Ode to a sick day

These tiny two:

are icky sicky poo.

And mommy is hoping

it is not the piggy flu.

The littlest one

who is usually such fun,

is getting over pneumonia

and a nose on the run.

The littlest boy

who is sometimes a joy :)

woke up with a fever,

which no one enjoys.

And so here we are.

Stuck on the couch like tar.

And mom's pretty sure that until next week

we won't be venturing far. . .

So I might go a little stir crazy,

and get a little hazy

and maybe even write a silly poem

while we're all feeling a little lazy.

Back Porch Kisses

P.P.P.P.2

Did you guess that one? It's the "Pumpkin Patch Post Part 2!!!" This weekend Gordon was out of town and I was playing with the crew myself. We decided to hit another pumpkin patch mostly to play. We found lots of fun things there! Chandler made friends with these baby cows. They were pretty cute.Emilee spent about 50% of her time wandering around looking adorable, and about 50% of her time getting very wet playing with a leaky hose. It was a losing battle so I eventually just let her go to town. There were giant slides! The longest one was forty feet.

Emilee came down with Ethan. . .

Do you think she liked it?

And ducky races! Chandler is an extremely serious ducky racer.

Hay stack climbing. . .

A fun time at the farm!

our budding pianist. . .

If you're not a Grandma, or maybe a Grandpa, this is a bit long. but if you are. . . here is Ethan's piano piece that he's playing for the prelude to the primary program tomorrow. He will play while all the kids come up and take their places on the stand. Enjoy! He's worked hard!

PS - if this is a bit shaky in the videography department, it's because I was holding the camera with one hand and wrestling a three year old like a greased pig at the same time. Good times, good times. . .

Pulling the Plug

This is the plug of which I speak. . .

You know, I wasn't really wanting to pull it either. It was her bestest buddy. That was a problem though, she wanted it when ever she could have it, sucked it all night, and asked for it all day. And it was moving her teeth. So daddy said it was time to pull the plug. I said okay as long as we started on a Friday night to maximize his time at home to help with the sad sweetie.


That first night she cried for 20 minutes. Then she stopped. And she hasn't cried since. And when she asks for it, it's almost like she's joking. "where's binky? Hee hee hee! All gone!" The easiest binky yank I think we've had yet. I'm glad I have a wise husband who can talk me into such things, because I had seriously been dreading it for a week, and it was no biggie!


In other Emilee is growing up news, I FINALLY took the bumpers out of her crib. Not because she was too big for them (she's still my baby!) but because she was pulling the ribbons off. And so, now when we go in for a peek at night, we often find this. . . And, she's finally switched to one nap a day, which means she falls asleep in the car on almost a daily basis right around 12 o'clock. She's so sweet when I bring her up to bed I had to take a snapshot. That's her new "rat baby" as Gordon calls it that she fell in love with at kohls the other day. We decided together (Emilee and I) that she needed it to snuggle with now that "inky" was all gone, as I mentioned before. :) And its not a rat baby, its a sweet mouse baby.

She's growing up! (sigh)

Happiness is. . .

an unexpected tootsie roll. . .

Twinkle Twins

Emilee and her cousin Carolyn were too cute today in their matching "square dresses" as Carolyn calls them (for the square pattern on the fabric). Love it. . . Oh, and yes, that is the same dress I made Emilee for LAST fall. I added the bloomers this year so she wouldn't be scandalous, but other than the length it still fits great! Too bad I didn't put in a giant hem to let down.

And one other night last week they were at it again. . . in their matching jammies.

Two little pink elephants on parade. . .

P.P.P (that's "pumpkin patch post")

Today we headed out to the pumpkin patch with the cousies, and had a fine, if not slightly drizzly time. Really I can't complain. For Oregon, it was pretty nice! Here's how it went down. . .

There were mini hay mazes for the kiddos. . .

And much jumping off the bales. . .
And cuteness abounded. . .

