle was on the case! She collected enough eggs for both of them and was happy to share the loot.

After the egg hunt, the sugar coated children all went back to the neighbors' and tore their house apart.

Happy Easter!!

Training Him Well

Our coffee maker has a little alarm bell that goes off to signal when the coffee has finished brewing. Jack has obviously picked up on this and has started calling out "coffee's ready" when the bell goes off!