Food, Fair, and Friends

This past weekend was the little guy's birthday as you've notice (and most likely already know since this is only read by like 5 family members) and we had some family in town (again, most of you were here). I think we will always have a nice time around his birthday because the NC State fair will be in full swing with all the fried foods and fair fare (he, he) that goes along with it.

We made a trip Saturday morning with 5 adults and 5 children so that was a nice ratio. We met a 100' Smokey Bear who talked to the kids, FOR REAL, then looked at some NC Forest Service fire fighting aircraft on display, then found some lunch, and plodded along with the herd for a while.

Then we found the fried food booth with this year's new delicacy; the Twinx. I don't know who dreamt this up but it probably came from a random food generator. BTW, if that's not a thing, it should be. Anyway, the Twinx is a Twix bar stuffed inside a Twinkie, wrapped in bacon, dipped in funnel cake batter, deep fried, and then covered in powdered sugar. I'm five pounds heavier for just writing that. Emily shared it with our sister-in-law and said it was amazing.

So after the "light" desert we hit the rides. The boy likes them so I took him on the Ferris Wheel just like last year and he loved it.

Then after The Dragon kiddie roller coaster we headed for the exit. On the way out I wanted to stop into the Wildlife Commission's tent to get this year's hunting regulations. While I was in there the kids found a firetruck parked next to the tent. My baby girl got to flirt with some firemen, whom I've learned all women adore. See how, um, happy?, she looks.

All in all it was a great weekend!

Shun, Un-shun

As cute as the little dude is...

... he was almost disowned today. He brought his October workbook home, and this is what we found.

He wants a cat! What??! He even confirmed that he wants a cat. We were like, yeah-- no. Absolutely not. (By the way, have you seen this?) While we were discussing shunning him until he becomes a dog person, I flipped to the last page in his journal.

He's back in. Pancake ice cream? That's my boy!

Chillaxin'

The little guy has been hard at work on the Lego sets he got for his birthday. He's seriously up at 6am working on them before breakfast, and he insists that he can't go to bed because he has more work to do! Meanwhile, the baby just wants to watch Daniel Tiger. How can she possibly be comfortable like this?

See the little guy working diligently in the background?

Happy 5th Birthday!

Our computer came back (with all data intact) just in time to celebrate the little guy's fifth birthday! His big (only) present from us was a new bike. Look at how big he is!

Can you believe he looked like this five years ago?

Actually, can you believe we looked like that five years ago? Babies having babies...

Quick Update

Our computer won't turn on-- hopefully it will be fixed Thursday night, but there probably won't be any new posts until then.

Thanks!

Dinner Helpers

Everyone has a job during dinner prep. The baby took the green beans out of the colander and put them on the cutting board. I chopped them. The little dude put the chopped pieces into a bowl.

Teamwork!

Snugglebunny

We ate dinner outside tonight, and it was a bit chilly (and windy!). The little guy didn't want to wear his own jacket, but he literally crawled inside mine.

One day he'll be too big to want to do this. Until then, I'll gladly share my jacket.

So Happy Together!

We've kind of hit a sweet spot right now where the kids are playing REALLY well together. Hooray!

It's pretty amazing.

Kitchen Helpers

We always have cinnamon rolls and sausage for breakfast on Sundays. I've been adding a fruit salad lately to try and make it a bit healthier. This week I had two helpers to put the fruit in the bowl. The baby tasted almost every piece of fruit... so it's a bit soon to put her to work in an actual restaurant.

Workout Buddy

Poor Eric has been joining me for my early morning workouts, and the little dude decided to exercise with us today instead of just sitting on the couch critiquing our form. Here he is doing some side punch twists with 4 lb weights!

What a beast!!

Quiet Bedtime

I've posted before about our calm and peaceful bedtime routine. Here are some pictures from tonight!

What a stinker!

Cracking up! 

Whispering about important things.

No more whispering!

Together

The kids figured out a way to play nicely with their chalkboard yesterday. The little guy drew and the baby erased. Yin and yang, I guess.

Proof!

Our downstairs bathroom has two lights with two separate switches. The little dude tends to leave them both on when he leaves the bathroom, so we're constantly saying "I think the bathroom light is on" or something to try and get him into the habit of turning the lights off.