We discovered pumpkins make good resting stools for little people. . .

We decided since the scenery was so nice, and the kids were pretty happy, we should take a picture or two. Here is my crew. . .

Then we got ambitious and thought "why not one of all the cousins. Here Emilee was being coaxed in to the picture. Let's take a closer look at that face. . .

Yea, I think that pretty much says step off mama. . . I'm done!

Things got a bit mopey, but this is my favorite picture of all of them! Who doesn't love a pouty baby hanging her head in a dramatic show of displeasure?

And then Blake exploded and we gave up. So much for a cousin picture!

But we did hunt for our perfect pumpkins. And found them!

Ethan asked me to take this picture and to label it "heavy weight lifting." So, I present next: Heavy Weight Lifting!

It was a great day down on the farm with all my little Wilde Beasts!

Grammy may be pleased to know. . .

that her efforts are appreciated, again. . .

that the sweater that she learned to knit with 9 years ago while I was pregos with Ethan ("because all grammy's need to know how to knit!" - her quote not mine), that was meant to be a baby sweater but turned out about size 3T, and then taken apart and re knit again, and again, until it was correctly proportioned. . .

then dubbed the "camping sweater". . .

is out of the closet again, even though it fits no one currently. . .

because "fits" is obviously a matter of opinion.
Aidan, who found it, dubbed it his "sleeping sweater," three quarters sleeves and all, and it has been slept in every night for the past two weeks.

A new, old favorite.

Thanks Grammy! We're glad you learned how to knit!

Cookies and Milk

The other day I asked Emilee if she'd like a cookie. She said "tookie!" with a smile so I gave her one. Then she looked straight at me and said, "bip bip?" while plunging the cookie up and down in the air. She was asking for "dip dip" (milk) for her cookie. My heart melted. I thought the whole scene was so cute that I tried to recreate it on video today. Not quite. But, I still think she's the cutest cookie eater on the block. And, she seems to have the same affinity for ginger snaps that her mother does. Especially when soaked in milk! What she did kindly recreate on the video for me was her happy little cookie wiggle. It comes around whenever there are cookies to be enjoyed!

Grout Grunge

Aidan is a very self motivated little guy. And, he seems to like to scrub, sometimes anyway! This past week Aidan has been helping a TON with the kitchen floor.
Taking the kitchen floor tile grout from this. . .

back to its original state. . .

Is that disgusting or what? The transformation happened so slowly I honestly didn't realize how bad it was. The grout it ivory! Not chocolate! It takes about 5 minutes per 14 inch line. A painfully slow process. Without Aidan, I'd only be about half as far as I am. And we still have at least 2/3 of the floor to go, and we've already been working a week. Hopefully within a month it will be DONE, sealed, and stay shiny and new for a few years. And hopefully Aidan will be just as excited about this project next week as he was this week!!! Thanks buddy!

First Day of School, again!

Today, it was Chandlers first day of preschool! He was a pretty excited guy, and has been looking forward to this for a while. He surprised me this morning as we were combing his hair (something he TOLERATES daily, as long as I do it as speedily as possible). He was looking in the mirror, very intently, and said, "Mom, it's too pikey (spikey)." I tried to fix the sticky uppies. "Still a 'lil bit too pikey." So I very carefully plastered down every last renegade strand for the next three minutes, until it passed Chandler's inspection. Very out of character. But very cute.

Here is his "back to school" front porch picture:

He is facing the door because in true Chandler style he was OH SO cooperative. That boy has a mind of his own. Luckily, he also has cute buns. I did threaten him into turning around eventually with "okay, we just won't go to school." Then, we got this:

That's right, Chandler is just too cool for me. . . Yo Yo Yo. . .

Emilee is too cute as usual. She enjoyed the open house just as much as Chandler and won a few of the teachers hearts as well when she blew kisses goodbye.

Yea for Chandler! And yea for Emilee and I getting to spend a little one on one together while he's at school! Happy New (school) Year!