Finally!

I *finally* managed to get a video of the baby walking. Look at her go! So, somebody (ahem, little dude) set my camera to snow mode, which is why everything inside is blurry and yellow. If we were in the snow, it would be perfect.

The little guy is watching Auburn v. Alabama-- that's why he's standing in front of the TV like a mindless drone.

Science!

The baby is still sick (double ear infection), but should start perking up in the next day or two thanks to some serious antibiotics. I managed to get her hair into pigtails for about five minutes today… she hated it!

We're all going a little stir-crazy, so we got out the little dude's science kit to learn about colors and make crystals. Here he is looking through a color-kaleidescope. As you rotate the test tubes, the color you see changes! I love doing stuff like this with him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope yours was wonderful!

We put batteries back in the ball-popper and tape over the speaker… and that's pretty much the highlight of this week. Seriously, though, we are blessed and thankful.

Blocks

Our wooden blocks are back-- the kids are both playing with them a lot these days. The little dude built this house. It was so neat that I took a picture, then promptly knocked it over by accident. It wasn't very sturdy, I promise!

I'm a terrible mom.

Tis (Almost) the Season

The little guy is singing in a choir at church in a couple of weeks (I'm so excited!!), and we've been practicing his songs at home. He was showing me the hand motions to Away in a Manger last night at dinner… and it was hilarious and wonderful and even kind of dangerous!

Christmas Parade!

I'm a sucker for a parade, so the kids and I hiked downtown to the enormous (twenty marching bands!!! more than fifty floats!!! a giant inflated beaver balloon (yes-- really)!!! Santa!!!) Christmas parade on Saturday.

It was fabulous, and we are planning to go again next year.

Snuggles

Every once in a while the little guy wants to snuggle "like a baby" and I always stop what I'm doing to cuddle him right up. It's the best!

By the way, the baby wore the cutest outfit in the world yesterday:

She didn't want to be put down-- that's why she's crying.

Science Hero!

The little dude got a really intense book about volcanos for his birthday. The boys read it tonight-- we skim over the parts about dead people and focus on the lava/magma/tectonic plates. He loves this book.

His mask was a reward for doing really well in the morning meeting at daycare. His teachers said he is having a fantastic week! Wahoo!

Sharing

The little guy let the baby play with some of his train tracks this morning before school. She was SO excited about it.

He didn't want me to take his picture, though. Maybe tomorrow.

Strange Happenings?

When I came downstairs for breakfast this morning, this was what greeted me:

That's Neighbear (the State Farm Good Neighbear) wearing an apron over his pjs, sitting in a chair with  a napkin. I think I missed something important.

Puzzling

The baby is starting to put things places. She spent a good half hour the other night moving rolls of tape between three containers. She's also taking the dinosaurs out of this puzzle.

She can't put them back yet, but she'll get there.

In other news, the kiddos went to church looking like this last Wednesday night (except with their eyes open):

That boy is ridiculous. To be fair, those bows are no more useful in his hair than in the baby's.

Concentration!

Eric has superhuman powers… he successfully did a crossword puzzle looking like this:

I guess that level of focus is genetic, because here's the little guy working on his Lego fire truck. He spent over two hours building it!

These are two pretty impressive guys!

Field Trip!

The little guy went on his first field trip today. His class (plus one parent each) visited a farm! He got to take a packed lunch (in his backpack), too. He was sooooo excited!

And he had a blast!

One!

The baby turned one today! It's hard to believe...

This happened a whole year ago!

She squawked around the same time that she was born (4am-ish), and when I got out of bed to check on her, I stepped on her older brother-- I'm totally the mother of the year! He's fine, and he'll never sleep on the floor by my side of the bed again. Anyway, the kids had a party in the kitchen while Eric finished dinner.

PAR-TAY!!

He made the baby's favorite for dinner: pinto beans and cornbread.

Tasting the beans for seasoning...

Then she enjoyed her first cupcake.

Then she had her first post-cupcake bath!

Happy birthday, baby girl! We love you!

Like Daughter, Like Father...

The baby has started making an awful grimace as soon as she sees the camera. Eric was imitating her tonight, and this happened:

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

After dinner, the little guy watched some Angry Birds videos-- and he even let his sister sit next to him! At least he did until she started smacking the screen.

These boots were made for walking!

The baby had a diaper incident at school today… and apparently I forgot to update her extra clothes with the change of season. This is how she looked when we picked her up (minus dinner on her shirt-- she got that at home).

She's standing like a champ now, and can even walk three or four steps on her own. Where has this year gone?!

Light at the end of the tunnel...

The little guy got ahold of my camera again (despite having his own):

I'm going to open an Etsy store for him.

This and That

The baby played outside while I raked about half the yard today. At the halfway point, she got a bit fussy and I was plumb tuckered out so we called it a day.

Eric and the little guy got home mid-afternoon, so the little dude and I made some brownies from his new cookbook. I tweaked the recipe a bit (due to lacking ingredients) and am not sure they taste the way they should, but they are delicious! Here's the proud chef posing with his creation!

On the mend...

After a lazy day at home with lots of snuggles from me…

… and from the dog...

… I think she'll be all better by Monday. She enjoyed her applesauce this afternoon, and her appetite picked up this evening.

Another First?

The baby got her first ear infection today… we got a call from daycare saying she had a 103 degree fever! Yikes! She's asleep now after a lot of fever reducers and some antibiotics. Poor baby.

Kitchen Helper, Part 127

I got the little guy this cookbook for his birthday. We looked through it before I wrote our grocery list the other night, and he settled on polenta as his first cooking experiment. I made a homemade sauce with zucchini to go with it. Look at the proud chef!

I even managed to get a reasonable photo of the food!

The baby loved it, too, making this a complete success. 

Made for Walking!

Ok, so here's the first time we got her walking on video (prepare to be underwhelmed):

HOORAY!!! She might be teeny tiny, and she might only have two teeth, but that baby can walk!

Cleanliness

Our daycare has an excellent hand-washing policy, so the baby has been washing her hands in a sink since March. She cruised over to the play kitchen yesterday, and look!

She's washing her hands!

Hilarious!

Snazzy

Eric and the baby looked so fancy (and so well-coordinated) when we were leaving for church this morning that I took a couple pictures.

The little guy saw me taking pictures and wanted to get in on the action. 

What you can't see is that he had on red pants (to match his shirt) as well as red and blue striped socks. Yowza!