Today, he brought us proof that the lights were off (Exhibit A):

Future detective or future lawyer?

Traumatized

Several weeks ago, there was a fly in the dining room during dinner. The baby kept pointing at it, jumping on her chair (yes, I know-- totally unsafe), and squealing "A BEE!! A BEE!!" Then the fly flew directly into her forehead. It was hilarious-- I've never seen anything like it. It bounced off her head. She completely froze, then started shaking with this terrified look on her face, and then she burst into tears. Eric and I were laughing too hard to help her (yes, I know-- we are terrible parents).

The reason I bring this up now is that she *still* will randomly point to her forehead, murmur "a bee," and start crying. That's what she's doing here:

We'd better start saving for her future therapy bills.

New bedtime routine

Well, softball was a disappointment last night. As Emily mentioned our first playoff game was last night. We were running just on time (or late as my lovely wife would put it). Unfortunately I was inadvertently, or at least I hope so, left off our playoff roster so I wasn't allowed to play. So I do what most do when they can't play anymore; they coach!

Now that that's cleared up from last night's post we can move on.

Bedtime has changed over the last few days to a week. It starts as normal with the kids going upstairs and procrastinating until their PJs are finally on. It used to be that Emily would read to the boy and I would get a very insistent, "LAY DOWN!!" and read to the girl. But lately the miniature person has insisted on climbing into her brother's bed and listening to a book with him as Em reads. Before the reading commences, Goose will insist that his sister needs a pillow if she's going to be in his bed so we have to provide that or the world is not right. Then they read. It's actually very sweet and cute.

Then, inevitably, something like below happens. Notice the choke hold hug the boy is giving his sister. She is soooo happy about it!

He means well... I think.

Farewell, Softball, Farewell

Tonight may have been Eric's last softball game of the season. I was organized enough to bring a picnic dinner. The little dude is 4 going on 13.

The kids also cuddled up for a quick selfie!

Awwwwwwww

Look at what the little guy drew! It says "To Mr Dad and to Mom I love you Mom and Dad" and he even signed his name and wrote 2014 (which looks like 20041 with assorted backwardness).

I worked a bit late (we split a sick day for the little dude today), so we had a quick breakfast for dinner (omelets, biscuits, fruit). The baby and I had Nutella on our biscuits. Yum!

I Love You

The baby and I walked to the library yesterday, and on the way home she played my new favorite game.

Isn't that heart-meltingly sweet? This child. She can be so demanding and then she turns around and is just so incredibly sweet.

Construction Worker Man

Our wonderful minister came over to put the trim on the cornice in the living room, and the little guy was dressed and ready to help out!

He's so funny. (By the way, the cornice looks great. We just need to prime and paint it sometime in the next two to three years.)

A Walk in the Dark

Now that the days are getting short, we have less time to be outside after work. And without Beau pushing us to get him out of the house :-( it seems like we get home, watch an episode (or 5) of Mr. Rodg, er..a Daniel Tiger's neighborhood, eat dinner, and then get the kids in bed.

Tonight was different. We decided to take a walk. Light fading? Psssh. The baby girl's 5 inch legs? No matter! The big one acting 2 with a whiny, "I don't wanna go!" Puhleeze. Do you know my wife?

We had a nice stroll around the block and got back after the street lights had come on. We ran into our new neighbors from 3 doors down (hehehe) who have a 2 year old and one on the way so that was nice. We've been meaning to introduce ourselves.

Midway through the walk, we were all holding hands. The little guy made us switch it up so he could hold his sister's hand which was soooo cute. Emily and I managed to get a picture of the two kiddos. Yeah Teamwork!

Look at those two, well except for the boy's T-shirt tucked into his gym shorts. I'm trying to raise him right.

Practicing!

The little guy used to practice talking in his crib in the mornings. I'd hear him say "MOMMY, mommy, mommy, mommy" or "DADDY, daddy, daddy, daddy" and other cute little things like that.

Well, the baby is now practicing talking in the morning. She's absurd, and what I hear is "STOP IT!!" "NO" "NO... No No No No No" "SIT DOWN!" "LAY DOWN!" and "STOP IT!!!" It cracks me up! The first time she did it I went rushing in to their room to tell the little dude to leave her alone only to find him sound asleep, blissfully minding his own business. Poor guy.